THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES KIRB Y'S WONDEBFUL ECCENTRIC MUSEUM; OR, MAGAZINE INCLUDING ALL THE CURIOSITIES OF NATURE AND ART, FROM THE REMOTEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME, Drawnfrom every authentic Source. ILLUSTRATED WITH ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY-FOUR ENGRAVINGS. CHIEFLY TAKEN FROM RARE AND CURIOUS PRINTS OR ORIGINAL DRAWINGS. SIX VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: R. S. KIRBY, LONDON HOUSE YARD, ST. PAUL'S. 1820. o PREFACE. -fi r" J. HE Public are respectfully informed, that the present publication of KIRBY's WONDERFUL MUSEUM, is undertaken in consequence of new arrangements and connections, that will effectually secure its permanence, without let or hindrance, upon the most liberal and extensive scale, as long- as the annals of history, the discoveries of art and ingenuity, and the efforts of labour and learning- shall be capable of administering to the entertain- ment or information of the human intellect : That taste for inquiring into all the arcana, perfections, and even the eccentricities, of art and nature, which, from various causes, seem growing with our growth, and strengthening with our strength, will most probably find its true and genuine aliment in the panacea, which it shall be our duty and pleasure to present to our Readers, as much as possible adapted to this diversity of taste, inclination, and propensity. That which is truly curious positively, or relatively wonderful, will, at all times, be our study to procure and collect from the inexhaustible regions of animate or inanimate nature ; from the records of history, or the improvements of art. Nor IV PREFACE. Nor will our efforts be confined to the mere ar- rangement of what has been before written by others. To a very competent share of Original and Eccentric Biography, which is intended to consti- tute a distinguishing feature in KIRBY'S WON- DERFUL MUSEUM ; it is intended, from time to time, to present the Reader with Translations from the most scarce and valuable Originals in the mo- dern languages, with Extracts from the same, with- out waiting, as many of our competitors have been compelled to do, for the translation and publica- tion of the whole of such works in English. And O as all our measures are taken for realizing the pro- fessions we have now made to the ingenious in- quirers into the wonders and curiosities of Art and Nature ; we are probably justified in presuming, to appropriate that ample share in public patro- nage, which will crown our labours, and set every degree of rivalship at that distance it must ever keep, from a more correct taste, superior exertions, industry, and ability. AN CONTENTS TO VOL. I. '* I * Page The Life of the celebrated Sir John Dinely, Bart. . .1 The Earthquake of Lisbon ; de- scribed by an Eye-witness, 1 j. 96. 166 The Egyptian Mirage^ or Deception of the Sight . . .21 Account of the Pigmies of Mada- gascar .... .23 Whimsical Manner of punishing Bakers and Butchers at Cairo . ib- Antidote to Curiosity . , . 25 Singular Trial and Acquitrnent . ib. A Dutch Miser and Recluse . ib. The late W. Fuller, Esq. -, a penu- rious Character . . .27 Description of the Sphynx of Egypt 31 Extraordinary Bill of Fare at Bristol 32 Whimsical Interment at Tiverton ib. A Puir of Portraits . . .33 Interesting Particulars of George Forster, and the Galvanic Experi- ments upon him after his Exe- cution ,. 34 Curious Account of Mermaids > 41 Astonishing Deliverance of a Fowler 44 A Case of circumstantial Evidence 40 Account of Giants . . . ib. Rarieties from Egypt . . 49 Surprising Faculty of sustaining Heat and Cold . . .51 A Forest under Ground . , 52 Account of the late S. Matthews, of Duhvich . . . . 53 Wonderful Power of Imagination, in a Dream . . G7 Explosion oflron Mines . - CS ,' The Stone of the Field of Lamen- tation . . . .71 Extraordinary Birth . . ib. Account of the Big Naked Bear . 72 The Haze of 1801 . . 73 Curiosity from the Reports of the Irish Society of Arts . . 74 Natural Curiosities of Sicily . 7f> Singular Animal Flower . ib, An Aquatic Castle . . 77 Extraordinary Fecundity . . 7i Waives in France . , ib- Extraordinary Facts respecting the Preservation of Human Bodies . 81 Of a Human Body found in a Bear- skin . . . .82 Description of the groat Tun at Hei- delberg . . . Si Large Tuns of modem Date . 86 Account of Earthquakes . . 87 Codicil to the last Will of James Clegg, Conjuror . . .88 'Account of Fairlop Oak . . 91 of Damory's Oak . . &J Description of the Palace of the Escurial . . .93 Wonderful Works of Art Curious Workmanship . .101 Watch -worn by the Emperor Charles 10-3 Curiosities in Miniature at Dresden ib. Extraordinary Incidents . 104f Miraculous Deliverance . 109 A foitunate Discovery . . ib. John Richards, a Blind Man . 110 The Salt Mines of Poland . . 1 1 A Pop'-;h Miser . U* "Ruins, &c. in the Holy Land Extraordinary Chesnut Tree on Mount Etna .... A remarkable Hog Green Serpent at Deptford Real Origin ofPompey's Pillar dis- covered by a British Officer A Man not born to be hanged or Page 119 drowned . . . Awful Instance of a Breach of Con- fidence CONTENTS. Tuge L Burning Well . .210 ireat Fire of London . .21.3 'lie Destruction of the City of Mos- cow, by Five . . . 2 1 G Remarkable Deaths ; Posterity, &c. 220 \dvertisenient for an Husband . 221 l,otteries in Queen Elizabeth's Time ib. Singular Character . . . 222 Roger Crab . . . 223 Singular Preservation the Groaning Tree . 228 121 ib. V 126 Ajiii&ifigsj a conspicuous Character 128 A shorkir;; Discovery . . ISO True Relation of a horrid and long concealed Murder of Thomas Kidderminster . , 131 Natural Curiosities in Norway , 151 A singular Deliverance . . 153 A modem Anchoret . .154 A singular Propensity . .156 A complete Account of Thomas Topham, culled the Strong Man 157 Egyptian Earth ; Us singular Qua- lities . . ,163 Instance of Bravery . .1(34 The Black Lake in Switzerland . ib. A Whimsical Sign . .170 Artificial Manner of hitching The Great Gun, or Turkish Piece of Ordnar.ce in St. James's Park \ccountofaremarkableFish . The Roirir.n Emperor Maxhnii:, his a in;; zing Strength . . New Di-covcries and Inventions the P;-bgostop, &C. . . Stones supposed to have fu'.lenfrom the Skies . . . . The largest Bel! in the World . Various' Feats of Strength . . A strange Propensity in a Prince . Similarity of Persons, wonderful , A dreadful Whirlwind . . Founder of Fairlop Fair . Life an-J Character ot the r.elel, rated Mr. Martin \'an Bute'iei! . . Mucking Murder in Lam^-hlre , 171 173 176 10 181 Chesnut Tree, largest in England . 229 Account of Dr. Andrew Boord, the original Merry Andrew . . 230 Mrs. Bridgets Death and Burial . 232 The Wonders of Nature, &c. . 235 The late William Jennings . 237 More Curiosities from Egypt . 241 Extraordinary Instances of Gene- rosity and Virtue . .242 Deaths, extraordinary an Her- maphrodite . . 243 Life of John Overs & his Daughter 247 Striking Vicissitudes of Fortune 250 Life of the celebrated Sir Richard WhiUingiou . . 253 Account of Colonel Sloper . 2GO Antiquities in the Isle of Dogs 261 Two very extraordinary Deaths ib. The Pkun of the Caffres . 26.3 The Funeral of Mr. Rich. Bunn . 26-i Murder of Miss Eully, at Bath . 205 Life of Mr. Thompson, late of Mansfield . . . 26* A Ball of Lire . . . 27:J. A striking l;>:;ruicc of retributive Justice . . . 275 The Lue of John Jo-u-ph Merlin, the great Mechanic . . 274 An ici-.entiic Life and V>iirial . i'79 \ entriloquism-. Navigation im- proved . . 21,0. 280 ReiiKirkalile Earthquakes in Eng- CONTENTS. Pace Life of Mr. G. Benneville . . .1"J-i A Near olitan Quack Doctre>s, and the Burning Chamber . . 2-J7 Of a Cat that lived 'J5 Mouths with- out drinking .... -'300 Miraculous Preservation of a Child o02 Particulars of the Ruins of Heixu- laneum A remarkable Shipwreck . . 08 Life of John Hatfield, the Seducer 30 f) An Account of Samuel Horsey, an unfortunate Labourer . -1-3 1 Singular Species of Monkey . '352 J. Hatneld's Letters and Poetry . 333 A singular Meteor . 15 Escape from a Shark . . ib. Particular Warnings before Death 1'3 An unfortunate Family . . 13 Extraordinary Instance of Vegetation ib. A Thunder Storm in Norfolk -. Hail- stones In the Sju.oe of an iunian Eye . . . -'350 Surprising Faculty of su;taining Heat in a Spani. rd, al Paris . ,35.' A vtonderi'jl Cure cf Lameness, ef- fected by An;s . . . 5.j Balloon liitoli'igcnce improved . S55 Account of Mrs. Mary Honyvionc!, who left 07 lawful Descendants 57 Origin of the l-'ema'es exposing their Bosoms . . . jS Dreadful Effects of Famine . . ib. Richard Joy ; the suon:; Man of Kent .... -359 Strange Substance* found in the Human Body . ';.y. ; and 41'J A full and authentic Account of the strange and imperious Aivair be- tween Mary Squires, a Gipsy, and Elizabeth Canning . ')-3 400 A. Journey to Mount Perdu, the highest of the Pyrenees . i-'7 Ci:-ciim;t:mtial Detail of Stone-: f.-JIiny from -h" Clouds . '. * Page Mr. Thomas Jenkins, an English Banker at Rome . .401 Character of the Empre Particulars <>i an i:r,en;;:'.-.ion Me- teor, (.;l Suiv'.'.v, :S,)\. i.-t-l . 4';8 The Tartarian Lamb ; a s.irprising \ 'egetable . . .47} Preservation of Piorra Rtgolet in a St () n-,-Bath . . . i!,. Puirnir.c; Moiir-.'V.in- in Soutli Anie- rica, described bv Mr. Hum- Sir John Dinely, George Forster, Samuel Mathews, Great Tun of Heidelberg, John Richards, Ann Siggs, Thomas Topham, Egyptian Gun, "Martin Van Butchel!, Andrew Borde, DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. to face Page 1 Sir Rich. Whittington, to face Page 232 S4 John Joseph Merlin, 274 53 John Hatfield, 509 84 Samuel Horsey, G31 110 Mary Honywood, 557 128 Eliz. Canning, ^64 157 Mary Squires, 381 173 Sir William Staines, 413 191 Nathaniel Bentley, 445 230 Tartarian Lamb, 471 AN AUTHENTIC AND ENTERTAINING ACCOUNT OF THE CELEBRATED SIR JOHN DIN ELY, BART. OF WINDSOR. J.\. NUMBER of persons forming their judgment from va- rious circumstances, \\hich they have hoard of this truly ec- centric character, have imagined that this gentleman's litle to the distinction of knighthood, is no better founded than those of the late Sir Jeffery Dunstan, or Sir J. Harper : but this is a mistake of the grossest kind, as we shall shew in the course of this sketch. Sir John Dinely is actually of a very ancient and honourable family, the particulars of which we reserve till we have recorded the more remarkable history of his later years. Sir John having run through his portion of the family entailments, for nearly twenty years past, at least as far as reports and advertisements in the papers will vouch, has been a most chivalrous knight among the ladies. He has not only been incessantly advertising for a wife since the period just mentioned ; but even within the last five years, since he was made one of the poor Knights of Windsor, he has never ceased soliciting the hand of some favourite fair, blessed with fortune as well as beauty. Report says, that Sir John once obtained a wife, in consequence of one of his newspaper notices ; but of the events attached to this acqui- sition, we shall be silent here. In appearance, viz. in dress, Sir John is no change! ng, for neatly twenty years past he has been the faithful resem- VOL. i. B blance 2 AN ACCOUNT OV blance of his likeness, as it appears in this work. It was en- graved from a portrait taken by an ingenious artist. Since Sir John's residence at Windsor, as one of the poor knights, he has no settled residence in town: but when O J he receives his quarterage or fees, we are informed he posts away to London, and makes his appearance at some public place, under the flattering idea that some lady of fortune may fall in love, either with his person or his title. And hence, in advertising for a wife, the principal object which he professes to have in view, is to be enabled with that fortune to prosecute his suit for the recovery of his vast estates. Whether Sir John has any legal preten- sions ; or why he was not able to keep quiet possession of those estates, is not apparent from any account he has given. Sir John, as we are told, was for a number of years past, such a scrupulous martyr to Platonic gallantry, that to shew the ladies that he lived quite alone, disengaged and unconnected, he even chose to dispense with the attend- ance of a servant-maid. Accordingly, in pursuance of that disposition, since he has been a poor knight, he is still as solitary as before, being entirely without companion or do- mestic. Partly through this partial seclusion when at home, Sir John is uncommonly loquacious when abroad. His conversation also, is overcharged with egotisms, and such a mixture of repartee and evasion, as to excite doubts in the minds of superficial observers, as to the reality of his character or abilities. With respect to his exterior, it is really laughable to observe him when he is known to be going to some public place to exhibit his person. He i.s then decked out in his second-hand finery, viz. a velvet embroidered waistcoat, satin breeches, silk stockings, and a full bottomed wig. On these occasions, not a little in- flated with family pride, he seems to imagine himself as great as any lordling : but on the day following, he may be seen slowly pacing from the chandler's shop near his country retreat, with a penny loaf in one pocket; a mor- sel SIR JOHN DINELY, BART. 3 sc\ of butter, a quartern of sugar, and a three farthing can- dle in the other. Sir John is still in the habit of receiving O epistles in answer to his advertisements, and several whim- sical interviews, and ludicrous adventures have occurred in consequence. He has more than once paid his devoirs to one of his own sex dressed as a fine lady. At other times, when he has expected to see his fair er.amorato at a win- dow, he has been rudely saluted with the contents of the Jordan. But none of these things have been able to allay the fervors of his passion, as may be seen by perusing the Reading Mercury, only of a few weeks past, where his re- cent advertisements for a wife, appear dictated with the same warmth, and under the very same extravagant ideas which distinguished Sir John, at a period when the hey- day of his blood must have beaten considerably higher than at present. Sir John, we are told, once practised physic, but in many respects, the Medice Curate ipsum could never be re- torted \\ith more propriety, than upon him. Books of the Medicinal art, however, are still purchased by Sir John, when he attends sales, &c. It is still a habit with him, to attend t\\ice or thrice a year at Vauxhall and the Theatres, according to appointment, by advertisement in the most fashionable daily papers. At Vauxhall, he parades the most conspicuous parts, and at the Theatre, he is to be found in the front row of the pit ; and whenever it is known that he is to be there, the house, especially by the females, is sure to be well attended. When in town, Sir John al- ways makes it a point to attend the different auctions, to which he is particularly attached; but if he buys a cata- logue, he is always sure to make a purchase to the value of a shilling to cover the expense. Lord Fitzwilliam, it is said, is among the number of Sir John's benefactors, as he makes him an allowance of ten pounds per annum. Of late, Sir John has added a piece of stay-tape to his wig, B 2 which 4 AN ACCOUNT OF which attaches on the other side, passing under his chin ; from this circumstance, some persons might infer that he is rather chop-fallen; an inference by no means fair, if \ve still consider the gay complexion of his advertisements and ad- dresses to the 1 atlies. We have before spoken of the dignity of Sir John's de- scent ; the following particulars are well attested. The family of Dinely continued to flourish in great repute, in the county of Worcester, till the present century, when it expired at Charlton, in the person of Sir Edward Dinely, Knt. sometime Justice of Peace and Deputy-Lieutenant for this County ; \vho, by Frances his \\ife, daughter of Lewis AVatson, Lord Rockingham, left an only surviving daughter, Eleanor, his heir; who was married to Edward Goodvere, of Buighope, in Hertfordshire, Esq.; which Edward was created a Baronet, ,5th December, 1707, sixth of Anne, and \vas member in several parliaments for the Borough of Evesham, and sometime Knight of the Shire for the County of Hereford. He died at a great age, 29th March, 1739, and was succeeded by Sir John Dinely Good- yere, Bart, his eldest son; which Sir John Dinely Good- yere, of Charlton, Bait, assumed the name of Dinely, in, respect of the large estate he inherits from his mother. He \vas the last of the family \\lio enjoyed it, for having lived upon bad terms with his younger brother, Samuel Dinely Goudyeie, Captain of the Hub} man of war, and threaten- ing to diMiiheiit him in favor of his sister's son, John Foote, of Truro, in Cornwall, Esq. ; it so alarmed and disgusted the said Samuel Gooduie, that he came to ihe bloody reso- lution of murdtiit'ii Ins brother, which he executed on the O 7 17th of January, 1741. John Fot'te, E^q. son of Eleanor, sister to Sir John, and ehici bvothsM io Samuel Foote, Esq. the celebrated come- dian, w as hen io his uncle, and assumed the name of Dmely ; but Dame Mary Dinely Goodyere, the widow of Sir SIR JOHN D1NELY, BART. 5 Sir John, surviving her husband, and holding the Charlton estate in dower, remarried with William Rayner, a painter, in White Friars, London, who being thus in possession, partly by marriage, and partly by purchase from Mr. John Foote Dinelv, became seized of the whole in fee, and sold Charlton to Joseph Biddle, of Eversham, Esq.; whose ex- ecutors sold it in 1774 to Messrs. Beesley, Socket, -Lilly, and Bevington, of Worcester, in partnership, who, or their representatives, weie the present possessors in 1779- A friend at Bristol, who knew the mortal antipathy of these brothers, had invited them both to diiint , i;i hopes of reconciling them, and they purled in the evening in seeming friendship; but the Captain placed some of his crew in the street near College Green, Bristol, with orders to seize his brother, and assisted in hurrying him on board his ship. The account of the unhappy fate of Sir John's father, contained in the trial to which we have alluded, is so re- markable, that we shall lay the following particulars before our readers. At the sessions held before the worshipful the mayor of the city of Bristol, and Michael Foster, Esq. recorder, and other of his Majesty's-- justices of the peace for the said city, March 26, 1741, Samuel Goodyere, laie commander of his Majesty's ship Ruby, was indicted for aiding, assisting, and abetting, the murder of Sir John Dim ly Goodyere, Burt. At the same time, Matthew Mahouy and Charles White, were separately inflicted for the actual murder of the said Sir John Dnicl,- Goodyere, Bart. Mr. Smith, an attorney at law, in College Green, Bristol, deposed, that the Sunday before this murder was committed, the deceased, by the deponent's invitation, was to dine at his house the Saturday following, of which the prisoner being apprized came into the neighbourhood, and sent for this de- ponent, and earnestly interceded with him to admit him into the company of his brother, the Baronet, under the pretence, as AN ACCOUNT OF as the prisoner said, to accommodate and reconcile their dif- ferences in an amicable manner. The prisoner being at College Green coffee-house, Mr. Smith went to him, and was greatly pleased with the propo- sals of the prisoner, and the hopes of all disputes between them settled ; he, without the least hesitation, introduced the prisoner into the company of his brother, the deceased ; and ,the prisoner behaved so well, that he and the deceased seem- ed to be as good friends as ever; and just as the deceased was about to depart, he took leave of the Baronet in the most affectionate manner imaginable. It. v, as then dark, and about six o'clock in the evening. Mr. Roberts, who kept the White Hart on College Green, opposite to Mr. Smith's house, deposed, that the prisoner came to his house early in ihe morning, the day before the murder was committed, and ordered him to get a dinner ready for six men, who were to dme there that day. Mahony was not one of the six that dined, but the com- pany talked much about one Mahony; he was a man well known to Roberts, and had been often at his house : the people that dined there were dressed like seamen, and Ro- berts took them for Captain Goodyere's men, and that the Captain had a mind to treat them at his house. They dined in the balcony up one pair of stairs towards the Green, and in the afternoon, after dinner was over, Goodyere sent word to Roberts to make tea for the six men, which greatly sur- prised him, it being very uncommon drink for jack tars. They all went away of a sudden, and Roberts bid them wel- come without going out of doors. Charles Bryant being called upon by the Court, deposed, that he was one of the six men hired by Captain Goodyere, to seize the deceased, and forcibly to run him aboard the Ruby man of war, then lying in King's Road. They met by the prisoner's directions, at the White Hart, on College Green, where a handsome dinner was provided. They were 2 placed SIR JOHN DINELY, BART. 7 placed in the balcony to receive a signal, and obey the word of command, without giving the least suspicion to the peo- ple of the house. About six o'clock in the evening the signal was given, and they left the White Hart, and overtook the deceased just before he came to College Green coffee- house, where Bryant, and others, seized him at the word of command of the prisoner. They then rushed on the de- ceased, and dragged him along to the Rope Walk, where was a gang of twelve more of them, who were ready to assist according to the prisoner's instructions. The deceas- ed was hurried towards the Hot Wells, where a boat was waiting purposely to receive him. The prisoner was with them all the while, directing, aid- ing, and assisting all the time, and when the deceased cried out, murder! murder! I am Sir John Dinely Goodyere ; the prisoner stopped the deceased's mouth with his cloak, so that the people not knowing his name, only asked what was the matter ? The answer the prisoner and the ruffians gave was, that he, the deceased, was a thief and a murderer, and had made his escape from the ship, and that they were going to take him aboard to secure him, in order for his trial; the prisoner still stopping the deceased's mouth, to prevent his crying out. When the deceased got into the boat he had a little more liberty than before, and he made use of it to speak to the prisoner to this effect: " Brother, I know you have an in- tention to murder me: I beg that if you are resolved to do it, that you would do it here, and not give yourself the trouble of taking me down to your ship." To which the prisoner replied, " No, brother, I am going to prevent your rotting upon land ; but, however, I would have you make your peace wilh God this night;" and so without more ado, the prisoner hurried the deceased aboard the ship. When the deceased was put on board the Ruby, he cried out loudly for help, and made a great noise ; but the prisoner took 8 AN ACCOUNT OF took the precaution (o tell the crew, " That they need not mind his noise, because he was mad; and that he had brought him on board, on purpose to prevent his making away with himself." They then conveyed him to the pur- ser's cabin, and all of them, except Mahony and White, were ordered ashore, with directions to conceal themselves, and keep out of the way of inquiry. Bryant further deposed, that he and five more were hired by the prisoner, at a guinea a head, to bring the deceased on board ; that neither of them belonged to the lluby, but to the Vernon schooner. Mr. ISerry, the first lieutenant of the prisoner's ship, de- posed, that being on deck he saw the deceased brought on board late in the evening on the 23d of January last. The deceased was immediately carried into the purser's cabin, and there kept till five o'clock in the morning. That the prisoners Goodyere, White, and Mahony were with the de- ceased. That he saw the prisoners and deceased through a crevice in a cabin adjoining to the purser's cabin. That the deponent, and the cooper of the ship, and his wife, were together, and bv means of the crevice saw the whole trans- O ' ^ action. The agreement between Goodyere, White, and Mahony was, that Mahony should have L 200 ; White, l50, and what money the deceased had in his pockets, and his gold watch. After the agreement was concluded on, Mahony and White went about their bloody work, the pri- soner Goodyere standing centry with his drawn sword in one hand, and a pistol in the oilier, to kill the first person that should make any opposition to what they were about. The first thing they did, they took a handkerchief out of the deceased's pocket; White held his hand, while Mahony put it about his neck, and then each of them pulled as hard as he could, in order to strangle the deceased at once; but Sir John making a desperate struggle, the prisoners could not effect it, so as to prevent his crjing out " murder! THE MURDER OF SIR JOHN DINELY. 9 " murder ! for God's sake don't kill me, take all I have, but save my life: dear brother! what! must I die? Help! help! murder!" &c. To prevent any further noise, the pri- soner Goodyere ordered Mahony to take a cord he had laid ready. The prisoner Mahony then slipped off the handker- chief, and put the cord about the deceased's neck, which cord had a noose at the end : then Mahony holding the cord in one hand, thrust the other in the deceased's throat, and his knee against his stomach. In the mean while White held the deceased's hands, and took out of his pockets eight gui- neas and a gold watch. Then White came directly to the prisoner Goodyere, and acquainted him with what was done, and shewed him his brother's watch and money. The prisoner then asked Mahony and White, whether the job was quite completed ? they answered, Yes. Then the prisoner gave Mahony and White what money he had about him, and bid them get ashore directly, that they might the more easily make their escape before day-light came on. Mr. Jones, the cooper of the ship, and his wife, confirmed the evidence of the lieutenant ; and Mr. Ford deposed, that he had Mahony under cure for the foul disease for three weeks, when he told him he had a private job to do for Cap- tain Goodyere, for which he was to have 200, and then he would reward him handsomely for his trouble. The prisoner, by way of defence, said, it was a very hard case, and a great hardship on an innocent man, who, because his brother had been killed, must, right or wrong, be the murderer. He was innocent of the fact, and had no hand in the murder laid to his charge. His brother was a lunatic, and in a fit of the phrenzy, strangled himself, which he said he could prove by his witnesses ; and calling one Sarah Get- tings, she swore the deceased was mad by turns, and very often attempted to make away with himself. One Ann Gettings swore, that the deceased had been a long time VOL. i. c subiect JO MURDER DISCOVERED subject to strange whims and phrenzies, and often talked of shooting, drowning, and strangling himself. An Account of the Discovery of this horrid Murder. Mr. Smith, (the gentleman at whose house Sir John Dinely Goodyere, and his brother Captain Goodyere, spent a sociable hour together the day before) accidentally heard that evening, that a person who had the appearance of a gentleman, was hurried in a very violent manner over College Green, and that a gentleman, who by the description of him, answered to the person of the captain, assisted ; and Mr. Smith knowing the ship was to sail the first fair wind, and remembering that they went out of the house nearly together, it came directly into his head, that the captain had took him on board, with intent to destroy him when he came upon the high seas. This suspicion being strengthened by other cir- cumstances, made so deep an impression on his mind, that early in the morning he applied himself to Henry Coombe, Esq. the mayor, for an officer to go and search the ship, before she was sailed out of the liberty of the city, which reaches ten or fifteen miles down the river. The officer the mayor thought fit to send was the water bailiff, with proper assistance, and full orders to search the ship for Sir John Dinely Goody ere, Bart. The officer obeyed his orders; ad coming to the ship, the cooper, his wife, and lieutenant Berry, acquainted him, that they had been just consulting about the affair, and discovered to him what they knew of the whole matter, the captain being then safe in his cabin. The water bailiff sent immediately this account to the city magistrates, who thought proper to reinforce him with a strong guard to secure the captain; but before the guard came, the cooper and lieutenant had done the business. A letter was sent, wrote with Captain Goodyere's own hand, and directed to Mr. Jarit Smith, attorney at law, on FAMILY AFFAIRS. 11 on College Green, Bristol, purporting, that to his (the cap- tain's) great surprise, he had discovered that his brother, Sir John, had been murdered by two ruffians, and that the villains suspected, had made their escape. This confirmed Mr. Smith in his suspicions, and the captain being seized, as before mentioned, was brought before the mayor at the town-hall, where many of the aldermen and magistrates of the city were also assembled. On the death of Sir Edward (the father of these unhappy brothers), and of Mr. Dinely, Sir John, to whom the title of Baronet devolved in right of his father, had a very pretty estate, when his father's, and that for which he changed his name were both joined. It is said, that he was possessed, in the counties of Hereford and Worcestershire, of up- wards of 4000^. per annum ; but we are assured his income was a good 3000/. Sir John, about the age of twenty- three, married a young lady, the daughter of a merchant of that city, who gave her a fortune of upwards of 20,000/. But it so happened, some years after, through domestic jars in Sir John's family, that Sir Robert Jasen, a neighbour- ing Baronet, who came pretty frequently to visit Sir John, was suspected of familiarity with Lady Dinely. Sir John's suspicions were raised to such a degree, that he forbid Sir Robert his house. The consequence of this was, that Sir John brought an action in the Court of Common Pleas, at Westminster, for criminal conversation, and laid his damages at 2000/. The jury gave Sir John, 500/. damages. Sir John, after this, indicted his lady for a conspiracy to take away his life; and by the evidence of a servant-maid, the lady was found guilty, and committed to the King's Bench prison, for twelve mouths, and to pay a small fine. While she remained in prison, he petitioned for a divorce; but she being assisted with money by Captain. c 2 Gcodyere, 12 THE MURDERERS EXECUTED. Goodyere and other friends, opposed it so strongly, that the House of Lords were of opinion that it could not be granted ; and so dismissed the petition. The Captain's view in furnishing the distressed lady with money, as he himself told Sir John, was, that he should not marry a young woman, and so beget an heir to his estate ; and this was one of the principal motives that induced Sir John to leave the greatest part of his estate to his sister's sons. Thus the principal occasion of this horrid and barbarous murder, was the injury Captain Goodyere apprehended Sir John had done him, in cutting off the entail of his estate ex- cept 600/. per annum, \\hich he could not meddle with, in order to settle it on his sister's sons. By the death of Sir John, an estate of 400/. per annum, devolved to the Lady Dinely, his widow, not as a jointure, but as an estate of her own; which Sir John, while living, kept in his own hands. Captain Goodyere, Mahony and White, received sen- tence of death, and they were accordingly executed, and hung in chains to the north of the Hot Wells, in sight of the place where the ship lay when the murder was com- mitted. But, to return to the eccentric relative of these unfortu- nate men, Sir John, who has no ideas of slaughter, except- ing that of ladies' hearts ; it is probable he will still persist in discharging the shafts of Cupid, as long as he continues to breathe. His application to the ladies of Great Britain, it should be observed, are addressed both to young and old. Those who object to his age, he treats as envious revilers ; and as to their saying that he is upwards of 59 years of age, referring to his portrait, or his person, he challenges them to believe it if they can. Sir John Dinely lives at Windsor, in one of the habita- tions appropriated to reduced gentlemen of his descrip- tion; HUMOROUS ADVERTISEMENTS. t3 lion; and in one of the many advertisements imputed to him, he is supposed to expect that the name rous candi- dates for his hand, would present themselves individually, or in a body before his residence. His fortune (if he could recover it) he estimates at 300,000 /. The woe-begone widow, whose weeds, he conceives, are insupportable, he invites to his arms, to be relieved of her burden ; as well as the blooming miss of sixteen, to whom he supposes the restrictions of a boarding-school are quite intolerable ; and these he has addressed in printed documents that bear his own warrant and signature; and in \\hich he enumerates, like a judicious dealer, the sums the ladies must possess, who are candidates for his hand. Here it is remarkable, that the younger they are, the less property is required ; \\hile with age and widowhood, the demands of Sir John increase in due proportion; and though he modestly asserts, that few ladies will be eligible with less than a thousand a year, he is persuaded that these sums are mere trifles, compared with his high birth and nolle descent, for the proof of which, he is fond of refer- ring every inquirer to Nazi's History of Worcest irshire. To conclude, that our fu-aders may not suppose that we are trifling v,ith their credulity, in the delineation of this extraordinary character, and as our limits \\ill not admit of more, we shail content ourselves with reprinting two only, of Sir John's fruitless advertisements for a wife; though notwithstanding the reluctance of the ladies, we are well warranted in saving of this Knight, " Take him for all in all, " They ne'er may look upon his like again." FOR A WIFE. As the prospect of mv marriage has much increased 1 Ji * " lately, 1 am determined to take the Lest means to discover the lady most liberal in her esteem, by giving her fourteen 4 days 14 ADDRESSES TO THE LADIES. days more to make her quickest steps towards matrimony, from the date of this paper until eleven o'clock the next morning ; and, as the contest evidently will be superb, honourable, sacred, and lawfully affectionate, pray do not let false delicacy interrupt you in this divine race for my eternal love, and an infant Baronet. For 'tis evident I'm sufficiently young enough for you. An eminent attorney here is lately returned from a view of my very superb gates befOiO my capital house, built in the form of the Queen's-house. I have ordered him, or the next eminent attorney here, who can satisfy you of my possession in my estate, and every desirable particular concerning it, to make you the most liberal settlement you can desire, to the vast extent of 300,000^. Where is your dutiful parents, brothers, or sisters, that has handed you to my open arms ? Venus indeed with her bow and quiver did clasp me in her arms at the late masquerade ; but give me the charming Venus who is liberal enough to name the time and place for our marriage, as I am so much at your Ladyship's command; WINDSOR CASTLE, JOHN DINELY. June gth, 1801. For your rank above half the kingdom fly, ^\ hat's two hundred pounds with an amorous eve i* I'm fam'd for looks of good-nature and sense ; Detect then all envy's impertinence. Your first step with rny fair plan must agree, By sending your qualin'd line to me, A beautiful page shall carefully hold Your Ladyship's train surrounded with gold ! EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON. 15 An Advertisement for a Wife in the Reading Mercury, May 24, 1802. Miss in her Teens, let not this sacred offer escape your eye. I now call all qualified ladies, marriageable, to cho- colate at my house every day at your own hour. With tears in my eyes, I must tell you that sound reason com- mands me to give you but one mouth's notice before I part with my chance of an infant Baronet for ever: for you may readily hear that three widows and old maids, all aged above fifty, near my door, are now pulling caps for me. Pray, my young charmers, give me a fair hearing; do not let your avaricious guardians unjustly fright you with a false account of a forfeiture, but let the great Sewel and Rivet's opinions convince you to the contrary ; and that I am now in legal possession of these estates, and with the spirit of an heroine command my three hundred thousand pounds, and rank above half the ladies in our imperial kingdom. By your Ladyship's directing a favourable line to me, Sir John Dinely, Baronet, at my house, in Wind- sor Castle, your attorney will satisfy you, that if I live but a mon'h, eleven thousand pounds a year will be your Lady- ship's for ever. INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF THE EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON; BY AN EYE-WITNESS. OUR Readers will probably find, that, compared with the following, the common run of accounts given of these ca- lamities is as different from the thing itself as even report and reality, mere description and ocular demonstration. In many of these, we are only made acquainted with the out- lines, the external movements of the scenery; but, in the following, 16 EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON, following, the Reader sees an intelligent being taking part in, and witnessing the most intimate scenes of these inter- nal convulsions. It is the Great Earthquake at Lisbon in 1755 which is heie described, in a Letter from a Gentle- man to his Friend in London. Lisbon, " DEAR SIR, NOV. 13, 1755. As no instance of the kind hath happened in these parts of the world for some ages, I herewith send you an ac- count of one of the most dreadful catastrophes recorded in history, the veracity of which you may entirely depend on, as I shared so great a part in it myself. There never was a finer morning seen than the first of November, the sun shone out in its full lustre ; the whole face of the sky w : as perfectly serene and clear ; and not the least signal or warning of that approaching event, which has made this once flourishing, opulent, and populous city a scene of the utmost horror and desolation, except only such as sened to alarm, but scarcely left a moment's time to fly from the general destruction. It was on the morning of this fatal day, between the hours of nine and ten, that I was sat down in my apart- ment, just finishing a letter, \\hen the papers and table I was writing on began to tremble with a gentle motion ; \\hich rather surprised me, as i could not perceive a breath of wind stirring; whilst I was reflecting with myself what this could be owing to, but without having the least appre- hension of the real cause, the whole house began to shake from the very foundation ; which at first I imputed to the rattling of several coaches in the mam street, which usually passed that way, at this time, from Belem to the Palace ; but, on heaikeiiing more attentively, I was soon undeceived, as I found it was owing to a stiange frightful kind of noise under ground, resembling the hollow distant rumbling of thunder; all this passed in less than a minute, and 1 must confess DESCRIBED BY AN EYE-WITNESS. 17 Confess I now began to be alarmed, as it naturally occurred to me, that this noise might possibly be the forerunner of an earthquake. Upon this I threw down my pen, and started upon my feet, remaining a moment in suspense, whether I should stay in the apartment, or run into the street, as the danger in both places seemed equal ; but in a moment I was roused from my dream, being instantly stunned with a most horrid crash, as if every edifice in the city had tumbled down at once* The house I was in, shook with such violence, that the upper stories immediately fell, and though my apartment (which was the first floor) did not then share the same fate, yet every thing was thrown out of its place in such a manner, that it was with no small difficulty I kept my feet, and expected nothing less than to be soon crushed to death, as the walls con- tinued rocking to and fro in the frightfullest manner, opening in several places ; large stones falling down on every side from the cracks ; and the ends of most of the rafters starting out from the roof. To add to this terrify- ing scene, the sky, in a moment, became so gloomy, that I could now distinguish no particular object ; it was an ^Egyptian Darkness indeed, such as might be felt ; owing, no doubt, to tne prodigious clouds of dust and lime, raised from so violent a concussion, and as some reported, to sulphureous exhalations, but this 1 cannot affirm ; how- ever, it is certain, I found myself almost choaked for near ten minutes. As soon as the gloom began to disperse, and the vio- lence of the shock seemed pretty much abated, the first object I perceived in the room, was a woman sitting on the floor, with an infant in her arms, all covered with dust; pale, and trembling; I asked her how she got hither : but her consternation was so great that she could give me no account of her escape ; I suppose VOL, 1, D that IB EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON, that when the tremor first began, she ran out of her own house, and finding herself in such imminent danger from the Tailing stones, retired into the door of mine, which was almost contiguous to her's, for shelter, and when the shock increased, which filied the door with dust and rubbish, ran up stairs into my apartment, which was then open : be it as it might, this was no time for curiosity. I remember the poor creature asked me, in the utmost agony, if I did not think that the world was at an end ; at the same time she complained of being choaked, and begged, for God's sake, I would procure her a little drink ; upon this I went to a closet where I kept a large jar with water (which you know is sometimes a pretty scarce commodity in Lisbon), but finding it broken in pieces, I told her she must not now think of quenching her thirst, but saving her life, as the house was just falling on our heads, and if a second shock came, would certainly bury us both ; I bade her take hold of my arm, and that I would endeavour to bring her into some place of security. I shall always look upon it as a particular Providence, that I happened on this occasion to be undressed, for had I dressed myself, as I proposed, when I got out of bed, in order to breakfast with a friend, I should in all probability, have run into the street, at the beginning of the shock, as the rest of the people in the house did, and consequently have had my brains dashed out, as every one of them had ; however, the imminent dan- ger I w : as in, did not hinder me from considering that my present dress, only a gown and slippers, would ren- der my getting over the ruins almost impracticable : I had, therefore, still presence of mind enough left, to put on a pair of shoes and a coat, the first that came in my way, which was every thing I saved, and in this dress I hurried down stairs, the woman with me, hold- 4 ing DESCRIBED BY AN EYE-WITNESS. 19 ing by my arm, and made directly to the end of the street which opens to the Tagus ; but finding the passage this way entirely blocked up with the fallen houses, to the height of their second stories, I turned back to the other end which led into the main street, (the common thoroughfare to the palace), and having helped the woman over a vast heap of ruins, with no small hazard to my own life ; just as we were going into this street, as there was one part I could not well climb over without the assistance of my hands, as well as feet, I desired her to let go her hold, which she did, remaining two or three feet behind me, at which instant there fell a vast stone from a tottering wall, and crushed both her and the child in pieces ; so dismal a spectacle at any other time would have affected me in the highest degree, but the dread I was in of sharing the same fate myself, and the many instances of the same kind which presented themselves all around, were too shocking to make me dwell a moment on this single object. I had now a long narrow street to pass, with the houses on each side four or five stories high, all very old, the sreater part already thrown down, or continually falling, and threatening the passengers with inevitable death at every step, numbers of whom lay killed before me, or what I thought far more deplorable so bruised and wounded that they could not stir to help themselves. For my own part, as destruction appeared to me unavoidable, I only wished I might be made an end of at once, and not have my limbs broken, in which case, I could expect nothing else but to be left upon the spot, lingering in misery, like these poor unhappy wretches, without receiving the least succour from any one. I, however, proceeded on as fast as I conveniently <-ould, though with the utmost caution, and having at length got clear of this horrid passage, I found myself D <2 safe 20 EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON. safe and unhurt in the large open space before St. Paul's church, which had been thrown down a few minutes before, and buried a great part of the congregation, that was generally pretty numerous, this being reckoned one of the most populous parishes in Lisbon. Here 1 stood some time, considering what I should do, and not thinking myself safe in this situation, I came to the resolution of climbing over the ruins of the west end of the church, in order to get to the river side, that I might be removed, as far as possible, from the tottering houses, in case of a second shock. This, with some difficulty, I accomplished, and here I found a prodigious concourse of people, of both sexes, and of all ranks and conditions, among* whom I observed some of the principal canons of the Patriarchal church, in their purple robes and rochets, as these all go in the habit of bishops ; several priests, who had run from the altars in their sacerdotal vestments in the midst of their celebrating mass ; ladies half dressed, some without shoes ; all these, whom their mutual dangers had here assembled as to a place of safety, were on their knees at prayers, with the terrors of death in their countenances, every one striking on his breast, and crying out, incessantly, Miserecordia meu Dios. In the midst of our devotions, the second great shock came on, little less violent than the first, and completed the ruin of those buildings which had been already much shattered. The consternation now became so universal, that the shrieks and cries of Miserecordia could be distinctly heard from the top of St. Catherine's hill, at a considerable distance off, whither a vast num- ber of people had likewise retreated; at the same time \ve could hear the fall of the parish church there, where- by many persons were killed on the spot, and others mor- tally wounded. You may judge of the force of this shock. THE EGYPTIAN MIRAGE. 1 shock, when I inform you it was so violent, that I could scarce keep on my knees, but it was attended with some circumstances still more dreadful than the former. (To be continued.) OF THE EGYPTIAN MIRAGE; OR, DECEPTION OF THE SIGHT. ALL the translators of M. Denon, it is observable, speak of this delusion as a real phenomenon. Sir Robert Wilson also, in his account of the British campaign in Egypt, mentions the inconveniencies resulting from the supposition indulged by the troops that they were ap- proaching water at a time when nearly famishing with thirst, they were actually labouring under the most complete deception that ever imposed upon the visual fa- culties. In this phenomenon, according to the French writer, objects projecting on the oblique rays of the sun, refracted by the whiteness of the burning earth, of- fer so Complete a resemblance of water, that the traveller is as much alarmed the tenth time he sees it, as at the first, and which is generally the more tormenting as it occurs precisely in the hottest part of the day. But the illusion o f water is not the only object that serves to tantalize the traveller ; camels and all kinds of animals, at the same time appear to be constantly mdving with uncommon rapidity. To the curious it will, however, be worthy of consideration, that nothing like the merit of a new discovery is to be attributed to M. Denon. Neither is what the French writers call a Mirage, pecu- liar to Egypt ; Mr. Barrow, author of Travels into the Interior of Southern Africa, has exactly described the same effects in that quarter, as proceeding from a large portion 22 THE EGYPTIAN MIRAGE. portion of nitre upon the surface of the ground. He ob- serves, that in looking through the exhalations of these beds of nitre, a meteorological phenomenon, of a differ- ent nature, was accidentally observed. In marking about sunrise, the bearing, by a compass, of a cone-shaped hill, that was considerably elevated above the horizon, a peasant well acquainted with the country, observed that it must either be a new hill, or that the only one which stood in that direction, at the distance of a long day's journey, must have greatly increased its late dimen- sions. Being directed to turn his eyes from time to time towards the quarter on which it stood, he per- ceived, with amazement, that, as the day advanced, the hill gradually sunk towards the horizon, and at length totally disappeared. The errors of sight, occasioned by the refractive power of the tiir, are so singular, and sometimes, so very extraordinary, as hitherto to have precluded the application of any general theorem for their correction, as it is not yet ascertained even through what medium rays of light, in their passage, suffer the greatest and least degree of refraction. Were this pre- cisely known, observations on the subject might lead to a more intimate knowledge of the nature of the differ- ent currents of air that float in the atmosphere, and without doubt are the cause of extraordinary appearances of objects viewed through them. A gentleman, to whom the world is much indebted for his many ingenious and useful inventions and discoveries, once proposed to determine the refractive power of different liquids and aeriform fluids ; and it is to be hoped he still means to prosecute a course of experiments on a subject of so much importance and curiosity. BAKERS, BUTCHERS, &C. PUNISHED. 25 OF A PIGMY RACE OF MEN IN THE ISLAND OF MADA" GASCAR. JL HE Abbe Rochon in his justly celebrated Voyage Ma- dagascar, published about eight years since, asserts that he was a resident among these Lilliputian race of people some time. He says they entirely confine themselves to the middle region of the island. The common size of the men, he says, is three feet five, by exact measure- ment ; and that the ladies are some inches shorter. They are possessed of much wit and intellect, and are the boldest and most active warriors on the island. To accommodate this fairy race of mortals, the Abbe adds, that the plants and the vegetables growing on the moun- tains inhabited by these people, are naturally dwarfs, al- so but he has unaccountably forgotten to state, whe- ther the mountains are dwarfs as well ; therefore, says his translator, we may naturally conclude that these mountains are about the size of the artificial knolls in our English pleasure gardens. WHIMSICAL MANNER OF PUNISHING BAKERS, BUTCHERS, SfC. AT GRAND CAIRO. AF a baker sells short weight, or bad bread, and is taken in the fact by the inquest (who go about daily to in- spect provisions, and examine weights and measures) for the first offence, the inquest gives all the bread that they find in his shop to the poor, and then the offender is nailed to his own door, sometimes by one ear, and .sometimes by both, for the space of twelve hours. For the second offence, his bread is distributed as aforesaid, am* 24 BAKERS, BUTCHERS, &C. PUNISHED. and he receives the punishment of the bastinado, by re- ceiving two or three hundred blows upon his feet, and sometimes upon his back, and afterwards they put a large and broad board, heavily loaded \vith lead, upon his shoulders, which board has a large hole in it for his head to come through ; with this mark of infamy they Ibrce him to walk through most of the capital streets of the city, till his strength is nearly exhausted ; and, if he survives this punishment, and commits a third of- fence, he is condemned to be beheaded. If a butcher sells short weight, or stinking meat, for the first offence, his stock of meat is given to the poor, and he is tied to a post where the sun may shine all day upon him; they then hang a piece of putrid flesh close to his nose, and leave him in that position till the piece of flesh produces worms, and they fall down upon his body; besides this, he is sentenced to pay a sum of money. For the second offence he undergoes severe corporal punishments, and is obliged to pay a very heavy fine, and the third offence is punished with death. Thieves and house-breakers are also put to death, after suffering torture. If a pick-pocket or thief is taken in the fact he is beheaded without any formal trial ; but an house-breaker is placed naked upon a camel, and his legs are tied under the camel's belly: the executioner rides behind him, having in his hands thin candles made of brimstone. The driver of the camel drives him through most of the capital streets, and in the mean time, the executioner having lighted the candles, puts them upon the criminal's skin ; the candles being very long, hang down over his shoulders, on his breast and back, burning from the bottom upwards, and when all his candles are burnt out, carries him into a square called Karameitan, or the black square, where all cri- minals are beheaded, who suffer that punishment; there he SINGULAR TRIAL FOR MURDER. 25 he cuts his head off, and, if he is a Mahometan, places his head under his right arm : but, if he is a Christian, under his seat. AN ANTIDOTE TO CURIOSITY. J. HE Athenians had a law, which was well observed among them, whereby every man was forbidden (of whatever de- gree or quality soever he \vere) to inquire of any stranger, newly arrived in their city, from whence he came, what he was, or what he sought for ; under penalty upon him that demanded such questions, to be well whipped \vith rods, and banished his country. The end for which our grave ancients made such laws, was to keep men from the vice of curiosity, which is always over-ready to pry into other men's affairs, and to be regardless of its own. It is not many years since, that both in France and Spain, it \vas usual for the inhabitants of towns in general, to sur- round strangers, as they arrived, demanding what news. A VERY SINGULAR TRIAL AND ACQUITMENT OF CECELY DE RYGEWAY, FOR THE MURDER OF HER HUSBAND. JL HE following is one of the most singular on record. Cecely de Rvgeway was indicted for the murder of her husband, in the 3 1st year of Edward III. 1347. She re- fused to plead, and continued mute; notwithstanding all the threats and arguments the judges could use. They adjudged her to fast forty days, in close confinement; which she actually did, and was pardoned. The v>iiginal record is in the Tower of London. Pressure had used to be inflicted upon such stubborn subjects; but, at this period, it was probably supposed, that a secret was as liable to be squeezed in as squeezed out. A DUTCH MISER AND RECLUSE. VV HILE Mr. Barrow, the late ingenious traveller, was tra- versing the banks of the Hartebeest River, in one of the most VOL. i. E solitary 6 A DUTCH MISEH AND RECLUSE. solitary co'onies of the Cape of Good Hope; our next encampment, he observes, was at the house or hovel of a Dutch peasant, situated at the entrance of a narrow defile between two ranges of mountains. The figure that presented itself at the door, truly represented a being of a different country from that which we had left behind. It was a tall old man, with a thin sallow visage, and a beard of dingy black, that, extending to the eyes, where it met the strag- gling hair of the forehead, obscured the face like a visor. Never was a finer figure for the inhabitant of a black tower, or enchanted castle, in the page of a romance. Not ac- customed to receive strangers, he seemed, on our arrival, to be somewhat agitated. In one corner of the chimney of his hovel, which consisted of one apartment, sat an old Hottentot woman, over whose head had passed at least a century of years. To her natural sallow complexion wa superadded no small quantity of soot, so that she was at least as black as her bearded master. A female slave next made her appearance, of a piece with the two former. The faggot presently crackled on the hearth ; a quarter of a sheep was laid on the coals to broil ; and the repast was speedily served up on the lid of an old chest, for want of a table, and covered with a remnant of the same piece of cloth worn as a petticoat by the female slave, which, it seemed not unlikely, had also once been employed in the same sort of service. It turned out in conversation, that the old gentleman had long resided in this sequestered spot far removed from all society; without wife or child, relation or friend, or any human being to converse with or confide in, except the old Hottentot and the slave, who were his only inmates, mid a tribe of Hottentots in straw without. With the ap- pearance of wretchedness and extreme poverty, he pos- sessed imni' nse herds of sheep and cattle, and had seve- ral large sums of money placed out at interest, lie was Jitr-rally *,vhM tl:r world has properly called a miser. In justice, ACCOUNT OF THE LATE \F. FULLER, ESQ.. 27 justice, however, to the old man, he was one of the civil- est creatures imaginable. On our return, we were much indebted to him for the assistance of his cattle, which he very obligingly sent forward to fall in with our waggons on the midst of the Karroo desert. It is singular enough, that a brother and sister of this man, botli old, and both unmarried, should each have their habitations in separate and distant corners of these mountains, and live, like him, entirely in the society of Hottentots: they are nearly related to one of the richest men in the Cape. In civilized countries the miser distin- guishes himself by refusing the necessaries of life. But, in Africa, as food is too plentiful to be an object of saving, the miser is only known, by his constant rejection of all life's ornaments and superfluities. THE LATE w. ruLLER, ESO. A Penurious Character. AH is gentleman, though he had no patrimony to com- mence with, eventually accumulated, by his own industry and parsimony aione, little less than half a million sterling. The father of Mr. Fuller, says the relator of these anec- dotes, as I have been informed, was a dissenting minister; and he himself, in the earlier part of his life, was the mas* ter of a reputable academy. But the practice of pounds, shillings and pence, was more congenial to his feelings than the theory: and when h-inking was far less common than in the present day, he relinquished the care of his academy, and established himself in this more profitable line. No- thing could exceed the miserable and miserly appearance of this man, arrayed, as he commonly was, in an old crimson velvet cap, and a suit of clothes for which no wandering Jew could have afforded him half-a-crown without being a loser. The confined and impure atmosphere of Lombard-street did not, however, agree with his health ; and he, like Elvves and others, was compelled to burden himself with the E '2 expense 28 ACCOUNT OF THE LATE expense of a country-house. This house, however, was. pot quite so large as those occupied by some monied mise- rables. It was a little cottage, or rather hut, as we are in- formed, in the hamlet of Ponder's End, just affording one parlour, and two chambers for himself and his son, who proved effectually to be bone of his own bone, by the equal avidity with which he uniied in the hunt after gold ; and who, dying a few years anterior to his own father, added his own bulky savings to those his father was already in possession of. In this rural retirement, a mutton chop a-piece, and a pint of porter between the two, formed an ample banquet for the day; and, like Sir Harvey Elwes and his nephew, wljen the evening darkened around them, they retired to bed to avoid the expense of candle- light. Old Fuller, nevertheless, did not, like the family of the Ei \ves_, exhibit in his own person the portrait of fa- mine : his form was less meagre than bloated, and inclined, in no inconsiderable degree, to that dropsical character un- der v\hich the Spanish poet, Ercilla,, has represented the insatiable passion of avarice. \Vhile the old man was able, he used to walk to town on foot every morning, and return into the country in the same manner every afternoon, as soon as the business of the day was transacted. But when he became debilitated by the in- firmities of age, it was necessary to travel either on horseback or in the stage, and to be attended by a servant to take care of him. 'i ins was altogether an expense which he was per- petually fearful would be the ruin of him; and particularly as, in consequence of the man's incapacity for writing, he could not be employed in the counting-house. To dimi- nish this expense, ;u some measure, he thought of an in- genious contrivance, and actually hired him out every day to a druggist, during the time cf his beirg in town, for the purpose of beating the mortar, engaging the druggist to provide him with a breakfast and dinner for the labour the 5 man W. FULLER, ESQ. 29 man thus performed. A very few years before his death, and when he was totally incapable of propagating his like- ness in any other way, he conceived a strange desire to have his portrait taken, and applied to an ingenious artist in the city, to this effect, in a dress of more than ordinary poverty, that he might be the better able to make a good bargain. Upon demanding the price of a three-quarter picture, the painter asked him seven guineas and a half. This the old miser thought a most enormous sum, and de- clared himself totally unable to advance it with conveni- ence. He offered five guineas ; and the artist, who was at that time in want of business, at length agreed to his pro- posal, and took his address. On the ensuing morning he paid him his first visit, and was astonished to find that the man who had applied to him in a state of such apparent in- digence was the wealthy and well-known William Fuller. O *' Having made the bargain, nothing, however, remained for him but to fulfil it; and this he did so much to the satis- faction of the old banker, that he requested, as a particular favor, that the artist would take it home and make two copies from the original painting. The young artist rea- dily assented ; and, upon producing the whole together, Fuller offered him the rive guineas for which he had at rirst agreed. The painter, however, demanded fifteen, being- five for each picture. Fuller was extremely indignant* and declared that he was most unconscionably imposed upon ; that the original agreement was for five ; and that, as to the copies, they were to be given him as a matter of favor. The painter, nevertheless, would not relax, and he threw him the money with most abusive wrath. In a manner not dissimilar, he once sallied forth for a physician of eminence, to attend, as he told linn, a poor sick woman, who was aa object of reul charity, and whom he largely contributed to support. The physician accompa- nied this truly charitable man, and found, on an old mat- trass 30 ACCOUNT OF THE LATE \V. FULLER, E5g. trass in a garret, with a most scanty supply of furniture and nourishment, the woman referred to, who, from age and infirmities, it was very plain, had nearly numbered her days. He prescribed for her, was most heartily thanked by his employer, and earnestly requested to repeat his visits daily; but beyond these hearty thanks, he never received one farthing : and yet the reader will be astonished to learn, as the physician was himself on his first discovery of the fact, that this indigent old woman, who was so truly an object of chanty, was no less than the very sister of the pe- nurious hero of our tale. It should be stated, to the honor of the executors of this extraordinary miser, that the physician here referred to has been lately remunerated in a more solid and satis factor} 7 manner than by the empty gift of thanks. The fact alluded to, concerning his having retained his clerks upon lower wages than were offered in any other banking-house in the city, by promising them legacies upon his decease, is a well known truth : promises, nevertheless, which he adhered to in no one instance whatsoever. His will he drew up himself, to save the expense of employing an attorney, and upon the scrap of an old letter, one night, as it is supposed, \\hen he was at his lodgings in the coun- try, but of \\hich no one was apprized at the time; and in this extraordinary manner he bequeathed the enormous sum of very liule less than five hundred thousand pounds, accumulated by an equal proportion of industry and ava.- ricc. And vet it is said that even this miser, as well as some others of recent date, did not pass through life without his good deeds; and that if he were unjust to those immediately around him, lie was occasionally generous to strangers, and exercised some few acts of charitable contribution. If this be true, and it has been mentioned from quarters that prohibit doubt, it only demonstrates, by an additional example, the resemv blarice OF THE SPHYNX. 31 blance of all extremes ; and teaches us that it is easier for the miser, as well as for the spendthrift, for William Fuller as well as Charles Surface to be generous than to be just. OF THE SPHYNX. JLJLAVING chosen this hieroglyphical figure as an embellish- ment to our cover, and though the Sphynx has been a com- mon ornament in all Egyptian architecture, it may be here proper to notice, that the whole and individual figure which we have chosen to represent, is accurately taken from the celebrated monument of Egyptian antiquity which is still to be seen about sixty yards to the right of the great pyramid, from the eastern point, and opposite Cairo. This enor- mous figure, carved out of one stone, was considerably di- minished in its bulk by the accumulation of sand, till the industry of the French had lately uncovered more of this figure than had been seen for centuries past. The most of its features have been mutilated by different barbarians from time to time ; its face, perfectly Nubian, still preserves a considerable degree of feminine beauty ; it has no breasts, neither aie the feet visible; and as the rock seems to have been cut fur the particular purpose of exhibiting the back of a lion, this representation is said to intimate that when the sun passes from Leo into Virgo, the increase of the Nile is sure to follow. The height of the Sphynx is 26 feet, the circumference of the head J2, v.'hi'e the length of the back is supposed to be nearly (JO feet. But relative to the supposition of a subterraneous passage from thence to the pyramids, it is proved tot'^'v unfounded. A very elegant print has hitely been published of the Sphynx in tius metro- polis. Ejctraor- ( 32 ) ^Extraordinary Bi LL of FARV,, furnished at the Bush Tavern, Bristol, for Christmas 1 789. r l^ .1 URTLI', British turtle, giblet soup, pease soup, gravy soup, 9 cod, 5 turbots, 7 brills, 8 carp, 2 perch, 1 new salmon, 3 plaice, '200 herrings, sprats, 29 soles, 32 eels, salt fish, 5 docs, 36 hares, 18 pheasants, 2 grouse, 29 partridges, 90 wild ducks, 4 wild geese, 28 teal, 24 \\igeon, 5 bald coots, 1 sea pheasant, 2 mews, 12 moor hens, 1 water dab, 5 curlews, 1 bittern, 121 woodcocks, 67 snipes, 8 wild turkies, 12 golden plovers, 17 quists, 5 land rails, 6 galenas, 4 pea hens, 16 pigeons, 110 larks, 24 stares, 98 small birds, 44 turkies, 24 capons, 13 ducks, 7 geese, 62 chickens, 14 ducklings, 8 rabbits, 5 pork griskins, 14 veal burrs, 2 roasting pigs. Oysters, stewed and scol- loped, eggs, 15 hogs' puddings, Scotch collops, veal cut- lets, harricoed mutton, maintenon chops, pork chop?, mutton chops, rump steaks, sausages, tripe, cow-heel, 4 house lambs. Veal, 5 legs and a loin. Beef, 7 rumps, 1 sirloin, and 5 ribs. Mutton, 14 haunches, 8 necks, and 4 legs. Pork, 4 loins, 1 leg, 2 chines, and 2 spare-ribs. Cold, Baron of Beef, 2 c. 3 qrs. Jib. 3 hams, 4 tongues, 6 chickens, 11 collars brawn, 2 rounds beef, collared veal and mutton, collared eels, hearts, tongues, French pies, 560 minced pies, 10 tarts, 211 jellies, 200 cray fish, pickled salmon, 7 crabs, sturgeon, pickled oysters, pot- ted partridge, potted pigeons, 24 lobsters, and 44 barrel? P_yfleet and Colchester oysters. V.IIIMSICAL 1NTRIIMENT. Extract of a L,clter from Thcrton, in Devonshire ; dated January 9, 1746. l\JLiiS. WKKKES, an aged gentlewoman, of a peculiar turn of mind, was buried here last Sunday : she was car- ried to her grave by six men, whose wives supported the pall, A PAIR OF PORTRAITS. 33 pall, and wore hoods and belts made of dowlas, of about thirteen pence a yard, tied with white tape : the men had gloves, haif-a-crown each, and a quart of cider heated with ginger; her servant-maid was mourner in chief, and followed the corpse in a hood and scarf of the order above ; the minister (who had half-a-guinea and a pair of gloves) and the coffin-maker led the way ; and no other persons were invited to the funeral. The procession began about nine in the morning ; but not a tear was shed on the occa- sion, as the peculiarity of the sight rather excited mirth than grief. Though she was buried at nine, as above, six persons attended with lighted flambeaux, and wore dowlas hatbands, and were rewarded with thirteenpence halfpenny eacli for their trouble. Mrs. Weekes's funeral was agree- able to her life, which was a series of whim and incon- sistency, and that the last effort of a singular vanity." A PAIR, OF PORTRAITS. IRATELY died, at her house in Canterbury, Mrs. Celestina Collens, widow, aged 70. Although possessing an in- come of 70 per annum, her habits of life were singu- larly disgusting, her disposition and peculiarities so ex- centric, that she may be truly said to have verified the old adage, de giistibus nil disputandum ,- that is, there is no disputing about tastes. During many years her constant companions were from sixteen to twenty fowls, whose ordure defiled as well her bed and every article of her furniture, as the plate out of which she ate ; a favorite cock, whose age might be cal- culated from his spurs, being three inches long, and an equally favored rat, were for a length of time constant attendants at her table. Her predilection for vermin prevailed so much, that, at her death, a nest of mice was found in her bed. The house where she resided, besides the room in which she VOL. j. P constantly 34 INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF constantly lived and slept, contained two others, that had not been permitted to be opened for many years. .Among the bequests in her will, are 50 to the Kent and Canterbury Hospitals; the same sum to the parish of St. Peter; 5 to the minister of the parish for a funeral sermon, and one guinea to each of the persons who should carry her to the grave ; besides many other legacies, ge- nerally to persons in no degree related to her. And a few days after, aged about 43, in the parish of Frees, in the county of Salop, a very singular character, of the name of Booth. He was by trade a cobbler; had existed (for he could hardly be said to have lived, having deprived himself of common necessaries) upwards of twenty years in a miserable hut, the roof of which had fallen in some time ago. He was about six feet two or three inches high ; very pale and meagre, his voice weak and feminine, and had no beard either on his lip or chin. In an old box in his possession, there were found upwards of thirty love letters and valentines, which he had received from different females in the neighbourhood ; and also money and bonds to the amount of near 500. The for- mer, no doubt, were the effects of sport among the fair sex; to whom such characters appear, beyond measure, ridiculous. Interesting' Particulars of GEORGE FORSTER, lately exe- cuted for the MURDER of his WIFE and CHILD, by drowning them in the New Canal at Paddington. JLius unhappy malefactor was tried at the Old Bailey, on Friday, January 14, 1803, and was one of the very few instances of persons convicted upon circumstantial evi- dence only : though on the morning of his execution, on Monday following, he confessed his crime, and the justice of his sentence ; and frankly owned, that he actually pushed GEORGE FORSTER, FOR MURDER. 35 pushed -his \vife and child into the river. Forster was about 6 years of age, a coach-harness maker by trade, and of a strong athletic make. A very uncommon circumstance is said to have occurred to Forster, at the Chapel in Newgate, previous to his receiving the sacrament, usual with con- demned criminals; a sudden noise being then heard, which could not be accounted for, the minister started, and look- ing at the criminal, who was much agitated ; and, at the same time, exclaiming " Jf hat can that be!" Forster replied " 'Tis my wife, and she has not left me a moment since 1 murdered her." Forster, it is observed, never ate any food from the time of his condemnation till his execution. And v\hat renders the exit of this criminal infinitely more interesting than it otherwise might have been, is the Gal- vanic experiments which were performed upon his body, and which were the first of the kind ever made in this country. Leave, it seems, was granted for this purpose, through the medium of Mr. White, Surgeon to his Majesty, to Professor Aldiui, an Italian gentleman, inheritor of this science, from his uncle, Laiigi Galvani, Professor of Ana- tomy; the particulars of which, with the outline of the his- tory of the surprising art of Galvanism, are to be found in the following pages. The science of Galvanism, which may be called a stronger degree of electricity, being new to the greatest part of the world, the carious will rejoice to hear, that, from the recent experiments of Professor Aldini, upon the body of Forster, above-mentioned, it is generally in- ferred, that the process luiviug such power to agitate the muscles and even the limbs of the dead; applied to the living, it is highly probable, that some stubborn dis- orders in the human ^economy, which have hitherto baffled all other means, may yield to this new discovery ; and thus, justly, enhance the importance of Galvanism. F 2 From 36 EXPERIMENTS ON THE BODY From a perusal of the account of these late experiments (lasting seven hours and a half), published by Professor Aldini; it appears, that a hand of the deceased, was made to move, lift up, and clench the fist, and an eye seen to open, the legs and thighs set in motion; and all this, some hours after his death had been inflicted. It is also to be noticed, that these were the first experiments of Galva- nism ever tried in this country, or upon the body of any person that had been hanged. Nor were Mr. Aldini' s experiments begun till the body of Forster had been ex- posed for a whole hour in a temperature, two degrees be- low the freezing point of Fahrenheit's thermometer ; at the end of which long interval, it was conveyed to a house not far distant, where Mr. Aldini was in waiting, to com- mence his operations. In the course of this process we find, that, to assist the Galvanic conductor, volatile alkali was applied to the nostrils and mouth ; incisions made in the wrist; the short muscles of the thumb dissected, and lastly, the thorax, or stomach, and the pericardium opened, and the heart exposed. But here the endeavours to excite action in the ventricles were without success. Salt-water was also applied by the Pro- fessor to several parts of the body, as a stimulant, but the longer the experiments lasted, the weaker they became in their effects ; though Mr. Aldini had no doubt, but that if his apparatus had been stronger, the muscular motion of the dead body might have been much longer continued, and from the whole of the process upon Forster, he concludes : 1st. That Galvanism, considered by itself, exerts a con- siderable power over the nervous and muscular systems, and operates universally on the whole of the animal (Economy. 2d. That the power of Galvanism, as a stimulant, is stronger than any mechanical action whatever. 3d. That the effects of Galvanism on the human frame differ from those pro- duced by electricity communicated with common electrical 4 machines. OF GEORGE FORSTER, FOR MURDER, 37 machines. 4th, That Galvanism, whether administered by means of troughs or piles, differs in its effects from those pro- duced by the simple metallic coatings employed by Galvani, (its original discoverer). 5th. That when the surfaces of the nerves and muscles are armed with metallic coatings, the in- fluence of the Galvanic batteries is conveved to a greater * o number of points, and acts with considerably more force in producing contractions of the muscular fibre. 6th. That the action of Galvanism on the heart is different from that on other muscles. For when the heart is no longer suscep- tible of the Galvanic influence, the other muscles remain still excitable for a certain time. It is also remarkable that the action produced by Galvanism on the auricles is different from that produced on the ventricles of the heart, as is de- monstrated in Experiment the tenth. 7th. That Galvanism affords very powerful means of resuscitation in cases of suspended animation under common circumstances. The remedies already adopted in asphyxia, drowning, &c. when combined with the influence of Galvanism, will produce much greater effect than either of them separately. Mr. Aldini concludes with a short but accurate account of the appearances exhibited on the dissection of the body, which was performed with the greatest care and precision by Mr. Carpue. " The blood in the head was not extra- vasated, but several vessels were prodigiously swelled, and the lungs were entirely deprived of air; there was a great inflammation in the intestines, aiid the bladder was fully distended with urine. In general, upon viewing the body, it appeared that death had been immediately produced by a real suffocation." The Professor employs much acute reasoning to prove, that the first application of Galvanism to drowned persons, would almost generally ensure their safe recovery : and re- lative to the assistance he received from the Members of the College of Surgeons, he expresses his heartfelt gratitude. To S3 INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF GALVANISM. To improve these trials, lie adds, that Mr. Keate, the Master, in particular, proposed to make comparative ex- periments ou animals, in order to give support to the de- ductions resulting from those on the human body. Mr. Bliche observed, that on similar occasions it would be pro- per to immerse the body in a warm salt b.ilh, in order to ascertain how far that poweiful and extended coating might promote the action of Galvanism on the vvhole surface of the body. Dr. Pearson recommended oxjgen gas to be substituted instead of the atmospheric air blown into the lungs. Mr. Aidini observes, it gives me great pleasure to have an opportunity of communicating these observations to the public, in justice to the emment characters who suggested them ; a.id, as an inducement to physiologists, not to overlook the minutest circumstance which may tend to improve experiments that promise so greatly to relieve the sufferings of mankind. For a clear and concise history of this interesting dis- covery, our Readers are referred to the following parti- culars : About forty years since, Sutzer and Cottuni made some evident advances in this science; yet, Vassale, a Member of the Academy of Turin, published a variety of experi- ments upon if, in l?8y. But it was reserved for another, to throw new light upon this important subject. Luigi Galvani, Professor of Anatomy, in the University of Bologna, after interrogating nature with all the patience and ability of a philosopher, communicated her re- sponses, bv pronouncing the existence of an electrico-ani- mal fluid. In his celebrated Book, " De viribits electrici- talls in mctu musculari" lie describes the various facts col- lected by him, in consequence of long and scientific re- searches. The first thing that arrested his attention, was the contractions manifested by a frog, every time that a spark was drawn from an electrical machine, provided the crural GALVANISM CONNECTED WITH ELECTRICITY. 39 crural nerves of the animal were touched at the same period with the blade of a knife. I?y repeating and varying this experiment, he was persuaded that these contractions did not proceed from any mechanical irritation, and he con- cluded that the phenomena were occasioned by the influence of electricity alone. In the course of his labours, being anxious to ascertain whether natural and artificial electricity produced the same effects, he placed an animal, prepared for this purpose, so as to communicate with a conductor, and every time that a cloud charged with lighcning passed over his house, the living subject notified the event by violent spasms. Soon after this, he was led in the course of his enquiries to con- clude, that there existed two kinds of fluids in the animal system ; the one, negative in the muscles, and the other positive in the nerves. Further researches conducted him to the irritation excited by the operation of metals in con- tact, or the muscles when they were placed so as to com- municate with the external part of the nerve. Anterior to the demise of Galvani, (\\hich occurred De- cember 4, 1798), Valli, a physician of Pisa, still further developed this new theory; he termed the conductor of the Professor of Bologna, an excitator, as exciting the nervous fluid, or the nerve itself to produce certain results ; he also demonstrated the close resemblance, or rather identity of the Galvanic with the Franklinian system. The philosophers now took different sides, and while Fontana, an Italian, asserted that the phenomena did not proceed from electricity, Lamethrie, a Frenchman, main- tained in the Journal de Physique, (42 d vol.) that there was no difference whatever betwe 'ii the two powers, ex- cept that the one was weaker than the other. Gaillard, the countryman of the latter, endeavoured to arrange the metals in the express ratio of their action on the animal ceconomy; and 5 according to him, they rank in the following 40 PROFESSOR ALDlNl'g WORKS. following order : Zink, tin, lead, antimony, bismuth, copper, mercury, and silver. Dr. Aldini, an Italian Professor, is the nephew of Gal- vani. He has not only superintended the experiments that have lately taken place, and which have been repealed and varied a thousand different ways on the Continent, but writ- ten several Treatises on this subject, viz. 1. De animali electricitate dissertationes duae; 2. Del' uso e dell' attivita dell' arco conduttore nelle contrazioni dei mnscoli ; and, 3. Memorie sulla electricita animale di Luigi Galvani, &c. In line, many novel and extraordinary phenomena have been produced in consequence of this recent discovery. The legs of men and horses, a considerable time after se- paration from their respective bodies, have been excited to motion, and the dormouse has been aroused out of its win- ter's sleep, and irritated before the approach of summer, into premature action. How far future researches may reach, it is impossible to determine ; as it appears, however, at present, that the Galvanic susceptibility survives unaltered, in certain cases of suffocation, some practical good may be already derived from it, as although it does not apply to the general practice of medicine, it may yet be employed with suc- cess, in that branch under the immediate protection of the Humane Society. It should be noticed, that the present Professor Aldini, is the nephew of Galvani, the author of the discovery; and that the former has already exhibited his experiments at Oxford; at Mr. Wilson's Anatomical Theatre in Lou- don ; and at St. Thomas's and Guy's Hospitals. The Lecturers and Pupils of which, have presented the Pro- fessor with a gold medal, in honorable testimony of their approbation. The art of Galvanism, however, is still in its infancy; but it will be the province of this Museum, to report every thing new and striking. CURIOUS CURIOUS ACCOUNT OP MERMAIDS. J. HOUGH the existence of this creature has been ques- tioned by many persons, it has only been in consequence of false accounts which have been mingled with the true. The most ingenious and impartial investigators of natural history, have now rescued the truth from a mixture of error. Some of the latest writers have more consistently called this creature the Sea Ape. In the sea of Angola, we learn, that they are frequently caught, as the negroes eat their flesh, which is said to eat like pork. When taken, they are heard to shriek and cry like women. And in the Universal Dictionary, published by John Theodore Jablonsky, we find the following description of them : Meer-man, Meer-weib, Meer-minne, that is ? Sea-man, Mer-maid, or Siren, called by the Indians, Am- bisiangulo, otherwise Pesiengoni, and by the Portuguese, Pezz Muger, is a fish found in the seas, and some rivers in the southern parts of Africa and India, and in the Phili- pine and Molucca islands, Brazil, North America, and Eu- rope, in the North Sea. The length of this fish is eight spans, its head is oval, and the face resembles that of a man. It has an high forehead, little eyes, a flat nose, and large mouth, but has no chin or ears. It has two arms, which are short, but without joints or elbows, with hands (which are not very flexible), connected to each other by a membrane, like that of the foot of a goose. Their sex is distinguished by the parts of generation. The females have breasts to suckle their offspring ; so that the upper part of their body resembles that of the human species, and the lower part that of a fish. Their skin is of a brownish grey colour, and their intestines are like those of a hog. Their flesh is as fat as pork, particularly the VOL. i. G uppe 42 CURIOUS ACCOUNT upper part of their bodies ; and this is a favorite dish with the Indians, broiled upon a gridiron. Our author proceeds thus : As I may safely give credit to this person, namely, the Rev. Mr. Peter Angel, who is still living, and minister of the parish of Vand-Elvens Speld, on Sundmoer, I shall relate what he assured me of last year, when I was on my visitation journey. He says, that in the year 17 19, (he being then about twenty years old), along with several other inhabitants of Alstahoug in Norland, saw what is called a mer-man, lying dead on a point of land near the sea, which had been cast ashore by the waves, along with several sea-calves, and other dead fish. The length of this creature was much greater than what has been mentioned of any before ; namely, above three fathoms. It was of a dark grey colour all over ; in the lower part it was like a fish, and had a tail like that of the porpesse. The face resembled that of a man, with a mouth, forehead, eyes, &c. The nose was flat, and as it were, pressed down to the face, in which the nostrils have ever been visi- ble. The breast was not far from the head ; the arms seemed to hang by the side, to which they were joined by a thin skin or membrane. The hands were, to appearance, like the paws of a sea-calf. The back of this creature was very fat, and a great part of it was cut off, which, with the liver, yielded a large quantity of train oil. That this crea- ture, which is reckoned among the whale kind, is a fish of prey, and lives upon the smaller sort, may be concluded, from what Mr. Luke Debes relates, in his description of Faroe. He tells us that they have there seen a mer-maid with fish which she held in her hand. The words are in p. 171, as follows : There was also seen in 1670, at Faroe, westward of Quelboe Eide by many of the inhabitants, as also by others from different parts of Suderoe, a mer-maid close to the shore. She stood there two hours and a half, and was up to the navel in water ; she had long hair on her head, OF MERMAIDS. 43 head, which hung down to the surface of the water all round about her; she held a fish with its head downwards, in her right hand. I was told also, that in the same year, the fishermen in Western) an-haven, on Stromoe, had, in their fishery north of Faroe, seen a mer-maid. That these creatures being fish of prey, sometimes quar- rel with the sea-calf, is confirmed by a relation sent me, with sevei-al others, by the Rev. Mr. Hanstrom, at Bergen. It runs to this effect : " It happened at Nerae, in Nume- dalen, that there was found a mer-rnan and sea-calf on a rock, both dead and all over bloody ; from which it is con- jectured that they had killed one another." In the year 1624, a mer-man, thirty-six feet, long, was taken in the Adriatic Sea ; according to Henry Seebald's Breviar Histor. to this the last mentioned, was but a dwarf. See p. 535. As to their form, it is said, that some have a skin over their heads like a monk's hood, which, perhaps, serves them for the same purpose ; as does the skinny hood, which a certain sort of sea-calves have on their heads, winch from thence are called Klap-mitzer, as has been ob- served in the description of that creature. Olaus Magnus speaks, in lib. xxi. cap. 1 . of several monsters in the North Sea, all which resemble thehuman kind, withamonk'shood on the head. His words are, " Cucullate hominis forma ;" he adds, that if any of this company be catched, a number of them set up a howl, put themselves in violent agitations, and oblige the fishermen to set the prisoner at liberty. But this last article is a mere romance, to which this too credu- lous author in this, as well as some other particulars, has given too much credit, without sufficient grounds. Of this mer-man with a hood, Rondeletius writes thus, in Gesner.de Aquatilibus, lib. iv, which I ought not to omit. As this account confounds Norway with the Sound, and Malmoe, which the Dutch call the Elbow, I conclude this strange fish here spoken of, to have been just the same with that which Arild llvitfield in vita Christ, iii ad anno 44 ASTONISHING DELIVERANCE anno 1550, speaks of. He says it was caught in Oresund, and brought to Copenhagen, and there burned by his Majesty's orders, because the head resembled that of a human crea- ture, with cropped hair, and covered with a monk's hood. There is yet a difference observed in this mer-man or mer- maid's lower parts and the tail. These are represented in most of the drawings, with fins like other fish, and with a flat and divided tail, something like that of the porpesses ; from this, that print of a Siren, which Thorn. Barthol. gives us in Historia. Anatomica. centur. ii. No. IX, page 188, differs entirely; for the lower extremity is there re- presented with a round protuberance, without the least sign of a fin, or any thing like the tail of a fish. Astonishing Deliverance from imminent Danger in the Case of a Fowler, on the Coast between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. (Related by the Rev. W. GILPIN.) rp JL HE hazardous occupation of a Fowler, once led him into a case of great distress; this being in the day-time, it shews still greater danger of such expeditions in the night. Mounted on his mud-pattens (flat pieces of board tied on his feet), he was traversing one of these midland plains in quest of ducks ; and being intent only on his game, he suddenly found the waters, which had been brought for- ward with uncommon rapidity, by some peculiar circum- stances of tide and current, had made an alarming pro- o-ress around him. Incumbered as his feet were, he O could not exert much expedition ; but to whatever part he ran, he found himself completely invested by the tide. In this uncomfortable situation, a thought struck him, as the only hope of safety. He retired to that part of the plain, which seemed the highest, from its being yet uncovered by water ; and, striking the barrel of his o-un (which, for the purpose of shooting wild fowl, was very long) deep into the mud, he resolved to hold fast ASTONISHING CASE OF A FOWLER. 45 lu^t by it, as a support, as well as a security against the waves, and to wait the ebbing of the tide. A common tide, he had no reason to believe would not, in that place, hove reached above his middle; but as this was a spring- tide, and brought forward with a strong westerly wind, he durst hardly expect so favourable a conclusion ; in, the midst of this reasoning on the subject, the water making a rapid advance, had now reached him. It covered the ground on which he stood, it rippled over his feet, it gained his knees, his waist, button after button, swallowed up, till at length it advanced over his very shoulders; with a palpitating heart, he gave himself up for lott. Still, however, he held fast by his anchor. His eye was eagerly in search of some boat, which might accidentally take its course that way ; but none appeared. A solitary head, floating on the water, and sometimes covered by a wave, was no object to be de- scribed from the shore, at a distance of half a league; nor could he exert any sounds of distress, that could be heard so far. While he was thus making up his mind, as the exigence would allow, to the terrors of a certain destruction, his attention was called to a new object. He thought he saw the uppermost button of his coat be- gin to appear. No mariner, floating on a wreck, could behold a cape at sea, with greater transport, than he did the uppermost button of his coat. But the fluctuation of the water was such, and the turn of the tide so slow, that it was yet some time before he durst venture to assure himself, that the button was fairly above the level of the flood. At length however a second button appearing at intervals, his sensations may rather be conceived, than described; and his joy gave him spirit and resolution, to support his uneasy situation four or five hours longer, till the waters fully retired. No. II. ii Circum- [ 46 J Circumstantial Evidence. .BOUT forty years ago, at one of the provincial As- sises, a gentleman was tried and convicted, upon circum- stantial evidence of the murder of his niece. The cir- cumstances sworn to were as follow: That the uncle and niece were seen walking in the fields ; that a person at a small distance heard the niece exclaim " Don't kill me, uncle ! Don't kill me!" and. that instant a pistol or fowling-piece was fired off. Upon these circumstances the gentleman was convicted and executed. Near twelve months after, the niece, who had eloped, arrived in Eng- land, and hearing of the affair, elucidated the whole transaction. It appeared that she had formed an attach- ment 'for a person whom her uncle disapproved : when walking in the fields, he was earnestly dissuading her from the connexion, when she replied <{ That she was resolved to have him, or it would be her death, and there- fore said, Don't kill me, uncle! Don't kill me!" At the moment she uttered these words, a fowling-piece was 'discharged by a sportsman in a neighbouring field. The same night she eloped from her uncle's house, and the combination of those suspicious ciremnstanceSj occa- sioned his ignominious death. Account q/'GiANTb: from a Memoir lately r^ml before, the, Acadc,;>y of Sciences at Rouen. By M. LE CAT. rr\ I nr Bible mentions several races of Giant,:, as the Rephaims, the Anakiins, the Emims, the Zoi ^ -rums., and others. Profane historians also r~or.tica Giants ; they gave seven feet of height to Hercules their first hero, and in our days we have seen men eight feet high. The giant who was hhewn hi Rouen, ui 1735, measured eiirht feet sowo inches; the Emperor Max hnian was of ACCOUNT OF GIANTS. 47 that size; Skenhius and Plateries, physicians of the last century, saw several of that stature; and Goropius saw a girl that was ten feet high. The body 1 of Orestes, according to the Greeks, was eleven feet and a half; the giant Galbora, brought from Arabia to Home under Claudius Caesar, was near ten feet; and the bones of Secondilla and Pusio, keepers of the gardens of Sallust, were but six inches shorter. Funnani, a Scotsman, who lived in the time of Eugene the second, king of Scotland, measured eleven feet and a half; and Jacob le Mairc, in his voyage to the Streight of Magellan, reports, that on the 17th of Dec. 1615, they found at Port Desire several graves covered with stones, and having the curiosity to remove the stones, they dis- covered human skeletons often and eleven feet long. The: Chevalier Scory, in his voyage to the Pike of Tencri^Fe, says, that they found in one of the sepulchral caverns of that mountain, the head of a Guanche, which had eighty teeth, and that the body was not less than iiftcen feet long. The giant Ferragus, slain by Orlando, nephew of Char- lemain, was eighteen feet high. Ixevland, a celebrated anatomist who wrote in 1G14, savs, ijiat some years before there was to be seen in the suburbs of St. Germain, the tomb of the giant Isoret, who was tvvcntv feet high. In liouen, in 1,309, in digging in the ditches near the Dominicamo, they found a stone tomb containing a ske- J O leton, whose skull held a bushel of corn, and whose shin hone reached up to the girdle of the tallest man there: being about four feet long, and consequently the body must have been seventeen or eighteen feet high ; upon the tomb was a plate of copper, whereon was engraved, '-' In this tomb lies the noble and Puissant Lord, the Chevalier Iluon cle Vullemont, and his bone;-." Plateru.3, n C 2 a famous 48 ACCOUNT OF f.IAXTS. a famous physician, declared that he sa\v at Lucarne t\\r true human bones; of a subject, which must have been at least nineteen feet high. Valance, in Dauphine, boasts of possessing the bones of the giant Bucart, tvrant of the Vivarais, who was slain by an arrow by the Count de Cabillon, his Vassal. The Dominicans had a part of the shin bone, with the/irticu- lalion of the knee, and his figure painted in fresco, with., an incriptiou shewing that this giant was twentv-two Icet and a half high, and that his bones were found in 170."; Dear the banks of the Morderi, a little river at the foot of tlie mountain of (.'r*i>ol, upon which (tradition says), the &- r iant dwelt. v 1 January 1 1, I6l;>, some masons digging near the ruin< ui' a castle inl)auphine,in a field* which (by tradition) had long been called the giant's field, at the depth of eighteen feet discover d a brick tomb thirtv feet long, tv.elve fe;s, and the head of that animal hath not the least resemblance with that of a man: if it be true, there- lore,, that a ^reat number of the . A statue of a woman sitting on the ground, of black granite; between the feet is a mom-l of the capital of a column of a temple of Isis, at Dendera. 17. A fragment of a statue with a lion's head, black granite, from Lpper Egypt. A chest of oriental manuscripts, amounting to sixty- two, (."optic, Arabic, and Turkish, belonging 1.0 the library of the French Insiiiuie at. Cairo. W. TnSN'EI!., Col. aud Cap i. of Guards. Surprising [ 51 ] . Surprising Faculty of sustaining EXTREME HEAT and COLD. Till within a vory short period since, the customs and manners of no parts of the world have been less known, than those of the North. The scenes of luxury which you have described in your last number, in the fete given by Prince Potemkin, and the Winter Garden at Petersburg!! would, were they not well authenticated, appear almost incredible; but that the Nor- thern regions are the theatre of some other extremes not less striking, will probably appear from the following sketch of Vapour Bathing in Finland, as witnessed by a very ingenious and intelligent traveller. Your's S. S. -/XLMOST all tlic Finnish peasants have a small house built on purpose for a bath; it consists of only one small chamber) in the innermost part of which are placed a number of stones, which are heated by fire till they be- come red. On these stones, thus heated, water is thrown until the company within be involved in a thick cloud of vapour. In this innermost part the chamber is formed into two stories for the accommodation of a great number of persons within that small compass; and it being- the nature of heat and vapour to ascend, the second story is of course the hottest. Men and women use the bath pro- miscuously, without any concealment of dress or being in tbe least influenced by any emotions of attachment. Though not in total darkness, yet they are in great cb- sc-uritv, as there is no other window besides a small hole, nor any light but what enters in from some clunks in the roof of the house, or the crevices between the pieces of wood of which it is constructed. The Finlanders, all the while they are in this hot- bath, continue to nil) themselves, and lash every part of their bodies with switches,, formed of the twigs of the birch 52 EXTREME HEAT AND COLD. birch trees. In ten minutes they become as red as raw flesh, and have altogether a very frightful appearance, In the winter season they will frequently go out of the bath, naked as they are, to roll themselves in the snow; and will sometimes come out, still naked and converse together, or with any one near them in the open air. If travellers happen to pass by, whilst the peasants of any hamlet, or little village, arc in the bath, and their assist- ance is needed, they will leave the bath, and assist, in yoking or unyoking, and fetching provender for the hor- ses, or any thing, without .any sort of covering whatever, while the passenger sits shivering with cold, though wrapped up in a good sound wolf's skin. There is noth- ing more wonderful than the extremities which man is capable of enduring through the power of habit. TheFinnish peasants pass thus instantaneously from an atmosphere of seventy degrees of heat, to one of thirty degrees cold, a transition of one hundred degrees, which is the same thing as going out of boiling into freezing watc-r; and what is more astonishing, without the least inconvenience J Those peasants assure you, that without the hot vapour baths they could not sustain, as they do, during tin* \\ holc dav, their various labours, J5y the bath thev tell you that their spirits are refreshed as much as by sleep. The heat of the vapour molifies to such a degree tiieir skin, that. the men easily shave themselves with wretched razors, and without soap. A FOREST under GROUND: rp JL n n remains of which are said to have been discover* rd in the course of the digging" of the .New Hocks in the Isle of ! 'o;;s, having excited the attention of the. curious, si;pp<'><'.l hv saline to be the greatest natural Curiosity' in this FOREST UNDER GHOU'ND. tliis empire, perhaps in Europe. All that is called anti- quity seems but a yesterday, compared with this' wonder- ful rain, of which there is no tradition whatsoever. Im- mense tree?, with their burl; uninjured,, although their trunks are rotten, glass, charcoal,, filbert shells, perfect human bones,, c;v. Sec. are amongst the contents of this unexplored subterranean. Rut with, due deference to the opinion here expressed, the idea of a forest under irround, in England,, is not altogether without a parrallel, Joseph Coriea de Seira, L. L. D. has latelv published a paper, in which speaking of a subterraneous marine forest on the eastern coast of Lincolnshire,, he observes,, the islands discoverable a t some distance from the coa^t of Lincolnshire, at the lowest ebbs, chiefly consist of roots, trunk-, and branches of trees, intermixed with leaves of aquatic plants; the bark and roots are fresh, but the timber, which is oak, birch, and fir,, soft, except at the knots ; the trunks and brandies considerably flattened. Leaves of the ilex aqui- toliii'.n and the willow, and the roots of the arundo phra- ein'tes, are distinguishable. These islets extend about twelve miles in length, and one in breadth, opposite to Sutton shore : the channels between them from four to twelve feet deep ; the strata around afford similar appear- ances of decayed vegetables; gravel and water are found at M nc hundred and forty feel below the present surface. Account of the laic SA:.U EL MATTHEWS of Duhcick, cuttJ/iiGtid/ called tlii.' V. ILD MAN of the WOODS ; in- c'liiUng /us Mann, / a/' l.h'ino- ///.- Murder on Tuesday Dec. '2:~, i\nd his l-ttcnncnt in 1'ic ~ra.:ud of Didj^ich C/iaiK-1, d( Tutsdu-.i Jan. G, 1803. ^ ^ ^ und 54 ACCOUNT OF SAMIT.L MATTHEWS. and inoffensive man, who has been so cruelly deprived of existence, we can assure our readers, that poor Mat- thews never was a professed gardener, though he had for so many years past, occasionally jobbed in the neigh- bourhood. The general obscurity of his origin, how- ever, is to be accounted for chiefly from his constant re- luctance to the answering of all questions put to him on the subject. It was, perhaps, the only thing to which he alwavs shewed a disposition for leaving the enquirer unsatisfied, and in ihe dark ; but from good information upon the spot, we leuni that when Matthews first made his appearance in that part of the country, he was com- paratively a person of genteel address, and in the habits every wav corresponding He not only dressed well, but was remarkable for wearing two watches, and was also possessed of property; as for a considerable time before he took to living in the cave, his cloaths, Sec. were de- posited at. the house of a widow woman at Norwood, who used to dress his victuals; but as a difference took place between them, and the poverty of Matthews seemed to follow as an immediate consequence, it has been conjectured that her conduct might have been ac- cessary to this change, though the loss of his wife was not (infrequently indicated by the deceased, as having vorne distant intluen-'c upon the solitary course of life which he afterwards adopted. Previous to Matthews':- arrival in that neighbourhood, it. is also understood that he had lived with some trades- man near Cheapsicle : probably when he first caine from Shropshire, in which county he was born. When 1)!.' v, as iirsi known as a person in di-trcss at Sv- duuhi-.in and .Duiwich, and attempted to take up bis re- sidence as a native of the wood, he experienced consi- derable opposition from some ot ihe inhabitants, v, ho repeatedly had him seuL avr.iy as: a vagrant; but as he continually ACCOUNT OF SAMUEL MATTHEWS. 55 continually returned again as soon as lie was set at liber- ty,, they at length suffered Iiiiu to dig his cave aud re- main, as he chose, without anv interruption. The simplicity of his manners and appearance, and the inofFensivencss of his behaviour, very soon con- vinced the people about Duhvieh, that they had nothing lo fear from him. He seldom entered into conversation u ith any person unless lirst accosted bv them ; but was very often observed talking to himself, and in his lonely walks, generally looking towards the ground. When he came to he more kno\vn bv the people about Dulwich, ir v. as his common custom to salute them by the name of neighbour, and after the first introduction to a dis- course, repugnance felt on either side, insensibly wore off, and in a very short time there were very few of his visitors, but, generally speaking, found themselves as easy as if they had been acqua nted with this solitary ^nan, for a number of years. Still, though dwelling in this lonely state, and in a part of the neighbourhood, then less frequented than any other, his residence, and the reports of those who visited him, at length brought so many people to the place, es- pecially on Sundays, that the v, ay to his cave, though at first iu an obscure, or rather unfrequented spot, for some years past, was nearly as well knoun, and as often traversed as some turnpike roads. I n fact, enquiries after the II ihl Man of the IVooih, as he was then called, were so often repeated by strangers, that it at length be- came necessary for the people that knew him, to point out to sueh at a distance, a clump of birch trees, close to his cave; and which being once known, served as a kind of land-mark, naturally leading to the object of enquiry. But though "Matthews'* Cine, has been the subject of so much curiosity and observation, he was literally an i 2 inhabitant 56 MATTIIEWS'S MANNER OF LIVING. inhabitant of the Wood ; as all his culinary and ordina- ry avocations were performed in the opo.i air. There in the manner of the Gypsies, he kindled his fire, there he hoilecl his meat, and to the branches of a tree, or to the foilage of a bush was the bread and cheese geiu '-ral- ly suspended, which lie always brought out when visited on Sundays., and at other times: while, the neighbouring brake or fern covered his bo; tics of beer from the eye ot the officious or intrusive wanderer ; and which, on the contrary, were always within the ken and comprehension of the observing recluse, who having but very tV.w ob- jects to divert his attention, was never at a loss to distin- guish them with the utmost ease and promptitude. But whatever was Matthews'* motive for sparing hhr- pcl:. the convenience of a knife, fork, or plates, yet a,v he would say, '"' so it va-."--- liis method at least at first,, was, after lie had boiled his meat (having no conve- nieKcy to roast) to turn U cur. into the pol lid' in lieu of a, plate, and then to krr.r.v or tear it \vith his lingers ; and as ibr his bread, lie always made a practice of pulling or tearing it to piece.-. Una the accumulation of monev been any part of his object, there is no ciouht of his obtaining it. Many iesp<~ ct:;h;e lYuriihes seni him gifts at Chi'Mnuts ; but the love of money was not predominant in. bin', as lie would very frequently rcii;se it when ojfered him. To p.uiny, to mv.;i. of his summer visitors, he may be said to have sold his brrad and l.^x-r ; otliers ii>;wcvcr, have partaken oi' it, wiihoi.t beiiig i;sl;ed ior, ar.d T ,\iM!or.t oiV' rivM.; inm any recotnj^enfi^. To the reiication of drinkin;:', it \vas not a rare., but a rr:n:;-:nf practice of Matthews s visitors to ha\e recourse to J-.moaking of tobacv'o ; but in this cussosn lie never join f -<-!, oh>-oi^in f j to a friend that nscrl to visit liiin, thai. sinoukino: MATTHEWS'S MANNER OF LIVING. 57 smoaking was an indulgence he had never used since the death of his wile. In complexion rather meagre and sallow, Matthews \vas in some measure tunned Tor an enthusiast; but of religion or anv of its appendages little indeed was ever heard of from this solitary character. Even this, how- ever, like the reasons of his resolution lor living so much sequestered from society might have been a secret. But that another state of existence did sometimes occu- py his attention, is clear from his being at one time sur- prised by a. company who happened to approach him near has Cave, at the instant, when starting, he ex- claimed, " There are ten thousand going into Hell at this moment." A degree of earnestness, and something rather uncommon in his manner, at this time, says the rclator of this anecdote, seemed in some measure to shock the companv, among whom were several very genteel females ; but as some of the Duhvich people. were then present, and knew ^Jatthews, and as they soon turned the course of the conversation to a more agreeable subject, even the ladies became s4 far reconcil- ed, as to partake of his homely refreshment. Ac or.e period he indulged himself with the society of a cat, and which of course was much caressed ; but through the difficulty of keeping it near his cave, in his absence, he found it necessary to part willi this small portion of intelligent society, long before his decease. Being once questioned by a friendly visitant, whether lie never met with any object to affright or terrify him, in the drcarv solitude to which he was accustomed: lie confessed that one instance only execptcd, he never knew what fear was. It was then night, and being without the least suspicion, about to enter his cave, and repo-e upon his fern, and the rug that covered it, he perceived by the sense of feeling, that another living, and 58 ROBBERY OX' MATTHEWS. and wandering wight, had occupied it l:cfore him. It was a poor man ; but unlike the other degraded wretches who have since disturbed that peaceful habitation,, he was civil, upon which, poor Matthews was content to share the bed with him, and, as he told his friends, gave him a good breakfast in the morning, and afterwards saw him no more. Strange as it may appear, neither the most unfavour- able weather nor the bitterest of the seasons could induce Matthews even to sleep from his beloved cave; and dur- ing one of the severest of the late winters, we have been told that it was not without the utmost persuasion, that a "Wclehman, in Dulwich, very partial to Matthews, could induce him to sleep a few nights in his hay -loft, at the back of his premises, lie soon became wearv of a su- perior accommodation, and returned to the fatal spot v, here a laic act. of violence put a period to his existence. '.1 he newspapers have asserted that about five or six v\'u:s since, some villians breaking into Matthews'* cave, their ii! usage of him at the time, vi/. breaking his arm, raid rohhi";i him of twelve shillings, made him absent himself from i< a year am! half, during which time he :-!i-pr in h^v-lofts &c. ; but the fact seems to be, lhat !i!att.;>f-w? v.'iis never absri.il from ii above three months, -u'-d in tn;;t interval went down to Pembrokeshire, or Shropshire , but could not be prevailed upon to make a longer stay. This journey, he ib.cd to tell iiis friends C'-i-t hii:i tv,cntv pounds. 1'YoL.i tue s t ;;ac channels of intelligence we icani, tii<;T aho;:t thirty year.-- n^) he lost his wife, and was leit v,-, h oru^ daughter, and, having placed her in a siluaiion 3.1 London, he \\s-nt to live tn the neighbourhood .>r C'u.mberwell, v/htire i;e \\orkcd a; a r.-a'dener. Soon after his goinv; t ; (.'amberwe'il, he <,bta.i\cd Lavr of the riiu .iiiLic rs o;' ihil iich college, to form iiimsi U' a dwelling on MU11DER OF MATTHEWS. ^9 oil the land belonging to the college, which was partly :ni excavation of the earth, and partly covered in with teni, underwood, ixc. Here, lor u series of years be lived umnolesting uud unmolested, following his daily avocatioi>s in performing undcr-gurdeners work in the gardens of some of the neighbouring gentlemen; bv Avhom, for his inotfeiiMve and gentle demeanor, he was much liked. Jiis return tohis cave to sleep was constant, where o-n the Sundav lie used to sell beer to such persons (of whom in the summer t he-re were m;uiv) as from cu- rio-sity miifht be drawn to vi-.it his lonelv cell. After the temporary de>e;!;on of his cave, live or si.s years ago, hi consequence of his ^oing ''own into Shrop- shire, we are further informed 1 th;-t he altered its con- struction, digging it 1'rom a mouth like thai: of an oven, into which he just lett liimself room to craw! ; and when he laid down, contrived to fix a board against the entrance, v\hieh he propped up \vilh his feet. All this precaution did not, however, operate to save hna from fuiure attack; for on Tuesday morning, Deeem- in-r '_!H, 1S')'J, he \va^ t'ound at the mouth of his cave, D i:..\n, \\ith hi^ ja\v-l)one broken in tuo places. lie ua:- disi-overed by a bov, who had for tv, o or three vears };ast paid the old man a vi-.it, ihrce or fc;ur times a year. I, nder his an.", v. u:? an oaken branch, abe.ut six or seven feet long, which it is supposed the villaius had put into tht cave 1'or the purpo-e. of hooking th.e poor old man out, as the hooked part, which completely matched with the stick, \va~ found broken oil'; and from the nature of the wound in his ehe.-k. through which there is a large hole, it appears that it mu-'-t have bern hitched into h ; - moiir.h, and by the viuienee wi;icii wa- used in dra\ving him out of his cave (the body when fuund being witii the head towards the eu'runec) bioke. the jaw ; from which, as is the opinion of a nro ; e.v-;io::al gentleman on the 60 MURDER OF MATTHEWS. the spot, the extravasated blood in nis throat caused suffocation The branch of the tree with which it has every ap- pearance the deed was perpetrated, was cut immediately in the neighbourhood of the spot, as the t v .vi?s which were cut oil' it, were found scattered about the ground, and were preserved to be she\vri to the coroner's im;uest, at the French Horn, Dulwich ; at which house the de- ceased had been on the Monrh'V evening, and had changed half a guinea, with which he had beiviht some provisions, and was known to have si.v or seven ^hillings change when he lei't. Duhvieh, ::one of which were to be found, his pockets having been turned cue, as wu^ a secret pocket, which was oniy discovered after his death, and was not known to any of th-*: persons who were acquainted v/iui him, but had not escaped the prying eye of his murderers. This unfortunate man was r.car seventy years of age, and was as much remarked for civiiitv as sinu'licitv; was punctual in all his little dealings in ti:e neighbouring villages, and might., perhaps, by the gipsies who infest the vicinity of Norwood, !><:'. wi'-h, &c. U- supposed worth money. Three men of this description, and who were the vagrant tenants of a cam?), Lard by the retreat of Matthews, have bec-n committed on suspicion of know- ing something oi' this iuinujM i Iran-action, by Mr. Bowies and Mr. i'ulloclc, 'wo or tlic Surrv Ah s .:?;istr:i'cs. Sir K. .Ford sent a oar!.\' of t;u; uov. -su'et-t. information that may i-'Lid to a detection oft!: On Fri'.iav, !)(..'eemi;er :) i , in the forenoon, for the county <>!' Surrey hi Wood's, th Samuel Ala' LaLitath INOUKST ON" MATTHEWS. 6l Mr. Bulcock, Mr. Bowles, and a Kentish Magistrate, attended. Mr, Allen, the venerable master of Dulwich College, \vns foreman of a jury of twenty four respect- able inhabitants. The first witness examined was Nathaniel Field, a boy of eighteen years of ago, who had long been in the habit of visiting the po..r old man at his hut, particularly nt holiday time. In consequence on Tuesday last, about eleven o'clock, went to seek him. When he came to the cave he found him lying with his head and shoulders nut of it, and tin lower part of his body within. His face was very bloody ami covered with fern. The boy being frightened run upon Sydenham Common, and told some gravel-diggers what lie had seen, who went with him and found Matthews in that condition. This was between the hours of ten and eleven in the forenoon. Naturally alarmed they went to communicate the cir- cuinsUmce to the neighbourhood, leaving one with the body ; they met with a man of the name of Turner, who returned with them, and on viewing the body, ap- plied to Mr. Tuck, the churchwarden of the district, for a shell to remove it; this was obtained, and Mr. Hick- ward, the constable of the parish, attending, the bodv was taken to the French Horn, to wait the decision of the Coroner's inquest. Mr. Kitchen, a surgeon and apothecary, happened to be at Dulwich on the afternoon of Tuesday, the C8th day of December; on being apprised that a murder had been committed on Old Matthews, he went to the wood, and there found him just by his cave, lying on his back, his mouth filled with co-agulated blood, his right lower jaw broken in two, one part of the bone being through his cheek; there were no particular marks or bruises about liis body, his head was a little brvi-ed, and his face a little scratched, but this ail might be accounted for by No. II. Ai'i 1 S eric s.l K the HQ iS'orrvT ON MATTIIEfVS, the fo:of u?cd in drawing him out of his cave; his cloathing v.' us then pattieularly searched; ali his pockets, including <"t s err tone he hud, wore empty, not a coin being round upon him: near the bodv, close under his head, was found a large ;i;rccu oaken crooked stick, partly rut oft, and partly twisted irom ' stump close by die cave, and which , on searching for, they found, and matching it with the stump, it appeared to belong to it. At the end of this stick was a. hooh about seven indict in length,, and the doctor gave it as his opinion that this was in part, it not altogether, the means of his dvath, which he explain- ed, nearly as follows: " It was the custom of the de- ceased to get into Ins cave, or hut, by crawling in, for it was not accessible otherwise; when he was in, lie would turn about, and on laying down he always lay with his feet towards the board, or mat, that covered the oven-like entrance of his cave, to prevent a repetition of the dis- graceful scene that occurred some years since. With the stick in question hi- supposed that the persom who made u- : e of it, pu'.'cd U iu:o the cave, to endeavour to get hold ot his hend to uirn I;hu round, ior ia no other \vav could lie be gc> eat, lh t!;; t pursuit, it is presumed, that the hoc!-: of ih(; aiick >va? got iuto hi:- mouth, and i'rom the rr.ii-,tance, tliat IL ;auKi h:r.\ pen*;rated through liis ja.\v-- bone :iud cheek; thai it wo-.ild most probably have oeea- .-'.e/'.i.'id a ooiisi'.U ruble disehargc; of blood, which he, laying en liU back, coaguiuied in his mouth, and thereby t.eeaiioii*.'!.! the iiiflbcarion, that inevitably was the cause of his death/' On being questioned as to h;s opinion ishoiher rlie any died :i i^iitintl death, or met \\\-, death 1-v anv //A'jwro^r/ 1 means, iiis opinion he declared to be. MATTHEWS S P.UTIIAL. D;! ucecased; and as to the probability of it several witnes- ses were, examined. The first \vu:s Thomas Turk, jun. v, 'ho deposed, that on Monday last> between the hours of twelve and one o'clock, the de- ceased came to his father's shop, and said, ""master, I am come TO p;ii(-d \Fatthe\vs. '{"hi- witness iiicii eho[*j)ef! it, and -ave it to the cleeci.scd as a [>rt >cat, \\'\io ijiimediately went a\vav \\iih if. Thomas Daw. a eonstal;l<^ and watehman, at Syden- harn, ^ave i\.a account, \\hn-u \\ a- verv strongly eor- roboratcd !>v janits L^ro\vn_. of a <'o::vc i ;-siition tb;y heard and had \vi::. two :nea tiicn in v'l.-iocb-. The Jurv t.ht u took a \icv> u' tht^ bodv, and on their ri-turn, after an excellent charge from the Coroner, and a fe'.v iuinnu-s eonsiihutlcm, returned a verdict of H i/Jul 31urcl,:r } a^-atwi sc//u ^nt:vn or persons unknoicn, On Siindii'- t'nc 1 sccc/p.d insruin, ihe remains of Mat- thews, the JHH,;- I)i.ir,v!eh Uennii, uere interred in the chapel ground ai Dulv.it-h. The eorp-e was followed by Ins daughter, and r.er hii>.band : after them went several of the respectable inhabitants of the parish, and an im- mense number ol' m-.-n, \\oiiien, and children, who had knovvii, and respected the deceased, in his life time, brougnt up the rear. 'I ho cer< ;uoiiv was altogether conducted in a wuv hii'li'v creelitaLle to the oarties con- o ^ cerned.The uiiaistrr, it. is added, cielivered a very suitable discourse on the scl'Mnnhy of tiK- occasion. K '2 On 64 EXAMINATION OF SPRANG, &C. On Wednesday after his interment three persons ap- prehended on buspieion of the murder were examined before the Magistrates at Union Hail, viz. Joseph Spragg, Arthur Bowers, and Rohert Bowers, three gypsies lately apprehended upon suspicion, for the murder of this' inoffensive man Matthews, commonly called the Dulwich Hermit, were brought up on Wed- nesday for examination. Thomas Davy the first witness, stated, that he is a watchman, and carries on the business of a fishrnun, at Sydenham, and that he is also a constable of (,'amber- Avell, which is the adjoining parish ; that on the morning of Tuesday, the 28th of December, a few minutes after two o'clock, as he was coming down towards his part- ner's box, he saw the two chimney-sweeps at the bar, Spragg, and the boy Robert Bowers, at the watch-box ; as his box was much more under the wind than his part- ners, lie let them go down with him, and gave them some of the pea-straw he had in his box, to put his feet, on, to i-ii: on, that they might be kept from the ground, and an old split sack to put over them ; this he did because he had known something of Spragg before', and that he underwood they were out at. tb.a! tinu through a mistake, in getting up between one and two, s.'nd had not to go to work till six. As they t.at or lay tlu-re, he entered into a conversation with Spragg, as to how he ordered it to get away from Muidstone Gaol, -A here lie had been eon- fined. ---Spragg explained how, which, he did bv getting a conditional pardon, '(his led to a eonver>;U;on, as to \vhcrc they slept last, and where they came from. This he al>-o explained, by saying that he came from Dorking; that their tents were pitched on the side of Sydenbam Common, about COO yards IVv.m Ma!thew>'s cave. Oil speaking of MaUh-ws, Spnurg observed, that they ha the hours, F'pra.'.^r, get up, and asked what time it was; he was told it could not be more that) one or i.\vo o clock ; he pai'i it must i>e more, for it looked as light as four or five o'clock, a.'. id h<" was afraid, if thev staid, loo late, they H e and calling the f;ov, who very reluctantly go went, out :(!gv iher. lie ne>e:'.sav ti;e,i: again tul they came EXAMINATION OF BOV.T.R?, SvO. ftl eunie In to hreahfti.-t, at e'^ht o'clock ; at that time a conversation took place bet\veen him and Spragg, who jjekiiuwlcil^ccl that he had o-ot up too soon; that he pa-^i-d one watch-i ;ox a:;d came to another, \\hcrc the v, utehman was so civil a-; to L'ive him a little pea-straw to lie ori. and a split --ark to cover them over Nothing farther having trnnspiivc! in the oxaniination of tlie-^e. pei'i-oiis fouinu'd on suspicion of the murder of Matthews, excepting Spra^tr's l)..-:ii4 i';;!ly comuntted for Trial, vre nu^t deior the ei;:uin;:atii>n of llie artiele to f. future period. IA th.e \vinfor of IT^o- :1 youna: man of rh-' 1 name of '\\'i:'i;>;!i i ! ,o\vir:ili, .tboMt l\\i j !ity-ronv veaT.s of -ajc. t.he:i s-.-rvar.t :> Mr-;;-. Senf.-hiierd ami \\'iiitakcr, 13ookseilers i:i Avv- 'M;ir:;i Lane, ht-inu: hi ierj, ;i L^'nih man sloe;, ing iu ;::> ; next L^ia^tmciit, v.'as suddenlv uv.a.kened bv t;;e j. roans and moaning on ilic and ;::i- i.erinii' the ne:-;t iM''H> \vi;.s ahnosl stnu:k ',\irh astonish- u,v-.;: on ihidiiiL: ihe vo\-\\-^ muij bet,vi.-*.'n ti;u eieiiiij; aact ;: rooi'oi' th<- liou.se, a i-ijusideraiiic ap.-rt'.a": bciu- 1 ;i;st; rtiado :i:iox-L ; ;h t!;.;t and rhe le^r of ;.h-.r b-d. L^a yuiiU d. -;:-rptiuii : :.ao uppi.-r p.:rt o li rared b\ liie naili, laths, ixe. v.hieh };- had perfomt : .:d b, n d'.-iuve cru:.- \ nble. Hi.-? .:hi -c \\uiliiorullv tern iiom 68 I'OWTR O!-' IMAGINATION*. blood. When perfectly brought to hi. 1 -: recollection., n: certain accounts when, or on what occasion it was erected ; but the traditions relative to it, are equally nu- merous and contradictory. " I had/' says the relator, "in 1779, the pleasure to see and converse with the gentle- man, on whose estate it is situated. He said, the most approved opinion was, that Julius Caesar had caused it to be erected as a trophy, to mark the extent of his con- quests, after a bloody engagement, which he gained over the inhabitants of Armorica. The peasants arc fully persuaded that the Devil set it up, in one of his idle hours; but added he, I have myself caused the earth to be removed round its base, to the distance of forty feet on every side ; and I find that it joins to a prodi- gious rock, from which it seems to have sprung ; so that I am induced to think, notwithstanding its name, that it may be a natural production." Extraordinary BIRTH. J.JLBOUT the beginning of February Jl 7^)4, a girl was born near Toulon, in France, whose whole face resem- bled a hare, excepting her ears; she was otherwise fair and well shaped. Her mother declares, that at the be- ginning of pregnancy she had a strong inclination to eat the raw heart of a hare, which her husband brought home one day, but could not prevail with herself to make known her desires. Another very remarkable fact, comes authcnciated from the same quarter. The vnfe of i. 2 a con- 72 EXTRAORDINARY BIRTH. a considerable merchant, who constantly attended mass, and used to give chanty to a poor man who had lost his right arm, was soon after brought to bed of a son who wanted his right hand, which the mother attributed to the impression the maimed appearance of the man made upon her mind. But what is still more remarkable; this son is grown to maturity, married, and has now a son, who, without any such impressions, was born without a. hand. How will the naturalists account for this phamo- mcnon ? Account of the BIG NAKED BEAU, from the American Philosophical Transact ions. HEIR reports run thus: that among all animals that had been formerly in this country, this was the most ferocious. That it was much .larger than the largest of the common bears, and remarkably long-bodied : all over, (except a spot of hair on its back of a white colour,) naked. That it attacked and devoured man and beast, and that a man, or a common bear, only served for one meal to one of these animals. That with its teeth it could crack the strongest bones. That it could not see very well, but in discovering its prev bv scent, it ex- ceeded all other animals. That it pursued its prey with unremitting ravenousncss, and that there was no other way of escaping, but by taking to a river, and cither swimming clo\vn the same, or saving one's self by means of a canoe. That its heart being remarkably small, it could seldom be killed with the arro\v. That the surest way of destroying him was to break his back-bone. That when a party went out to destroy this animal,, they first took leave of their friends and relations at home, con- sidering themselves aj going on an expedition, perhaps never THE BIG NAKED BEAR. 73 rver to return again. That when out, they sought for his track, carefully attending to the course the wind blew, and endeavouring to keep as near as possible to a river. That every man of the party knew at what part of the body he was to take his aim. That some were to strike at the back-bone, some at the head, and others at the heart. That the last of these animals known of, was on the east side of the Mohicanni Sipu (Hudson's River) where, after devouring several Indians that were tilling their ground, a resolute party, well provided with bows, arrows, &.c. fell upon the following plan, in which they also succeeded, viz. knowing of a large high rock, perpendicular on all sides, and level on the top, in the neighbourhood of where the naked bear kept, they made ladders, (Indian ladders) and placing these at the rock, they reconnoitred the ground around, and soon finding a fresh track of the animal, they hastily returned, getting on the top of the rock, and drawing the ladders up after them. They then set up a cry, similar to that of a child, whereupon this animal made its way thither, and attempted to climb the rock, the Indians pouring down their arrows in different directions, all the while upon him. The animal now grew very much enraged, biting with its teeth against the rock, and attempting to tear it with its claws, until at length they had con- quered it. The HAZI; of 178:3. AN some very ingenious Meteorological observations, lately published by W. Patcrson, M. 1). of Londonderry, he observes the Haze of 1783, slightly mentioned by English meteorologists, was noticed by those on the Con- tinent; and, in the months of February and March of the same year, happened the great earthquake of Cala- bria. 74 THE HAZE. bria. It seems to have been caused by the immense quantity of inflammable air extricated from the bowels of the earth during those earthquakes., strongly electrified and impregnated with sulphureous bituminous earthy and metallic particles. The quantity was such as to dilVuse itself, after a few months, over most parts of Europe. While these heterogeneous particles were held in solu- tion, the transparency of the atmosphere was not altered; it was otherwise when they began to precipitate. The obscurity and dark red colour of the haze may be attri- buted to the sulphureous, metallic particles, which ab- sorbed all but the least refrangible solar rays, particularly at sun-rise and sun-set: and the unusual load of metallic and other particles thrown into it affected the height of the barometer. Such a haze was observed after the great earthquake which destroyed the city of Tauris, in Georgia, 17C1. The darkness which obscured the sun after the death of Ctusar may probably be assigned to a similar case; for, Julius Obsequens (de Prodigiis) tells us there were earthquakes about that time. Curiosities from the REPORTS of the IRISH SOCIETY c/ Arts and Sciences. I. A ii r. account of the Antique Stones called the\ icar Cairn, in the county ofArmagh,was communicated to the Committee of Antiquities in two letters, one from Dr. Browne,senior fellow of Trinity College, Dublin; the other from theRev.JohnYoung,curate oi'Mullabrack. Dr. 1$. was extremely incredulous' as to the existence of the Ogham character on any monuments, till the late Primate Nw- coinbc pointed out. to him one on a high hill, about thre-..: miles from Armagh, on the summit of which was a. small conical mount or heap of small stones, surrounded by a regular circle oi' lur^,.- ones, upright, about 2- feet high. II* CURIOSITIES. 75 He copied the lines, which, on comparison, he found very different from natural impressions irregularly in- dented on the other stones, and on some part of this. It was pointed out to him by a peasant passing by, as t( the written stone;" but that he did not believe they were letters; and he, with a friend, copied the lines by rule and compass: and, going round the hill, they observed marks of the entrance of a cave, which impressed them with a strong persuasion that the hillock was excavated, the entrance being very like that at New Grange. They, observed more indented lines towards the bottom of the interior face of the written stone by taking up the earth; but, having lost the ruler, they did not copy them, nor did they satisfactorily trace any transverse horizontal line crossing the others. Within seven miles of .Dublin, on the t.jp of a hillock on the descent of the Dalkey hills, is a circular range of stones,, with a stone elbow seat in their centre. Mr. Y. adds, the Vicars Cairn has fur- nished stones to repair the roads. The area is circular, 44 vards diameter. The written stone stands declined in an angle of 5 degrees from the perpendicular. In 1785 John M ''Carrol, proprietor of the ground, opening the \\ r cst side for stones, found a wooded door-case, which, ou being touched, fell to du>t, with a wall, East and West, on each side of it, of hewn >tones with cement, which he followed for ten feet iu length, and never opened it after- wards. II. An account of some antient Trumpets dug up in a bog near Armagh. By Arihur Browne. Four of them had been dug up at the same time, and nearly in the same place where tradition settled a great battle and the King of Lister's palace; and one being made by an artist wind-tight, and sounded by a trumpeter of the 23d regi- ment of dragoons, produced a tremendous sound. Dr. B. supposed it the Dudag or Shch trumpet of brass, men- tioned bv Gen. Vallancev. [ 7(5 ] NATURAL CURIOSITIES of the. Island of ; r Centorbi they have a kind of soft stone that dis- solves in water, and is used in washing instead of soap, from whence it is called, Pictra Saponaro. Here, as well as in Calabria, is found the celebrated stone, which being watered and exposed to a pretty warm degree of heat, produces a plentiful crop of mushrooms. Soda, also, which is lately come into so much repute in England, was first cultivated in the island of Sicily ; the Pistachio nut, and the Cantharides fly, are likewise natives of that island. In several places they have fountains that throw up a kind of oil on their surface, which is used in lamps, &c. The Fonte Canoeletto, is covered with a scum like pitch, which the country people esteem good for rheumatisms; and the water of a small lake near Naso, is celebrated for dying every thing black that is put into it, though it- appears remarkably pure and transparent. Singular ANIMAL FLOWER, found 1764. O ' - rp J. HE inhabitants of SaintLucia have discovered an ani- mal flower. In a cavern of that isle, near the sea, is a large bason, from twelve to iiftcen feet deep, the water of which is vrrv brackish, and the bottom composed of rocks, from whence at all times proceed certain sub- stances,, which present at iirst sight beautiful flowers, of a bright shining colour, and pretty nearly resembling our marigolds: onlv that their tint is more lively. These seeming flowers, on the approach of a hand or instrument, retire, like a -mail, oat of sight. On examining this sub- stance elo-M-lv, there appears in the middle of the disk four bro\ n iilaments, resembling spiders legs, which move round a kind of yellow petals, with o pretty brisk and sponta- ANIMAL FLOWER. 77 spontaneous motion. These legs re-unite pincers to sei/e their prev ; and the yellow petals immediately close to shut up that prey,, so that it cannot escape. Under tills appearance of a iiuvver is a brown stalk of the big- ness of a raven's quill, and which appears to be the body of some animal. It is probable, that this strange animal lives on the spawn of fish, and the small insects which the sea throws up into the bason. An AQUATIC CASTLE, &;c. rp JL nis is the name of the machine which is formed to be used in the fisheries between the coasts of Italy and Sicily; this consists of strong nets fastened to the bottom of the sea, by anchors and heavy leaden weights, at a great expence. A narrow passage is left open, and as soon as the tunny fish have entered the enclosure, it is shut. These engines are called Tonnuros, and contain a great number of apartments, which are shut one after the other, till the fish are forced to the chamber of death, as it is called; where the slaughter begins with spears and hc'ipoons. The mackarel are can gut there with a harpoon. As soon as it is dark, t>vo men get into a boat, one of them holding a lighted torch over the surface of the water, and the other a harpoon, the light soon brings Lne fish to the surface, at which instant, he is pierced by the har- pooncr. The coral fishery is al^o performed by means of an engine, composed of a great cross of wood, to the centre of which, is fixed a laru'c stone, capable of sinking the frame to the bottom. Pieces of small net work arc tied to each limb of the cross, which is poised horizontally by a rope, and let down into the water, and touching thy No. II. .Via" ^ tries.'] M bottom, ?8 AN AOUAtlC CASTLE. bottom, is made fast to a boat above ; and being dragged over the beds of coral, the consequence is, that the pieces broken off by the great sione, are collected in the netting; and from this simple invention, the coral fishery in those parts have been carried to a considerable degree of profit and importance. Extraordinary Fecundity i ANUAKY 1, 180,5. The wife of Moses Solomon, a Jew, in Stoney Lane, Petticoat Lane, was safely deliver- ed of four children, three girls and one boy, all likely to live. In the year 17-iQ, the wife of the Rev. Mr. Mills of Gallway, was delivered of three children at a birth, ai'ter twenty vears marriage without children. \\ oi. YES in FRANCK. INURING the war in 17.39, Count tic B , a youn-j: nobleman not twenty years of age, going on horseback from ;\ town in Burgundy to join his regiment, was at- tacked bv a mad wolf ot an extraordinary size. The furious animal first sei/ed the horse, and tore off such large pieces of flesh, that M.de B. \\assoon dismounted. Then the wolf ilew at him, and would certainly have torn him to pieces, had he not great presence of mind. 11 itii one hand he seized the wolf's foaming tongue, and \vi,h the other hand laid hold of his paws; after struL'rlin"- a while with the rerribie creature, the tongue L. .,- O O dipt, from him. and his right thumb was bitten off; upon which, WOLVES IN FRANCE. 79 which, notwithstanding the pain he was in, he leaped upon the wolf s hack, clapt his knees fast, to his flanks, and called out for help to some armed peasants who were pa ing by, hut none of those fellows dared to advance; .veil then/' says he, " fire if you kill me, I forgive y. >!;." One of them fired, and three bullets went through i lie brave officers coat, hut neither he nor the beast were .v'Muidecl. Another, bolder than his comrades, seeing tiie cavalier was intrepid, and kept firm upon the wolf, came very near and let fly at him ; the animal was mortally wounded by this shot, and after a few more furious motions expired. In this dreadful conflict, be- sides the losing of his right thumb, the young count's left arm was torn, and he got several bites in his legs and thighs. A\ hen he arrived at Bon le Hoy, where his regi- ment lay, he was advised to go do\vn with all speed to the sea ; which lie accordingly did. In addition to this singular instance of the ferocity of these animals, it may be proper to add the following, which recently occurred in France last winter, while Mr. Dressing, the messenger was 501111: with a dispatch to O o O 1 Lord Cornwallis the particulars were as follows: As Mr. .Dressing, the messenger, was on his last jour- ney to Marquis Cornwallis, he was alarmed during the night, not far from Boulogne, by the cries ef the post- boy, who called out to him to " fire!" His horses stop- ping suddenly, he iired a pistol ont of each window, thinking lie had been attacked by highwaymen ; but on enquiry, he found that the boy's outcry was occasioned by th:on in France, v-.es nearly bitten through. He says he is si. re thin one of the animals must be wounded, n.> the blood eouid be traced all the way from the road to the wood. I am, Sir, an old traveller myself, having been in almost everv part of Europe; but i never thought that wolves were to be found uiiic.is among the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Kick parts of Poland, and the unculti- vated forests of the north; nor did I ever hear of their Bi.-.k.ing their app:--:rarice, except when literally starved out cf their lurking place's by severe weather. .Mr. 1). however,, asoiires me, that a -!;il more dreadful accident WOLVES IN FRANCE. 81 accident happened to him at the conclusion of Lord Malmesbury's first mission to Paris, when his Lordship thought proper to dispatch a messenger to the Court of A ienna, to announce the termination, of that affair. He apj.Led to the directory for a passport, which was granted accompanied by an intimation., that the road was danger- ous, for that no person had travelled that way durin- the 1 * O war. ISo less than eight of his Majesty's messengers O *) +/ O who were there, she.ved ^reat reluctance at undertaking O this perilous business; when M. Dressing voluntarily offered his services. This spirited act had like to have cost him clear, for, on the fifth day of his journey, about four in the morning, he was alarmed by the cries of the postillion for help, and being awoke from sleep, jumped out of his cabriole, lie found the boy attacked by four huge wolves, which every moment threatened him with destruction ; but lie was incapable of rendering him any assistance, having left his double barrelled pistols in the carriage. He instantly sprung back for his fire-arms, with which lie laid the four dreadful monsters dead ! Now, Sir, from such respectable authority, it will, I pre- sume, be impossible for any man longer to doubt, that wolves may not only be found in France, as well as in the forests of Poland and White Russia, but that they abound even in the vicinity of Paris. 1 am, Sir, your humble servant. JOHN MARTIN. A ic and Gale, Westminster, Feb. lj, 180-2. Extraordinary facts re lathe to preservation of HUMAN BODIES after their decease. /\N intelligent tourist who visited the city of Bremen, in Germany, in 1774, says, there is one peculiarity be- long-in ccular demonstration could have convinced me. Under the Cathedral church, is a vaulted apartment, supported on pillars; it is near sixty paces luivr., and half as many broad. The light and air are constantly admitted into it t?y three windows, though it is several feet beneath the level of the ground. Here are five larije oak colT<'rs, each containing a corpse, which without being embalm- ed, have suffered no corruption. I examined them se- verally for near two hours. The most curious and per- fect, is that of a woman. Tradition says, she was au English countess, who dying at. Bremen about two hun- dred and fifiv years ago, ordered her body to be placed in this vault uninlerred, in the apprehension that her re- lations would cause it to be brought over to her native roaniry. Though the muscular skin is totally dried in everv part, vet so little are the features of the face or skin changed, that nothing is more certain than she was yoi;n_, and c\en beautiful, It is a small countenance, round in its contour: the cartilage of the nose and the nostrils have undergone no alteration : her teeth are all rlnn in the sockets, but the lips arc drawn away from over them. The clucks are shrunk in, bid. vet less than 1 ever have seen in embalmed bodies. The hair is at this time more than eighteen inches !:, and :so Just, that 1 heaved the corpse mT bv it : the colon; is a light brown, and los.-.v .'is that ;{' a living person. That this !i:;h rani: stems evident from the extrcme- hncn which covers her body; bui I HI vain avjiind to procure any lights into her history, IKT or any other particulars, though i took no httie for tl'.at purpose. The landlord of the i;;n, who .1 ;.; rav coii..Uu't("\ said he remembered it ior forty veins HUMAN BODIES. 83 years past, during which time there is not the least per- ceptible alteration in it. In another coffer is the bodv or" a workman, who is said to have tumbled off the church, and was killed by the fail. His features evince this most forcibly. Extreme agony is marked in them; his mouth is wide open, and his eye-lids the same; the eyes are dried up. His breast is unnaturally distended, and his whole frame betrays a violent death. A little child, who died of the small pox, is still more remarkable. The marks of the pustules, which have broken the skin on hi- hands and head, are very discernible; and one should suppose, that a bodv, which died of such u distemper, must contain, in a high degree, the seeds of putrefaction. The other corpse are likewise very extraordinary. There are, in this vault, likewise turkeys, hawks, wea- sels, and other animals, which have been hung up here, from time immemorial, some very lately, and are all in the most complete preservation, and unaltered in their parts. The cause of this phenomenon is doubtless ilie dryness of the place where they are la.d. It is in vain to seek for any other. The magistrates do not per- mit anv fresh bodies to be brought here, and there is no other subterranean chamber which has the same pro- pertv. It would have made an excellent miracle two or three centuries ago in proper hands ; but now mankind are irrown too wise. Hemarka'bh case of a lltima/i Body found i/t a Star Ski'i, August, 10, 17 CM. A dead body' was landed at Cadiz, inclosed in along -kin nearly resembling that of a bear ; it was found, vvith several others of the same kind, in some caverns i:i the Canary Islands, were thcv" are supposed to have bee:s buried before the conquest of those islands by John c'e Bretancotirt. 84 II U MA NT BODIED. Bretancourt, a Norman, in 1417, or by Peter de Vera, a Spaniard, in 1483. The flesh oi' this body is perfectly preserved, but is dry, inflexible, and hard as wood, so that to the touch it seems petrified, though it is not. The features of the faee arc very perfect, and appear to be those of a young man ; nor is that, or any other part of the body, decayed. The body is no more shrunk than if the person had not been dead above two or three days. The skin only, appears a little shrivelled, this body was sent to Madrid, to be deposited in the royal academy of surgery. The case, in which it was placed, had another small case within it, containing two or three vases, and a hand-mill, which were found in the same cavern. A third instance of this nature, occurs at a celebrated convent of Capuchins about a mile without the city of Palermo, in the Island of Sicily. The burial place is a great curiosity.-.-- It is a lar^o subterraneous apartment, divided into commodious galleries, the walls of which are hollowed out into nitehes, each of them filled with dead bodies, ail set: on their legs, and fixed by the back to the inside of the recess. They are all dressed in their usual clothes, und form a most venerable assembly. Their skin and mu-elcs hy a ccri.yui preparation become us dry and hard as a piece of stoek-ilsh ; ;ind though many of the bodies have bee a dead more than one hun- dred and Hfr.y years, none are vet reduced 10 skeletons. Here the people of Palermo pay frequent visits, nor is the sight of ili!',e corpse so lull of horror as might be imagined. Description of ike G HE AT TUN of Heidelberg, in Germany. (Vide iLu Plate.) rp JL HE famous English traveller Thomas Coryat, who commenced his travels ou the Continent in iGOS, during the A REMARKABLE TUN. 85 the reign of James I. mentions this great tun, as the ptrangest spectacle he saw in his travels, and the greatest size of a vessel that he had seen in his time. In the re- presentation he gives of it> his effigy appears standing on the top of it, with a glass of Rhenish wine in his hand. It is enclosed in an apartment representing a large hull, and was nearly three years building. It is not com- posed of boards as other vessels of this kind are, but of great solid beams one hundred and twelve in number, and every one of them twenty-seven feet long. Each of the extremities is sixteen feet high, and the belly swelling to eighteen. It is hooped with sixteen iron hoops, so massy as to enclose eleven thousand pounds weight. Its sides are supported by five pillars each, made of timber, ornamented at the top, and the ends 'vith figures of lions; a fair escutcheon being affixed to every ima^e. When the person who serves out the wine, ascends to the top of it for that purpose, he goes up a flight of wooden stairs. The bung as it is called, is about the middle. The instrument he makes use of is about a foot and a half long, resembling a spout. It contains, he observes, 132 suders, 3 omes, and as many strikes. Every suder contain one tun, or 4 hogsheads ; so that 132 suder?, reckoning the value of the wine at * O ]J/. sterling each, the whole is worth 1980/. 8s. English money. Yet, says this author, I heard it reported at Frankfort, that this famous tun was drank out in eight days, at a time when there was a certain noble meeting of princely gallants at that court. Another writer says, that in measure the Tun of Heidelberg contains 200 English tuns. Heidelberg is the capital of the Palati- nate of the Rhine, and formerly belonged to the Elector of Bavaria; but though the city was nearly destroyed by the French in l6gs, they spared the tun, which was first made in 1591. No. II. y Large Large Tims of Modern date. JT is in no small degree curious that this antient mi- Tacle of Germany, and the whole continent should be equalled, and even surpassed in the metropolis of Eng- land. Mr. Thomas Pennant, in his London, speaking of the great improvements in the making of wines and vinegar in this metropolis, observes, there is a magnifi- cence of business in this ocean of sweets and sours, that cannot fail exciting the greatest admiration : whether \ve consider the number of vessels, or their size, the boasted tun at Heidelberg docs not surpass them. On first entering the yard, a small distance from Mr. Coade's, Narrow Wall, Lambeth, two rise before you, covered at the top with a thatched dome; between them is a circular turret, including a winding staircase, which brings you to their summits, which are above twenty-four feet in dia- meter. One of these conservatories is full of sweet wine, -and contains fifty-eight thousand one hundred and nine gallons; or eighteen hundred and fifteen barrels of Win- chester measure. Its superb associate is full of vinegar, to the amount of fifty-six thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine gallons, or seventeen hundred and seventy- four barrels, of the same standard as the former. The famous German vessel yields even to the last, by the quantity of forty barrels. Besides these, there; is a double range of lesser vessels, which hold from thirty-two thousand five hundred, to six- teen thousand nine hundred and seventy-four gallons each. After quitting this Brobdignagian scene, we pass to the acres of ground covered with common barrels: we cannot diminish our ideas so suddenly, but at first we imagined we could quafi' them off as easily as Gulliver did the little hogsheads of the kingdom of Lilliput. Mr. Meux, brewer, of Liquorpond Street, has abo a tun, con- taining four thousand five hundred barrels, besides twen- ty-four others, which hold thirty-five thousand barrels. Further [ 87 '] Further account of the late EARTHQUAKES, fyc. LETTER from Corunna, in South America, dated August It), says " Yesterday, by a smart shock of an ean.hquake, the land seemed to be agitated like the waves of the sea. The bottom of the river Oroonoko was thrown up with such violence as to snap the rudder of a vessel. The people all ran out of their houses and fell upon their knees in the; open air, where they remained a considerable time. A great deal of new land has been brought to view all along the right side of the river* while another tract, about 100 feet long and 40 broad, kas disappeared with several buildings thereon, and a lake sprung up in its place : several trees were torn up. A second shock was attended with greater violence, and the houses in the town which still remained, were observed to rock like a ship in a storm. At eight in the evening there was a third shock, less violent than the preceding ; but though every house was damaged more or less, very few people were missing. .During the storm, the fish were observed to rise upon the surface of the river, and endeavour to gain the ocean." At Neustadt, in Lower Austria, another shock of an earthquake was felt in the night between the 29th and 30th of October, stronger than the first. It lasted six Seconds only, and damaged but a few houses. From Petersburg!!, Nov. 23, it appears, that the earth- quake of the 26th of October, extended over the greatest part of Russia. One side of the river Oka was strongly agitated, and the other not in the least affected. At Falmouth in the afternoon of Sunday, December ',26, the morning was most remarkable in its appearance, the agitation of the wind and waves, the motion of the clouds, Sec. having long portended some coining change, about noon came on a most violent gust of wind, tor- nado, S8 A WHIMSICAL WILL. nado, or whirlwind, which lasted about two minutes, carrying every thing before it. A bam that had lately been erected was removed to a distance of six feet from its former situation; several houses were unroofed,, and a, great number of chimnies and slate, was blown down, several trees torn up, &c. It fortunately only tookasmal! part of the town, or the damage must have been im- mense. A new vane eighteen feet in length, lately erected on the steeple, was bent quite double. A Codicil to the last Will and Testament of JAMES CLEGG, Conjurer. it known to all men, by these presents, That 1^ James Clegg, of Broad Lane, within Castleton, in the parish of Rochdale, and county of Lancaster, conjurer; having made my last will and testament, bearing date the 18th of February, 1749, do hereby codicil, confirm, and ratify my said will ; and if I die a natural death, i. e. elude the gallows, and within two miles of Shaw Chapel., then I will that my executors John Collier, and Paul Greenwood, come to my house the day following, and with the advice and assistance of James Worral, order my funeral, as follow : I. I will that they invite to my funeral, sixty of my friends, or best acquaintance, and also live fidlers; to be there exactly at two o'clock. II. That no woman be invited; no man that wears a white cap, or apron, that no tobacco or snuif be there j to prevent my sneezing. III. That they provide sixty-two spiced cakes, value ten shillings; and twenty shillings worth of the best ale that is within two miles; allowing the best ruby nose present, Roger Taylor, and John Booth, to be judges. IV, A WHIMSICAL WILL, 89 IV. That if my next relations think a wooden jump too chargeable, then I will that my exeoutors cause me to be dressed in my roast meat cloaths, lay me on a bier, stangs, or the like; give all present a sprig of rosemary, hollies, or gorges, and a cake : tiiat no tears be shed, but be merry for t\vo hours. V. Then all shall drink a gill bumper,, and the fidlers play Britons Strike Home, whilst they are bringing me out, and covering me. This shall be about five minutes before the cavalcade begins: which shall move in the O * high road to Shaw Chapel in the following order, riz.: The best fidler of the five shall lead the van, the other four following after, two and two, playing The Conjurer goes Home, in the aforesaid tune. Then the bier and attendants, none riding on horseback, but as Hudibras did to the stocks, i. e. face to tail, except Mr. George Stansfield of Sowerby, (which privilege 1 allow him for reasons best known to myself.) Then the Curate of Shaw Chapel shall bring up the rear, dressed in his pon- tifical ibus_, and riding on an ass ; the which, if he duly and honestly perform, and also read the usual office, rny executors shall nem. con. pay him twenty one shillings. VI. If the singers at Shaw, meet me fifty yards from the chapel, and sing the anthem ; beginning O clap your Hands, Sic. pay them five shillings. VII. Next, I will be laid near the Huge ruins of James Woolfeudei;, late landlord of Shaw Chapel ; which done, pay the sexton half a-crown. VIII. Then let all go to the alehouse I most frequent- ed, and eat, drink, and be merry, till the shot amounts to thirty shillings; the fidlers playing, The Conjurer';; gone Home, with other tunes at discretion, to which I leave them : and then, pay the fidlers two shillings and sixpence each, TV Tf 90 A WHIMSICAL WILL. IX. If my next relations think it worth their cost and pains to lay a stone over me, then I will that John Col- lier of Milnrow, cut the following epitaph on it : Here Conjurer Clegg beneath this stone, By his best friends was laid, Weep, O ye Ikllcrs, now he's gone, Who lov'd the twcetling trade ! Mourn all ye brewers of good ale, Sellers of books and news ; But smile, ye jolly priests, he's pale, Who grudg'd your pow'r and dues. further, As I have some qualities and worldly goods not disposed of by my said last will, I do give and devise, as follows ; that is to say, I give unto the Rochdale Parish Methodists all my religion, and books of free- thinking, as believing they'll be useful and very ne- cessary emoluments. Item, I give unto any one of that whimsical sect, who is sure the Devil is in him, my slice of the liver in Tobit's fish, which my ancestors have kept pickled up above two thousand years; being certain that a small slice fried, will drive Belzebub himself, cither upwards or down- wards, out of the closest made Methodist in hi.s Majesty's dominions. Item, I give unto any three of the aforesaid Methodist's v/ho are positive that they have a church in their bellies, my small set. of squirrel-bells to hang in the steeple ; being apprehensive that a set of the size of Great Tom of Lincoln, would prove detrimental to a fabric of such an airy and tottering foundation. Jteni, 1 give rny forty-five minute sand glass on which is painted Old Time sleeping, unto that clergyman living vithiu three miles of my house, who is most noted for preaching FAIRLOP AND DAMORY OAKS. 91 preaching long-winded, tautologizing sermons: provided he never turn it twice at one heat. Item, I leave all my spring-traps, flying nets, and all my other valuable utensils whatsoever, belonging to that new invented and ingenious art of cuekow-catchinar, unto O O- 7 my generous, honest, and open hearted friend, Mr. Ben- jamin Bunghole, late of Rochdale, being thoroughly sa- tisfied of his good inclination, and great capacity of the proper use of them. Item, \ give unto one Timothy Bobbin, wheresoever he may be found, a pamphlet entitled, a View of the Lanca- shire Dialect; being fully persuaded few others capable of reading, or making any sense of it. Item, I give all my humilty, good nature, benevolence, and hospitality, with all my other good qualities what- soever, not before disposed of, unto that person in the parish of Rochdale who can eat the most raw onions without crying. Lastly, I will that this codicil be, and be adjudged to be, part of my said last Will and Testament, as fully as if the same had been there inserted. In witness whereof I have hereunto fixed my hand and seal, this 24th day of May, in the year 1751. JAMES CLEGG. Witness, Robert Lees. Joshua Warren. Particular Account of FAIRROP OAK of immense Size, and DAMORTS Oak, near Bedford, in Dorsetshire. J. N a glade of Hainhault-forest in Es for the Chapel Royal, and the other by a most magnificent building of modern architecture, probably, indeed, by far the most so, not yet completely finished ; as to the former, the roof and part of the front walls were thrown down, and the latter, notwithstanding their solidity, had been so shaken, that several large stones fell from the top, and every part seemed disjointed. The Square was full of coaches, chariots, chaises, horses, and mules, deserted by their drivers and attendants, as well as their owners. The nobility, gentry, and clergy, who were assisting at divine service when the earthquake began, fled away with the utmost precipitation ; every one where his fears carried him, leaving the splendid apparatus of the numerous altars, to the mercy of the first comer : but this did not so much aftect me, as the distress of the poor animals, who seemed sensible of their hard fate ; some few were killed, others wounded, but the greater part which had received no hurt, were left there to starve. From this Square, the way led to my friend's lodgings, through a long steep and narrow street : the new scenes of horror I met with here, exceed all description; nothing could be heard but sighs and groans, 1 did not meet with u soul in the passage who was not bewailing the death of his nearest relations and dearest friends, or the loss of all his sub- stance ; I could hardly take a single step without treading on the dead, or the dying : in some places lay coaches, with their masters, horses, and riders, almost crushed in pieces ; here, mothers with infants in their arms ; there, ladies richly dressed, priests, friars, gentlemen, mecha- nics, either in the same condition, or just expiring ; some had their backs or thighs broken ; others vast stones on their breasts ; some lay almost buried in the rubbish, and crying out in vain to the passengers for succour, were left to perish with the rest. At length I arrived at the spot opposite to the house where my friend, for whom 1 was so anxious, resided ; and 100 EARTHOUAKE AT LISBON, &c e and finding this, as well as the contiguous buildings thrown down, (which made me give him over for lost,) I now thought of nothing else but saving my own life in the best manner I could, and in less than an hour got to a public house, kept by one Morley, near the English bury- ing ground, about half a mile from the city, where I still remain, with a great number of my countrymen, as well as Portuguese, in the same wretched circumstances, hav- ing almost ever since lain on the ground, and never once within doors, with scarcely any covering to defend me from the inclemency of the night air, which, at this time, is exceeding sharp and piercing. Perhaps you may think the present doleful subject here concluded ; but, alas ! the horrors of the first of November, are sufficient to fill a volume. As soon as it grew dark, another scene presented itself, little less shocking than those already described the whole city appeared in a blaze, which was so bright that 1 could easily see to read by it. It may be said, without exag- geration, it was on fire at least in an hundred different places at once, and thus continued burning for six days to- gether, without intermission, or the least attempt being made to stop its progress. It went on consuming every thing the earthquake had spared, and the people were so dejected and terrified, that few or none had courage enough to venture down, to save any part of their substance ; every one had his eyes turned towards the flames, and stood looking on with silent grief, which was only interrupted by the cries and shrieks of women and children calling on the saints and angels for succour, whenever the earth began to tremble, which was so often this night, and indeed 1 may say, ever since, that the tremors, more or less, did not cease for a quarter of an hour together. (To be concluded in our next.) WONDERFUL ( 101 ) WONDERFUL WORKS OF ART. " SIR, X\.NOWING that many very minute objects have been performed by art, I transmit you the following hand- bill, as it was actually published by Mr. Boverick, in the Strand, in the year 1745, and another nearly of the same date. Your's, &c. J. J . B." To be seen at Mr. BOVERICK'S, Watchmaker^ at the DIAL, facing Old Round Court, near the New Exchange^ in the Strand, at One Shilling each Person, The little furniture of a dining-room ; consisting of a dining-table, with a cloth laid, two figures seated as at din- ner ; a footman waiting; a card table, which opens with a drawer in it; frame and castors ; looking glass; two dozen of dishes, twenty dozen of plates, thirty dozen of spoons ; and twelve skeleton-back chairs with claw feet. All the above particulars are contained in a cherry-stone. A landau, which opens and shuts by springs, hanging on braces, with four persons sitting therein ; a crane-neck car- riage, the wheels turning on their axles, coachman's box, &c. of ivory; together with six horses and their furniture; a coachman on the box, a dog between his legs, the reins in one hand, and whip in the other; two footmen behind, and a postilion on the leading horse, in their proper liveries : all so minute as to be drawn along by a flea. It has been shewn to the Royal Society, and several persons of dis- tinction. The curious little four-wheel open chaise, with the figure of a man in it; all made of ivory, drawn by a flea, which performs all the offices of a large chaise, as running of the wheels, locking, &c. ; weighing but one grain. Shewn to the Royal Family, and several of the Nobility and Gentry. A flea, chained by a chain of 200 links, with a padlock and key, curiously wrought; the chain and flea, padlock and key, weighing but one-third of a grain, r A camel, 1O2 WONDKillUI. WORKS OF ART. A camel, that passes through the eye of a middle-size needle. And a curious pair of steel scissars, so minute, as six pair may be wrapped up in the wing of a fly, The said scissars cut a large horse-hair. To be seen from nine in the morning till eight at night ; and those that please to see them at their house, may be waited upon, on Thursdays, at the same hours. We can inform our Correspondent, that the particulars here asserted of the ilea, are confirmed by the authority ol the ingenious and indefatigable author of Animal Biography, see vol. iii. cage 489- Without a tedious long oration here is another information To all that's curious in the nation. THAT a poor, poetical, penurious mortal, who has been a long time out of employment, and whom it has pleased Heaven to bless with a wife and three small children, the senior not four years old ; being, by the cruel destiny of the planets drove impetuously to the gaping jaws of De- struction, all on a sudden set his invention to work, and has made what is quite astonishing to behold, viz. A tea table, tea board, dozen tea cups and saucers, slop bason, sugar dish, tun, bottle, funnel, fifteen drinking glasses, five punch bowls, ten rummers, pestle and mortar, with two bowls, and two sets of ninepins. What most amazes is, to see them all contained in the compass of a common Barcelona filberd shell ; yet so ex- quisite is the workmanship, that the eye can clearly dis- cover them without the help of optic glasses. They are made of the finest ivory, polished exceeding well, and will bear the inspection of the most curious artist that the world can boast of; so that the virtuosi may here at once both satisfy their curiosity, and relieve a destitute son of Apollo. They are made by no foreigner, but a poor native of England WONDERFUL WORKS OF ART. 103 England this is no quart-bottle scheme, nor lifeguard- man's King prophecy no pun, no ridiculous bombast no empty puff, nor scandalous humbug but what has a foundation that is able to bear it up to the latest posterity. N. B. They are shewn by the inventor and maker, who is well known by the name of Lancelot Poverty struck, at his lodgings, up one pair of stairs, at Mrs. Kim mister's, facing the Lamb in Salisbury-street, in the Strand; from ten in the morning to eight at night, for a few days only, by reason of his going to remove, at so easy a charge as one shilling each. They will not be advertised. All that can such a trifle spare undoubtedly will soon repair To LANCELOT, and ope' their purse, and own they've spent a shilling worse. To the above we may add, that, among other instances of art in miniature, the Emperor Charles V. had a \vatch in the jewel of his ring, and King James I. of England, another of the same kind, both made in Germany. But since the days of Tompion, the first English watchmaker of eminence, a good author observes, the works of English mechanics, are seen in the palaces of the greatest princes of the known world. In the cabinet of curiosities at Dresden, it is related by Dr. JSugent, in his Grand Tour, there is a cherry-stone, upon the surface of which, an hundred and twenty heads arc carved. 'There is also an ostrich made out of its own shell, with golden feathers ; a purse of incombustible linen; cups made of mother-o'-pearl; emeralds an inch in diameter, as they grow on the rock ; and several unpolished topazes, ten inches in diameter. There is also a great variety of clock-work ; as a horseman riding ; a ship under sail ; a centaur running and shooting ; and a crab crawling on the table. The stables likewise at Dresden, are furnished with iron racks and copper mangers. EXTKAOR- ( 104 ) EXTRAORDINARY INCIDENTS: AMONG others that have not, nor probably never might have found their way into the public papers; in the course of last winter a circumstance occurred, that occasioned no small degree of speculation, near Spital-square, Bishops- gate-street. In the emptying of a cess-pool belonging to the house of a respectable inhabitant, a human skeleton was found, supposed to have lain in that situation near thirty years. And about that time, it was recollected by some of the oldest inhabitants in the neighbourhood, that a young man, the heir of the estate, was suddenly missing, and never after heard of. A fortunate Discover?/. There was very lately an emi- nent tradesman in Oxford-street, or Tyburn-road, whose father owed a sudden rise in his life and fortune, entirely to his honesty towards a singular character, who lodged in his house, in Hanover-yard, near that street, about thirty years since. The person here spoken of, rented a single room under this tradesman, into which he never suffered any per- son to enter upon any account whatever. In fact, though then in years, he was himself very seldom at home, as he \vas a regular attendant at the Stock Exchange every day. And besides this, was so exceedingly reserved, as scarcely ever to be seen by any person at home, excepting when lie came in at night and went out in the morning. In the pay- ment of his rent, the old man was scrupulously exact, never neglecting it an hour on the evening it became due, every week. But after lodging upwards of nine years in this house, without ever having a single follower to enquire after him ; and being one morning missed by his landlord, in not coming down stairs as usual, he went up, fearing he might be ill, and knocked at his door.- But no manner of answer being relumed, after deliberating within himself a few hours longer, and then coming to the resolution of bursting A FORTUNATE DISCOVERY. 105 bursting open the door, he did so, and, as he expected, found his tenant lifeless and cold. That he was possessed of great property had long been supposed by the landlord, \vho, though a very poor tradesman himself, and incum- bered with a large family, without searching his room, or a bureau that stood in it, resolved to go early the next morn- ing to a General, who then lived near Cavendish-square ; whom, from the sameness of the name, &c. he, as it after- wards appeared, rightly conjectured was certainly some re- lative to his deceased lodger. But having arrived at the O house, and owing to his appearance, with some difficulty gained admittance into the great man's hall, he found it no easy matter to persuade his footman, that he had business which required Ins speaking to the General in person. He was repeatedly told he must send his message up, and as repeatedly refused it. At length, as the General was pro- bably told, that there was a ragged or mean looking fellow below, who must see Mm he came down into the hall, when, eyeing him from top to toe, " Well, good man," said he, (without offering to take him into any other apartment, or out of the hearing of the servants,) " What is your business r" " Private" said the tradesman lc Private!' 1 replied the General, (whose surprise seemed kindling into a degree of alarm,) "well then, follow me ?" " You have," said the tradesman, " a relation of the name of St n pe, apparently in low circumstances :" the General pausing " He is," continued the trades- man, " certainly a relation." " There is," said the General in reply, " a dirty fellow in the city of our name ; he wants I suppose ? I can say nothing to you." " lie wants nothing, Sir," continued the tradesman, " unless it be an heir to his property." " Properly," re- joined the General, " be explicit " " Sir," continued the other, " Mr. has lodged in one of my upper rooms these nine years ; he has died suddenly, and sup- posing 106 ANOTHEll INSTANCE OF HONESTY. posing you to be his relation, I am come to inform you, that his corpse, as well as his cash, will remain sacred and untouched by me till you chuse to inspect it." The Ge- neral seemed struck with surprise ; first bid his butler give that good man some refreshment, and then ordering his chariot to be made ready, got into it with the poor trades- man, and drove immediately to Hanover-yard, where he not only found every thing as it had been described, but as the most happy and convincing proof of the tradesman's honesty, in one of the drawers of the bureau, the deceased had left, written in Latin, an exact account and inventory of every article in his room, and also directions to find me secret drawers, where property, and documents of the same were deposited, to the amount of ^60,000. Not more surprised than gratified with the extraordinary in- tegrity of this poor man, the General determining he should not lose his reward, immediately took and furnished a house in Oxford-road, for him, stocked his shop, and recom- mended him to all his friends. Beyond all this, he had the satisfaction to see his bounty had been well bestowed. A course of industry and sobriety marked the conduct of the father, and has since descended to the tradesman's sou. Another instance of integrity, but not so fortunate in its issue, came within the knowledge of a person of veracity, about twenty years since : Occasionally employing two shoemakers, Davis and Lindsey, of Hand Court, Holborn ; who were men in years, and lived together, he had frequent opportunities (as old age is always talkative) of hearing them complain of the hardness of the times, merely because they had remembered when some articles of food had been still cheaper than they then were! However, being at that advanced age, when the eyesight generally begins to fail, he gave them credit for having some cause at least for com- plaint ; heard them patiently, and endeavoured to divert or condole with them, just as circumstances offered. As a contrast ANOTHER INSTANCE OF HONESTY. 10? contrast between these two characters, here let it be observed, that both of them were professedly religious, both sober- both sparing. One of them was really so, from absolute necessity ; as not being so ready a workman as the other, he was known to make three or four shillings a week less. He was unable to earn more than nine shillings a week, with his utmost exertions. But though an Antinomian by pro- fession, it was well known he had long been a considerable helper in small sums of money to a poor family, which had been left without a father. But the bounties of his co- partner and fellow-workman, if any, were kept a secret; he, however, kept equal pace, and often exceeded the other in occasional complaints of hard times, clearness of provi- sions, Sec. It should have been observed, that both these old murmurers had been single many years, if not all their life-time. The latter, however, dying suddenly, a secret he had constantly retained in his breast, could then be con- cealed no longer. lie had much property, principally con- sisting of money and plate, hid between the lath and plais- ter of the walls of his garret. r He had neither the time, nor the disposition to make a will ; therefore, to his faith- ful and sympathizing friend, he had not left any thing. The latter, notwithstanding, knowing of an apothecary, a nephew of the deceased, at some distance from him, honestly acquainted him with the circumstances of his uncle's sudden death and property ; and assisting him in the search, found hidden articles to the amount of 300, which, in all probability, no other person could have ob- tained. However, notwithstanding this poor man's fidelity, his loss of time, his known circumstances, and the long habits of intimacy lie had maintained with the deceased, the ungrateful heir never rewarded him with a single guinea ; nor even offered him the accommodation of a cloak or a hatband, to attend the funeral. In October 1787; a Mr. Duplex, a young gentleman, being 108 EXTRAORDINARY ADVENTURK. being on his return from Margate, took a boat on the Thames, almost as soon as he left the hoy, near the Tower, into which he put his trunk, and \vas coming on shore, when being boarded by several persons, calling themselves revenue officers, they carried it alongside a sloop lying at anchor very near, and under pretence of searching it, car- ried it down into the cabin. Mr. D followed the chest without any interruption, and saw it searched; but to his great surprise, he found the vessel in motion, and was, in a very short time, nearly abreast of Greenwich College. Just at this time he was told by the crew, that as he could not be put ashore, he might as well make himself con- tented; and though he had five guineas in his pockets, they never offered to deprive him of them ; however, his shirts they took from his chest, and they were worn by them in common. From this time, and during the whole term of three months that he remained with them, he was con- stantly confined to the cabin, from whence he could fre- quently hear part of the crew leaving the vessel, and when they came on board again, he thought they always brought hampers, boxes, &c. with them. Their food, the same as his own, was always ship beef, with grog, &c. At length being permitted to go on deck, he found the vessel upon the coast of North Wales, in the Bay of Beaumaris, and the man at the helm, telling him he might leave the vessel, he gladly availed himself of a fisherman's smack coming alongside, and who agreed to put him on board a Welch sloop, then under way, and bound to Dublin. . From Dublin, Mr. D finding himself quite at liberty, soon contrived to get to London, where he found the Thames had been dragged for his body ; and that a reward had been offered by his friends for finding him, dead or alive. This statement was given from one of Mr. D.'s friends, who lias often heard him relate the particulars of this extraor- dinary adventure. EXTRAOR- EXTRAORDINARY DELIVERANCE. 1 HE wooden bridge over the Usk, in Wales, is remark- able for its construction, which is similar to that erected by Ctesar, over the Rhine ; and it may perhaps be consi- dered, as formed on the plan adopted by the Romans. The great floods to which the Usk is subject, have some- times carried away part of this bridge. An accident of this kind, in October 1772, occasioned a singular event, which would scarcely obtain credit, were it not authenticated by the most respectable testimony. " As Mrs. Williams, wife of Mr. Williams, brazier, was returning from the village of Caerleon to the town, at eleven o'clock at night, with a candle and lantern, the violence of the current forced away four piers, and a considerable part of the bridge. On a fragment of this mass, consisting of an entire room, with the beams, posts, and flooring, she was hurried down the river, but preserved sufficient presence of mind to sup- port herself by the railing. On arriving near St. Julian's, the candle was extinguished ; she immediately screamed out for help, and was heard by several persons, who started out of their beds to assist her ; but the violence of the stream had already hurried her out of their reach. During this time she had little apprehension, as she entertained hopes of being delivered by the boatmen of Newport ; her expectations were increased by the numerous lights which she discerned in the houses, and she accordingly redoubled her cries for assistance, though without effect. The frag- ment on which she etood, being broken to pieces against a pier of Newport bridge, she fortunately bestrode a beam, and after being detained some minutes by the eddies of the bridge, was rapidly hurried along towards the sea. In this perilous situation, she resigned herself to her approach- jug fate, and addressing herself to Heaven, exclaimed, ' O, Lord! I trust in thee, thoii done cctmt save mt!' 9 About 110 EXTRAORDINARY DELIVERANCE, &C. About a mile from Newport, she discerned a glimmering light in a barge moored near the shore; and, redoubling her cries, was heard by the master of the vessel. After hailing her, and learning her situation, he cried out, ' Keep up your spirits, and you will soon be out of dan- ger ;' then leaping into the boat, with one of his men, rowed towards the place from whence the screams pro- ceeded ; but some time elapsed before he overtook her, at a considerable distance from the anchorage of his barge, The night was so dark, that they could not discern each other, and the surf swelling violently, the master re- peated his exhortations, charged her to be calm, and not attempt to quit her station. Fortunately a sudden dis- persion of the clouds, enabled him to lash the beam fore and aft to the boat. At this moment, however, her presence of mind forsook her, and eagerly attempting to throw her- self forward, she was checked by the oaths of the seamen, who were at length enabled to heave her into the boat, but could not disengage themselves from the beam, till they had almost reached the mouth of the Usk. This being effected, not without great difficulty, they rowed to the shore, and embayed themselves till the first dawn of the morning, when they conveyed her in the boat to Newport. Though Mrs. Williams was in an advanced slate of pregnancy, she received so little injury from this perilous accident, that after a few hours repose, she returned to Caerleon. The disinterested conduct of the master and boatman, ought not to be omitted : notwithstanding the peril to which they were exposed, and their active exertions, they repeatedly declined the liberal re- compence offered by Mr. Williams." JOHN RICHARDS, A BLIND MAN A SINGULAR CHARACTER, /Vs satirists of all ages, with writers of every description, who have much claim to a knowledge of human nature, |iave paid so much attention to the mendicant tribe, as fre- quently JOHN RICHARDS, A BLIND MAN. Ill tquenlly to attempt the delineation of their characters, and even to decypher their slang or lingo, in which Mr. Francis Grose has eminently succeeded, following their steps ; especially as the person before us had some time since caught the attention of an artist ; to aid the pencil with the pen, we probably need only to remind our readers, that, till within a very short period, they may have recollected the above figure very frequently about the streets of this metroplis ; his motion continually upon the see- saw, bal- lads in his hand, and his tones between high and low, the former resembling the braying of an ass, and the latter the grunting of a hog ; his head was always in motion, and might have reminded one of Sir Archy Macsycophant's booing and booing : his feet, however, were so slow in their progress, that he would be sometimes nearly a day in pacing a street's length. The charity he had bestowed upon him, was certainly not given him as a retaining fee; but rather to get rid of a dissonance and a discord, which, together with his own squalid figure, were as disgusting as cau well be imagined. Like several of his fraternity, not a word he uttered was intelligible; but with all these disagreeable qua- lities, as he had a bag slung before him for alms, he had certainly established a walk, where he collected what has been called skran and brass knocker ; a portion or the whole of which, is generally disposed of on an evening, at the pub- lic houses used by the mendicant or begging tribe, to poor women, who come there for the purpose of purchasing, while these pretended objects of charity order fowls, geese, Sec. ; and, at one time, frightened one of their betters, an Alder- man and Brewer of London, who accidentally dropped in- to their company; by calling for an Alderman hung in chains, for their supper ! viz. a turkey roasted with pork sausages ! At these evening meetings, when all restraints, viz. lame legs, bandages, crutches, patches, and plaisters are laid aside, and the pleasures of the bowl are nought to drown the cares of the dav, this John Richards, ] 12 JOHN RICHARDS, A BLIND MAN } Richards, who was regarded by his competitors in th cringe as a queer Jile, was nevertheless so far from a bad chaunt or singer, that he was frequently called upon from the chair to amuse the company. But he was not the only one, who, after being in the practice of a self-denying silence all day, rioted in a contrary extreme at night. For, at the evening meetings, at which he, with many others, attended in the neighbourhood of Dyot-street, St. Giles's, it seemed as if a daily, and a universal miracle had been wrought. Scarcely had these jovial companies assembled together in one place, and with one accord ; or rather scarcely had the liquor appeared upon the table, when the blind could see. the dumb speak the deaf hear and the lame begin to walk ! Here, indeed, as Pop has said, one might " Seethe blind beggar dance, the cripple sing." Or, as he has nearly said upon a more solemn occasion, " Hear the dumb sing ; the lame his crutch forego, " And leap, exulting, like, the bounding roe." However, to descend from the imitation of these poetic strains, of such assemblies * as we have just described, John Richards was a visiting member; and as a beggar's life is avowedly made up of extremes, from these midnight orgies he used to adjourn to a miserable twopenny lodging, in the neighbour- * From some such meetings as these, we conceive the following Club Bill to have been issued : The Company of all Mumpers, Cadgers, Match-makers, Dandelion-dig- gers, Dragon Fogrum Gatherers, Water-cress Fishers, and others, is earnestly requested, to-morrow evening, at the Old Blind Beak's Head, in Dyot-street, St. Giles's, at nine o'clock precisely. As the house has been altered, the company will be accommodated with a large room up stairs ; but those who are not really lame, are desired to leave their sticks artel crutches at the bar, to prevent mischief. After the admission of new members the President will give directions from the chair, for avoiding of Beadles and all other unlucky persons ; point out, for the benefit of Country members, the best parts for strolling, the method of making artificial sores, c. Mr. Nick-froth, the Landlord, also informs his friends arid customers, that, on account of the many Evening Lecture*, and Methodist Meetings in the A SINGULAR CHARACTER. \\$ neighbourhood of Lewkner's-lane ; where, with the regular return of morning, as a carpenter putteth on his apron, or as a trowel is taken into the hand of a bricklayer ; even so John Richards, la} ing aside all the freaks of the evening, and lengthening his face into the accustomed line of gra- vity, again sallied forth in quest of those objects of credu- lity, that will ever be found in a population so extensive as that of this metropolis. John Richards was about 50 yeura of age; but a disease, and death, which was deaf to all his entreaties, and could not be soothed by those sweet sounds which he was in the daily habit of uttering, put a final period to his perambulations some months since. THE SALT MINES OF POLAND. IMESE are wonderful caverns, several hundred yards deep, at the bottom of which are many intricate windings and labyrinths. Out of these are dug four different kinds of salt ; one extremely hard, like crystal ; another, softer, but clearer; a third, white, but brittle ; these are all brack- ish ; but the fourth is somewhat fresher. These four kinds are dug in different mines near the city of Cracow ; on one side of them is a stream of salt water ; and on the other, one of fresh. The revenue arising from these and other salt mines, is very considerable, and formed part of the royal revenue, till they were seized by the Emperor, being- situated within the provinces which he dismembered from Poland ; the annual average profit of that of Wielitska, was 3,500,000 Polish florins, or 97,2<2<2 4s. 6d. sterling. The latter, indeed, is the most considerable salt mine in Winter Season, the Club will meet an hour later than usual. He will ak-o allow sprats to be broiled on the tap-room fire, let his boys fetch hogs' maw* and sheeps' heads. And that he likewise sends strong betr in white jugs or black tin pots (out of a blind) to any of the stands, at a reasonable distance from his house. X. B. A good Stand to let, now occupied by a person, who i? under t!i- necessity of going into the Lock !Iospital. tit- 114 THE SALT MllTES OF POLAND. the world, and from it a great part of the Continent is sup" plied with that article. Wielitska is a small town, about eight miles from Cracow ; the mine is excavated in a ridge of hills at the northern extremity of the chain which joins to the Carpathian mountains, and has been wrought above 600 years ; for they are mentioned in the Polish Annals, so early as 1237, under Bolessaus the Chaste*, and not then as a new discovery : how much earlier they were known cannot be ascertained. There are eight openings or descents into this mine, six in the field, and two in the town itself, which are mostly used for letting down the workmen, and taking up the salt; the others being chiefly used for letting in wood and other necessaries. The open- ings are rive feet square, and about four wide ; they are lined throughout with timber, and at the top of each there is a large wheel, with a rope as thick as a cable, by which things are let down and drawn up; and this is worked by a horse. When a stranger has the curiosity to see the works, he must descend by one of these holes : he is first to put on a miner's coat over his cloaths, and then being led to the mouth of the hole by a miner, who serves for a guide, the miner fastens a smaller rope to the larger one, and ties it about himself; he sits in this, and, taking the stranger in his lap, gives the sign to be let down. When several go down together, the custom is, that when the first is let down about three yards the wheel stops, and another miner takes another rope, ties himself, takes another in his lap, and descends about three yards further; the wheel then .stops for another pair, and so on till the \\hole company are seated ; then the wheel is again worked, and the whole stiing of adventurers are let down together, It is no un- common thing for forty people to go down in this manner. When the \\luel is finally set-a-going, it never slops till * Lfiijfiiioh, Jus, F'ub. vol. i, p. 249, Tllli SALT MINES OF 1'OLAND. llj they are all down; but the descent is very slow and gra- dual, and it is a very uncomfortable time, while they all recollect that their lives depend upon the goodness of the rope. They are carried down a narrow and dark well to the depth of GOO feet perpendicular; this is in reality an immense depth, but the terror and tediousness of the de- scent, makes it appear to most people, vastly more than it is. As soon as the first miner touches the ground at the bot- tom, he slips out of the rope and sets his companion upon his legs, and the rope continues descending till all the rest do the same. The place where they are set down is per- fectly dark, but the miners strike fire and light a small lamp, by means of which, (each taking the stranger he has care of, by the arm,) they lead them through a number of strange passages and meanders, all descending lower and lower, till they come to certain ladders,, by which they de- scend an immense depth, and this through passages per- fectly dark. The damp, cold, and darkness of these places, and the horror of being so many yards under ground, gene- rally make strangers heartily repent before they get thus far; but when at the bottom, they are well rewarded for their pains, by a sight that could never have been expected after so much horror. At the foot of the last ladder the stran- ger is received in a small dark cavern, walled up perfectly close on all sides. To increase the terror of the scene, it is usual for the guide to pretend the utmost terror on the apprehension of his lamp going out, declaring they must perish in the mazes of the mine if it did. When arrived in this dreary chamber, he puts out his light, as if by acci- dent; ami, after much cant, catches the stranger by the hand, and diags him through a narrow creek into the body of the mine, when there bursts at once upon his view a world; the lustre of which is scarcely to be imagined. It is a spacious plain, containing a whole people, a kind of subterranean republic, with houses, carriages, roads, &c. This Jltj TUT; SALT MINES OF POLAND. This is \\holly scooped out of one vast bed of salt, which i.s all a hard rock, as bright and glittering as crystal, and the whole space before him is formed of lofty arched vaults, supported by columns of salt, and roofed and floored with the same, so that the columns, and indeed the whole fabric, seem composed of the purest crystal. They have many public lights in this place, continually burning, for the ge- neral use; and the blaxe of those reflected from every part of the mine, gives a more glittering prospect than any thing above ground can possibly exhibit. Were this the whole beauty of the spot, it were sufficient to attract our \vonder ; but this is only a small part. The salt (though generally clear and bright as crystal,) is in some places tinged with all the colours of precious stones, as blue, yellow, purple and green; there are numerous columns wholly composed of these kinds, and they look like masses of rubies, emeralds, amethysts, and sapphires, darting a radiance which the eye can hardly bear, and which has given many people occasion to compare it to the supposed magnificence of Heaven. ---Besides the variety of forms in those vaults, tables, arches, and columns, which are framed as they dig out the salt for the purpose of keeping up the roof, there is a vast variety of others, grotesque and finely figured, the work of nature; and these are generally of the purest and brightest salt. The roofs of the arches are in many places full of salt, hanging pendent from the lop in the form of icicles, and having ail the hues and co- lours of the rainbow; the walks are covered with various congelations of the same kind, and the very floors, when not too much trodden and battered, are covered with glo-- bules of the same sort of beautiful materials. In various parts of tins spacious plain, stand the huts of the miners and families, some single, and others in clusters like villages. They have very little communication with the world above j and many hundreds of people are born and live all their THE SALT MINES OF POLAND. 117 their lives here. Through the midst of this plain, lies the great road to the mouth of the mine. This road is always filled with carnages loaded with masses of salt out of the farther part of the mine, and carrying them to the place where the rope belonging to the wheel receives them ; the drivers of these carriages are all merry and singing, and the salt looks like a load of gems. The horses kept here are a very great number, and when once let down, they never see day-light again ; but some of the men take frequent oc- casions of going up and breathing the fresh air. The in- struments principally used by the miners are pick-axes, hammers, and chissels; with these they dig out the salt in forms of huge cylinders, each of many hundred weight. This is found the most convenient method of getting them out of the mine, and as soon as got above ground, they are broken into smaller pieces, and sent into the mills, where they are ground to powder. The finest sort of the salt is frequently cut into toys, and often passes for real crystal. This hard kind makes a great part of the floor of the mine; and what is the most surprising in the whole place is, that there runs constantly over this, and through a large part of the mine, a spring of fresh water ; sufficient to supply the inhabitants and their horses, so that they need not have any from above ground. The horses usually grow blind, after they have been some little time in the mine, but they do as well for service afterwards as before. After admiring the wonders of this amazing place, it is no very comfortable re- membrance to the stranger, that he is to go back again through the same dismal way he came, and, indeed, the journey is not much better than the prospect; the only means of getting up is by the rope, and little more cere- mony is used in the journey than in the drawing up of a piece of salt. The salt dug from this mine is called Ziebua, or Green Salt, but for what reason it is difficult to deter- mine, its colour being an iron grey ; when pounded, it has K a dirty 118 tHE SALT MINES OF POLAND. a dirty ash colour, like what \\e call brown salt. The mine Appears to be inexhaustible, as will easily be conceived, fronj the following account of its dimensions, given by Mr. Coxe. " Its known breadth (says he) is 11 15 feet, its length 6f)Ql feet, and depth 743 :" this, however, is to be understood only of the part which has been actually worked ; as to the real depth or longitudinal extent of the mine, it is not pos- sible to conjecture. Under the mountains adjoining the Kiow, on the fron- tiers of Russia, and in the deserts of Podolia, t'.re several catacombs, or subterranean vaults, which the ancients used for burying-places, and where a great number of human bodies are still preserved entire, though interred many ages since, having been better embalmed, and become neither so hard nor so black as the Egyptian mummies. .Among them are two princes in the habits they used to wear. It is thought that this preserving quality is owing to the nature of the soil, which is dry and sandy. Of antiquities, Poland can boast of but few, as ancient Sarmatia was never per- fectly known to the Romans themselves. Its artificial cu- riosities also are not numerous, consisting chiefly of the gold, silver, and enamelled vessels, presented by (he kings and prelates of Poland, and preserved in the cathedral <>J" G ne$na. A POPISH MISEU. A CHRONICLE, of the City of Venice, for the yr-r UJRj, mentions a person of great property in that city, who had such a love of sold, that the bare mention oi a large sum O ? had the same operation upon his pulse, as though he had been seized with a violent fever. The spirit of Mammon is also said to have possessed him in such a degree, that even \vhen Lc made the sign of the cross, as he affected much devotion, he always made use of a gold coin called a zequiu. His chc:;ly, drawers, &.c. which were filled with RUINS AND STRUCTURES IN THE HOLY LAND. 119 bags of gold, \vcre each of them named after some Saint. One large leathern bag, \vliich it was thought he wor- shipped, he, as it were, dedicated to God the father, an- other to the Son, and a third to the third person in the Tri- nity. These bags also on holidays, saints-days, and other festivals of the Church, he used to decorate in the same manner as others do their images. Being upon his death- bed, finding no hope of life, he desired every person to withdraw ; when after being absent about a quarter of an hour, his friends returning, found him stretched out, grasp- ing with his arms the largest of his bugs, and with both his hands tilled with various pieces of gold. In line, such was the enormous avarice of this wretch, that nothing but ihe quality and interference of his friends prevented a printed account of his whole life from being published. They, however, could not prevent the circumstances here related from being descanted upon in several of the pulpits of that city. Famous II u i ys^and STRUCTURES in the Holy Land, $c. [Described by a. late Traveller.] U YViiKN you (says this writer) approach the Isthmus, on the peninsula of ancient r l}" re ? you see some gar- dens planted with mulberries to feed silk worms. .Near these are three curious basons built with stone, of a circu- lar form, and raised about ten feet above the surface of the ground 1 , the largest of them is about sixty yards in circum- ference, and has steps all round its inside like an amphithe- atre, narrowing gradually from the surface to the bottom. But the force of the springs which fill these basons is such, that a stone near three pounds weight will be some time carried about before it sinks to the bottom. These basons afford so much water, that all the adjacent gardens and some water-mills are supplied with their streams. They were constructed by the ancient Tynans, and though tiie moderns 120 EXTRAORDINARY CHESTNUT-TREE. moderns have endeavoured to discover the spring which supplies them, they could never succeed. The ruins of ancient Tyre consist of the remains of the walls scattered in different parts, and mostly buried in the sand ; they were composed of brick and stone, and now appear about ten feet thick. An old arch which was the gate of the harbour is still to be seen, but though the harbour has been nearly filled up with rubbish, small boats can still enter it. Those who read the prophecies of Isaiah and Ezekiel may form some ideas of the astonishing wealth and magnificence of the once-famous cities of Tyre and Sidon, which, in the end, as many others have been, were ruined only by their excessive wealth. Siddn seems to have been to Tyre very nearly what Westminster is to London, as it stood on a neck of land over against Tyre, and both together formed a bay about sixteen miles in length. In the country in the neighbourhood you meet with gardens planted with orange, lemon, and all sorts of fruit trees, with springs of water very sweet and fresh; but though the inhabitants from the loss of trade are comparatively poor, they are under no apprehensions of the want or scarcity of provisions, as it is not worth the attention of the rich to embark their capitals iu any kind of agency or traffic in the prime articles of the necessaries of life." The Extraordinary CHESTNUT-TREE on MOUNT called the Castagna de Cento Cavalli; as related by BRY- DONE and others. XT had then the appearance of five distinct trees, the space "within them he was assured had once been filled with solid timber, when the whole formed only one tree. The pos- sibility of this could not at first be conceived, for the five trees contained a space of 204 feet in circumference; but the truth of the same was not only proved by the testimony of the country, and the accurate examination of the Canon Rempero, AN EXTRAORDINARY SNAKE. 121 Recupero, a learned naturalist in those parts, but by the appearance of the trees themselves, none of which had any bark on the inside. Brydone tells us it was so ancient he had seen it marked in an old map of Sicily, published an hundred years before. A REMARKABLE hog, now in the possession of W. Fos- ter, Walsall, which he bought about two years and a half since for 3. 5s. and he is still in a growing state. In length he is, from the point of the nose to the tail end, nine feet 10 inches, in height 3 feet 11 inches, in girt 8 feet, the cleft of his fore hoof is 5 inches and a half, and his weight is supposed to be 60 score pounds. He has been in feeding most of the time his present owner has had him, and has cost him 40 guineas in meal, but it is not yet fat, and it is supposed, when properly so, he will weigh about 1800 pounds. The owner has been offered \00 for him by a person who intended to have carried him about as an ex- hibition. April, 1803. A most singular discovery was lately made at Deptford. While a number of sailors and others were employed in unloading the cargo of the Admiral Aplin, an East Indiaman, who arrived at the above place a fortnight ago from Madras (laden with sugar, saltpetre, and some bale goods,) then being in the act of dragging out of the hold some bags of sugar, they discovered through a board in the hold of the ship a green snake of an amazing size, whose appearance was so terrific that it gave a general alarm, and it being well known that its bite is instantaneous death, it was found necessary to procure weapons for its destruction, which they completed by tying a spade to the end of one of the oars of the boat, by which they caught it by the neck, and confined it till they severed the head from the body. It was as green as grass, 15 feet long, and 18 inches in circumference. It is supposed that this ani- mal ]GC ORIGIN OF POMPFA'S PILLAR. rnal in the night time found its way on board the ship, while lying at Madras, by the means of concealing itself ni one of the bags of sugar, or sliding on one of the planks, into the hold, following the scent of the sugar. Its bite is always understood to be more venomous than the bile of a rattle snake. DISCOVERY of the ORIGIN O/POMPEY'S PILLAR. ^i s this is principally owing to the intrepidity of British seamen, in the first instance, and the learning and investi- gation of British soldiers in the next place, a concentration of the various accounts of their recent enquiries can neither be devoid of entertainment or interest. It does not appear, though so much indebted to the French as we are upon so many other accounts in Egypt, that they have thrown much light upon this famous pillar. Even Sir Robert Wilson, taking a recollective view of the ascent of some British seamen to its top, makes it a mutter of doubt whether they could or could not ascertain the former erection of a statue upon its summit! But by referring to the account pub- lished in 1793 concerning this affair, it will appear that one foot and ancle of this statue was positively remaining in 1781, the time the visit was paid to the column by the British tars. To begin uith a short description of this monument, it has been justly observed, u That which mostly engages the attention of travellers who pass through Alexandria, is the Pillar of Poinpey, as it is commonly called, situated at a quarter of a league from the southern gate of the city. It is composed of red granite. The Co- rinthian capital is nine feet high. The hhat't and the upper member of the base are of one piece of ninety feet long, and nine in diameter. The base is a square of about fif- teen feet on each side. This block of marble, sixty feet in circumference, rests on two layers of stone bound toge- ther with lead ; which, however, has not prevented the Arabs rnnciN OF POMPEVS PIU.AU, 123 Arabs from forcing out several of them, to search for an imaginary treasure. The whole column is 114 feet high, It is perfectly well polished, and only a little shivered on the eastern side. Nothing can equal the majesty of this monument; seen from a distance, it overtops the town, and serves as a signal for vessels at sea. Approaching it nearer, it produces an astonishment mixed with awe. One can never he tired with admiring the beauty of the capital, the length of the shaft, nor the extraordinary simplicity of the pedestal. This last has been somewhat damaged by the instruments of travellers, who are curious to possess a relic of this antiquity ; and one of the volutes of the column was immature]}- brought down about 1781, by a prank of some English Captains, which is thus related by Mr. Irwin: " These jolly sons of Neptune had been pushing about the ran on board one of the ships in the harbour, until a stnuige freak entered into one of their brains. The eccentri- city of the thought occasioned it immediately to be adopted, and its apparent impossibility was but a spur for the putting it into execution. The boat was ordered, and \\ith proper implements for the attempt, these enterprising heroes pushed ashore, to drink a bowl of punch on the top of Porn- pey's pillar! At the spot they arrived ; and many contriv- ances were proposed to accomplish the desired point. Hut their labour was vain, and they began to despair of success, when the genius who struck out the frolic happily suggested the means of performing it. A man was dispatched to the city for a paper kite. The inhabitants were by this time apprized of what was going forward, and flocked in crowds to be witnesses of the address and boldness of the English. O The Governor of Alexandria was told that these seamen were about to pull down Pompcy's piilar. But whether he gave them credit for their respect to the Roman warrior, or to the Turkish government, he left them to themselves, ai id politely answered, that the English were too great patriots 124 ORIGIN OF POMPEY'S PILLAR. patriots to injure the remains of Pompey. He knew little, however, of the disposition of the people who were en- gaged in this undertaking. Had the Turkish empire rose in opposition, it would not perhaps at that moment have deterred them. The kite was brought, and flown so di- rectly over the pillar, that when it fell on the other side, the string lodged upon the capital. The chief obstacle was now overcome. A two -inch rope was tied to one end of the string, and drawn over the pillar by the end to which the kite was affixed. By this rope one of the seamen as- cended to the top; and in less than an hour, a kind of shrowd was constructed, by which the whole company went up, and drank their punch amid the shouts of the astonished multitude. To the eye below, the capital of the pillar does not appear capable of holding more than one man upon it; but our seamen found it could contain no less than eight persons very conveniently. It is astonishing that no accident befel these madcaps, in a situation so ele- vated, that would have turned a landman giddy in his sober senses. The only detriment which the pillar receiv- ed was the loss of the volute before-mentioned ; which came down with a thundering sound, and was carried to England by one of the captains, as a present to a lady who commissioned him for a piece of the pillar. The discovery which they made amply compensated for this mischief: as without their evidence, the world would not have known at this hour, that there was originally a statue on this pillar, one foot and ancle of which are still remaining. The statue must have been of a gigantic size, to have appeared of a man's proportion at so great an height." * But to put the origin of this pillar beyond all doubt, since the Greek inscription upon the same has been decy- pherecl, it appears that this monument, contrary to all former opinions, was erected in honour of Diocletian, by the then Prefect of I>'gvpt. For this discovery, the learned are A MAN NOT BORN TO BE HANGED. 125 are indebted to Lieutenant Dundas, of the Royal Engi- neers, and Lieutenant Desude, of the Queen's German Re- giment, aid-de-camp to Lord Cavan, who accomplished it with much perseverance and difficulty. The letters were so much defaced by time, that it was only during the hours when the sun cast a shadow from them that any observation could be made. In some parts a few characters are totally incapable of being traced. These characters have been filled up by Mr. Hales, an English clergyman, at Naples, employed in decyphering the ancient manuscripts found at Herculaneum. These filled up characters are of course open to criticism. The most material part, however, the name of the person to whom the pillar is dedicated, is quite legible. The following is a translation of the inscription : To Diocletianus Augustus, most adorable Emperor, the tutelar deity of Alexandria, Pontius, Prefect of Egypt consecrated this. A Man evidently not born to be Hanged or Drowned. T JL HE following catalogue of calamities are inserted, as having actually occurred to one man; and are asserted in a letter from Uttoxeter in Staffordshire, dated as under, and of which the following is an extract. " I cannot but imagine that the following narrative of accidents, which have fallen to the lot of one man, now perfectly sound and hearty, and in his 45th year, will find a place in your valuable Miscellany ; they are so numerous, and many of them so generally fatal, that it is almost necessary for me, (in order to gain the credit I am entitled to), to premise that the subject (or hero if you please) of this letter, is very much engaged in horse-breaking, from which dangerous employment most of these misfortunes have arisen. 1. Right shoulder broken to pieces ; 2. Scull fractured and trepanned ; 3. Left arm broken in two places ; 4. Three ribs on the left side broken a cut in the fore- VOL. I. s head 126 AN AWFUL INSTANCE OF head lancet-case, flue-case, and knife, forced into the thigh ; 5. Three ribs broken on the right sideand the right shoulder, elbow, and wrist, dislocated ; 6. Back dislocated ; 7. Scull fractured and trepanned ; 8. Cap of the right knee kicked off; 9. Left ancle out ; 10. Cut for a fistula ; 11. Right ancle out, and hip knocked down ; 12. Seven ribs broken on the right and left sides ; 13. Cap of the right knee kicked off; 14. Kicked in the face, and the left eye out of the socket: 15. Back dislocated ; 16. Two ribs and breast bone-broken; 17. Got down by a horse and kicked till he had five holes in his left leg, the sinew just below the right knee cut through, and two holes in that leg, and also two shocking cuts above the knee. " He has been taken apparently dead, seven times out of different rivers. Besides the above, he has had many other kicks, bruises, and other accidents. " As several of your friends, many of whom live in this neighbourhood, may wish to satisfy themselves of the ve- racity of the foregoing enumeration, I shall give them that opportunity, by informing them, that Mr. George Talking- ton, of Uttoxeter, is the person alluded to; and that every doubt may be removed by applying to Mr. Madeley, surgeon, of this place, who was operator in the tenth in- stance, and who attended in most of his disasters; or to your humble servant and constant reader, " Uttoxeter, Oct. 7th, 1793. " BAN JERSEY." An Awful Instance of a Breach of Confidence. I _T is the business of Christians, amidst these trials, to hearken to the declaration of the inspired apostlo, and to follow his counsel : "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat: the earth also, and the works that are there- in A BREACH OF CONFIDENCE. 127 in shall be burnt up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, and hastening unto the coming of the day of God." The following narrative was lately communicated to Mr. A. Fuller, by Mr. John Bignell, jun. He resides at Mr. Robert Bowyer's, Pall Mall, who also can testify the truth of it. "In the year 1778, there died at Meonstoke, in Hamp- shire, a Mr. Thomas Wyatt, by trade a wheel-wright. He had, through his own industry, accumulated a sufficiency to live the latter part of his days independent. Messrs. John and Francis Bignell being his nearest relations, he made them his executor?, and left them the greater part of his property. Having many distant relations, however, and being of a generous disposition, he bequeathed to each of them a trifling legacy. For this purpose, he had con- cealed a certain sum of money under the floor, at the bot- tom of a closet, specifying particulars in a letter which he had left written hi Latin, directed to Mr. John Bignell. After the funeral, the above-mentioned money was searched for, but could not be found. Mr. Wyatt, having only a servant-maid in the house with him for some years before his decease, the executors concluded that she must be the person who had taken it ; and accordingly accused her of havingdone so. She denied it in the most solemn manner, wishing that God might strike her dead if she had ever seen it. After being discharged, she went to a lodging in the same village. The executors still concluding that the money must have been taken away by her, procured a warrant and proper officers, in order to search her lodg- ing. Upon their entering the house, she met them with the greatest cheerfulness, still declaring that she had never seen the money. They proceeded first to search the upper part of the house. After having gone through several rooms, 128 ANN SIGGS; rooms, she said, ' Now we have been in all the rooms up stairs, we will go down.' But they perceived another door, which they soon found led to her apartment. As soon as they entered this room they observed a box, which was locked. Upon demanding the key, she said she had lost it. In consequence of their threatening to break it open, however, she took the key out of her pocket, and unlocked the box herself; but immediately on its being opened, she was observed to take out something, and at- tempt to put it into her pocket. On stopping her hand, they found it to be a silver tooth-pick, which belonged to Mr. Wyatt; and searching further into the box, they dis- covered sheets, table-cloths, spoons, a pair of silver buckles, &c. all which she had taken from him. At the bottom of the box, they found the money in a smaller box, which Mr. Wyatt had particularly described. Finding her- self thus detected, she fell down on the bed, and expired immediately. " N. B. Among other legacies which Mr. Wyatt left, he had bequeathed fifty pounds to his maid-servant, and which bequest was thus expressed : ' To my true and faithful servant Elizabeth Earwaker,' &c. " After her death there arose a dispute between two of her relations, concerning whose right it was to receive her legacy, in consequence of which, one of them went and haned himself." ANN SIGGS; A CONSPICUOUS CHARACTER. ( With her Portrait.) W HENEVER any person, in consequence of any thing- peculiar in their dress, their manners, or the frequency of their appearance in public places, has rendered themselves conspicuous, the enquriry, who or what they are, is so na- tural to the human mind, that any attempt to gratify such a degree A CONSPICUOUS CHARACTER. 129 a degree of curiosity, instead of being criminal, becomes a laudable, and very often an useful source of amusement. In the case in hand, the public, especially those in the habit of passing through the principal streets of this capital, leading from Bond-street to Cornhill, cannot have been in- sensible to the daily appearance of a tall woman, walking, with apparent facility with crutches, mostly dressed in white, sometimes wearing a jacket or spencer of green baize, but always so remarkably clean in her dress and ap- pearance, that upon the whole she cannot fail to excite con- siderable attention. In consequence of the natural enqui- ries who, and what such a person is, or has been, and from the remains of a good face and figure, it has generally been considered that the person in question was a relative to Mrs. Siddons ; but this report is entirely unfounded. Ann Siggs is the daughter of an industrious parent, who was many years a breeches maker, at Dorking in Surry, who, after bringing up a large family of eight children, died when this daughter was about 18 years of age, and settled in the family of Capt. Duvernet ; from whence, after under- going a long vicissitude of much better and worse circum- stances, she finally gained a, permanent settlement, by living with a family in Birchin-lane. From whence, through her inability to remain in her latter situation, in consequence of an obstinate rheumatism, she receives from the parish of St. Michael's, Cornhill, a weekly allowance, which, with the benevolence of some well-disposed persons, probably, does much ; " But cannot minister to the mind diseased." Ann Siggs has lived in Eden-court, Swallow-street, and in the same street where she now resides, ever since the year 1791, the lonely occupant of a small back room, but which she is observed to leave every morning at nine o'clock, and to return about five in the afternoon. But thus ANN SIOGS J A CONSPICUOUS CHARACTER. thus reduced, she still claims much property of which she says she has heen wronged. However she still has abrother in an opulent way of business on the Stirry side of the water, and had a sister that lived at Isleworth, dead some time since. She is about 54 years of age ; but probably dis- appointment, or that neglect which the weakest minds are by no means calculated to sustain, have in some measure wrought upon the intellect. Many, indeed, have been among the number of those whom Gray has said The stings of Falsehood those shall try, And hard unkindness alter 'd eye, That inocks the tear it forc'd to flow ; Thus, iu the character of Ann Siggs, there is nothing sin- gular but her exterior ; the apparent burden of warm, though exceedingly clean clothing, which she constantly wears, is not from affectation, but from the necessity of guarding against the least cold, which she says always in- creases her disorder. Many who receive alms publicly in their dress and conduct are generally an outrage to decency and delicate feeling. If the present subject possesses any singularity besides that of dress, it is chiefly in the silent appeal of an appearance that involuntarily calls forth a degree of enquiry, and at the same time affords a kind of prepossession, urging the probability that the present pre- dicament of the object of research has certainly been pro- duced by some of the freaks and eccentricities of fortune ; hence the common curiosity of learning the particulars, which are always the more agreeable in proportion as they are harmless. A SHOCKING DISCOVERY. [Translated from the German Politischcs Journal.] T is well known that during the French Revolution, the wood Kusel, near Deux Pouts was often the scene of various actions, and that the Prussians encamped in it a con- siderable A SHOCKING DISCOVERY. 131 siderable time ; consequently (lie wood was so nearly ruined, that only a few oak trees were left standing, here and there. These trees were sold in the month of March last, 1803, and one lot fell to a citizen of Strasburgh for fifty florins. Soon afterwards ordering two of them to be cut down, one of them, the largest, was no sooner divided for the purpose of removal, than to the astonishment of the labourers they dis- covered a human skeleton, from which all the flesh having wasted away, nothing remained near the body at the bot- tom of the tree but some bits of blue cloth, and part of a hat. A purse half decayed was also found, containing about 100 louis d'ors in gold ; and from the buttons about the blue cloth, it was concluded that the deceased had been a Prussian officer, who not knowing the tree to be hollow or, probably sleeping near the top of the trunk of it, had slipped in, and from cold, or a variety of circumstances, being unable to extricate himself, had there perished. The fact, however, can be attested by the proprietor, the purchaser of the trees, and several other persons. A True Relation of a Horrid and Long -Concealed Murder committed iqion the Person of Thomas Kid- derminster, Gent, of Tupsley in the County of Here- ford, at the White Horse, Chelmsford, Essex, in April 1654. J. HIS unfortunate person was the only son of Walter Kidderminster, of Tupsley in the county of Hereford ; but bein- wronged out of his paternal estate by the intrigues of his step-mother, he was compelled very early in life to enter into the service of the Bishop of Ely, who at length employed him as his steward till the commencement of the civil war, and the commitment of that Prelate to the Tower for his unshaken loyalty. Mr. Kidderminster was after- wards employed in the management of other gentlemen's estates 132 LONG CONCEALED MURDER. estates in Cambridgeshire, till thinking it prudent to con- vert his property into money, and endeavour to settle upon, or sell his estate which he still claimed in Herefordshire, after sending his wife to London, who was then big with child, and telling her he would return in about ten days, he departed from Cambridgeshire through Essex, with a number of writings, taking with him about five or six hundred pounds in gold, most of which he had obtained in exchange for silver. Going a bye- road for safety, Mr. Kidderminster took a guide with him, but on reaching Chelmsford at night he was discharged. Mr. Kidderminster then put up at the White Horse Inn, where it appears he had lain at other times, and was very well acquainted ; but there he was murdered on the same night, and, as before said, in April 1654, as will further appear from the following relation : He not coming to London according to appointment, about three weeks after Mr. Bainbridge, the parson of Wilburton that married them, came up to Mrs. Kidder- minster, and asked her for her husband, who replied, " I hoped you had brought me news of him ; what's the reason of it ?'' " I know not," says he, " but he has made off all, and gone from thence ;" which mightily surprised her, in- somuch that it threw her into a fit of sickness which had almost cost her her life : but desirous to know the reason of it, she desired Mr. Maidstone, a gentleman that had business there, and was going thither, to send her a particular ac- count, who confirmed the parson's relation. The last place she heard of him was Cambridge. Then a report was spread that he was gone to Amsterdam, where she sends to enquire for him, but was assured he was not there. After some time she heard he was at Cork in Ireland, and thither she sent, and made a most diligent and exact search for him, both in Cork and_Munster by the interest of a parson there, but OF THOMAS KIDDERMINSTER, GENT. 133 but heard nothing of him. Then again there was a report that he was in Barbadoes; and the same clergyman sent to a minister in Barbadoes to make enquiries after him, but could hear nothing of him there. Then she heard he was in Jamaica, (for then Oliver, the Usurper, having a design upon the Spaniards, had sent out a fleet under the com- mand of Pen and Venables, who missing of their chief design, took Jamaica, by-the-bye of which place Sir John Reynolds was made governor,) and Mr. Kidderminster having been in the king's army, and formerly condemned for his loyalty, it was generally supposed he was in the fleet, because a great part of the loyalists were sent thither. Mrs. Kidderminster in the mean time (in August, 1654) being brought to bed of a daughter, and exposed to get a livelihood, was entered as a wet nurse in Sir Christopher Guy's family in Glocestershire, and there suckled Sir John Guy, at which time she received a letter from a friend, whereby she was informed that her husband, Mr. Kidder- minster, died in Jamaica, and had left Sir John Reynolds executor for her and her young daughter : and by the same letter she understood that Sir John Reynolds was come to London. So accordingly she comes to London to enquire of him ; where she hears he was drowned coming over seas for England from the coast of Dunkirk : but she meeting in London with one that did belong to him, he assured her that there neither was, nor had been any such person in Jamaica; for he had enquired of Mr. Hodges, who kept a register of all the passengers to and from Ja- maica; and she herself had searched the register two or three times. From Sir Christopher Guy's she went to Tupsley in the Parish of Hampton Bishop, near Hereford, where she had been informed by her husband that he had an estate ; and Mr. John King, Sir Christopher's steward, \vent along with her to the house where her husband was bom, then in the T possession 134 LONG CONCEALED MURDER possession of Thomas Baker, who was married to Mrs. Kidderminster's step-mother. She asked Mr. Baker whether Mr. Kidderminster had been there lately ; for her husband had been missing a long while, and she thought to hear of him there. However she demanded the arrears of rent, and expected they would pay her, if her husband were dead. But they, as is believed, had heard of her husband's being missing, and therefore pretended they had purchased the estate, and so ought to pay her nothing. But Mrs. Kidderminster was informed by the neighbours that there was no such thing; and was advised by them to look after it, for it was really her right by the custom, as her free bench, if her husband was dead. She left Sir Christopher Guy's family about a year and a quarter after, and came to London to live with her sister ; and constantly enquiring after her husband, her sister one day, in 1662 or 1663, reading the then news-pamphlet, sud- denly cries out, " Sister, here's news of your husband !" upon which she read the news in these words, or to this effect, viz. " that the bones of an unknown person, sup- posed to be robbed and murdered, were found buried in a back yard in Chelmsford. Whosoever can give notice of any person missing about that time, let them give notice to Mr. Talcott, coroner, in Peering ; or to the constable of Chelmsford ; or to Mr. Roper, bookseller, over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street :" and upon comparing the time of her husband's being missing with the time in the newspaper of the supposed murdered body's lying concealed, it appeared to be extremely probable : upon which she immediately, as directed in the newspapers, went to Mr. Roper's, and he advised her to go to Sir Orlando Bridgman, then lord chief justice of the common pleas, \vho had been the home circuit. She went to my lord's secretary, Mr. Edwards, and acquainted him with her business, OF THOMAS KIDDERMINSTER, GENT. J35 business, who took a note of her name and the place of her abode, and promised to acquaint my lord of her being then upon such an occasion, \vhich he did accordingly; but by some misfortune could not find the note, and so could not send for Mrs. Kidderminster. Here the matter rested for some time. Mrs. Kidder- minster however continued her enquiries ; and imparting the particulars of the discovery of Chelmsford to several of her acquaintances, .they all persuaded her to desist ; alleg- ing the uncertainty, the trouble, and expence of such a prosecution, especially considering how destitute she was both of friends and money at that time. Being so per- suaded, she did desist. Some short time afterwards her husband appeared to her several times, both by day-light and in the night, in the habit he usually wore, looking very sternly upon her : but oue night as she lay in her bed, her husband came to her in a white sheet, with a streak of blood upon it ; whereupon she was resolved (being much dis- turbed in her mind) to go to Chelmsford, in order to make the utmost discovery she could. In pursuance to this reso- lution, she went to one Mr. Jeremy Maidstone, and desired him to go along with her, and they both agreed to go down a-foot, and so went on their journey as far as Stratford, where a little beyond the town they lost their way, turning to their left hand of the road, that they were four miles out of the way. At last they came to Rumford, and by that time they were very weary, and went into a house at die further end of the town, at the sign of the Black Bull, being the house of one Kendal, where they accidentally found one Mary Mattocks, a sawyer's wife, who lived at Horn Church, two miles from Rumford, and was come to town for a piece of chalk which she had forgot the day before, and for want of which her husband could not work. Mrs. Kidderminster being now very weary, and not able T 2 to 136 LONG CONCEALED MURDER to go a-foot any further, enquired of the people of the house whether any horse could be hired in that town: Mrs. Mattocks being present, interposed, and answered, acquainted with whra Mrs. Mary Mattocks could evidence, and he advised her to return ,".-ain to RumfoTr-s out a wan-ant for the appre- ivnsi'ni o: Moses Druvne the ostler, vlio wr-s ijtnrnediately o granted his warrant to ap- prehend her, and to bring her before him, which was put m execution, and justice Manlev committed her to Newgate. Tins was done oa Wednesday, and the assizes was to be held Or THOMAS KIDDERMINSTER, GEXT. 113 held at Brentwood the Saturday following. During her being in Newgate, she was told by the prisoners there, that her running awuv was an argument of her guilt, and that therefore she should be certainly hanged ; upon which she presently confessed all to Mrs. Kidderminster, and told her she would not have continued so long in an obstinate denial, but that SewelTs daughters had threatened her, that if she confessed, they would swear against her, and have her hanged first. SeweiTs wife died of the plague some O l o time before this, and was buried in her orchard, and so could not be brought to justice ; in regard no e\ Silence could l>e brought in time against her. Mrs. Kidderminster, with much difficulty, and not without the special assistance of my lord chief justice Bridgman, procured the said Mary Kendall to be removed from Newgale to Brent wood, upon Friday the dav* before the assizes. One thiiiir is further L. O remarkable in relation to Mos.es Dravne, that he being out upon bail after his commitment by justice Mildmav, and at. liberty in the tov, :i of llumford ; the Friday before the assi/es, Mrs, Kidderminster passing through the town in a roa.-h, some of the townsmen acquainted Dravne, that the woman whose husband was murdered, was just then gone through the town : upon \\hieh, instead of providing for .his own safety by ilight, he, bv a strange, infatuation, fell TO removing ot his goods. Ju.-tice Mililmay remembering L letter sent to him bv the lord chief justice Bridgman some nine before, to take him into strict custody, v hich he had iorgot then to do, does now immediately cause him to be apprehended, carried to the count v "jail, and from thence next morning to Brent wood, where he expressed himself to some about him. that he knew what would become of htm, but w<;e be to them th;it brought hiia to it: vet he. ieared none, but t;ie dyer, I 'pon this arraignment he pleads Not Gmlt\ ; so M;iry Kendall u as sworn, \vho ga^e in this c : . iUenee ; 1 a'iat she s'.'js a svi'vaiit-uiaid in the inu 114 LONG CONCEALED MURDER where tlie gentleman was murdered, and that she having dressed herself in her best clothes, had leave of her master to go to Kildcn, where her father lived; and upon her re- turn home that night, her mistress hid her fetch a pair of sheets, and lay them upon the bed in the room called the King's Arms : When she came into the room, she found the gentleman standing "With his back towards the fire, and with his hands behind him ; he drank to her, and made her drink up her glass of beer, and bid her go and fetch him a napkin to make him a cap : He asked her, whether she was the man of the house, his daughter, or his maid r She answered, she was his servant. The master and mistress being in the room all this while, and having supped together with the gentleman, he, in the presence of the maid and the, mistress, delivered his cloak-b::g to the master of the house, and tojd him there was in it near .oOO, and writings of considerable value. Then her mistress bid her go to bed, and lie with the younger children in the farther end of the house, that being not her visual lodging, where she was locked in that nigin, and her mistress unlocked the door in the morning. She said, that between one and two of the clock in the morning, she heard a great fall of something, that it shook the room where she lav, though it was at the furthermost part ot the house. When she came down in tlie. morning, she tound her master and mistress, and tin. 6?tJk-r, sitting very merrily at, the fire, with a. f.aggon of drink before them, none of them having been in bed that night,- nor the t\vo daughters, .Hetty and Priss, who were appointed to lie in the tame, room where the maid used ro lie. Sue not seeing the. rrentleiman stirring in the morning, alter S'Oine tr.v.e she. aAed her mistress it the gentleman was none.' ' if us, i ,'inswered she) though you were so good a jiou ewife that vou cotiLl not gel up ;' and blamed her for lymg in he,i so ir.ng. She asked h'.r mUtr^s whether the; gentleman left IKT anything? 1 ' Yes, (said the mistres.<;j OF THOMAS KIDDERMINSTER, CENT. 145 >ic left you a groat ;* and put her hand in her purse, and gave it her. ' Then (said the majd) I will go and make clean the chamber, 7 ' No, (said the mistress) my daughters and I have set that to rights already; do you what you are about, and then go to your flax wheel ;' (the maid being vised to spin flax when she had nothing else to do.) Tim chamber door was kept locked for eight or nine weeks after- wards, and no person admitted to go into it but themselves. One time she asked her mistress, ' Why that room was locked, and not kept clean for guests, as usually ?' the mis- tress answered, ' They hud no guests fit for that room, for it was kept for gentlemen.' Some time afterwards, on a Sunday, her master gave tier the key to fetch his cloak out of his chest in his chamber ; there she saw the gentleman's suit of cloaths, and his cloak-bag, which she sa\v him de- liver to them. About nine weeks afterwards, her mistress sends her Up into the room where the gentleman had been murdered, to fetch something, it. being the first time she had been in that room since it had been locked : she. PL-arched over the room, and looked upon the tester of the bed, and then- she saw the gentleman's hat, his hanger, boots, unl the satin cap which she took otV the gentleman's head, and hnnged upon his hat, and laid it upon the table, when she made a cap of the napkin, and put it on the gentleman's he. id. Site took the gentleman's hat, his hanger, boots, and c;ip, and carried them do\vn to her mistress and the o^ler : she asked her mistress, * You said the gentleman was gone to London in a coach ; dui he go without clothes, or did you lend him some r for I saw Ins clothes in my master's chest, and these things are {is too.* Said the ostler, ' You lie, like, a whore, those filings are mine.' The maid answered, c You are a rogue ; I am furc thcv were the gentleman's, I know not whose. tiiev are now.' Her mi -tress hearing the maid ;ind the ostler quarrelling, she fell upon the majci, and there, arose some 146 LONG CONCEALED MUHDLR some hot words betwixt them, that her mistress broke her head in three several places, so that the blood did run about her ears. The maid talked the louder, and asked her, ' Whether she intended to murder her, as she did the gentleman?' Then her roaster, hearing this disturbance, came to them, and persuaded her to hold her tongue and be quiet. She further deposed, that the ostler had fro-n his master J?tlO of the gentleman's money ; for that some short time after the murder, he lent the jfGO to a woman that kept the Greyhound Inn in the same town ; and that that must be the money, for the ostler was worth nothing of his own at the time of the murder ; and that the ostler had the gentleman's clothes, which she had seen in her master's chest ; arid that the ostler sent them to one Clarke, a dyer, in Mousam, to have them dyed into a liver colour ; the dyer asked him, ' why he would have, the colour altered, since they were of a better colour before r' The ostler answered, ' that he would have them dyed, because he did not like the colour ;' and that about a twelvemonth after, he dyed the grey hut black. Then she deposed further, that her master raised himself to a good condition iipon a Midden ; for before he \vas so poor, that Ills landlord would not trust him for a quarter's rent, but would make him pay every MX weeks ; and that he could not be trusted with malt, was forced to pay for one barrel under another. That shortly after they bought a ruined malt-house, and new built it, and did usually lay out .40 in a day to buy barley. There was .seen, upon a sudden, a great change in tiie daughters' condition, both as to their clothes and otherwise ; and if she bought but a hood for one of the daughters, there was a pie-"c of gold changed ; and they \vere observed to have gold in great plenty." Marv Mattocks deposes " She says, the ostler carried 11 gn.-y hat to the hatters : which being left there, alter the. ostler uonl ay. ay she went thither and \ie-.ved it, and OF THOMAS KIDDERMINSTER, GEKT. 147 begged the head lining 1 , which she proved to be of a rain- bow colour : as also, that goodwife Shute, and she the said Marv Mattocks, being drying their clothes in the church- yard, Mary Kendall came there also to dry her basket of clothes ; and she complains to goodwife Sluite, saving, * My mistress Sewell, has beaten me crnellv to-dav, and broke my head in three places, and almost killed me ; but I have told her pretty well of her roguery.' * What roguery, i .' . ' n i ~ saith goodwife Shute?' * It is (saith she) conc.eniing the gentleman they murdered there.' ' Murdered there!- (saith Share) dust thou know of any murder done there ?' (and her kinswoman Mattocks being going awav, she wirli- iield her bv the apron, that s!ie might stav to hear wha} she would say) ' No, goody Shute, (says she) I don't know it ; but there is a great suspicion of it. 1 So she fell a telling them the story, that in the heat of the quarrel her master pulled her out of the room, and cried, * Marv, will you leave your prating, and be quiet ? can't you be quiet ; but you must talk at this rate : your mistress is a perverse woman, and FI1 give you .20, and you shall be gone, and live no longer with her;' and (saith she) goodv Shute, I have the c'20, and I do intend to be gone.' Suilh goodv Shute, l Marv, Marv, take heed what you f\o : I would 2,'ive them the .,-20 as/am, and ^o and acquaint ? O * .' -* O i ~omc justices of the peace with it ; for the .'10 may hang thee twenty years hence :' so they parted. l>y the next morning all w;:s hushed up at home, and Mary Kendall came to jjoothvilo .Shute, and beefed of her to say nothing j O O * cf their ye.sierdx-y's discourse ; i'or \vhut she had then said, proccr-dea from passion, or else she had never said it. Says Shure, if 1 do not hear it. questioned, I shall sar no- thing of it ; but if at imv time if. conies in question, I vriii both ,:,ay it, and make you say it too." But Mary Ken- dall being examined to this mutter at the trial, denied die receiving of the /JO. Mr. Turuer 14S LONG CONCEALED MURDF.R Mr. Turner gave in evidence what you have read be* fore, concerning the finding of the murdered body ; and, according' to the judges' order, he brought the scull into court, where, by their directions, Moses Dray ne, the pri- soner, was bid to take it up ; but he trembled so much* that he. could hardly hold it in his hand. Memorand. " There was a boy that served in SevvelFtf house at the time of the murder, and Sewell falling angry \vith him, carried him up stairs, and tied him to a bed- post, where he whipped him with a cart whip unmerci- fully, that he cried so vehemently, tlmt the maid, Mary Kendall, came up and got him at liberty ; when she heard him say, ' that it was well for him she came, or else his master would have murdered him, as he did the gentleman + when he blooded him into the hogs' pail.' And the boy said likewise, he had heard l that the gentleman was knocked ou the side of the head with a pole axe, and afterwards his titroat was cut by his mistress, with the help of her daughter Betty.' These circumstances were proved at the trial bv several persons 5 and it seems the rumour had been spread m the town by means of this boy. In some short time niter this boy was sent to Barbadoes, and sold to a mer- chant that lived near Billingsgate, at whose house Mrs, Kidderminster was- to enquire for him. This matter relat- ing to the bov's sending awav, was discovered by the ho- liest diligence of Mr, Talcott, the coroner, who directed Mrs. Kidderminster to trace this matter, and who hath the notes relating to it.-" O There were two women, ons of them a washerwoman of that town, and the other a Quaker, that lived next house to Mr. Sewell, who both gave evidence at the trial. The washerwoman was going by the ho^se. very rvirJv, between one and two in the morning, to wash ;n the town ; and the Quaker was sitting up for her husband, who was not tlwa conic home. They both of them uvulc oath, ;i Th:t about. OF THOMAS KIDPERMIVSTER,- GENT. 149 a^out those hours they heard a noise in Mr. SewelFs house, and a man's voice crying, * What, will you rob me of my money, and murder rue too i It you take my money, spare mv life. 1 Then they heard something that fell, very beavv, and a noise as .it were of chairs and stools thrown about the room, and all the lights put out, and after that 1*0 further noise heard." The next morning these -vomon enquired at the house, what might be the occasion of the noise the n:g 1; t before ; for thev thought they heard somebody cry out n-imler ! * 15 ut they were answered, they must needs be mistaken; ior there was no poise there, nor was any body in the house but their own family, Vv'illinni Dcnton, Mr. Kidderminster's servant in the Isle of l.lv, was produced as evidence, to prove the horse and the gentleman's clothes and hut, which he did. There was a washerwoman who washed the next wash after the srentleman was murdered, who beino- examined J 7 O by a justice of the peace, and asked whether she found in <.:ie wasli any linen more bloodv than ordinarv ; she utterly denied tlut she did with this imprecation, " That if there vas any such, she wished she might rot alive ;'' and so it happened ; for a little time aiVjr li'.v bowels began to rot away, and she became detestably loathsome till she died, Mr. Turner and his wife related to Mrs. Kidderminster, that some time after the murder of her husband, there came a tanner tu lodge at Sewell's inn. who received ,,'20 in the i.j.vn for barley, which Sc'.vell had heard of: And in the :iii>ht thr.'C Sewcli came to rt.is f'nmers chaniber door, ut- tempting to get in ; bi:t the fan.ncr had very carefu x h- set a taolo. chairi and stocli to blockade the entrance. Tiie jio.-se lie mcide awaked him ; whereupon he ivrore, (hat the v st man t!i.,t broke in unc'-i him. 'jhouM fneet his death, Upon v\-h:c!i he lieard Scwcil-'s vc'ice. wiiich Ire knew very v-'eii, speaking to somebody tlu.: was with hinl; so thev x \ven$ 150 LONG CONCEALED MURDER went down stairs without attempting any further, and the farmer got up, put on his clothes, and the next morning by break of day, took his horse and rode awav, without taking his leave.' Upon the aforesaid evidence, the jury found Moses Drayne, the ostler, guilty ; and being after sentence re- manded to prison, with live other condemned persons, as also Mary Kendall, Avhom the judges had remanded to prison during pleasure. Being all together, one of them, >vho was condemned for having two husbands, spake thus to Moses Dravne : " You see, we are all here condemned to die; you \\ill do well to confess the whole truth had this Mary Kendall a hand in the murder of the gentleman, or not ? Speak the truth, for we are all to die soon." Tie made answer, " No, she had no hand in the murder, but what she had sworn was truth; but the gentleman was murdered there, and by his master and mistress, and their eldest daughter, Betty ; but, for his part, he knew of it, 'tis i cue, and was there, but did not strike the blow, nor help K> kill him; but helped to bury him, and had 60 /. of his money, and all his clothes, given him by his master and mistress." He was going on to make a sincere confession, how all things were ; and his wife coming in in the mean time, took hold of him, and bade him hold his tongue, and confess no more; for if lie died for it, he should hang no- body else: and ever after he would say nothing, nor make any answer, neither to the minister nor any body else, nor ;aid a word at the gallows. Moses Drayne having confessed, that Betty, the eldest daughter, had a hand in the murder ; and Mary Kendall having sworn at the trial, that the two sisters were not in bed that night the murder was committed, moved Mr. Tal- oott, the coroner, to procure a warrant from a justice of the peace, to apprehend the two sisters; which being done, jnd they brought before the justice, ha bound them to appear OF THOMAS KIDDERMINSTER, GENT. 151 Appear at the next assizes to be held for the county of E.-sex, \vhich was the assies after Closes Drayne was con- victed. When the ^ssixes came, both the daughters ap- peared, and a bill of inaictirent was preferred against 3 hem to the "rand, iurv : against whom Marv Kendall ^ave tj .' ' ~ < C5 liie same evidence that she had done before at the trial of Moses Drayne, and also what Moses had confessed in the prison. Thegrand jury thinking the evidence not to be s: MCI- ent to I'm Ji the bill, they returned an i^iioramus; and bo the two sisters \\ere discharged bv proclamation. INIrs. Kidderminster marrying again some time after, her claim upon her husband's estate devolved upon tae daugh- ter she was preg'uaia \\ith. Mrs. Kidderminster carried on a suit for her against leaker, upwards of ten years, with- out success ; he died, as did also his son, still the widow -f yoimv; liuker elijos-ed it. At length Mrs. Kiddermin- sh:i''s diUightev \vas married, and to recover the estate, lu-r husband \vas Left carrying on a suit in chancery some yeurd after, XATUKAI. CURIOSITIES IN NORWAY. The Forg-liatten, Mucl.^'roi/i, Cataract*, JsV. lNo!i\vAY, has been justlv said, to be one of the most iiiOimta'.r.ions (.oimtries in the world. To pass some of its hit's, u; is necessary fur a person to travel riftr or seventv n.'ik's a'joni : cue cragu'v smiimit, in particular, is called J'*i'ff-,'iiitfcn, a.iid takes its name from t!ie resemblance it. l;c':irs to ;; mail's brad with his hat on. This appearance is br.rprisingly hi-i^hrened hy tliat of an eijc. formed bv an t.pemn'jj of the rock, througli which the sun and ihe ligfit may be seen ; and tiiere are r.ianv others that afford pro- vMc-els nc)i a lliile entertaining. lb>v,v.ver, the whirlpool near i!ie bleof Moskoo, railed *--\ r.ic [uitivos, 3fu<.-kii'i>m. is a most i'ingular curiosity : - > 2 Ever 152 NATURAL CURIOSITIES IN NORWAY. Ever fatal to vessels that approach it too nearly, especially at high tide, the utmost caution is used by mariners. The surf and foam thrown up by this aquatic volcano, forms a circle of more than two leagues in circumference. At this time the violent agitation of the waves, and the force with which the water is attracted and repulsed, exhibit an ob- ject truly lerriilc. The reflux of the waters, however, from this whirlpool, offers a good opportunity to the fisher- men who dare to hover round its surface to catch fish, as the' ebullition is then too violent to permit them to sink. The violence and the roaring of this whirlpool is greater than any cataract ; and this without any intermission, ex- cept a quarter every sixth hour ; viz. at the turn of high and Jow water, when its impetuosity seems at a stand. 'I his in- terval is the only time the fishermen venture near ; but this motion soon returns, and however calm the sea may be, gradually increases with such a draught and vortex, as to draw in anv thing 1 that comes within its sphere of action, t-' O 1 a pircurnference nearly six miles, and kocp it ur.cler water several hours, when the fragments of any large body shivered by the rocks, frequently come to view. At the time when ilie otream is most violent, arid its fury height- ened by a storm, it is dangerous to come within a .Norway rnile of it ; boats, yatcbs, and even shipj having been carried av ay, by not guarding against it, before they were within its reach. It is added, as a r.iosi singular circum- stance, that whales soi-.etirnes coming too near the stream, are overpowered by its violence, and then it is impossible to describe their hov. li;igs and bellowings, in their iVuitiL.-j endeavours to d^fng'ige themselves, A bear a.:-o, c:;ct attempting to swim irom Lofoedcn to Mpskoe, with a de- feign of proving ur;on the sheep on the ii;l\!ic!, the stream cuiioiit him anil bore him down 5 v;lu!;;t he roared so ter : - ^ibiy '-$ tc bo heard on shore, A IjipfT*' ** ur ^ NATURAL CURIOSITIES IN NORWAY, 153 A large ship once driven into this stream, was first ob- served with its prow mounted foremost; then reverted with its stern uppermost, the surf flying over the mast-head, and in a short time seen no more, From these circumstances, the judicious reader may con- ceive, what a perilous place such a vortex must be in a hard gale of wind and a full tide ; since even in a calm, when the current is most gentle, and at the turn of the tide, ' the only time the fishermen can venture near, the boats arc whirled round upon its surface. A cataract near Gottersburg, is no less remarkable for its torrent, than the Isle of Moskoe for its whirlpool. Here the waters that run into the sea from a considerable distance in the inland country, at length arriving at the brink of a precipice, arc from thence precipitated into a deep chan- nel of their o\\n forming, with a sound at a distance, re- sembling thunder. This r;:pid current, the country dealers ill timber, make use of to float their rafts down towards the jea. The precipice is so high, and the channel into which the timber fuli--, so deep, that the largest masts are carried *:: Street, Lo^'o-; ,:. t'.i>; Ve>.r Iti07 j coacj;n;n- th-j jro.xt h^n.-V.tion^ ;;i Wiioi.j A MO K r o Qth.er incidents, it appears hi this curious rela- t;o!i; that a voung woman in Monmouthshire, having been pVdkinr, before she could complete that business, she was Jo iie^r'y sun-ouiivlcd with tl;e waters, thiiL vith much dif- ficulty, J54 A SINGULAR DELIVERANCE. fkulty, she got up a high bank, where she was compelled to remain all that day, the next night, and till eight o'clock the next morning, before she was seen. By this time, the waters had gained so muea all round her, that there was only a very small space left about her that was uncovered ; and having no boats in those parts, some of her friends who attempted to reach the spot upon a fine gelding, were obliged to return. At length, as they happened to con- ceive, that two broad troughs in which they had used to salt bacon, could be iixed together, the experiment was tried ; two men got into them with long poles, and happily getting to the bank on which she stood, nearly overcome with hunger and cold, she was miraculously saved : But the most singular circumstance attending this adventure, and which was witnessed by the two men sent to fetch her, was, that the hill or bank upon which she stood, Cf was so covered over with wild beasts and vermin that came thither to seek for succour, that she had much ado to save herself from taking of hurt by them, and keep them from creeping upon and about her, The beasts and vermin there, were dogs, cats, moles, foxes, hares, rabbits, and even mice. and rats. And that which is more strange, not one of them once offered to annoy the other, though they were deadly enemies by nature : vet in this danger, in a o-enteel / ~ ~ * o sort, they freely enjoyed the liberty of life ;" which, in mine opinion, says the author of the pamphlet, was a most wonderful work in nature. A MGDLRN ANCHORET. i-^ IIF, name of Hermit, though formerly the ideas attached to such characters were comparatively common, is at pre- sent seldom found, excepting in the annals of ancient his- tory, or romance. Still though the denomination, equally with the (maliues of u hermit or solitary person, have been S.O A MODERN ANCHORET. 153 so much abused, that the original has been nearly lost sight of; a very remarkable instance and illustration of that character, is probably now living, -where he was seen since the French Revolution, by the same ingenious writer, from whose travels, our account of the Black Lake, is translated. He observes, that taking a boat at a place where the River A a enters the Lake of Lanwerts, he met wit.ii an aged boatman, who received him in his light skiff, though the waves were then much agitated. The wind redoubling its fury, my boatman (said he) re- peated his pravers with a loud voice ; while in the room of a sail, as 1 was directed to open a large umbrella against the wind, which was Iving at the bottom of the boat, we soon gained a small island, or rock, where, in the act of goinc; on shore, we were received bv a very tall man, with a black beard, clac! in the long dress of a hermit, who with much courtesv, immediately conducted us to his hermi- tage, situated upon this rod;, about a hundred paces over, and afforded us cverv refreshment in his power. This hermit, rr religions solitary, we found to have been former! v one of the old Swiss guards under the late French monardn ; but who. being v, eary of the anti-chambers of Versailles, r.r,d the l-.tit-.trici* Hcketiqne, determined to seclude himself from the bre,v world, just before the i'e.rv of the Parisian populace nearly destroyed the whole of those brave men. Upon this small rock, whie.h in comparibon with the broad expanse of the surrounding waters, seemed no more than a bare nest upon the branch of a tree his cell, his breviary, his boat, a ^mall garden, and a little ailev to walk in, form- ed the whole of his torrilorv and possessions. This volun- tarv hermit seems to have known the world well, having' had its share of it": troubles. His manners announce him to have been a man not. unused to good company, and his con- versation of course is bv no mean;; uninteresting". In speak- ing of the uncertainty and complication of the affairs of the world, 156- A SINGULAR PROPENSITY. *r oriel, ami contrasting them with his own way of living, he has the talent of disarming every kind of censure, and al- most to persuade one to embrace the system of simplicity and .retirement which he has adopted, and with which lie appears perfectly satisfied. When we left his rock, the hermit detaching his own little boat, accompanied us to the largest of the islands in this Jake, where there is another her- mitage, very commodious, with a handsome chapel . Upon tliis island, there is also a noble and majestic tower, the remains of the castle of Schwanau, at present the melan- choly habitation of owls and ravens. The history of this ruined castle, which contains a noble instance of the love of liberty, and the just and successful resistance of tyranny among the Swiss, may be notice^ hereafter. ~r~~r~-jr'^-^f-^*^r^f* A SINGULAR PROPENSITY. JL/ANCING in Kus-ia, we have been informed, is the fa- vourite, diversion of all ranks. In Petersburg!), it is not uncommon for a company of middling persons to practise it on two successive days in the week. Not long since an o!d man belonging to one of these clubs, ma.de himself remark- able by his mania for this diversion, ^bich was the more striking in him, it being so singularly in contrast with liis trade, as he was a coffin-maker. Carrying on his business in the wholesale way, he earned a great deal of money, which he not only spent in frequenting every place where he heard of a dance, but even, wrote to foreign parts for ail the new dances that came out, with their music ; which were =.cnt him bv the post, that he mi^ht be sure to have them tariier than any oilier person, DfRiN'G the excessive heats of the Summer of 1802, the river ."joane, in France, was so far dried up, that the in- LabLiunts iu getting stones from the bottom for building, discovery 1 STRONG A COMPLETE ACCOUNT OF THOMAS TOPHAM. 157 discovered some marble columns and valuable fragments, with some copper instruments, and a figure of bronze about ten inches high, representing a naked woman in the act of rising, and with her hands wringing the water out of her hair. This little figure is remarkably graceful, and bears the finest proportions. In subsequent researches in the bed of that river, a number of surgical instruments have been found, with bronze medals of the Emperors Nero, Antoninus, Vespasian Uomitian, Nerva, &c. // complete Account <)/" THOMAS TOPHAM, commonly called (he STRONG MAN ; for the jirxt Time collected, wit/imam/ Particulars never before made public; together with the Portrait of this singular Character, performing one of his amazing Exhibitions of Strength. O fc/ O ' I ^ I HIS extraordinary person, whose muscular exertions astonished so many persons in this metropolis, about the year 1741, was then in the prime of life, viz. of the age of 31. lie was born in London, and when he had obtained his full growth, was about five feet ten inches high. His father being a carpenter, he was brought up to the same business; but feeling his superior strength, he did not fol- lo'-v it after he was 2-i years of age, but became a jxubli- ean ; and in order to be near the scene of the mo:>t athletic exercises then exhibited in London, viz. the famous ring for cudgelling, wrestling, backsword and boxing, over which old Vinegar presided in Moorfields, (before the pre- sent magnificent buildings were erected.) Topham took the Red Lion pnblic house at the corner of the Citv Road, nearly opposite the Old Hospital of St. Luke's, for in- curables. In this house, however, notwithstanding all his strength of body, Topham failed, probably for want of strength of mind, to bear up against the inconstancy of his ivjfe. The same house, if we maybe allowed to make any Y remark-;. 158 DR. DESAGULIF.RS ACCOUNT OF remarks upon names t . V. bo boast so muc'! of boxing. But Uie circumstances here related by Dr. Dcsrgubers and ORIGINAL ANECDOTES OF TOPHAM. 1G1 Jind Dr. Hutton, were only the common place perform- ances of Topliam, when he went about purposely to shew himself; some aged persons who knew him in his neigh- bourhood, relate a variety of pranks which he was occa- sionally in the habit of playing : for instance, one night finding- a watchman fast asleep in his box, near Chiswell- s-treet, he took both, and carrying the load with the greatest rase, at length dropped the watchman and his wooden case over the wall of TindalPs burying ground, where the poor fellow, cnlv half a\vake, and doubting whether he was in the land of the living, in recovering from his fright, seemed to be waiting for the opening of the graves around him. - Another time, sitting ;.t the window of a low public house, iu the same street, while, a butcher from a slaughter-house was going bv with nearlv half an ox on his back, Topham K'licved him cf it, with so much ease and dexterity, that the fellow almost petrified with astonishment, swore that 7)Ot!ii':<;- but tl'.e devil could have llown away with his load, .A third time, thinking to enjoy a little sport with some brickh:vcrs, bv re-moving part of a scaffold just before they intended to strike it, from a small building, his grasp was o rude, that: a part of the front wall following the timber, riie fellows concei\-cd it hud been the effects of an earth- quake, ami immediately ran, without looking behind them, ;Mto an adjoining field. Here, however, Topham was :;e;;r paving dearlv for his jest, as one of the poles struck liim on his side, and gave him great pain. Another time being persuaded bv one of his acquaint- ance, to r.ccompnnv him on board a V\\.-.>t Indiaman in the liver, and l)eing presented with a cocoa nut, he threw one cf tlio sailors into the utmost astonishment, bv suddenly ci\-< Ling ;t close to his ear, with the same, facility as we crack an egg-shell ; and upon some remark being made Moon an observation deemed rather insolent, bv the mate i_>i tat; skip, Top'uun replied, that he could have cracked the |62 HUMOROUS EXPLOITS, &C. the bowsprit over his head ; and of the truth of which, there \vas not the least doubt. Another time, a race being to be run on the Hackney- Hoad, when a fellow with a horse and cart, would attempt to keep elose to the contending parties, much to the displea- sure of the spectators in genval ; Topham, who was one of them, stepping into the road, seized the tail of the cart, and in spite of all the fellow's exertions, in whipping his horse to get forward, lie drew them both backwards, with the greatest ease and velocity ; and while the pleasure of the beholders was at the highest point of gratification, the .surprise and rage of the driver seemed to be beyond all ex- pression, nothing preventing him from exercising his whip, : pon the immediate cause of his chagrin, but the probable fear of his being pulled or crushed to pieces, During the time he kept a public house, two fellows, ex- tremely quarrelsome, though patiently borne with for a considerable time, at length proceeded so far, that nothing , \vould satisfy them, but fighting the landlord. But as they 'could be appeased no other way, Topham, at length, seiz- .ing them both by the nape of the neck, with the same faci- lity as if they had been children, he knocked both their -heads together, till perfectly sensible of their error, they became as abject in asking pardon, as they had befi re been insolent in giving offence. Still this second Samson was net without his Balilah ; the infidelity of his wife was hinted at before; but though not generally known, her partiality for some other person, had such an effect upon Topham, that, unable to bear the reflections it excited in Ins mind, after beating her very severely, he put a period to his own existence, and died in the ilosver of ins age. The circumstance represented in our piate, was another in which strength operated to the surprise and astonishment of ii n:.imb<:r of beholders ; and in fac t ; L-UCU was the im- pression EGYPTIAN EARTH. 163 pression that he left on the minds of the people in London, that he was represented in some of his feats upon several sicrns, more than one of \vhich are- still remaining : one o O * in particular, over a. public house near the May-pole iu East Smithfieldj represents Iiim in the act of pulling against t\vo dray-horses. It should have been noticed, that our representation of Thomas Topbam was, in consequence of his lifting three hogsheads of \vatcr, weighing 1836 pounds, in Bath-street, Cold -bath-fields, on the 28th of May 1711, in honour as ii is said, of Admiral Vernon, or rather in commemoration of his taking Porto Bello with six ships onlv. Thousands O J of people were assembled en this occasion. SINGULAR QUALITIES of ihc EGYPTIAN EARTH. JL HE earth in the neighbourhood of the River Nile, is found to have a remarkable quahtv. Keep it for months, and no alteration will be perceived in its weight, however variable the state of the atmosphere, even if repeatedly weighed the same day, and so in succession until the mid- tile of June, when the river begins to rise, precisely at which time the earth which has been preserved from waste and moisture, becomes more ponderous, and its weight will be daily found to increase, till the river has attained its height. This seems to be occasioned by the whole body of the air in the neighbourhood of the Nile becoming more condensed ; and it has been remarked, that on the very day when the river begins to rise, the most inveterate plagues have been found to break out suddenly in Cairo.- In Egypt, they prepare and clarify the water of the Nile, by stirring it about in large- stone jars with a few bruised almonds : some little time after which it is dra\vn off for use. Perhaps some method of this kind might have the effect of clarifying beev and other Jkjuoi's,-- BRAVERY, BRAVERY. f We arc indebted for the following Communication to a Gentleman who holds a high Rank in the British Service.] IN a sortie made some time since, from Dunkirk, a severe contest was held for some time with a part of the army under his Royal Highness the Duke of York. Towards the close of the action, and during the retreat of the French, an officer of cavalry belonging to the garrison, per- ceived a national standard lying on the ground, either dropped in the flight, or fallen from the hands of an en- sign, killed or wounded. Though he was himself at the same time most closely pressed by a detachment, after hav- ing twice valiantly eut his way through bodies of Hanove- rian infantry, he leaped from his horse, and seizing the standard, remounted. Scarcely, however, had he seated himself, when the pursuers came up, and a grenadier of the British cavahy, demanded him as his prisoner, with the surrender of his flag. The French officer replied, that he was determined to carry it to the fortress, or perish in the attempt. He fought bravely in defence of his charge ; and when at last fortune had given the advantage to his ad- versary, he persisted in declaring, that he would neither be made prisoner, nor give up the colours ; that he knew how to die, but not to dishonour himself or the nation. The result was, that he actually suffered himself to be shot through the head, and thus did this standard fall into our possession. The Duke of York, with one of his aid-du- camp, came up at the instant, and were spectators of the unexampled bravery and resolution of this magnanimous son of Mars. THE BLACK LAKE IN SWISSERLAND. [Translated from the French.] GERMANY has to boast of its Black Forest, and the "writers of Romance, of their Black Castles and Cavern* wit ho ui THE BLACK LAKE IN SWISSERLAND, 165 \vithout number ; however, the Swiss Finstersce, situated in the Canton of Zug, has appeared a singular phenome- non to the few travellers who have visited that romantic quarter on foot. It is situated, says a late traveller, in a circular bason, and concealed till you come directly upon it by the surrounding hills. From a declivity rather steep, he says, having the first vie\v of this water, ! could not readily account for its appearance; my eyes seemed as if suddenly affected by the reflection of the sun-beams from a surface of ice ; but in a moment aficr, the smooth level, beneath iny feet, seemed changed to a deep green. This hue, from which it has derived the name of the Black Lake, is naturally accounted for by the foliage and pasturage, which rising thickly all around it, cannot do otherwise than darken the surface of tin's Lake, Its ex* tout is not large ; but in a country where your ears arc nearly deafened by the roaring of distant torrents, the rip- phng of the smaller brooks and rills down the rocks and precipices, together with a continu?.! rustling of leaves and saplins shaken by the winds ; any image, which, like that of a lake, suggests the idea of stillness, cannot be other- wise than agreeable, On the other hand, when a stranger is saluted by the hospitable peasants in this quarter, the rude symphony proceeding from various objects I have just described, compel them to speak so Joud, that the former v/oulJ. imagine they were displeased with him an idea entirely misplaced, as the Swiss peasant is so cordial, even in his manner of shaking hartils wi*h a visito - , that you would uimo.it apprehend the dislocation of vour finders. * J, k. O Another peculiarity in these lonely regions, is the parti*. cu!:ir cry of the cow hc;db ; which being conveyed by the echoes from mountain to mountain, the docile beasts on hearing; it, will immediately collect themselves together, O ' - W 9 and follow the cry wherever it may lead them, 2 INTEREST* ACCOUNT OF THE E ARTTiaUAXF, AT LISBON, DESCRIBED BY AX EYE-WITNESS. f Concluded from page iooj I COULD never learn that this terrible fire was owing to any subterraneous eruption, as some reported, but to three causes, which all concurring at the same time, will natu- rally account for the prodigious havoc it made ; the. first of November being All Saints Day, a high festival among the Portuguese, every altar in every church and chapel (some, of which have more, than twenly) was illuminated with a number of wax tapers and lamps, as customary ; these set- ting fire to the- curtains and timber-work that fell with the shock, the conflagration soon spread to the neighbouring houses, and being there joined with the fires in the kitchen chimnies, increased to such a degree, that it might easily have destroyed the Avhole city, though no other cause had concurred, especially as it met with no interruption. With regard to the buildings, it was observed, that the solidest, in general, fell the first*, among which, besides those already mentioned, were, the Granaries of the public, C'orn Market; the great Royal Hospital in the Rocicu, that called the Misericordia, for the maintenance of poor orphan girls, most of whom perished ; the fine church and convent of St, Domingo, -u here was one of the largest and noblest libraries in Europe ; the grand church of the Carmelites', supported by two rows of white marble pillars, with the miraculous image of our Lady of Mount Carmel, who could not save her favourite temple from rum ; the oM * Tlii-; circumstance seems to favour Dr. Stufceley's opinion, that earth- nu)ke; arc, n: a ;;veat mo.uiDv, ov.-ing to electrical shocks; and I remember, -. hiTi *}>e i-.i:'}i!Ui.vko' ',',(-, ft It in London, that the greatest f'orrc was reported in M.T. f Li'."-} p'-n'c'ivi. 1 '! bv ihi;e persons who \veie placed \vith tlieir backs nor.t ;.-i<- ,.-ju"'n v,-:ii; dt'tln; Courts ,,/.' (Jh;inccry and the King's Bouch, in WesttnirK /:'.:.; i 1'iil, ''' (. a-, iliur-kncs- -^v.'.; :..ijd to Ue uol lc*s thiq seven or eijjht fct-t. Cathedra^ rARTHQUAKE AT LISBON. I<57 Cathedral, which was of an excessive thickness ; the mag- nificent church of the regular Canons of St. Augustine, not much unlike our rft, Paul's, though not to be compared to it. for hi guess, and reckoned by connoisseurs, the finest piece of architecture in Europe, where lay the bodies of the Jate King John, and several of the Royal Family, whose monuments, by the fail of the cupoja, were crushed in pieces ; the Castle, or Citadel, wherein the ancient archives and records w.ere repositcd ; the Prison of the Inquisition, or Holy Office, as it is called, with that, of the Limueira, which was a palace of the Moorish King's, o\er wiajch the supreme court of justice was held, for the trying of cri- t' ' O imnals, In .short, it is impossible to enumerate the parti- /ular damages in buildings onlv ; to say all in one word, nverv parish church, convent, nunnery, palace, and public edifice, nidi an infinite number of private houses, were either thrown down, or so miserably shattered, that it was rendered dangerous to pass by them. As to the people A!I') lost their lives r,ii this occasion, to say nothing of ill use \\iio wore crushed to death in their own houses, in Home of v.'Jiich no less than forty persons were killed, (as a family lived on every iloor) either meeting with imme- diate death, or having had their limbs broken bv the fall of the stones in the streets; you may easily judge what pro- riii.yuHr;; numbers must have perished in the churches and convent-^ as tiie first sii.ock happened at high mass, when they were assembled at their devotions, f have already given you some insianc.es, and you may judge- of the resji; bv what fallows . In the large convent of St. Francis, which consisted of near three hundred fiiars, the roof fell do\\ n as they were singing m the cho;r, and, at the same, ume. a high gallery over the' west door fronting the gieat altar, and buried all, Ncept about eighteen ot the communitv, \vitfi tht; nmno- t:xi> congreiration beiuu . in the monastery of S t ;m a ('k(.-;, / 2 onu 163 EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON, One hundred and fifty of the nuns, with their waiting women ; in that of the Calvario, which stands in the road leading to Belem, most of the nuns then in the choir, as Veil as a great part of the congregation in the body of the church, shared the same fate. The English nunnery was likewise thrown down, hut whether any were killed I can- not learn. In the convent of the Trinity, I am credibly in- formed, above fifteen hundred were killed. Those in every other church and chapel suffered in proportion. In the prison of Limoeira, near four hundred were crushed by the sudden- falliqg down of a wall, though the greatest villains there escaped to do further mischief. The whole number of persons that perished, including those who were burnt, or afterwards crushed to death whilst; digging in the ruins, is supposed, on the lowest calculation, to amount to more than sixty thousand ; and though the damage in other respects cannot be computed, yet you may- form some idea of it, when I assure you, that this extensive and opulent city, is now nothing but a vast heap of ruin?, that the rich and poor are at present upon a level, some thousands of families which but. the day before had beet; easy in their circumstances, being now scattered about in the fields, wanting every convenicncy of life, and finding, none able to relieve the.n. Amidst such scene? of universal aftlicrion, the fate of in-, dividuals may seem of top little consequence to be taken notice of ; however I cannot forbear mentioning two or three instances, especially as I was acquainted with the unhappy suiTciers, and believe you had some knowledge of them : the first is of Mrs, Perichon, who running out of her house nt the beginning of the shock, in company with her husband, whom she followed at a small distance, wa? bwied under the ruins of a building, which suddenly fell down before he perceived it ; and when he looked back expecting to fu:d her near him, there was not the least ap- pearance DESCRIBED BY AN EYE-WITNESS. 169 pearance of her, and to attempt any search in such a place, xvould have been only exposing his own life. The second is of a Mr. Vincent, who had been absent from Lisbon a considerable time, at a town called Martinico, eighteen leagues from Lisbon, but his ill fate prompted him to come to this city, at which he arrived upon the evening of the fatal day, in order to partake of some diversions ; but he never left the house he slept in, being suddenly crushed to past in taking up the dead bodies, which arc carried r>ut into the neighbouring fields, but the greater part still remain under the rubbish, nor do I think it Mould be safe to remove thcin, even though it were practicable, on account of the strnch : the King, they sav, taiks of building a new city at Belcni, but be tills as ii. lAill. ir is certain he will have no thoughts of 170 EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON. of rebuilding the old, until those bodies have Jain long enough to be consumed. Thus, my dear friend, have I given you a genuine, though imperfect account, of this terrible judgment, which >ias left so deep an impression on my mind, that I shall never wear it off; I have lost all the money I had by me, and have saved no other clothes than what I have on my back; but what. I regret mast, is the irreparable loss of my books and papers. To add to my present distress, those friends to whom I could have applied on any other occasion, are now in the same wretched circumstances with my sell. However, notwithstanding all that I have suffered, I do ma think I have reason to despair, but rather to return my pratefulest acknowledgments to the Almighty, who hath to visibly preserved my life amidst such dangers, where so many thousands perished ; and the same good Providence, I trust, will still continue to protect me, and point out sonio means to extricate myself out of these difficulties. As. the place is in such disorder and confusion, that the administration of justice js put a stop to, and it is not likely that any business will be carried on for some time I intend to take my passage for England as soon as a convenient opportunity oilers. I am, &c." A \VIIIMSICAL SIGN". U i' ON the door of a house near Bridgcwater, occupied by a father and son, the former a blacksmith and publi- can, the latter a barber, is a board, with the following in- scriotion : " Barnes and Son, blacksmith and barber's v. ork done here ; horse-.shoing' and shaving, leeks mend- el, hare curling, bleeding, teeth drawing, and all other furriery work. A!! sorts of spiratus liekers according to the late comical treaty. Take notis my wile keeps skool and lays Cokes as n:?'ia!l, teaches reding and nting, and oilier langwatcbes, and has a si>t aunts if required to teach horitorv, sou ing, the inuthew inalieKs,. und all other ia- s.ioaai '/.e un eiVioj is. Arllll Uil ( ni ) Artificial Manner cf HATCHING CHICKENS, in l^gifpt, [Described by LIP. English Traveller, in the Rei^rii of Queen Elizabeth. j \ WE XT into a house, where I saw a vevv strange secret of hatching of chickens, bv artificial heat or AVarmth ; the hta: I had seen before at Grand Cairo, nut not in such ex- traordinary numbers or multitudes as here ; the manner whereof I Avill declare as followed! : the country people inhabiting about this town, four or five miles distant every way, bring their eggs in apt. carriages for the purpose, upon asses or camels, to this place, where there i^ an oven or iurno.ee, purposely kept temperately warm, ami the turner or master thereof, slandeth rcadv at at a little door, to receive the egg< of every one, bv tale : unless that when the number arises M> high, (as to ten camels loading, or mure/, then he filleth a measure bv tale, and after that order, measure-- all the rest :---.\nd 1 tell von this fora truth, that 1 saw there received bv the ftirner, cook, or baker, in one duv, by tale, and by measure, the num- ber of thirtv-tive or forty thousand eggs ; a.nd thev told me, that for three dav- space together, he doth nothing, but still receive in eggs : and at twelve davs end, thev come again to fetch dickens, sometimes at ten davs, and sometimes (but not verv oiten) at seven da\ - s, according as the weather falleth out ; perhaps, some. t\vo hundred persons are owners of one rangeful, some having two thou- sand, some one : or move or less, as the. quantities amount to; the furner iKucili tlie. nances and port'uons of e\'ery bringer ; and il he chancetb to ha\'c a hundred and fifty thousand, or two hundicd thou.-:and at one heat, (as many tunes it chanceth that he ha'Ji.) vet doth he mingle them all together, not respecting to >>hom they severally belong. Tlienhe laycth them, on>: by one. upon b;-; range, so near as tJhjy can lie, and touch each other ; having lirst made a bed 17'2 ARTIFICIAL MANNER OF a bed for them, of camels' dung burnt, and the place whereon the ashes do rest, is of a very thin matter made of earth, but mixed with the camels' dung in the making, and some pigeons' dung amongit it : yet herein consisteth 1 o o ' not the secret only j for there is a concave or hollow place^ about three feet breadth under it, whereon is likewise spread another layer of camels 1 dung, and under that is the place where the tire is made : yet, can I not righty call it lire, because it appeareth to be nothing but embers ; for I could not discern it, but to be like ashes, yielding a tem- perate heat to the next concave ; and the heat being resisted by the layer of dung next if, (which dung being green, and laid upon pieces of withered trees,) delivereth forth an extraordinary vapour, and that vapour entereth the hol- low concave, next under the eggs, where, in time, it pierceth the aforesaid mixed earth, which toucheth the ashes whereon the eggs are laid, and so serve th as a neces- sary receptacle for all the heat coming from underneath. - This artificial heat, gliding through the embers, whereon the eggs lie, doth by degrees warm through the shells, and so infuseth life by the same proportions of heat : thus, in seven, eight, nine, ten, or sometimes twelve days, life continueth by this artificial means. Isow, when the furncr pcrceiveth life to appear, and that the shells begin to break, then he beginneth to gather them; but of a hun- dred thousand, he hardly gathers three score thousand, sometimes but Hi'ty thousand , and st-metinrjs (v.hen the day is overcast) not twenty thousand ; and if there chance any lightning, thunder, or rain, then, of a. thousand, lie ga- thers not one ; for then they all miscarry and die, And this is to be remembered withal, that be the weather never so hi;r, tiie air perfectly clear, and everv thing as them- selves can uesire, and let the chickens be hatched in the best manner that may be, yet have they either a claw tou iiiu Ji or loo iittie j for sometimes ti>ey ha. ye live claws, some* HATCHING CHICKENS, IN EGYPT, 173 pomctim.es six, some but two before and one behind, and Seldom, very few or any in their right shape. Afterwards, %vhen the people come to receive their eggs, that they be- fore had brought to the fnrncr, lie gives to every one rate- ably, according as the furnace yieldeth, reserving to him. self the tenth for his labour. Thus, have you the secret of hatching e.ff'-s, by heat artificial, at the town of Philbites, O Q O * > ' 7 in the Land of Goshen, which, I think, were in vain to be practised in England ; because the air there is hardly ten days together clarified, neither is there any camels 1 dung-, though they have dung of other beasts every way as hot j therefore, when the Sun is in Cancer, Leo, or Virgo, you mar. if yon please, try what may be done. Perhaps some \viil think this to be a Ive, or fable ; but to such I answer, I can urs;e their credence no further than my faith O i ;md truth can persuade them : And if thereon they will not believe me, let them take pains to make their own ove.s a witness, and when they have paid as dearly as I have done, (for the sight of this and other things, cost me an hundred murks in fifty days j) their judgments will by better confirmed* 'The GREAT GUN ; or, Turkish Piece of Ordnance, in iS'f. James's Park : Being a circumstantial ^Icconnt of its Capture at Alexandria in Egypt, and the plying of it upon the Parade near the llar.se Guards. IT is to bo presumed, that the present, r.s well as the for- mer situation of this singular curiosity, will long remain distinguished in history, It mav be recollected, that a. handsome piece of brass ordnance, much more portable than this Turkish or F.gvptian piece of cannon, stood on this part of the parade before, :u;d v.vs thought to have been removed, principally because it appears to have boeu the design of the conspirators under Colonel Despard, in f'eij, 1SOJ, to have seized upon tais gun, aud used it ;u; A a uu 174 THE CHEAT an instrument for the destruction of his Majesty and Ix-i-s of his peaceable subjects. If any doubt could be en* teilai'iod of this horrid design, the evidence against Wood, one oi' tiie culprit-?, would sufficiently remove it, This de- sperado, it appears, said " he would contrive to post himself ybeir.g one of the guards) as sentinel over the great gun in the park, and load it, and as his Majesty's carriage was passing to the Parliament-house, fire it off, and blo\v the carriage all to pieces." Upon the evidence also of John I.mblin, it appeared, that \vhen some oi' these pcr sons were at the Oak ley Anns public-house, the evidence being' present, he heard one of tliem, Broughton say 7 " My hoys, we have <;ot ti;e completest plan in the world, to do the business "without any trouble : load the great gun in the par]; \vit!i four balls or chain shot, and fire it ut his Majesty i:i t'e coach- he'd be d nM if it would not send him to Hell." This expression, shocking the witness, the latter said, " Do you consider how many lives you will take av/av." J'u-, then said, " d n the;n, let them keep out of the way." He a!r-o said, " the cannon would play hell with tlie houses about the Treasury." Some said the can- non '.vovdvi be too low ; another said it might easily be raised a:i inch : and another objecting that it might nii^s hi^ Mujestv, Bronghton replied, " TJien, d n him, we must w,iii-hitrc 2lst of March 1801. Like many of <.: 'i i!rL,bh c* i... n ::.'..; i, tiiis jjiece sec.med to liave been partly iuuaouible \vhere ii was llxed, e^ccuti:)"' the capacity ol" A O L ' turning IN ST. JAMES'S PARK. 175 turning it a little on either side. Other Turkish pieces, we are told, are at the Dardanelles, which are so long and cumbrous, that they can neither be moved nor used with safety. Sir Robert Wilson, v, ho seems to have no ta^tc for an- tiquities, throws no light upon the capture of t:us cur ous piece of Turkish ordnance, on the 21st of March ; he only remarks, that one of the two pieces of cannon taken that da',-, was an Austrian piece, and that the four horses i'. at - much battered and bruised in the muzzle, was alter- O ' v. ar-db cut down to the length of sixteen feet one inch. It z-j of a fluted make, with raised-work of hieroglyphics, \vith two inscriptions on it, not yet decvpherecl ; it is live feet, three inches in circumference, seven inches and a half in the bore, and sixteen feet one inch IOMU; ; its ueig. t is ei^'itv-f iitr hun, [red, two quarters, and fourteen pounds : ir-, c.irriapv on which it is pi. .ceil, is a new one, and stands live feet iii^'i, and is about iourteen feet loii, It is ele- gantlv curved, and was executed uv Mr. Ponsonbv; it is ids.) >-o well painted, that it is hard to distinguish it from bronze. 1 ne carved- work represents Britain!, a seated upon a Lio.i, withu complete \";ew of l^rq^t and Us 1'yramiv.is ; {i Crocodile hi;r'iiv ii;iii : ''ed ; a 'i urLsli .^'iure, a '1 ru;;- chcon, a Crown witli (.r. H. and a. Star and ( ; aru-r. Tiie bre; ch of t!ie cannon rc-ts u..>on a Sphvnx ; and 'o protect the mischief which miglit be occasioned i>v t-e atl- of the people too near it, wiien it v>;.s broug-'-t ii!.: '/V.ik on Monday M.iiv'i .!;, it va-- -urroiaided by ,i . on purpose lor it, the we!e preparations making for its reception, that it was found iK'cessarv to cajl in a guard to keep o!f the populace ; and a secant's guard was afterwards stationed at the post till a railing eonid be fixed up. When the cannon was placed there, a band of music played, the populace were so well pleased, thai they gave t.nree cheers ! On l-Yidav May 14, his Majesty and the Duke of Cum- berland, attendee! by Gen. Gwynne, visited the parade, ii-MJ viewed this celebrated great gun, having never seen it be lore. An Account c,f a REMARKABLE FISH, taken in King's- Jioad, near Bristol; in a Letter from Mr. James Fer- guson to Thomas Jji/'c/i, 1). J). Secretary to the Jicyal SociL'ty, [From the Philosophical Transactions, for 17 Go.] J>ri*tul t JA': ics. 1 he moiif'i i:i a. loot in viidth, and uf a sijUiaash form; it has three rows of sharp small teeth, vc-rv irregit- larlv set, and ,it. some di>tance from each oilier; it ha^ io t-.). ; igue, nor narrov/ gullet, but i^ ail ihe w;iv down, a^i Jar a-> oae c.iii see, like a great liollow tu'oo ; in tiie back i;t the r.-ou't witiiin t!'.ere iii'e two openings like nosinls; m\([ aoout nine ine '.es i,K.'! ribs, souicwlnit P710WESS OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR MAXIMTN. 177 fftsembling the strait bars of a chimney* grate, about an inch di>tant from each other, through which \ve see into a great cavity within the skin, towards the breast; and un- der the skin, these cavities are kept distended by longitu- dinal ribs, plain to tiic touch on the out:.u!c. I put my ami clown through the mouth quite to niv shoulder, but cou'J feel nothing- in the way ; so that its hr-art, stomach nd bowels, must be in a very iiule compass near its rail, the bodv thereabouts being- verv sin;;!!. From the neck proceeds two long horns, hard nud very elastic, no! io.Y.ied by rings as in lobster; ; and 0:1 ej.ch ti'.ie of t u b:-:ck there tire two considerable sharp-celled rising'-', or a bl.tck and long- substance. Between eac's eye and the breast, there i:> a cavity soinewhat like tie ie Me c t' a i:u;,'-ui ear, but it doth not penetrate to the i: 1 .'e. I-'roia c;H-li shoulder proceeds a strong muscular h 1 .;, closo bv u },.:]], towards the breast is an opening', throu;.'-!! \vliic:i one may thru^v his iiand a:ri ar:n quit^ n t > tiirt)n._;h t!ie njotitii ; a;;Ll bet\\vcn these (Ins procee-l from tlic bre.iat t'.vo short ]xnv>- f <.iuiewiiut like t'le fore-haif of a hamu'i f.iot, v;itii five toes K)i!ie I together, iu^ ing the appean-iee <./i nails. Near :iie tail are tv,o large iiin, one on the b;njk, ', : E/rp^TJOR MAXIMI?:. ,- I ^ JL :i F, tumults occusioned !>,' the death ' ' v 1 :N-I ; Aer be'-ng ajipease:l, .Maxintin, v,!-,o ii...i hv'eii t c '.ei prniiioter of the seuiiK>;i, \vas ci.'osen emperor. : I'v-raordinary jnan, whose chrUaC^'i- (icsvrves pur '-:! ;."'. "ition, \vas bora of vs-rv ob.-c.;r j n.-.rep.i. .<-;.', ;;:; '' :::. oi'a ; .::or rdsuian o;' i-.- -- '.V-. ! = ha 113 PROWESS OF THE ROMAN EMPEROR MAXIMIN. he lived. Soon after, his ambition increasing, he left his poor employment, and enlisted in the lioman army, where he soon became remark. ib!e for his great strength, disci- pline and courage. This gigantic man, we are told, was eight i\.'\ and a half high ; he had strength corresponding to !> si/e, bei;:g not more remarkable for the magnitude, than the. symmetry ci' his person. His wife's bracelet usually served him for a thumb-ring ; and his strength was so givvr, that he was able to drt;w a carriage ^hich t\\ o oxe-i could not move, lie: could, strike, out a horse's teeth wit'i a !;i>..w of his f:st, and bre..k its thigh vith a kick. II;-; dLt was as exiruer u;;arv ;us his endowments : he ge- ne r,>iU ; ei't tortv pounds \ve;i;'-t ot iit^'i everv our, and drank MX t'\div'!i!^ of wiiie ? v/itliout coniinitf.r.g unv dc- b.iuch in either. ^^ ith a frame so aililetic, he \\'as pos- se: sea of a mind undaunted in d.mger, ;:nd neither fearing nor regurd'mg a:iv i:\an. r l he fsrs* vimo he was made known via-, to the eniperor Severns, w!:o was then celebrating gun:es on t!ie birth-Jav of his son Gera. Pduximin v us at t;;.u time o rude countr*. man, 2 nd requested the emperor to be permitted to re- -.tend for the pn/.es which were dis- tributed to the [>est runners, v/reiiier' 1 , and boxers cf the ;ir:nv. Sevtini-s, nnwiiiiri 1 .!; to ii.Iringe the military di;-e.u jK-ri],,t ji i.!i ;.r iii'.-t, .1.3 iie v. as a T i^racian . except v.-ith slaves, against whom Iv.r. vi a.-toni^^iis. 1'e o'.'ereame sixteen in NEW DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS. 179 found to be one of the greatest monsters of cruelty that had ever disgraced power : tearful of nothing himself, he seemed to sport with the terrors of all mankind. NEW DISCOVERIES ANT) INVENTIONS. ANOTHER ANTIPAROS ; or, a NATURAL GROTTO Uiscortred, IN the district of Falicon, near Nice, say the lute Italian Journals;, a. grotto has been descried ; which, we -ire. assured, in respect to its beauty, is efjtuil either to that of the Sybil at Rome, or that of Antipinos. The entrance to this newly-discovered curiosity, is through a .small emi- nence, and in its form bearing resemblance to a a egg. > Its first appearance, at the extremity of this entrance, is similar to a saloon, tolerably regular, and sufficiently spa- cious to contain 400 persons. The alabaster pillars upon v.'hich ir is supported are uniform, and beautiful in the ex- treme. Citi/en Barbesis, of Nice, has taken the pains to illuminate this grotto, and is now employed in making; a O > 1 ^ O drawing of the sum?. THE FELAGOSTO?. JYL C/OLLIN, a Swede, and by profession a matliemriti- cal instrument maker, has lately constructed an instrument calculated to discover any of the objects at the bottom of trie sea. at least to a very considerable depth : for instance, c piece of m^tal may be seen at the depth of 53 feet from riie surface of the water, and darker objects from a distance of 27 feet. And from a peculiar mode in the direction of this instrument, there is no difference in its discovery of objects under water, either in clear or cloudy weather. Neither is the wind any hindrance to its operation, and it is at the same time so portable and convenient, that it irav be managed by one person only. It has Litelv been proved at Stockholm, and its utility accurately delined, 180 NEW DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS* AN account of a curious magazine pistol, which IIK* been some time past used by Lord Camel ford, in various parts of the world, lias Jatelv been published by Mr, IX U cholson. When loaded, it is capable of being dischargee* 'O D nine times successively through the same barrel, and is so constructed, th.it the use of it is neither attended with dan- ger or uncertainty. Baron Edelcrantz has presented to the Society for the Encouragement of Art.s at Paris, a new lamp, in which, by means of mercury and a weight, the oil is made to ascend to, and remain at any particular height. CAVALIER LANDOLINA, of Syracuse, lias re-discovered the art of making paper of the papgms, which grows abun- dantly in Svracu.se. j j ^r-*jr~~r--Jf~ -f -* jr~S* STONES SUPPOSED TO HAVE FALLEN FROM THE SKIES, CITIZEN VAUGELIN, of the Vrench National Institute, has latelv procured specimens of the stones analysed by Mr. Howard, brought from Benares in the East Indies r, O -' from Yorkshire in England ; from Sienne >M I'alv ; and- from Bohemia, to which he has joined those which fcJl in France in 1789 and 1790. He has remarked, as well as Mr. Howard, that these small stones resemble each other so exactlv, that it. is almost impossible to distinguish them, DifTerenl a;ia!vs.'s have convinced him, that they all con- tain the same, principles; jKiiriely, silex, magnesia, iron, nickel, and sulphur. All thc-.-.c resuU.-, v/ith th.e experi- ments of !v I. Cl:!adni, well I:no\vn bv his experiments upon the vibration of surfaces, concur to render it. probable that the origin of the Atones above-mentioned, is exterior lo our globe, for hitherto no similar stones ha^ e been found in iu interior. It i-; luvther observed, tlnit none of the stones emitted by any VL the volcanoes hitherto knovn, h;r\'e any identity with the s.to;;ci ^i..^uiTicd to Luve iu.L..n from the sky. A curicu-i 1 ( isi ) A curious Description of the LARGEST CELL in the World: [Versified by W. TANS'UR, Senior; 1772.] The greatest Bell the World can show, Is that in Russia at Mosco. 1 HIS woiid'rous bell, from skirt unto its crown 3 Is nineteen feet, three thick its bole around ; Feet twenty-three diameter in skirt, And more than seventy feet its circle-girt. Its weight, (if, justly, Fame the. truth resounds.) Three hundred, sixty, and six thousand pounds ; And, if tiiese pounds are right, and justly numbered, They make three thousand, sixty, and six hundred. Then, deem each score of pounds so many one's, They'll make one hundred, eighty-three, in tons : Should every hundred take one real pound Of clapper weight, (to give its tone or sound ;) Then Might and ball must very nearly be In hundred weights, the number thirty -three. One hundred able men this bell can raise, (Which only rings on some peculiar days ;) Whose pow'rful sway each artful ringer feels, I O 7 By well-made ropes which work on various wheels Its frame being burnt by fire, it fell tc th' around, O v chess-players, frcin the Pawn to the King.' lie sees, he hear,-;; bespeaks of no- thing but chess : chess is the first thoughts of his waking hours and the last of his slumbers. All the; motives that move, agitate, or inilarne other men, are to him lifelc.-:.- Jind inert. " In vain (says M. Joseph Gorani) did I en- deavour to detach him, but for a moment, from tiie pre- cious chain of ideas which lie- caresses. The stare oi in-> country, to which I wi.-.hed to recall his recollection, \...- MI imhliercnt, that lie made noansv. er io my observations ; but puil'ng a small chess-board out of his pocket, assured me it \\ as made in Lo;y.hjn, bv one of tiro ablest tirtiiicers iluit Enland couk! oou?t olV A STRANGE PROPENSITY IN A PRINCE. 1S3 Resembling the ancient knights errant that ranged throng]) hills and dales in search of able antagonists, this Prince has traversed all Europe to obtain the supreme en- joyment of putting some of the most accomplished chess- players at defiance. I have even heard that it was his in- tention to pass into Asia, to discover whether anv cf tire descendants of Palamedes are in existence ; but I am not informed \vhether he has realized this noble project. Prince Bathiani's journey to Rouse, however, had no other object but to find able players, whom lie flattered himself he should be sufficiently skilful to confound. But though lie has lost considerable sums in the pursuit of this idea, his passion has not been corrected by his disappoint- ments. Presumptuous to excess, and but an indifferent player ; yet instigated by the incitements of artful adven- turers, more skilful than himself, he still continues to ex- change his solid ducats for those fallacious eulogiums, which he receives with more relish and avidity, than if he really merited them. l)i::ing one day at his banker's, an Abbe, being a stran- ger, proposed a game at chessaccepted by the prince with great pleasure. Five times had the Abbe obtained an advantage ; when some inattention throwing him off his CiT.ard, recollecting; himself, he suddenly exclaimed What O . ujcol a>n J? I was proceeding as if I had as much conceit as Prince Bathiam. "Why, do you say, (answered the. Prince) that you are as conceited as the Prince Bathianir" <: Because (replied the Abbe) I have heard numysav, that this German Prince is a tolerable good chess-player ; while unhappily, his presumption leads him to think, he is the best player in die world ; though the proof oi the contrary exists at Vienna, Avhere he lo^t 50.000 crowns." That is false, (answered the Prince) the loss was only 10,000 wo was." " A\ ell, (said the Abbe) that proves him forty ti;ue^ a tool." It is needless to sa", this partv toon broke B b 2 m, 134 A WONDERFUL INSTANCE OF up. The Prince paid, and went out abruptly. The Abbe soon learned that this was the Prince Bathiani himself; but was not satisfied, till following his carriage, he saw it proceed towards the place De Espagne ; but this knowledge he confessed, only made him regret, that he did not make a better ad vantage of the opportunity which had escaped him. A WONDERFUL INSTANCE OF SIMILARITY OF PERSON. IN the year 1727, Thomas Geddely lived as a waiter witl} Mrs. Hannah Williams, who kept a public-house at York. Jt being a house of much business, and the mistress very assiduous therein, she was deemed in wealthy circumstances. One morning- her scrutoire was found broke open and rob- bed, and Thomas Geddely disappearing at the same time, there was no doubt left as to the robber. About a twelve- month after, a man calling himself James Crow, came to York, and worked a few days for a precarious subsistence, in carrying goods as a porter. By this time he had been seen by many, \vho accosted him as Thomas Geddely. He declared he did not know them, that his name was James Crow, and that he never was at York before. Thk was held as merely a trick, to save himself from the con- sequences of the robbery committed in the house of Mis, Williams, when he lived with her as a waiter. He was apprehended, his mistress sent for ; and, in the midst of many people, instantly singled him out, called him by his name, (Thomas Geddely) and charged him with bis unfaithfulness and ingratitude in robbing her. He was directly taken before a justice of the peace; but, on his examination, absolutely affirmed that he was not never \vasat Yoik before, -and that his- nam<: was James prow. Nor, however, giving a gcod account of himself, but r.'Livior ;:dii:iLting hiniocif to be a petty rogue and vaga- bond , SIMILARITY OF PERSON. 18o bond, and Mrs. Williams and smother swearing positively to his person, he was committed to York Castle for trial, at the next assizes. On arraignment, he pleaded Not Guilty; still denying that he was the person he v,-as taken for. Bat Mrs. Wil- liams and some others swearing that he was the identical Thomas Gedclely who lived with her when she was robbed, and who went orT immediately on the commitment of the robbcrv ; and a servant girl deposed, she saw the prisoner that very morning in the room where the scrutoire was broke open, with a poker in his hand ; and the prisoner being unable to prove an alibi, he W;TS found guilty of the robbery. He was soon after executed, but persisted to Ms latest breath, that he was not Thomas Geddelv, and that his name was James Crow. And so it proved ; for souse time after the true Thomas Geddelv, v-ho, on robbing his mistress, had fled from York to Ireland, was taken up in Dublin, for a crime of the same stamp, and there condemned and executed. Be- tween his conviction and execution, and again at the fatal tree, he confessed himself to be the verv Thomas Gecldely who had committed the robbery at York, for which the un- fortunate James Crow had been executed ! We must add, that a gentleman an inhabitant of York, happening to be in Dublin at the time of G^ddely's trial an.! execution, and who knew him when he hvecl with Mrs. Williams, declared, that the resemblance between the two men was so exceedingly great, that it was next to impos- sible for the nicest eye to have distinguished their person* asunder. An Account of a DREADFUL WHIRLWIND, in South Carolina y in -V^j/ 1161. 0:c the 4th of May, at half past two, P. M. a most vio- jknt whirlwind, commonly called a tvphon, passed dov. u Ashl-y 186 AN ACCOUNT OF > Ashley river, and fell upon the shipping in Rebellion road, Charles Town, with such violence, as threatened the de- struction of the whole licet. This phenomenon was first seen coming down Wappo creek, like a column of smoke. Its motion was irregular, tumultuous, and swift in its pro- gress. Its bulk, and its prodigious velocity, gave it such a surprising- momentum, as to plough Ashley river to the bottom, and lay the channel bare ; occasioning such a flux and reiiux, as to float even sloops and schooners, which were before Iviug dry, at. some distance from the tide. "\Vhik 1 coming clown Ashley river, it; noise resembled thun- der. Its diameter at that time was about :jOO fathoms, and its height about 3 5 degrees. It w;is met at White, Point by another gust, \vhieh came down Cooper's river, but not , equal to the other ; when the tumultuous agitation of the air increasing, the froth and vapour seemed thrown up to the height of 40 degrees ; while the clouds driving in all directions to this place, seemed precipitated, and whirled round with incredible velocity. Just after this, it fell upon the shipping in the road, and was scarce three minutes in its pussagc, though the distance v. as near two leagues. There wt-re -t-o sail in the road, five of which were sunk ; and the Dolphin ship of war, with eleven others, lost their masts, ikr. The damage to the shipping, is valued at cjO.OOO sterling, was \vards of 50 m;i-js \V\bv S. IVc>:n ( iiark-s Town, destroyed in its coarse several houses, ivgro huts, c\.c. on trie plantations. Maay \\-ijitc people: and uegroe.'; AVCIC, ^^ it!: cuttle, &c. killed and A DREADFUL WHIRLWIND. 187 and hurt ; and in its way it tore up every tree and shrub. About four o'clock the wind abated, the sky was as clear and serene, as if no such dreadful scene had been so re- cently exhibited ; only the sinking- an d dismasted vessels still remained, as so many melancholy proofs. The sink- ing- of the five ships in the road \vas-so sudden, that it was a doubt whether it was done by the immense weight of this column pressing them instantaneously into the deep, or by the water being forced from under them. Most of the dis- abled ships were towed up to the town the next eiuv ; and Captain Scott, of the -Scarborough, appointed to couvov those able to put to sea, in the room of the Dolphin ship oi' THE FOUNDER OF FAIRLOP FAIR. " MR. EDITOR, " OBSERVING in Number II. of vein Ciih-rtain- ing Magazine, an account of the Great Gak at i'uiriop in }'s>ex ; I thought it would be more complete, if vour itead- crs knew something of that singular character to v.hich that tree and the fair held about it, owe ail their celebrity. The authenticity of the following anecdotes cannot bo called in question. " I am yours, custom he continued till hi? death in 1767. Tn the former part of Mr. Day's life, he usually walked to his favourite spot and back again ; later in life, lie rode a horse, but receiving a fall, he declared he would never cross another, and kept his word. He then kept a mule ; l>ut beinp* again tnrov.'H into the mire, he discarded the O O -7 mule as he had done the horse, and determined never to tru.it liimteif upon the back of any four-legged animal. His i:e\r it source wa? a post-chaise ; but again meeting v it.! i an accident, lie was even resolved not onlv to ride nj moi< in coach or chaise, but that his remains should be con- veyed, at, the L-afest mode, by water, to the place of buriaL lie next invented a machine to o without horses to Fairloi* THE FOUNDER OF FAIRLOP FAIR. 1BQ Fair, which after two years of successful trial, broke do\vu in attempting the third expedition. The dernier resort of this wealthy tradesman, was a jockey-cart, in which, at- tended by music, he took his annual trip, up to the July preceding his death. His favourite oak receiving a shock by a storm a few years before Mr. Day's death, it operated upon him like the warning of an old friend, and he set about that task with alacrity, the very conception of which would have made some men shudder. Under favour of the Lord of the Ma- nor of Fairlop, he procured a limb of his favourite tree, and employed Mr. Clear, a carpenter, to convert it with- out delay into a coffin. This being brought home, neatly panne! led and highly polished with bees' wax, Mr, Day, looking with the greatest calmness upon his future habi- tation, and punning upon the carpenter's iv.une, observed, " Mr. Clear, it is not very dear to me that you have made this coffin long enough." 'Then laying himself down in it, " Never mind, (says he) if it be so, you must remind my ex- ecutors to have my head cut off after my decease, and place Jt between my legs." In bequeathing his property, as Mr. Day ever remained u bachelor, the fatherless children of his niece, eight in number, became his principal heirs; yet he still carried his harmless oddities to the last action possible, in order- ing his executors to convey his corpse to Barking in Essex, by water, accompanied by six journeymen pump and block- makers, as bearers, to each of whom he gave a new white- leathern apron, and a guinea in money. Upon the birth of each of his niece's children, it was also his custom to present the mother with a gold coral, a pap-boat, and a purse of fifty guineas. The poor also found a liberal benefactor in Mr. Day, to many he lent money, always without interest, and often forgave the principal. Mr. Da} r , though by some persons deemed formal, was ' or/, r c f an 1QO THE LATE MR. DANIEL DAY, OF WAPPING. an amateur in music, as it applied to dancing; to fashionable refinements, however, he had an insuperable aversion ; for being once invited to a ball, where he was informed it would be necessary to wear ruffles of the finest point lace, and a pair of the same presented to him, he viewed them with some degree of contempt, and said, " if it was the custom he must comply; but it should be in his own way :" and or- dering: his housekeeper to get the lace dyed green, lie wore them at that assembly, and upon all similar occasions. Mr. Day retained his health till within a day or two of his death, and his faculties to the last. Mr. Day's kindness to his faithful servants was remark- able ; he had an old housekeeper, who dying after she had lived with him thirty years, for her fondness for tea, of which he never drank any, he ordered a pound of green tea to be placed in each of her hands, and buried with her in her coffin ; and knowing her to have been extremely attached to her wedding-ring, he would not suffer it to be taken from her finger, saying if that was attempted, she would come to life again. With all his facetiousness, Mr. Day, as an old-fashioned tradesman, was a constant attendant at his own parish- church : and as much as possible would enforce the at- tendance of his nephews and nieces, their children, and his own servants, upon divine worship. In line, he lived- as lie would say, we?yy arid wise ; and dying in the 84th year of his age, was buried in his own oak coffin : and at Bark- nig church-yard in Essex, the following inscription may be seen near his tomb, upon that of his sister, Mrs. Sarah K 5.1 lick, who died in August 1782, in the 93d year of her :\ Woman remarkable for the Deauty of her Person, Sweetness of Disposition, and tin Share of Health she also enjoyed through Life. - Tili iir l)<>at)i <.-IK- < i nlil play at Cards, and read and work without ,-PM t M-)e? " LIFE ( 191 ) LIFE and CHARACTER of the celebrated Mr. MARTIN VAN BUTCHELL, Surgeon Dentist and Fistula Curer, of .Mount- street, Berkeley-square. J HOUGH eccentric individuals have lately obtained to such a frequency in re/search and recital, that ancient Biographical History no longer bears the palm, in consequence of the late numerous additions to this kind of entertainment ; yet in the present subject of our pages, we flatter ourselves, that also those modern eccentric Characters that have justly superseded the formar, amused the public, and promoted the laudable investigation of the moral composition of man, may still hide their diminished heads before that of Mr. MARTIN VAN BUTCHCLL ; who, as a person of uncommon merit and science, is, therefore, so much the move remarkable, by the singularities of his manners and appearance ; because, as many others ha\\; made use of these means to excite that attention which they did not deserve, and to obtain credit for qualifications they never possessed, it will be found as an unusual deviation from- this line of conduct in Mr. VAN BUTCUELL, that his singulari- ties and eccentricities have tended rather ifHi fortunately more to obscure than exalt or dispLiy the sterling abilities, which even the tongue of Envy lias never denied him. IIIE father of this extraordinary man, was well known in the early part of the reign of George II. as tapestry maker to his Majesty, to which a salary of 50l. per annum was attached. Martin Van Bntchell, the elder, whose family was originally from Flanders, was born m February 173(J, in the parish of Mary-le-bone ; but he afterwards settled with his father, in a large house in the parish of Lambeth, between Westminster Bridge and the Dog ami Duck, to which a very extensive garden was annexed, and was then known by the name of the Crown House. His education was suitable to his father's circumstances ; but as he did not like the profession of tapestry making, and at length re- jected the business when oft'ered him, it was natural that he should accept of other recommendations, which we were informed were not wanting, from the circumstance of gen- ii y occasionally lodging in the house of his father for the c o 2 sake 192 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE sake of the air, and its situation. It is to be noted, that as a ground-work of these recommendations, to the knowledge of the French language, and other accomplishments, a good character, and a prepossessing address, were no trivial stimu- lants towards his advancement in life. Hence, his first re- commendation to the family of Sir Thomas Robinson, was for the purpose of that gentleman's making him a travelling companion to his son. This offer, however, from a misre- presentation of the temper and disposition of Sir Thomas, Mr. Van Butchell did not think advisable to accept of; but in lieu of the same, very soon after went into the family of the Viscountess Talbot, where, as Groom of the Chambers, he remained nine years. As this situation was probably lucrative, it enabled him, on leaving it, to pursue his favourite studies of mechanics and medicine, and particularly anatomy. And as the human teeth accidentally became a principal object of his attention, through the breaking of one of his own, and having engaged himself as a pupil to the celebrated Dr. J. Hunter, the profession of a Dentist was that by which he first appeared in the world as a public character. In this he was so eminently successful, that for a complete set of teeth, he is known to have received a price as high as eighty guineas. And of one lady we have heard, that being dissatisfied with her teeth for which she had paid him ten guineas, he volun- tarily returned her the money, though in a very early, and consequently not the most lucrative period of his practice ; however, he had scarcely slept upon the contemplation of this disappointment, before she returned, soliciting the set of ieclh \\liicl; he had made her, as a favour, with an immediate ttudev of the pik , which she had originally paid for them, .UK! vercr.vrd them back again accordingly. Of anoilirr lady we have been told, who in the course of Mr. Van Buicheil's practice as a dentist, exhibited a strik- ing proof m her own person, that the character of tlu painted CELEBRATED MR. MARTIN VAN BUTCHELL. 1Q3 painted Prude, drawn by Mr. Pope, was by no means out of nature the latter, when dying, directs her maid, saying, " And Betty give this cheek a little red, " One would not sure look frightful when one's dead !" But the former, of whom we have just been speaking, when Diving, expressly insisted that Mr. Van Butchell only, after her decease, should actually iix and replace the teeth in her head which he had made for her while living, and which he performed accordingly. We cannot say, that to obviate the stiffness that seizes the jaws, that it was necessary for him to begin his operations before the body was cold ; but every one should know, that it is necessary to take an artificial set of teeth out of the mouth every night on going to sleep, and sometimes to steep them in water to preserve their whiteness ; of course there is not the least improbability of the removal of this lady's teeth during her illness, and consequently her wish to have them handsomely restored after her decease, probably only for the reason urged by Mr. Pope's Lady, " One would not sure look frightful when one's dead !" After successfully figuring as a Dentist for many years, Mr. Van Butchell became not less eminent as a maker of trusses for ruptured persons ; and m the course of this practice his reputation had spread so far, that a person of eminence, as a physician in Holland, having heard of his skill, made a voyage for the purpose of applying to him, and was so successfully treated, that in return for the bene- fit he had received, he taught Mr. Van Butchell the secret of curing fistulas, which he has practised ever since with astonishing and unrivalled success. While Mr. Van Butchell was engaged in making trusses-, ixLc. he also made spring-waistcoats or a spencer, to act instead of braces to the small clothes; but being neces- sarily LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE sarily dear, it precluded them from coming into general use. This kind of spring- waistcoat he now wears, or rather his shut, his waistcoat, his breeches and stockings, are all in one piece or contexture of elastic worsted, all white from head to foot, which, contrasted with his bushy beard, had one time nearly thrown, not a lady, but the stouter heart of a gentleman, into a degree of terror, approaching nearly to fainting. This occurred m consequence of the former going into Van Butchell's stable when he was stand- ing behind the door, and as it happened, without his coat, having at the same time a white cap on, and being without his boots. He likewise projected a surcingle for race-horses, which was presented to his Majesty, and consequently spoken of as a most ingenious contrivance. Mr. Van Butchell, for many years past, being noted for the singularity and eccentricity of his manners, never ex- cited more attention than after the death of his iirst wife ; whom, for the extreme affection he bore towards her, he was at first determined should never be buried. Ac- cordingly, with the assistance and direction of Dr. Hunter, the celebrated Anatomist, after embalming the body, he kept her in her wedding clothes a considerable tune m the parlour of his own house, which, on that account, had the honour of being visited by great numbers of the nobility and gentry, who soon found, that though it was quite fo- reign to the intentions of Mr. Van Butchell to make a shew O of his deceased wife, some consideration would not be a dis- agreeable return for the trouble and attendance which these O visits occasioned. Some say this resolution of keeping his wife unburied, was occasioned by a clause in the marriage settlement;, dis- posing of certain property while she remained above ground. How far this may be fact, we will not decide ; but we arc now well-informed that she is since buried. One singu- larity in his manner of imposing terms upon his \\ivv.s, ib remaikabie, CELEBRATED MR. MARTIN VAN BUTCHELL. 1. i^n the Fii-tula: in Ano. FOH Rl.KKR A TSI> MR. MAKTIN VAN KtJTCIf K I.L. 1 ( J7 FOR THE APPAREL AND FURNITURE July 6. OF Li. f'nsed to deal in Perfumery, i, f, HUMANE BEINGS Hydrophobia cured in thirty day>, AND BRUTE CREATURES. made of Milk and Honey. which remained some years. But his next door neighbour thinking proper to rebuild part of his front, he obliterated half of the notice, which had before run from Mr. Van But- chell's house over his own. But for the gratification of our readers, we have obtained a copy of the whole; and in order to understand this the better, some years ago he had a famous dun horse, and having some dispute with the stable keeper, the horse was detained by the latter to pay for his keep, and was at length sold by the Ranger of Hyde Park, at Tattersal's ; where, from the character given him by Mr. Van Butchell, he fetched a considerable price. This affair was the occasion of a law-suit, and caused Mr. Van Butchell to interline the curious notice we before men- tioned, with small gold letters, and nearly at the top of it, as follows : " Thus, said sneaking Jack, speaking like himself, I'll be first ; if I get my money, I don't care who suffers." Probably this notice, which was the cause that attracted so many people to look at Mr, Van Butchell's house, occa- sioned his neighbour to ob'iterate the part that \vas upon his own. His eccentricities are very numerous, and we Have only selected a fr\v ; from which it will appear, that VOL. j. i) d his 198 LIFE AND CHARACTER O# THE his equal will not easily be found. After he had lost his famous dun horse, he purchased a small white poney, which he will not suffer to be trimmed in any degree whatever. The shoes for the poney he will always have made fluted, to prevent his slipping, and never suffers him to wear any other. His saddle is also of a curious make; in one of the stirrups he has lately fixed a piece of cork to keep his foot from slipping. The reason lie gives for not using cork on the other side, is, that he cannot mount so well.' This said poney he sometimes has the humour to paint all purple; sometimes with purple spots, other times with black spots, and with streaks and circles upon his face and hinder parts ; and of these various colours, he says each spot costs him a guinea. He rides him in Hyde Park very frequently, especially on Sundays, and also about the streets of Lon- don. When he goes into the Park, to save a distance of going round, he dismounts his poney, goes on the other side of the railing, and holding out a biscuit, the animal leaps over to him, and away they go. The curious appear- ance of his horse and himself in the streets, generally col- lects a great concourse of people; for the one being painted, and the other dressed more resembling a Jew than any thing else, have a most ludicrous effect. His beard has not been cut or shaved since the year 1791 ' his hat is shallow and narrow brimmed, and though originally black, is now almost white with age : his coat, a kind of russet brown, he has also worn a number of years, with an old pair of boots the colour of his hat. He has a most curious bridle which he occasionally uses : to the head of it is fixed a blind, which HI case of t hehorse taking fright, or startling, he can let down over his horse's eyes, and draw up again at pleasure. And this- he also does, if there be any object which he does not think fit the horse should see. He once rode his poney a race against a high bay horse jn Hyde Park for a wager, aud ttat hiuj. in u conversation with u gentleman the othei CELEBRATED MR. MARTIN VAN BUfCHELL. 199 other day, to whom he presented some of his famous cof- fee which he sells in packets, he observed, " it was made from every thing good, and nothing bad." The gentle- man remarked, that he and his friends might want more if they found it good ; to which he replied, " he would supply them all, Cor a bit of gold now and then." As well as to purchase his cork stirrups, he wanted to persuade a gentleman in the army to send the saddles to him belong- ing to the whole regiment, and not to suffer the horses to he trimmed any more : sayincr, the ancients never suffered their horses to be trimmed. He never ;illo\vs his own favourite poney to go into a farrier's shop, because the hammering, he says, hurts the horse's hearing: and for this poney, he says he would not take an hundred guineas. Not from any thing like narrow circumstances, but from one of his own peculiar whims, a very short time since, he used also to sell apples, nut?, gingerbread, and half- penny cakes to children, at his door in Mount Street ; or probably, this might be one means of keeping his own children employed. In one of his advertisements, it may be observed, that he notices the " Corresponding Lads." Mr. Van Butchel!, probably to cure some of these of their infidelity, which they had imbibed from Tom Paine, used to attend on a Sunday evening in the \Vestminster Forum ; where, as every cue had a right to read or speak, Mr. Van Butchell always chose to read a chapter from the New Tes- tament, which he never failed to deliver with uncommon gravity. And this probably accounts for what some people have said about his being occasionally a Preacher. In one of the advertisements under the name of Van Butchell, we recollect a kind of notice, that Lord Salisbury need not trouble himself about getting him appointed Den- tist to the King J The fact we have heard was, that Mr. Van Butchell had previously applied to Lord Salisbury for that appointment; who, of course, not having his Majesty's D (i ^ nomination. 00 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE nomination, could not answer his wishes ; but after he had obtained it, it seems Mr. Van Butchell thought his refusal would enhance his consequence, more than his acceptance of it; and accordingly he made it the finale of his advertise- ments soon after. Another anecdote is related of him ; viz. that meeting his Majesty in Windsor Great Park, his Majesty knowing him, rode up, and addressed him thus : " Mr. Butchell, how do you do how do you lijce the day's sport ?" To which his answer was, " Pretty well, I thank you, Sir." And Van Butchell's curious bridle and blind, which he occasionally threw over his horse, did not escape his Ma- jesty's attention. It is not a little surprising, though the public have been so long used to Mr. Van Butchell, that the lower orders are not yet perfectly reconciled to the singularity of his appear- ance. It is only a few weeks since, that so many boys and others assembled about him while he was in Hyde Park, and endeavouring to mount his poney, who started and ran at the hooting and hallooing of these fellows, that for upwards of an hour he was not able to effect his purpose ; but kept walking the poney round and round the great tree. Two gentlemen on horseback, however, at length pitying his situa- tion, rescued him from this dilemma, and held the poney, till being enabled to mount him quietly, he rode home between them to Mount Street, unmolested. Another time in the course of last summer, ju*l as the Westminster Cavalry had broke up after a field day, Mr. Van Butchell being in the park with his poney, it. took, fright and threw him ; happily he received no harm : however, having mounted again, the cavalry beginning to disperse, and two of the corps, not thinking, or pro- bably not caring for the consequences, rode after Mr. Van Butchell full speed, while the jolting of their swords and pouches renewing the fright of his horf-e, he again *ef oft with CELEBRATED MR. MARTIN VAN BUTCHELI.. 201 with his rider as hard as he could go, till he came to Cumber- land Gate; this race, as it was called, affording most excel- lent sport for those who stile themselves Lovers of Fun. \Vith Mr. Van Butchell, Hyde Park is a favourite place. On Sunday mornings it is common for him to attend about the spring, above the Serpentine river, near the Guard-house, where he distributes the water to the people after he has added something to it, and shaken it up in a bottle, till it be- comes very white. This water, it is then said, is of a very pleasant taste, and is probably medicinal. Jt would further appear to be one of the foibles of this singular man to exhibit himself in eccentric habiliments as often as possible to the public view. On this ground, he is sometimes seen shaking a bottle with medicines in it, for an hour together, at his own door ; and his painted horse, preparatory to his riding out upon him, is not unfrequently combed and accoutred in the same place, and in that public manner. When he used to ride his other dun poney, concerning which he had a law-suit with the stable keeper, he had a curious pair of stirrups cut open on one side, on purpose to prevent the foot from hanging in the stirrup, in case of being thrown. When at home in the forenoon, we are informed, Mr. V an Butchell always used to sit in the two pair of stairs front room ; where, by the communication of a spring, he immediately knows when he is enquired for. When the shop tax was first levied, we are informed, that the com- missioners wished to include Mr. Van Butchell's apartment where he saw patients, because a few teeth, spring- bands, &c. were there exposed to view; but as in reply to his objections, as they admitted that a free egress and in- gress was the distinguishing quality of a shop, they were compelled to exempt him from the tax, as he soon con- vinced them that it was as im-possible to get out or into his apartment 202 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF THE apartment without his instructions, as to have entered the bower of Fair Rosamond without the clue of thread, which, in the King's absence, was only confided to the trustv Knight, Sir Thomas . We have before spken of his inestimable beard ; the accounts of the time he has worn it, certainly differ; but it is generally admitted that it is now about twelve years since. The original reason of this determination, we have been told, did not arise from the mere affectation of sin- gularity, but from a philosophical conversation with the late celebrated Anatomist, Dr. John Hunter; in which, from the practice of the ancients, it was agreed that the wearing of the beard was conducive to the strength and vigour of the human body. Probably for some such pur- pose, all the younger children of this extraordinary character, were dressed in calico. Still like some people who have any personal pecu- liarities, Mr. Van Butchell can bear to be pleasant upon his own by tucking his beard, as we are told, under his neckcloth, in imitation or derision of the fashionables of the present day. And yet though the virtues and the pub- lic utility of this extraordinary man and excellent physi- cian, are by no means so well known as they merit, it is seldom, indeed, that he has been exposed, from appear- ance only, to any personal insult. One instance we have heard of, was that of a footman or knight of the rainbow, who, presuming to take this venerable man by the beard, as he merited, had very nearly paid for his temerity, with the fracture of one of his ribs. This was done by a sudden blow with an umbrella, which the party offended carried in his hand; but as a warning to the unthinking, since that period, Mr. Van Butchell has thought proper to carry a bone when he goes abroad, in some degree resembling a battledore ; and which is sdid to have been used as a war- like weapon in the island of Otaheite : others call it the jaw- CELEBRATED MR. MARTIN VAN BUTCHELL. 20, V 5 jaw-bone of an ass. To use his own expression-^-" It is to defend man." To sum up the component parts of the character of this singular personage, it seems that his native ingenuity, per- severance, and skill in his various professions, all producing a succc&sful practice, have seldom been equalled ; and to which, as we have noticed before, his eccentricities have served rather as a shade than a foil. These, of course, form no essential part of the moral character; and when assumed, are very seldom beneficial or profitable to the man truly up- right. Of the qualities of Mr. Van Butchell's mind, there is the most undoubted testimony. The references which he makes to persons whom he has healed, in his advertisements, are not men of straw mere non entities, as most of those names are, which are brought forward by constantly adver- tising quacks. On the contrary, speaking as we have found, they are not only living, but rejoicing, they seem to consi- der themselves as almost raised from the dead translated from the dreary regions of despair to those of joy and hope, and as having commenced a new existence ; they, therefore, speak of their benefactor, not merely in terms of gratitude, but often in those of rapture. But to the multiplication of these happy instances, these salutary aids, and sweeteners of the bitter cup of humanity, sorry we are that any serious ob- stacles should exist. The fact is, that Mr. Martin Van But- chell, finding himself subverted by others in some of his fa- vourite inventions, it has compelled him to raise the consi- deration for curing the Fistula to so high a price, that many now are probably compelled to languish and die for want of assistance. What is supposed by many, that Mr. Van Butchell's refusing to visit any patients whatever, with his manners and appearance, have been great hindrances to his profits, will not be controverted here. But if a person, thus possessing superior skill and ability, may be esteemed a public 204 1.1PK AND ( HARACTF.R OF TH a public blessing, all eccentricities being allowed for, it is in- cumbent upon those who have the means of bettering society, to remove such obstacles as may occur, and if possible, even to enlarge the sphere of individual, and particular]) of un- rivalled utility. But how difficult, we will not say impos- sible, it would be to persuade Mr. Van Butcheil to rescind a resolution which he has once taken, may be inferred from a well known fact, of his refusing to attend a gentleman emi- nent in the law, at his own house ; because he had before said in his advertisements, " I go to none." Mr. Van But- cheil, no doubt, had his reasons for framing this resolution at first ; but the most extraordinary part of the business is, that we know he even refused Jive hundred good solid reasons, which were offered him for altering this said resolution ! This singular determination of refusing 500 guineas did riot rest here ; the lady of the gentleman who was afflicted, we have heard, even offered 1000, and to send her carriage every morning to Mr. Van Butcheil's house to fetch him. This, however, was to no purpose, the Doctor still referred to the words of his advertisement, " I go to none/' and expatiated very largely upon the propriety of the resolution he had taken. But here, if obstinacy is to be imputed to the Doc- tor, we presume that folly may be added to that of his more opulent patient, who chose rather to keep his alarming dis- ease than condescend to attend upon the Doctor. Again, the secresy which is required in his manner of treating pa- tients at his own house, may be a further obstacle to the en- largement of his practice, and also deter many delicate and timid persons from attending him. Male or female lie suf- fers no third person to be present, and even bars the door of his apartment before he commences his operation, or ra- ther his dressing ; for as he never uses the knife, some people might falsely imagine that such an idea was intended by that term. We once heard, that it was his intention to bring' I CELEBRATED MR. MARTIN VAN BUTCHELL. 205 bring up his eldest son in his profession; but that the young man is since gone abroad. The character, which with all its oddities, the late Dr. John Hunter caressed and recom- mended, must surelv deserve encouragement, if not pre- ference; and if, as \ve have been lately informed, Mr. Van Butchell has considerably enlarged the sphere of hig prac- tice, by no longer confining it to Fistulas, &c. ; we hope this may be some means of enabling the public more justly to appreciate his merits, who, either as an individual or a professional man, has so many strong and genuine motives to their recommendation, besides a large family of nine children. As a proof of Mr. Van Butchell's general talents, we have been credibly informed, that when he first heard that Lord George Gordon died of a fever, he was extremelv concerned, and expressed his certain persuasion that he could have cured Iwm, had he known of his illness in time, having been a frequent visitor to him while in confinement. After that period, Mr. Van Butchell used his utmost ex- ertions to prevent the fever from urging in Newgate, by the recommendation of various preventives, and by making it a common practice to pay a number of friendly visits to that prison, while a number of persons were confined there at the period when Tom Paine's Rights of Man, &c. made so much noise in the world. Of Mr. Van Butchell's taste as a writer, the reader will make his own conclusions, from the following specimens of his advertisements taken from the public papers. Causes of Crim. Con. Also Barrenness And the King's Evil : Advice new Guinea ; come from Ten till One : for i go to none. The Anatomist and Sympathizer, who never poisons, nor sheds humane blood : Balm is always good, VOL, i. L c Correspond- '206 CURIOUS ADVEKTISEMF.NTS OT THE Corresponding Lads Remember Judas: And the Year 80 ! Last Monday Morning, at Seven c? Clock, Doctor Merryman, of Queen Street, May-fair, presented Elizabeth, the Wife of Martin Van Butchell, with her Fifth fine Boy, at his House in Mount-street, Grosvenor-square, and they all are well. Post Masters General for Ten Thousand Pounds ( We mean Gentlemen's Not a Penny less ) I will soon construct Such Mail-Coach-Perch Bolts as shall never break ! Tender hearted Man. User of the Knife, would'st thou cut thy Wife : ( Unless two* were by ? Fearing her might die? ) Is not Blood the Life? * Alluding to the regular mode of eminent Surgeons, who seldom cut for Fistula and Piles, but in the presence of their assistants : because, a few patients have died un- der the operation, and a few more have died, some days after the day of cutting. Not so our Author : Mais tout an contraire. If the Empress of Russia, the Emperor of Germany, the King of Prussia, an Immaculate, or the Pope of Rome; were sorely smitten with bad Fistula and tormenting Piles, visited Martin to be made quite whole : Without Confinement, Fomentation, Risk, Injection, Poultice, Caustic, or Cutting : bring- ing two per Cent, of Five Years Profit. ^" Less is not his fee. Nor would he suffer a third person to be in the room. Not wanting help, he won't be hindei'd ; by half-witted spies ; slavish informers: nor sad alarmists. All his patients live : and Jehovah praise. To the Knrrou of a Morning paper. Ego secundus. Of God every man hath his proper gift : glory be to him- -that mine is healing: ( Not miraculous, 1101 by Satan's aid : ) being vigilant while gay lads gamed at the tennis court, 1 found it in Schools Anatomical.- Fistula 1ELKUHA 1T.D MR. MARTIN VAN HUTCHE1.L. '207 Fistula? and Piles best my genius fit : very broad is art- narrow human vit: llio' man was complete: ( As he ought to be with an hairy chm. ) Lovely women hate fops effeminate. Time approaches \vhen among ceitam men in another age beards will be the rage ! To many I refer for my character : each will have the grace to write out his case ; soon as he is well an history tell: for the public good ; so save humane blood : as all true folk shou'd. Sharkish people may keep them- selves away. Those that use men ill / never can heal ; being forbidden to eatt pearls to pigs ; lest t/in/- turn and tear. Wisdom makes dainty : patients come to me, ^ith heavy guineas, between ten and one: hut 1 go to none. Mgnthr rf Mankind : in a manly way. In another advertisement he says, That your Majesty's Petitioner is a British Christian Man aged fifty-nine with a comely beard full eight inches long. That your Ma- jesty's Petitioner was born in the County of Middlesex brought up in the County of Surrey and has never been out of the Kingdom of England. That your Majesty's Petitioner ( about ten years ago ) had often the high honour ( before your Majesty's Nobics) of conversing with your Majesty ( face to face--) when we were hunt- ing of the stag on Windsor Forest. British Christian Lads. ( '" Behold now is the day of salvation. Get understanding : as the highest gain. ) Cease looking boyish : become quite manly! (Girls are fond of hair: it is natural.) liet your beards grou long: that ye may be Mrvng: - m mind and body: as were great grand dad;>: centimes ago; vt hen John did not owe a sinplr penny : movr than ht vJc-uM pay. Phi- 208 cunious ADVERTISEMENTS ov TIIK Phi lo so fie sirs. " Heaven gives a will : then directs the way." Honor your Maker: And " Be swift to hear : slow to speak : or wrath" Leave off Reforming : each himself reform : wear-- the marks of men: In-con-les-ti-ble! Jesus did not shave : for H-e knew better. Had it been proper out chins should be bare, would hair be put there: by wise Jehovah? " Who made all things good." Fistula and Piles, by the b.elp of God zee eradicate. Having wit enough to heal those complaints, my small fee must be twelve heavy guineas: large, six-score thousand: We mean 2 pr. cent, on five years profit put it in rou- leaus, of an hundred each. Come from ten till one : for / goto none. Sympathising Minds ! " Blessed are they that con- sider the poor." Kings, Princes, Dukes, Lords, Knights, Esquires, Ladies, a Or the Lord knows who," are hapless mortals ! Many do need me : to give them comfort! Am not I the first healer ( at this Day ) of bad Fistula; ? ( With an handsome Beard ) like Hippocrates ! The combing I sell one guinea each hair: ( Of use to the Fair; that want fine children: I can tell them how ; it is a secret. ) Some, .-are quite auburn ; others, silver white: full half- quarter long, growing (day, and night, ) only fifteen months! Ye must hither come, ( As I go to none ) and bring one per cent, of five years profit: that's my settled fee: it shall be return'd if I do not cure ( In a little time ) the worst Fistula : let who will have fail'd! Lie tellin - is bad: sotting makes folk o o sad ! See ( Ananias ) Begjnning Acts V. Pot-i-cary bow thy iiiz'd mealy pate ! " Despisers, behold wonder and perish!" "God gives grace to man ! Glory be t<> God ! He doth all things well!' I'JSlulct; CELEBRATED MR. MARTIN VAN BUTCHF.LI.. 209 Fistula -- Patients - Fee is according to ability ! let those- who have much give -- without grudging ! ( -heavy guineas down : I don't like paper ; unless from the Bank of goad old England. ) Plain folk do comply -- very readily : so shall the gaudy : -- or keep their complaints ! Many -- are in want of food ; and raiment, for large families ; such, will be made whole just so speedily as the most wealthy; "that's one right of man," and he shall have it : while God grants me health ! ' O ( Philosophers say " Mankind are equal : and pure religion kindly promotes good.") Lofty ones read this, then pause a little : down your dust must lay ; pro- mises won't do : I can't go away to receive some pay from other people ! Though to the abovementioned advertisements many cases might be added, it is not less remarkable, that Mr. Van Butchell has by no means availed himself either of the num- ber, or the desperate nature of those that might have been brought forward. It is however certain, that many of them would astonish belief, or otherwise appear next to miraculous ; but conscious, that in this account we have neither extenu- ated nor aggravated any of the circumstances in the lift: of this truly extraordinary character, we now leave them to the con- sideration of every curious and candid reader. LovooN", June, 1303. Particulars of a SHOCKING MURDER lately committed by a Man of the Name of HESKETH, at Hollingwood in Lancashire. IT appears that Hesketh was a man of property, and had had several children (one only then living) by the deceased woman, \\\\o dwelt with him in the double capacity of house- keeper and mistress. Frequent quarrels happening between them, accompanied with blows, the neighbours seldom inter- fered. AN ACCOUNT OF A BURNING WELL, fered. Heskelh's house standing at some distance from any other; and on the evening which produced the horrid ca- tastrophe, although a great noise was heard in the house bv several persons passing, no one thought proper to go in. The next morning early, a stream of blood was observed running under the door ; an alarm was given, and a passage forced into the kitchen, where Hesketh was extended near the fire-place, with a pair of tongs in his hand much bent ; and by the side of him his child, about three years old* wrapped in the shades of death, over which his arms were thrown, either for defence, or from a last effort of affection. The woman was lying at a small distance from them, not quite dead, still grasping a fire-poker; but did not survive above a few minutes. Thus, drawing an impenetrable veil over particulars of the transaction : little doubt however remains, that the man and woman had fought with the poker and tongs, till loss of blood exhausted their strength ; that during the affray the child had continued for some time to scream, and was at length silenced by violence, as the poor innocent's tongue was nearly torn out, and its body much bruised. May 1803. An Account oj fa BURNING WIH.L, at Broseley in Shrop- shire; being Part of a Letter from the Rev. Mr. Mason, Woodwardian Professor at Cambridge, and F.R.S.; dated June IS, 1746. AT Broseley, in 1711, was a well found, which burned with great violence, but it has been lost many years. The poor man in whose land it was, missing the profit he used to have by shewing it, applied his utmost endeavours to re- cover it ; but all in vain, till May last, when attending to a rumbling noise under the ground, like what the former well made, though in a lower situation, and about thirty yards nearer to the river, he happened to hit upon it again, i That AT I5ROSELEY, IN SHROPSHIRE. 21 i That you may have some notion what it is, I will lay before you such an account of it, as the cursory view I had will permit. The well for four or five feet deep is six or seven feet wide ; within that is another less hole of like depth dug in the clay, in the bottom whereof is placed a cylindric earthen vessel, of about four or five inches diameter at the mouth, having the bottom taken off, and the sides well fixed in the clay rammed close about it. Within the pot is a brown water as thick as puddle, continually forced up with a vio- lent motion, beyond that of boiling water, and a rumbling hollow noise, raising or falling by fits, five or six inches; but there was no appearance of any vapour rising, which perhaps might have been visible, had not the sun shone so bright. Upon putting down a candle at the end of a stick, at about a quarter of a yard distance, it took fire, darting and flashing in a violent manner, for about half a yard high, much in the manner of spirits in a lamp, but with greater agitation. The man said that a tea-kettle had been made to boil in about nine minutes time, and that he had left it burning forty-eight hours together, without any sensible diminution. It was extinguished by putting a wet mop upon it, which must be kept there a small time, otherwise it would not go out. I pon the removal of the mop, there succeeded a sul- phureous smoke, lasting about a minute ; and yet the water was very cold to the touch. The well lies about thirty yards from the Severn, which, iu that place, and for some miles both above and below, runs in a vale full 100 yards perpendicular below the level of the country on either side, which inclines down to the vale, at an angle of 20 or 30 deg. from the horizon, but somewhat more or less in different places, according as the place is moie or less rocky. The *2J'2 TIJE BURNING WELL AT BROSE1.EY, JS.C. The country consists fcf rock, stone, earth, and clay ; and as the river, which is very rapid, washes away the soft and loose parts, the next successively slip into the chan- nel, so as by degrees, and in time, to affect the whole slope of the land ; and as the inferior strata yield coal and iron ore, their fermentation may produce this vapour, and force it to ascend with violence through the chinks of the earth, and give the water the great motion it has. This might be obstructed in one place by the forementioned subsiding of the sloping bank, and might afterwards find vent in another, in like manner as happened at Scarborough a few years since. A gentlemtm writes, June J(), 17()l ; when I was there eight years ago, the cylinder had been taken up, or other- wise destroyed ; the well no longer appeared any thing else but a miry hole of clay. Other waters had been suffered to mix with those of the burning spring, which, though they considerably diminished the effect, did not, howcvor, wholly destroy it; for upon the application of a piece of lighted paper, a stream of clear flame shot up from tin: well, which very much resembled that of a tea-kettle lamp fed by spirits ; but as we could not keep out the other water, the flame presently went out of itself. I forgot now to what cause they told us this shameful neglect was owing; whether to a contest between two rival claimants to the property, or whether the curiosity of the circumjacent inhabitants had been fully gratified, it no longer attracted a concourse of visitants sufficient to reward the attention of the proprietor. It were to be wished, that some of the gentlemen in that neighbourhood, (which I have left now many years) would give us the present state oi tins wonderful phenomenon. ( 21.) ) Circumstantial Account of the GREAT FIRE of LONDON, which happened on Monday, September 2, 166G. [The reason of giving tins Xavrativii a place HI 01:1 Miscellany, i.; grounded upon the circumstance of the rarity of any particular account of this singular event j but to which the following, we presume, will be admitted as a satisfactory exception.] /AFTER twenty years civil war, a great plague, and an uncommon dry summer, this city, iu the year and on the day above mentioned, that is to say, about one o'clock in the morning, was visited by a dreadful fire, which made its first appearance in Pudding-lane, near the Monument. This part of the town being closely built with old lath and plaister, it was so violent in its outset and its early progress, that people had no time to save any thing more than their lives ; nor yet to think of means to re- sist the devouring element, before the expiration of next day ; when as common fire-engines had no effect upon it, it had spread up Gracechurch-street, and downwards from Cannon-street to the water-side, as far as the Three Cranes in the Vintry. But while most of the people, as the only means left them, were busily occupied in removing their goods from the houses which had not caught fire, some attempts were made to prevent the spreading of the flames, by pulling down houses, and leaving great spaces ; but even this was in vain; for the tire seizing upon the timber and rubbish, it consumed every obstacle of a combustible kind, and is said to have continued in a bright flame all Monday and Tuesday, notwithstanding his Majesty's and his Royal Brother's indefatigable and personal pains to apply all pos- sible remedies to prevent it. Not only the guards but a great number of nobility and gentry also assisted, and VOL. j. F f were '214 CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF THK were requited with a thousand blessings from the poor dis- tressed people. However, by Tuesday night the wind had somewhat abated ; and besides, the flames which were driven westward as far as the Temple, there meeting with brick buildings, they began to lose their strength. And on Wednesday morning, through the blowing up of a number of houses with gunpowder, a complete stop was put to the progress of the flames, at the Temple Church ; at Holborn Bridge, near the end of Fleet Market; at Pye Corner ; at Aldersgate ; at Cripplegate, near the lower end of Coleman-street ; at the upper end of Bishopsgate and Leadenhall-streets ; at the Standard in Cornhill; the Church in Fenchurch-street ; at the middle of Mark-lane ; and at Tower Dock. On Thursday, it might have been said to have been quite extinguished, had it not broken out again near the Temple, by the falling of some sparks upon a pile of wooden buildings. But here, the then Duke of York, brother to Charles II. having remained all night in person, was the cause of the flames being again subdued before day-light, by the blowing up of the houses adjacent to those that were on fire. But though the fire came up to the very gates of the Tower, the houses being previously pulled down, the pow'der, stores, &c. there lodged were carefully preserved. To remedy the inconveniences occa- sioned by so many people being deprived of shelter, tents and booths were erected, particularly in Moor-fields ; and farther, to relieve those that were in immediate want, his Majesty ordered great quantities of biscuit to be sent there from Chatham ; but as no monopolizers had then availed themselves of a temporary period of distress, the markets were so well supplied from the country, that most of the provision, the people being unused to it, was returned to the King's stores untouched. This great fire, though it was not the destruction of the whole i GREAT TIRE OF LONDON, IN SEPTt l6t>(3. '215 whole city, however, destroyed full four parts of it out of five. The number of houses burnt were estimated at about twelve thousand, eighty-seven parish-churches, seven conse- crated chapels, and the cathedral of St. Paul, together with the Custom-House, the Royal Exchange, and Guildhall, became the prey of the flames. In addition to these, were the Halls of the Companies, and in private warehouses a quantity of wine, spices, tobacco, &.c. almost incredi- ble. Still the greatest havoc was made in books. It was said by the booksellers, who then resided, as they do now, about the Cathedral of St. Paul, that having obtained leave, they sheltered their bocks in a subterraneous arch under that edifice, named St. Faith's, which was supported by so strong an arch, and such massy pillars, that it seemed impossible that fire could do any harm to it; but the tire having crept through the windows, it seized upon the pews, and so loosen- ed the arch and the pillars, that when the top of the Cathe- dra! fell upon it, it beat it flat in, and set all things in au irremediable flame. The loss of books at St. Paul's Church, Stationers' Hall, and from other public libraries, was estimated at least at 150,000. The writer of the original account, from whence this is taken, says, he saw bells and iron wares melted, and glass and earthenware all in one consistence together. The largest and most solid stones, were split and scaled, and in some parts completely calcined. Yet the most miraculous circumstance he- knew of was, that not above half a dozen people in all perished by that dreadful conflagration. One of them was an acquaintance of his, a watchmaker, living in Shoe-lane, named Paul Lawell, born in Strasbourg ; who being about eighty years of age, and dull of hearing, was also deaf to the admonition of his son and friends, and would never desert the house till it fell upon him ; his bones and his keys being afterwards found in the cellar. The whole loss of property on this F f '2. occasion. 216 CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF THE occasion, was estimated at about seven millions and a half. There is also a traditionary report, that during this fire, an elderly woman, \vho was surprised by it, in a house in a coiner near Angel-street, St. Martin's-le-grand, took refuge in the chimney, while the building fell, and by that means escaping unhurt, that place, from the name of the old woman, has been distinguished ever since by the name of Nans Hole. But this lire, though a great calamity, was also a great mercy ; this will further appear from a contrast of the same, with the following account of the tire at Moscow in Russia, in 1571, including a description by an eye-wit- ness, which we may safely pronounce, has in history no parallel. It is also considered by the most enlightened, that had it not been for these dreadful disasters, the plague, which used very frequently to appear, making the most destructive ravages, would have still continued, instead of ceasing, as it has done ever since. And in respect to the still more dreadful fire at Moscow, we find that also was preceded by a plague, which, in the course of four months, swept away above 250,000 people. This extraordinary misery (the plague), was followed the year after, on the 15th of May, by a strange ruin and conflagration; the occasion was, that the Emperor of the Tartarians, being discontented that the Russians did not pay him some annual tribute ; and hearing besides, that the Great Duke, by his tyranny and massacres, had so depopulated the country, that he .should iind no great resistance that way, did summon him to pay the said tri- bute; but the Great Duke returned nothing in answer, but spiteful and reproachful words : wherefore the Tartarian came out of his country about the end of February, fol- lowed with an army of 100,000 horse, who within the space of two months and a half, did ride about 500 Ger- man leagues, which make (2000 English miles. When they were GRKAT FIRE OF MOSCOW, IN MAY 157J. 217 were come about two days journey from the Frontiers of the Duke, he resolved to meet them, and to give them battle ; but he lost it with a prodigious slaughter of his men. The Duke knowing that the Tartarian would seek him out, ran away as fast and as far as he could. He was only \vithin nine leagues of Moscow, when the Tartarians came and encompassed the town, thinking he was wkhin ; they set a-fire all the villages round about it; and seeing that the war would prove too tedious for them, resolved to burn that great city, or, at least the suburbs of it. For this purpose, having placed their troops round about it, thev set tire on all sides, so that it seemed a burning "lobe ; * I O O ? then did arise so fierce and violent a wind, lhat it drove the rafters and long trees from the suburbs into the city ; the conflagration was so sudden, that nobody had time to save himself, but in that place where he was then. The persons that were burnt in this fire, were above 200,000 ; which did happen, because the houses are all of wood, and the streets paved with great fir-trees, set close toge- ther, which, being oily and resinous, made the incendy unexpressible ; so that in four hours time, the city and suburbs were wholly consumed. I, and a young man of Rochelle, that was my interpreter, were in the middle of the lire, in a magazine vaulted with stone, and extraordi- narily strong, whose wall was three feet and a half thick, and had no air but on two sides ; one wherein was the coming in and going out, which was a long alley, in which there were three iron gates, distant about six feet from each other ; on the other side there was a window or grate, fenced with three iron shutters, distant half a foot one from another : we shut them inwardly as well as possibly we could ; nevertheless, there came in so much smoke, that it was more than sufficient to choak us, had it not been for some beer that was there, with the which we refreshed our- selves now and then. Many lords and gentlemen were stifled 'JI18 CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF THE stilled in the caves, where they had retired, because, theis houses being made of great trees, when they fell, they crushed down all that was underneath ; others being con- sumed to ashes, stopped all the passages of going and coming out, so that for want of air, they all perished. The poor country people that had saved themselves in the city, with their cattle, from threescore miles round about, seeing the conflagration, ran all into the Market-place, which is not paved of wood as the rest ; nevertheless, they were all roasted there, in such sort, that the tallest man seemed but a child, so much had the fire contracted their limbs; and this, by reason of the great houses that were round about, a thing more hideous and frightful than any can imagine. In many places of the said Market, the bodies were piled one upon another, to the height of half a pike ; which put me into a wonderful admiration, being not able to apprehend nor understand, how it was possible they should be so heaped together. This wonderful conflagration caused all the fortifica- o tions of the town-wall to fall, and all the ordnance that were upon it to burst. The walls were made of brick, according to the ancient way of building, without either fortifications or ditches. Many that had saved themselves among them, were nevertheless roasted, so fierce and vehe- ment was the tire; among them, many Italians and Wal- loons of my acquaintance. While the fire lasted, we thought that a million of cannons had been thundering to- gether, and our thoughts were upon nothing but death, thinking that the fire would last some days, because of the great circumference of the castle and suburbs ; but all this was done in less than four hours time ; at the end of which, the noise growing less, we were curious to know, whether the Tartarians, of whom we stood in no less fear than of the fire, were entered. After we had hearkened awhile, we heard .some Russians running U> and fro through the smoke. GREAT FIRE OF MOSCOW, IN MAY 1571. 21Q smoke, who were talking of walling the gates, to prevent the coining in of the Tartarians, who were expecting when the fire went out. I and my interpreter being come out of the magazine, found the ashes so hot, that we durst scarce tread upon them ; but, necessity compelling us, we ran towards the chief gate, where we found 25 or 30 men escaped from the fire, with whom, in a few hours, we did wall that gate, and the rest, and kept a strict watch all that night with some guns that had been preserved from the fire. In the morning, seeing that the place was not defensible, with so few people as we were, we sought the means to get into the castle, whose entry was then inacces- sible ; the governor was very glad to hear of our intention, and cried to us, we should be very welcome ; but it was a most difficult thing to come in, because the bridges were all burnt, so that we were fain to get over the wall, hav- ing instead of ladders, some high fir-trees thrown from the castle to us : wherein, instead of rounds to get up, they had made some notches with a hatchet, to keep us from sliding. We got up then with much ado ; for, besides the evident inconveniency of those rough ladders, we did carry about us the sum of 4000 thalers, besides some jewels, which was a great hindrance to us to climb along those high trees ; and that, which did double our fear, was, that we saw before our eyes some of our company, that had nothing but their bodies to save, yet tumble down from the middle of those high trees into the ditch, full of burnt bodies, so that we could not tread but upon dead corpses, whose heaps were so thick every where, that we could not avoid to tread upon ihem, as if it had been a hill to climb up ; and that which did augment our trouble was, that in treading upon them, the arms and legs broke like glass ; the poor limbs of these creatures being calcined, by the vehement heat of the fire, and our feet sinking into those miserable bodies, the blood and the filth did squirt in our faces, which begot such a stench all the town over, that it was impossible to subsist in it. After 220 A 1.1RT OK REMARKABLE DEATHS. After remaining a short time in the caslle, finding that the Tartais hud retired, the writer observes, that the few in the castle, and himself, left that desolate place. SINGULAR POSTERITY OF THE DUTCHESS OF B L A N K E N BO U RG 11. r -^ 1 HE Dutchess of Blankenbourgh, great grandmother of the present reigning Duke of Brunswick (1803), lived to see u posterity of 62 princes and princesses, of whom she beheld 53 alive at one time ; amongst this offspring, were three emperors, two empresses, two kings and two queens. A LIST OF REMARKABLE DEATHS. JVlR. WILLIAMS, a tailor of Maidstone, died there the latter end of the year 1795, very suddenly, on the road be- tween that town and Dartford. He had a presentiment of a sudden death, and always carried a paper about him, that in case he died in such and such places, he might be carried to his friends who lived there. An extraordinary circumstance attended the death of Mr. Greensmith at Nottingham, in the year 1790. lie went to bed in perfect health; early in the morning, with- out dressing himself, he went to the street-door, and after telling his neighbours his hour was come, returned to bed and expired in a few minutes. In the year 1796, died at Wordley Workhouse, Berks, Mary Pitts, aged 70 ; on being accused of having rum- maged the box of another pauper, she wished God might strike her dead if she had ; and instantly expired. On Mai eli the loth, i/96, died at Kilberry, in Ay re, Scotland. Mr. Wyllie, at twelve at noon; and at twelve on the same iilght, died his wife, aged 70 : they had been 58 years married, lu EXTRAORDINARY ADVERTISEMENT. 21 In the church-yard of Willingham, in Cumberland, an epitaph sets forth a memorable lad of that village, who, before he was a year old, had marks of puberty ; before he was three years old, was above three feet and a half high ; and before he was six, died as it were in an advanced age, in 1741. EXTRAORDINARY ADVERTISEMENT, WHICH APPEARED JUNE 16, 1803. 1 o MEN OF HONOUR. If it were asked at Delphos, why there is so much infelicity in human nature ; the Oracle might urge, that it arose from the misapplication of our passions. If Sappho or Heloisa existed now, they might pine in vain for suitors correspondent with their ele- gant desires : yet there are such amiable beings ; but they are denied the contemplation of high good, by the spells of ambition and wealth. The coarse may believe, that Love can triumph, independent of sentiment, and the assiduities of the Graces ; but such persons are not organized for the supreme happiness ; the laws of Cyprus are inapplicable to a table of interest. A refined spirit is anxious to par- ticipate in the enthusiasms of tenderness and sympathy, and tremblingly departs from her accustomed habits, to allure a kindred soul. A noble mind only can understand and appreciate the genuine tenor of this declaration. Ex- plicit letters directed for D. E. See. &c. MANNER of DRAWING LOTTERIES during Ihe Reign of QUEEN ELIZABETH. [/ the very early part of the reign of James I. (hat is, in 1608, a quarto pamph- let was printed in London, intituled, " THE GREAT FROST;" or, Cold Doings in London ; except it he in the Lattery : Being a familiar Talk be- tween a Countryman and a Citizen, touching this terrible Frost, and the great Lottery.~\ J. HE description of the frost, the sports excepted, has nothing remarkable in it; but after a brief representation of the lotteries which had been drawn in the late (Queen VOL. i. o g Elizabeth's) MANNER OF DRAWING LOTTERIES, &.-:, Elizabeth's) reign, the author of the pamphlet describe? more particularly that lottery which was then carrying on in London by some foreigners ; and how greedily the poor adventurers strove to make themselves beggars in it. The prizes in the lottery were all of plate, the highest worth a hundred and fifty, or threescore pounds. Though the tickets were but one shilling a-piece, to one prize there were no less than forty blanks. The manner of drawing '.seems to have been very tumultuous. The doors ever crowded, the room continually rilled with people : every mouth bawling out for lots: every hand stretched forth to snatch them : both hands lifted up at once, the one to de- liver the condemned shillings, the other to receive the papers of life and death. It is said lo have been as divert- ing as so many comedies, to have seen tlm entrance into the place; but grievous to consider what tragical ends be- fel many of the poor housekeepers, servants, and others of that simple flock, who, in the end, were stripped and plumed in such a manner, as to have no more feathers left on their backs, than geese that had been newly plucked. Such infatuation was still more excusable than at present, since time has supplied so many fatal instances of its pre- judice. A SINGULAR CHARACTER. J. HE village of Threlkeld, in Cumberland, a curacy, was once in the possession of a clergyman, remarkable for the oddity of his character. This gentleman, by name Alexander Naughley, was a native of Scotland. The cure in his time was very poor, only eight pounds sixteen shil- lings yearly; but as he lived the life of Diogenes, it was enough. His dress was mean and even beggarly: he lived alone, without a servant to do the meanest drudgery for him : his victuals he cooked himself, not very elegantly we may suppose: his bed was straw, with only two blankets But with all the.se outward marks of a sloven, no man pos- sessed A SINGULAR CHARACTER. 223 sessed a greater genius ; his wit was ready, his satire keen and undaunted, and his learning extensive ; add to this, that he \vas a facetious and agreeable companion ; and though generally fond of the deepest retirement, would un- bend among company, and become the chief promoter of mirth. He had an excellent library, and at his death left behind him several manuscripts on various subjects, and of very great merit. These consisted of a Treatise on Algebra, Conic Sections, Spherical Trigonometry, and other Mathematical Pieces. He had written some Poetry, but most of this he destroyed before his death. His other productions would have shared the same fate, had they not been kept from him by a person to whom he had entrusted them. The state they were found in is scarcely less ex- traordinary ; being written upon sixty loose sheets, tied to- gether v. ith a shoemaker's waxed thread. Mr. Naughley never was married; but having once some thoughts of entering into that state, he was rejected by the fair one to whom he paid his addresses. Enraged at this disappointment, and to prevent the fair sex having any farther influence over him, he castrated himself, giv- ing for lus reason, " If thy right eye ofi'encl thee, &.C." in consequence of this operation, he grew prodigiously fat, and his voice, which was naturally good, improved very much, and continued during his life. He died April the . vUih, i 7o6, at the age of 76 ; having served this curacy 47 years ! ROGEE CRAB, AN ENGLISH HERMIT. 1 His \\as a religious man, and one of the Sectaries, who, after the termination of the civil wars, during the usurpa- tion of Oliver Cromwell, that is to say, in 1655, was living in a caw near Oxbridge. Being a zealot, he had served .n the army of the Parliament, and between that period and G 2 C 'he 224 SINGULAR PRESERVATION, &C. the time of his final retirement from the world, had kept a shop at Chesham, in Buckinghamshire. This he not only gave up, but sold a considerable estate to give to the poor, in compliance with what he esteemed a command, in Mark, chap. x. verse 21. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast) and give it to the poor. After this, he esteemed it a sin against his body and soul to eat any sort of flesh, fish, or living creature; or to drink any wine, ale, or beer. It was even said, he would live upon three farthings a- week, as his constant food was cabbage, carrots, dock leaves, tur- nips, or grass; also bread and bran, without butter or cheese. SINGULAR PRESERVATION IN AN UNCOMMON ACCIDENT. ON Friday, June 3, 1803, a brewer's dray with two horses, coming down Snow-hill from Cow-lane, a very deep cavity being dug for the foundation of a large house where the leatherseller's stood, one of the horses being restive, they ran against the rail put there to prevent accidents, and precipitated themselves with the man, who had hold of the fore horse, into the deep declivity. Having by the sudden motion detached themselves fron. the dray, it hung upon the brink ; and though the three butts of beer rolled down from the dray in quick succession after the horses, to the farthest end of the cavity, happily neither man nor horse received the least injury. To release them from this un- toward situation, and form a slope for their ascent, it was found necessary to dig away a great part of the wall aud the ground. On Monday, June C, a coroner's inquest, held at the sign of the Hospital, near Mile-End Turnpike, on the body of Jeseph Williams, landlord of the Three Cranes public- house, and those of his wife, her mother, and three children, who were all burnt to death on the Saturday morning preceding , DREADFUL F1RK AT MILE-END. 225 preceding ; the particulars, as appeared before the Jury, were as follows : Mr. Williams sent a female child of his to a friend in White Horse-street, Stepney, on Tuesday, to be out of the way during Bow Fair ; which child (with the exception of a daughter, who is married,) is now the only one of the family left. The cause of the melancholy acci- dent cannot be discovered ; some assigning one cause, and some another : the servant-maid, who is in the hospital, says, that when she retired to bed, at one o'clock, Mrs. Williams put a horse at the tap-room lire, with some wet clothes to dry. A little after two o'clock, the patrole dis- covered the house to be on lire, and gave the alarm ; on which several persons assembled, and strove to break in the door, but could not. At length the windows were forced, but too late, as the tire was so rapid that no person could go in. Mr. Williams, and some of the unfortunate sufferers, slept in the one pair of stairs back room, the front room being a sitting room. It is believed, that when they awoke, the fire was too great for them to come out at the door ; and, unfortunately, the windows were strongly barred with iron, owing to the house having been robbed last year. It is thought that Mr. Williams advanced rapidly in this dread- ful dilemma to the window, as his body and four others were found together, and a sixth separate ; on the arrival of the engines the exertions of the firemen were rendered useless for near a quarter of an hour, on account of the want of water. At that time the house was in a complete ir- resistible flame, and it is remarkable, fell in less than an hour after the first alarm. There were four lodgers slept in the attic story, three of whom made their escape out on the tiles, viz. a bricklayer, a carpenter, and his daughter, a child of thirteen years of age ; the fourth, a drover of the name of Andrew Springet, thought to save himself by run- ning down stairs ; but finding the staircase in a blaze, he was forced to return ; when the fire was raging with such I fury, 2'i>f> DREADFUL FIRE AT MILE-END. fury, that ho could not get to the top, and had conse- quently to leap out of one of the three pair of stairs win- dows into the street, nearly in a state of nakedness, being in his shirt ; his hands and thighs were much scorched by the fire, but he received no material injury from the fall. The servant-maid was in the two pair back room, and made her escape by leaping out of the window. She was very much bruised, but had no bones broke, except one of her great toes. A Mrs. Williams, who lodged in the two pair front room, and whose husband was on!; on duty, being a patrole, threw a bed out of the window, and then leaped after it, but was very much bruised; she is sixty years old. Mr. Liptrap had his carriage sent for, and took the three to the London Hospital, about half a mile distant: they are in a fair way of recovery. The drover, Andrew Springet, came on Monday to the jury, in order to give his evidence. The six bodies were put into one shell or cofiin, but so reduced, that they occupied no more than two-thirds of it. The poor survivors lost their whole pro- perty ; the premises and stock were insured. It is thought there has been a very large amount of bank notes and cash destroyed, Mr. Williams being in a very good way of busi- ness. The following are the names and ages of the six, who unfortunately lost their lives ; viz. Joseph Williams, the landlord, aged 43 ; Mary Williams, his wife, aged 38 ; Barbara Ford, her mother, aged 84; Esther Williams, the daughter, aged 14; Joseph Williams, the son, aged 12; and Richard Williams, the son, aged 10. The jury returned i verdict, Accidental death. Tuesday the 7th of June, about three o'clock in the af- ternoon, a thunder-cloud passed over the metropolis, which during a short period exhibited a very alarming aspect; the discharge of the fluid was directly over head, and very near the earth, and was evident, from the flashes of light- ning and the report of the thunder, the former very vivid, and TREMENDOUS THUNDER-CLOUD, &.C. 22? and the latter tremendously loud, happening both at the same instant. During the tremendous storm, which lasted about half an hour, the streets were deluged with rain. At the King's Anus, College-street, Westminster, the light- ning struck the chimney of the house, which is damaged; the electric fluid entering the attic story, it was conducted by the bell-wires to the landlord's bed-room, and from thence down the staircase into the parlour, in which a number of persons were sitting, who fortunately received no injury. A 11 the bell-wires were broke, except one, the communica- tion being cut off, and some parts of them were melted into little balls, the size of a pin's head; the side of the stair- case had the appearance as if smoked by a caudle, as had also the parlour; the report was said to be equal to that of a 24 pound-shot from a cannon. In Parliament-street, and other places, persons walking experienced sensations as if receiving an electric shock. At Mr. Gosling's, Belvidere- row, Narrow Walk, Lambeth, it entered the garret window, and set tire to several of the apartments ; but by the activity of tiie Westminster firemen, it was prevented from doing much damage. The thermometer in the morning rose se- veral degrees above summer heat; but after the storm, in the open air it fell two degrees below the freezing point. During the storm, a horse in a chaise took fright on the Kent road, threw out a gentleman, who was very much bruised, and laid in the road for some time unable to move, till he was relieved by one of the stages. On Thursday evening, the 9th of June, at five o'clock, a. most singular phenomenon took place in Panton-street, Hay-market. The inhabitants were alarmed by a violent and tremendous hail and shower storm, which extended uo farther than Oxendon-street, Whitcombe-street, Coventry-street, and the Hay-market, a space not more than about COO acres. The torrent from the heavens '-vns so great, that it could only be compared to a wonderful cascade from th.' brow of the '228 THE GROANING TREE, the most tremendous precipice, for seven minutes, so that the cellars of all the inhabitants in Panton-street and Oxen- don-street were filled with water. Astonishing to relate, in the midst of this hurricane an electric cloud descended in the middle of the street, and fell in the centre of the coach- way, and sunk in a great depth, without leaving a vestige or any particle of matter, but formed a complete pit. The smell of brimstone for some considerable seconds was so strong, that the inhabitants expected every minute to be suffocated. Mr. Maden, who keeps a public-house near the spot, had water and beer butts thrown flat from the stillions, arid no other damage whatever done. THE GROANING TREE, AT BADESLY, NEAR LYMINGTON. J. HE history of the Groaning Tree is this: about forty years ago a cottager, who lived near the centre of the vil- lage, heard frequently a strange noise behind his house, like that of a person in extreme agony. Soon after it caught the attention of his wife, who was then confined to her bed. She was a timorous woman, and being greatly alarmed, her husband endeavoured to persuade her that the noise she heard was only the bellowing of the stags in the forest. By degrees, however, the neighbours on all sides heard it ; and the thing began to be much talked of. It was by this time plainly discovered, that the groaning noise pro- ceeded from an elm which grew at the end of the garden. It was a young vigorous tree, and to all appearance perfectly sound. In a few weeks the fame of the groaning tree was spread far and wide, and people from all parts flocked to hear it. Among others, it attracted the curiosity of the late Prince and Princess of Wales, who resided at that time for the advantage of a sea-bath at Pilewell, the seat of Sir James Worslev, AT BADESLEY, NEAR LYMINGTON. Worsley, which stood within a quarter of a mile of the groaning tree. Though the country people assigned many superstitious causes for this strange phenomenon, the naturalist could assign no physical one that was in any degree satisfactory. Some thought it was owing to the twisting and friction of the roots : others thought it proceeded from water which had collected in the body of the tree, or perhaps from pent air. But no cause that was alleged appeared equal to the effect. In the mean time, the tree did not always groan, sometimes disappointing its visitants : yet no cause could be assigned for its temporary cessations, either from sea- sons or weather. If any difference was observed, it was thought to groan least when the weather was wet, and most when it was clear and frosty : but the sound at all times seemed to arise from the root. Thus the groaning tree con- tinued an object of astonishment during the space of eigh- teen or twenty months to all the country around : and for the information of distant parts, a pamphlet was drawn up, containing a particular account of all the circumstances relating to it. At length the owner of it, a gentleman of the name of Forbes, making too rash an experiment to dis- cover the cause, bored a hole in the trunk. After this it never groaned. It was then rooted up, with a farther view to make a discovery, but still nothing appeared which led to any investigation of the cause. It was universally, how- ever believed, that there was no trick in the affair, but that some natural cause really existed, though never understood, THE LARGEST CHE9NUT TREE THAT EVER EXISTED IN ENGLAND. 1 HIS Chesnut grows at a place called Wimley, near Hit- chen Priory in Herefordshire. In the year 1789, at five VOL. I, nh feef 230 DR- ANDREW BOARD, feet above the ground, its girth was somewhat more than fourteen yards, its trunk was hollow, and in part open, but its vegetation was still vigorous. On one side, its vast arms shooting up into various forms, some upright, and others oblique, were decayed and peeled at the extremities, but issued from luxuriant foliage at their insertion in the trunk ; on the other side, the foliage was still full, and hid all decay. DR. ANDREW BOARD, the original Merry Andrew ; or, BORDE : In Latin, ANDREAS PERFORATUS, as he wrote himself. \\ AS a native of Pevensey, in Sussex, and educated at Wickham's School, Oxford; but before he took any de- gree, entered himself among tke Carthusians at or near London ; yet, being weary of their severities, he returned to his University, applied himself to Physic, travelled almost throughout all Europe, and some parts of Africa. In the years 1541 and 2, he commenced Doctor of Physic at Montpelier, and on his return to England, was admitted to the same degree at Oxford. He lived some time as a phy- sician at Pevensey, and aftenvards at Winchester ; and, lastly, at London. He was a man of great superstition, and a weak and whimsical head; he frequented fairs and markets, and harangued the populace in public ; and to use the words of one of his cotemporaries, " He made hu- morous speeches, couched in such language as caused mirth, and wonderfully propagated his fame." From the Doctor's method of using such speeches at markets and fairs, it came that in after tunes, those \vho imitated the same humorous jocose language, were stiled Merry An- drews. He was author of the Merry Tales of the Wise Men of Gotham The Introduction of Knowledge a O s Poem The Miller of Abingdon The Principles of Astro- nomical THE ORIGINAL MERRY ANDREW. 31 noraical Prognostications The Doctrine of Health The Promptuary of Medicine and the Doctrine of Urines. He lived in the days of Henry the VHIth, Edward VI. and Queen Mary: and after having been a Carthusian, pro- fessed celibacy still drank water three times a week, wore a shirt of hair, and every night hung his burial sheet at bis bed's feet. He wrote against such priests and monks as iiiained after the dissolution of the monasteries. But Bishop Poynet tells us, he kept three wenches, and so stained his pretensions to purity, as did some others ; but some say, they were three women patients. Be that as it may, he was acknowledged a learned man, a good poet, and an excellent physician; and as such, was first phy- sician to King Henry the VHItfi, and a Member of the College of Physicians, London. The title-page of his Introduction to Knowledge, runs thus : " The First Book of the Introduction of Knowledge, the \\hich doth teach a man to speak part of all manner of languages, and to know the usage and fashion of all man- ner of countries, and for to know the most part of all man- ner of coins of money, the which is current in every region." From this darning title it appears, that the art of puffing was not then unknown to authors and booksellers. A Work of his was printed in London 1575, intitled, "The Breviary of Health; v\ herein doth follow remedies for all manner of sicknesses and diseases in man or woman; expressing the obscure terms of Greek, Araby, Latin, Bar- bary, and English. Compiled by Andrew Boorcle, Doc- tor of Phi's. He was never known, O O throughout the whole period of his life, to exhibit one single charitable action ; and so cold and unsocial was his animal constitution, that a male friend was scarcely ever invited to sleep beneath his roof, and there is no instance of a female of any description having been indebted to him for the hospitality of a single night. In these respects he was a character infinitely more despicable than his neighbour, who at all times evinced the utmost degree of politeness and gallantry to the fair sex ; and who, if he with-held his hand from the needy, with-held it in an equal degree from himself. In his mode of increasing his property, Mr. Jennings was also a more contemptible miser. Elwes, when in London, frequented occasionally the gaming-table, but it v. ;< c - to participate with his associates in the various chances of the dice. Jennings, too, frequented it, and v.-;>': in vej;li',yj at one period of his life, an habitual at- tendant A REMARKABLE CHARACTER. tenclant at Brookes'" s or White's : but it was not to par- take in the multiplied fortunes of gambling, hut to accom- modate the unlucky with money for the evening, and to draw an enormous profit from the general loss. I have been informed, that for every thousand pounds he thus ad- vance;!, he? received the next morning a thousand guineas. To enable him to persevere steadily in this profitable con- cern, he ventured to purchase a house in Grosvenor-square ; where, indeed, he occasionally resided to the day of his death, and long after the infirmities of age compelled him to relinquish his nefarious traffic. Upon quitting either his town or countrv-house he was accustomed to draw up, with his own hand, an inventory of articles left behind, even to the minutest and most insignificant ; and to examine them with the most rigid scrutiny on his return, to satisfy himself that he had not been wronged of his property. The arrangement of this catalogue, when he was quitting the country, was attended with no small degree of labour ; for, according to the fashion of our forefathers, almost all the chimney-pieces throughout the house had been left to him furnished with an infinite variety of pieces of china, minute as well as large: every little dog and duck, how- ever, every little tea-cup, ewer, and other toy, was duly noticed, and expected to be found on his return, not only uninjured, but accurately occupying its immediate post. To diminish the expence of wages paid to his house- keeper (or rather the old woman who kept his house), he used to allo'.v it to be seen by strangers; and, like a noble duke and duchess of the present day, to permit her to add to her wages the gratuities oilered on such occasions. The bargain being thus mutually acceded to, the house was equally open for inspection whether he were within it or aot ; and., in the former case, when the company had I i 2 reached THE LATE WILLIAM JENNINGS, j-eached the subterranean floor where he constantly resided , he used to remove from room to room till the whole had been visited. He maintained but a small circle of acquaint- ance in the country; he did not like, however, to be totally without occasional company, and induced some few gentlemen to pay him morning visits, and to profess a considerable friendship for him by the promise of legacies in his will. And so far indeed as related to the literal pro- mise itself, he punctually fulfilled it for he not only made his will, but bequeathed the expected legacies : yet he took effectual care, at the same time, that neither his pro- mises nor his will should be possessed of much validity, for he never executed the latter ; and his entire property, on his death, amounting to little less than a million sterling, ivas iu the first instance likely to become the subject of a chancery-suit between two noble families who advanced an equal claim of heirship. This suit, however, was shortly afterwards dropped, upon an agreement between the par- ties to divide the property in tranquillity. The only trait I have ever heard creditable to the character of this miser is, that he never oppressed his tenants: he would never ad- vance them a shilling for their accommodation, but he never raised their rents, nor distressed them for want of punctu- ality in their payments. And yet, while he thus rigidly forbore from every act of kindness and charity, he was, for the last twenty years previous to his death, losing upwards of two thousand pounds annually by the large sums of money he retained unemployed in the hands of his bank- ers. He kept cash at two separate houses ; and it was dis- covered, at his death, that in one of them he had never possessed less than twenty thousand pounds for the twenty years previous : and in the other he had uniformly had a larger sum for a longer period of time. >^<4r\4*^^r^4**0**f MORE ( 241 ) MORE CURIOSITIES FROM EGYPT. ABOUT the beginning of last month, a number of curious remains of antiquity arrived at Portsmouth, in a transport from Egvpt ; they are the property of the Earl of Cuvan* and were put on board a vessel to be conveyed to his Lord- ship's seat at Fa w ley : among them are the following : A case containing Mummies of an ancient Egyptian family, viz. a nude, female, and t\vo children, the gentleman mea- sured 5 feet 9 inches in height, and as the upper half of the body had been stripped of the linen swathes, we could discern the tlesh, the nail* of the fingers, and even the features very distinctly, the arms weiv bent upwards, cross- ing each other on the breast, the fingers of the right hand touching the left shoulder, and the left hand clenched as if holdin"- something. The lady measured 5 feet 6 inches r? o / in height, and the infant children about 22 inches ; there O > were also mummies of an Ichneumon, a dog, t\vo hawks, two owls, and six Ibis's, some of which were in covered urns of red earthen- ware ; another case contained a com- plete mummv, with the external case beautifully painted with hieroglyphics; and several cases in which were a bust of Isis, a large frog in grey granite, a large slab of whitish granite, with hieroglyphics cut in bass-relief; a broken sarcophagus in black granite, and many antique fragments of marble porphyries, jaspers, agates, and masses of the various rocks of Upper Egvpt, which will be highly in- teresting to the mineralogist, as well as amusing to the an- tiquarian ; a perfect sarcophagus cf red granite, its inside dimensions are 6 feet 6 inches long, 2 feet 4 inches wide, and 1 foot 6 inches deep a large column of red porphyry. also a bowl of red granite, intended for die Lord Mayor of London: its out dimensions near six feet it is cut out of the base of a Corinthian column, the mouldings are very perfect, and the whole height of the column must have been about 212 EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCES OF about 54- feet : this will be a suitable piece of furniture for the Fgvptian Hall of the Mansion House. From the same transport was landed at the gun-wharf, a brass cannon, being the identical one which was captured from the French \vhile on its passage to St. John d'Acre. EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCES of VIRTUE and GFNE- ROSITY ; or, the dreadful Distress of a Dutch Merchant, it'ho, after eating Part of his 0:01 Children, was compelled through Famine to murder himself, io prevent being the IL. realtor of his Wife. IN the year 1682, this person, named Van Essel, return- ing from the Fast ladies in the ship De Ruyter, of Rotter- dam to- Holland, they became suddenly becalmed, so much, that for several weeks they could scarcely determine whether they had made a single league. During this time an infectious disease increasing among them, sixteen seamen and the master died of it. Provision gradually growing shorter and shorter, after living four davs without any sus- tenance, and the merchant's two children dying, on these bodies, notwithstanding the tears and iutreaties of him and his wife, the crew were forced to feed. Their next decree of distress was to cast lots for violently undergoing the fata of death for the preservation of the rest ; and it was also agreed that the person that drew number 1 should be slain, and the person drawing number 2, tr be the executioner. The famished crew, however, -would not excuse the Dutch lady from the chance of sharing the same fate with the rest, notwithstanding the exertions of her own servant-man, iind George Carpinger, a stout English seaman, in herbe- h:i]f ; and the lot for death fell on this unhappy woman, and that of her own husband to be her executioner. Cut- ting, indeed, were the lamentations of the husband and wife, VIRTUE AND GENEROSITY. 243 wife, that so f.:tal a mischance should ever part them ; and though Carpinger and the merchant's servant stood reso- lutely against the rest and resolved to spare them, the mer- chant knowing their efforts would be useless, spoke to them in substance as follows : " Honest friends, lor such you have approved yourselves, you have seen the hardship of my fate ; and since it is drove to this point, I am resolved never to be my wife's executioner but to be the sacrifice in her stead ; and therefore what I have to say is, that you stand her friends when { am dead What is in this vessel, you know, belongs to me ; spare nothing of it to serve her and with these notes, if ever you arrive at Rotterdam, though all this cargo be lost, you shall be plentifully re- warded."' Having said these words, which they heard with tears, being about to answer him, he drew a pistol from his pocket, and dischj|rged it so suddenly through his head, that he died almost immediately. The frantic grief of his unfortunate kdy on this occasion, is not in the power of wcvJ.s to express. She w*buld soon have followed his example in patting an end to her own existence, if she had not been prevented and narrowly watched by her servant and Carpinger ; and as no intreaties could persuade her to join with the rest in partaking of the remains of her husband, all the while from the time of his death till it was again proposed to draw lots who should die next, she had no food but two rats, which were fortunately taken and presented to her by Carpinger. In this draw- ing-, however, notwithstanding the persuasions of her friends, she was determined to take her chance ; and when, strange to tell, she again drew her own sentence, which she welcomed more than a bricai day, and being just reatlr to vield her thro.it to the executioner's knife, she would certainly have fallen, liao not Carpinger, with two more :w their swcrds. four ^srscr.s leli in 244- EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCES, &C. in the quarrel, and among them her faithful servant. Thd survivors being now reduced to five or six persons, beside^ the lady, these bodies lasted them some time ; but just as they arrived within sight of the lands' end of England, they found themselves involved in another calamity, being driven so near shore by the large shoals of ice, that they could not disengage the ship. Here they were again compelled to remain, till all but two persons, besides Carpinger and the ladv, were dead, and even these two were so reduced by weakness, that they could not leave their cabins. At length the persuasions of Carpinger upon the lady, not to vise any violence to her own person being attended to, he ventured by the help of a plank, to attempt crossing the ice towards the shore, and taking charge of her and, a casket of jewels, in six hours time they were safely landed, and aF soon as convenient, took up a temporary residence at a pri- vate house at Plymouth ; the master of which, in conclud- ing this narrative, observes of Carpinger, that " the lady Svjems mr.'jh to favour him ; and when the time of mourn- ing is over, will undoubtedly make him happy in her em- braces. 1 ' This narrative is dated Plymouth, Feb. 2, 1683, and attested by John Cross and William Atkins, Seamen. TO THE EDITOR OF KIRBY's MUSEUM. " SIR, Your ready attention in inserting part of irr. communications, I acknowledge with pleasure ; according: to promise, I forward the remaining part of the li, 1'^j, A." F.XTRAOR- EXTRAORDINARY DEATHS. IN August 1796, died at Crookhavcn, near Cork, Patricly Grady and Eleanor his Wife : they were born in the same. house on the same day : were married in the same house. they v ere born in : fell sick at the same time, arid died on the same day, after having lived 96 years. Their bodies were escorted to the grave by 96 of their children, grand and great grand children. TN the year 1797, died at Harpenden, Herts, Mr. and Mrs. Wetherell, of St. Alban's. Mr. Wetherell (who was 33 years of a are) was not taken ill till his wife's decease ; .' O ' ? but after giving the necessary orders for the funeral, he took to his bed, and died one day after. What is very remarkable, Mr. Wetherell, for many years, was very de- sirous that they might both be interred on the same day, which they were, and in one trrave. / O IN March 1791, died at Ilorsham in Sussex, Joseph Gatford, and on the same day, Mary his wife, each aged 78 years. It is extraordinary that the above old couple were both bora on the same day, and died within two hours of each other They have since been interred in the same grave at Horsham. IN May 1797, William 7vladdison of Sundcrland, very much intoxicated, being warned bv the bye-st.ander.s net to leap oil' the Q,uay into a Keel, which he wa:> meditating : be replied with a volley of o^ths, that, be would go to hell m a ilyiug leap : Lie instantly jumped off, and liL, breast having struck against the gtr.inei, caused his in.-t-uu death. ON the morning of the action between tl;o .Portland packet and the Temeraire French private loupe, on die 14th of October iTLo. M pass.-ngcr. who, in a previr.u.; LLioT.LVi.'i die Purtiand packet with anotlier pr^- K k "HERMAPHRODITE. great courage, observed to the captain, that he felt a strong impression that his dissolution was at hand ; and on the enemy bearing in sight, he went below and made his will, declaring his hour was come ; returning to his station on deck, in a, few minutes a bullet verified his prediction. IN December 1796, a young man named Graham, a re-* sident of Lancaster, went to Workington, to fulfil a pro- mise of marriage made to a young woman of that town. - On entering the room in which she was, he became indis- O * posed, and tottering to where she sat, fell dead at her feet. KIRBY'S WONDERFUL MUSEUM. HERMAPHRODITE, AT the Warwick Lent Assizes, in 1797, a prisoner in the gaol, was indicted by the name of Michael William Burdett Oliver, for an assault on a youth, with intent to commit an unnatural crime. Previous to any trial, it being suggested that doubts were entertained as to the prisoner's sex, it was thought advisable to have the prisoner examined and inspected by two surgeons and anatomists; which being done by Mr. Weule and Mr. Lipscomb, two eminent and respectable surgeons at Warwick, they made their report to the Court in writing, as under : " We find that the prisoner has the internal parts of gene- fe ration essential to the female, and the external parts of " the male; but, in our opinion, without perfection." Consequent!}*, upon the above report, it was recom- mended that the prisoner should be acquitted, which was accordingly done. The writer of the above vouches for the truth of it, being in Court at the lime. JWi/7, 1803. VEKITAS. The ( 247 ) The LIFE of JOHN OVERS and his DAUGHTER ; including the Account of the Origin of London Bridge, and the Church of St. Maiy Ovoy's in the Bo rough of Southwark. X>EFORE there was any bridge built over the Thames, the conveyance v.-as by a ferry, which used to carry passengers &c. from Southwark to the city by boats ; which ferrv was rented of the city by John Overs, who enjoyed it for many years. This man, though lie kept many servants, w^s of so covetous a mind, that he would not, even in his old age, spare his own weak body, nor abate any tiling of his un- necessary labour, only to save expense?. From his first increase of wealth, 'he always put hi^ money out to use, which in time crew to such a mighty increase, that it was O O t almost equal to the first nobleman's in the land ; notwith- standing, in his habit, housekeeping, and expenses, he expressed nothing so much as miserable po^ertv. This Charon had one daughter, both pious and beautiful ; and he took care enough to see her liberally educated; but when s'ie grew up, and fit for marriage, he would suffer no man (by his good \vi!l) to have an'' access to her. How- ever, a young gentleman took the opportunity, when he was picking r.p his penny fares, to get admitted to her company. The first interview pleased well, the second better, and the third concluded the match. In all this in- terim, the silly, rich ferryman not dreaming but things were as secure by land as they were by water, continued iu his former course, wiiich was as follows : He was of so poor and wretched n disposition, that, when he would not be at the charge of a (ire, he has roasted, or at least heated, a black pudding in his bosom, and eat it ; and has given liis servants some of the pudding out of his bosom, which lias been heated by I'.i^ rowing over the water, Puddings were then a yard for . penny ; and whenever he rave them *- * o their ailov* .nice, he ujed to say, " There, you hungry K k i tloo-s. 245 THE LIFf OF JOflfo OVtRS, dogs, you will undo me with eating." He would scared afford a poor neighbour the lighting of a candle, lest they should in some part impoverish him* by taking some of the light. He has also in the night gone to scrape upon the dunghill, and if he could find any bones, he would bring them home in his cap, and have them stewed for pottage ; and instead of oatmeal, he would buy the siftings of coarse meal, and with this make the poor servants their broth. He bought his bread at the market, not caring how mouldy or stale it was ; and when he brought it home, he cut it into slices, and laid it in the sun, that it might be the harder to be eaten. Meat he would not buy, unless it were tainted, and therefore would go further in the family ; and when his dog has refused it, he said he was a dainty cur, and bet- ter fed than taught, and then eat it himself. He needed no O * cats, for all the rats and mice voluntarily left his house, as .there were no crumbs left by his servants to feed them. It is farther reported of him, that, to save one day's expenses, he first counterfeited himself sick, and the next day to die, and his bod}" to be laid out, for no other purpose than to save one day's provisions ; apprehending that, whilst his body was above ground, his servants would not be so un- natural as to take any manner of Food till they had seen him in the earth, purposing to recover the next morning ailci the charge was saved ; and with this he acquainted hi.-; daughter, who, against her O\MI will, consented to satisfy his humour. He was then laid out for dead, and wrapt up in a sheet (for he would not be at, the cxpence of a coffin ) ; he was laid out in his chamber, with one candle set bum- ing at his head, and another at his feet; v. inch v as the custom of the time. His apprentices hearing of t^e glad tidings, hoping to be rid of their penurious servitude, -came to see the joyful spectacle, and supposing him realjy dead, began to dance and skip about the corpse. One run into rr-e kitchen, and breaking open the cupboard, brought. out AND HIS DAUGHTER, but the brown loaf ; another fetched out the cheese ; and a third drew a flagon of beer, and be^an filling their empty OO O m the hard us.' ge they had endured. The old man lay quakaig all this while to see the waste, and thinking he should be undone, he coniu en- dure it no longer, but stirring and struggling in his sheet like a ghost, and taking a candle in each hand, was going to rout them for their boldness, when one of them, think- ing it was the devil in his likeness, in amazement caught hold of the butt end of a broken oar, and at one blow struck ont his brains. Thus he, who thong -t only lo coun- terfeit death, occasioned his own death in earnest; and the taw acquitted the fellow of tne act, as he was the prime oc- casion of his own death. The daughter's lover hearing- of her father's death, made all possible haste up to London ; but, alas ! with more haste than good speed, for- in riding fast, his horse unfortunately threw him, just at his entrance into London, and broke his neck. This, and her father's death, had such an effect on her spirits, as bereaved her of her senses. The father, who, for his usury, extortion, and the sordidness of his life, had been excommunicated, therefore was not allowed Christian burial ; but Vie daugh- ter, for money, prevailed on the friars of Bcrrnondsey Abbey, in the absence of the abbot, to get him buried ; when the abbot came home, and seeing a new gr^ve, en- quired who, in his absence, hud been buried there : on being truly informed, he caused the body to be taken up, and commanded it to be laid on his own ass's buck (ior it was the custom of the times for the heads ot rei/j'iouS *~j houses to ride upon asses)", then making a short prayer, ae turned the beast with his buruen out at the abuev fates. *' \^? ' desiring of God that he mifht carry him to some place C7 O > J where he be-jt deserved to be buried, The ass went with a solemn 250 A STRIKING INSTANCE OF THE solemn pace, unguided by any, through Kent Street, til} he came to St. Thomas- a- watering, which was then the common execution place, and then shook him off, just un- der the gallows ; where a grave was instantly made, and, without any ccremom-, he was tumbled in, and covered with earth, This was the remarkable end of his infamous and abominable avarice, These disasters on the daughter coming one upon another, and being troubled with a num- ber of new suitors, she resolved to retire into a cloister of religious nuns; and determined, that whatsoever her father had left her by his death, she would dispose of as near as she could to the honour cf her Creator, and ihe encourage- ment of his religious service; and caused near to the place where her father lived, and she was born, the foundation cf a famous church to he laid, which, at her own charge, was finished, and by her dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary; in memory of which pious act, and that her name might live to ail posterity, the people added her name also to that given by her, and called it St. Mary Overs, which titie it in general bears even to this day. London Bridge originated from the public spirit of the priests of St. Mary Overs. Before, there had been a ferry, left by her parents to their only daughter Mary, who founded a nunnery, and endowed it with the money received from the pro [its of the boats. This house was afterwards converted into a. college of priests, who not only built the bridge, but kept it iii ropair: but it muot be understood, that the first bridge was of timber, the materials at hand, and most, probably rudely put together. A siruiiiig Instance of ihc VICISSITUDES fl/" FORTUNE, ha$ been n-Litcd by Dr. LETTSOM. 1 KE Doctor observed, that the following history of a Convict, uv.s first narrated by I\Ir. Liviu:^ a native of New Ilurupshjye, VICISSITUDES OF FORTUNE. fjampshire, in America, and then Chief Justice of Quebec, tinder General Carleton. He was once in London, and on reading a Morning paper, he observed a paragraph to the following import: " To-morrow, the noted house-breaker, Cox, and , of Piscataway, in New Hampshire, for re- turning from transportation, will be executed at Tyburn.'* The Chief Justice had never seen Newgate ; and observing that a person from his native country was condemned to expiate his crimes on the gallows, was induced to visit this prison, and see his countryman. The convict had been an American sailor, and passing in a boat from the ship, lying off Wapping, to the shore, the boatman informed him that he could sell him some canvas, sufficient to make him a hammock, very cheap ; the price was IGs. Witliia a short period afterwards, he was arrested for purchasing stolen goods ; and proof being adduced to the Court, ihat the canvas was worth 21.?. he was condemned to be trans- ported to America, then under the Crown of Great Bri- tain : this, he said, he did riot much regard, as he could work his way thither, from his seamanship ; his father lived in New Hampshire. Some time i;fter his arrival in Ame- rica as a transport, he hired himself in a vessel chartered to Lisbon, and which he understood was not to touch in Env the persuasion of his captain, he consented to go on his errand; but scarcely had he stepped on shore, before he was recognized and arrested. In the presence of his judges he was identified, and the gallows was his sentence. Chief Justice Livius observing to him, that he seemed to have some comfortable food in his cell, inquired how he could aiibrd to purchase it : he replied, that a person, he be- lieved a Roman Catholic Clergyman, gave him money, in hopes of his dying a Papist ; but, added he, I am no Papist in my heart ; and as for dying, I have hardships enough nov, to care so much about it as about my wages, which I want it iv wife and children to receive for me. lie was a^ked if he knew Mr. Livius' s family, which he described immedi- ately. The whole history appeared to the Chief Justice to merit further investigation, and instantly he proceeded to inquire respecting the circumstances attending the charter- ing and sailing of the ship, and also the particulars cf the original trial and subsequent sentence, which correspond- ing with the sailor's narration, the worthy Magistrate hastened to Lord Weymouth's office, and thence to the lung at. Windsor, and returned to London just in time to stay the fatal rope. After the trials and circumstances at- tending them were revised, the King was pleased to change the sentence to transportation during his natural life, and he was shipped oil from Lpndou soon after this act of mercy. Livius, however, who felt a lively interest in the fate of his countryman, whom he believed guilty from ig- i.orance uiid not design, renewed his importunities, and at length got an prder lor pardon : he hurried with the glad :: .iintj:i down the river, and overtook the convicts at Graves- O ? - ... end, where lie found on board the transport-ship the poor sailor chained to another convict. lie conveyed the con- vict: to London, where a few merchant.-; 01-. C:r.-nge, on hear- ing the whole transaction, collected 10 L.'ui'.ieas. with which O ' O the tar, honest in principle, sailed a free ir;un to .the Ame- rican Continent, PARTIC'J- ( 253 ) PARTICULARS of the LIFE of the celebrated SIP. RICHARD WHITTINGTON, thrice Lord Mayor of London, in the Years 1397, 1406. and 1419. [Never before collected.] VV HI LE all accounts of this great man and opulent citizen, are cither locked up in cumbrous, expensive, or unwieldy volumes, and confined to the libraries of the learned, or disguised by silly and uncertain traditions, handed down to posterity ; for the purpose of furnishing our readers with a more clear and comprehensive account of so worthy a sub- ject, in addition to a portrait faithfully executed from a very ancient painting, we have availed ourselves of all the pre- ceding accounts which could possibly throw any light upon .\ ; ir Ru.'liard Wiuttingtoivs character ; and from wl:ich, we uiay be permitted to repeat and assure the modern reader, 'hat these particulars are o::iy to be found in the pages cf KL'lHY'x -3ZAGAZIXE QT TIE MARK ABLE ClfARACTEl^S. Of Sir Richard Whittin^ton, of whose origin there are O w >;o many fabulous anecdotes, we learn very little till after the commencement of his public character in the reign of Kichard the Second, in the year 1397, in which he was i-.rst made Mayor of London ; further, than that King Ri- chard tiie Second, and Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, were special Lords and Promoters of Whittmg- torfs fortune. The second and third times Sir Richard Whittington filled the Chair, was in the years 1406, and the last time in the reign of Henry the Fifth, in 1419, when he gave an entertainment to this monarch and his queen at Guildhall, after the conquest of France. It seems tne Ling had borrowed money of him and of the citizens, i;o pay the soldiery ; whe:i S.r Richard, with a truly patriotic spirit, highly woitl-.v of imitation, especially at this juncture, having cuu.-eJ. a llr ; to be made of wood, nnxed witii cinnamon and other :-;icc> and aromatic-:, to 254* PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF Till discharge bis sovereign of all obligation, threw 1m K;iid for 10,000 mavks clue to the Company of Mercers, into the flames, Avith another of 10,000 marks due to the Chamber of London ; a third due to the Grocers of 2000 marks ; and a fourth of 3000, to several other companies, amounting in the whole to cfGO.OOO sterling : and he after- O ' O wards informed his Majesty that he had taken the whole of those debts upon himself. This occasioned the King to say, " Never had King such a subject 1" which Whittington hearing of, replied, " Never had subject such a King !" J3ut tins generous action, as AY ell as that of his cat, is not Avithout its parallel in history. The Emperor Rodolphus of Germanv, being once upon his travels in the southern parts of his empire, a merchant of Uhn, to Avhom lie owed a great sum, ordering a fire of cedar wood to be made, threw in the born!, and thus acquitted the Emperor of his obligation to pay him. Mr. Pennant, in his Account of London, does not posi- tively deny the good fortune of Whittington respecting his cat ; but he Avould not omit saving, that this good fortune was not without a parallel aho : for it is recorded, " Hov/ Alphonso, a Portuguese, being A\ recked on the coast of Guinea, and being presented by the king thereof Avith Ins weight in o-oki for a cat to kill their mice, and an ointment to kill their flies : this he improved Aviihin fiA'e years to ofGOOO on the place, and returning to Portugal, alter fifteen years traffic, became, not like Whittington, the second, but the third man in the kingdom, IL is to be noticed, tiiat even the reports that have been handed down 10 posterity by tradition, agree with the most authentic documents of Whittington'' s history, Avith respect to t!u; name of the merchant, that is to say, Mr. Fifzwarren, t') \\ horn he had been a servant ; because- , in IMS will, con- cerning the College of St. Esprit, founded by Whittingtori, is the manner tiieii was, the members were bound to pray fur CELEBRATED SIR RICHARD \VHITTIXGTOX. 2:- j roF the souls of Hugh Fifzwarren and Dame Molde, his wife, as well as the fathers and mothers of Whittington and his wife Alice, hereby intimating that he had been singularly indebted to both; to the one for his birth, and io the other, most probably for Misfortune. If anv thino- can add to the strength of the traditionary' JO o reports concerning- Whittington' s rise from beggary to opulence, it might be derived from the circumstance of "what is still called Whittington's stone near Hollo way. Here it is to be remarked, that tradition reports him ori- ginally a poor bov corning up to London, fatherless, and without either friends or acquaintance ; when sitting down at the door of a Mr. Fitawarren, a merchant in the citv, he took him into the house to assist in his kitchen ; but the usage he received from the cook -maid, to whom he was a perfect drudge, at length became so intolerable, that he determined to leave the house, and go back into the coun- try. For this purpose, getting; up verv soon one morn- ing', he reached Hollo'.vay, as before mentioned, when hearing Bow bells ring, and say, as he fancied, he was induced to go back, and happily got home again^ before the tyrant cook-maid or any of the family were stirring. How Whittington came to have a cat, is er.silv accounted for : the old wooden houses, and the plenty of food in those tune's, were favourable to the breed of mice ; and he, as a poor bov, being put to sleep in what is called, a loft, or a garret neurlv in the roof of the house, it is i.o wonder. he should be pestered wku these vermin in the night, to such a degree, that iVequentlv running ov.:r his face, they hin- dered him from sleep. This inducing Wliittinston tormr- 1 O 1 cr:ae a cat with a penny, a large sum in tho.se days, it so :-?pp:;;:ed that his master, being a irxTchant., oii'jred his L i 'J servants 255 PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF THE servants an opportunity of sending something for a venture, by one of his ships named the Unicorn, that was going to the coast of Africa ; Whittington having nothing but his cat, and unwilling to part with his favourite, it was most happily for him, accepted. On the coast of Africa where the ship touched, the monarch's residence, and even his table were so pestered with vermin, that every attempt to destrov them had proved abortive. But Whittington's cut being brought in, through the suggestion of the captain of the vessel, she. made sxich havock, that the monarch and his queen were so pleased and surprised, that they thought no price too great for a creature of such amazing usefulness and activity. The consequence is said to be, that the return for Whittington's venture was so great, that his master immediately advanced him from his servile condition ; and seeing his industry and attention to business, first made him his son-in-law, then Lis partner, and dying, left him the whole of his trade, and which it will appear in the sequel, was no more than what was due to his integrity and the excellent qualifica- tions of both his head and his heart. It docs not appear that Whittington was married more than once, for the daughter of this merchant was certainly named Alice, and was the person Avho, in his will, ac- cording to the manner of the times, is there designated under the title of Dame Alice, wife to Sir Richard Whit- tington. o The munificence of Whittington, it would appear, though he was an inhabitant of V in try Ward, and near the To:ver Royal, was felt and acknowledged ail over the citv. The library of the famous Church of the Grey Tru.r., near the spot where Christ Church, in Ne'.'-gate- Etreel, nou- stands, was founded by hi.n in 1420. It was a 12j feei long, and 31 broad; i; was cieled with wainscot, bar'i '2,-j dc:-,k>, and a double s^Lllc^ of v.'iunscot. In three CELi-.KRAT., SIR EICHARD WHITTINGTON. 257 years it was hlled with books to the value of ,556, of which Sir Richard, contributed =4-00, the rest beino- sun- plied bv Dr. Thomas Winchelsey, a friar. This va< about thirty years before the invention of printin"-. IK- al.->o rebuilt Newgate, and contributed largely to the repairs of Guildhall. Whittington, as well as his master, Mr. Fitzwarren, wen- both mercers. Ho\v long he lived is uncertain, as his Latin epitaph in the church of St. Michael, Paternoster, in the Vintry, where he was buried, does not specify his birth. His will, hoy. ever, is signed December 21, 1423, and the yere of Xing Henry VI. the thyrd after the Conquest of France. In this church of St. Michael, in the Vintry, Sir Richard Whittington was three times buried ; first by his executor:-, under a fair monument ; then in the reign of Edward VI. when the parson of that church thinking to find gre.it. riches in his tomb, broke it open and despoiled thebodv c.i its leaden sheet, then burying it a second time. In the reign of Queou Mary, she obliged the parishicners to take i;p the bodv, and to restore the lead as before, and it wa ; again buried ; and so lie remained till the Great Fire of London violated his resting place a tnird time. Thi.; church also, which ins piety had founded, together with a college a:icl alms-houses near the spot, became the prey of the flames in 1666 though in Ki30, the church cost the parishioners c ICO !?'. for repairing arid beautifying. The capital ho.; : called YVhittiiigtcni Ccllt ge, Avith the garden, c:c. was cold to Armagili Wade, in the second ", eir of L\.hv:trd VI. fer ,^2 '2s. The alms-houses which he founded tor thirteen poor men, is stiil supported by the Mercers Company, of which he was a member, and in whose custody there, is still extant in fair writing, the origi- nal ordinances of Sir Richard Whittington' s charity, made by his executors, Covcritre, Carpenter, and Grove. The first nag' 1 , curicusly illuminated, represents the said Whit- tinjrton i;^ PAP.TICTJT.AHS a- THE LIFE OF THE tiiigton lying" on his death-bed, a very lean consumed meagre body, with his three executors, a priest, and divert others standing by his bed-side. The following is the Latin epitaph upon Sir Hicham Whittington, in thy church above-mentioned, which specifies Ut frag'/aiw Nardus fa ma fs.it istc Richardus Atbfjicans i-itlam t\\ ju.ite rexcr.it iliani. rios Mercatorum Fundator Prcsbyterorum, Sic ct egonoium, tcstis <>it ceruis oovi-.m. Ornne--. er'.crnplum barathrum vincoiKio moro;.mr:, CoiKiuiit. ho: t<; m plu in Mirhariis quam sjiccio.-iuni ' Kccia Sj,,es !' pves : d'.vinis res nata tr.rbls. PjupCM-ihus Puf -.'V o: Mujo,' (ji:i fai; urlv.s, ?v!artius hunc vicif, rn ! Annos : T f!is tibi di'.'lr, i" i nit . ipsc dits ; ses sibiChriste quies. Ame;!. i-.jr.s s;,oiira pa, goiieros'.i, probata, sophi;i, Thus, stating in substance, " That his reputation Wu.-- like the fragrance of Nard that lie wr.s the flower of mer- chants the founder of pious establishments the. father of the poor the hope and delight of the kingdom that his pious spouse lies with him and that he was the builder ct that beautiful edifice.''' It is particularly mentioned in the account of this foundation and college bv Sir II. Whittington, that the church war- newly built, and made a College of St. Esprit, or the Holy Ghost, hv Iiichard Whittington, three times Mayo/; for a Master, four Fellows, Masters of Art, Clerks, Conducts, Chorists, .isle, and an alms-house, called God's house, for thirteen poor men one oi then: to he Liter, and to have ]>d. t'x week ; the other twelve of them to have 1 id. the wceh, forever, w'ilh oilier necessary provi.-io;!, an hutch wita thre'- loot-:, a cv.-ur.uoi: seal, &.e. The licence for this foun- *.,u.;o;i was granted during the lite-time ot Whit'Ungton, i?) ?/;.' iv.igi: oi ][e.'"i'v IV. )>ut \vas not continued ti;l tijcthw'tl year ef Henry VI. to John Coventre, Jen!. in Carpenter, ii'.:u \\ iiiiaai Grove., c.\L'cutors lo llichard Wr-itlington. CELEBRATED SIR THCKARD WHITTINGTON. 259 In tills ordinance it is ju sly observed, that tins M'orthy nad notable merchant " while he lived" had right liberal iind large hands to the needy ; and on his death-bed straitly charged his executors to ordain a house of alms alter hib decease for perpetual sustentatiou of such poor people as has been before mentioned. In the manner of those time-:, it was further ordeved. that the thirteen poor folkc be able in conversation, ami honest in living. The tutor to have a place by himself, that is to say, n cell or little bouse with a chimuev, a prevy and other necessaries, in which lie shall lye and rest, and \vithout let of any other person, attend to the contemplation of God, if he v.-oll. That the said persons in the aforesaid houses and ceils, cloisters and other places, have themselves quietly and p.'j'ibiv, without noise or disturbance of his fellow.-, 'K-i'U; occupied in prayer reading, or the labour of their homlos. The clothing of these people shall be derk brown, not mriny, ne blaizing, and esey prised, according to their degree. ft Y,T.S further ordered, that every tutor and poor folk every day, first when they rise from their beds, >hoiili sey a Pi'.ternoster a:id an Ave Maria, v.'ith special aiul Itc-rty recommendation of the foresaid Iiic'iard \Vhittinglon ;-:id Alice, to God and our blessed Lady Maidvn M^rv : And at otlic:' times of the day, to scy two or thr.-c. sauter:i and otiier pruyers aijout t'le tomb of die louiui;:r 'uithin the Coiit-iTO. At the conclusion, they that stonJ about, were o ? %. ordered to say openly in linglish, <; God have mercy oa our founders toi-is, and al Chr'-'.-ten." The Ordinances cf Whittington's College, vhich arc called ;\ little bcjok, conclude tinis : csr.il>;-r, ia tht y-rc I'fo.i: Lc.\: .. thuu^nd CCC'C X'XIIII, ic. 2GO COLONEL SLOPER. <( Go litel boke, golitelTregedie Thee lowly submitting to all correction, Of them being rnaisters now of the mcrcriy Olney, Felding, Bolcyne and of Burton ; Herteley them beseeching with liumble salutation Thee to accept and thus to take in gre For ever to be a servant "Within your Commonaltie." The plate which we have now given, is the original por- trait of this great character, though it was at first repre- sented with a skull under his right hand, but that not be- ing liked, it was altered to the Cat, as we have now pre- sented it ; and not more than two portraits of the former description were ever seen. To conclude, making every allowance for the darkness and superstition of these early times, we think the exam- ple of Whittington may be brought forward, as still say ir.;- to others, " Go then and do likewise. 1 ' COLONEL ELOPER. 1 HE father of this celebrated Colonel walked for sever; years as a private postman between Headford and Bailie- robe in Ireland. He was ingenious, but so extreme], poor, that not being able to purchase paper, he polished the shoulder-bone cf a horse, and learned to write en it. Having occasion afterwards to go to London, he plied ;> porter to one of the offices in the Treasury, during the- administration of Sir Robert Waipole j and in this tin:.-:: improved himself so amazingly, that on presenting a pe- tition for relief to IMiss Skerret, Sir Robert's niii-trc,s>, .she vas so pleaded with the correct writing cf her CG.H U'vaiaiij tln'.i she procured hi; a siriali employment in tl- very oPnce where he attended as porter. lie afterward.; rose by mere fiint of merit and intc-grity, a; id ditd po- ;i,.-<--;"i r-i . '.- ; I'-orne ibrtur.e. CURIOUS ( 261 ) CURIOUS ANTIQUITIES DISCOVERED IN THE ISLE OF DOGS. ON perusing the account of a Forest under Ground, (in No. II. of your Magazine,) the remains of which were discovered in the course of the digging of the New Docks in the Isle of Dogs, has induced me to send you other ac- counts of Antiquities found there, to be inserted (if deemed worthy) in your next Magazine. Some time in the month of April 1800, the men at work upon the Canal, there found at the depth of six feet, a spur of uncommon dimensions ; it measured eleven inches from shank to shank ; it was quite black, but, on exami- nation, the man who found it, discovered it to be pure gold. Sir Henry Banks purchased it for 35 guineas. A few davs afterwards they came to the skeleton of a horse, about the same depth, standing erect in a perfect state : On being exposed to the air, however, it fell to pieces. D. B. L. TWO VERY EXTRAORDINARY DEATHS. ON Saturday July Ifi, a most remarkable circumstance happened in Wych-street near the Strand, opposite the gates of the New Inn. About ten o'clock in the morning, a woman very decently dressed, came, up to a man who was coming that way, and attempting to lay hold of him. full back and immediately expired. On being searched, there was nothing tiiat could iead to a knowledge of her name, or who she was ; for though some duplicates were found in her pocket, the articles appeared to have been pledged under some other names, as the pawnbroker declared he was unacquainted with the person of tin: woman. She was conveyed to the parish-workhouse, where, on the day following, tiie coroner's iurv foiuid a verdict of" J)ic.i bit flic I'ti'iditton '// (/<'(/.'' iiut the most extraordinary p M in ?-?3 THE PLAIN' OF THE CAFFRES, IN THr this r.ircnmstance is, that the man so accosted by tlie de- ceased woman, and who appears to have been a porter in the Brownlow-strect. Lying-in-Hospital ; as soon as he came Dome, said he had received a shock, from which he should never recover, and died in the course of the same day. The PLAIN of the CAFFRES, in the FRENCH ISLAND cj BOURBON, in the INDIAN OCEAN. those plains which are in the mountains, the most remarkable and of which nobody hitherto has taken any notice, is that called the Plain of the Caff'res, because a troop of CaH'res, the slaves of the inhabitants of the isle, went and hid themselves there after they had run away from their masters. From the sea side, one ascends gently for about seven leagues, to arrive at that plain : there is only one road to it, along the river of St. Stephen, which may also be travelled on horseback. The soil is good, and even till a league and a half before you come to the plain, and adorned with large and beautiful trees, the falling leaves of which afford nourishment for the tortoises which are very numerous there. We may reckon the height of the plain to be two leagues above the horizon ; and it appears from below quite lost in the clouds. It may be four or five leagues in compass. The cold is insupportable there, and a continual fog, which wets as much as rain, hinder* one from seeing ten paces forward. As night comes on, one sees clearer than in the day; but then it freezes terri- bly, and in the morning before sun rises, the plain appears all fro/en. But the most extraordinary thing to be seen there arc certain elevation? of earth, cut almost in the form of pillars, round and prodigiously high, for they can- not be lower than the towers of Notre-Dame at Paris. They arc placed like a sort of nine pins, and so like one another, f-RENCH ISLAND OF BOURBON. 2u3 another, that one may be easily out in reckoning them. They call them the spikes. If one has a mind to stop and rest himself near one of them, .those who go on to some other place must not advance ahove two hundred paces. If they do, they run the risk of never finding the place they left. The spikes, as they call them, are s.o nume- rous, all so like one another, and disposed so much after the same manner, that the Creoles, who are the natives of the country, are themselves deceived. To remedy this inconvenience, when a company of travellers stop at the foot of one of these spikes, and some of tliem have a mind to separate themselves, they leave somebody there, who makes a fire or smoke which serves to direct the other the way back again 5 and if the fog proves so thick as to hin- der the sight of the fire or the smoke, they pro- Lie certain large shells, one of which they leave with the person who stays at the spike, carrying the other along with them ; and, when they have a mind to return, they blow into this shell with all their force, as if it were a trumpet, which makes a very shrill sound, and is heard a great way off. In this manner answering one another, thev avoid losing O * *t O themselves, and easily meet again. There are abundance of aspen trees in this plain, which are continually green ; the other trees are troubled with a moss above a fathom long, which covers their trunk and branches. Thev have no boughs with leaves on, but ap- pear withered ; and are so moistened with water that there is no making a fire with them. If, after much trouble, you get some of the branches kindled, you have only a fire without flame, with a reddish smoke, which smokes the vic- tuals instead of dressing them. It would be difficult to find a place in that plain to make a fire in, except you pitch upon some rising ground about those spirej, for the Kvil is so moist that the water springs out of it every where, M in '2 and. 264 ACCOUKT OF THE FUNERAL OF and one is always up to the calf of the leg in dirt and pud- dle. One sees there a great number of blue birds, which build their nests in the grass and crater-fern. This plant was unknown before the flight of the Caffres. To descend, one must take the same way one came up by, unless one has a mind to hazard oneself in another, which is very rugged and dangerous. TO THE EDITOR OF KIRBY's WONDERFUL MUSEUM. " SIR, If the following arc any way worthy of insertion in your Periodical and Scientific Production, they are wholly at your service and discretion ; and by placing the inclosed therein, you will much oblige, Your constant Reader, LINCOLNSHIRE, CAROLUS." Spalding, JULY 1803. ACCOUNT OF THE FUNERAL OF MR. RICHARD EUNN. JL HE following account of a very singular funeral proces- sion which occurred some time back, in consequence of the death of a Mr. Bunn, from his corpulency, &c. vulgarly called the Bag of Grains. This person, though originally a foundling of Stepney parish, and brought up to the driving of a dust cart, had amassed a great sum of money, and was the owner of a great many houses, which he let out in tenements in Shoreditch parish. The rookery being (according to common report) in chanccrv, Bunn and some other people took possession of the same, when it was customary to sell a key for 5s. which entitled the purchaser to an apartment, 'rent free, though such was often ejected by main force, dustmen, beggars, and prostitutes occupying the same as long as it remained tenable. In fine, the '-.vlioK: was repaired by Bunn, and let to considerable profit, tiii reclaimed by the ' rrul MR. RICHARD BUNN 265 real proprietor a few years past, when lie purchased many others, where he died. Mr. Bunn, to the period of his death, retained the dress of a dustman, as lie never wore anything but a jacket, a short blue apron, and his gar- ters below the knees. The procession began -by twelve boys bearing links ; alter them twelve men with shovels, whips, kc. reversed. After this a favourite horse, which the deceased used frequently to ride on, not as a charger, but decorated with a pair of cloth spatterdashes affixed to ;i pair of nightman's poles, and implements of the like nature. This was succeeded with a cart covered with black baize , and drawn by four horses, which contained the body, in u vcrv handsome coffin, and a large plume of white fea- thers, supported upon tassels, from which the pall de- scended, winch was borne by twelve of the principal brick- makers and dustmen in the neighbourhood, dressed in white flannel jackets, new leather breeches, &.c. After this followed another cart, ornamented as before, contain- ing several people in black cloaks, supposed to be the friends of the deceased ; and another of the same descrip- tion, totally empty, closed the procession ; though these were followed by a co-eat number of carts filled with female o cinder sitters, chimney sweepers, and others of the lowest class. They proceeded down Cock-lane, and through Bethnal Green to Stepney, the place of his nativity, with the greatest decorum. After the interment, the whole company of mourners were plentifully entertained at the expense of the deceased, ai the Star in Kingsland lload. A clrcurmtdntial jlcccunt of the MURDER of Miss MARIA BALLY, at Bath , A.D. 1795. ABOUT two years since, William White came to Bath to work as a journeyman shoemaker. Being a Sectary, and frequenting one of those places of worship, he became acquainted C<56 A CIRCUMSTANTIAL ACCOUNT OF THE acquainted \vith Maria Bally, the daughter of a person oi that name, who lived many years in Milsom-street, as a hair-dresser and perfumer, but who had heen tenderly brought up in the family of her uncle, a clergyman, and succeeded- her mother's sister, a few months since, in keep- ing a day-school for children in Corn-street. Theacquaint- iiiice between White and the young woman, about a year since, kindled into mutual regard, and he appears to have been constant and fervent in his attachment. Some time before Christmas, he went up to London, and being em- ployed there in collecting various sums of money, (as he said) for some relatives, he purchased a pair of brass pocket pjstols, to protect such property as he might get into his possession. He shortly afterwards returned to Bath, when the same regard subsisted between them ; sometimes, indeed, interrupted by slight quarrels. Thus, at length, they began seriously to think of marriage the fur- nishing of an apartment, was talked of, and the disclosure ui their intentions to her friends seemed to have been re- solved upon. However, at this juncture, the young woman supposing she had detected him in son$e untruths, tucklenly resolved to break off the connection. On the Sunday night she gave him a peremptory refu- sal, and insisted upon never seeing him again. The fol- lowing evening he went down to her house, but find in"- attendants advised him not to takeanv notice of h..s eompLunts ; upon which lie turned to them, and said, ' ; lie is an Kugi'ishman, and shril have justice done ; 1 would sooner take an Englishman's word than believe a native of any oilier country, though he confirmed it by an o^th." Mr. Thompson declared th.,t he had seen several governors of provinces, appointed bv Kouli Kan, straii'j;L-d by the Usurper's order, that he m:ght get mto possession of their lest - Mr. Thompson was at Lirfbondurin Eai-thqualie, "and lived in en elega'nt h.cu Tiie ':!iock terrified them so much, ih^ on *70 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF prevented their entering several nights ; on which they sat up in a place some miles distant from the city. After staying there a few weeks, he set out for London. Sup- posing that all his property had been swallowed up ; he again applied to Mr. Wright for relief, begging him to de- sire a stocking-weaver of Mansfield, who had received many favours from Mr. Thompson, to send him two pairs of stockings onlv, which he refused ; upon which Mr. Wright purchased a dozen pairs, and sent them ; together with a note of some value, to Mr. Thompson, for which Mr. Wright did not expect any return. Mr. Thompson again ventured to Lisbon, and found his house in ruins; but on digging, recovered an iron client, containing the bulk of his property, the other part having been burnt. A servant of Mr. Thompson's was liberated, after a con- finement of three weeks in his arched cellar, during which time he had amused himself, like a sensible man, with tasting of the; choicest wines, Mr. Thompson having amassed a fortune of seven thousand pounds, came to Mansfield, and was a visitor at his friend Mr. Wright's, two years, and afterwards lived in the house now in- habited by Mr. Brown, turner, Leemiftg-lane ; where, by some accident, he fell betwixt his bed and a piece of fur- niture, and could not extricate himself; his servant hear- ing an uncommon noise, went to his assistance and relieved him: this circumstance led him to make a temporary will, in which he mentions every particular relating to his fune- ral, which will be found as follows : He daily visited the spot on which he had fixed for his grave, and enquired of the clergy as to the propriety of being buried on the forest ; and notwithstanding their discountenancing of it, he persisted, win-re we will leave him, in hopes of a joyful resurrect on. Mr. Thompson had not. only the gift of continency, but withal was a very religious man, and was shocked, in pass- in a MR. THOMPSON. 271 ing through the church-yards, by observing human bones ex nosed, which mioht lead him, I imagine, to his fixing 1 ' O f \J 7 O on the spot where he now lies. He honoured the remains of his parents, by erecting their present monument in Mansfield church-yard, enclosed by iron rails, and upon which is the following inscription : RICHARD THOMPSON, AND ELIZABETH, his W I F E. The former died August 21, 1128, aged 60. The latter died February 15, 1737, aged 66. Notwithstanding his many good qualities, he must be pronounced ungrateful, in bequeathing a paltry sum to the heirs of his late worthy friend Mr. Wright, whose gene- rosity laid the basis of his fortune. The following directions relating to his funeral, are taken from his will : " I desire that Edmund Bulbie be employed as under- taker, that he make me a good strong plain coffin without any ornaments ; that I be dressed in a flannel shirt better than two yards long, a flannel cap, a slip of flannel rouncl my neck, and in that state to be put into my coffin, and then to have two yards of plaid flannel thrown over, no .hroud snipt or cut. About the coffin after I am put in, I would have three iron hoops or plates, one towards the head, another about the middle, the third towards the feet, fastened to the coffin, in each of these plates to have an iron ring inserted at the upper part of the coffin for the ropes to run through, to let me down into the grave ; that six or eight poor men be employed as bearers to put me into the hearse and ti.ke me out, and that they be allowed [is. each ; that George Allen and asMstants be employed to make my grave, and if they can make it six yards deep, N n 2 to 272 A BALL OF FIR-E. to be handsomely paid for their trouble, but to make it iu deep us they can. I would have my interment private a? possible, no bell to toll, and the hearse to go down Bath- laiie. 1 desire that George Allen may be employed to binkl me a good strong square wall, by way of enclosure, seven Yards withinside. I desire that after my funeral as in; jo earth be brought as will raise a mount, and that poaie trees may be planted thereon, and then finish u wall." All w;iich was punctually fulfilled, and the trees tair- roniiiihig his grave- are now grown to a great height. l\ot\v;t:^!<.nding his wish to have his interment private as fjcssiijie, the no vch v attracted the attendance of about four Tl)or..;aiK! persons. Few travellers, who are curious, passing that way, emit vibitir.g the place where he lies interred. A BALL CF FIRE. OK" t v f e -uh J'-.lv 1803, a ball of fire struck the White Bull p'lhlic ho.ise, ke;^t bv Jo'm Ilubburcl, at East Norton. The e'v.mnev was t'irown down by it, the roof in part torn nfT. t':e windov.-.s shattered to atoms, and the dairy, pantry, &c. converted into a heap of rubbish. It appeared like a Ju- ?n:!ious o.ui of considerable magnitude ; and on comiiio- i;> contact wit.i t,:e hon e, exploded with a great noise and a very oppressive sulonureous ^meli. iScn:e f'rcr;meiits of this bail were Icnnd near the spot, and have been sub- ject _\l t ) chemical analvsls bv a gentleman in tliat ;;c;o!:- boarbood, who has found them to consist of nearly one halt' Eihcious clay, 35 j;arts cf oxidated iron, 12 of magnesia, jjnd a siuall portion of nieliei, with some sulphur. The surface of these stones is ofadarlc colour, and varnished as if in a state of fusion, and bearing numerous globules of;: Trhir.sh metal, combining sulphur and nickel. From some indentures on the surface, it appears probable, that trie ball was soft when it descended, and it was obviously in a. state AN' INSTANCE OF RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE. 213 rate of fusion, as the grass, &t him for me murder o-f one woman, that Fuppcsc-1 to fiave perisiicd :r,rough his neglect ; and as r.o criminals during the iv;v:u of George II. thougli ever so rich or high in rv,:;k, were Mullered to evade the Imnds of Uistice, this Bird, though > * O cast for death for the t.i'ience, w.is ai;ie to obtain DO more through fie intercession of his friends, than to g-. t tlse .sen- tence of death changed into th;:t of transportation f-jr Lie. The vengeance of heaven, however, icM-owecl this cruti man, in a manner so i-ingular, t'nat t::e neglect r.rd pu- iiishment which he had inliicted upon < tiier^, seenu'-d to be rhe oiilv mc'o.ns c!iosen as a. retribution upon iiim.velf, a^ too m^ny of these convicts Leii^g uecidejitaliv put into i!:j l:old of the ship that wa- carrying- them to Americ.i, l;t WTi.s the only person among i!ie:n aiithat v;as ^iiilbd-ten. ( 274 ) THE LIFE OF MR. JOHN JOSEPH MERLIN. Supposed to be the greatest J\lcchanlcc1 Genius that ever appeared in this Country. " Come Patron of Merit, bright Goddess of Fame ! " Aloud to the World MERLIN'S Talents proclaim ; " To the Favourite of Genius you surely should raise, " A Tribute of lasting and glorious Praise." JOHN JOSEPH MERLIN was born September 17, 1735, at St. Peter's, in the city of Iluys, between Naniur and Liege, five leagues from Maastricht. After residing six years at Paris, lie was recommended from the Royal Academy there, to come over to England with the Spanish Ambas- sador Extraordinary, Count de Fuentes, who resided in Soho-square. He arrived in England, May the 24-th, 1760. _i O ' * Soon after this be became the first or principal mechanic employed at Cox's Museum in Spring Gardens, which he left in 1773. He also professed himself a maker of engines, mathematical instruments, and a watch and clock-maker in general. After leaving Cox, he lived in Little Queen Ann-street, Mary-le-bone, and there obtained a patent fox his Rotisseur, or roasting-screen ; and also a second patent for another invention, combining the harpsichord and piano-forte in one, which answered every expectation. Respecting this invention, we have heard that the opposi- tion that he met with from a number of teachers of music, A\ ho refused to recommend hi.s instruments, without a bribe, induced him to decline making any more. Alter some years he removed from Queen Ann-street to liis late residence, Ts'o. II, Princes street, Hanover-square,, v, hen he gave up all thoughts of obtaining patents, but trusted entirely to his own superior ingenuity, and to his exertions in the hue of mechanism. Respecting his abilities in general, we arc constrained to confess, that nothing but ocular demonstration can possibly convev any thing like a tolerable idea of his Museum, all THE LIFE OF MR. JOHN JOSEPH MERLIN. 275 Ins own work. Among many, we shall only enumerate a. few instances, to detail in our Miscellany, the whole being too numerous ; and first, his gouty-chair is certainly a master-piece. It is easily and readily convertible into a sopha, an easy-chair, Cxc. &c. ; and by the addition ot" t\vo small iron handle.; easily put upon the elbow, the patient can run the vehicle any where at pleasure. He had also a curious dial or regulator, which never re- quired winding up, as that is done only by the door open- ing. He had likewise a great number of large and small pieces of mechanism, resembling- various things, and a number of many curious musical pieces. But what sur- passes everv thing that can be imagined, is two particular i~ O 1 figures, yet unfinished, representing women about 15 inches high, one in the attitude of d.incin^, and the other walk- w ' O ? ing. They are made in brass, and clock-work, so as to perform almost every motion and inclination of the human bony ; \\z. of the head, the. breasts, the neck, the arms, the fingers, the h'gs, 6:c. even to the motion of the eve- lids, and the lifting up ot' the hands and fingers to the face. The dancing figure is still more astonishing than the- walking figure. Be ides these, he is possessed of thtj model of himself, with his carriage, in clock-work, which 3 re rnude oi* bras.-;, to go and perform every natural motion resembling life peculiar to the man or the horse, being made to ruu round ahour an artificial garden. He has also t'.vo di.ierent models of what he intended to erect at Pad- (iingtoii, ar.u to give it the name of Meiilr's Ccrjc. These mu.it have been curious in the extreme, had he lived cO have executed tuem. In what he calls his unrivalled mechanical chariot, he was to be- seen, for many years past, very frc- nuent'iv riding about I'vde. Turk and various parts of the lo'-vn, particn'r.rly on Runduys. In the front of this car- riage, ^.omcthinc; re-e:iibhi ;; a dhd w;:s placed. By a ine- chauical coniiiiunicatiou iry=u the left wheel to this dial, which which 3u: called ;v:y vise, be was informed, by the hand a: id f'gnres thereupon, how 11, r he liad travelled. His general course, unless on particular business, was about eight, mile.;; in and out. in this carriage he never hud the trouble to open the doors or windows, and cvc-n the hcive was whipped, if ncccssarv, by his pulling a string towhicTi r. whip \vas attached bv a spring, I roni this curious car- riage and his portrait, we have presented our readers with an exact engraving. To have this carriage painted with v:;rions einblciuatic-il lir-'ures oi' Mt/rliii, the. ancient British Magician, it cost .Mr. Aierlin last summer the jimi of eight\ an c-xtraordinarv genius, but ainazii.gly eccentric in his priv:ito piirsiiiis. lie had ina.le hims.jli' a vJieel resemb- ling that of FortiKie ; ar.d ;is tMe (Modeless Fortune used tJ .11 'end at ahnov all the masquerades, rolling along in the car. v. hich he moved by the motion ofhis Jeot, and at the. -.:nne time di-tri'Dutiiig his favours, par'.ieularly to the i.idiv.s. lie was not less fend a I' representing the character >i' Cupid at tlse/e pl.-ces c.-i. public amusement ; and as he .it the same time, imi'ated t!:e ciuiracter of \'ulcan, in foig'mg hisovrn darts, for which he had a (ire and a i'or:>;c, jair sex. lie was ah'o in the habit of airmen.! ing as a bar-maid in these pnbhc place.-;, where he had a b^r of Ins own fitting ;;i), \vith all the ij)pencL;ges of glaiies, ^;c. ccc. And iu i':;e, was so much esteemed forms inexhaustible ingenuity in these (ii^rti b en;ent^, that he was frequently employed bv the Prince of Wai : , tlie IVlargrave of An-pach, the Jato Miir:j[ui'j of llockinghnai, and bo\eral cf the Fn^li^h In THE INGENIOUS MECHANICIAN. 277 In his easy mechanical chair, he used to attend at various masquerades as a quack doctor. Underneath this chair, as it was always charged with an electrical apparatus, many have repented of their temerity in coming to consult him as patients, through the frequent electrical shocks they received, and of which not having the least conception, they found themselves completely caught in his trap. This truly eccentric man and original genius, died but in the beoinnincr o f Mav last, at the a-e of 68. The O O > ' o world is thus not only deprived of the abilities of one of the most extraordinary characters, but may also very soou lose the gratification of contemplating the various instances of this great mechanic's ingenuity, unless some patron of the arts should purchase the whole, this ample collection must go to the hammer. For ingenuity and workmanship, we can take upon ourselves t6 affirm, that a parallel collec- tion is not to be found in the United Kingdoms. Havin^ died a single man, he has left his property to two brothers nncl a sister, who are abroad. His foitune was but small, owing to fiis great expenditure during his life, makim- experiments in mechanism. Our limits not beino- sufficient to admit a description of every article which he has repre- sented in machinery, &c. ; we have only to notice, that they are enumerated in a catalogue, which is distributed at his Museum near Hanover-square. We conclude the life of this extraordinary genius, with a poetical sketch of the contents of his most scientific collection. At Merlin's you meet with delight, His Cloci-'- of magnetical pcw'r, Keeps motion by day and bv night, By oi:0 Inuicl tells the minute & hi-ur. J-Iis Hydraulic Vaso shews his skill, lie wi.t T c.'.n ra'ne i'.t his pleasure ; His iund K;v.id of Music his M' I ! 1 . The Musical Cabinet shews, His wonderful skill ho\v to please , Four people It r.hvays allow.-;, To s ; t clown and play at their e;'.:c-. His Morpheus Chair for the ;;c-i.f, Gives ease to th.- Lur.2 and i::(irm ; HH Air-Gi-i. make-:- bills flv ubou:, Tac.oa!'.uej-out0' j .uicwit}ioutnicasi:re. I When shot by ths p:>:Le or stern. O o i ' TT-IE LIFE F MR, JOHN JOSEPH MERLIN, His Libra- T-fble likev.-is-, To the student much pleasure affords; And givn; case to the aged avid wise 1 , When reading or writing of word?. His Mechanical Garden delights Every one who's so happy to vi-w ; Tho' it's shown them on several nights, With such wonderful pow'r to please, That ladies by day or Ly night, May sit down and fill at their ease. The Balance Sanctorius they call, Will shew you your weight in a trice; Will measure your height great or small And to nieasiivenicnt comer, very nice. The Circus of Cupid must please, he sometimes deprives them of Tiie Fisherman rows in hi.; boat ; ";-.; Goddess of Fortune appear; ; .To di-ess'd in his nautical coat. She i',:-:'d on the circle of Years. 'i lie Goddess of Love now appear-,, in her favourite Car drawn by doves ; Her hair Howing loose, she appears As May, the kind mother of loves. The Swan proudly swims on the waves The Flv'i.ig I'Th waits in the air; The Frigate the elements braves, I ','} iiii'.sts and her saiis always fair. 'i lie Temple of Fior;: be.-'ov.--, ^ v.rospcct of plenty ai'd peace ; The UuUerlly snoit:!:;;'y goe-;, ' ;o;:> 1'owcr to fiowcr v. :'.h en e. The \\'ind;r.i!Is !hei" n;ot ioi: The -([ Ti'ghr evarv eye and o. Tii'.-.v e:\cul <:!! t!;.: bios 'Oi;is FOU may speak from each end of the room, r be heard by the company by ; And converse with each friend that should come, r any one give you the lie. There's a Juggler so wise as to know Which hand shall contain the round ball, And he frequently lets you down low, When you find you have made a wrong call. There's the Swings where you'll find exercise, At once will restore you to health ; And if you're both prudent and wise, No longer you'll value your wealth If you wish to amuse at the Game, And Whist is your favourite play, The cards, tho' you're blind, you maj If you'll follow the rules and obey. You may gamble at even and odd, And never be sure you shall win ; You may run o'er the ground you ha4 trod, And yet meet with a double take-in. r l here's a Harpsichord next you will view, An Organ it keeps-, by the hand ! (You'll certainly think it quite new,) You can play seven tunes in a band. There's another twelve tunes you will find, By clock-work continually plays ; And amuse both the body and miiid, And enrapture tho poetic lays. There's t!ie Turk, w,hu eats all he can get, Of stones when put into hi-i mouth, ; !e's ;. : ; gi!re yon';; ri.ivlv forget, . ho' r.-:nov'J ir-jiu l..i j aor.h to th-- THE INGENIOUS MECHANICIAN. The rerown'iUVelchHarp youwiil find On one sid?, laid to play on with pleasure; Without boasting of knowledge of mind, You'll always be sure of true measure. Five instruments ahvays in tune, It's a sight you can't always survey , Composed in one instrument's une, All of which one Musician can play. The Fire-screen next may be seen, Where reading and writing you'll do; The Bedstead and Couch too is e'en, A snug place of rest, when your due. The Pump with the Hygcan aid, Draws foul air from the house or the ship ; Keeps your rooms always free, nor afraid Are you cv:r on d inr^rs to slip. There's four Hordes ! you'll ik'.e in the air! \nd above all the company placed, Wlio-'V-jr takes most ring', oil fair. With the title of Hero '11 bo graced. Then let every one quickly ro;,a'i, To the Tem:>le of comfort and jov ; Merlin's ahvays both open and fair, Other treats are no more than a lov. AN ECCENTRIC LIFE AND BURIAL. IVlR. JOHN OLIVER, the eccentric miller, of Highdown- hill in Sussex, born in 1710, died lately at the age of 8:5 vears. His remains were interred near his mill, in a tomb he. had caused to be erected there for that purpose near thirty years ago, the ground having been previously con- secrated. His coffin, which he had for many years kept under his bed, was painted white ; and the body was borne by eight men clothed in the same colour. A girl about twelve years old read the burial service, and afterwards ou the tomb, delivered a sermon on the occasion, fiom Mieah, rhnp. vii. ver. S 9, before at least two thousand auditors, whom curiosity had led to this extraordinary funeral. The threat concourse of people present occasioned some rioting, which but ill accorded with the solemn ceremony. The deceased, notwithstanding lu's eccentricity, was a man of good moral character, and a liberal benefactor to the poor, hi his neighbourhood. His tomb is covered with passages vVnii fe'cripture, and hieroglyphical figures. o o ( 2SO ) FOR KIRBY's. WONDERFUL MUSEUM. VENTRILOQUISM. T HE Writer of this Note, was on the 3d of Jan. 1789, in a company, where a Ventriloquist, an Irishman, of the name of Burns, made his appearance, for the purpose of displaying his talent. He had with him a little figure dressed up as his son, from the mouth of which figure he made his voice apparently to issue both in speaking and singing he transferred his voice from one part of the room and house to another he made a complete and perfect imi- tation of the bagpipe going through a whole tune, the fcound ail the time issuing; as it were from under his arm; O he si 1 . rig a song, and during the time of his singing, held a pint of beer to his mouth drinking ; he performed many other extraordinary things, and all of them with his mouth closed ; insomuch that the relator held the flame of a 1 ghted candle close to his mouth, without being able to perceive the smallest decree of breath : lie did not during; the whole O O of his performance, appear himself to speak, or open his mouth, and had no distortion of countenance, or change of any feature. Jufyl, 1803. VERITAS. In addition to the above instance of this surprising faculty, v.*e have selected the following : One Gillc, says the abbe Chapelle, who has written on the subject, desired me once ro enter into his back shop, where, as we were sitting by a corner of the fire-side, and were face to face to each other, he amused me for the space of half an hour, by telling me many droll stories of his skill in ventriloquism. In a moment of silence on his part, and of absence on mine, I heard mvself called by name in a very distinct tone of voice, which seemed to be so distant, and at the same time so very strange, that I was quite alarmed at it. A* VENTRILOQUISM. .232 As I was nov/ aware of the cause, I believe, said I to him, that von mean to speak to me as a ventriloquist. J-Je re- turned for answer only a smile ; but while I was pointing out to him the supposed direction of the voice, which to me seemed to come through the floor from the top of the opposite house, I again heard very distinctly the same voice which said, it is not on that side, and seemed now. to proceed from the corner of the chamber where we were sitting, and to rise from the ground. I could not get the better of my astonishment ; the voice seemed to be abso- lutely annihilated in the mouth of the ventriloquist ; it ap- peared as if shifting its quarters at his pleasure, and coming and goin<>* as it had a mind. But if the foregoing; scene O O *-j O was singular, the following was infinitely more curious. O O This ventriloquist happened to be walking with an old military man, who alwavs assumed a stately air as lie wc-irt along. His discourse was ever about sieges and battles, and he himself was sure to be the hero of the campaign. To repress tiiis inordinate vanity, Gille took it into his head to give him a dose in his own way ; since nothing is more amusing than a vain man set in action. Being ar- rived in a bye-place, near the borders of a forest, our sol- dier imagined that he heard some one from the top of a tree cry out, " It is not every one that wears a sword knows how to make use of it." " V/ho is that, im- pudent icllov,' r" (asked the sou of Mars.) " Probably, (rejoined the other) it is some shepherd a bird-nesting. "- *' Come hither, (ihen exclaimed the voice, which now seemed to descend along the tree,) come hither, if you be not afraid !" " As fur that, (returned the soldier, with a most martial air, and setting himself in a posture of attack,) I shall soon make you easy!" *' What are you about then ? ('..-tied Giile, taking him by the arm,) Do not you know that vou will be made game of r" " A bullving air is liot. ;;l\vays the sryn of true courage," (in- terrupted 232 VENTRILOQUftltf. terrupte.d the voice ; which still appeared to be sliding ylong the tree as before.) '' This is no shepherd," (observed Gale.) " But still I will chastise him for his impertinence," (cried out the other.) " Witness Hector flying before Achilles!" (cried out the voice immediately after ;) upon which the exasperated solJier, drawing his sword, plunged it with all his might into a bush that grew at the foot of the tree, A rabbit instantly started from it, and ran off with ail its might. " Behold Hector, (said Gille) while you yourself are Achilles." This stroke of pleasantry disarmed the warrior,, while it confounded him. He demanded of his companion what was- meant b-y it, and the other then explained to him that lie iMCi two voices, which enabled him to act the part of two distinct persons ; the one was that which he was then using, and the other which was heard, as if at a considera- ble distance. But what, upon the whole, are the causes of this pheno- menon ? With these, the abbe Chapelle seems to have been well acquainted, when he attributes them to a particular plav of the muscles of the pharynx and the throat, which every man who is organised like the rest of his species, may acquire by constant and persevering exercise, and by an obstinate determination to bend the organs that way. This- faculty, however, was not the labour of-a wi.-Ji to Gillc, xvho had acquired it at Martinique, by closely imitating a ventriloquist with whom he had contracted a friendship. A straitening or restriction of the muscles of the pharynx, that chouk or enfeeble the voice, by which means the sound becomes modified, and steins to reach MS from afar, is the ouiv cause by which this phenomenon is/produced. One thing, however,, must be observed, which, donbt- !es.-iv, concurs to increase the illusion ; and it is this, that in the manner in which the ventriloquist speaks, the air ieing particularly struck in the interior of the thro-.it, at the time VENTRILOQUISM, 2sS nne of the expiration, and not externally, as is the case in the usual method of speeeli : this circumstance may concur r.o give a certain character to the voice, as if it caine from afar. What, in fine, seems to confirm the opinion, that with '.he ancients, as well as with us, the whole art of the ventri- loquist consisted in this voluntary construction of the throat is, that Hippocrates, in speaking of a particular disorder in that part, says, that it causal those who were afflicted with it, to speak as if they had been engastrymithized. But if this faculty may be acquired by any particular indis- position of the organ, art, when well directed, may pro- duce the same effect. The ignorance of those who have gone before us, with respect to engastrymism, has not a little contributed to im- pose upon numbers of persons, not to say that it has been the origin of a thousand tricks arid impositions. Hence we ou^ht not to be surprised. at hearing- a number of advea- O 1 O lures, each one more singular than the preceding. AN IMPROVEMENT IN NAVIGATION. 1 HE following account of the origin and progress of the iisc of buoys, as marks for vessels, &c. will no doubt amuse and inform most of our readers. The first account of buovs being placed as guides to navigators on the coasts of this island, is in 153S, when the v were laid down at the mouth of the Thames, to point out the situation of the flats. Since that time, notwithstanding the accidents which happen in :onsequence of their removal bv storms or other accidents, ovhig in a great menus tc the clumsy construction of them, DO means have been taken to guard against the continuance of this evii ; nor has any improvement taken place in the sy.-,U;Ui of buoyage, though much has been done in ever 7 other branch of naviation, 234; AN IMPROVEMENT IN NAVIGATION. A plan proposed by a correspondent of the Naval Chro-* nic'c, seems so \vell calculated to remedy some of these defects, that we feel it our duty to give every publicity to it in our power. Two modes are pointed out by this gen- tleman, both of which we shall insert, though the second appears to us to be the best. His first scheme is to have a three-inch plank, eighteen inches wide at bottom, and nine inches wide at top, Ut through the center of a piece of timber one foot square and six feet long, and made fast to it ; about six or seven feet of the plank is to be be- low the timber, and the whole must be moored with a chain of such a length as that the timber may be four feet below the low-water line. The use of this timber is to keep the plank always in a perpendicular position. The other con- sists in mooring a spar of a convenient diameter in a similar manner, except that instead of nji.red piece of timber, he proposes that, in this case, the timber shall be conical, or rather in tlie shape of a weaver's shuttle, tapering in its thickness, and bored through like a water-pipe ; the bore to be large enough for the float to pass freely up and down, the spar as the tide rises or falls. A bolt may be put across the top of the spar to prevent the possibility of the float clipping oft'. The benefits likely to arise from the adoption of either of these buoys seem to be; 1st, That in conse- quence of offering less resistance to the winds and waves, a buoy on this ccii-struction will be less liable to be dis- placed by stormy weather; and 2d. That us its length will be known, that part of its perpendicular height which is -een above the water, will shew the depth upon the bank, Bv this means vessels may be ahvays apprised when they tan pass in safety. This plan appears to be simple and practicable, and at the same time fnmght with such ad- s;u:iUi to render it, at least, worth" of trial. ( 285 ) The HISTORY e/" REMARKABLE EARTHQUAKES in England, and elsewhere. THE account of the dreadful Earthquake at Lisbon having been given in the former Numbers of this MUSEUM, as we were led to suppose, that a history of those that have hap- pened in this country might be still more interesting, the reader may look upon the following details as copious as the work will allow ; and without going too far into any elaborate disquisition as to the recondite causes of this calamity, the chronological order in which they are stated, M'ill, no doubt, considerably refresh the memory. And though England has had several awful visitations of this kind, it will be observed, that almost all of them have oc- curred since the year 1580. The shocks of any of them for 700 years past, have in general been neither great nor ex- tensive, and have also been mostly confined within the compass of a few miles. This may be caused partly from the scarcity and distance of the subterraneous caverns, which are supposed to abound in hot countries ; but where these are more numerous, the mineral fire runs through little openings from one great cavity to another, and as many mines may be sprung with one continued train of powder, so this forces its way to an incredible distance. Thus, in 1586, an earthquake in Peru, ran from south to north 900 miles ; and in 1601 another extended from Asia to the sea which washes the French coast, at the same time shaking Hungary, Germany, Italy, and France. In this case, as Mr. Boyle observes, it is not to be doubted, but that the shock of the explosion may extend cinch farther than the danger, On Wednesday April 6, 1530, about six in the evening, an earthquake was felt all over England. The great clock in the palace of Westminster struck of itself ao- d inst the .hammer, as did several clocks ar4 belli iu the" citv and ? p country- 2S6 REMARKABLE EARTHQUAKES country 4 part of the Temple- church fell down, some stones were thrown from St. Paul's and at Christ-church, during divine service, a boy and girl were killed by a stone fall- ing frbm the top of the church, and many were hurt by the fall of chimnies. At the same time a piece of the cliff' at Dover., and part of the castle wall were thrown down, as 'altfo.ii part of Salt wood- Castle in Kent. In the east part of Kent there were three shocks, at six, at nine, and at eleven at night. January 13, 1583. In the parish of Armitagc, apiece ,of ground, containing three acres, was torn up by an earthquake, removed from its original station, and thrown over another close to the distance of forty perches ; the hedges with which it was surrounded, enclosed it still, and the trees stood upright. Mr. Stowe says, that it stopped up a highway leading to the market town of Cerne : and 1 *.. ., O * . tlrat the placu from whence this Held was torn, resembled a. great pit. January 19, 1665 G. Towards evening a small earth- .quake was felt near Oxford ; it A\as perceived at Belch- .iiigtori, and also at Bostol, Jlorton, Stanton, St. John's, :,and Whately. It was not felt at all those places at the same time, but moved successively from Belchington to . Whately.. It was very considerable at a. place called Brill, .where a gentleman's house -shook very much, so that the -stones in the parlour evidently moved to and fro; but this is not Tory wonderful, since the hill on which it stood is stored with mineral substances. . ,ln the year ItuT, al about eleven at, night in Christmas rime, au earthquake was folt at Wittenhall, near Wolver- harnpton in Staffordshire ; it consisted of only one shock, *:nd In the; nqisQ which attended it, was thought to move from south to nor!'!). November 4, I6't3. At about ck-von at night. there hap- _ };<".;i<'d another earthquake at . Breevrxjod,. in the same county : IK ENGLAND, AND EL-SEWHE-RE, ; . : county ; it began -with a noise like a fiat rumbling., distant, thunder, yet so loud as to awaken people in their bee, other. The night following was attended with another of O *--" ' A less kind, yet not without noise. January 4, 1680. About seven in the morning an earthquake was felt at Chedsey, in Somersetshire, which extended some miles round. It shook the houses pretty much, and was attended with a noise resembling a sudden gust of wind ; or, as others imagined, the shock and noise was not unlike that of some great thing thrown, upon. the. ground. It was of very short continuance. The air WQS very calm, it having been a frost v night, and the snow which fell the day before lying upon the ground. September 17, 1683. There was one at Oxford. It was preceded by a remarkable calmness in the air ; it shook the earth with a tremulous and vibratory motion extremely quick; the pulses were a little discontinued, and yet they came so thick that there was no reckoning them, though the whole earthquake continued here scarce more than six seconds of time. As tremulous and vibratory motions ar<; proper to produce sounds, so this earthquake was accom* panied with a hollow murmuring, like a distant thunder j which sound kept time so exactly with the motion, and and was so conformable to it in all respects, that it plainly appeared there was the same reason for both. September 8, 169.1. At two in the afternoon, an earth- quake was felt at Deal, Canterbury, Sandwich, and Ports,- mouth. The houses were shaken, the pewter and brass tottered on the shelves, and several chimneys were throwu down ; this earthquake was said to continue near six; minutes. December 28, 1703. An earthquake was felt at Hall, about three or four minutes after five in the evening; it P p 2 made 288 REMARKABLE EARTHQUAKES IN ENGLAND. made the windows rattle, shook the houses, and threw down part of a chimney ; the shock came and went very suddenly, and was attended with a noise like wind, though there was then a perfect calm. It was felt in much the same manner at Beverly and other places, and particularly at South Dalton ; but was more violent near Lincoln. It was felt pretty much at Selov and Navenby, where it was attended with a sudden noise, which resembled the rumb- ling of two or three coaches driven furiously ; it shook the chairs on which people sat ; and even the very stones were seen to move. It extended into Nottinghamshire, where there were three shocks, each of which resembled the rocking of a cradle. A little before there was a violent storm. In 1727, there was another in England, which was felt at Reading and several parts adjacent; and in 1732 one at Strontian in Argyleshirc, which extended all along the west coast of Great Britain ; but to no great breadth. October 10, 1731. At about four in the morning an earthquake of the vibratory kind, was felt at Ayriho in Northamptonshire ; it alarmed all the neighbouring vil- lages, it proceeded from east to west, the concussion last- ing about a minute ; and in the morning the sky looked of a. sand colour, It had been over about a minute, when some of the inhabitants observed a great flash of lightning. October 25, 1734. Between three and four in the morning, an earthquake was felt at Havant in Sussex ; the shock was very considerable, so that a church bell was lieard to sound. The beds shook with a quick tremulous motion, which continued about two or three seconds, and then ceased ; but after a short intermission, was again re- tieated for the same length of time. The air was perfectly though it rained, and the wind rose presently after. (T . o second offence. He was about seventeen years of ai;e when he first began .to preach in France, and he spent iwo rears in preaching in Upper ant 1 , Lower Normandy ; .at last he, and the Rev. Mr. Dunint, his companion, were surrounded by soldiers, as he was preaching near Dieppe, and taken prisoner, with a number of his audience. After a month's imprisonment, those two were condemned to die, Mr. Du- rant to be hung, and Mr. Do Benneville to be beheaded. They were conducted together to the place of execution j 296 THE REMARKABLE LIFE OF Mr. Durant was hanged, he died joyfully, singing the' 11 6th Psalm : Mr. De Benneville was then conducted on the scaffold, and his eyes ordered to be bound ; but upon his earnest request, that was omitted : he then fell on his knees in prayer, and the executioner then bound his hands. While he was thus employed, a courier arrived trom the King (Louis XV.), with a reprieve for the crimi- nal : he was then reconducted into prison, where he re- mained some time, till he was at last set at liberty, through the earnest intercession of Queen Anne. He then retired into ( fornumv, and there became acquainted with the Count Jt:iv 11S1, ami v;as glad that he was ever acquainted i.h him; for sucli a humble, ])ious, hole man, he had scarce M. G. DI: BE:;Nn*.'iLr.T:. IV t scarce.' ever seen. And it was his opinion, as it was of seve- ral others, that he had been permitted to depart from the boclv for u time, that he might bo satisfied, both of the cer- tainty of the Universal Doctrine, nn:1 of the manner oi its bein< v carried on in the invisible, sta'o. \CCOU\T of ti'i'.' NEAPOLITAN- Q IT \c<< D^CTI'.^S To FAX A ; tn ichidi is (//;.','' rd been sent to t'le j>as''.;e, te, poi>on the lather ai-d bro- ther of the hi;.!'.", eiVipoisounieni n;u:;-;!;'au-!v became t;!e topic of the dav, and a superstitious opinion \v;is soon ge- nerated amonu; tlic mnltitLulc, tj;:c drn^g-ists and p!ii{i>so- pliers can compo.se venoms, '.vhiea operate, not at the season of administration, but at definite remote periods: that thcv can draw drafts upon death pavable at one, two or three usances, or even at one, two or three years after accept- ance of the order ; and that these drafts are unfailingly dis- charo-ed at their elapse, without a protest or a day of ymce, o i * o Not only Quintilian and Theophrastus were ransacked fur corroborations of this mischievous credulity ; but the annals, or rather the libels, of the modern Italians, were pressed into the service of these calumniators of human nature.-- To Alexander VI. and Ca-sar Ijorgia, more than t'n' po^- sible was imputed, in order to come at a fund of baleful anecdotes. Catastrophes of tragedies translated into prose, were made; to pass for history : entomology, mineralogy, botany, were employed only to catalogue their banes. The name of t[ie Sicilian quack-doctress, Tofann, wa? peculiarly efficient in exciting public attention. She wa said to have resided tir.it at JVlermo. afterwards at Naples, and 298 ACCOUNT OF THE NEAPOLITAN and to be still living in impenetrable privacy at some for saken hermitage. She was stated, for a time to have sold thes^ drops, which from her acquired the name Aqua To- fania, Acqua ddlq Tot ana, and' Acquctta di Napoli ; and, at length, with a truly disinterested love of crime, to have charitably distributed the preparation among such wives as wished to have other husbands. From four to six drops of this water of Tofana's, it was asserted, "were sufficient to destroy a man ; and the dose could be so proportioned as to operate in any limited time. Watched by the state, but never detected in mal-practices, .she had wandered from one ecclesiastical asylum to another, and thence dis- tributed, under the superscription, Manna of Saint Nicolas of Bari, her little bottles, ornamented with the picture of the Saint. Dozens, grosses of these vials of wrath were pretended to have been sent to Paris. The regular physi- cians willingly compared the pious, but, perhaps, dram vending Tofana, with Hicronyma Spara, who had bee-n hanged at Rome in 1G51>, for selling venomous philtres to young married women. A mortality of husbands was in- ferred from the purchase of cordials by their wives, and a well-meant " IMv dear, it will do you good !" was mis- construed as an assignation in the church-yard. The jealousies of domestic life once inflamed, women thought their innocence, and men their security concerned, in inveighing with bitterness indiscriminate against the buyers of this Daily's elixir. Every sudden, every linger- ing, every conspicuous, every critical disease was ascribed to the Aqua Tofana. ' The chief distributors were soon rumoured to be the Italian apothecary Kxiii, who admi- nistered for secret disorders; one Lavoisin, an accommo- dating midwife; one Gluser, a German, who printed che- mical pamphicts, and pretended to raise ghosts; and one l.avigourcux, a she fortune-teller, who professed to dis- cover stolen goods. Le Sage, a priest and astrologer, was employed QUACK-DOCTRESS 1 OF AN A. 299 employed to detect, or hired to betray, the combination. Visits, sometimes social, sometimes solitary, but always mysterious, from an apprehension of sneer, v, ere found to have been made by women of rank, and me'n of intrigue, to these botchers of flaws. Some alledged the pretext of having a nativity cast, some had venture:! into the crypts of sorcery, where were evoked with magic lanterns a phan- tasmagoria of the conspicuous dead. Disease and vice had convened their thousands curiosity her ten thousands : it was easy to find out or to decoy, among audiences so mixed, the persons most obnoxious to the public, and the persons most obnoxious to the Minister. The Chambrc Ardente well knew that the art of oppressing was To sacri- fice them conjointly ; and its proceedings were conducted accordingly. It was evulgated that the Archbishop had been informed, from different parishes, that tiie crime of poisoning Mas frequently confessed, and that traces of it were remarked both in high and low families. Tellkn* and his brother Jesuits corroborated the alarm, by hair-bristling instances ot enormity and villfi'my, which wanted, indeed, the defi- nition of time, place, and person ; but of these, the so- lemn oaths of the confessional, were supposed to prohibit the revelation. The public mind became die dupe of an honourable indignation, and out of horror to cruelty, called aloud for victims. Arrests were now begun. In the pos- session of the midwife, Lavoisin, was found or placed a list of those who had dealings with her. Ail the.se, above 40 persons, were dragged before the tribunal of the Burning Chamber, which, without following the u:>ual course of justice, detected secret ct-iraes by means of spies, \vho:c tattle, to escape the reproach of frivolity, mast always be -'exaggerated. The trials were private, and in every thing the example of tiie Inquisition was imitated. Acquittal, iu-spicioii, conviction, were measured out, at the discretion of of this secret tribunal. In t!u: midwifes li.->t appeared the names, the distinguished names of the Countess of Soissons, of her :! -ter, the Dut chess of Bouillon, and. of Marshal Luxembourg, ail three personal enemies of the Minister. At the perfidious hint ofihe Xing, the Countess voluntarily - banished herself to Brussels. The Dutehess fled to Kng- Iciiid, fearing (she said) to be interrogated, though un- conscious of guilt. -The Marshal went, calmly to the Bas- tile. Exorcism'., or rather the reverse, sale of himself to the devil, were forged around his signature, and other tricks employed to render hmi the object of vulgar sus- picion and abhorrence. While in confinement, proposals were made m;;nx:nts, u'gcthcr with stucco, and beams and rafters-, 511 !1 RUINS OF HERCULANEUM. 305 in id even what seem to have been the trees that stood iu .the town, and blocks and billets for fuel, together with the earth and matter that appears to have overwhelmed the place, all so blended and crushed, and, as it were, so mixed together, that it is far easier to conceive than to de- scribe. The ruin in general is not to be expressed. " 1 Living- given your lordship this general account, I will now run over the most remarkable particulars I saw, just as they occur to me, without pretending to order : for as I have hinted already, it was impossible for me to know in what order they stand in respect of each other. " I saw the outside of a rotunda, which may have been XL temple; it is crowned with a clove; it may be about thirty feet in diameter : but I forbear to say anv thing of measures ; for thev will allow of none to be taken. Near it I saw the lower part of a Corjnthiarj column upon the loftiest proportioned brick pedestal I ever observed, and thereabouts some very solid buildings. I soon after passed .over what, bv the length we saw of it, appears to have been a very vast ?>lo.j Mr. C'OLI.VHR, of Church Street, 31i!< End, Neu- Toicn."] JLiEUT. DRUMMOXD, of the Royal Navy, having re- ceived permission from the Lords of the Admiralty, to serve as master of a trading vessel, and continue in that line of employment during their pleasure, obtained soon after the command of the Anastatia merchant-ship. On the 22d of September 1783, he sailed from Providence, in the State of Rhode Island ; and on the iM-th of that month, from stress of weather and contrarv winds, bore up for Rhode Island, iind anchored in the Narragansct passage. 1 he gale MHiiimud ro increase, and at half past 5, A. M. the storn?. became THE NOTORIOUS JOHN HATFIELD. 309 became so violent as to strain the ship's sides, and open her seams : her pumps were set to \vork, and all hands employed to lighten her. The sea broke so violently on the ship, that it washed overboard 39 oxen out of 40, which were a part of the ship's freight. These were car- ried with the tide, and most of them perished. At this time the ship parted from her anchors and drove on shore, where the sea in a short time broke over her d-ecks. The people from the shore perceived the^ship in distress; but the violence of the sea, "which besides being mountains high, ran in a current, prevented any relief from boats. Thus situated, and expecting momentary dissolution, the weary crew clung to the wreck, where they remained till ten o'clock. At this period, Lieutenant Drummond. directing his notice towards the ox that remained on the forecastle, with his head and neck barely out of the water, ordered a rope to be fastened round its horns. The ox was in this state put over the ship's side, and it swam with amazing prowess, and made the shore. The rope fastened to the ox's horn being part of a coil which lay on the forecastle, the ship's crew were able to keep one end of it on board the wreck till the animal reached the shore, when the people on the land made it secure ; and a raft being con- structed of spars and the loose part of the wreck, Lieute- nant Drummond and the ship's crew lashed themselves to it, and were all providentially brought safe to land. PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF JOHN HATFIELD; An vrcom::wn Impostor, Swindler, Seducer, Bigamist, Hypocrite, c. AMONG the list of those names that swell the numerous instances of human depravity, we believe not one will scarcely be found with so many claims to the notice of our readers, as the present. John Hatfield has not become a victim to the offended laws by any sudden gust of human s s frailtv 310 PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE CF frailty or passion, any deep-laid scheme, or dangerous situation, prepared for him by others. Neither are his crimes the effects of youthful inexperience, any of which might have claimed on his behalf the sigh of sympathy, or the tear of pity. On the contrary, for twenty years past, John Hatfield has been the calm, the studious, and the de- liberate over-reacher of the industrious, the innocent, and the unwary. This disposition, so destructive to the peace and good of society, it will be found, has by him been carried to such a degree, that as far as his propensities itfere to be gratified, either by swindling or intrigue, he may be compared to our Henry VIII. of whom it has been said, that he neither spared man in his anger, nor woman in his lust. John Hatfield is about 45 years of age ; was born in 1159, at aplacecalledCracldenbroke,at the extremity of the county of Chester, adjoining to Yorkshire and Derbyshire. His / O / father being a clothier, he followed that business under his father, then removed near Chester, and afterwards to Li- verpool, where he passed for a gentleman, and where we find nothing of his character, but pleasure and extrava- gance. Our friends may judge somewhat of his early cha- racter, by the following anecdote ; that is to say, that while living near Manchester, he never failed being a pub- lic visitor to assemblies and balls. But he had so frequently cheated the chairmen of their fares, that at length they would not carry him ; upon which being forced to walk on foot, he made it his common practice to tie a handker- chief round each leg to keep his silk stockings clean, and these handkerchiefs he used to pull off upon the stairs. His amours, it is said, he commenced near his own native place, with ensnaring the natural daughter of a no! ile parent, it is said of the late Lord Robert Sutton, brother to the late Marquis of Gran by, with a handsome independent fortune, who ran away Avith arid married him. He JOHN HATFIELD ; THE SWINDLER, &C. 311 He soon squandered her property, and left her a beggar. For some time she existed on a stipend provided by her friends, and then died of a broken heart. By her he had three daughters, whom he deserted, and one of them is now living in the lowest state of servitude. In the course of his career he visited America, arid travelled over many parts of Europe, representing himself as a major in the army, and was much in Ireland, where he was engaged in many duds. The next scene of his exhibition, we hear, wiis Scarborough ; and the particulars of his transactions at that place, are thus detailed in the following letter : Scarborough , \"ih Nov. 180:2. " Hat field came to Scarborough in March 1792, with- out any attendants. Possessed of a good address and in- sinuating manners, he soon introduced himself to persons of the first respectabilitv in the place. He stiled himself Major Hat field in a regiment of foot, which had served iu America during the late war between that country and Kngland. He further added, that he was connected with the Duke of Rutland by marriage, and that he expected (through the patronage of that interest) in a few weeks to be proposed to represent this borough in parliament, upon the acceptance of the Chilfcern Hundreds by Lord Tyrcon- nel, who was then one of the Members. On his arrival at this place he took up his abode at one of the principal inns, and in the course of a few davs invited to dinner with him such gentlemen of the Corporation, and others, as seemed to pay too credulous an attention to his specious tales. He apologized to his new acquaintance for his humble ap- pearance, intimating that he had left his carriages, ser- vants, arid horses at York, not having intended to make more than tv.o or t'iree ;iuvs -stay at Scarborough, as the object of this visit , he said) was merely to i:ee the place which he should so soon represent in parliament. -Lie ac- quitted himself at the head :A ' ni: n.bie with a p-ernlemaniy eu-,e ; and his convev:.ut'.on un tlul day chiefly turned on i S 2 hi : ; 312' PARTICULARS OF THE llfE OF his services in America, and when in Ireland, as aid-de- camp to the late Duke of Rutland, the Lord Lieutenant of that kingdom. The fate of the unfortunate Major Andre being mentioned, conversation was suspended for some few minutes, by attending to Hatfield, down whose cheeks a copious flow of tears was seen to roll. He apologized for this st'cuih'ig u^'ff/v.'m, as he termed it, by saying, that the Major (his most intimate friend) a few hours before his death, Imd committed two amiable sisters to his care and protection A similar sudden display was exhibited by him on the sight of a portrait print of the late gallant and unfortunate Lord Robert Manners, with whom Hatlield pretended to have lived on terms of the closest intimacy uric! friendship. " A fortnight or three weeks having elapsed, I fat- field's worthy host ventured to ask for some .<-() on account, when the former readily offered a draft on hi> banker in London, but which draft was never accepted or paid. In consequence of this, and some other suspicious circumstances, by giving drafts to a trades- man in Scarborough upon house in London, to the amount of near o'80, which were never honoured, his pretensions began to be very generally disputed, and at length it was thought prudent to arrest him for the tavern debt. On the 25th of April 1792, not being able to pro- cure bail, he went to the gaol of this place ; and in June 17,93 a detainer was lodged against him by Mr. Ha- milton of London, for eiirhtv iruineas, ami others. ' O . O ' '' During his confinement, which lasted till Septem- ber IHOO, he experienced many vicissitudes, receiving from riome quarter unknown to anv person at Scarborough ex- cept himself, several remittance's, which many times ex- ceeded his debts, but which hi: hastily spent in ;d!e extra- v;vg;:.i;'je;i, :i'ul thus reduced himself to the common ;.:llow- an< % e OL i.he gi:oi, except: when mistaken Benevolence occasionally inUrpo.-; !.- -In one instance, in particular, he JOH?J HATFIELD ; THE SWINDLER, &.C. 313 he received by sale of some property belonging to his first wife, a sum near of 180, and about this time he reported that he had been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colo- nel, and applied for the militia band to play to him ou that happv event. " Every half year during his imprisonment, he had the impudence to request the attendance of a magistrate to swear him to an affidavit, in order to obtain half-pay as Major or Lieutenant-Colonel Hatfield. At other times, impatient of his confinement, he would indulge himself with writing supplicant or threatening letters to the Bailiils of Scarborough, respecting the state of the prison ; and lie even had the assurance to misrepresent its condition to the late Lord Kenyon, although it is generally allowed to be by all, if not superior, in cleanliness and comfort, the best borough gaol in the kingdom. On the door of his apart- ment he inscribed an amusing conceit, " llcrc ices interred John Hatjidd" and the walls of the prison-room still bear testimony to the sportings of his muse. At the end of eight years and a half he obtained his discharge, and also the hand of Miss Nation, a young lady who had a window opposite the prison : being fond of music, it is supposed, they corresponded first by signs, and then by letters, as it is well known she never went to the prison to him, as has been reported. Nor did they ever speak to each other, till Hat field obtained his deliverance, though having interested ' O O her mother in his behalf, they ..were much his benefactors while there ; but previous to his marriage, in his usual li'uy, he made a settlement of some estates in Derbyshire upon the lady, which never belonged to him. And who, with misplaced confidence, applied part of her own fortune in procuring his release. At ten o'clock of the night of the 13 th of September he was liberated, and the next morning was married at Scarborough, and immediately after with, lus second wife, left the place," With 314 PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF With this lady he returned to Heal-Bridge in the parish of Dulverton. And while there his extravagance con- tinued ; insomuch, that in one instance, though he lived only two miles from the church, he sent to Tiverton, the nearest place, being twelve miles distant from his home, for a post-chaise, only to carry himself and his wife to church. Another time heing at a friend's house on a visit, within a few miles of Dulverton, one morning, while waiting in the room for the gentleman, he observed on the wall these lines : " When you've made a friend, " Be sure stick by him." Under which Hattield immediately wrote with his pencil, " But e'er you make a man your friend, " Be sure you try him." Soon after he arrived at Dulverton, he carried his impo- sitions so far, as to endeavour to purchase estates,.and abso- lutely employed several persons as agents to procure them ; and had very nearly succeeded in more than one instance. It was not long after his arrival in Devon, by. the most artful means and insidious misrepresentations, he prevailed on a worthy clergyman, Mr. Nucella, to accept his drafts to a large amount, on the persuasion of his remitting pro- perty to provide for them when due. On the strength of this property, and other insinuations, he became a partner in the firm of Dennis and Company, in that county. Ho now visited town, and, with his carriage and establishment, made a splendid figure ; and, turning his talents to a seat in parliament, previous to the general election, canvassed the borough of Queenborough ; to many electors of which place he must be well known. Suspected, however, hv some of his creditors, and threatened with being arrested, he gave up the parliamentary scheme, and having procured a few JOHN HATFIELD ; THE SWINDLER, &C. 315 a few hundreds he decamped, leaving his second wife in Devonshire with a young infant, and pregnant with an- other, dependent on the charity of the world. The clergy- man who had accepted his drafts, was obliged to fly his duty and his country, to save himself from a prison, and II at field was instantly made a bankrupt, to screen himself from his own villainies. While in London he sported a cream-coloured charger, by which he was then very conspicuous as a public cha- racter. At this juncture also, he met an old friend and school-fellow, and acting from his usual habits, after shaking him by the hand, seemed to avail himself of the opportunity to assure him, how happy he was to have it in his power to serve him. He accordingly called on him a day or two after, when his friend being a silver-smith, he ordered silver spoons of him to the amount of o40, for which he never paid, nor ever after saw him moie. But the event which gave the greatest eclat to his name, was in consequence ot his visiting Keswick in Cumber- land, on a fishing party, in August 1802. This he under- took ia his own carriage, but without any servants ; and then took up his abode at the house of old Mr. Robinson, the father of Mary of Buttermere, who kept a small ale- house at the foot of the small Lake. Here he called him. self the Hon. A. A. Hope, Member for Dumfries, and first paid his addresses to Miss D , a young lady of fortune, from Ireland, who was there at the same time. He had even obtained her consent, and gone so far as to buy the wedding clothes. However, a friend that was in the interest of the lady, as it will appear in the sequel, happily prevented this union. Fortunately for her, the marriage day was not fixed ; for, previously to its being fixed, she had persisted, in insisting, " that the pretended Colonel Hone should introduce the subject formally to a genllcuiiiu her friend." He was hourly expected to do so, and 316 PARTICULARS OF THE LIKE OF and the gentleman was prepared to have required, that " Colonel Hope's enthusiasm should not seduce him into an impropriety. They were strangers to each other. lie must beg that Colonel Hope would write to certain noble- men and gentlemen both in Ireland and England, whose names and addresses he would furnish him with, and ob- tain from them every necessary information respecting him- self and the young lady under his protection. As some days would elapse before the answers could be received, he proposed to employ that time in a trip to Lord Hope- toun's scat," &C. &c. This we know, from the best pos- sible authority, to have been the gentleman's intentions ; and our adventurer knew it likewise ; and this knowledge determined and precipitated his public marriage with Mary of Buttermere. . Thus, our adventurer, well aware that perseverance in this pursuit: would inevitably lead to his detection, applied himself wholly to gain possession of Mary Robinson's per- son. He made the most assiduous enquiries among the neighbours into every circumstance relating to her and to her family ; and declared his resolution to marry her pub- licly at the parish-church by a licence. Mary told him, that she was not ignorant that he had paid his addresses to Miss D , a match every way more proportionate. This he treated as a mere venial artifice, to excite her jealousy in part, perhaps, an effect of despair, in conse- quence of Mary's repeated refusal. The conclusion is already well known. The pretended Colonel Hope, in company with the clergyman, procured a licence on the 1st of October, and they were publiclv married in the church of Lorton, on Saturday October 2, 1802. Is there on earth that prude or that bigot, who can blame poor Marv ? She had given her lover the best reasons to esteem her, and h.;d earned a rational love bv innocence and wise conduct. Nor cun it be doubted, that the man had really and dceply en slaved JOHN HATFIELD; THE SWINDLER, &c. 317 eh"-a2;ed her affections. On the Friday our adventurer O O * wrote to Mr. Moore, informing him tliat he was under the necessity of being absent for ten days on a jo'urney into .Scotland, and sent him a draft for <30 drawn on Mr. Crump of Liverpool, desiring him to cash it, and pay some small debts in Keswick with it, and send him over the balance, as he feared he might be short of cash on the road. This Mr. Crump immediately did, and sent him ten guineas in addition to the balance. On the Saturday, Wood, the landlord of the Queen's Head, returned from Lorton, with the positive intelligence that Colonel Hope hud married the Beauty of Buttermere. As it was clear that, whoever he was, he had acted unworthily and dis- honourably, Mr. Moore's suspicious were, of course, awak- ened. He instantly remitted the draft to Mr. Crump, who immediately accepted it ; and at least ninety-nine in a hun- dred of the people of Keswick were fully persuaded that he was a true man and no cheat. Mr. M , however, immediately on this wrote to the Karl of Hopetoun. : Be- fore the answer arrived, the pretended honourable returned with his wife to Buttermere. lie went only as far as Lonads over Glaramara into Langdale, and left, him at Lano> O ' O dale Chapel a tremendous journey in the dark! but his- neck was probably predestined to a less romantic fate. It will hardly be believed, how obstinately almost iM classes at Keswirk v, ere infatuated in his favour, and how indig- ii.mtly they spoke of the gentleman who had taken such (.niduit and prompt measures to bring the impostor to direction. The truth is. the good people of the Vales had JOHN" HATMKLD ; THE b\V iNDLI-:R . &.C. 319 as little heard, and possessed as little a notion, ot the existence of the rort of \vickedness practised by Hatfie;d, as of the abominations of Tiberius at Capnv. " Vv hat motive (said they) could he have to marry poor Mary : Would a sharper marrv a poor girl without fortune or con- nection : If he had married the Irish young lady, Miss 1) , "there Avould.be something to say for it." It was no doubt delightful for the neonle of the Vales, that so great a man, 3 I A ^_ that a man so generous, so condescending, so affable, so ft'/"// good, should have married one ot' their own class, and that too a ycn: 1 .^ woman who had been so long their pride, and so much and so deservedly beloved by them. But our adventurer, in his Might from Keswick, leaving behind him in his carriage a handsome dressing-box, alter the. lapse of some days, an order was procured from a neigh- bouring magistrate, the dressing-box was opened and, searched. It contained a pair of very elegant pistols, and a complete assortm-nt of toilet trinkets, all silver. The whole value of the box could not be less than eighty pounds. There were discovered only one letter, a ca^h-book, and the list of several cities in Italy, with a couple of names attached to each. From the cash-book nothing could be learned, but that he had vested divers considerable sums (some stated to be on his own account,) in the house of Baron Dimsdale and Co. But from the letter, aided by the list of towns, a marvellous story was extracted. The letter was said to be from an Irish banditti, urging this Colonel Hope to escape with all possible speed, informing him that a price had been set upon his head, and statino- the writer's eagerness to assist him, but that his wounds confined him to his bed. It was concluded, therefore, by the people, that this pretended Colonel Hope? was a oreat leader in the Irish rebellion; but this letter in fact was neither more or less, than a grateful epistle from a poor .'xciseman at Glenavm. who had escaped with his life from T t 2 an 320 PARTICULARS OF THE LIFE OF an overset boat, and to whom our adventurer had per- formed some acts of kindness. For some days nothing else, was discovered but a bill for 100/. drawn on a Devonshire bank, which he had left behind him with Mary's father and mother ; and with which they were to have paid oft' a mortgage on their little property. Among other villainous schemes of this merciless wretch, he had attempted to persuade the old people to sell their little estate, to place the money in his hands, and to go with him into Scotland. The bill proved to be an old bill that had been long paid, and (as it will after appear) drawn on his own bank, under the names of Dennis and Co. in Devon. We heard nothing more concerning the impostor till the 27th or 23 th of October, when Mary Robinson dis- covered, at the bottom of a trunk, which had been left at Buttermere, a large mass of letters. These she delivered to Mr. , who, with his wife and the young lady under their protection, have behaved to her with a kind of tenderness and respect, which does infinite credit to their hearts and understandings. Never, surely, did an equal number of letters disclose a thicker swarm of villainies perpetrated by one of the worst, and of miseries inflicted on some of the best of human beings. In this research, she also found various letters addressed to Hatfield, from one of his former wives and children ; a circumstance, which added that of a Bigamist, to the rest of his crimes. Buttermere, near the Lakes, is about nine miles from Kes\vick by the horse road, and fourteen by the carriage road. From hence we learn, that immediately after his escape from that place, a* we have before related, with the assistance of a fisherman, he took refuge on board a sloop off. Raven glass. Finding that he should be detected, he went in the coach to Ulverston, and was seen at the hotel JOHN HATFIELD; THE SWIXDLER, .Sec. 321 hotel at Chester about ten davs after, where lie had, in his usual way, a good supper, and drank his bottle of Madeira ; but not being able to obtain a chaise the next morning, he Walked away in a great passion to Northwhich. The supposition of so great a man as Colonel Hope, Member for Llinlithgow in Scotland, and brother to the Earl of Hopetoun, having married a poor young woman at a village in Cumberland, as it could not fail being de- scanted on in the newspapers, was also very .soon contra- dicted upon the best authorities, by the Lord Advocate of Scotland, &c. &c. These contradictions, which appeared only ten days after HatSeld was married, were succeeded in November bv an advertisement of <50 reward, describing him as a notorious impo, swindler, and felon, who lately married a young woman, commonly called the Beauty of Buttermere, un- der an assumed name. Height about 5 feet 10 inches, age about 44, full face, bright eyes, thick eye-brows, strong but light beard, good complexion, some colour, thick but not very prominent nose, smiling countenance, line teeth, a scar on one c.f his cheeks near the chin, very long thick light hair, with a great deal of it grey, done up in a club ; stout, square shouldered, full breast and chest, rather corpulent and stout limbed, but very active, and has rather a spring in his gait, with apparently a little hitch in bringing up one leg ; the two middle fingers of his left hand are stiff from an old wound, and he frequently has a custom of putting them straight with his rio-ht, &c. 1 O O O f It was not many davs after the appearance of these ad- vertisements, that Hatfield was apprehended near Breck- nock in Wales ; and at that time was so incautious as to wear a cravat marked with his initials, " J. H." which he attempted to account for, by calling himself " John Henry." When brought before the magistrate, he declared himself to be " Tudor Henry;" and in order to prepossess the. honest; 322 PARTICULARS OF THE LITE OF honest Cambrians in his favour, boasted that he was de- scended from an ancient family in Wales, for the inha- bitants of which country, he had ever entertained a most sincere regard. O However, on Sunday evening December 12, this famous character was brought to town from Brecknock in Wales, <^y by Pearks, one of the. Bow-street officers, under authority of a warrant, signed by Sir Richard Ford, .. He was afterwards examined before Sir Richard Ford and T. Ro- binson, Fsq. Hatiield -wrote a note to Sir R. Ford, re- questing lie might be permitted to have his irons taken off, while under examination, which request Avas complied with ; and Mr. Fenwick, the q;overnor of Tothill-fields Bride- ' O well, brought him into the Office himself. Nothing could be fully entered into at the first examination, the neces- sary witnesses not being present. Mr. Taunton, the Soli- citor for the Bankruptcy, produced the Gazette, where ii was recorded on the 15th of June last ; and also the Lord Chancellor's order for enlarging the time of appearing to the 18th of September ; but stated that he did not appear to such order. Mr. Taunton also produced a bill of ex- change for the sum of during the administration of the Duke of Rutland, he lodged at the most eminent hotel in that city, professing to be a relative of his Grace, and affected to have accom- panied the Viceroy in his travels on the continent, every part of which he described with the confidence of intimate and personal knowledge. He had all the appearance of a man of fashion, and on going out every day he was accus- tomed to furnish his pockets with a large quantity of half- pence, which he distributed to the beggars with ostenta- tious liberality. At length having involved himself con- siderably in debt, he was arrested ; but had the address to extricate himself from prison, by appealing to the gene- rosity of the Duke himself; and, on being enlarged, he contrived to renew his debts with the same creditors, and to borrow several sums of money proportioned to the cir- cumstances or confidence favouring his demands, among \\hich was a small sum from the owner of the hotel where he lodged. Thus supplied, he changed the scene of his impositions, and repaired the first opportunity to Scot- land. JOHN HATFIELD; THE SWINDLER, &e. 327 Jam!. It is recollected that his person then, with the ad- vantage of more youth, corresponded with the description now given of him, and he was attended by a servant niari of more than common appearance and address, and who, in a subordinate character, was probably the accomplice of his deceptions. Account of his Trial and Conviction, on Monday the \5th qfdugust, at Carlisle, before Baron Thompson, THERE were three indictments preferred against him. In the first of these he stood charged with assuming the name of the Hon. Alexander Augustus Hope, and under that name drawing a Bill of Exchange oa one John Crump, Ksq. payable to George Wood, a publican, in Keswick. In the second he was charged with forging, under tbc same name, another Bill for thirty pounds, with intent to defraud tiie same persons. The third indictment charged him with counterfeiting Colonel Hope's hand-writing, in superscrib- ing various letters, with a view of defrauding government of the postage. The prisoner pleaded Not Guilty. Mr. Scarlet, Counsel for the Crown, opened the case with a great deal of moderation, drew an outline of the prisoner's conduct, from the time lie became known to the world, in the assumed character of Colonel Hope. He had, he said, committed many crimes, under cover of the name of a most respectable gentleman, who belonged to a noble and an ancient family. He came into this country to reside, in autumn last, in his own carriage, but unattended by a servant ; this excited some degree of surprise among the inhabitants, but he cleared up this, by saying he had given his servant leave to go away from him, he being much terrified with the tremendous mountains of Keswick and its neighbourhood. During his residence in this county, he partly lived at Keswick, partly at Buttermere, 'vhere he amused himself with fishing and other innocent O diversions : during this time his behaviour was always cor- rect 328 ACCOUNT OF THE TRIAL AND CONVICTION rect and proper ; he was constant at public worship, and appeared in every respect with the manners and character of a gentleman. And several passages of his letters were read by Mr. Scarlet, written to the Rev. Mr. Nicholson, from Longtown ; in one of these describes particularly an affecting sermon he heard from the Rev. Mr. Graham, bro- ther of Sir James Graham, Bart, of Nethenley, and in the same letter copied an inscription from a tomb-stone in Arthuret church-yard. In this letter he speaks with great affection of his beloved Mary. Indeed it was allowed upon all hands, that the prisoner conducted himself with singular propriety, and always made it a point to attend public worship. It appeared that Mr. Hardingc, a Welsh Judge, being upon a tour to the Lakes, and suspecting Hatfield, in con- sequence of a previous knowledge with Col. Hope, sent an invitation to the adventurer to dine with him. This he declined, but came afterwards; when Mr. Harrlinge's sus- picions being realized, he ordered the landlord of the inu to stop Hatfield's horses, and took proper measures to have him secured ; but under pretence of amusing himself on the Lake, Hatfield decamped. Mr. , a gentleman, whose name was not distinctly heard on the trial, being called and sworn, said, he knew the prisoner at the bar by the name of Hatfield. He entered into the firm in 1801, of" Dennis, Hatfield, and Co. ;" saw the prisoner in April 1802, when he left Tavistock, on pre- tence of transacting some of the Company's concerns. The next time he saw him was in the gaol, in Brecknock- shire, in December 1802. The deponent swore positively to the hand-writing of the prisoner, both in the letters pro- duced and in the bills of exchange. Rev. Mr. Nicholson called. He became acquainted with the prisoner on Sunday September 12, 1802, on which clay he attended the chapel of Loweswater, of whicli the deponent is chaplain was introduced to the prisoner by OF JOHN HATFIELD; THE SWINDLER, &:c. 329 Ijy Mr. Skeltpn ; soon after he understood him to be the Honourable Colonel Hope, brother to Lord Hopetoun ; when asked his name by deponent, he said it was a com- fortable one Hope he said at the same time that he would be no way averse to telling his name, but did not like it to be inquired, after by inquisitive people. About 4 week previous to October 2, deponent accompanied the prisoner to Whitehaven, to procure a licence for his mar- riage to Mary Robinson of Buttermere, who was spoken of by the prisoner as a lovely girl ! Mr. Nicholson also swore to his being the person who married the prisoner to Mary Robinson, commonly called Mary of Buttermere, on the 2d of October 1802 that after his marriage, he was on terms of intimacy with the prisoner that the prisoner made him his confidential friend, told him of various concerns that happened to his family, &C. Mr. George Wood, of Kesuick, inn-keeper, had seen the prisoner at his house frequently, with a Col. Moorr and Mr. Crump, in the summer of 1802; he travelled in his own carriage, und passed for Col. Hope ; parcels came directed for him, " The Hon. A. A. Hope, M. P. Wood's Hotel, Kesvrick." He knew the prisoner had div.wn a biii for SO/, on Mr. Crump of Liverpool, in favour of Colonel Moore, which bill was sent and accepted, and paid; and Colonel Moore, on receiving the money, paid witness's bill upon the prisoner, out of it. On the 13th of Octo- ber 1802, witness came in from his farm, and met the pri- soner and the Rev. Mr. Nicholson at breakfast, at the wit- ness's house ; when the prisoner enquired if his bill upon Mr. Crump, in favour of Col. Mooro, had been paid ; to which lie answered in the affirmative. After a variety of evidence, Col. Parker was sworn. Said he was well acquainted with Col. Hope, brother to the Earl of Hopetoun, a General in the Army, and Col. of the 17th Regiment of Dragoons. He had been in Ire- land 330 ACCOUNT OF THE TRIAL AND CONVICTION land about three years. He said the prisoner at the bar is not Col. Hope; he did not know- whether the regiment. was in Egypt or not. Here the evidence for the prosecu- tion closed. The prisoner then addressed himself to the Jury. ' He said he felt some decree of satisfaction in being able to O O have his sufferings terminated, as they must of course bu by their verdict. For the space of nine months he had been dragged from prison to prison, and torn from place to place, subject to all the misrepresentations of calumny. Whatever will be my fate, (said he) 1 am content ; it is the award of justice, impartially and virtuously admi- nistered. But I will solemnly declare, that in all my transactions, I never intended to defraud or injure the persons \vhose names have appeared in the prosecution. This I will maintain to the last of my life." The prisoner called in his defence, a Mr. Newton, attor- ney at Chester; whose evidence was of very little purpose. The Judge having summed up the whole, the Jury consulted about ten minutes, and then returned a verdict Guilty of Forgery. At eight o'clock the next morning (Tuesday), the Court met, when the prisoner appeared at the Bar, to receive his sentence. After proceeding in the usual form, the Judge addressed him in the following terms: '' John Hatfield ! after a lono" and serious investigation of the charges which have O O O been preferred against you, you have been found guilty by a Jury of your country. You have been distinguished for crimes of such magnitude as have seldom, if ever, re- received any mitigation of capiuil punishment, and in your case it is impossible it can be remitted. Assuming the person, name, and character of a worthy and respect- able officer, of a noble family in this country, you have perpetrated and committed the most enormous crimes. The long imprisonment which you have undergone, has afforded OF JOHN HATFIELD; THE SWINDLER, &c. 331 afforded time for your serious reflection, and an opportu- nity of vour being deeply impressed with a sense of the enormity of your guilt, and the justice of that sentence which must be inflicted upon you ; I wish you to be seriouslv impressed with the awfulness of your situation, and to reflect with anxious care and deep concern on your approaching end, concerning which, much remains to be done lay aside now your delusion and imposition, and emplov properly the short space of time you have to live. I beseech you to employ the remaining part of your time for eternitv, that you may find mercy at the hour of death, and in the day of judgment. Hear now the sentence of the law/' His Lordship then pronounced sentence of death upon the prisoner, in the usual form ; who heard it wiih firm- ness, bowed respectfully, and was taken away from the Dock, and thence to the Gaol. Happily for Mary of Buttermcrc, the child with which *i)ie WHS pregnant bv Hatfield, was still-born. However, it. has been observed, that to beauty, in the strictest sense of the word, her pretensions could be but small. She is said to be rather gap-toothed, and somewhat pock-marked. Those, therefore, who gave her the epithet of the Beauty > should rather have styled her the Grace of Buttermere ; as her figure, her movements, her face, and accomplish- ments, are highly entitled to such a distinction. She is now about thirty, and added to her personal attractions, has ever maintained an irreproachable character, as a good daughter, and a modest, sensible, and observant woman. She was also noticed fur writing a verv fine Italian hand. JV. B. HATFIELD" s Letters, Poetry, .sY. &Y. in our nc.it. SAMUEL HORSEY, AN UNFORTUNATE LABOURER; With his Portra.it. 1 HI.? person, who hns so Ions: past, that is to sav, durin^ O 1 * / * O 19 years attracted the notice of the public, by the severity oi' 332 A SINGULAR SPECIES OF MONKEY, &C. of his misfortunes, in the loss of both his legs, and the sin- gular means by which he removes himself from place to place, by the help of a wooden seat constructed in the manner of a rocking-horse, and assisted by a pair of crutches, first met with this calamity by the falling of a piece of tim- ber from a house at the lower end of Bow-lane, Cheapside. He is now 55 years of age, and commonly called the King of the Beggars ; and as he is very corpulent, the facility he moves with is very singular. From his general appearance and complexion, he seems to enjoy a state of health re- markably good. The frequent obtrusion of a man natu- rally stout and well-made, but now so miserably mutilated a.s he is, having excited the curiosity of great numbers of people daily passing through the most crowded avenues of this metropolis, has been the leading motive of this ac- count, and the striking representation of his person here A SINGULAR SPECIES OF MONKEY AND OURANG OUTANG, Sometime since caught in Koutli America. 1 HE first is now shewing in New York ; it is low in stature, not more than ten inches high ; walks erect, and has a strong; resemblance of the human features. Its sa^a- o {3 city appears in a very retentive memory and a quick con- ception. Hence it has been taught a variety of scientific tricks, which it occasionally varies, and combines in such a manner as to prove it is possessed of the powers of reasoning. An American ship has also brought an ourang outang- from Java, of prodigious strength, and upwards of six feet high. During the voyage lie was taught most of a .seaman's duty, and could even hand and reef as well as any man c-n board. Since on shore, he can cut wood, carry water, turn a spit, and wait at table. "We also hear of another of these animals that was brought from Sierra Leona, that made beds, washed tea cups, aud was in many respects an active and obedient servant. The ( 333 ) The following is a COPY of LETTERS /row Mr. HATFIELD, under the Name of COLONEL HOPE, to the REVEREND Mr. NICHOLSON. (Concluded from Page QQ\.j Longtown, Monday Evening, 4th October. " VERY DEAR AND REV. SIR, WE arrived here on Saturday evening about eight, went to the church on Sunday, and Mr. Graham, the bro- ther of Sir James, gave one of the finest lectures I ever heard. We attended his evening discourse, at the end of which he addressed me, begging I would not return to my quarters without a light, and his footman stood ready with one. All this flurried my dear Mar} a little, but nothing can be more pleasing than the manner she at all times possesses. To-morro\\ evening-, we may perhaps pro- ceed further; but Mrs. Hope likes the quietude of this place muchj and her wishes are my laws. In the church- yard we found the following inscription, which I copied on purpose to send you, thinking it rnav amuse some of our friends ; pray road it to Dr. Head, and present him my best respects : Out life is but a winter's day $ Same only breakfast, and away. Others to dinner stay, and are full fed ; The oldest man but sups, and goes to bed. 4 Large is his debt, who lingers out the cUy ; Who. goes the soonest, has the least to pay . <: Be pleased to say for us both, whatever vou think will be acceptable to those, who, from kind motives, may en- quire after us ; and at BiUterrnere, Mary desires you will tender to father aud mother the most ailbctionate dutv, and the most lively assurances of our mutual happiness. I find happiness is not very loquacious, so this will be a short let- ter ; let us have a long one as soon as pos: UKO, addressed for Col. Hope, I\I. P. Post-Cilice, Longtov.-n, Cumber- land. And you will greatly oblige, Ver dear and Rev.. Sir ou':., ir.o.Sv tntlv { 334 ) FROM TUT: SAME TO THE SAME. Lvngtowxy Si^rJuy XigLl, IQih Oct. 1802 " VERY DEAH A>"i> REV, SIR, ANXIOUS that my dear Mary might hear from her parents as soon as possible, we returned from Scotland to this town on Friday evening, and bhall most probably pro- ceed for Carlisle to-morrow ; indeed your letter received this afternoon makes me very desirous of returning to But- termere, that I may properly answer all such persons as assume the privilege of censuring my conduct, and arc mean enough to disturb the peace of our parents. " We are, thank God ! very well, and happy as our friends can wish us. The Colonel has given himself much unnecessary trouble, and I am sorry for it, because in this lie will be sorry too. I wrote to him on Wednesday last, and this day find his hand-writing on the superscription of a letter forwarded to me from Keswick. If I had ever ex- pressed to him any affection for Miss D , except such as you have witnessed if I had ever dropped a word on the subject to him, he might have had some plea for com- plaint. But God kno\vs, and he knows, I never did. He has my free leave to write to all the world, if he finds any pleasure in such proceedings but no person, who really knows me, will believe, that Miss D has been de- ceived by me. " I wish I could be certain where this will reach you, but fearing it may not be at Cockermouth soon enough for you to get it by the market people on the morrow, it is not m mv power to say where or when we can meet previous to my arrival at Bnttenr.crc', which will very probably be be- fore the middle of this v.vck. " Be pleased to prest:i-v. >nv ln:st re-pects to Mrs. and Miss Wood. I will iva;c'inbcT with ..permanent gratitude; 1?ic:r goo.>;' CVLV. kindness due 10 me on thii occasion. < With HATFIELD S ELEGIES OR EPITAl'US. " With the truest respect, esteem, and gratitude to all my well-wishers, I am, very dear and Rev. Sir, yours ever, A. HOPE." ' Love and duty attend those to whom they are due ; and I beg you will tell them not to make any preparations for our return, for I shall have to move about almost as soon as I arrive, and my Mary will love quietness.' If any tiling could add to this man's hypocrisy, it can only be his impudent assumption of innocence, to this his verse, as well as prose, beara ample testimony ; especially the following, which lias been published at Chester, a^ being written by him : " Loud howl the winds around my prison-house, Dull arc the days, and wearisome mv nights ; Cure-worn, my spirits nothing now can rouse, Ev'n gen'rous wine itself no more delights. Lost to the world, from ev'ry comfort torn, 111 us'cl by tho.se who should have been my friend-;., I almost curse the hour that I was born, And sigh for that when worldly sorrow endc. By knaves and fools I've been so long abused, By slanderous lips have been so much bely'd, Without a cause have been so much accus'J, And have so long in vain for justice cry'd, That my whole soul abhors this wretched life. One boon alone I from your town would crave, That, vrhen I've shuffled oft this mortal strife, 1 he Corporation may give me a grave $ On winch, whe:i some kind hand has placed ?. stone, It may in plain but modest langur.ge tell, And briefly to inquirers make kno-.vn, By W!\O.-.L- vile arts the harmless stranger fell."' '' Here rest the remains of John Iltitneld, who died broken-hearted, in thr jr.iol of this town, where he v/as confined by * * * *, at the instigation and uy the advice of * * * *'. A keen sense of the injuries heaped on him by his persecutor, who, after confining his person, did all he could, by letters r.-id otherwise, to vilify him, preyed too powerfully on his spirits, and he fell n victim to midicioiK falsehoods in h.is HSd year, A. D. 17?;?." X X 2 ANOTHER^ 336 PARTICULARS OF HATFIELD. ANOTHER. " Lo ! where the ancient marbles weep, And all the worthy Hatfields sleep, Amongst them soon may I recline, Oh ! may their hallowM tombs be mine. When in that sacred vault I'm laid, Heaven grant it may with truth be said, His heart was warm'd with faith sincere, And soft humanity dwelt there. My children oft 1 will mourn their father's woe, Heart-easing tears from their sweet eyes will flow 5 My * * * *, too, relenting, when Tin dead, QVr past unkindnesSj tender tears will shed. J. H. 10th July 1794. In addition to the particulars we have already mentioned, during Uatfield's trial, we have now to mention what oc- curred to an eye-witness at Carlisle, who writes as follows : Carlisle, August 29, 1803. " Of the trial of Hat field, and of his condemnation, you have already been amply informed. I send you now a few particulars of his behaviour since sentence of death was passed upon him. You have heard that his behaviour was firm and collected during the first part of his trial : he attended minutely to the evidence, and took notes, and transmitted them to his Counsel, Messrs. Topping and Holroyd ; but when Mr. Quick, who was clerk in the house at Tivertorj, in which Hatfield was a partner, swore to his hand-writing to the c30 bill drawn upon Mr. Crump of Liverpool, he then seemed deeply agitated, took no more notes, and appeared prepared for the verdict that war, given against him. The Court was amazingly thronged, but he did not once look round upon the persons present. I [is eyes were fixed upon the witnesses., and the Judge and Jury; as soon as the verdict was giver., he bowed to the Judge, and retired without saving a word. A post- Chaise conveved him from the hall to the prison ; he was coo] PARTICULARS OF HATFIELD. 33? .tool and collected during the time he was in tlae chaise ; and as soon as he got back to his room, he fell upon his knees, and prayed in a fervent and serious manner for about half an hour ; after which he desired some refresh- ment. Misbehaviour, when sentence of death was passed upon him next morning, was equally cool and deliberate. lie knelt, look fixedly at the Judge, bowed, but said not. a worcl. '* I had an opportunity of seeing him soon after his rer turn to prison on the morning of his condemnation. He was writing when I entered his room, but seemed perfectly resigned to his fate. I conversed with him a c,'ocol deal, o o * and he told me that he had been fairly tried arid convicted by the laws of his country; that indeed the world was now, and had long been, a misery to him that he had been unhappy iu his mind for nearly twenty years. The original cause of that unhappiness I could not learn, nor, .ns he did not think proper to disclose it, did I press him upon the subject. He said, lu: had for some time pa^t been employed in making his peace with the Almighty, whose pardon, he humbly hoped, he should, obtain, and who, he Ivrvcntlv pivyc-d, would give him fortitude to bear the last great event, that should close this world upon him for ever. I left him in a lev,- minutes after he had ex- pressed this hope, and as I quitted the room, I observed ji:m drop on his knees in prayer. lie does not seem to entertain the slightest hope of being pardoned. " lie pusses much of his thne in reading and writing; O O * a great part of every day has been employed in writing .letters to his acquaintance : the number of these letters are very great. The rest of his time he passes in prayer, and reading the Bible. Xonc cf his relations have visited him since iiis condemnation. He keeps entirely in his own room, and will see no one but those belonging to the gaol, .Hid two clergymen of the Church of England, Mr. Pattison f't Carlisle, and Mr. Marke cf Burgh on Sands, They have 338 PARTICULARS OF IIATFIELD. have been much with him, and he expresses himself under great obligations to them for their humane assistance, as well as to the keeper of the gaol and his assistants, for their kindness and attention to him. Neither before his trial, nor since his condemnation, has he ever alluded to his con- nection with Mary of Buttermcre, nor even mentioned her name. This morning he desired all his hair to be cut off; it was flaxen, and remarkably long and thick. He says he intends sending it to some of his friends." Another letter of the 31st says, " Since I wrote to you last, Hatfield continues to pass his time in writing to his friends, and in reading. His appetite has failed him, and he lives chiefly upon coffee. I had an opportunity of see- ing and conversing with him to-dav for some time. He O tJ v applied this morning to one of the clergymen who attends him, Mr. Pattison, to recommend him a tradesman to make his coffin. Mr. Joseph Bushby, of this town, took measure of him about half an hour ago. He did not ap- pear to be at all agitated while Mr. Bushby was so em- ployed. He told the latter that he desired the coffin to be a strong oak one, plain and neat. e I request, Sir,' he added, ' that after I am taken down, I may be put into the coffin immediately, with the apparel I may have on, and afterwards closely screwed down, put into the hearse which will be in waiting, carried to the church-yard of Burgh on Sands, and there be interred in the evening.' " From the hour when the Jury found him guilty, he has behaved with the utmost serenity and cheerfulness. He received the visits of all those who wished to sec him, and talked upon the topics of the day with the greatest in- terest or indifference. He could scarcely ever be brought to speak of his own case. He neither blamed the verdict, nor made any confession of his guilt. lie said that he had no intention to defraud those whose names lie forced ; but was never heard to say that he was to die luijustlv." A third THE EXECUTION OF HATFIELD. 339 A third letter from Carlisle, dated Saturday Sept. 3. " I now send you the account of the Execution of Hat field. His irons were struck off this morning about ten o'clock : he appeared as usual, and I did not observe any alteration or increased agitation whatever. Soon after ten o'clock he sent for the Carlisle Journal, and perused it for some time; a little after he laid aside the paper, two Clergymen at- tended, and prayed with him for about two hours, and drank coffee with him. After they left him (about twelve), lie wrote some letters, and in one inclosed his pen-knife : it was addressed to London. The Sheriff, the Bailiffs, and the Carlisle Volunteer Cavalry attended at the sjaol door about .- o half past three, tog-ether with a pest-chaise and a hearse. He was then ordered into the Turnkey's Lodge for the purpose of getting pinioned, where he inquired of the Gaoler who were going in the chaise with him r lie was told the Executioner and the Gaoler. He immediately said, * Pray where is the Executioner, I should wish much to see him.' The Executioner was sent for ; Hatficld asked him how lit-, was, and made him a present of some silver in a paper. During the time of his being pinioneci, he stood \vith resolution, and requested he might not be pinioned tight, as he wished louse his handkerchief when on the platform, which was complied with. He then left the prison, and wished his fellow-prisoners might be happy. When he came in sight of the tree, he said to the Gaoler, he imagined that was the tree (pointing at it) that he was to die on. On being told yes, ' O ! a happy sight, I see it with pleasure.' Then he desired the Hangman to be as export as possible about it, and that he would wave a hand- kerchief when he was ready. The Hangman not having fixed the rope in its proper place, lie put up his hand and turned it himself. He also tied his cap, took his handker- chief from his own neck, and tied it about his head also. Then he requested the Gaoler would step upon the plat- form 340 THE EXECUTION OF HATFIELD. form and pinion his arms a little harder, saying', that when he lest his senses, he might attempt to place them to his neck. The rope was then completely i:xed about five minutes before four o'clock it was thick, and he merely said, ' May the Almighty bless you ' ' / ' O gate and Finchley but not at BavnU. It was ju^t per- ceived at Richmond in Surrey, and Bromley in Kent though not at all at Deal or Canterbury. The counsellors in the Court of King's Bench and Chancery in Westmin- -ter Mall, e>.pcetcd the building to fall, a.:d in the new buildings about Gro-venor Square, people ran out of their houses, the chairs shaking, and the. pewter rattling on the, -.iidvcs. Li South v.'arkj a slaughter-house, with a hay-loft v v _; ovev 344 REMARKABLE EARTHQUAKES IN ENGLAND, over it was thrown down, as was a chimney in Leadenhall Street, another in Billiter Square, and several chimnies and part of a house near Horselydown. This earthquake ivas attended with a fiat noise, but not very loud. The weather had been rainy and close for some days. That morning there had been a thick fog, and at the time of the shock the air was remarkably calm. Thursday, March 8, 174950. Between five and six in the morning, another earthquake was felt in London and Westminster, more violent, and attended with a greater noise than the former, the sound, as in many other places already mentioned, resembling a hollow distant thunder. Just before the shock a bah of fire Avas seen in the air to the west of the city. The shock (like that in 1580, and many others in England, as well as the great earthquake at Lima in 1637,) was of the vibratory kind. People were shook in their beds with a violent motion, which with the noise of the earthquake and rattling of the vvindo'.vs, awoke almost all who were asleep, and in an in- stant, as far as it extended, filled every one with con- sternation. A spring burst out in a cellar at the corner of Dean Street, Fetter Lane ; and the next dav the water was c:one 7 ' \J \,J as remarkable as it came, and the floor left as dry as if no water had been there. Two stacks of chimnies, and part of a building in Bermondsey Street, were thrown down, and one stack of chimnies on Saffron Hill. At Islington, the bells at several gentlemen's doors rang, as if pulled by a sudden jerk. It seemed to roll along from west to east, like a wave in a violent storm, and was sensibly felt as far as Epping in Essex, as also at Chiselhurst, Beckenham, and Croydon ; at the two last places the hammers of the clocks struck against the bells. It is asserted by many, that this was preceded by a small shock, at about two in the morning. (j.o r>c continued. ) ESCAPE FROM A SHARK. A METEOR, &C. 345 I HE following is an account of a most alarming accident O C? to a boy oa board the Ganges, on her passage to China : " During our detention at Angar Point, on the coast of Java, on the 5th of May last, John Walker, boatswain's boy of the Ganges, aged 13, swimming alongside of the ship when at anchor, and at a few yards distance from our boat with three seamen in it, was discovered by a shark, who immediately approached him, and independ- ent of the exertions of the boat's crew to intimidate the hungry monster, he laid hold of the unfortunate bov, by including in his mouth the whole of his right leg and more than half the thigh, pulling him beneath the water close alongside the ship, when upwards of 100 men were spec- tators of the scene, and kept linn below for near two minutes, in which time he had tore off the leg and thigh to the extent above mentioned. The boy once more made his appearance on the surface of the water, and the shark upon his back, with his jaws once more extended to make a finish of his prey, when a lad from the boat struck him with the boat-hook, and by the same instrument laid hold of the boy and brought him on board.-*-The bov had lost a vast deal of blood, the stump was dreadfully lacerated., and the bone splintered near an inch and a half, which re- quired an amputation of the thigh close to the hip-joint. Und'-r all these untoward circumstances, the boy has re- covered quite well within three months from the date of the operation. The fleet, as it was an extraordinary case, jiave subscribed upwards of c280 for him." Bombay Courier, Feb. 19. SINGULAR METEOH. Stones floating in the immense S/mce, &V. AN English Gentleman, who is a prisoner atFontainbleau, writes under date of the 13th Jnh-, as follows : " I was bathing a few evciunsrs cLr.ce, with sonic Englishmen my V -w O fellow- A SINGULAR. METEOR, &C. fellow-prisoners, whoa we saw a most beautiful and sin- gular Meteor. About half an hour after Sun-set, two balls appeared in the air above where the Sun had set, re- ^enabling the Sun in colour, size, and brightness. They were about the height at which the Sun is two. hours before its. setting. They lasted about ten minutes, moving almost imperceptibly jtoxvards the South, and giving an amazing light, when they gradually appeared to dissolve into fiery smoke, which reddened the atmosphere to a considerable distance round where they had been, for an hour alter- wavcls. Some said this was a reflection of the Sun, but it could not be, as it had been set half an hour, and besides they would never have dissolved into smoke. Mr. Pigot, a celebrated astronomer here, with whom I was talking about it, says that these are the same class as tho^e which we call falling Stars, which are large stones continually floating about in the immense space of Nature, when they come within 60- or 70 miles of the earth by which they are attracted, thoy fall to it. Several of these stones have been picked up in dull-rent parts of the world, and they have not been found to resemble any earthly substance." Of the analysis of some of these stones, we spoke iu page 180 of our IVth Number, PARTICULAR WARNINGS BEFORE DEATH. " Air. EDITOR, Observing in Number.-! V. and VI. of your Entertaining: Museum, a list of Extraordinary Deaths by your attentive Correspondent A, reminded me of some particular Warnings some poisons have had of the death of some of their family,, as the Allowing will appear. . 1 could, produce several more i;i>.t:ince> of the like nalup', but I rather wave being prolix on this head, least I >hould be charged with n ridiculous credulity, by those who disbelieve every thing of this kind, and o;;ly /--quest vou !o insert the three following in vour Work. The authenticity of which, cannot be called hi question, as they .-c'-urrcd to persons of respectability j whose veracity may be fully depended Uj'oii. li ' .\ , or any of your Correspondents has any thiii^ of the following tlv-'.'-r:; tion to comr.v.niicaie, v. oithy of insertion in vour J/,/.w-?//w, by doing i% ! have r.o doubt \\'\\ prove entertaining to your numvious renders ; and at -'-i:. some lime viii rmcb.rbLi; ':, vour humble ser.Tut, P &. L.? NOTICES OF APPROACHING DEATH. '34*7 ix 1727 S, in the month of Febriiarv, at which time Lang-ford Collin, Esq. lived at York, one night coming- home, he immediately and very speedily undressed himself find \vent to bed to his latlv, v. ho being awake, he spoke to her, asking her concerning something bethought she could inform him of; but lie had hardly exchanged six v. - crds, when he was surprised at a sudden knock given to the street-door, so loud, as if it had been with a great sledge- hammer, which made him as suddenly rise up out of his bed, and with a pair of pistols in his hand, he hasted acres?, the landing-place to the dining-room, but before he could reach the door of it, lie heard a second knock, full as loud as the first ; at which impatient, and fearing it might in- jure his lady then pregnant, and near her time, he with a!! expedition did run to the window, during which a third knock was heard, not only by himself, but several of his family ; but throwing the sash open, he saw nobodv, neither at the door, not: on One side or other of the hov.se, though it was clear moon-light, and nothing to obstruct, his sio;ht cither wav for a considerable space ; still think- O * 1 in' it was done bv some unlucky persons out of fame or o * *- ^ wantonness, he discovered next morning his uneasiness at such usage, at the coffee-house, declaring with son.i- warmth, ho\v highly lie would resent ir, could lie ccrno at the knowledge of that rude person who had been tniiltv o A O . 6f that ridiculous action: nor did he change his first opi- nion till the next post brought him a letter, which informed him of the death of his cousin, Thomas Smith, of Notting- ham, Ksti. who died at London, at the time the said knock- ing was heard. About tiuve years after that, the same gvntlcmsn sitting tip with his next brother, Mr. Abel (Y-'li;), heard iron: t \velve o'clock at ni^bt till it struck one, a continual noise of driving mrils Into a coffin, in the wcrksbo'} cf Jehu 348 PARTICULAR NOTICES BEFORE DEATH. Baker, a joiner, which abutted upon their yard ; at this lie was very much offended, as thinking it very unkind from an intimate acquaintance of the sick person, when soon after he heard a noise as if t\vo or three men were landing a coffin in the room over his head, which made him suspect it to be a fore-runner of his brother's death, who departed this life exactly ;:t one o'clock the next day. From riotfs History of Oxfordshire. As to what con- cerns death, I must add a relation as strange as it is true, of the family of Captain Wcocl, late of Bampton, now of Brise-Norton, Captain in the late wars of the King ; some whereof before their deaths have had signal warning given them by a certain knocking, either at the door without, or tables and shelves within the house. The number of strokes, and distance between them, and the place where, for the most part, respecting the circumstances of the persons to die, or their deaths themselves, will be collected from the following circumstances and relation. The first knocking that was observed, was about a year after the Restoration of the King ; in the afternoon, a little before night, at or upon the door, it being then open, Mrs. Eleanor Wood, mother of the Captain, only heard it. She was much dis- turbed, thinking it boded some ill to her or her's : fourteen days after she heard news of the death of her son-in-law, Mr. George Smith. o Three years after that, there were great knocks thrice given, very audibly to every person in the house, viz. to Mrs. Eleanor Wood, Mr. Basil Wood, and his wife, Mrs. Hester Wood, and some servants, which knocks were so remarkable, that one of the maids came from the well, which was about twenty yards from the place, to see what was the matter ; and another nuiid saw three pans of lard shake and totter so upon a shelf in the milk-house, that she was like to fall down. Upon the violent knocking, Mr. Basil Wood and his wife being then in the hall, came presently EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE OF VEGETATION. 349 presently running into the milk-house to their mother, and (hiding her much disturbed, she replied, " God knew the matter she could not tell but that she heard the knock- ing." Mr. Basil Wood concluded it must be for some of the family at home; and that upon the door for a friend abroad, which accordingly fell out: three of the family, according to the number of the knocks, dying within half a year after, viz. Mrs. Hester Wood, a child of Mr. Wood's sister, and Mrs. Eleanor Wood his mother, AN UNFORTUNATE FAMILY. 4-N the month of June, in the present year, Mr. I?aac JCvans, of Ashovcr, Derbyshire, was thrown from his horse, and received such injury as to occasion his death in a few hours. One of his sons, some time back, unthink- ingly placed the butt-end of a loaded gun between a wall and a tree, which went off instantly and killed him. Another of his sons shooting rooks at Alfretton a few days preceding the death of his father, the gun burst, and so violently shattered his hand, that it was obliged to be im- mediately amputated, and he is now nearly recovered. And about ten months since, his daughter (an infant) was scalded to death by falling into some hot liquor. EXTRAORDINARY INSTANCE OF VEGETATION. AN extraordinary instance of vegetation in an esculant plant was observed on the morning of June 4th (of this present year,) at Hoi beach. During the preceding night, a mushroom in its growth, had completely rolled out of its place a pebble in the pave- ment, immediately before the house of Mr. J. Biggerdike, which weighed seven pounds and a quarter ; the plant it- self weighed twelve ounces, and the circumference of the stalk measured six inches and a quarter. z z La 330 AN ACCOUNT OF A Last year mushrooms grew in Mr. Biggerdike's housc^ with sueh strength as to become extremely troublesome, frequently raising the bricks from the floor ; and the cir- cumstance is the more extraordinary, as the oldest inha- bitant does not remember any mushrooms to have grown near the spot, and the soil is not considered congenial to the plant. ^f^.r^f~ ^-~*~~*-~f*j* Account of a THUNDER STORM in NORFOLK, with Hail- stones, bearing the Figure of a human Eye. [From a Pamphlet printed in London, 1056 .] ON the 20th of July, being the Sabbath Day, about four of the clock in the afternoon, there was a great and sudden tempest in the city of Norwich, and the country there- abouts ; the flashes of lightning were most dreadful and violent, and the loud claps from the clouds did so amaze and affright the people, that they thought the spheres came thundering down in flames about their ears. About an Lour afterwards, there appeared to the view of many, a black eioud of smoke, like unto the smoke of a furnace, and ever and anon it did cast forth flames of fire ; it was attended with a white cloud, which, sailing along the air, did seem to labour for all the advantages of the wind, to overtake the other ; but, the black cloud being first come, and covering the face of the citv, there arose a sudden whirlwind, which. in the streets of the city did raise such a dust, that it was almost impossible for one man to discern another, but only at a little distance ; and, to increase this wonderful darkness, the clouds e;re\v thicker and thicker, especially at the south and south-west, when behold ihc. lightning from them did leap forth again, and the thunder chid, and there followed such a rattling storm of "stupen- dous hail, that being afterwards measured, the hail-stones 7'cre found to be five inches about, and some more; all the jrlass THUNDER STORM IN NORFOLK. 351 glass windows that were on the weather-side of the city were beaten down. Some letters from Norwich do affirm, that three thou- sand pounds will not repair the windows. This which I now speak, may in other countries seem incredible, and so it might in our own also, were it not to be attested by iibout ten thousand witnesses. And surely it% well worth the observation of the best philosophers to take notice, that those hail-stones (as they exceeded all others in their big- ness, so they were unlike them in their form), for many of them were mere pieces of flat ice, and had not the least similitude of roundness in them. It is to be admired be- sides, that in many of these hail-stones, there was to be seen the figure of an eye, resembling the eye of a man, and that so perfectly, as if it had been there engraved by the hand of some skilful artificer. If your eyes, possessed with these unusual spectacles, have yet the leisure to look into the country, in hope there to behold some more comfortable objects, you will find in some places whole fields of corn destroyed by the light- ning ; you will behold the tempest wrestling with the trees, and having torn them \ip by the roots, to lay them on their backs with their heels higher than their heads ; the burrows could not protect the listening conies, nor the trees the birds ; but On the next moruino- the travellers * O found them dead in great numbers on the ground, and in some places a horse or a cow Ivinp- bv them. The lip-'m_ v O . O ning \vhirled through the whole country, and passing through some houses where the windows were made one ;:j'*ainst the other, it \vas seen aftenvnrus to rnr, till alon^, v_J / :-^ J and to lick the p";vand ; many house:, were fired by it, and hfid it net pleased God to send an extraordinary shower >f rain, t^ome towns that had taken lire, had been v,n- tfSoubtedly destroyed. It struck some men ; ; .i;J women 't z '2 dead 352 SURPRISING FACULTY OF SUSTAINING HEAT. dead for the present, whom it pleased God to recovci* again to life, to magnify his mercies, and to declare his wonders. SURPRISING FACULTY OF SUSTAINING HEAT. -A SPANIARD, who is now in Paris, has lately filled almost every mourn with a topic of conversation. He is a young man, a native of Toledo in Spain, 23 years of age, and free of any apparent peculiarities which can announce any thing remarkable in the organization of the skin ; after ex- amination, one would be rather disposed to conclude a peculiar softness than that any hardness or thickness of the cuticle existed, either naturally or from mechanical causes. Nor was there any circumstance to indicate that the per- son had been previously rubbed with any matter capable of resisting the operation of the agents with which he was brought in contact. This man bathed for the space of six minutes, and Avith- ont any injury either to his sensibility or the surface of the skin, his legs in oil, heated at 97 of Reaumur, (250]- deg. of Fahrenheit ;) and with the same oil, at the same degree of heat, he washed his face and superior extremities. He held for the same space of time, and with as little incon- venience, his legs in a solution of muriate of soda, heated to 102 of the same scale, (261 I Fa4ir.) He stood on and rubbed the soles of his feet with a bar of iron heated to a white heat ; in this state he held the iron in his hands, and rubbed the surface of his tongue. He gargled his mouth with concentrated sulphuric and nitric acids, without the smallest injury or discoloration ; tiie nitrous acid changed the cuticle to a yellow colour; with the acids in this state he rubbed his hands and arms. All t'lese experiments were continued long enough to prove their ineiliciency to produce any impression. It is said ou un question- A WONDERFUL CURE OF LAMENESS. 353 Unquestionable authority, that he remained a considerable time in an oven heated to 65 or 70, (178 189 Fahr.) and from which he was with difficulty induced to retire, so comfortable did he feel that high temperature. It may be proper to remark, that this man seems totally uninfluenced by any motive to mislead, and, it is said, he has refused flattering offers from some religious sectaries of turning to emolument his singular qualities ; yet, on -the whole, if seems to be the opinion of most philosophical men, that this person must possess some matter which, counteracts the operation of these agents. To suppose that nature has organized him differently, would be un- philosophic : by habit he might liave blunted his sensibility against those impressions that create pain under ordinary circumstances ; but how to explain the power by which he resists the action of those agents which are known to have the strongest affinity for animal matter, is a circumstance difficult to comprehend. It has not failed, however, to excite the wonder of the ignorant, and the inquiry of the learned at Paris. A wonderful CURE of LAMENESS ; effected by ANTS. I WAS once, says the relator, well acquainted with thr late Mrs. June Crabley, relict of Stephen Crablcy, who officiated as parish-clerk of Sindermeer, from Aug. 1752, till the 10th of the same month, 17 OS ; (and it is remark- able, ihat lie was buried in a grave which he dug the week before his death, for Mr. Baddely, not knowing that Mr. 13. was to be interred at Frebley near Sutton.) On the death of her husband, Jane, then 56 years of age, removed to Stancot, her native place ; where she had no sooner set- tled herself, than shebe^an to complain of a most torturing pain, and considerable enlargement of the patella (orkneu- pan?, 354 A WONDERFUL CURE OF LAMENESS. pan), which she described as, and which her neighbours believed to be, a smart paroxysm of gout. Karly in Fe- bruary 1799, the inflammation and pain entirely ceased ; but the swelling continued, and rather increased ; the joint of the knee from disuse, became perfectly stiff; and owing to the very particular size and form of her breast, no re- lief could be gained from the use of crutches. Free, how- ever, from pain, the natural cheerfulness of her disposition returned, with its concomitant circumstance a Avish for constant society ; and as her house stood in a particular retired lane, she was the more impatient of a confinement, that amounted to the most helpless state of lameness. When the weather became tolerably mild, she was every mcrnino- at her own earnest desire, carried in her chair to' O ' * ' . the gravel-pit by the side of the great road leading to Bir- mingham, where she could converse with the villagers as she sat knitting (her usual occupation), and be amused by the comparative cheerfulness of the scene. And here it was that the remarkable circumstance I am about to relate took place. At the commencement of the hot weather, towards the end of May, the ants, or pismires, became so strangely troublesome to her, that she waj sometimes obliged to avail herself of the help of travellers to a^ist her in changing her station. Still, however, they followed her, and seemed entirely attracted bv her now useless knee. She was at first considerably annoyed bv tho>c troublesome insects ; but, in a few days, she became inn only reconciled to their intrusion, but v- as desirous of hav- ing her chair placed where she imagined them n:o:t to abound, even giving them freer access to her knee by turning down her stocking ; for she told me, that " the cold numbness she suffered jiibt round the patella, :.Y/,V eased and relieved by their bite ; that it was even pleasurable-.:"" aud, strange to say, they bit her no where else. Th<" ski.u BALLOON INTELLIGENCE IMPROVED. 35q[ akin, which she described as having been deadly pale, now assumed a lively red colour ; a clear and subtile liquid oozed from every puncture the ants had left ; the swelling and stillness of the joint gradually abated ; and on the 25tb| evenkig of July, she walked home with the help of a stick, and before Winter, perfectly recovered the use of her limb. She continued the full enjoyment of her health till this Spring, when she. caught the measles, which, added fo repeated attacks of influenza, carried her off the day of June last past 1802. BALLOON* INTELLIGENCE IMPROVED ; Qr new Anecdotes r,f the Afcsnsion of Mr. ROBERTSON and Mr. LIIOEST, of Hamburgh , in July last, f"r* 1 HIS account seems the most useful and truly scientific of any we have yet read, Mr. Robertson and his friend ascended to the height of 2GOO toiscs, when the cold be- came so intense, as to compel them to descend, which they did near Winsen on the Luhe ; but the inhabitants taking them for spectres, (led with the utmost consternation, car- rying with them their cattle, &c. ; and the aeronauts, fear- ful of being fired at, were obliged to reascend, and con- tinued their voyage to Wichtenbeck, near Zell, having; traversed over a space of 25 French leagues in live hours. When the balloon rose, says Mr. Robertson, the baro- meter was at 28 inches. At eleven o'clock the machine, which had not been entirely filled, became so dilated, that the inflammable air issued with a loud noiso from tlie lower tube. As this aperture was not sufficient, I was obliged lo open the upper valve. It remained open nearly n quarter of an hour, during which time the balloon ascended in a perpendicular direction : at intervals we. threw out some ballast. The atmosphere below us was. ierene, but above us, it was sornesvhat cloudy. Althoug^ 356 BALLOON INTELLIGENCE IMPROVED. Although we approached the sun, the beat decreased as. we ascended, and we could look at that luminary without being dazzled. When the barometer was at 14 inches, it appeared to become stationary. The thermometer was at 4 1 degrees below Zero; the cold was not excessive, but the singing in my ears increased, and all our faculties seemed to be palsied by a general indisposition. Having taken some wine to recruit our strength, we threw out more ballast, the mercury in the barometer fell to i 2| inches. At that height the cold out of the car was insupportable, although the thermometer was only one degree below the freezing point. We were obliged to respire faster, and our pulse beat with extreme rapidity.- We could scarcely resist the strong inclination to sleep with which we were seized. The blood rushed to our heads, and Mr. Lhoest remarked that it had entered my eyes ; my head was so swelled that I could not put on my hat. In this region, where the balloon was invisible from the earth, Mr. Ro- bertson made the following experiments : 1. Having let a drop of ether fall on a piece of glass, it evaporated in four seconds ; 2. He electrified by friction glass and sealing-wax. These substances gave no signs of electricity which could be communicated to other bodies. The voltaic pile, which, when the balloon was sui free from the earth, acted with its full force, gave only a tenth part of its electricity ; 3. The dipping needle seemed to have lost its magnetic virtue, and could not be brought to that O ' O direction which it had at the surface of the earth; 4. Pie struck with a hammer oxygenated muriate of potash. The explosion occasioned a sharp noise, which, though not very strong, was insufferable to the ear. It is also to be ob- served, that though the aeronauts spoke very loud, they could with great difficulty hear each other ; 5. At that height ?Jr. Robertson was not able to extract any electricity from the atmospheric electrometer and condenser; 6. In consequence es f AN ACCOUNT OF MRS. MARY HONYWOOD. 3,57 consequence of a suggestion from Professor Hennbstacit, of Berlin, Mr. Robertson carried with him two birds; the rarefaction of the air killed one of them ; the other "was not able to ny ; it lay extended on its back, but fluttered with its wings ; 7. Water began to boil bv means of a moderate degree of heat maintained with quicklime ; $. According to observations made, it appeal's that the clouds never rise above 2000 toises, and it w,as only in ascending and de- cending. through cloutls that Mr. Robertson w r as able to obtain positive electricity. An ACCOUNT/?/" Mrs. MARY HOXYWOOD, li'ko left behind her 367 toilful Descendants. [With her Portrait.] i. HTS lad}-, who was one of the ancestors of the present Honywood family, in Kent, was b.prn at'J-ehham in that county, about the year 1533, and was united by marriage very early in life to Robert Honywood, Esq. of Charing, in the same county, who was her only husband. She was a widow 44 years; but notwithstanding tliat, at her decease, in the 93d year of her age, on the 18th of May, in 1620, though she bore only 16 children, in lier own person had then lawfully descended from her, 114 grand children; that is to say, 228 in the third generation, and 9 in the fourth ; making in the whole 367. Her long life and health was in a great measure accounted for, by the even and Christian temper of her life, not being reckoned a restless or censorious fanatic, bu| a truly pious, resigned, and charitable Christian, Her long course of life and widow- hood, she at length finished, not where she began it, but at Markeshall, in the count" of Essex, t'- A u a 2 Jtn 360 STRANGLE sUffSTAN'CEs FOGKD In February 1802, a child of Jonathan and Elizabeth White, living at Mrs. Holden's, in the West Pallant, CJhichcster, having- the care of its infant suckling brother* aged six month's, whilst in the cradle* put to its mouth a two-bladed knife, with a horn or bone handle (for the pre- sent appearance of the evacuated fragments do not warrant either conclusion), which the infant swallowed with some pain, but with no consequent dangerous symptoms. 1 does not appear that medical assistance took place, but only that castor-oil was recommended and given, also poppy-water by the mother, as a narcotic. The infant's linen soon assumed the appearance of iron-mould, and on May 24, (three months after the' accident) the shortest blade was evacuated in a very corroded and diminished state ; and on June 16, one half or side of the handle was cast up in a doubled, but not softened state, which, Upon attempting to straiten, was broken in two at the rivet-holes j a piece of iron was at the same time cast up, (probably the living iron) much corroded. Nothing more appeared until Sur.uav July 25, when one of the blades came away* corroded but not diminished. Fourthly, on Wednesday the 1 ith instant, the iron back-piece was cast up, in ales* corroded or diminished state than the others; this mea- sured near three inches and a half, and is at one end as pointed as a common packing-needle. The whole instru- ment thus appears to have come away at the above four times, except the rivets, which, it is presumed, are either become dissolved or escaped inspection. The chalybeate property lias not c:ily shewn itself upon the infant's linen, but even wood which tilt* fivccs have touched, has inerTace- abiy ivcLtived the iron-mould stain. The child is described a.>> haviug s'ilieivd much p;iin, particularly near the times or r>e s':'/cral - jidings taking place. It has rather an '" -aiunce, and has much loathed its food. It ,cii d.iy since the accident, but is now IN THE fefUMAN BODY. 361 more at the breast, ami there is every reason to ex- pect its full recovery. The above principal paints are from the notes of a practitioner, who has occasionally (only) seen the infant, and who is in possession of some of the above extraordinary vestiges ; the mother keeping the remainder. The knife must have been full three inches long, and was of the sort attached to pocket-books* On the 1st of July 1720, a country-woman of Tornin (a village within the bishopric of Warmia), aged about 47 years, felt herself incommoded at her stomach ; and was desirous of exciting vomition by means of the handle of a knife, which she introduced into her throat. Unfor- tunately she introduced it too far. The blade slipped out of her hand, the knife fell into her throat. Her efforts to withdraw only increased the evil. Three days, however, went by, before she suffered any pain : on the fourth she began to feel pain near her navel, and soon after the point of the knife hurt her right side. The evil increasing clay br day, her husband carried her on the 10th of July to Hastenbourgh, where she was put into the hands of an able surgeon, and of Hubner, a physician. At first, these practitioners distinguished the point of the knife which appeared to be four fingers to the riglrt of the navel, and at two fingers above it, where it caused a. little red tumour. The first application was that of a cataplasm of emollient herbs, which they renewed the next day. At tliis period, remarking that a quantity of pus had ac- cumulated under the tumour, thev resolved to make an incision without delay ; and accordingly prepared tike patient by cordials ; and, by the application of a plaster into the composition of which there entered powdered loadstone : but Hubner, who had little confidence in the magnetic virtue of this plaster, employed the loadstone in mass when he approached the tumour. Immediately, ;ts was remarked by all the assistants, the skin became dis- tendc-;L 362 SUBSTANCES FOUND IN THE HUMAN BODY, tended, the point of the knife making an effort to approach the loadstone, arid the pain of the patient consequently in- creased. At length, after having bound her to a plank, in a standing posture, they proceeded to the incision, which Hubner chose to perform himself. He began by making a little opening in the skin and muscles. Afterwards, more distinctly perceiving the point of the knife, he en- larged the opening, and extended it to the peritoneum. There issued about a spoonful of pus, mingled with blood ; and, at the same time, appeared the blade of the knife, which Was extracted with forceps. The operation took about the time, says the author, of saying the Lord's Prayer. The incision was closed and properly dressed. With regard to the stomach of the patient, which the knife had pierced, no other precaution Avas taken than that of ordering a very strict regimen, which, for the first day, consisted in a decoction of vulnerary herbs and two lumps of balsamic sugar. On the 24th of July, the wound being entirely healed, and the patient judging herself sufficiently restored, she was sent back to her village. On the 2cl of August, she was visited by Hubner, who found her, not only in good spirits and health, but strong enough to carry tvvft pails of water. The motion of the carriage had done her harm. On her arrival she had been obliged to take to her bed ; but she had almost immediately recovered herself. The knife which had been extracted from her, she assured him was seven inches in length. The stay it had made in her stomach had in no degree injured the blade, which had only become black. Before the making of the incision, the patient had frequent eructations, the taste of which resembled that of hartshorn, of which sub- stance the handle was made. This narrative demonstrates that we must not wholly believe the aphorism of Hippo- crates ; asserting, that " It is mortal to be pierced in the bladder, the brain, the heart, the diaphragm, certain of the lesser intestines, or the liver.' v AJull A full and authentic ACCOUNT of the strange and mysterious Affair between MARY SQUIRES, a GIPSY, and ELIZA- BETH CANNING ; who swore she was robbed and confined by the Gipsy till she was almost starved; for which the Gipsy received sentence of Death, but was afterwards pardoned by his Majesty George II. With a particular Account of both the Trial?, and various Papers, and Persons who interested themselves in that popular Event. IT is not less strange than true, though during the years 1753 and 1754, the press literally groaned with publications for and against the then celebrated Elizabeth Canning ; and notwithstanding almost every person, public or private, was interested in her behalf, and took every opportunity of declaring their sentiments upon her affairs. Yet, at the present period, there is no possibility of procuring the various publications concerning it, under a mOjt enormous price 5 and after all, these publications are so uncommonly scarce, and out of print, as hardly to be met with, at any price whatever. To rescue articles thus scarce and valuable from oblivion, especially when they refer to any remarkable Characters, ancient or modern, has, and ever will be, the particular province of KIRBY'S M us KOI ; we therefore flatter ourselves, that our readers v/ill find a singular gratification in being now made acquainted with the particulars of a. case, which after puzzling the wisest heads in the nation for some years, still remains a mystery, as it were in defiance of all the zeal, the labour and ability bestowed upon its investigation. What we have hinted about zeal, and a strong party-spirit in this affair of Elizabeth Canning, can be well attested by many aged persons still living. Besides, the whole series of the British History does not afford but two soli- tary instances of an insult put upon a Judge or supreme Magistrate ; of which that of the enraged populace in favour of Betty Canning, is one ; Sir Crisp Gascoigne * being then assaulted on his way to the Old Bailey, and the other, is the striking of Chief Justice Gascoigne, his namesake, while upon the Bench, by Henry V., then Prince ot" Wales. Party-spirit, however, did not rest there, private families were divided as the people then termed it into Caqaanites and Egyptians; and it was then as common for them to ask one another " who they were for," as it was afterwards to ask a similar. question about \VUkea and Liberty! The popularity of Canning ai this time was also increased by Oratory Hen- ley's taking the matter up, at his Oratory near Newport Market, where he loaded her adversaries with all the invectives his genius and volubility sup- plied him with. Her enemies, and consequently the friends of the Gipsy, in- In this instance the mob proceeded to the most violent outrage, as they V>:cktj his Lordship's coach window?, and even tin vattriicd his life. creased, 36 -1 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF creased after the first trial ; and in consequence of the enquiries laid before tire King, he referred the whole to the Attorney and Solicitor^General, Sir Dnd- foy Rider aiKi the late Earl MaTS.Wd, then William Murray, Esq. ; -wiio, towning that the weight of evidence was hi favour of the Gipsy, she received a free pardon. It now being Elizabeth Canning's turn to be prosecuted, she was brought to the bar of the Old Bailey, May 1, 175':, and charged with wilful and corrupt perjury. The trial lasted seven days; when the alibi or abfence of Mary Squires being proved, by one of the most extraordinary chains of evidence ever produced, Canning toss found guilty, and sentenced to seven years transportation. Dr. Hill wrote .first in her favour Barry Fielding on tl*e contrary ; and even Allan R-aimay in Scotland, is said to have engaged in the controversy, finder a fictions name. In fiae, 36 pamphlets, &c. were pub- lished pro and con, and Canniwg ended her life in America ; where, it is said,, she married a planter of opulence, and a Quaker by profession. VVE now proceed to the narrative ; Elizabeth Canning was, as she swore, forcibly seized upon in the evening of the 1st of January 1753 ; and as she further said, by two men, who met with her in the quarters of Moorfrelds s about ten o'clock, nearly opposite Bethlehem Gate ; who, after robbing her of half a guinea in gold and three shil- lings in silver, of her hat, gown and apron, violently dragged her into a gravel-walk that leads down to the gate of Bethlehem Hospital ; about the middle of which, one of the men, after threatening to do for her, gave her a violent blow with his fist on the right temple, that threw her into a fit, and entirely deprived her of her senses. These fits, she says, she hath been accustomed to ; that they were first occasioned by the fall of a cieling on her head ; that they are apt to return upon her whenever she is frightened, and that they sometimes continue for six or seven hours ; that when she came to herself, she perceived that two men Avere hurrying her along in a large road-way, and that in a little time after she was recovered, she was able to walk alone ; however, they still continued to pull and drag her along ; that she was so intimidated by their a^uge, that she durst not call out ; nor even speak to them; that B IN T II ( ' A^JNT IT7 G, An'f d 10 tQie remarkable Quaker MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 365 that in about half an hour after the recovery of her senses, they carried her into an house, where she saw in the kitchen an old gipsy woman and two young' women ; that the old gipsy woman took hold of her by the hand, and promised to give her fine clothes if she would go their way ; which expression she understanding to mean the becoming a pro- stitute, she utterly refused to comply with ; upon which the old gipsy woman took a knife out of a drawer, and cut the stays off this Elizabeth Canning, and took them away from her, at which time one of the men likewise took off her cap, and then both the men went away ; that soon after they were gone, and about an hour after she had been in the house, the old gipsy Avoman forced her up an old pair of stairs, and pushed her into a back room like a hay- loft, without any furniture whatsoever in the same, and there locked her up, threatening that if she made the least noise or disturbance, the old gipsy woman would come up and cut her throat, and then fastened the door on the out- side and went away. She says, that when it was day-light, upon her looking round to see in what dismal place she was confined, she discovered a large black jug, with the neck much broken, filled with water, and several pieces of bread, amounting to about the quantity of a quartern loaf, scattered on the floor, where was likewise a small parcel of hay. In this room she says she continued from that time till about half an hour after four of the clock in the afternoon of Monday the 29th day of the same month of January, being in all 27 days and upwards, without any other sustenance than the aforesaid bread and water, ex- cept one small minced pye which she had in her pocket, which she was carrying home as a present to her litde bro- ther. She likewise says, that she had some part of this provision remaining on the Friday before she made her escape, which she did by breaking out at a window of the room or. loft in which she was confined, and whence hav- B b b ins- 566 A FTTLL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF ing escaped, she got back to her friends in London, in about six hours, in a most weak and miserable condition, being almost starved to death, and without ever once stop- ping at any house or place bv the way She likewise says, that during her whole confinement no person ever came near her to ask her any question whatever, nor did she see any belonging to the house more than once, when one of the women peeped through a hole in the door, and that she herself was afraid to call or speak to any one. It is remarkable, that on the 6th of January 1753, the following advertisement appeared in the Daily Advertiser ; viz. " Whereas Elizabeth Canning went from her friends between Hqunsditch and Bishoppgate, on Monday last, the 1st instant, between nine and ten o'clock : Whoever can give any account where she is, shall have Two Guineas Reward, to be paid bv Mrs. Canning, a Sawyer, in Alder- manbury Postern ; which will be a great satisfaction to her mother. She is fresh-coloured, pitted with the small- pox, has a high forehead, light eve-brows, about five feet high, eighteen years of age, well-set, had on a masquerade purple stuff gown, a black petticoat, a white chip hat, bound rounu \v:tl.! green, a white apron and handkerchief, blue stockings, and leather shoes. " Aote, It is supposed she was forcibly taken away by some evil-disposed person, as she ^as heard to shriek out in a hackney-coach in Bishopsgate-street. If the coach- man remembers any tiling of the affair, by giving an ac- count as above, he shall be handsomely rewarded for his trouble." Upon this advertisement, Dr. Hill, a writer on the side of the gipsy, thus remarks : " Why supposed to be taken ii .cibly away? Are these transactions common ? or was there any thing in the present case to authorise such an imagination? To what purpose should she he forced : i,way'l She is not handsome ; so that the design could not MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 367 not be upon her person ; and certainly the dress that is described so largely, could not tempt any one to carry her off to rob her ; nor was it necessary, for that might have been done where she was seized ; nay, and in the latter accounts we are told it was done there. " Who heard her shriek ? or what is become of the hackney-coach part of the story ; no syllable has been, since uttered of it. Who should know the voice of a ser- vant of no consideration, calling in a strange part of the town from a coach? What must the ruffians have been doing; who suffered her to shriek; or who that heard such a voice, and did, or that did not know the person, would not have stopped the carriage ? How came he, uho heard so much, not to call persons to assist him? There are enough in the streets at ten o'clock ; or, where's the coachman ? for coaches do not drive themselves, and certainly he might be found to justify the story. " If a coach carried her, Avhere therefore is the clriver of it ? or, if she was dragged along, how did the people, who were taking all this pains, and running all this hazard, to no sort of purpose, get her undiscovered through the turnpikes r" And he supposes that this was a preparative for all that followed, and inserted on purpose to prepare the public to receive her story. But some of these parti- culars in the advertisement were accounted for on the late trial. However this was, Elizabeth Canning,' the mother, having a very good character, and being well esteemed in the neighbourhood where she has lived for many years, and the girl having always bore a good reputation, and being no more than eighteen, the neighbours interested themselves greatly in the poor woman's misfortune, and premised to contribute to a larger reward for the discovers of the g'rl, which was accordingly advertised, and every other method that, could be thought of, put in practice, but without gaining the least intelligence of what wa:- be- B b b 2 come 363 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF come of the girl. No place was left unscarched by the afflicted mother ; even gaols and hospitals were not omit- ted, lest peradventure some mistake or accident might have brought her daughter into one or other of them ; but all in vain, and week after week rolled on in this miser j able state of suspense, without the least news of the girl, till the 29th day of January, when she returned to her mother's house about ten o'clock at night, in a most fright- ful and miserable condition, and gave the account we have just stated. We now proceed to relate what followed the girl's coming home. Her absence had made so much noise, and appeared so unaccountable, that as soon as the news of her being returned was known, a great many people went to her mother's house to see and talk with her ; but her weak condition would not permit her to answer a great many questions. In answer to the general enquiry, if she could not tell where she had been, she answered that it was somewhere upon the Hertford Road, because she had seen the coachman who used to carry her mistress to Hert- ford, go by, and that she had once heard the name of Wills or Wells mentioned in the house : Upon this some of those who came to see her, said, " It must certainly be Mother Wells, at Enfield Wash, a house of very ill- . fame." This appearing probable to her friends, and the rest of the company who were present, it Was determined that the girl, though in a most weak condition, should go before the sitting alderman, and make affidavit of the affair, in order to obtain a warrant for the apprehending of Mother Wells. Accordingly $ on the 31st of January, the girl was carried before him, and her deposition taken ; in which she declared, the room she was confined in was a darkish little square room 5 that she lay upon the boards, vhat there was nothing in the room except a grate \vkh a gown in it, and that there was a. picture over the chimney. This MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY ; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 369 This account differing in some circumstances from what she deposed afterwards, and from what the room was found to be, (especially in regard to the dimensions, it being 30 feet long, and only 9 broad ; and in respect to her lying on the boards, for she had said at first that there \vas hay in the room, and has deposed the same on oatli since,) has been strongly allcdged against her, as a proof of her whole story being false : But on the other side it is said, that as the girl was extremely faint and weak at the time of this examination, as there was a great number of persons present, so that even the aldehflari himself owned on the late trial, that he did not know how Mother Wells' s name came to be put down in the warrant he signed for apprehending her ; us being the person Avho had eut Canning's stavs off, he not remembering that the jnrlevei* O ^ ' O O mentioned her name ; considering all these circumstances, those persons that espouse her cause say, that the difference which was in her deposition at this time, might probably arise from the mistake of the clerk, who took it amidst the talk of so many persons. A warrant being granted by the alderman, it was resolved that the girl should be carried down in a coach the next day, and several of her friends agreed to accompany her on horseback ; among which were Mr. I.yon, her master whom she lived with, Mr. Wintlebury, with whom she had lived before, Mr. Xash, Mr. Mage, Mr. Aldrich, Mr. Adamson, Mi-. Skcrret, Mrs. Woodward, and several others of her neighbours and ac- quaintance. When they came down, the girl was first car- ried out of the coach in a man's arms into the kitchen of Mother Wells's housL*, and set on the dresser, where she seemed verv faint and ill ; upon which her master, Lvon, bid her not be frightened, for she was among friends, but. at the same time charged her to be sure not to sweat any thing rashly, but to be cruite certain before she fixed any one. She was then carried into the parlour, ivert Mother 370 A FULL ANG AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OJ* Mother Wells the gipsy, her son and daughter, Vertue Hall and Judith Natus, were under the care of an officer, who had apprehended them early in the morning. As soon as she was brought into the room, the girl pitched upon the gipsy as the person who had cut her stays off, and said that Lucy Squires and Vertue Hall stood by ; as to Mother Wells, she said that she did not know she had ever scon her before, and she could not say any thing as to George Squires ; however, they were all put in a cart together, and carried before Justice Tyshemaker. Before they came hither, George Squires, the gipsy's son, having got his great coat on, the girl, as soon as she saw him be- fore the Justice, said he then looked much more like one of the men who had robbed her in Moor fields ; however, she wouid not swear against him, so that the justice discharged him and the rest, except the gipsy and Mother Wells, one of whom he committed to prison, as being swore against by the girl for robbing her of her stays, and the other for keeping a disorderly house. But before the sessions came on, that they were to take their trial at, the friends of Canning thought they should be able to go more to the bottom of the affair, by appre- hending Vertue Hall, who was a servant in Mother W ells' s house; thev therefore applied to Justice Fielding, who, upon Cunning's making an information upon oath before him, granted a warrant for apprehending Vertue Hall. It will be seen that thr-re was some disagreement between this information of Canning's, sworn before Justice Field- ing, with that made before the alderman, and likewise with what she deposed on the trial of the gipsv, which was one of the m;;:n foundations of the indictment brought against her for wilful and corrupt perjury. Vertue Hall, who first became a witness in her favour, and afterwards wished to recant, also deposed before Jus- tice Fielding, that on Tuesday the 2d day 'of January last past, MARY SQUITIES, A GIPSY ; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 371 past, about four of the clock in the morning, a young woman, whose name she since heard is Elizabeth Canning, was brought (without any gown, hat or apron on,) to the bouse of one Susannah Wells, of Enfield Wash, widow, by two men, the name of one of whom is John Squires, the reputed son of one Mary Squires, an old gipsy woman, who then, and some little time before, had lodged at the house of the said Susannah Wells, but the name of the other of the said two men, she knows not, never having seen him before or since to the best of her knowledge. When Elizabeth Canning was brooght into the kitchen of the said Wells's hous-j, there were present the said Mary Squires, John Squires, the man unknown, Katharine Squires, the reputed daughter of the said Mary Squires, and herself, and she does not recollect that any one else was in the said kitchen at that time. That immediately upon Elizabeth Canning being brought in, John Squires said, " Here, Mother, take this girl ;" words to that effect : and Mary Squires asked him where they had brought her from ; John said irorn Moornelds, and told his said mother that they had taken her gown, apron, hat, and half a guinea from her. Whereupon Marv Squires took hold of Elizabeth Canning's hand, and asked her if she would go their way, or words to t i;.t e-lect ; and upon her answer- ing no, Mary Squires took a knife out of tite drawer of the dresser in the kitchen, and cut the lace of Elizabeth Canning's stays, took them from her, and hung them on the back of a chair, and the said man unknown, took the cap on Cunning's head, and then with John Squires, went out of doors with it. Quickly after they were gone, Mary- Squires pushed Eli/ali^t j Canning along the kitchen, to- wards and up a j.a'r of a tairs leading- into a large back- room, like abuviolt, <_aiied the workshop, where there was some bay j and whilst she was so pushing her towards the stairs, SusamiiiU Weils came into the kitchen, and $12 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF asked what she was going to push the girl up stairs for ? Mary Squires Answered, " What is it to you ? You have no businqss with her." About two hours after, a quantity of water in an o|d broken-mouthed large black jug, was carried up the said stairs, and put down upon the tioor ; and soon after. Elizabeth Canning was so put into the said workshop ; John Squires returned again into the kitchen, and took the. stays from off the chairs, and went away with the same, and in about an hour's time re- turned, aiid went into the parlour with the said Susannah Wells ; M'ho said to her, " Vertue, the gipsy man lias been telling- me that hjs mother had cut the girl's (meaning the said Elizabeth Canning's) stays oft' her back ;" and further said, " I desire you will not make a clack of it, for fear it should be blown.'" And from the time of Eliza- beth Canning being so confined in the morning of the said second day of January, in manner as aforesaid, she was iiot missed, or discovered to have escaped, until Wecjnes- day the 31st day of the same month of January, as she verily believes ; that to the best of her recollection and belief, she was the person that first missed Elizabeth Can- ning thereout. And the said Susannah Wells harboured and continued Mary Squires in her aforesaid bouse, from the time of Mary Squires vcb^mg Elizabeth Canning of her stays, until Thursday the 1st day of February last past, when Susannah Wells, Sarah her daughter, Mary Squires, John Squh'es, his two sisters Katharine and Mary Squires, Fortune ^s,a;us, and Sarah his wife, and this in- formant, were, apprehended, and carried before Justice Tyshemaker. And that Fortune Natus, and Sarah his wife, to the best of her belief, have lodged in the house of Susannah Wells about eleven weeks next before Mon- day the 5th day of February instant, and continued lying thereuntil Thursday; when all, except Susannah Wells and Mary Squires, were discharged, and thej that evening, the MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELTZ. CANNING. 373 the said Fortune Natus and Sarah his wife, laid up in the said workshop where the said Elizabeth Canning had been confined : so that as this informant understood, it might be pretended that they had lain in the said workshop for all the time they had lodged in the said Susannah Wells's house, c. &c. The next day an advertisement appeared in the news- papers, offering a reward of ten pounds for taking of John Squires, the gipsy son, and ten pounds for taking his ac- complice.. Nothing very material happened in the affair after this, (except that the gipsy engaged an attorney to undertake her cause, and subpoena several witnesses in her behalf) till the sessions at the Old Bailey, which be- gan on Wednesday the 21st of February 1153, where the gipsy and Mother Wells Avere indicted. What passed there, according to the sessions paper, was as follows, the substance of which was read in Court at the late trial : " Mary Squires, widow, and Susannah Weils, were indicted ; the first, for that she, on the 2d day of January, in the dwelling-house of Susannah Wells, widow, on Eli- O ' zabeth Canning, spinster, did make an assault, putting her, the said Elizabeth Canning, in corporeal fear and danger of her life, one pair of stays, value [Os. the pro- perty of the said Elizabeth, from her person in the dwell- ing-house did steal, take, and curry a'vuv. " And the latter, for that she, veil kno-wing that she, the said Mary Squires, to have done and committed the said felony aforesaid on the- 2d of January, her the said Mary did then and there feloniously receive, harbour, comfort, conceal, and maintain, .tgainst las Majesty's peace, and against the form of the statute. " Elizabeth Canning. I had been to Saltpetre Bank to see an uncle and aunt ; his name is Thomas Collcy : I set out from home about two in the afternoon, and staid there till about nine at night on the 1st of January ; then 1113' r c c c uncle A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OP uncle and aunt came with me as far as Aldgate, where we parted ; I was then alone, so came down Hounsditch and over Moorfields by Bedlam Wall ; there two lusty men, both in great coats^ laid hold of me, one on each side ; they said nothing to me at first, but took half a guinea in a, little box out of my pocket, and three shillings that were loose. Q. Which man took that r E. Canning. The man on my right hand : they topk my gown, apron, and hat, and folded them up and put them into a greatcoat pocket. I screamed out ; then the man that took my gown put a handkerchief, or some such thing, to my mouth. Q> Were there any persons walking near you at that time?- E. Canning. L saw nobody: they then tied my hands behind me ; after which one of them gave me a blow on the temple, and said, 1) n you, you b h, tee tall do for you by and by. I having been subject to con- vulsion fits these four years, this blow stunned me, an4 threw me directly into a fit. Q. Are these fits attended with a struggling ? E. Canning. I don't know that. Q. What happened afterwards r E. Canning. The first thing that I remember after this was, I found myself by a large road, where was water, with the two men that rob- bed me, Q.. Had you any discourse with them ? E. Canning. I had none ; they took me to the prisoner Wells' s house. Q. About what time do you think it might be ? E. Canning. As near as I can think, it was about four o'clock in the morning ; I had recovered from my fit about half an hour before I came to the house. Thev luo-o-ed me CO along, and said, You b /?, why don't you walk faster? One !ia.tl hold of my right arm, and the other on the left, and so pulled me along. Q. Can you form any judgment in w at manner you was conveyed to the place before you recovered of your fit ? E. Canning. I think they dragged me along by my petticoats, they being- so dirty. Q. When, you came to Weils's house, was it day-light < E. Can- ning. MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 373 hing. No, it was not ; I think it Avas day -light in about three hours, or better, after I was there, which is the rea- son I believe I was carried in about four o'clock.- - Q. When you was carried in, what did you see there ? - E. Canning. I saw the gipsy woman Squires, who was sitting in a chair, and two young women in the same room ; Vertue Hall, the evidence, was one : ,they were standing against a dresser. Q. Did you see the prisoner Wells there r E. Canning. No, I did not. As soon as I was brought in, Mary Squires took me by the hand, and asked me if I chose to go their way, saying, if I did, I should have clothes ; I said no. Q. Did she explain to you what she meant by going their way ? E. Canning. No, sir : then she went and took a knife out of a dresser drawer^ and cut the h;cc off my stays, and took then) from me. - Q.. Had you, at that time, any apprehensions of danger ? E. Canning. I thought she was going to cut my throat, when I saw her take the knife. Q. Did you see the pri- soner Wells at that time ? E. Canning. No, I did not. Q. Was any thing else taken from you ? E. Canning. There was not then, but Squires looked at my petticoat, and said, Jlere, you b h, you may keep that, of, 7 1 // give you that, it is not worth much; and gave me a slap on the face. Q. Had she the petticoat in her hand ? E. Can- ning. No, it was on me ; after that she pushed me up stairs from out of tht'kitchen where we were. Q. Describe the kitchen ? E. Canning. The kitchen was at the ri^ht o o hand going in at the door, and the stairs are near the fire. Q. How many xteps to them ? E. Canning. There are four or five of them. Q. What did they call the name of the place where they put you in? E. Canning. They call it the havloft : the room door was shut as soon as I was put in. Q,. Was it fastened ? E. Canning. 1 don't know that ; it was at the bottom of the stairs in the kitchen. After she shut the door, she said, if ever she he^rd me stir c c c 2 wi 376 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT Of or move, or any such tiling, she'd cut my throat. Gi. Diet you see any thing brought up to eat or drink ? E. Can- ning. I saw nothing brought up : when day -light ap- peared, I could see about the room ; there was a fire-place and a grate in it, no bed or bedstead, nothing but hay to lie upon ; there was a black pitcher, not quite full of water, and about 24 pieces of bread, (a pitcher produced in Court,) this is the pitcher, which Avas full to near the neck. Q,. How much in quantity do you think these 2t pieces of bread might be? E. Canning. I believe about a quartern loaf. Q. Had you nothing else to subsist on ? E. Canning. I had in my pocket a penny minced pye, which I bought that day to carry home to my brother. Q. How long did you continue in that room ? E. Can- ning. A month by the weeks, all but a few hours. Q.. What do you mean by a month by the weeks ? E. Can- ning. I mean a four weeks month. Q.. Did any body come to you in the room during that time .? E. Canning. v O O Noj sir, nobody at all. On the Wednesday before I came away, I saw somebody look through the crack of the door, but don't know who it was. Q. Did you, during the time you Avas in this confinement) make any attempts to comu down stairs, or make your escape : E. Canning. No, sir, I did not till the time I got out. Q,. Had you any thing to subsist on during the time, besides the pieces of bread, penny pye, and pitcher of water ? E* Canning. No, I had not. Q.. At what time did you get out ? E. Canning. I got out about four o'clock in the afternoon on a Monday, after I had been confined there four weeks, all but a few hours. Ilow did vou -et out t E. Cannin<>-. I broke * O O down a board that was nailed up at the inside of a win- dow, and got out there. Q. How high was the window from the ground : E. Canning. (She described it by tho hcightofa place in the sessions-house, M'hich was about eight or teu feet high.) Firjt I got my head out, and kept MATlY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND fcLIZ. BANNING. 377 kept fast hold by the Avail and got my body out ; after that I turned myself round and jumped into a little narrow place by a lane with a field behind it. Q. Did not the jump hurt you ? E. Canning. No, it was soft clay ground. Q. Was it light then ? E. Cunning. It was. Q. What did you do for clothing rE. Canning. I took an old sort of a bed-o-own and a handkerchief that were in this C? hayloft, and lav in a orate in the chimney (produced in fc- > J O V \ 1 Court). I made my ear bleed at getting out ; the hand- kerchief I tied over my head instead of a cap, it was very bloody. Q, Did you see any body when you jumped out at the window ? E. Canning. No, nobody at all ; then I went on the backside the house up a lane, and crossed a little brook, and over two fields, us I think, but I did not take notice how many fields ; the path-way brought me by the road-side : 4hen I went by the road strait to Lon- don. Q.. Did you know the way r E. Canning. I did not. Q.. Did you call at any house ? E. Canning. No, I did not ; it struck ten o'clock just as I came over Mcor- fiekls. I got home about a quarter after to my mother's house in Aldermanbury. Q. Did you acquaint any body with your misfortune coming along ? E. Canning. No, I did not. Q. Who did you meet with first : E. Can- ning. I met with the apprentice first ; then I saw mv mother and the children : she went into a fit directly. Q,. Did you give an account to any body "how you had been treated r E. Canning. Yes, I did to Mrs. Wood- ward, who came to see me, that I had lived on bread and water. She was so affrighted, she could not ask me manv questions then. Then Mr. WhrileburV came in, with. whom I lived servant before I went to lire with Mr. LVOTI ; he took me by the hand, and asked me where I had been; I said, sir, in the Hertfordshire Head ; he said B-,-t, how do you know that ? I said, because I saw mv mistress's coachman go by, which, she used to go in into the country int 378 A FtJLL AND AUTHENTIS ACCOUNT OP into Hertfordshire, (that was Mrs. Wintlebury,) I knew the coach, -because I used to carry things to it, and fetch them back again. Q.. Was you asked any questions about the room or jug that night, and what you had to subsist on? E. Canning. Yes, there were many people cama in, and I told them I had a jug which was not quite full of water ; they asked me how much, and I said, I believe, better than a gallon of it ; they asked me also how I got out, and I said I broke out of the window, and had torn my car in getting out, which bled ail the way coming home. Q. What things did you observe, in this hayloft? E. Canning. There was a barrel, a saddle, a bason, and a tobacco mould. Q,. What do }'ou mean by a tobacco inould f E. Canning. I mean such a thing that they do up pennyworths of tobacco with. CROSS EXAMINATION. Q.. How long might these two men continue with you in Moorfields ? E. Canning. About half an hour. Q. Did any body pass at the time ? E. Canning. Nobody at all. Q.. Was this box, that contained your half guinea, taken out of your pocket ? E. Canning. Yes, sir, it was. Q. Had vou any thing else in your pocJiet ? E. Canning. I had a pocket handkerchief with a pye in it, which I did not lose. Q.. Was there any light near this place where you was first attacked r E. Canning. There was a lamp. Q. Have you recollected how long you lay in this tit be- fore you came to yourself? E. Canning. I cannot be ^ure, but it was about half an hour before I arrived at Wells' s house. Q,. During the time of your first being attacked, whether you had any degree of sense at all ? E. Canning. T\ ; ot till half an hour before I came to that house. Q.. Had you sense enough of any sort to know by what means you was conducted r E. Cunning. I think they dragged me along by my petticoats, they were made BO dirty, but I was uot sensible. Ci. Was you in any sur- prise MARY SQUIfcES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 375 prise when she took your stays ? E. Canning. I was in a, great surprise, and all of a tremble. Q.. Then how can you tell who was there at the time ? E. Canning. Tl>e terror made me look about me to see what company was there. Q,. How long did the two men stay in the room ? E. Canning. They staid no longer than till they saw my stays cut off, then they went away, before I was put up in the loft. Q. Did not you make an attempt to get out before that Monday you talk of I E. Canning. I did not. Q. How came you not to make an attempt before ? E 4 Canning. Because J thought they might let mo out ; it never came into my head till that morning.- Q. Where was you sitting when you saw somebody peep through tl)Q erack _of the door f E. Canning. I was walking along the room. Q.. How wide was this crack ? E. Canning. It was about a quarter of an inch wide. Q^ Did not you, in the whole 21 days, perceive where you was ? E. Can- ning. I did in about a week alter, by seeing the coach go Joy. Q.. Was not you extremely weak ? E. Canning. I was pretty weak. Q^ Was you ever that way before r E. Cunning. No, I never was. Q^ Did not you pass many houses in your way home f E. Canning. I did, and asked my way of people on the road. Q^ How came you being in that deplorable condition, not to go into some house, and relate the hardships you had gone through? E. Canning. J thought if I did, may be I mio-ht meet somebody belonging to that house. Q^ Did you see the prisoner Wells while you was in that confine- ment r E. Canning. I never saw her in the house at ail till I went down afterwards. Q_. Had von any of your fits while in that room ? E. Canning. I had not, but w;:s fainting and sick. Squires. I never saw that witness in i*iv lifetime, till this day three weeks Q^ How was the prisoner Squires dressed when yon was carried in? E. (Canning. She was sitting in her gown with a handker- chief. 380 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF cliief about her head. -Q^ Did you never during all the time, try if the door was fastened or not ? E. Canning. I cr, 7 haie brought you a girl, do you. talc, HIT; u>cn she asked E. Canning whether she would go her way. -Q^ What did she mean by that. 3 Vertue Hall. She meant for her to turn whore, but she would not. Q^ Do you mention this by way of explanation, or as words as she said ? Vertue Hall. As words as she s;i.id : t':en Mary Squires took a knife out of a dresser. drawer, in the kitchen, and ripped the lace off her stays, and pulled them oli", and hung them on the back of a chair MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELI2. CANNING. 381 cluiir in the kitchen, and pushed her up into the room, and said, D -n you, go up there then, if you please; then the man that came in with the gypsy's son, took the cap off Elizabeth Canning's head, and went out of doors with it ; the gypsy man John Squires, took the stays off the chair, and went out with them. Q. Where was E. Canning, when the two men took awav the O y *> things ? Vcrtue Hall. She was then up in the room. Q. Had you ever hecn in that room ? Vertue Hall. I had, before she was brought there, several times. Q 4 What was the name they called it by? Vertue Hall. They called it by the name of the work-shop; there was a great deal of hay in it; they only put lumber in it; there was a great many pieces of wood, a tobacco mould, and this black jug: About three hours after the young woman was put up, Mary Squires filled the jug with water, and carried it up. Q. How do you know it was three hours after ? Vertue Hall. Then it began to be Jightish. Q. Did you hear any talk between them after she was in the room ? Vertue Hall. They took care I should know but. little. Q. Has Susannah Wells a hus- band : Vertue Hall. No, she has not; when I went out of the kitchen, I went into the parlour; Wells said, Vertue Hall, the gipsy man came in and told me that his mother had cut the stays off the young woman's back, and he had got them ; and she bid me not say any thing to make a clack of it, fearing it should be known. Q. How long was you in that house ? Vertue Hall. I was there a quarter of a year in all, if not more ; I was there the whole time E. Canning was there, but I never saw her once after she was put up into that room ; I was the first that missed her; I asked the gipsy woman once, whether the girl was gone; she answered, What is that to you, you have no business with it; but I durst not, go to see if she was gone ; if I had, very likely they would BSD have 582 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF have served me so. Q. Did you ever see the other man after that night : Venue Hall. No, I never did. Q. Who lodged in the house at the time besides? Vertue Hall. There was Fortunatus did. Q. Did Mary Squires continue in the house long after this ? Vertue Hall. She did, till we were all taken up, which was, I think, on the Thursday after the young woman was gone. Q. What was you in that house? Vertue Hall. I went there as a lodger, but J was forced to do as they would have inc. Q. "From Mary Squires. What day was it that the young woman was robbed? Court. She says in the morn- ing of the second of January. M. Squires. I return O ** I thanks for telling me, for I am as innocent as the child unborn. Q. From Wells. How long were these people (mean- ing the gipsies) at my house in all, from first to last ? Vertue Hall. They were there six or seven weeks in all ; they had been thereabout a fortnight before the you ncr / O V '*- woman was brought in. Q. Did you ever see this cap or bed-c;own before? Vertue Hall. Not to mv knowledge. O / Q Thomas Colley. 1 am Elizabeth Canning's uncle.; I live at Saltpetre Bank :'on the New Year's day she dined and supped at my house, and went away about nine in the evening, as near as I can guess ; I and my wife went along with her to Hoimdsditch, almost to the Blue Bail, there we parted with her, about a quarter or very near half an hour after nine o'clock. Q. How was she cloatli- cd ? Colley. She had a gown, hat, and white apron on, Elizabeth Canning. E. Canning, that has given her evidence, is my daughter; after she was missing from New Year's day, I advertised her three times; she came back on the day before King Charles's martyrdom, about a quarter after ten o'clock at night ; she had nothing but this ragged bed-gown and a cap, 1 fell into a fit directly ; MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY ; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 333 my daughter is subject to fits ; there was a garret ceiling fell in upon her head, which first occasioned them ; and at times, when anv hodv speaks hastily to her. or on anv * ' i *f ' ,/ surprize, she is very liable to fall in one; she has some- times continued in one, seven or eight hours, sometimes three or four ; she is not sensible during the time she is in one, no more than a new born babe: when I came to myself, my daughter was talking to Mrs. Woodward and Mr. Wintlebury ; they asked her where she had been, she said on the Hertfordshire Road, which she knew by seeinor a coach s-oino; bv ; she ;ave the same account she O O O */ ' O has here. When she came into her warm bed, she was very sick, and had no free passage through her for stool or urine, till she was supplied with glisters for seven days /irter she came home, but what was forced by halt' a cup full at a time. John Wintlebury. I saw Elizabeth Canning the night she came home ; she appeared in a very bad condition, and had this dirty bed-gown and cap on. Hearing she was come home, I went to her mother's house, and said, Bet, How do you do: She said, I am very bad. Said \. } Where have you been : She said, she had been somewhere on the Hertfordshire Road, because she had seen the Hertford- shire Coach go backwards and forwards. Q. Have you heard the evidence she lias given here in court? \\ intle- bury. I have ; she gave the same account that night, but not quite so fully that night as she did before the sitting Alderman, on the Wednesday after, but all agrees with what she has said there ; I found her in a great flurry, so did not ask her many questions that night. Joseph Adamson. I have known E. Canning the younger for some years ; 1 never saw her after she came home, till the day we went down to take the people up ; L and several neighbours of us agreed to go to the place, K-'iiie on horseback and some in the coach with E- Can* D D D <2 liin 9 584 A PULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF ning ; I was down about an hour, or an hour an half, before the coach came, and had secured all the people we found there ; I seeing the room before she was brought in, thought she was capable of giving some account of it; I returned to meet her, and asked her about it; she described the room with some hay in it, a chimney place in the corner of it, an odd sort of an empty room ; I went with her to the house, and carried her out of the chaise into the kitchen, and set her on the dresser, and ordered all the people to be brought to her, to see if she knew any of them ; she was then very weak ; I took her in my arms like a child : Upon seeing Mary Squires, she said, That is the woman that cut my stays off, and threatened to cut my throat if I made a noise. Q. ' .Did any of the people seem unwilling to be inspected. Adamson. Yes, they were very unwilling to be stopped, when we went down in the morning, particularly Mary Squires j after the girl had said this of Squires, Squires said to her, she hoped she would not swear her life away, for she never saw her before ; E. Canning pointed to Vertuo Hall, and said, That young woman was in the kitchen when I was brought in ; she pointed also to another young woman, and said, She was there at the time. Then we carried her up to examine the house; she said, none of the rooms she had seen, was the room in which she was coniincd : Then I asked if there were any other room ; they said, yes, out of the kitchen, (I had before been in it, but did not. say so then, because I had a mind to see if she knew it;) we had her up into it; she gaid, This is the same room in which I wns, but here is more hay in it than there was then ; I laid my hand upon, it, and said, It has lately been shook up; it lay hollow : fche was then pretty near a casement. Said I, If you have been so long in this room., doubtless you are able to say what MARY SCUIEE5, A GIPSY; ANDELIZ. CANNING. 385 what is to be seen out here : she described a hill at a dis- tance, -which is Chinkford-Hill ; I believe she could not see it at the time she spoke about it, for I was between her and the casement, with my back towards the case- ment ; she also said there were some houses on the other side of the lane; then I opened the casement, w.e looked, and it was as she had described : I asked where was the window she broke out of; she shew- ed it us (there were some boards nailed up against it), and i ; aid, That is the window I used to see the coach go by at ; then we pulled down ihe boards, it was big enough fer me to have got out of it, it appeared to me to be the same window be i ore she came to the house, for I saw some of the plaister broke off on the outside ; that win- dow v, as one storv high, Edward Lyon. The young woman lived servant with me till she was missing ; I live in Aldenn anbury, I was one of the persons that went down to Wclls's house, I went after the rest of the gentlemen on the first of Fe- bruary, we were there some time before she came, and had taken the pccplo up; when she came, she was car- ried into the kitchen, and set on the dresser, and the peo- ple sat all round her; I said to her, Bet, don't be fright- ened or uneasy, yon see your friends about you, and on the other hand don't be too sure, without you really caa swear to what you say, therefore be very careful. She pitched upon Mary Squires to be the person that cut her stays off; she pitched upon a young woman that was said to be daughter to Alary .Squires, and said she was in the kitchen at the time, and likewise Vertue Hall, but said thev did nothing to her: this black jua; was brought v ' *} O down, a bason, and the tobacco mould; she said tiiev were both in the room where .she was confined ; she had described this jug before, and said it was broken at the mouth., as it now appears to be. Robert 58C> A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF Robert Scarrat. I went down to Enfield-Wash , there were six of us in all, her mother and two women were with her in the chaise; she described the fields, and likewise a bridge, that night she came home, near the house ; I asked her if she perceived a tanner's house near, she said she believed there was. Q. Have you heard the other evidences that went down, give their evi- dence ? Scarrat. I have, and what they said is the truth, which I heard also; I also heard E. Canning examined before the sitting alderman, she gave the same account she has done here. Q. Was John Squires in the room at the time she pitched upon his mother and the rest r Scar- rat. He was; she said she could not swear to him; he had his great coat on at our first going there, but he had pulled it off; she said he looked like the person, but she could not swear to him; they made him put his great coat on before the Justice, then she said, he looked more like one of the two men that brought her there. Edward Rossiter. I went down with the rest on the Thursday ; I heard E. Canning examined before Mr. Tyshemaker the Justice ; she gave the same account then as now ; she said John Squires was much like one of the men, when he had got his great coat on? she said, she did not see Wells in the house, but she once saw her out at a window, but did not know she was the woman that be- longed to the house. Sutherton Tiakler. I am an apothecary ; I saw E. Can- ning the day after she came home, on the 30th of Janu- ary about noon, she was extremely low and weak; I could scarcely hear her speak, her voice was so low, and her pulse scarcely to be felt, with cold sweats; she told me she had no passage during the whole time of her confinement, she was then in such a condition she had a glyster administered the same day; she had many glys- U-TH given her, which after some time relieved her. Q. Whether MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELlZ. CANNING. 38? Q. Whether a person that is extremely costive cannot subsist longer without food, or with less food, than a per- son that is not so? Balder. I cannot answer to that. Hach of the persons that said they went down to take the prisoners were asked where they went to, and answered to Endfield-Wash, the house of the prisoner Wells. Mary Squires said nothing in her defence, but called the following witnesses: John Gibon. I live at Abbotsbury, six miles from Dorchester, I am master of the house called the Old Ship; on the first of January, 1753, the prisoner Squires came into the house; there was George her son, and Lucy her daughter with her, as she called them- she came with handkerchiefs,, lawns., muslins, and checks, to sell about town ; she staid there from the first to the ninth day of the month, and lay at my house. Q. How long have you kept that house ? Gibon. I have kept it two years, come Lady-day. Q. Look at the woman, are you sure that is her? Gibon. lie looks at Squires, and says, I am sure it is. CROSS Y.XA MIX A TIO \. Q. How long have you known her? Gibon. I have known her three years, and have seen her there thive years ago. Q, How long have you lived there r Gibon. I was born at that town, I am a married man, have a wife and one child, i was bred in the farming way at l : isherton. Q. By what do you recollect the day?- Gibon. There came an exciseman to officiate there for one John Ward that was sick, and I put the day of the month down when he came ; the excise office is kept at my house, the man that came was Andrew Wicks, or Wick. Q. Did you see the prisoner sell any of these goods you mentioned : Gibon. No, I did not ; they offered them to sell to me, and others ; my wife bought two checque aprons, William S88 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF William Clark. I live at Abbot&biny, and have for seven years ; I remember seeing the gipsy there ; the last time I saw her,, was on the lG:h of January last ; I met with them on the road,, we went some way together, we parted at Crudeway Foot., four miles from Abbotsburv, and there from Dorchester. Q. Where was they goiriG; ? Clark. I can't tell that. Q. Had you ever seen her before r Clark. I saw her, and her son and daughter., three years ago come March, at Abbotsbury ; they came with handkerchiefs, lawns, and muslins to sell ; I sa\v the landlord's wife at the ship buy some aprons of them the last time they were there. CROSS EXAHt^ATIOS. Q. How came you to take particular notice of the clay i' Clark. l>y keeping my other accounts ; 1 carried goods out with me the same day to Portesham. Q. Have you your book with you ? Clark. JXo, I have not, but ] can't forget the day, because I don't go so often. Q. Which way were they going: Clark. The v \\ere making for London, they talked so. Q. Did thev give you any account to what place they v.vrc bound next, ; Clark. Thev did not; they lodged at this mail's house' (pointing to Gibon) at Abbotsbury. (<. Did you sec them there ? Clark. I did, on the first ot January ; I commonly go there of an evening to ha 1 , o a not of liquor. Q. Do YOU remember when you kept Christinas day. Clark. I do not. Q. Can you give any account of the ^New-style or Old : Clark. No, I cannot; but if I was to die for the woman, I'll speak the truth. Q. How was she cloathed there ': Clark. The same a.~, now, and th:> son in a blue coat and red waistcoat, and hud a greatcoat with him. Q. What size is he ; Chirk. He is about rive feet seven or eight inches high ; t;ie girl was in it eamblet govrn. Q. Yon arc sure you saw her the time , you mention r Clark. I undertake to swear positively to MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY J AND ELIZ. CANNING. 389 to that, that I saw her there on the first of January last, and either on the ninth or tenth afterwards, and saw them going about the town in the time to sell things. Q. What are you? I am a housekeeper, and have been ill business about six years ; I am a cordwainer* Thomas Grevil. I live at Coom, three miles from Salisbury ; I keep a public house there, the sign of the Lamb ; I saw Mary Squires at my house on the 14th of January. Q. How many miles is Coom from Dorches- ter? GreviK I cannot tell. Q. Who was with her there? Grevil. There was her sister and her brother, as she said ; they sold handkerchiefs, lawns, and such things. Q. How long did she stay at Coom ? Grevil. They stop- ped there but one night. , CROSS EXAMINATION. Q. What January do yon mean ? Grevil. I mean last January, five weeks ago last Sunday. Q. How came 3*011 to take such particular notice of it? Grevil. There was a carpenter at my house, he having spent the biggest part of his mon 63*, it being Sunday, night, I would have him go about his business, and put him out of the house two or three times, and after that he went over the way to another house, and pawned his axe.- These three wit- nesses shewed their subpoenas, as the cause of their com- ing to give their evidence. FOR THE CROWS. John Iniser. I sell fish and oysters about Waltham? Crosa and Theobalds. I know the prisoner Squires very well bv sight} the last time I saw her before now, was at the time she was taken at Susannah Wells's house ; be- fore that I had seen her several times every day up and down before she was taken, Q. Are you very certain of that? Iniser. I am that I saw her three weeks before^ that she walked into people's houses pretending to teli fortunes : sbe told ins mine once. Q. Did you see any E S S(jO A I'ULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF goods she had to sell ? Iniser. No, I did not, I always? saw lier by herself: I saw a young man in blue-grey when she was taken up, and two young women, all taken in the house of Wells. Wells being called upon to make her defence, said, As to her character it was but an indifferent one, that she had had an unfortunate husband who was hanged. And added, she never saw the young woman (meaning E. Canning) till they came to take us up ; and as to Squires, she never saw her above a week and a day before they were taken up. Squires guilty, DEATH. Wells guilty. Squires, the last day of the sessions, being asked what she had to say before she received sentence, answered, that, " On JN'ew Year's Day I lay at Coom, at the widow Grevil's house; the next day 1 was at Stoptage; there were some people who were cast away, and they came along with me to a little house on the top of the moor, and drank there ; there were my son and daughter with me. Coming along Popliam Lane, there were some peo- ple raking up dung. I drank at the second alehouse in Basingstoke on the Thursday in the new year week. On the Friday 1 lay at Bagshot-ilcath, at a little tiney house on the heath. On the Saturday I lay at Old Brentford, at Mrs. Edwards's, who sells greens and small-beer. I could have told this before, but one pulled me and ano- ther pulled me, and would not let me speak. I lav at Mrs. Edwards's on the Sunday and Mondav, and on the Tuesday or Wednesday after I came from thence to Mrs. Wells's house." The trial being thus ended, some days after the con- demnation of the gipsy, it began to be talked that Vertur Hall, who had sworn so positively to all the particulars at the Old Bailey, had or would recant all her evidence: that, she had deposed there, and swear the whole to bp Jalse. l)r. Hili, a gentleman well known for his many writings MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY ; AND ELIZ. CANNING.- 39 1 vntings, seems to have been principally the first con- cerned in bringing out this recantation of Vertue Hall. Burip.g which time,, Dr. Hill assures us that the Lord Mayor, Sir Crisp Gascoyne, had received proofs as strong as even this recantation of \'ertue Hall,, of the perfect innocency of the gipsy. Dr. Hill's pamphlet warmly insisted upon the improba- bility of Canning's story, and the consequent innocence of .the gipsy; which iu fact caused public opinion to be . c o highly interested in the affair, that after their preju- dice in favour of the girl Canning, had subsided, the gipsies friends met with very little difficulty in bringing her opponentto trial. It is allowed to be incontestably true tJiat the girl came home to her mother in a ragged and starved condition; but yet, there was no proof but what she might have possibly been elsewhere, as her descrip- tion of mother Well's house, and a number of other par- ticulars, were positively contradictory and defective. If she had been elsewhere, the greatest misfortune of the gipsy's friends, was they could not possibly prove where she really had keen. Elizabeth Canning's friends, par- ticularly Henry Fielding, Esq. represented her as a poor, inoffensive, simple girl ; this however, the other party re- presented as a matter by no means clear. As for Vertue Hall, though she seemed at first entirely gained over to Canning's cause, she did not appear to have been in the least degree acquainted with Canning's secrets or her real situation. A medical gentleman, Dr. Cox, said much to prove that the chastity of E. Canning remained perfectly in- violate after her return to her mother's, which was cor- roborated by a Mr. Dodd, and others ; however, we now proceed to the last scene of this mysterious affair, the {rial of E. Canning, she being indicted for wilful and K E E 2 corrupt A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OP corrupt perjury, at the April sessions of the Old Bailey, 1753. On this occasion, it is to be observed, there were two indictments preferred, one against her, and another against the Abbotsbury \vitnesses, who appeared in behalf of Mary Squires on her trial. On examining the witnesses on both sides, the Grand Jury rinding a contradiction be- tween them, threw out both the bills, to prevent the per- juries on one side or the other, that the trial of these causes would occasion in court. But the parties against Canning did hot rest here, but again preferred an indict- ment against her at the June sessions following ; at which time an indictment was preferred the second time against the Abbotsbury witnesses ; both which indictments were found by the Grand Jury the 8th of June last. In con- sequence of this, the Abbotsbury witnesses appeared on their trial at the Old Bailey ; but by the neglect or over- sight of those who prosecuted them, not a single witness was subpoenaed against them, nor any council fee'd to attend the trial ; but on the day of trial, certificates were delivered to remove the indictments into the Court of King's Bench, yet under such circumstances, that the court at the Old Bailey ordered the persons indicted to the bar; and there being no person then to appear against them, they were discharged. Canning's friends, to pre-* vent her trial at the Old Bailey till the Lord Mayor, who was the gipsy's friend, was out of office, and thinking to remove it into the Court of King's Bench, took care to secret her so that when the indictment for perjury was to be served upon her she could not be found. However, Canning's friends fearing the consequences of an out- lawry, they gave notice they would surrender her up in the April sessions, and Monday the CQrh was the day fixed for the trial. A* MATJY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 393 As this event bad long engaged the attention of the public, the court was, early on the day, crowded to an uncommon degree. The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, Mr. Baron Legge, Mr. Baron dive, and other Justices for London and Middlesex, with the Recorder of the city of London, were on the bench. The counsel for the prosecution were Mr. Davy, Mr. Willes, and Mr. Gascoyne; for the prisoner, Mr. Moreton, Mr. Naires, and Mr. Williams. Elizabeth Canning 1 was brought into court about nine O O o'clock, dressed in a clean linen gown, and had a black bonnet on. Her behaviour appeared quite modest, and she did not seem any ways terrified or discomposed : her stature is short, and her complexion fresh. But it is un- necessary to suy move of her person, as the portrait in our last number is a striking resemblance. The Court pro- ceeding to business, she was indicted for that she, not having the fear of God before her eyes, did wickedly en- deavour, by wilful and corrupt perjury, to take away the life of one of his Majesty's subjects (contrary to the laws of this kingdom, and his Majesty's crown and dignity), in falsely swearing a robbery against Mary Squires, a gipsy. To which indictment the prisoner pleaded Not Guilty, and put herself upon her trial. Tr>e Jury being- then called over, fifteen of them were challenged by the prosecutor's council, and only three by the prisoner. The gipsy was then brought into Court hi an armed chair by two or three men, and appeared very sick and faint, her head likewise shaking very much : she was dressed in a stuff gown, having- a white whittle over her shoulders, a white napkin pinned ever her head, and a black bonnet on. She is about eighty years of age: h-.-r complexion (either natural or stained) is very swart 1 , v, as gipsies always are. The most distinguishing features of her countenance, are a very wide mouth, and a large nose : 294 A FULL ANI> AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF nose; but her portrait, which we have given in the pre- sent number, will bettor express her countenance. Upon account of the faintness of the gipsy, she was carried several times into an adjoining room, for the Jbenefit of fresh air, and was brought into court occa- sionally as her presence was necessary: her son George and her daughter Lucy, attended her all the time. The prisoner Canning had likewise liberty to sit down. The indictment was opened by the council, that Elizabeth Canning did falsely, wickedly, and corruptly swear, that she was carried by two men on the first of January, 175 '3, about nine o'clock, from Moorfields, and brought into the house of mother Wells at En field Wash, about four o'clock on the morning of the second of January ; that she was there assaulted and robbed by one Mary Squires a 2,'ipsv, and afterwards confined there twenty eieht davs, O.lv x / O / ' Sic. going through the whole of her story as we have already given it*. After which he added, that they on their side affirmed that the said Mary Squires was at Ab- hotsbury, on the second of January, that Elizabeth Can- ing was not in that room, nor drank the water out of the pitcher, nor took the old gown out of the grate, for that there was no grate there, and that therefore she hu4 falsely, voluntarily, and corruptly sworn. Another council., observed, that it was the most wilful, corrupt, and impudent perjury, ever committed, that he could wish for the sake of the present case, that the hnv allowed of a more grievous punishment than could be inflicted as it now stands : To destroy the life of a person ior any motive of gain, was a most inhuman and wicked offencr : and that, that was her motive would appeal- plain: thr design was to raise contributions from the public. The advertisements and papers handed about to rui.-t. compassion, &c. all showed this ; that those papers * Sec page 364 of our last Number. were TuARY SOriRES, A GIPSY: AXD ELIZ. CANNING. 3$5 were universally known to have had a great effect, and that those who endeavoured to raise such prejudices,would Le guilty of perjury but lor fear; that he did not know but that even the very countenance of the gipsy,, which struck horror into the beholder, contributed to prejudice the jury against her; that he did not say this to raise pre- judices on the ether side (for that he was persuaded there was and would sometimes even shed tears on parting with them. A father separating from his only daughter going to a distant country, could not have testified more affliction. And when the pur- chaser has been leaving him, Sir, Mr. Jenkins would say, if ever you repent in the least degree of your purchase re- turn it to me, and your money shall be immediately forth- coming. In restoring me such a medal, yon \\ill cer- s,ih)ly restore, me one of the greatest comfort.. I possess. And . 4()'2 EMPRESS ELIZABETH OF AUSTRIA. . And upon the return of any of the articles disposed of upon these conditions, Mr. Jenkins never deviated from li is word, but surrendered the purchase money with a de- gree of satisfaction, not less ardent than that of his re- luctance on first parting with the article; besides which, it was not unfrequeot with him to invite the person to dinner, with whom he had dealt upon these terms. With respect to the reality of Mr. Jenkins's professions whatever may be the doubts entertained, it is certain that he carried the semblance of his sincerity to the highest point of perfection, lie was living at Rome, about the year, \7[)7- CiiARACTr.K of the EMPRESS ELIZABETH of AUSTRIA, iniparalhled in Modern History. MR. EDITOR, 'Re ad in, a; in the Morning Post some days ago a number of unnatural and sanguinary suggestions respecting the justice and propriety ol' giving no quarter to prisoner, should the French attempt a landing in tliis country I Lave been endeavouring to discover whether there beany prccedi ut lor such conduct in the laws of v/ar or nations; :;iu| I mi lit. own, that, excepting a very fe'-v obscuro instances, I can discover no- tlihi'.; so much like the temper and disposition which that paper inculcates a-; the following I listory of the Empress Elizabeth. But thi% it is to be noted, occurred in tin.: dan: ages of popery, and even counteracted itself at: last, a-; it inspired the Swiss, tftus made deadly enemies to tlie House ot Austria, with an haired which they never forgave till they had wrested all their Cantons out of its possession. However, as your MUSLIM is a ncep- Tucle of Remurkuhie C.'i'.irttdcrt;, this m' tiie Empress Eli/abe'h, i ]>resume, you will find in cvoiy respect entitled to .sucis a distinction. Vour's, &,c. Oc7. 10, 180:3. A LOVI-K OF Mr.ucv. .AMONG the many suflerhigs of the Swiss Cantons under liie insupportable tyranny of the House of Austria, its \oke was so severe in 1S08, the Emperor Albert then reigning, that three or four cantons or districts, pro- bably driven to desperation, rose and drove awav the German oiiicers employed by the emperor. Albert hear- ing this, hastened to 1'aclen to collect the troops neces- sary to go against these miserable insurgents, and left that EMPRESS ELIZABETH OF AUSTRIA. that place on the 1st of May, 1308, to see his spouse the Empress Elizabeth., whom he had left at Rheinfelden. He was accompanied hy his nephew John of Suabia, whose possessions he had unjustly withheld, and the Swiss Barons, D'Esehembach, De Walt, De Palm, De Tagcr- felclen, De Finistigen, and De Castelen. This last Baron was entirely ignorant of the plot which, it seems, the other six had formed, to destroy their sovereign. Having passed the river Rhine, John of Suabia took that oppor- tunity to beseech his uncle to restore him the estates of which he had deprived him. This request the Emperor now refusing with more bitterness than ever,, his nephew, enflnmeil with anger, gave him a thrust with a poignard. P'Eschembach, then, by a blow with another weapon, split the head of the devoted monarch, which was fol- lowed by all the rest excepting De Walt, dipping their swords in his blood : while De Castelen, unable to defend his master, set off at full gallop to carry the news to the court of Albert. Hearing of this, most of the nobles, and among them one of the Archdukes, took horse with- out delay and rode towards Baden ; and some of them r.rrived upon the spot soon enough to see the Emperor expiring in the arms of a young country girl who had come to his assistance, and whom chance only had thrown in his way to be witness of his last breath. As this news bpread with incredible rapidity, all the towns of Helvetia shut their gates, and a general consternation was diffused through the empire. Not that this" alarm arose from the regret for his fate, but rather from the consequences that might follow. His murderers, however, who in the first place had only listened to the dictates of revenge 1 , being without troops, magazines, or supplies, and incapable of following up their resistance to their late monarch, in a manner s'uitable to their interests, at first took refuge in the castle of Fribotirg, but soon after dispersed in all di- rections. 404 KMT HESS ELIZABETH OF AL'STTlIA. rectious. While the Empress Elizabeth, enraged at the death of her husband, vowed she would take the most ample revenge upon those who had made her a widow. To a most sanguinary turn of mind, this princess added 'A degree of insatiable avarice ; and she therefore thought of making the death of her husband the means of en- larging and enriching her territory, and she took her measures accordingly. She therefore began by industri- ously spreading a rumour that the poor Swiss were the accomplices of her husband's murderers, and accordingly put them under the ban or censure of the empire, toge- ther with not only her nephew John of Suabia, and the five barons his accomplices, but all their kindred, rela- tions, and even all persons of the same name, their friends, their neighbours, and even their servants, were devoted to death. She even seized upon all the goods belonging to these innocent persons for the purpose of bestowing them upon those who should assist her in attacking their persons. Many gentlemen also increased the number of these fatal proscriptions, only because their estates were conveniently situated to be added to the House of Austria. In a short time after, the Empress's troops were collected to begin with their cruel executions ; and as the victims of her wrath, knew they had no quarters, nor lenity to expect, they defended themselves with the greatest vigour even to desperation. But though many of the Empress's party were sacrificed in this deadly strife, the courage of their opponents could not prevail over the numbers brought against them. We are here 'peaking of some of the Swiss cantons ; and, unhappily, the rest of the cantons refused to support them. The /uriehers even gave up the passage of Albis to the Aus- trians to carry them to the domains of Baron D'Eschem- bach, and soon after his castle ; those of the other five Barons, and several more, were besieged, taken, razed, or RMPKKSS ELIZABETH OF AUSTRIA. 403 or burned by the troops of the Empress. The town of Meschwauden was taken by assault, totally destroyed, and its inhabitants dispersed or 'killed. Fifty persons, mostly nobles, surrendering at discretion, after they had for a long- time defended the tower of Althuven, were every one beheaded in the presence of Leopold Duke of Austria. A number of gentlemen who had taken refuge in the fortress of Farvangen, near the lake of Hallweil, thinking to maintain themselves there till they had an. opportunity of justifying themselves before the Diet of the Empire, were attacked on all sides by the Empress Elizabeth iu person ; when, after a vigorous resistance, sixty-three of them that remained alive were conducted to the scaffold in the presence of this cruel monster, who saw them beheaded with the utmost complacency ; and, to perpetuate her shame, even gave orders that the axe of the executioner on this occasion should be deposited for a memorial in the castle of Hallweil, exclaiming, at the same time " This blood is sweeter to me than a bath of roses." The horrors, say the Swiss historians,, that she suffered and caused to be committed in the conquered countries a a- not to be described. The last branch of the familv'D'E.schenibach was an infant in the cradle, and which being brought to Agnes, the Queen of Hungary juiel daughter to the Empress she wanted to strangle it ' with her own hand-, but, however, she was at length per- suaded to ki. ^ live, provided its guardians gave it the name of Seinvartxcnbourg. In fact, this dreadful car- nage never ceased till one thousand families were utterly destroyed and extirpated, and of these some were the most distinguished in Switzerland. ..After this, the mo- ther ami the daughter, having satisfied their thirst of blood, but r.ut possibly b^-lng so tranquil in their con- science as they might wish, they sought to satisfy this cry ,)(' vengeance by consecrating a part of their spoil, to 406 EMPRESS ELIZABETH OT AUSTRIA. what they deemed religion, and in consequence of this they founded a convent upon the spot where the Emperor Albert was assassinated. But what is still more astonish- ing,, not one of the principal culprits fell in the war that followed the death of the Emperor. John of Suabia, his nephew, disguised as a beggar,, flew to Avignon, where, confessing his crime to (Moment \ . he pardoned him, but sent him for a temporal absolution to the Emperor Henry, who adjudged him to perpetual imprisonment in a con- vent, where he died soon after at the age of twenty-five years. D*Eschembach flew into Vv irternberg, was a shep- herd thirty-five years., and never discovered himself till lie was nearly expiring. DC Palm got into a convent at Basle, and was never discovered. As for the barons, Tagerfelden and Finstingcn, their concealment was so complete that it was never known. DC \\ art, however, was betrayed to the Empress,, and in vain attempted to prove his innocence; he was condemned to be broken ou the wheel. It was to no purpose thathis young widow came to solicit the mercv of the Empress dowager in a most affecting manner. Neither her youth, beauty, or quality could move the heart of this royal monster; her husband v.'ns fastened to the tail of a horse, drawn to the scaffold, and broke alive upon the wheel. Tins amiable woman,, Avho never quitted him in his toriures till his eves were closed, retired afterwards to Basle, and took a religious habit, where she was highlv esteemed for her virtue and piety. However, the Swiss historian concludes (as all extremes commonly work their own destruction) that this spoliation of the lielvctic barons, brought on a mortal blow to the interests of the House of Austria in Switzer- land, and, in its degree, was us serviceable to the cause of the S-.yjsj. liberty, as their subsequent \iclorvat the battle of Morgarten. Curious ( 407 ) Curious ACCOUNT of the INSECT calltdthe Fr.v CARRIER, rchich produces Animal Cotton. A. MEMBER of the American Philosophical Society (M. Baudry des Lobieres) has enabled us to present to the public the following interesting Memoir on Animal Cot- ton, and the insect which produces it. Every inhabitant of the West Indies, says this gentleman, knows and dreads the greedy worm which devours their indigo and cassada plantations; it is called by some the cassada-worm, by others the fly-carrier; and is produced, like the silk-worm, from esfo-s scattered by the mother after her metamor- OO */ phoiis into a whitish butterfly. The egg is hatched about the end of July, when the animal is decked with a robe of the most brilliant and variegated colours. In the month of August, when about to undergo its metamor- phosis, it strips off its superb robe, and puts on one of a beautiful sea-green, which reflects all its various shades, according to the different undulations of the animal, and the different accidents of light. This new decoration is the signal for its tortures. Immediately a swarm of ich- O V neumon flies assails it, and drive their stings into the skin of their victim, over the whole extent of its back and sides, at the same time slipping thcir-eg^s -into the bottom of the wounds that thev have made. tlaving performed this dreadful operation, the Hies dis- appear, and the patient remains for an hour in a motion- less state, out of which it awakens to feed with great vo- racity. Then his size daily increases till the time of his hatching the ichneumon iiies. The e^g-j deposited are hatched at the same moment, and the ca?sada is instantly i/overed with a. thousand little worms. They issue out of him at every pore, and that animated robe covers him so Jitirely, that nothing can be perceived but the top of his head, Ai soon i>s the worms arc hutched, and without G u o u cu'ttinii; 40S INSECT CALLED THE FLY CATUIIER. quitting the" spot where the eggs are, which they have broke through, they yield a liquid gum, which, by coming into contact with the air, is rendered slimy and solid. Each of these animalculae works himself a small cocoon, in the shape of an egg, in which he wraps himself, thus making, as it were, his own winding sheet. They seem to bs born but to die. The.se millions of cocoons all attach to each other, and this'new formation of theirs, which has not taken two hours, produces a white robe ; in this the cassada worm appears elegantly clothed. While they are thus decking him, lie remains in a state of almost le- thargic torpidity. As soon as the covering is woven, and the little work- men, who have made it have retired and hidden them- selves in their celis, the worm endeavours to rid himself of his giK'si'.s, and of the robe which contains them. lie monies out of the' inclosure deprived of all his former heauty,in a state of decripitude, exhausted, and threaten- or! with approaching death, lie shortly passes to the state of a cliry's.-ilis; n-:>d. after giving lite to thousands of rg'**, su'Mf' ;ny lose.-; his own, leaving to the cultivator an id vantage whidi may be so improved as to more than t">;npen->ntc the ravages which he occasions. In about * ;:'; it days, the. little worms contained in the cocoons are UH'tnmorpho.-.ed inr.r; flies, having four wings. Their an- l.e tin;.? are long and vibrating; some have a tail, others '.'!:> n;;t shew if ; they feed upon small insects of the family of Aean;-:. :;,*d c-vidcnllv belong to the ichneumon tribe. j O The ct;Uon--ih;'il or wrapper is of a dazzling white, and tio soor, as the ilies have quitted the cocoon, it may be Used without a;jv preparatory precaution-, it is made up of t'ne purest ancl'Hnest cottou ; there is no refuse, no in- Icrior qualiry in it; every part is as line and beautiful M.]). Lozierc-s (the author of this Memoir), -urges the rtir.triyans lo or^jurvc, and endeavour to increase the fly- FACULTY OV SUSTAINING HEAT. 40$ fly-carrier, in the same manner, and For similar purposes, that the breed of the silk-worm is encouraged. He de- clares that be lias frequently seen so abundant a harvest of the animal cotton, that in the space of two hours he could collect the quantity of one hundred pints, French measure. Moreover, animal cotton is attended with none of the difficulties which occur in the preparation of vege- table cotton, and it requires less time and less trouble to procure it, and .there seems to him. no doubt that it will stand the competition with bilk and vegetable cotton ; these, when applied to wounds, serve only to inflame and envenom ; but the animal cotton may be used as lint| without the smallest inconvenience. t^-^-,^ 1 '.^'^'^^,^",^* further IXSTANCF.S of the FACULTY of SUSTAINING HEAT. [Translated from the French. I nn 1 ins faculty is not peculiar to the young Spaniard at Paris (see our last ]S umber, p. 3.50) and whose case was expatiated upon by so many of the French Journalists in August last. The Mcmoires of the French Academy of Sciences for \~(')\, speak of a young girl who could bear r'ne heat of an oven upwards often minutes, though heated beyond the the degree of boiling water. Dr. Cullen, of Edinburgh, also relates a number of similar cases which were collected in \1()~), to prove that certain animals pos- sess a faculty of producing cold, probably to counteract heat. Dr. Fordyee, in \l()j, remained tsvo minutes in a stove heated to 3{) degrees, and i^aiinutes in another healed to 43 degrees. Sir. Joseph ''auks remained in a rooiii heated to 7 { J degrees. It is rue thermometer of lie;uHur which is to be understood here. The air, says Sir Joseph Banks, at this h':ih temperature, occasions a d sensation, which, houcver, it still tolerable. J\ir. 410 BALLOON INTELLIGENCE IMPROVED. Dobson, a physician at Liverpool, has confirmed and re~ newcd all these experiments upon various subjects. Mr. Park, a surgeon, remained ten minutes in a stove heated to 8.5 degrees. Sir Charles Blagden remained eight mi- nutes in a room heated to 262 of Farenheit, or 102 of , lleamur. During the first seven minutes his respiration was perfectly easy; but in the course of another minute lie felt a degree of obstruction and sonic pain, which gave him notice that it was time to drop his experiments. His pulse beat at 114 the minute, or double the time of its natural stage. The writer from whom these facts are cited, remarks, that the Author of Nature has endovved man with the fa- culty of sustaining, at least to a very near degree, the same temperature of body in spite of all the changes of climates and seasons; and with respect to the enjoyment of health, to traverse the whole globe with impunity. Nature has also most happily adapted the constitution of various animals to their different situations The lizard and the cameleon remain cold under the equator, while the whale and the -,ca-ealf, vrnder'the frozen zone, retain a temuerature eon -iderublv warmer than human blood. Further particulars of JMu. ROBERTSON'S second Ascent in a IV: l, LOON. I HAT gc:it.lc!fi;iii, accompanied by ?.!'. Lhocrt, made a ^eojiui acriiij e.xcmv.iju,, whir!) \\\.\; conlirmed ]n:i:>v ot tncii funik-r experiments, ami produced soi;u: new and interesting ixstrU;-;. M. Hob. /;;.- .>a [i;;s ascertained that sounds inuv be con- vey, -Lu~ rL,j, i e.;li;^:oj, v>hen ihc -barouu;t(.r siood at four- BALLOON INTELLIGENCE IMPROVED. 411 fourteen inches in the focus of a lens, lose one third of their intensity, and when refracted by the prisin ; no longer exhibited lively and distinct, but weak and confused co- lours. Weights attached to a spring balance lost one half of their gravity. The magnetic virtue he found decreased as the square of the distances; but at the elevation in question, the needle began again to put itself in motion. When about seven thousand two hundred feet from the earth, he enclosed in an instrument by M. Hez, four inches of the surrounding air along with mercury, and marked exactly the point where the air and mercury were united; and when he returned to the earth, he found that the mercury filled the whole tube within a tenth. M. Robertson passed between two large clouds, which seemed to afford a passage to the balloon ; the form of these masses of vapour was oblong, and they resembled rags suspended above the earth. Their uppermost parts did not form in their aggregate a smooth surface, as ap- peared to those who viewed them from the earth, but re- sembled long pyramids, occasioned probably by caloric raising the mass in proportion to the density of the at- mosphere ; the\' appeared to plunge towards the earth, in consequence of an optic effect, resulting from the ap- parent immobility of the balloon, which, however, was at ihc time rising at the rate of fifty feet per second. A hen the thermometer indicated one degree above iVee/.iug. and the barometer stood at fifteen inches, M. Robertson set two pigeons at liberty,, and they descended with the rapidity of lightning in a plane, slightly inclined, without moving their wings. When the barometer stood at fourteen inches., he let off another; but after flutter- ing with difficulty for a moment, it perched on the net- work, and would not quit it. Two butterflies, let go at the sain; time, trL-d to use their wings, but in fain. M, ii.jbtrtson i> preparing a balloon of between forty 412 STRANGE SUBSTANCES POUND forty and fifty feet diameter,, in which lie purposes to ascend higher than any aeronaut has yet ventured (22,000 feet from the earth is the greatest elevation yet attained), and is collecting a variety of instruments for further ex- periments. STRANGE SUBSTANCES FOUND IN THE HUMAN BODY. [Continued ir >rn ("Hire '3f>'J.] A PATIENT of the hospital of Lisle complained in IG8G of a sharp pain of fiie lower belly, in the hvpogastric re- gion. .Ho had a tnmoar, inflammation, and pulsation, accompanied by fever; all symptoms denoting an ab- cess. Haehin and (.'IK-., the one physician and the other surgeon to the hospital, made an incision of six fingers above the navel. The pus, which flowed freely, Avas of a verv ill scent ; it run during several months, and the patient died. On opening the body, a pin was found, attached to the right ureter, and encrusted with tarta- rcons matter. On the 31st of July, 1802, a stick of a very extraor- dinary size, measuring 20i inches iu length, and -21- in cir- cumference, was taken out of the side of an ox a little behind the near shoulder, and not far from the back bone, in the presence of John Beck, farrier; John Smith, ser- vant; and Edward Jones, I^sq. of Brncklcy, the owner of the ox, in whose po>session it had boon since the (Jth of April last, having been bought the preceding day at Northampton fair. The ox, when bought, had a sore place on its back, throi'.gh which the stick afu-nvards forced a passage ; it did not thrive before the stick was taken out, and had been long under the farrier's hand.-, bnt is now in good health and getting fat. The stick has the appear- ance of a common walking ttick, but is pointed at one end; possibly it may have been us^-d for the purpose of giving the ox a ball, and through carelessness have r/iip- ped I ~Wl( iL j(,j[ A ^11 S T All K'E S . 7 ( '//// of SIR WILLIAM STAINES. 413 peel down the animal's throat. The above facts have been attested on oath, before W. R. Cartwright, Esq. of Aynho, in Northamptonshire. Facts of this kind are doubtlessly more easy of expla- nation when they respect pointed bodies, capable of piercing the tunics of the stomach, and insinuating- them- selves on different sides, according to the directions they receive from the movements of the body ; but still it will always be surprising, and difficult o be accounted for, that pins, needles, and other bodies of this species, should traverse the stomach and penetrate every where else, without other accidents than those which occur if, at length, they become engaged in the muscular parts, or in the vessels, whence they cannot escape. Some ACCOUNT of Sir WILLIAM STAINES, Alderman, and late Lord Mayor of London, with his PORTRAIT, including the Vicissitudes of his early Life, and his gra- dual Progress through various Degrees of Fortune pre- ceding his Advancement to the highest oj all Civic Ho- nours. J[ HE benevolent character of Sir William Staines having often been the subject of much conversation among a very large circle of the public, we have presumed that, in collecting but a small portion of his history 7 into one point of view, we should not only gratify our readers, but promote and extend that general approbation which is at all times one of the rewards of merit,, besides hand- ing down to posterity a subject of laudable emulation and an encouraging instance of what can be effected by per- severance without the assistance of large capitals, or anv extraordinary gifts of fortune. H H H Affain, 414 S'P- VvH-LIAM S .Again, nt this period of time, there are many national and moral reasons that call for particular attention to such ft., character as that of Sir William Staines. In an age \vhen the greater part of the upper ranks of society are generally immersed in luxury and dissipation, notwith- standing some royfii. examples of moderation and do- mestic happiness; and wink the trading interest, is chiefly bent upon accumulating wealth by the most excessive and hazardous speculation and through desperate adventure^ in such a period, to find an eminent character nobly despising the customary means of amassing sordid gain, and laugh- ing at the cares and anxious pursuits of the mercantile muckworm, and the mercenary and unfeeling monopo- lizer : this, it must be confessed, is an exception, some- thing like that of Noah, to the practice of the old world. In the perusal of universal history, it will appear, as if Providence had raided np some such exalted characters as a testimony against the torrents of venality, vice, and cor- ruption that so often prevail in the world, especially in the periods of prosperity or refinement ; and thus, as in the principal character before, us, some of the hest of men arc often found in the zcorst of times. But if the more polished periods of society have not produced many, who have thus turned their backs upon Mammon, and refused to worship the golden image, the preceding age* of mediocrity have been more productive oi them. The man of I?oss, described by Pope, would not suffer in being compared with the well-known cha- racter oi Sir William Staines ; or if a more familiar com- p;aison should be reci-.ihx-d; that of Sir \Yilliam Stainc* may be found in nearer resemblance to the once famous Sir Richard Wiiittington [for the particulars of his life *<-(." our IS umber Vj.l ; but we now proceed to u sketch oi tin SIR VTrLLIAM STA1XES. the origin of Sir William before he arrived at his present dignity. The birth place of this worthy man, we find toliavebeen in the parish of St. George, in the Borough ofSouthwark, in the year 173 1., where his father was v. stone-mason in so small a way of business, that it is- probable the object of Mr. Staines, when very young, was to better his fortune, as after leaving his parents *, some time, he matlc a vovage to Portugal,, as a common sailor. On his- return from that trip, the vessel he sailed in was> unfortunately cap- tured; and our hero, with the rest of the crew, carried into France, and made the tenants of a French prison. Young Staines, after remaining iu this situation six months, was exchanged, and carue home in a cartel; but so changed, so emaciated, and so disguised in tatters, that his own mother could only be persuaded of his iden- tity by some particular mark upon his person, which ^he insisted upon sec-ing before she could be convinced. After this, it is understood that Mr. Staines served his time as an apprentice to a stone-mason, in Cannon Street. Y\ hen hf was out of his time, he worked as a journeyman with Mr, Finder, the city mason, who married Mr. Staine^'s sister. When he left, off living in lodgings, he took a ehandk-r's shop and coal shed in Phi- lip Lane, London Wall, wheiv. at the conclusion of his day's labour abroad, he used on his return home to earry out coals to his customers, who never once dreamed that * It was probably about thi? time ttuit .Mr. Staines, btinij at Staines or !/-i' hum as a poor lad. ua.s iudueed to go into a chandler's shop kept by an old woman, air,!, from the cravings of his appetite, to call for rather mere in bread, sincil! bei-; - , ccc. than hi- . :krt v.ouid btav him out in: .. i;acive simplicity of his apu'>.::y and nppr au'.; "t- \v-j..^ such, that his Creditor soon forgot her first emotions, ami i!isi:i:s^d him with a h^av.y V!(YTHC. TkiS act of iorbearaiice ^ as not ibnroti.?n by Sir Wiliuau w'.ien ht arrived at pro- sperity; he souaht o:.;t the authoress of this triHir.j beuf.-faction in the decline 'ji ht-r days, and rewarded her with an annuity as ions: as ghe livt-il. jt H n C the 416 SIR V.' I M.I AM STAINES. the man thru doing such apparent drudgery was doomed to be their future Lord Mayor. But in process of time, when Mr. Staines became a little master,, and able to undertake small concerns for himsti c , having obtained his freedom by serving his Ma- jesty, Bow steeple, about 17tiO, happening to be in want of repair, he fortunately conceived that he should be able to execute the job, and applying for the same by the encouragement of a friend, who was bound for the ful- filment of his contract, his proposals were preferred, and his performance of the business so well approved of, that he was afterwards employed to raise a scaffold for the steeple of St. Bride's, Fleet Street; which was struck with lightning, r/G3. This scaffolding being suffered to stand after the business had been done till some of the ropes gave way, a part of it fell, and, what was very re- markable, one of the poles pitching down in a perpendi- cular direction from that extraordinary height upon a tombstone, it penetrated the same just as if it had been a soft substance, and perforated a round hole, which, of course, was viewed with surprize by a number of spectators. Mr. Staines was afterwards employed to take down the remainder of this scaffolding; and the Scotch pavement being introduced about that time, he was engaged in the paving of several streets; and afterwards had the good fortune to be appointed mason to the city of London. About ibis time he had a house and a mason's yard in Barbican. But with respect to Bow church being the first means of making his fortune, Mr. Staines seemed to entertain such an intimate sense of It, that when he became Lord Mayor, this church was represented in painting, in tiie back gioundof one of the pannels of the state coach. We now come to a particular feature in the life of Mr. Staines, respecting some incidents, which., if they had not been very well attested, must have rather staggered than claimed SIR WILLIAM STAIXES. 41? claimed a rational belief: we mean the prediction of Jiis good fortune by a, clergyman's lady at Uxbridge, where he was at work many years ago; as also, of the circum- stances which were to attend his mayoralty, as predicted by another person, the particulars of which are related as follows : " Mr. Staines happened, at a very early age, to be em- ployed in repairing the Parsonage House, at this place, going up the ladder one morning he was accosted by the clergyman's lady; who told him, she had a very extraor- dinary dream, that is to say that he would certainly be- come Lord Mayor of London. Astonished, and perhaps nattered in some degree at such a prophecy, Staines could only thank her for thinking of such an unlocked promotion for him. He further said he had neither money nor friends, and in short, the business of the dream was only considered as dreams usually are, and was very soon forgotten. The lady however, was not so easily to be turned from her prognostications t;s the dream had evidently left a great and lasting inipression upon her mind, and to such a degree that the same dream oc- ^ o curred again, and the same communications were repeat- ed to him, and yet Mr. Staines left the piu'sonage house at Uxbridge, with no other impression than the kindness which had been shewn, and the notice that had been taken of him. It was not until he WHS made Slier: il' of London, in l/<)7, that this dream returned upon his recollection, though it might be supposed to have been, a laudable incitement to his industry through life. The Uxbridge clergyman had by the time it was thus fulriiled become old ; but ;,e lived long enough to be nominate'.' Sheriff's chaplain, at least dining six months of the shcnfialty, lor being very infirm when he was ;;ppoinv.eti, Sir William engaged the liev. Dr. Gregory, of Oippi< gate, to do the chaplain's duty, and gor.croii.-;h- p;iid b^tii thcs? gentlemen. This 418 Sin VHI.T.IAM STAIN ES. This however, was not the only prediction which was ha/arcled in respect to the figure that Mr. Staines was ap- pointed to display to the world ; an aged lady many years ago, is r.aid to have foretold that he would be Lord .Mayor during n period of turbulence and scarcity, that we should be at war with France; but that during his mayoralty, peace and plenty would be restored. The vvoniiy magistrate 'during that period related this and other anecdotes, which he is fond of, over his pipe and glass; but nevertheless he expressed great doubts on its being fulfilled with respect to a peace; he, however, happily lived to see even this part of the predictions veri- fied, it' the peace of Amiens deserved the name. And }\c expressed a hope that when he went out of office ; bread might be <}d. the quartern loaf; but his bencvolcat wishes in this respect were not fulfilled. This dream and it? consequences have often furnished the worthy Alderman, with a subject for conversation, and for that contrast of his former and present situation, upon which he is by i;a means averse to reason upon, and to exhibit that vein of pleasantry upon so fertile a subject, for which with his other virtues, in his intercourse with all ranks of people, he is both loved and respected; but. though hu- manity has been CV.T observed as the most prominent feature of his character. Still in him, this disposition, has nothing of weakness or irresolution about it; he has always known how to make himself obeyed; and as one J.'iS-iunce among many, Lord Nelson's victory at Copen- hagen occurring during his mayoralty, instead of ex- O *s / ' lubiilng a blaxo of candles as had been customary, Sir Will: <;H caused the citizens to be informed by posting bills, that, it was his particular desire, that such persons ;<.;' ii;ie;u!ed to expend money in that way, instead of so doing would more judiciously add it to the subscription then opened, for the l;e;ie-it of the widows and children :' those who foil in that sanguinary action. This act though STi! WILLIAM STAI'NES. 419 though much more to the glory of the country, and con* genial vc the >-:rit and generosity of Englishmen, thaa t.he iTar^ient gleam of a few candles, was at that time general !v applauded, with the exception of one public newspaper, soon after defunct. But by the more sober pa it of the ccnnnunity, this act of suppressing a public illumination, and probably a degree of riot, was highly approved. By such it was esteemed v :it-w ire it of the superior goodness of the heart of the chief magistrate and the soundness of hisjudgment ; however it was rot, carried into effect without some opposition on the part of the populace, who making their appearance hi ihe citv on the night the illumination was expected, it was fou;id necessary to order the constables to d^-wrse them im- mediately, and which was accordingly performed in the course of a few minutes, though the crowd collected on the occasion were both numerous and no;-y. It \vos then observed, that the few people who lind put up candles iu their windows immediately withdrew them. The dif- ference of the conduct of Sir William Staines, in thcs opposing a popular propensity from that false lenity, and ill-timed forbearance adopted bv the chief ' magistrate, his predecessor in the riots of 1780, must strike the in..>n partial with some degree of conviction. But with the same general approbation with which he had filled the City Chair, so he withdrew from it. Sir William was LO orator, he had made use of no more than strong plain sense, in his harangues to the Livery, and the Citizens at large; he had never inflamed their passions. ^ et the populace in their way, to express their gratitude dfter the resignation of his office, when lie was returning from Westminster, they drew him in his carriage. This we mention here, because in this instance it is not credible that a mob was hired for that purpose, or for shouting their huzzas, as has very often been the case. And with 420 Sill WILLIAM STAI.\i:,1, respect to the subscription recommended by Sir William instead of an illumination,, we should perhaps be wanting if we did not observe that in this, as well as upon all other occasions, he was one of the first to realize his precepts by his own example. During his mayoralty, and for several years before, Mr. Staines had been an inhabitant of Barbican, where he built a dwelling house adjoining the chapel of the Kev. .]. Towers. About, the year 17Q(), he began to put in execution the benevolent design of esablishing some alms- houses, nine in number. These he built on both sides of Jacob's Well Passage, Barbican; not in the ancient manner which the facetious Tom Brown has styled Cha- rity Pigeon-holes. Sir William Staincs's alms-houses, on the contrary, cannot be distinguished from any other dwelling houses bv any thing in their exterior. Neither does any stone in the front of them proclaim the poverty of the inhabitants, or that they were founded in such a vcar by such a one, &c. but the tenants of them have been in the first place Sir William's aged workmen, tradesmen, 8cc. several of whom Sir William had proba- bly known personally as his neighbours*. These alms-houses, though Sir William belongs to the Carpenters Company, we are told, he has put into the gift of the Parish of Cripplcgatej and among the present in- * One of these, \vho is since dead, \vr have heart!, frcq '.ented the Jacob's Well, v.iiere Sir William was in the habit of smoking his pipe of an evening: this person failing in business, Sir William presented him with one of his alms-houses to live in. The poor man, after this happening to he at the iiouse, and going into the kitchen instead of the parlour, Sir William ap- peared to be nu'ch offended at the distinction he inndi*, and insisted upon his cumiTi.nj again into the room where he had usually .sat with his benefactor, and as are 1 i:i:;i, that, he had not bestowed that favour upon him to degrade, cut to advance !ii:a in !4fe, and would hear of no apologies on the subject. In Yurk'-iiir? syiiie similar institution lias been formed under the auspices of Sir William. habitants S1K "WILLIAM STAIXES, 421 habitants is a peruke-maker, whom we are also informed l.t ad shaved his worthy fnencj and patron during, a period of- forty-two years. It is now about six months since Sir William Staiues entirely left his town residence at Barbican, to go and reside at his country-house at Clapham Common ; how- ever, though he lias removed from bis poorer neighbours, he does not forget them. Sir William still occasionally visits and enquires after the health and circumstances of each of them individually, and with the same good fan- mourand affability which has ever distinguished him both before and after his elevation .in life. It should have been observed, that Sir William is the proprietor of the ground on which Mr. Towers's dwelling-house and chapel now stands, which forms a part of the revenue of these alms- houses. He also built the Isew Jacob's Well up the pas- sage in Barbican. It must have have been a singular source of happiness to Sir William, that in all his pious and humane efforts, lie was never opposed by any of his family. His late lady, in particular,, ever shewed a high degree of alacrity in second- ing his views. In order to distinguish who were the pro- per objects of his bounty, she has not been averse to visiting some of the poorest habitations in and about Golden Lane and other places. And in the distribution of soup, &c. in winter, which Sir William was in the habit of bestowing four or five years before it became common, it was not his general rule to compel those who received it to fetch it from his house, and thus proclaim their humi- liation to the censorious, and the world at large; but, to prevent this, his servants have been sent with his alms to the habitations of those who received them, Still in this unusual flow of the purest benevolence, it i> not pretended that the donor has met with no abuse in the conduct of those who received it; this, notwithstanding, never altered his character; his conduct still seemed to speak the lan- 111 ^ ia( ' 422 SIR \V1I.LIAM STAIN15S. guage of the celebrated Lady Falkland in the reign of Charles 1. viz. " that she would rather relieve ten impos- tors,, than one person truly deserving should go away empty handed." Sir William, who has been twice married, is now a wi- dower, has had ten children, and has two left at present; A daughter who is lame, and a son : his first son William, by his first wife, died many years ago of a consumptive habit, much regretted on account of his promising abi- lities in figures, and a capacity for the mathematics. The late spouse of Sir William, who had been his ser- vant, has been dead but a few months. This misfortune occurred at Clapham : her ladyship, however, was in- terred at Cripplegatc church, the charity children singing at the burial : and on Saturday, August 14, the funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Gregory, his lord- ship's late chaplain, to a very croudecl audience. Sir William has not, though in the 71st year of his age, relinquished the character of a tradesman. His masons' yard, and his house at Millbank, Westminster, are still the objects of a part of his care. As a stone-mason upon a large scale, it may be supposed he has been engaged in some buildings of magnificence, something approxi" mating to the gorgeous palaces and cloud-capped towers ; humbler, but, perhaps, more useful dwellings, notwithstanding, still find a place in the heart of this true philanthropist, this general friend to mankind. Sir William has a particular habit that we cannot pass over; he is so partial to smoking, that he is never without A pipe, as he always takes one of these organs of contem- plation with him in his carriage : and so far is he from ad- hering to the modern notions of high life .in amassing riches for indulgence in extreme luxury, or in heaping them up to be disposed of by others after his decease, that b.e has more prudently resolved to see to the dispensations of CASE OF ISABELLA WILSON. 423 of Ills alms during his own life time, with the pleasure of observing that his bounties are properly administered and watching their progress; as he has probably heard of chancery suits of forty years standing, without any applica- tion of the charity, consistent with the will of the donors. We have already made several allusions to Sir William's general affability and hospitality, and we can only con- clude the character of this worthy magistrate by com- paringit with that of Sir Roger De Coverley, so admirably depicted in Addison's Spectator, and which the author intended as a perfect resemblance of that of an old Eng- lish gentleman ; for, unlike many others who have been intoxicated by promotion and the favours of fortune, Sir William has preserved an equanimity of character and disposition all through life. In fact, without any particular profession, Sir William lias uniformly put in practice one of the most difficult, and excellent precepts of the Christian religion <( mind not hiy/i things but condescend to men of low estate." Extraordinary CASE of ISABELLA WILSON. [From Buchan's Duty of Mothers.] ISABELLA WILSON was in early life a very promising child, and the object of her mother's idolatry. This good woman had no idea that health and beauty were more likely to be destroyed than improved or preserved by ex- cessive care. In the choice of diet, clothes, exercise, &.c. the delicacv of her sweet girl was always the ruling; idea. J It is easv, indeed, to render the human frame more deli- cate ; but to make it more robust, requires a very dif- ferent mode of proceeding. As the child did not seem afflicted with any particular complaint, the doting mother exulted at the happy ef- fects of her own management, and never thought that O ^ -!* 1 i I i? the CA~Z OF ISAEELI A WILSON. the taper form., the fine iimbs, and the languishing soft- ne&s, which she so much admired, were the sure symp- toms of debilitv, and of latent disease. Isabella's mental improvement, in which she surpassed many other young girls of her age at the same school, was no. 3 ess flattering to her mistaken parents,. But she had scarcely attained her 14th year be lore the fond illu- sion vanished, and the regular functions of both mind and body were suspended by a fit of the most extraordi- nary nature. I cannot avoid making one remark hero* which raay be of great practical utility. Il is, that fits, though they go by different names, and are ascribed to a srreat variety of causes, may all be ranked under the ge- neral appellation of nervous affections, and are almost a} way s the consequence of bad nursing, or injudicious ireatraept in childhood. Few children, properly nursed, hare fits; aod of those who are improperly managed, few escape them. Poor Bell Wilson was one of the un- fortunate class. On my being sent for to attend this young woman who was then 16, I was informed that she had been sub- ject to fits for about three years, and had taken a great deal of medicine by the advice of several of the Faculty, but without having experienced any benefit. Though the person who gave me this account made use of the word fits, 1 soon found that, strictly speaking, it was only one fit, that assumed two different forms or states, which followed one another in constant succession during the whole of the above period. lit order to give a precise idea of this singular kind of fit, J shall call its first state acL ire, and the second pas- fjzc. During the former, the voting woman made use of V -he mo.it vjoiL-ut exertions, springing up, throwing hc r ttnris about., .and striking them agninst owry thing which fcaiiic wiihin her reach j at the :-ame time, she uttered a sor r CASE 0V ISABELLA %VILbON. 42} sort of noise, consisting of three notes, which was more like tiie ciy of some wild beast than any thing human. An universal spasm succeeded those strange agitations, inul everv limb became as suf'f and in flexible as if it had been suddenly petrified. Her whole appearance was that of a siatiie made of Parian marble. In this state of rigi- dity she continued sometimes for one hour, sometimes two, and of; en three or four; but the moment it was over, ~he bccr.u \\ith the cry and motion above described. The active convulsion never lasted .so long as the rigid state; h;;.t it was the only time at which any tiling could be got duv.'u her throat. As she would not admit sub- ^ was tolerably well in flesh, and Ler countenance, though quite voitl of colour, was rather pleasing. 1 fer figure was exquisitely line, the disease did net appear to have pie- vented her growth in height, though -it had in i-trenu'.h, and in bulk or expansion ; she was very slender, but as tall as most yoiuig women of the same nge. Such were the most s'u iking peculiarities of her situatx;:! when I paid my iirst visit, As all the voluntary motions were suspended, and the involuntary alone took place, I thought that bv excitiap- ^ o the former I might suppress the hitler, which had so long agitated he system. But before I had recourse to stimu- lants, I was induced, by the tone of cubiidcnee with which I had orten heard anodynes and antispasmodickg spoken of by professional men of eminence, to .try them iirst: but the experiment, though fairly i::ac!e, and duly 4<2G CASE OF ISABELLA WILSON; persevered in, was not attended with the least success. < Ami here 1 jrust observe, that, after forty years farther pr..'. lice, I have never found the effect of antispasmo- tli< !:s in such eases to correspond with the high reputa- tion vihichthey long retained in the medical world. 1 know it has been the usual method, when the actions of the system appear to be inverted, to employ this class of medicines, in order to restore regularity, and to take off the supposed spasm. I am far from being inclined to question the veracity of the favourable reports made by others of the issue of their experiments; 1 candidly state the result of my own, which lias wholly destroyed mv reliance on that mode oi proceeding. .Afler the failure of the above attempts, in which I was more guided by the example of others than by the dictates of my O\YU mind, i resolved to try the effect of irritation on the most sensible parts, which were often rubbed witl'i tether, and other volatile spirits. I prescrib- ed at the same time the internal use of tonicks, particu- larly chalybeated wine, and the compound tincture of baik.* Appearances soon became favourable: but as the change for the better was slow, the parents were persuad- ed by somebody to try the cold bath; and this rash step proved almost fatal to my hopes, and to their fondest wishes. The reader should be informed, that the astonishing singularity of the girl's disorder had rilled the minds of the. country people all around with the wildest and most superstitious conjectures. The general opinion was, that the complaint nr,:st be owing to evil spirits, and that the girl was certainly possessed. Some were for putting her into wa or, where they were sure she would swim. Others * ] Jinvij here omitted the detail of doses and effects, usually given in rneiti' al CCIM-.S, :;s I am not uTitiin instruction*; for, the treatment of diseases, bat faiit.io)i;- to mothers' (..iiiecrninjf the niir.siiijj of their children. said CASE OF ISABELLA WILSON. 4C7 said that, if she was laid upon the fire, she would un- doubtedly fly up the chimney. One bold Captain of horse, a man of more resolution than intellect, declared his readiness to expel the foul fiend by shooting the girl, if the parents would give him leave. Her mother, who waS not deficient in natural good sense, though in the education of her daughter she had suffered her fondness O to get the better of her understanding, paid no regard to such absurd and ridiculous proposals ; but she yielded to the importunities of a friend, who had described to her with great earnestness and plausibility the wonderful effects of the cold bath. A single immersion convinced the parents of their dan-r gerous error. All the symptoms were aggravated in the most alarming manner. Tiie duration of the rigid state of the body was extended irom a few hours to eleven days. She would then have been buried, had I riot po- sitively forbidden her mother, whatever might happen, to have her interred, till I should give my assent. At the time of this last attack I wa.s upon a journey to a distant part of the country. On my return honu-, I was told that my patient was dead ; but that her burial had been de- layed till 1 should see her. When 1 called, I found her to all appearance what the peopio lu.d described her, a lifeless corpse. On exanrniiig the body, however, I thought I perceived some decree uf warmth about the O 1 O region of the heart. This confirmed me in my previous design to make eveiy attempt to restore animation. It was a considerable time befo/e any symptoms of life ap- peared; at length, the girl set up her old cry, and begun to throw her arms about as usual. Afttsr having so far succeeded, the parents in:plicitiy followed my farther directions, and did not throw any new obstacle in the way of a cure. I again had recourse to the toiiicks before mentioned, with such nourishment as the 4-23 CAST: or ISABELLA WILSON ihe girl could be brought to swallow. The violence of the convulsive motions gradually abated, and the dura- tion of the rigid state of the fit grew shorter and shorter; till, in about six months, the whole ceased, a^d the re- gular and natural actions of the system returned. The state of this girl's rnind, as well as of her body, on lier recovery, was as extraordinary as her disease. It is common to all persons, who fall into fits, to have no re- membrance of what happens during the paroxysm. This young woman not only was insensible of every occur- rence and of the progress of time during her Ions; fit, but her malady had .completely blotted out all recollec- tion of every event before that period, and even the traces of all knowledge which she had acquired from the moment of her birth to her illness. I have indeed known a single fit of 24 hour's duration to destroy the powers of the mind, and produce absolute idiotism ; but that was not the case here. The mental faculties, after a total sus- pension for four years, were not destroyed, but reduced to an in iant state; and, though void of knowledge, were as capable of acquiring it as ever. It was just the same with regard to speech, and to the proper management of the legs and arms, of which she knew as little at the time of her recovery as at the instant of her birth. .Nothing could be more curious than to hear her lisping for sonic months the namby pamby of a chiki, p.iul to trace her progress in the imitation of sounds, and the use of "language. As soon as she could converse, she was told how long she had bccnilr: she cried, bur. could not, believe it. When some books, whir'; r-ho had written at school, were shewn to her, she !ho'j;'.ht it impossible they could be hers, and was posi- tive that the whole must be a mockery. In the coarse of lime she viehlrd to the concurrent testimony of other.-; but she remained unconscious of any former .state of ex- istence. II c* CASE OF ISABELLA WILSOtti new attempts to walk, were as awkward as her at- tempts to speak ; and she required nearly as much time to recover the perfect use of her legs as of her tongue. 'Even after she had acquired a considerable degree of strength, she wanted expertness in her motions, and was obliged to be led about by the arms like a baby. Whenever I called to see her, I made a point of taking her into the garden to \valk with me ; but it was with great difficulty that. I could prevent her from falling. We often lament the weakness of infancy ; yet were we to come full grown into the world, we should not only be as long in learning to walk as infants are, but our first essays would be infinitely more dangerous. It is unnecessary to trace any farther the steps by which tin's young woman advanced to the full re-establishment of her health, and to the perfect use of all her mental and cor- poreal faculties. These great ends were gained by a mode of treatment the very reverse of the enervating plan which had been the cause of her long sufferings ; but which, hap- pilv for her, was not afterwards resumed. I shall leave tender parents to make their own reflec- tions on this case, and shall now only urge it as a farther caution against the too hasty interment of persons who may seem to expire in a fit. Unequivocal proofs of death should always be waited for, and every ad viscable means of resuscitation persevered in, when we consider how long appearances may be deceitful, and how unexpectedly the Intent sparks of life may be rekindled. Besides the uncommon instance of this young woman's feanimation, as it may be called, I have heard of a youns* lady in Holland, who was res tcred to her desponding friends, after she hail been for nine clays apparently in a state ot death. The day before her proposed interment her Doctor called to take IMS final leave of her ; but fan- cying that he perceived some vital symptom, ha renewed x k k 430 PRODUCTIONS OF NATURE. ACCOUNT OF his before hopeless efforts, and had the happiness to suc- ceed. This ghTs case differed from that of my patient it one very remarkable particular. I am told, that in her seemingly inanimate state, she was all the while perfectly conscious of being alive, though she could not stir, nor speak, and that her only terror was lest she should be buried alive. SINGULAR PRODUCTIONS OF NATURE. ON the 7th of October 1803, an Aurora Borealis wa* seen at Errol in Scotland, between eleven and twelve at night, of most brilliant appearance : not only were there a great number of bright and vast columns perpendicular to the horizon, but all the atmosphere in the Northern quarter of the heavens, was covered with one continued gleam of lightning. A Cucumber, lately cut in the garden of C.Wilson, Esq. of Empsall, weighed 5^1bs. and measured 30| inches long, and 14 inches in circumference. A Potatoe was dug up last month in a. garden, belon Grins O i- _ C7 * O C* to Mr. David Knight, Brewer, at Arbroath, in Scotland, of most extraordinary size ; its largest circumference 19 inches, the least 17 inches; it weighed two pounds nine ounces : it is the kind known there by the name of Ame- rican Tartar. There were nine other potatoes at the samu stem, weighing on an average, sixteen ounces each. A Turnip. Mr. Mutch, at Murtle, (Dee-side,) pulled one up on his farm, the beginning of October, weighing. eighteen pounds. Full and authentic. Account of MARY SQUIRES and CANNING, concluded from page 397. THE evidence of George Squires, the gipsy's son, was peculiarly diverting. He could give a particular account of every house they called at on their journey from South Perrot MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AttD ELIZ. CANNING. 431 Pcrrot to London, and even recollected that they had two fowls for dinner at Litton, in Wilts, who they were bought of, &c. ; and, to the observation of the counsel, that it was perhaps an extraordinary dinner, he said No, they had fowls very often. His manner and acuteness also made the counsel observe, that he was by no means a per- son of weuk capacity, as had been represented. However, being called upon to give an account of another journey into Sussex, previous to the former jaunt, lie could not, or would not tell the name of the place, nor those of many others which he had passed through. In fact, in the course of an examinatipn of two hours, he would own to nothing that could tend in the least degree to the crimination of his mother. It was also expected that Lucy Squires, his sister, would have been called in by the counsel for the prosecution ; and though it was strongly urged by the other counsel, she was not called upon for any evidence. After a variety of examination Avas gone through, to prove the absence of'' JVIary Squires, at the time Canning swore she robbed her, the Court proposed an adjournment to the 1st of May, which was over-ruled. The prosecutor's counsel desired that E. Canning should be delivered into custody O . of the keeper of Newgate; but this was warmly spoke against by the defendant's counsel, so that it was at last agreed that she should be admitted to bail ; accordingly her former bail entered into a fresh recognizance. The girl was then put into a coach as privately as possible ; but the populace finding it out, hung upon and followed it with the loudest huzzas and shoutings to an house in the Old Bailey, where she went to, and they staid about the door huzzaing till eleven o'clock; when they had retired, she went home. Some of the most vulgar of the populace were so audacious as to insult Sir Crisp Gascoignc, as he 'as coming out of the Sessions-House j which one of the K k k 2 friends 432 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT O? friends of Canning happening to see, he immediately pushed in among them, and rescued him from their hands. Her friends were very much grieved at this outrage, and the next day had hand-bills printed, disclaiming the fact, which they got delivered at night to the cro\vd that \va& assembled in the Sessions-Hoase-rYard. Notwithstanding this, the friends of Canning were charged with being the encouragers of these insults, though they did every thing in their power to prevent them. The greatest care was taken that could be, that the girl should go to and coine from the Sessions-House privately, to avoid any huzzaing ; and she was put into different dresses, and, vent out at private doors, and sometimes windows, that the people waiting about the house might not know any thing of her going out. On Wednesday the Court met again, according to ad- journment ; when it \vas informed, in a very moving and pathetic manner, of the great danger Sir Crisp Gascoigne had been in from the mob on the Monday night before ; and the Court was moved that a guard might be appointed for the security of his person, when he went from the Sessions- House at njo-hts. The iurv likewise fearinq; for themselves, o /,> o moved that a guard might be allowed to them. The re- corder then set forth in a very eloquent speech, the inso- lence and ill consequences of such proceedings ; that the magistracy of the city of London were too respectable a, body to be thus insulted by a mob ; that himself too had met with some insults ; but he would have them to know, that the magistracy were i.ot to be terrified ; that they would go to the bottom of it ; that whoever was concerned ^ let them look to it. The counsel for the defendant then arose, and told the Court that he would venture to. say that none of the friends of his client were concerned in any thing of this sort ; but supposing even that their zeal had iiarriedsome of them "too far, yet it ought not to prejudice bis. MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 433 his client, who could have no hand in it ; therefore he- hoped the jury would not let their minds be prejudice^ against her by any thing that an outrageous mob ( who fol- lowed nothing but the dictates of passion; had clone, or should do, during the course of the trial ; Thut on the? part of his client, he had a complaint to make of no less an outrage done to. her, which was shameful to the highest de- gree, arid might be of the worst consequence to her. Me then read a paragraph in the newspaper of the day before, wherein the defendant was spoken of in a very virulent manner : the insults given Sir Crisp Gascoigne, attributed to her or her friends, with an intent to obstruct justice. He observed, that to publish such a paragraph during the course of the trial, was doing as much as could be done to bias and prepossess the jury against the defendant, and therefore cruel to the highest degree, unjust and illegal. The Court agreed with him in this, and recommended an information to be laid against the printer of the paper. After this, they proceeded to business ; and Mr. Alderman (Jhitty repeated the story told by E. Canning, when lie took her deposition at Guildhall, and made remarks upon, a number of inconsistencies which he observed in it. Mr. Gawen Nash coniirmed these observations, espe- cially Canning's then saying she was confined in a small dark room. He had been at Mother Wells's with several iVicnds, and seen the room. He also gave Eliz. Canning and her mother a good character, for dx-cencv, sobriety, oic. He then clearly proved that the room, and tilings in it, did not at ail agree wit'i E. Canning's descriprion of it. He further related, that when E. Canning was first taken, down to the house at Enfiekl, to swear to the persons that had robbe-J her, she was taken out of the chaise in the arms of a man, and carried into Mother Wells's kitchen, where. ;>he was set upon the dresser for about four or live minutes ; jhat the c',oor of the loft was then open ; that afterwards.. 434> A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OF - she sat upon a stool in the middle of the house, for near twenty minutes, the door of the loft remaining all the while open ; that when she was carried into the parlour, where there were many people, in order for her to pitch upon the person who cut off her stays, the gipsy sat oa the right-hand side, and Mother Wells on the left ; that as soon as Canning came in, she fixed on the gipsy, and said, That was the woman ; that he could not then see the gipsy's face, and cannot tell whether Canning could. And when Squires' s daughter told her mother that she was fixed upon as the person who had robbed Canning ; she then got up, and came across the room to Canning, saying, Madam, do you say I robbed you? Look at this face, and if you have ever seen it before, you must remember it, for I believe that God Almighty never made such another. When Canning told her when it was, she said, Lord, Madam! I was 120 miles of)' at that time : He asked her where she was, she said, at Abbotsbury in Dorsetshire, and that she could bring an hundred people to prove it, who had known her thirty or forty years. That there were people in the room, who said, Lord ! she has been here but a -eery little while; and that there was a -woman called Natus, who said she had been in the house ten or eleven weeks, and that the gipsy had been there but a little while, and that she had never seen Elizabeth Canning there before. After this, Canning was led to see the place of her con- finement, and carried into several rooms, then into the loft; she said, she believed that was the room. Bein" asked what she remembered in the room, she turning about to the left hand, said, she remembered it by that hay, but said there was more added to it. Being asked then what else she remembered, and a pitcher being taken up from the ground, she said, That is the juff I drunk my water out of. Then a gentleman took up a tobacco mould, and asked her if she remembered that ? MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 435 She said, she did : Another gentleman asked her, what else she remembered, and if there were any saddles in the room ? She said, she believed there might be one, but she did not remember any thing of a nest of drawers. Being asked why she did not escape out of the East win- dow, she said, she did not know but it was fast;. The conclusion of Mr. Nash's evidence was, That from that very time he thought Canning an impostor, or else greatly deceived, and that he had given up espousing her cause from that very day. He was asked this three or four times, and replied, that from that very hour he had left Slaving any thing to do in her favour ; that he had often declared the same as he had deposed now, in common con- versation. Being asked how he came not to declare this upon the trial of the gipsy, he said, he was present at part of the trial, but being butler to the Goldsmiths' Company, and having a great dinner to get for them that da} r , he left the Old Bailey by eleven o'clock ; and that though he was a little discontented at the evidence of Canning, yet he thought the gipsy would not have been convicted, and if he had thought so, he would have staid and given the same evidence as he had done now ; that soon after he heard Mary Squires was respited, he went voluntarily to the Lord Mayor, being dissatisfied in his own mind, and told him he could let him into the whole affair, Mr. Hague and Mr. Aldrich gave much the same account as Mr. Nash, only they said there were marks of some lock or fastening to the cloor which led to the loft where Canning was connned, and a sort of ledge or pent-house under the window, from whence she said she o;ot out. ^ O Both said they dropped Canning's cause from that time. Being asked, they both owned they were at the trial of the gipsy, and gave the reasons why they did not then give evidence, to save the life of a woman whom they thought wrongfully accused : One said, he was so shocked at 4SG A FULL AND AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT Of at it, that he bad not power to speak any thing about It, though he staid all the trial, which lasted some hours ; th<* other said, he was engaged to dine with a gentleman in JBraithfield, therefore left the Sessions-House before the trial was qnit'c finished. The next witness called, was Fortune Natus, who de- posed, That he and his wife lay in that very room during the time Canning says she was confined there ; says, when they came there, there was half a load of hay in the room, which room he says was called the work-shop; that his bed was made of hay and straw, and his bolster iras a sack of wool ; there was no grate in the room ; that there was a nest of drawers and two or three side- saddles', a mini's saddle, a large drawer with some pol- lard, a tub, an old gun, &e. &c. Judith Natus, wife to Fortune Natus, gave much the same account as he had done. She seemed to forget several tilings which her husband said was in the room, and recollected others, never mentioned before^ particu- lar! v a parcel of pan-tiles. Sarah llcnvell, daughter to Mother Wells, deposed, That she was there every day during the month of Janu- ary. *Shc said, that Yertuc Hall went as often into the hay-loft as she did ; and that upon the 8th of January, Edward Allen, Giles Knight, and John Larney, lopped tin; trees which were over agains,t the window ; and that Vertne Hall and herself were at the window at that time; that she opened the casement herself, and it opened very easy. John Larnev, Giles Knight, and Edward Allen, gave an account of their looping the trees on the 8th of Januarv, that stood just against the window of the room in winch Canning said she was confined, and talked to Sarah llowcll and Virtue' Mail the time they were looking out lit the window of the hay-loit. John MARY SQUlfeES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 43t John Howell deposed, He lived at Enfield Wash, and was son to Mother Wells ; that he was in the work-shop on the 19th, 20th, and 21st of January ; he said, his mother had sent him there on these days to fetch pollard to feed the sow and pigs, and that Fortune Natus and his wife were the only people that were in that room. He says, he attended the trial of Squires, but the mob would not suffer him to come in, and tlrat he was forced to go away. Mr. Deputy Molineaiix deposed, That he happened to be with the late Lord Mayor (after Mary Squires was con- victed) when Canning and Vertue Hall were brought to be examined ; and that, after my Lord Mayor had exa- mined Vertue Hall, her answer was, she had nothing to say at that time : He says, the pitcher and bed-gown were produced ; that Canning took up the gown, to take it away ; when my Lord Mayor said, No, you must not take it away ; that then she said, It is my mother's. This, he says, surprised him a great deal ; because, on the trial of Squires, she said, she took it out of the grate in the room where she said she was confined. The counsel for the prosecution having gone through these witnesses, rested it. The counsel for the defendant then rose up;, and made a very strong and sensible speech ; in which he observed, That his client, after suffering to an uncommon degree, bv being almost starved to death, was now brought to a trial for Wilful and corrupt Perjury ; that he had seen with some surprise, the counsel for the prosecution chal- lenging no less than sixteen of the jury ; that he believed, except in cases of treason, that there had never been an instance before of a prosecutor challenging sixteen of the jury out of twenty-four ; however, lie was very well pleased with it> as he hoped, after this, that the prosecu- tor, if a verdict was given against him, would remain L 1 1 satisfied 433 A FULL AND AUTHENTIC AccotrNf OF satisfied that justice had been done him. Tie then ob- served, that he thought nothing amounting to a positive proof had been brought against his client} aijd that whom a case was doubtful, the law always inclined to the mer- ciful side. That he did not suppose that the witnesses who had sworn to the gipsy's being at Abbotsbury at th time, had wilfully perjured themselves ; but that the al- teration ef the style just at that time, it was well known had greatly confounded the people, and that even to this day, it was usual with us to say (talking of the seasons, &c.) that it is only such a day of the month, according as we used to reckon ; that this custom of reckoning by two dif- ferent computations or styles, necessarily would puzzle any one in fixing some months after on the particular time on which any thing happened ; that the gipsy was really at Abbotsbury, near about the time in question, he did suppose ; but the question was, whether it was at that par- ticular time. He then spoke to the possibility of Canning's Morv, and even the probability of it, considering all the circumstances that, attended it. He observed, that what his brother counsel on the other side had said, that villains and robbers \vould never do mischief merely for the sake of doing it, frequent experience contradicted. As to the improbability, which he had observed, of no one passing by to see Bedlam at the time the girl was stopt and robbed ; he must in reply say, that if his brother counsel had taken it in his head to go and see Bedlam at such an unseason- able time, between the hours of nine and ten at night., that he should not have been surprised had the keeper taken and locked him up among the mad people he came to see. lie next urged strongly, that notwithstanding all (he extraordinary pains that had been taken, thev had not been able to prove in the least that the girl was in any other place than where site had sworn she was.-*-' 1 What ! (says he) could a poor ignorant girl, without money, v it! LOU; MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSV; AND ELIZ. CANNING, 439 vithqut friends, have the art and means to conceal herself a whole month, undiscovered by any one, to lie-in, or to t>e salivated, as has been said ? Strange ! and incredible is it, that neither midwife, nurse, or surgeon, under whose eare" she was, should have blabbed nothing in all this time ! It is well known that ladies of the greatest fortune, that have money to buy silence, yet cannot purchase secresy on these occasions, but their miscarriages of this kind will get abroad ; and yet not a single syllable, for the space of sixteen months, has come out to prove Canning's being in any other place whatsoever than the house of Mother Wells." He next observed, That it was contrary to nature for pepple to become desperately wicked and inhuman all at once ; that it was always by degrees, and step by step, that people arrived to the height of wickedness ; but that the defendant's character was proved to hie blameless and irreproachable in every respect till the very hour of this affair : Modesty, sobriety, industry, and good-nature* were her characteristics ; and therefore it was quite incre- dible, that all of a sudden she should become wicked enough to invent such a story, and to be guilty of the vilest perjury and most pre-mcditatcd murder, by wilfully and deliberately swearing away the life of an innocent person. It has been reported (said he) that the whole was a contrivance between her and her mother, to get money by the contributions of the humane and charitable ; but it was. not a thing to be believed, that any person would on purpose- reduce themselves to the deplorable and miserable condition., which it was known, beyond all doubt, that Canning was ivt, even to within a hair's breadth of death, upon the uncertain hopes of getting a little money : It was even a contradiction ta reason and common sense, that any one would, for the sake, of getting money, reduce themselves to so desperate a condition, as to leave littlei fcPRes .of living to receive it, &c. &c. L 1 1 2 440 After the counsel had finished their speeches, the wit- nesses for the defendant were called, chiefly consisting of her mother's friends, who generally spoke of her former character, and her behaviour after she came home. James Lord, apprentice to Mrs. Canning, deposed to Elizabeth Cannings beins; missed, the en-eat concern his O O ' O mistress was in on that account, and that when she re- turned, his mistress was at prayers for her daughter's re- turn ; that when she came to the door, he did not at first know her, nor till she spoke, she was in such a deplorable condition ; that his mistress fell in a fit upon it ; that she had a bit of handkerchief over her head, and an old jacket on, and that she was a very sober girl. Mr. Backler, an apothecary in Aldermanbury, deposed, He was applied to by the girl's mother-, and weut to her on the 30th of January ; he found her extremely low, and could scarcely hear her speak, with cold ckmmy sweats in her bed ; she complained of being very faint and sick, and of pains in her bowels, and of having been costive the whole time of her confinement. He ordered her a purging medicine, but her stomach was too weak for it, and could not bear it ; he then ordered her a glyster that evening, and on the 3d of February another ; the latter had some little effect : He ordered her another on the 5th ; that had no effect at all; and, she continuing very bad, and in great danger, Dr. Eaton was sent for on the 6th : He wrote prescriptions for her for fourteen days, of diuretic and gentle cathartic medicines ; that she was tolerably well in about a month. When she was at the worst, her face was remarkable, her colour quite gone, her arms of a livid colour spotted; and that M'hen he heard she was gone to Enfield Wash, when the people were taken up, he thought her not able to perform the journey, and thought it extremely improper for her to undertake it, she being Tery much emaciated and wasted, Robert MARY SQUIRES, A GIPSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 441 Robert Beals, who is one that attends the turnpike afe Stamford Hill, deposed, That, at the beginning of Jan u- arv, as he was standing by the gate at near eleven at night, he heard a sobbing and crying on the road ; it eame from towards Newington, and drew nearer and nearer ; at last he perceived it was two men and a young person, seemingly by her crying ; one said, Come along 9 y ou i) h, you (/ire dmnk ; the other said, How drunk the b h is ! and made a sort of a laugh ; but she scemc4 unwilling to go. By his light he could see them, one got over the style, and the other laid hold of one of her legs, or both, and lifted them over, so that she came down up- right ; she hung back and fell on her. breech on the step of the style, and set out a fresh cry bitterly, as though she would go no furtlier ; that he went nearer them, expecting she would speak to him ; but there being two men, and he alone, he did not think it safe to interpose ; that the one pulled her, and the other jostled her along, and so they took her out of sight towards Enfield. Thomas Bennet deposed, He lives at Enfield, near the ten miles stone ; and on the 29th of January 1753, be- tween four and five in the afternoon, between Mother Wells's and his own house, he saw a miserable poor wretch coming along, without either gown, stays, cap, iiat, or apron an, only a dirty thing, like half a handker- chief, over her head, and a piece of something on, that reached down just below her waist, with her hands lvin- together before her ; she asked him the way to London. David Dyer deposed, He lived at Kn field Wash; that about a quarter of a mile from Mother Wells 1 s house, to- wards London, at four in the afternoon, three evenings before Mot her Weils and her family were taken up, he saw a poor distressed creature pass by him, out of the common field ; he said to her, Sweetheart, do yen want a, husband:' She made no. uuswcj ; she had a thiag tied over 442 A FULL AXD AUTHENTIC ACCOUNT OP Over her head like a white handkerchief, walking with her' hands before her, very faintly, and was a shortish woman, with a shortish sort of a thing on, it did not come very low on her ; that he looked at her face as she passed him, and Said (upon looking upon Elizabeth Canning) he takes hem to be the same person. And several other witnesses tes~ tilled to the sanj>e etiect, of seeing her that day. After this, a number of witnesses living about Eiifield, proved that Mary Quires had been there about Christmas, find in January ; but they did not agree in the exact dates. The counsel for the prosecution said, He was to tell tli jury from the prosecutor ^ that he had nothing against her exclusive of that fact. After all the witnesses were examined, the recorder Cammed up the evidence on both sides, which took up about two hours ; it being then twelve o'clock at night, of Tuesday May 6th, the jury withdrew, and after being out upwards of two hours, brought in their verdict in writing, GUILTY OF PERJURY, buf not -iilful or corrupt; but the Court telling them, that their verdict must be either Guilt v, or Not Guilty, they again withdrew, and in a short time after, brought her in Guilty, but recommended her to the >ercy 'of the Court ; upon which she was immediately committed to Newgate. Thus ended this, very remarkable trial, after having lasted eight days ; and it is allowed by all, was the most extraordinary one that ever came before any Court in thi^ kingdom. Her sentence was respited till the next sessions, \vhich began I'tlay the 13th: In the mean time, two ox *hc jury who tried hey, matte Jin, affidavit, that they did nofe jpiean by their verdict, to bring her in Guilty of Wilful $nd Corrupt Perjury. When the Sessions began, one of the King's Counsel moved the Court for an arrest of judg- iuent, or a new trial, and argued very strongly tor it ; but this was over-ruled, and the Court proceeded to pass sentence ;, MARYSQUI&ES, A GlfcSY; AND ELIZ. CANNING. 443 sentence : But, differing in their opinions what this should be, they divided, when eight of them were for only laying; a small pecuniary line on her, and nine for a month's imprisonment, and at the expiration thereof, to be transported to some of his Majesty's plantations for seven years : Thus, by a majority of one only, the severer sentence took place. It is necessary to remark here, that when the jury brought in their first verdict, there was a loud shout among- the people ; but when they brought in a verdict Guilty of the Indictment, there was a remarkable silence. The con- clusion of this affair was, that till Elizabeth Canning was removed out of the country by transportation, the news- papers were still crowded with essays, paragraphs, &c. for^ and against the justice of her sentence. One party insist- ing upon her innocence, the other upon her guilt. Some dwelt upon the depravity of the gipsy, others upon the poverty of E. Canning and her mother. Even affidavits were made, and printed on both sides. However, all these things did not hinder large subscriptions being carried on^ for her support ; and, as we before observed, she was in a situation, after leaving the country, to attract the notice of an opulent Quaker in America, whom she married. In tact, the public opinion, though principally expressed by people of the middling classes, had assumed such a degree of energy, that Sir Crisp Gascoigne, the Lord Mayor, paying a proper deference to his constituents and tallow-citizens, thought proper to publish an Address to the Liverymen on the subject ; in which he was very earnest to clear himself of any want of candour, in the part lie had espoused respecting E. Canning ; and with Sir C Gas- coigne's reasons for his conduct, the public seemed well satisfied, OBITUARY ( 444 ) OBIT'UARY OF REMARKABLE CHARACTERS. L HO MAS CLARKE, died lately in his miserable hut$ opposite the lied Lion Inn on Old Down, near Bath, in tlie 99th year of his age. Upwards of half a century he had resided in this miserable situation ; and though for nearly ten years he had been eon fined to a pallet of strawy with no covering but a single rug, he never could be pre- vailed upon to quit it, or to receive the least degree of parochial assistance, for fear that he might be forced to give up his hut, which he deemed a kind of freehold, and in which it seems he had been originally placed by the person V'ho then rented Barrack Farm, and with whom old Clarke h..d worked as a labourer. As a companion to the above, we give the following, upon the credit of a country paper, of the beginning of the present month :- Lately died, in the parish of Breague, in South Wales, at the advanced age of 80, Mr. J. Rogers, of most eccen- tric manners ; he had not been shaved since last Easter. His usual practice was to go into the sea for the benefit of his health, and when in want of food, was' accustomed to lie on his back, and suck the goats in the open fields ; and when lie was seen going to market, he always had a sack on his shoulder, containing- his money, for his attorney to lay out at interest ; he left much property. CURIOSITIES IN NORTH AMERICA. Two miles west of New Haven, is a mountain; on the- top of which is a cave, remarkable for having been the re- #kience of Generals Whaley and GolVe, two of the judges cl Charles the First, who was beheaded. They arrived at Boston, July the 27th, 1760, and came to Xew Haven the Murch fuliowhi.---May the 1 1th, 1661, they retired and CURIOSITIES FROM NORTH AMERICA. 445 and concealed themselves behind West Mountain, three miles from New Haven ; and the 19th of August they re- moved to Milford, where they lived concealed until the 13th of October 1664, when they returned to New Haven, and immediately proceeded to Hadley, where they re- mained concealed for about ten years ; in which time Whaley died, and Goffe soon after abdicated. In 1665, John Dixwell, Esq. another of the king's judges, visited them while at Hadley, and afterwards proceeded to New Haven, where he lived many years, and was known by the name of John Davis. Here he died, and was buried in the burying-place, where his grave-stone is standing to this day, with this inscription, J. D. Esq. deceased March 18th, in the 8.2d Year of his Age, 1688. JTcu' and complete Memoirs of NATHANIEL BENTLEY, ESQ. the Eccentric Inhabitant of the Dirty Warehouse in Leadcnhall Street. Down to the present Time. 1 HL great variety of censure, observation and remark, that has been bestowed upon this singular character, in the public prints, &c. might have been thought by some persons to have some effect upon Mr. BENTLEY, in re- claiming him from his peculiarities, or altering his course of life ; but this is far from being the case, the house may, but the inhabitant is not to be changed-' Accordingly, the building having remained near twenty years, the wonder of almost every spectator, through its dirty and decaying appearance, it is now putting into a state of repair, as it were, perforce. Mr BENTI.EYJ it seems, having long withstood every kind of persuasion and remonstrance, against its continuance in that state, and to no manner of purpose, in altering his inflexibility ; but as the surveyor informed him, that the expenccs for the repairs would be about .200, to avoid any legal discussion on the subject of dilapidations, Mr. BENTI.EY, without ceremony, paid down the sum de- manded for the repairs, telling the gentlemen to go and get what they pleased to eat and drink, and he would pay for it; these repairs are now goiug on, much to the surprise of people, who are unacquainted with the causes of an apparent change, so sudden and unexpected. M m m IT 446 NEW AND COMPLETE MEMOIRS OF IT might naturally be imagined, that while the house of ,Mr. Bentlcy was renairincr, he had left it, both for his own j A C? * J convenience and for that of the workmen ; no such thing. His shop, though all the rest of the house were in ruins, he seems determined not to quit. He is at least resolved this shall be the hist part of his spacious premises, in which the spiders will undergo any disturbance. A perfect enemy to all reforms whatever, he does not even suffer the labourers to enter the ground-floor, but compels them to descend into the cellar through its window, and go up to the top and other parts, by a ladder raised against the front, without interrupting his business on the ground- floor. What he intends to do when every other apart- ment, the shop excepted, has undergone the proposed re- pairs,, is not yet apparent. But, to preserve the memory of the house in its former state, a representation of it will be found in this Number. This house and shop, near the East India House, Mr. Bentley has occupied ever since 1764. In fact, it was inhabited by his father, who had the shop glazed, and cer- tainly it was the first glazed hard-ware shop in London. Mr. Nathaniel Bentley's frugality and parsimony, it seems, are hereditary endowments. His father possessed consi- derable property in houses at Islington, and died there in 1160 ; his wife, a lady of great fortune also, died there in 1764, and left cfoCOO to the fund for the support of the widows and orphans of dissenting ministers ; oflOO to a dissenting minister at Kingston upon Thames ; and oflOOO to St. Thomas's Hospital. When Mr. Bentley the elder, married this lady, he immediately Jaicl aside the use of his own coach, and made use of her's. To the Church of Si* Catherine Cree, in which parish he had lived, he left a bell, on condition that a peal should be rung on his birth- day as long as lie lived.' This bell bears the innneofthe donor, and those of Eastern and Peck, the makers, with the KATHANIEL BENTLEY, ESQ. 447 the date of the year 1754. Mr. Bentley became a Dis- senter in tlie decline of his life, and had a country-house ut Edmonton, before he married. Mr. Nathaniel Bentley succeeding to his father's stock and trade, immediately after his death, at first intended to dispose of them with the lease .of the house, &c. to a Mr. Bliss, of Pall Mall ; but as he could not obtain the whole of the money down, and paid no regard to good security, though oiTered; in 1764, after altering the front of his shops, two of which he threw into one, he set out for Paris. It is said, that in the early part of Mr. Berkley's life, he was such a professed beau and man of fashion > that he made twojournies to Paris; in the last of which he was intro- duced to Lewis XVI. when he left a Mr. Holiday to take care of his business, at the enormous salary of ten shillings and six-pence per week : he being a cleanly and indus- trious man, placed every article in proper order, little thinking that would be the last time some of them would ever be cleaned or dusted ; at other times, during his ab- sence, his shop has been committed to the care of persons he thought lie could trust ; and when he came back, mak- ing use of his customary nonchalance, he has paid their demands, without asking for any vouchers, observino-, " he was most likely to have the truest accounts by havin- none.'' He has frequently appeared at masquerades some years ago, but never, we believe, in character; and it is re- ported, that so lately as August 12, 1802, the Prince of Wales's birth-day, he made his appearance at the "-rand Gala at Vauxhall. It has been said, that when he meets ladies, especially of his acquaintance, he is extremely liberal ; but this does not appear probable, no more than, that such a man so nearlv attached to slovenliness, in his t>eneral appearance and manner of living, should be able to form connections with any females of elegant habits, or M in m 2 {" 448 NEW AND COMPLETE MEMOIRS OF of any high reputation in life and character ; he is, how- ever, very fond of the company of females, when at place* of amusement. As one reason why he is seldom or ever fit to be seen, it is said, that the moment he comes home from any place of entertainment, his costly attire is thrown aside for his shop cloathing, which he mends himself. It is also re- ported, that he makes no secret of washing and mending his own linen, and that he purchases his shoes at Rag Fair. In mild weather, probably to save his coat from the nails, &c. he attends his shop in his shirt sleeves ; and as his face, his waistcoat, shirt, breeches, &c. are all of one colour, his personal appearance, and that of his Avarehouse, exactly correspond. Lately, when going out upon any particular business, he wears a fustian coat and cocked hat, though he has recently been seen in a round one, and an old great coat. It is further understood, that in con- sequence of his shewing himself at a front window, just be- fore he goes out, the people in the neighbourhood never fail ranging themselves opposite his house, and waiting till he comes down. The same is done by the passengers on an evening when he comes out to shut up his shop, a ceremony generally attended with much desultory remark and loud peals of laughter. But now as he seldom goes out full- dressed, he is not under the embarrassment which he used to sustain on such occasions, from the curiosity of the crowd. Before the powder tax was introduced, Mr. B. frequently paid a shilling for dressing that head, which of late years, he scarcely seems to think worthy of a comb ! J J J It is said^ that being once asked six-pence for a powder- puff, he went home in a rage, being asked so much, and made- use of a dried wing of a goose, or an old stocking. One time it is related, that to deceive the people just as he was going out, he put a candle in the window to keep r'lem in expectation, and then slipped out the back way un perceived ; NATHANIEL BENTLEY, ESQ. 449 anperceived ; and, no doubt, highly enjoying their mor- tification at the disappointment. The front of his house being changed from that of white plaster to a dingy black, with various cracks, before the pre^ sent repairs commenced, would have beggared all compa- rison, excepting the inside of a common shore. The broken windows, not one in his shop remaining Avhole, and window shutters also, some of them unopened for many years, cut a most forlorn figure, the many vacancies being stopped up with japanned waiters, tea trays, box lids, c. That these things should not be stolen, Mr. Bentley al- ways took care to chain them to the window frames. And when his neighbours have offered to defray the expence of painting and white washing his house, he is said to have thanked them for their kind offer, observing he could not accept of it, as any repairs would spoil his trade with the Levant, where his house is best known by the name of the Dirty Warehouse of Leadenhall Street. The story of a blue room in his house, is thought to have been set on foot by himself, merely to stop the enquiries of those who have been in the habit of teazing him about his peculiarities, and the reasons of them. Many are the reports abroad, concerning his inconceiv- able civility, and his manner of attending to the ladies, when they honour him with their commands, particularly bv his opposite neighbours. It has been also related, that several curious females have come to town from various parts of the country, on purpose to see him. And such has been his celebrity, that himself and his house were represented in a pantomime in the summer of }S03, at the Royal Circus. In a'ddition to his other sih- gularities, it should have been noticed, that on the late JL'.Iection for "Middlesex., he refused his vote to every ap- plication ; and, as it is said, having never taken an oath, and yet uot willing to be deemed a Quaker, he made his srutt NEW AND COMPLETE MEMOIRS OF great hurry of business and want of time, an excuse for Ms conduct. With respect to the real origin of the story of his sealed or secret room, in the house in Leadenball-strect, it is res- ported, and it is said by himself, that being many years since engaged to marry a young lady, previous to the per- formance of the ceremony, he invited her, and several of her relatives, to partake of a sumptuous entertainment.- - In this sealed room he awaited their arrival, with much im- patience, as at length, instead of the lady, a messenger arrived with the news of her death. This unexpected event had such an effect upon him, that he closed up the room, with the resolution that it should never be opened j and that there was a room in the house shut up, is not doubted, as some of the windows appear to prove it. Some persons have assured us, that he has a coffin in the house ; but whether it is merely for the purpose of sleeping in it, as has been reported, is not clear. If he have abed, it is certain that no one is permitted to make it ; nor is any per- son admitted further than the shop-door to clean any thing. Some time ago, Mr. B. being chosen a collector of the tythes, much against his will, the assessment being oflSO, c 11 u at 451- MEW AND COMPLETE MEMOIRS Of at the door, to assist Mr. B. in keeping the unruly boys and others at a distance, Avhen the master stands at the door, or assists in putting up the shutters. During the cold weather, when lie is obliged to he below, to save iu'ing, he stands in a box weii lined with straw, to keep his i'eet warm, IJis leisure tin;e at night he used to em- plov in making shelves, and used very frequently to he seen at. one of the broken windows up stairs on a Sunday morning, reading a news-paper. But with all his eccen- tricities, he is by no means deserving of some ill-natured reports circulated about him ; as the character that he has had for gallantry and civility to the ladies, is more than a counterpoise for the failings which he may be charged with : and it is nothing hut his continuance in this singular ' o O stute, which excites so much of the public curiosity, and brings so many people to his shop, either to purchase goods, or to admire the place and its proprietor. There was also a report that Mr. B. kept his father's carriage in his cellar; but this we can vouch for as the fact, and which has boon ascertained since the workmen have been obliged to go into the cellar, viz. that the rumour originated entirely from the circumstance of a wheel being there belon-in' v to a lathe, which is well known to be used O O in the cutlery and hard-ware husiness ; and which, it seems, could not. escape the prying eye of the curious. Though a notice was some months since nailed upon the premises adjoining the shop, signifying that the old house backwards, with that of Mr. B.'s in the front, were to be k-t, and application to be made to Mr. Delight the * i. 1 O Survevor ; Mr. Bentley never too!; the least notice, hut stiH continued putting up fresh shelves. However, as we have noticed at the beginning of these Memoirs, the whole is now undergoing a perfect renewal ; though this may not be the case: wii.h the tenant, who has not yet exhibited any svmpUMUs of (j'litting either his habits or his habitation, as h is even thought, th;.t he will risk an ejectment heibra J:e leaves it. Mr, NATHANIEL BENTLEY, ESQ. 4^5 Mr. Bcntley's singularity has, it seems, been the subject both of prose and of verse ; a specimen of the latter has appeared in tin; European Maga/ine, for January 1K01. Hence, the curiosity of the public at large since that time, bringing so many people upon idle errands to his shop, has created h;m much trouble, and of course, unless upon business, rendered all access to him very diilkiilt ; and those who come merely to ask questions, he very soon dis- covers, and treats them accordingly.' 1 'flic /JH.->? ><(> allnil.d In, arc ?/o''o::- : " \Vlu> but ;i:ij seen ^ii'lio , ui se^ : ah) 'Tv/ixt Alr'.^it'j's w:;i!-k:Kv,vii pun-,;) niiri Lcadenliull, A ciiiiou-. Uau;-v.;iri' s':;o;), iii :,'c!HT.iI full ():'w;'rcs from Binuin^l'.ani and Poutipool ? B':u-iri\i v> ith dirt, behold ils ample front, \V;'ii Uiirty years collected filth ujxci't: S-.r- i"s\ci')!i"d c.ihv. ot>^ j.^nduiit o\-r tiie door, Wiit!!: l/y;:;:s, bales, ami trunks, arc oiu;\v'd uroiiud (lie floor. 456 MEMOIRS OF NATHANIEL EENTLEY, " Behold how whistling wind-; and driving rain, Gain free admission at each broken parte, Save where the dingy tenant keeps thorn out With urn or tray, knife-case, or dirty clout ! Here snuffers, waiters, patent screws for corks ; There castors, card- racks, cheese-trays, knives and forks ! Here empty cases pil'd in hea ; .s on high ; There packthread, papers, ro^e, in wild disorder lie. " O say, thou enemy to soap and towels ! Hast no compassion lurking in thy bowels ? Think what the neighbours suffer by thy whim. Of keeping self and house in such a trim ? The ofncers of health should view the scene, i And put thy sho.p and tliee in quarantine. Consider thou, in summer's ardent heat, When various means are tried to cool the street^ What must each decent neighbour suffer then From noxious vapours issuing from thy den. ' When fell Disease, with all her horrid trail}, Spreads her dark pinions o'er ill-fated Spain, That Britain may not witness such a scene, Behoves us doubly now to keep our dwellings cleaa, " Say, if within the street where thou dostdwelL Each house were kopt exactly like thy cell j O say, thou enemy to-brooms and mops * I. How long thy neighbours could keep open shop** If following thee jn taste, each wretched elf, Dnshav'd, unwash'd, and squ.'lid like thyself, Resolv'cl to live ? The answer's very plain, One year would be the utmost of their reign : Victims to filth, each vot'ry soon would fall, And one grand jail distemper kill them all. '* Persons there are, who say thou hast been seen (Some years ago) with hands and face wash'd clean j And would'st thou quit this most unseemly plan, Thou art ('tis said) a very comely man : Of polish 'd language, partial to the fair, Then why not wash thy face, and comb thy matted hair y Clear f-om thy house accumulated dirt, Hew paint the front, and wear a cleaner shirt," SINGULAR ( 45*7 ) SINGULAR CIRCUMSTANCE. A person who keeps a cook's shop in Point-street, Portsmouth, purchased a couple of ducks, Tuesday, Nov. 15; after taking the insides out, in cutting open one of the g'.zzj.rds, discovered amongst the gravel, &c. eighty-two small gold beads, as bright as if just purchased of a jeweller ; worth about nine shilling* as old gold. CAPTAIN GUYER'S Account of his Misfortunes at Sea. Wilmington, America, December 5, 1796. As master of the brig Lark, belorging to this port, on the 22d day of October last, I was overset at sea, in lat. 2 C < N. long. G8 W. being laden with flour, my vessel would not sink, and immediately filling with water, I found it impossible to s^ve her ; it was with the utmost difficulty that I saved my boat and oars, and about nine gallons of water. The sea running very high, and night coming on, we were obliged to moor the boat under the lee of the wreck, with all hands in her ; it then set in to blow a hard gale from the Southward, with very heavy rains. On the 23d we went on the wreck, and got half a barrel of wet flour and one of the brio's sails, the gale still continuing C? O O to blow hard, and all hands in the boat under the Ice of the wreck. On the 25th the gale abated, when we went on the wreck and procured one of the top-gallant yards, with which we made a mast for the boat, and made a tem- porary sail: at 10 A. M. we left the wreck (her decks being broke up and spars alongside), having on board the boat about two-thirds of half a barrel of wet flour, and seven or eight gallons of water, without a compass or any other instrument, supposing Watlin's island to bear S. W. i S four hundred and fifty miles distant. On the 2 ( Jth, after suil'ering greatly with hunger and thirst, and Jiving run auout 5O miles in the boat, we fell in with the 45S NICHOLAS "RICHMOND ; the north end of Cat Island. I immediately xvcnt. on shoYe, but could find no inhabitants or assistance whatever. At this time our damaged flour and water \vas all gone. We then proceeded to the South side of tlhi inland, and landed at the house of Mr. Seth Doud, by whom I was kindly re- ceived, and treated with the greatest hospitality. On the 4th November Mr. Doud furnished me with plenty of pro- visions., and a pilot, with \vhcm we proceeded to New Pro- vidence, where we arrived the 5th of November, having run 730 miles in a small boat of thirteen feet keei, with seven men, a bo}- and a dog ; and out at sea twelve day.s without eating- a meal's victuals, during which time nature was only supported by a little musty dongh. On my ar- rival at Nassau, I applied to Joseph FAX'S, Fsq. for assist- ance, who received me with great kindness, and furnished me with money and cloaths for rnvself and suffering com- panions. From New Providence we sailed on the 20th of November, in the sioop Planter, Captain Hess, for Phi- ladelphia, and landed at Newcastle on Wednesday morn- ing the 2(1 of December. CAROLUS, TO THE EDITOR OF THE SCIENTIFIC MUSEUM. <: SIH, As your Museum is a receptacle for Remarkable Characters, the following v.411, I presume, be entitled to a place in your next Number: \vhi:'h request, by complying \vith, v,-iil induce me to transmit you others more rem.irkabie than these. Your occasion;)! Corresponilorrt, \i>l(i-!iai;!i JN'or. Volh, 180.1 D. li. L." e>- * T NICHOLAS KICHMOND -A nior/'css Usurer, *)\\-.Y> in Leiceste.r about the year 1173; and whose life- being handed down to posterity, will serve no other pur- pose, than for mankind to detest those actions which have ntadc his memory infamous. lie \vas born a Quaker, but his life was a perfect con- trast to the humanity of tho.>e apparent happy people.-- Ahhou^U A MERCILESS USURER. 459 Although he lived amidst scenes of the most complicated wretchedness, yet he was an utter stranger to the soft feeU ings of com passion. If he had no vices that mark the de- bauchee, the intemperate and profane, yet in a round of threescore years, not the exercise of one social duty is to be found. His co Hers were filled from the scanty pittance of the miserable, subject to his iniluence through want. When the needy parent had stripped the unoffending babe, to procure it sustenance, the pledge was unfeelingly by him received, while the tender innocent lay folded in its mother's arms in rags. lie owned a certain district of dwellings, among which he lived, peopled by the most indigent, over whom he ex- ercised the most unlimited oppressions; sensible that their .necessities made him (to use the language of Scripture,) their miserable coinjoricr ! A poor woman, one of his tenants, with a numerous family, who owed him a few weeks' rent, (for he collected his rents weekly,) he ejected in this manner : Knocking at her door, he says to the good woman, " I want to speak to tliee ; go into the entry and take all thy children with thee, and I will go to thee. " The poor woman, not sus- pecting Ms intention, obliged his request, which was no sooner done, than he secured the door, seized her goods, and never suffered her to eater therein any more. To particularize the steps he took to amass wealth, would only irritate ; suffice it to ..My, that his penuriousness prompted him to sacrifice the precious gifts of heaven, to his voluptuous thirst for gain. Out of the very few times which he dared to lav cut three farthings for half-a-pint of ale, he had once the misfortune to let his mug fall, and spill his drink : the trilling disaster brought from him tliis Larsh sentence " Guts ! guts ! ye must sutler for this." The food he took was of the meanest sort, he invariably weighed before he allowed the pressing calls of nature its necessities, 4GO ERUPTION. OP A VOLCANO j ALLEf> necessities. Potatoes were his chief support, four ounces of which were a stipulated meal. His figure was the picture of want, garbed like a pitiable mendicant lean as the watery aliment could make him ; his languid countenance under a large hat, seemed absorbed in thought. In the midst of his vain pursuits, the hand of death seized and forced him from his god of riches to tremble at the presence of OMNIPOTENCE. ERUPTION OF A VOLCANO ; called the CHIMNEY O/"HELL* JP ROFESSOR PALLAS observes, that his curiosity Avas much excited by a mountain in Southern Russia, which the Cos- sacks call Kuko Obo, or the Chimney of Hell, on account of vast columns of fire and smoke, which they have ob- served to issue from it at different periods. It is situated in the middle of the large and sharp tongue of land, which forms the interior Gulf of Taman ; and irom a minute exa- mination of the different stratifications, the Professor was induced to suppose that the whole of the mountain, which was of a considerable extent, had its origin from more an- cient eruptions. In March 17.04, this hillock exhibited the following ex- traordinary events : " At r-rst i.says the author) a roaring" noise was heard in the air, which was followed by a violent gust of wind that lasted only a minute ; next, a noise was heard similar to thunder, which came from the hillock, and immediately afterwards there issued from the middle of its summit a column of thick inui black smoke : m the space of a minute there arose aimlher of violent fire, which at a distance appeared to be 50 feet in height and 30 in circumference. This Hame lusted i'ro.n half past eight till ten minutes before ten, when an express, who had been sent to the part at the time that the. noise, lire and smoke seemed to decrease, returned, and reported that an aperture had been formed on the hillock, the size of which could not be THE CHIMNEY OF HELL. 461 t>c ascertained, because the successive eruptions, accom- panied by flame and smoke, threw out a bot mud, which spread in every direction, and rendered an approach im- practicable. The eruption was neither preceded nor fol- lowed by any attack of an earthquake. " According to the different accounts of ocular wit- o nesses, who observed this phenomenon, both at Tamau and Yenikale, and visited the mountain after its eruption, the explosion resembled the rumbling of thunder, and the report did not last longer than that of a thunder-clap. A noise and hissing was also heard in the air at Yenikale, both before and after the explosion. At the instant of the re- port, there issued a white vapour, which was followed by a smoke as black as soot, and this was penetrated by a column of lire, with flames of a bright red and pa!e yellow colour, in the form of an expanded sheaf; and which, not- withstanding a very strong wind, which blew at the time, ro.se to a perpendicular height twice as great as that of a mountain. This column of fire disappeared in twenty-five minutes, but the black smoke lasted four or five hours, and sen I forth thick and black clouds over both sides. It had, however, entirely disappeared by the following day. ' At tiie time of the first explosion, the mountain pro- pelled with violence into the air several portions of mud, and threw out quantities of a similar substance, in every direction around it, to the distance of at least a verst. The great mass of mud made its way from the gulf, by displac- ing a portion of vegetable- earth, to the extent of a fathom, which was at that time frozen : it ran at first with rapidity, but afterwards slower, covering all parts of the mountain, without having any sensible degree of heat, accordino- to the report of many respectable persons, who came on horseback to the p'f.ce a few hours after the eruption ; yet the mud then continued to throw out a strong smoke through a very cold air. Some Cossacks, however, who O o o had 465 FURTHER PARTICULARS OP had been sent there, made a contrary report, and insisted that the mud was hot at the time of its efflux. A continual hissing and boiling were heard in the mountain till night j and till the third day, the mud was sometimes thrown out to the height of ten or twelve feet. At a subsequent period the mountain made a cracking noise, and again began to throw out mud in the air, but without exhibiting an appear- ance of fire, even during the night." The Professor analysed the contents of the eruption, and found amongst them many crystals of pyrites, marly schis- tus, white and friable earth, grey calcareous stone, white chalk, brown iron ore, clay -stone, &c. &c. ; many of these Substances probably introduced by the sea-water which rushed into the subterraneous space, and which (water) mixing with the ashes of the burned strata, occasioned the showers of mud. Further Particulars of tlie GREAT FIRE of LONDON. Mr. EDITOR, IN one of your former Numbers, I was very much pleased in seeing the variety of particulars which you had collected concerning the Great Fire of 1666. One of the principal causes of its rapid progress, I presume, did not then strike you, and that was- the very early destruction of the Water Works upon London Bridge, in consequence of its proxi- mity to Pudding-lane, where the fire first broke out at a Baker's, in the night between Saturday and Sunday. This fact, though Stow omits it, is mentioned by other writers. The circumstance also of Bishop Braybrook's body being found in St. Paul's Cathedral, just after the fire, I think you have also omitted. He had been Bishop of London and Lord Chancellor of England upwards of 200 years be- fore ; and saith my author, his body, as many do inform me, when taken up after the fire, did retain much of its inanljr THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON. 463 ihanly shape, and most of its external parts, to the amaze- ment of such as beheld it, and did withal believe it to be the body of the said Bishop. Just before this fire happened, I further learn, that a number of shops and small houses built up against St. Paul's, probably during the twenty years civil war, were condemned to be removed as nuis- ances to the Cathedral ; but this the great fire prevented, by destroying the whole. You mentioned the vast number of books that were destroyed, particularly those that were, deposited for safety in St. Paul's Cathedral : A cotempo- rary writer, and eye-witness of this great calamity, estimates the number of Bibles only at 40,000. Many goods of all sorts were lost in other churches, where the people at first depositing them for safety, had the final mortification of seeing them and the building destroyed together, and no- thing but the stone Avails of these edifices remaining. It was also observed during this fatal calamity, that though the wind generally blew to one point, the fire ran the contrary way with equal rapidity ; and though blowing 1 up houses with gunpowder, was the best remedy to stop the progress of the flames, it was not thought of by any person for some days. In fact, the consternation was too great for forethought, and the difficulty of removing goods was considerably heightened by the enormous prices re- quired by the country carters and others ; these being upon an average three or four pounds a load. Boats, barges, ce. on the Thames, were also full}- employed ; and such numbers of people fled over to the Borough, that for some time there was scarcely a shed, barn, or stable, that did not contain some of the trading citizens, happy in thus, taking refuge from the devouring clement. ^r~r-*~~**~*~~** ^-~^ Characteristics of a BE.ITISH SAILOR, e. i~h Ibitcd in DANIEL BRYAN, an old Seaman, now in Greenwich Hospital. h)oME of the last services of this agetl veteran, were per- formed with Sir Sydney Smith, against the French in o o. o a Egypt $ 464 CHARACTERISTICS OF A BRITISH SAILOR; Egypt ; when at Acre, old Dan was captain of the fore- top, who had been turned over from the Blanche into Sir Sydney Smith's ship Le Tigre. During the siege of Acre, this hardy veteran made repeated applications to be em- ployed on shore ; but, being an elderly man, and rather deaf, his request was not acceded to. At the first storm- ing of the breach by the French, among the multitude of slain, fell one of the generals of that nation. The Turks,, in triumph, struck off the head of this unfortunate officer, and after inhumanly mangling the body with their sabres, left it, naked, a prey to the dogs. Precluded from the rites of sepulture, it in a few days became putresccnt ; a shocking spectacle ! a dreadful memento of the horrors of war, the fragility of human nature, and the vanity oi all. sublunary ambition, hopes, and expectations. Thus ex- posed, when any of the sailors who had been on shore re- turned to the ship, inquiries were instantly made respecting the state of the deceased general. Dan frequently asked his messmates, why they had not buried him ? But the only reply was, " Go and do it yourself." Dan swore he would ; observing, that he had himself been taken prisoner by the French, who always gave their enemies a decent- burial, not like those Turks, leaving them to rot above-board. In the morning, having at length obtained leave to go and sec the town, he dressed himself as though for an excursion of pleasure, and went ashore with the surgeon in the jolly-boat. About an hour or two after, while the surgeon was dressing the wounded Turks in the hospital, in came honest Dan, who, in his rough, good- natured manner, exclaimed, " I have been burying the -ges-cral, Sir, and now I am come to see the sick I" Not particularly attending to the tar's salute, but fearful of his catching the plague, the surgeon immediately ordered hira out. Returning- on board, the coxswain enquired of the surgeon if he had seen old Dan ? " Yes, he has bei>n bu- rying the French general," It was then that Dan's words, in EXHIBITED IN DANIEL BRYAN. 465 in the hospital first occurred. The boat's crew who wit- nessed the generous action, an action truly worthy of a British sailor, in whose character are ever blended the nobler and milder virtues, thus related its circumstances: The old man procured a pick-axe, a shovel, and a rope, and insisted on being let down out of a port-hole, close to the breach. Some of his more juvenile companions offered to attend him : u No ;" lie replied, " yon are too voii'ig to be shot yet ; as for me, I am old and deaf, and my loss would be no great matter. ' Persisting in his ad- venture, in the midst of the firing, Dan was slung and lowered clown with his implements oi action on his shoul- der. His first diiticuky, not a verv trivial one, was to drive uwiiy the dogs. The Kivnc.'i now levelled their pieces they were on the instant of firing at the hero ! It was an interesting moment ! but an officer perceiving the friendly intentions of the sailor, was seen to throw himself across the tile. Instantaneously the din of arms, the military thunder ceased ; a dead, a solemn silence pre- vailed, and the worthy fellow consigned the corpse to its parent earth. He covered it with mould and stones, plac- ing a large stone at its head, and another at its feet. But Dan's task was net yet completed. The unostentatious grave was formed, but no inscription recorded the fate or character of its possessor. Dan, with the peculiar air of a British sailor, took a piece of chalk from his pocket, and attempted to write, " Here you lie, old Crop!" He was then with his pick-axe and shovel hoisted into the town, and the hostile firing immediately recommenced. A few days afterwards, Sir Sidney, having been in- formed of the circumstance, ordered Dan to be called into the cabin. " Well, Dun, I hear you have buried the* French general r" " Yes, your honour." " Had you any body with yon ?' " Yes, your honour." " Why, J\Ir. says you had not r" " But I had, your honour ; God 466 REMARKABLE EARTHQUAKES God Almighty was with me." " A very good assistant, indeed : give old Dan a glass of grog." " Thank your honour !" Dan drank his grog, and left the cabin highly gratified. He is now, as we observed before, kid up (as a seaman might say) in Greenwich tier ; there to reap the benefit of his long and faithful services. The HISTORY (^REMARKABLE EARTHQUAKES in England^ and elsewhere. C Continued from Page 344. ) SUNDAY, March IS, 174950. Between five and six in the evening, the inhabitants of Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, \vere surprised with a strange rumbling noise in the air, which was immediately followed by a sudden shock of an earthquake ; arid which was sensibly felt all over the island, and likewise at Portsmouth and Gosport ; but not so violently at the latter place as at the former. Let us now turn our eyes to the dreadful scenes of de- solation, which have overspread Sicily, Jamaica, Lima, And Calao. Sicily has suffered many terrible earthquakes, but none more dreadful than that on the 10th of January 1692 3, which not only shook the whole island, but even Naples and Malta. It was not preceded by any darkness in the air, but by an agreeable, a serene, and warm season, which was the more observable, on account of its being un- usual at that time of the year. The preceding evening there was a great light observed in the air, which was taken for the reflection of a fire made by the country peo- .ple, and which seemed to keep at the same distance, though the spectators went directly towards it ; whilst they were observing this appearance, the earthquake began, upon which the light instantly vanished, and the waves of the sea, which before the shock; beat gently 011 the shore, b.egajj IN ENGLAND, AND ELSEWHERE* 46t legan now to make a dreadful noise. The next day tha air was overshadowed with darkness, and tinged with a tleep yellow, while the darkened suu struck the minds of the spectators with the melancholy presage of an earth- quake, more terrible than that which happened the night before ; and indeed their fears were too well founded. The earth during four minutes beat and heaved with a re- gular motion, like that of a pulse, but so violent, that it was impossible for any body to keep their feet on the agi- tated earth ; nay, those who lay on the ground, were tossed from side to side, as on a rolling billow, and walls were thrown several paces from their foundations. In open places the sea sunk considerably, and in the same propor- tion in ports and inclosed bays. In several places the earth opened in very long clefts, some an hand's breadth, others half a palm | and others like great gulfs; from these openings in the vallies, there issued such a quantity of water as overflowed a great space of ground, which to those that were near it, had a strong sulphureous smell. The mischief it did is amazing ; almost all the buildings in O ' O the country were thrown down. Fifty-four cities and towns, besides an incredible number of villages, were either destroyed or greatly damaged. We shall only in- stance the fate of Catania, one of the most ancient and flourishing cities in the kingdom, a university, and the re- sidence of several monarchs. This once famous city, to r,se the words of an author of credit, had the greatest share in the tragedy. Father Anthony Serrovita, being on liis way thither, and at the distance of a few miles, saw a. cloud as black as night hovering over it, while from the mouth of Montgibello, arose great spires of flame, which spread ah 1 around. The sea suddenly be?an to roar and / *,.- rise in billows, and there \vas a clap, as if all the artillery in the world had been discharged. The birds Hew about astonished, the cattle ia the fields ran up aud down, as it were, 468 ACCOUNT or THE METEOR, WHICH APPEARED were, wild with the affright, and roaring and bellowing a9 if affected w:th the terrors of some dreadful catastrophe. The horse on which Father Serrovita rode, and the horses of those who accompanied him, stepped short, trembling ; so that they were forced to alight, They were no sooner on their feet, than they were lifted up above two palms, when casting his eyes towards Catania, he with amaze- ment saw nothing but a thick cloud of dust in the air : This was the scene of their calamity, for of the magnificent Catania, there is not the least foot-step to be seen. We are assured bv Bonajutus, that out of eighteen thousand nine hundred and fourteen inhabitants, eighteen thousand perished. And the same author finds, from a computation of the inhabitants before and after the earthquake, that there perished in the several cities and towns, near sixty thousand, out of two hundred fifty-four thousand nine' hundred. Particular Account of the METEOR which appeared on the. Evening of Sunday, the isth inst. 1 HIS phenomenon occurred about 40 min. after eight o'clock, and attracted the notice of all those; who happened to be out at the time, for a considerable distance round the metropolis. A gentleman coming up from Lea-bridge towards Clapton turnpike, saw it very distinctly ; it had an oval form, and was followed bv sparks, which gave it somewhat the appearance of having a tail. It emitted a very vivid white light. The eill-ct of the light was indeed so strong, that any small object on tne road could be readily perceived. It moved with great velocity in a N. W. direction, and disappeared bv entering a thick ' 11 . O black cloud ; and a few seconds after, a most awful rumbling noise, like distant thunder, or a hcavv discharge of artillery, was heard, and continued a considerable time. It ON SUNDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 13. 469 It was seen also in Whitechapel, Knightsbridge, Hammer- smith, and many miles round the metropolis, the whole of which was illuminated by it. At the time of its appearance, the congregation were coming out of the Broad way Chapel, Westminster, and many of them, struck with fear, ran in again. The passengers in Leicester Fields were particu- larly affected ' by it, and several females were so much alarmed that they screamed out. Another account says ; the phenomena which happened on Sunday evening last, is not calculated to excite that ter- ror and dread, which in the dark ages of superstition, de- signing men are wont to raise. A comparison of well au- thenticated facts authorise a conclusion that similar events are by no means uncommon ; but by happening in the day- time, or after the inhabitants have in general retired to rest, they are observed but by few; and the relation, if made, disregarded ; and it is perhaps as much owing to the time of the evening in which this meteor appeared, as to its mag- nitude and brilliancy, that it has excited so much curiosity. From the circumstances of its appearance at Dover, Cran- brook, Chehnsford, Lewes, Brighthelmstone, and South- ampton, compared with its appearance in London, it seems that the body which occasioned this light was moving with incredible swiftness at a vast height above the earth, in a direction nearly W. or S. W. and in a line passing to the Southward of the "coast of Essex. Accordingly \ve expect in due course of time, to hear that it was seen in France, and probably further, in a South-West direction, and in 'the contrary direction across England. Wales, and perhaps Ireland. It was observed near the Horse Guards, in West- minster, to pass about 23 or 30 degrees to the Southward of the Zenith, and about 28 or 29 minutes a ter the hour of eight by that clock, which is well and constantly regulated to true or n;;ar thuj ; the whole tiir.e which the light occa- sioned by the meteor lasted, wa.5 not estimated to exceed p p p five 470 ACCOUNT OF A METEOR, &C. five or six seconds. From the REVENGE, AND REMARKABLE A SHORT time previous to the present war, when the trade was carried on between the port of London and Holland, a very singular instance of Dutch revenge occurred in the way of traffic, which became a long while the subject of conversation among foreign captains, sea-^ men, and others concerned with shipping in the river Thames. Mr. Stephen Beck, a respectable merchant at Wapping, frequently sent goods to Rotterdam, by one Brink, the skipper of a Dutch sloop. Jacob Henriqucs, another trader, observing the advantage gained by his countrvman from the above merchant's employ, formed a design to supplant the latter, and obtain the conveyance off the goods himself. Influenced by such an intention, he one day found means to persuade the merchant's man that Brink's vessel had left the river, and prevailed upon him to ship several hampers, &c. on board the craft he com- manded, with which he got under way. Brink, in the mean time, waited as usual for his freight, and finding it did not arrive, was obliged to go to sea without it ; but ou his next return to London, waited on Mr, Beck, to know ho\v he came to be deprived of the goods he had so long been accustomed to take on board. He then learned the trick Henriques had played him ; and the inflamed skip- per, after reprobating the conduct of his countryman in the most severe terms, vowed to be quickly revenged. A Dutchman seldom fails to remember an injury, and where If s interest is concerned, never rests until he receives ten- fold satisfaction. In the present instance, it was not long before an opportunity offered to gratify this ruling pro- pensity. He knew Henriques had been for some time, carrying on an illegal trade with English guineas, a great number of which he constantly secreted in his cabin, placed in the barrels of three blunderbusses, constructed in so curious a manner, that when the vessel was searched, previous to her sailing, no traces of the deception were ever discovered .. The profits of Exchange between Holland and 475 DUTCH REVENGE, &C. and England, were frequently very considerable. Brink, possessed of this secret, conceived himself at liberty to retaliate the attempt made to his prejudice, accord- ingly communicated the whole transaction to the Port- Master at Gravesend, who proceeded to take the neces- sary steps to seize the money, and when Henriques tvas going to sea, a shot was fired to bring him to ; the latter having, however, a fair wind, the gun was disre- garued, the vessel passed without backing her top-sail, and ilropped down to the Hope, where the Port-Master fol- lowed her, went along side in his barge, entered the cabin, and immediately took down the blunderbusses, loaded with 6S1 new guineas, which he conveyed on shore* Henriques, after the .seizure, applied in vain to have part of it restored ; the greatest favour he obtained, being per- mitted to put to sea with his vessel, which was liable to be detained. On arriving at Rotterdam, a short time after, the unfortunate Henriques met Brink on the Exchange, to whom he related the circumstances of his loss, littering: ' O at the same time the most bitter execrations against the unknown informer. The latter, with a sneer of contempt, derided the complaint, and after upbraiding him for his former unfair dealings, declared he was the man who had O ' eiven information of the concealed