sist in breaking open the magazine, which he refused to do. He then proposed the same thing to another soldier, named William Ponteney, of the light company of the third regiment, who acquiesced, saying, that he was ready to die with him; and they shook hands. Edward Touzel then took a wooden bar, with which he broke the barrier of the pallisade which surrounds the magazine, and finding at hand a kind of axe, he got to the door of the magazine, where he broke also two padlocks, and having by these means opened the door, he entered, and addressing himself to Mr. Lys, who was on the outside, said, "The magazine is on fire, it will blow up. We must lose our lives, but no matter, huzza for the king! We must try to save it." With these words he rushed into the flames, and seizing the matches almost burnt out, he threw them by armfulls to Mr. P. Lys and W. Ponteney, who had remained without. Mr. Lys seeing a cask standing on one end, filled with water in the neighbour. hood of the magazine, and having no other vessel than an earthen pitcher, he and W. Ponteney made use of their hats, and this pitcher, to carry water to Edward Touzel, who was still in the magazine; but scarcely able to see, in consequence of the thick smoke which surrounded him; observing, however, some wood on fire, he extinguished it with the water which was brought to him. He then called out to Mr. Lys, that he was almost suffocated, and requested something to drink. The fire had scorched his hands, and even some part of his face. The people now arrived in crowds, bringing with them water; and Mr. Lys sent him a glass of spirits,

mixed with water, which he drank.. At length the fire was entirely extinguished by the zeal and intrepidity of Edward Touzel in particular, and of Mr. Lys and W. Ponteney. Captain Leith, of the 31st. regiment, and Mr. Murphy, of the same, the officer on guard, and several officers of his majesty's troops, repaired with soldiers to the hill, and employed the utmost activity to get the magazine entirely emptied, in order to ascertain whether any sparks remained in it. Two caissons of wood, filled with ammunition, were found, attacked by the fire, and one in particular, in which there were powder-horns, tubes, and a flannel cartridge was half burnt through. Near this caisson stood an open barrel of powder, to which the fire, had it not been extinguished, must inevitably have soon communicated. A rammer was almost consumed, and some of the beams which supported the roof were on fire. Such was the state of things when Edward Touzel, Mr. P. Lys, and W. Ponteney, displayed heroic courage and bravery, exposed their lives to the most imminent danger, and thereby saved the town of St. Helier and its inhabitants from the most terrible disaster The constable therefore finds himself impelled, both by duty and inclination, to request all persons who have property in the town of St. Helier, or its neighbourhood, to meet on the 13th inst. in the church of St. Helier, at ten in the morning, to take into consideration the means of testifying their gratitude towards these three brave and ge nerous men."

This providential and almost miraculous escape, must have greatly interested every reader. The debt

of

of gratitude due to the brave men whose names will be handed down to an admiring posterity, is, we are happy to say, in the course of payment. A general subscription is begun in the island, and is of that amount already, as sufficiently to mark the gratitude of those, who, by the individual heroism of these gallant men, were saved from instant death or total ruin. But the committee who are in the manage ment of the patriotic fund, view this deliverance also as a matter of national importance. It has saved many valuable lives; it has preserved one of our principal depôts of strength in the important island of Jersey; it is honourable to the national character, and worthy of the most distinguished notice, as an example to posterity; therefore well entitled to liberal reward from such a fund as that which they have the honour to direct. They have accordingly voted to Lieutenant Lys, for himself and large family, five hundred pounds; to Edward Touzel, a young man, who has a mother, and is rising in his business as a carpenter in St. Helier, three hundred pounds; and at the request of William Ponteney, a private soldier, (to whom his officers have voted a gold medal) a life annuity of twenty pounds, as he has determined that he will continue through life to serve his king and country as a soldier.

This afternoon, as Lieut.-Col. Hawker, with a party of the 14th light dragoons, was fishing with a drag-net, near Littlestone, in Rowney-bay, on the ebbing side, four of the men who held the ends of the net farthest in the sea, instantaneously sunk, and though all good swimmers, did not rise again. It is supposed they must have been

drawn into a hole, and swallowed up by the sand.

Dr. De Caro, now at Vienna, has received letters, which state, that the vaccine has met with the greatest success in Persia. Dr. Milne and M. Jukes, his correspondents at Bassora, one of the most commercial cities of the empire, state, that all the Persians were desirous to have their children inoculated with the vaccine matter. The Hospodar of Moldavia has sent Dr. De Caro a magnificent Indian shawl, and a very obliging letter, with an account of the efficacious measures he had adopted for its propagation.

There is now in the barracks at Woodbridge, occupied by the royal Lancashire militia, a cat which has brought up two young chickens, The circumstances were as follows: -Some days back a hen was ob served sitting upon two eggs, and was frequently visited by one of the soldiers, till the hen was missing, supposed to have been killed by a dog. He immediately took the eggs and laid them under a cat with three small kittens, and to the surprise and admiration of a number of people, four days after, two chickens made their appearance, one of which has five claws on each foot, and the other four. The whole have lived in the greatest harmony for this fortnight past;-when the chickens wander from the cat, she brings them back in her mouth, and is as fond of them as she is of the kittens.

13th. The recorder made a report to his majesty of the following 18 prisoners under sentence of death in Newgate, viz. George Smith, Mary Anderson, George Donohon, James Heath, John Smith (alias, Lacey), Richard Anderson, John Kemp, James Draper, Jeremiaḥ

Corneille,

Corneille, James Nixon, William Burnett, Robert Harris, William Gill (alias Harris), Caroline Matthews, Elizabeth Fisher, Mary Anne Taylor, Edward King, and Louisa Darney; when they were all respited during his majesty's pleasure. The cases of Robert Aslett and 15 other prisoners were not reported.

During a violent storm about 2 o'clock this day, the church at Edenham, in Lincoln, was struck by lightning, and one of the pinnacles on the tower was driven off. The electrical fluid descended by the clock wire, and broke a part of the dial. The Rev. Mr. Towers, curate of that village, was thrown down in his house, near the church, by the concussion, but fortunately did not receive any injury.

14th. A pike was taken out of the great pool in Packington Park, Warwickshire, the seat of the Earl of Aylesford, with a carp stuck in his throat that weighed 10lb. which had choaked him: the pike when empty weighed 30lb.

16th. Four of 1010 journey men bootmakers engaged in a combination against their masters, were examined at Marlborough-street police office. Three of them were sentenced to hard labour in the house of correction for two months, and one for one month; which timely severity, speedily put an end to a widely spread and dangerous conspiracy.

19th. This morning two boys who were bathing in the serpentine river were drowned. The one screamed on getting out of his depth, which attracted the other to his assistance, and led him to the same fate.

This morning a committee of such of the noblemen and gentlemen pre

sent at Woburn Abbey, as are menbers of the Smithfield society was held, and the premiums for the ensuing Christmas shew were determied on. Soon after 11 o'clock, the shew of South Down 'tups commenced; different parts of the company being at the same time employed in examining an experiment in drilling turnips on his grace's farm; others were engaged in examining the different implements of agriculture belonging to his grace, and brought by others to be exhibit ed. About 3 o'clock more than 200 persons, principally consisting of gentlemen of landed property, and agriculturists of note, sat down to an excellent dinner at the Abbey; they had, however, to lament the absence of all the patrons of agriculture who are in the house of commons; nor was the cause known which so unexpectedly detained them all in town. After dinner much interesting conversation followed, enlivened by several suitable toasts.

21st. This day the literary fund held their annual meeting at the ship tavern, Greenwich. Lord Pelham took the chair, and discharged its duties with his usual assiduity. The meeting was very well attended, and passed off with that refined enjoyment naturally arising from festivity founded on benevolence. Mr. Fitzgerald indulged the company with some of his animated recitations, and added the following lines impromptu, to one of his admired effusions of loyalty and patriotism:

Consul, or emperor, what ambi

tion will!

The blood-nurs'd Corsican's a tyrant still! Imperial purple never cau efface, Jaffa's base murders, Acre's foul disgrace.

and ancient church, which was laid in ruins with a most tremendous crash. This beautiful gothic structure, which the architect seems to have exerted his utmost abilities to complete, and which was 186 feet in height, was in a moment levelled with the earth; and the greater part of it being precipitated upon the body of the church, sunk the roof along with it in common devastation.

Providentially no lives were lost, although some people were passing near the church at the time, and many large stones were projected, with astonishing force in almost every direction, to the distance of 70 or 80 yards.

The same storm prevailed in the metropolis and its neighbourhood: a poor woman was killed by the lightning as she was crossing Mount. street, Grosvenor-square. A gen. tleman's house at Woolwich was set on fire by the lightning, which was with great difficulty extinguished by the engines and the assistance of the garrison: a bullock on the Kent-road was struck blind, and ,two horses at Uxbridge killed.

26th. This morning, about ten o'clock, a fire broke out at the melting-house of Mr. Littel, tallow-chandler, near Crispin-street, Union-street, Bishopsgate, occasioned by the boiling over of a copper of stuff, which consumed the whole of the premises. Before the engines arrived, the flames communicated to the house of Mr. Campion, and the two adjoining, which were also burnt; when the flames were got under by the engines and firemen.

27th. The king held a grand levee at the queen's house for the first time since his recovery, at which

were present the foreign ambassadors, all the great officers of state, and a vast number of the nobility. After the levee a privy council was held for the purpose of receiving the recorder's report of 16 convicts under sentence of death; when Providence Hansard, for forgery, was ordered for execution on Thursday.

To the great satisfaction of a crowded court, the Honourable Admiral Berkeley obtained a verdiet this day in the court of exchequer, against the editor and publishers of a periodical paper, entitled "The Royal Standard and Political Register," for a libel on his professional character. This infamous production insinuated that the admiral, when captain of the Marlborough, in the memorable action of the 4th of June, had conducted himself in a manner unworthy of his high rauk, name, and reputation: than which, according to the evidence, nothing could be more unfounded, or maliciously false; as it appeared, most uncontrovertibly, that his conduct during that arduous conflict equalled, if not excelled, that of any other officer in the fleet, both in skill and personal courage, and had met with the most unbounded approba, tion of his superiors. The damages awarded were one thousand pounds, a sum humanely proportioned by the jury to the narrow circumstances of the ostensible libellers. Earl St. Vincent, Lord Bridport, Lord Duncan, the venerable Sir Peter Parker, and several other distinguished naval characters, attended the trial, to have borne their testimony, if necessary, to the high professional merit and character of the admiral, but from the course pursued by his very eloquent advo

cate,