Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

Government have concluded on the measure of sending a bishop to Canada, and have conferred that dignity on the Rev. Jacob Mountain (domestic chaplain to the bishop of Lincoln, a prebendary of the cathedral, &c. and late minister of St. Andrew's, Norwich) with an appointment of 20001. per annum; and it is also said, that Mr. Mountain takes with him his brother, the Rev Joshua Mountain, as his domestic chaplain.

28th. A few days ago a woman, who assumed the habit of a man, and travelled about the country as a pedlar, took a lodging at a house in one of the outlets at Worcester; and being much indisposed at the time, she went to bed, where she was treated by her hostess with every civility for about a fortnight; at the end of which time growing worse, and having a presentiment that her dissolution was very near at hand, she made a discovery of her sex to her landlady; telling her at the same time, that, having been very active in the riots in London, in the year 1780, the fear of being taken and hanged, had operated so powerfully on her mind, as to induce a change of dress; under which disguise she travelled the country ever since, in the character mentioned above. She would never tell her surname, but her christian name was Fanny. The poor creature died in a day or two afterwards.

Plymouth. A very singular circumstance occurred in this town. A lad, aged about fourteen years, entirely dumb, was insulted by another lad of nearly the same age; in consequence of which, they came to blows, and fought a considerable

[ocr errors]

time; at last the dumb boy received a violent blow on the left side of the neck, which stunned him, and he lay on the ground some minutes; but on recovering, he gave a dreadful scream, rose up on his legs, and began to converse with his opponent, and others who were spectators, to their no small astonishment and surprise. It is said that his father and mother died when he was very young, after which he was bound apprentice by the parish, and ran away from his master; since when he has been in Plymouth and the neighbourhood for two years past, subsisting merely on charity: he is now on board a vessel lying in Catwater.

DIED, in New Hampshire, in America, aged 98, Mr. Job Maurice, who had written very ingeniously on the distresses of the first adventurers in the American regions, when the Spaniards literally ate the natives, Frenchmen devoured one another, and when Englishmen who had been there were afterwards shewn in London as skeletons.

5th. At Epsom, in a very advanced age, Mr. Dale Ingram, surgeon in Christ's Hospital. He published, 1. an Essay on the Cause and Seat of the Gout, 1743, 8vo. 2. Practical Cases and Observations in Surgery, 1771, Svo. 3. An Historical Account of the several Plagues that have appeared since 1346, 1754, 8vo. 4. The Anatomy of the Human Body abridged, translated from the French of Verdier, 1756. 5. The Blow; or an Inquiry into the cause of Mr. Clarke's Death, 1769. Mr. Ingram first began his professional career as a surgeon and C 2

man

man-midwife at Barnet, and thence gradually arose by merit to a considerable degree of eminence.

15th. At his apartments in New Inn, Mr. Foster Powell, the cele brated pedestrian. His extraordinary feats of walking, by which he might, with proper management, have profited so much, never produced him enough to keep him above the reach of indigence. Poverty, which he ought always to have kept a day's march behind him, was his constant companion in his travels through life, even to the hour of his death. He was born at Horseforth, near Leeds, in Yorkshire, in the year 1734. He came to London in 1762, and articled himself to an attorney in the Temple, with whom he served his clerkship. In 1764 he undertook to go fifty miles on the Bath road in seven hours, which he accomplished in the time, having gone the first ten miles in one hour, although encumbered with a great coat and leather breeches. We are assured that he visited several parts of Switzerland and France, where he walked two hundred miles beyond Paris, and gained much praise there. In 1773 he travelled on foot from London to York and back again (a distance of four hundred and two miles) in five days and eighteen hours. In 1786 he walked one hundred and ninety miles on the Bath road in twentythree hours and a quarter, coming in three quarters of an hour before the expiration of the time agreed upon. In 1787 he went from Canterbury to London-bridge and back again in twenty-four hours. The following year, 1788, he engaged to go his favourite journey from London to York and back

again in six days, which he executed in five days and twenty hours. After this he did not undertake any journey till the year 1790, when he set off to walk from London to York and back again. He was allowed six days to do it, and accomplished it in five days and eighteen hours. He performed the same journey in 1792, in five days fifteen hours and a quarter; and this is supposed to have occasioned his death.-Powell seems to have considered his wonderful agility as a circumstance from which he derived great glory. He despised wealth, and, notwithstanding his many opportunities of acquiring money, forty pounds was the largest sum he ever made at one time, and then it proceeded from the generosity of his friends, who raised it among themselves by subscription, In the afternoon of the 22d, his remains were brought for interment, agreeably to his own request, to St. Paul's church-yard. The funeral was characteristically a walking one, from New Inn through Fleet-street, and up Ludgate-hill. The followers were twenty on foot in black gowns, and after them came three mourning coaches; the attendants were all men of respectability. The ceremony was conducted with much decency; and a very great concourse of people attended. He was buried nearly under the only tree in the church-yard. His age, as inscribed upon the coffin, was fifty-nine.

MAY.

1st. Dublin. A burglary and murder of the most atrocious kind

was

was committed in the house of Samuel Waddy, esq. of Jamesville, in the county of Wexford. Some time ago Mr. Waddy discharged a footman from his service for misdemeanours, particularly for beating in a cruel manner a female servant in the family. The fellow, on going away, vowed vengeance against his master, and unhappily kept his word; for, between the hours of nine and ten on Thursday night, he, with a number of accomplices, broke into Mr. Waddy's house, where, after tying the servants, he proceeded to Mr. Waddy's bed-chamber, and discharged a pistol at his head, which instantly killed him. The villains then robbed the house of valuable articles to a considerable amount, and got off. Three persons charged with the above murder were taken on Saturday morning, at Rathdrum, by the activity of Hunter Gowen, esq. In their possession were found some remarkable coins which Mr. Waddy had in his house, and a pair of buckles marked with the initials of Mrs. Waddy's name, that where stolen the night he was murdered.

7th. Between two and three thousand tinners are just arrived at Falmouth in a state of insurrection. The mayor and corporation went out to meet them, and demanded their business. The tinners answered, that they had been informed there was a large quantity of corn and flour in the place, and they expected it to be sold to them at a reasonable price, as they could get none from the farmers. The mayor told them that he could not dispose of the grain, as it belonged to government, but that he would apply to

[merged small][ocr errors]

Dantzick. The citizens of this place took the oath of fidelity to his Prussian majesty. All the bells were set ringing from eight till nine in the morning, and the solemnity was farther announced by the artillery on the ramparts. In the interval all orders, being convoked to do homage, assembled in the town-hall.-At half past nine General de Raumer and President de Schleinitz, commissioners from the king, were accompanied from their hotels to the town-hall by the burgomasters Conradi and Reyger; counsellors Ayke, Graddeck, Weichman, and Gralath; and secretaries Jansen and Pegelau. In the hall prepared for administering the oath, the portrait of the new sovereign drawn at full length was displayed under a superb canopy, After the oath was administered, the hall resounded with shouts of "Long live Frederic William, the good father of his people!" which were re-echoed by the crowd assembled in the grand square. The whole company then repaired to the cathedral, to attend divine worship. When the service was concluded, numerous and splendid entertainments were given in several places. The whole town was illuminated in the evening; and a ball, to which every one was admitted gratis, concluded this memorable day. The medals distri

buted

buted in commemoration of the event, have on one side the image of the king, and on the other an eagle soaring in the air, with this legend, "Vobis quoque Pater.”

8th. James Ridgway and H. D. Symonds were brought into the court of King's Bench, and received judgment for publishing Mr. Paine's works and the Jockey Club. They were severally sentenced to four years imprisonment in Newgate.

10th. Rome. All the French and foreign artists have been ordered to quit this place, who were supposed to favour French politics, or circulate French principles. Ducroix, with several other eminent artists, in consequence of the Pope's mandate, have been ordered to quit Rome.

The exportation of prints, which has been so productive to England, is now become an object to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who, conceiving it a valuable branch of commerce, has taken Morgan, the celebrated engraver, from Rome, and has given him a splendid house where he is employed with his assistants in bringing this brauch of the art to its utmost perfection.

Puccini, who is a great amateur, and who was originally a lawyer, a gentleman well known for his politeness to the English, has got the care of the grand gallery 'at Florence, which of course will render it easy of access to all foreigners.

[ocr errors]

Gavin Hamilton and the Prince Borghesi have desisted from making any farther excavations in search after the treasures of Gabii. They have recovered every thing worthy of notice on the prince's estate; but, as the town runs under the estates

of the neighbouring nobility, they have declined adventuring in Mr. Hamilton's future subterraneous speculations,

[ocr errors]

13th. Pursuant to order, Robert Mackreth, esq. M. P. was brought into the court of King's Bench to receive judgment for giving a challenge to Sir John Scott, his Majesty's then solicitor general. After reprobating in general terms the practice of duelling and ani madverting on the circumstances of the case, the court sentenced Mr. Mackreth to be fined the sum of 1001. and to be imprisoned for the space of six weeks in the King's Bench prison.

Kingston, Jamaica. The bread fruit plants have been divided by the commissioners as follows: to the county of Surrey S3, to the county of Middlesex 83, and to the county of Cornwall 83.

Lisbon. Though the queen is not much amended of late, the whole city and court have worn an aspect of the greatest joy ever since the birth of the youngest princess, which took place on Monday the 29th of April. The city was illus minated three successive nights. The general effect was much inferior to that of a London illumination; but there were four spectacles, which perhaps surpassed any of the sort ever seen. The first was the city castle, under the direction of the intendant of the police; on which was erected, for the occasion, a magnificent Gothie tower, with a transparency in the middle, the whole so thickly hung with lamps as to appear one solid mass of fire, like a palace of the Salamanders in some old fable; The effect of this brilliant spectacle was very great. At ten o'clock each

each night, a prodigious number of rockets were sent up from the tower. The other chief illuminations were at the houses of contractors, who here, as elsewhere, acquire immense riches. The expences of each are supposed to have amounted to 10,000l. sterling.

T

[ocr errors]

was

15th. A house at the foot of the Bridge-end, at Perth, discovered to be on fire. The house was completely in flames before it was noticed. Six persons were suffocated before any assistance could be procured, viz. one man, two widow-women, and a mother and her two sons. The fate of all of them is very lamentable; but that of the mother and her two sons is particularly distressing; she got safe out of the house, and came to the street, when missing her sons, she ran back into the midst of the flames in search of them. Unfortunately she could neither extricate them nor herself, and she was burnt to death.

The discoveries recently made in the Spanish register ship have induced the captors to form a resolution not to sell her when completely discharged, but to break her up themselves, suspecting that in this way they may find more valuables artfully concealed. To evade the King of Spain's high duty on gold, many bars of that metal have been found thinly coated with pewter, and denominated, in the invoice, by order of Spanish merchants, fine pewter. The King of Spain will no doubt eventually take advantage of this piece of information. An incorrect account having been given of the cargo of the above ship, we state it upon an authority that may be relied on.

694 Cases of silver, each contain

ing three thousand dollars 33 Cases of gold, besides plate and jewels, value 500,0001 72 Hundred of redwood. 16 Cases of silver in bars. 2262 Quintals of bark of different weights.

2340 Quintals of cocoa. 4887 Cases of pepper.

520 Ditto of lead.

120 Ditto of wool." 162 Ditto of sugar. 2247 Pounds of medical roots. 387 Ditto extract of bark.

75 Ditto of gum of cocoa. 150 Ditto balsum of Peru. 250 Prepared hides. 119 Rasping skins.

800 Dozen fine leather skins. 12 Ditto of alambon.

3 Barrels of honey.

11 Cases of the various productions of Peru.

was

This cargo had been two years in collecting from different parts of the coast, and is without exception the richest that ever trusted on board of any single ship. It is impossible to form a just estimate of its value; but it is certainly not overrated, when it is stated at twelve or thirteen hundred thousand pounds.

Ten additional houses to Bromley college are just finished for the benefit of clergymen's widows; they are built with a legacy of 10,000l. left for that p purpose by the late Mrs. Battenson, widow of Sir Richard Battenson, of Bradburn, in Kent, and endowed with twenty pounds per annum for each inhabitant.

The judges of the supreme court of the United States of America have finally delivered their opinions upon the important question which

had

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »