money due to him, received fentence of death; of which number five were foon after executed. Forty-two were sentenced for tranf portation for seven years, one was branded, and one, whipped. Among thofe tried for felony, and acquitted, was one Lee, tried on the Black Act, for maiming his wife. It appeared he had cut her throat whilft fhe was fleeping, with a razor, about three inches in length; but this maiming did not come within the defcriptions of the act on which he was tried. The reafon of his acquittal was, That in all penal laws the letter of the law is to be adhered to; and in the act 22 & 23 C. II. c. I. on which the prifoner was tried, the maiming made capital is thus defcribed; If any perfon, on pur'pofe, and by malice forethought, and by lying in wait, fhall unlawfully cut or disable the tongue, put out an eye, fit the nose, cut off a noje or lip, or cut off and difable any limb or member of any fubject, with intention in fo doing to maim or disfigure him; the perfon fo offending, his counsellors, aiders, and abettors, (knowing of and privy, to the offence,) fhall be guilty of felony, without benefit of clergy.'

This at is called the Coventry at, because it was made on Sir John Coventry's being affaulted in the street, and haying his nose flit, on the following occafion:

In the committee of ways and means it had been refolved, That towards the fupply, every one that reforts to any of the play-houses, who fits in the box, fhall pay one hilling every one who fits in the pit, fhall pay fixpence; and every other perfon, threepence. This re

folution (to which the house difagreed upon the report) was oppofed in the committee by the courtiers, who gave for a reason, "That the players were the king's " fervants, and a part of his plea"fure." To this Sir John Coventry, by way of reply, asked, Whether the king's pleasure lay among the men, or among the women players. This being reported at court, was highly resented, and a refolution was taken to fet a mark on Sir John, to prevent others from taking the like liberties. December 20, the night that the house adjourned for the Chrifimas holidays, twentyfive of the duke of Monmouth's troop of life-guards, and fome few foot, lay in wait from ten at night till two in the morning by Suffolkfreet, and as Sir John returned from the tavern where he fupped, to his own houfe, they threw him down, and with a knife cut the end of his nofe almoft off; but company coming, made them fearful to finish it. The debates which this affair occafioned in the house. of commons, may be seen in Anchitel Grey's debates lately publifhed. One of the members emphatically called the attack on Coventry, "a horrid un-English act.” During the debate, Dr. Arras made an extravagant motion for a bill to punith any man, that should fpeak reflective on the king. By fome he was called to the bar, but his explanation and excufe were admitted of. He faid, • He was the only phyfician of the house, and, humanum eft errare; he hoped he fhould be pardoned.'

At Aix, in France, they 12th. had a fhock of an earth-, quake, attended with an extraor dinary noife, which was felt at the

fame time in different parts of the province, particularly at Tarafcon, where, it is affured, that feveral clocks ftruck, and bells rang, from the violence of it. There happened a great 13th. ftorm of thunder at Barleduc, Ligney, and the neighbouring villages. The ground was covered with hail to the height of eleven inches; the trees, &c. torn down; part of the land, the vines, and their fupports, carried away; the fields, meadows, and gardens, all covered with the trees, &c. that were torn up; in a word, in several places there remained no hopes of any harveft of any fort: all the houfes of Ligney were laid under water. The hail-ftones were fo large, and came with fuch force, that the walls are marked by them, as if bored by mufquet-balls. The damage is computed at 600,000 livres.

Came on at Chelmsford,

14th. before lord chief juftice Pratt, two trials, in which Mr. Bamber Gascoyne was plaintiff, and fome freemen of Malden defendants, for bribery at the laft election, when verdicts were given for the plaintiff, with cofts of fuit. . Came on at the affizes of 15th. Winchefter, before a special jury, a caufe, wherein George Dawfon, late a foldier in the 85th regiment of foot, was plaintiff, and Robert Wylde, Richard Lucas, Charles Williams, Richard Gough, Robert Temple, James Johns, and Collin Mackenzie, Efqrs. lieutenants, and Thomas Prowfe, Thomas Frazer, and John Higgins, drummers, de-. fendants. The action was brought for trefpafs, affault, and false imprisonment of the foldier. In the

courfe of the evidence it appeared, that the defendant, Wylde, had caned and imprifoned the plaintiff without just cause, and that the plaintiff received 300 lafhes with a cat o'nine tails at the halberts, under colour of the fentence of a court martial, of the proceedings of which no evidence was given by the defendants; and after a long hearing, the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff with 300l. damages, viz. against Mr. Wylde, 200ł. and against Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Gough, 50l. each.

Mr. Thomas Brown, a gentleman farmer of Minety in Gloucefterfhire, being, with fix of his fervants, in a ground about a mile from his houfe, a violent ftorm of thunder arofe, which drove Mr. Brown and his fervants to a hawthorn tree for fhelter; but, unhappily for them, a terrible clap broke over their heads, which killed Mr. Brown and one of his fervants on the spot. The other five were dangerously wounded. It is thought the open air is, on thefe occafions, the fafeft place, as the wet received by the cloaths has a great tendency to divert the lightning another way.

Such a violent ftorm of hail fell at Benfancon in France, and in upwards of two hundred communities of the province, that it laid waste the whole country, which before gave hopes of a very, plentiful harveft. The wind was fo high at the fame time, that feveral very large trees, and likewife feveral houses, were blown down; many perfons that were out in the fields were dangerously wounded, and fome killed, by the hail-ftones, most of which were larger than a hen's egg.

During

23d.

During the time of divinefervice, a fire-ball fell upon the church of Hertford, penetrated the fame, and greatly terrified the congregation. It burft in the bluecoat boy's gallery, with a terrible noife, that was heard in every house in the town, but did no other damage than fingeing a boy's hair. The like accident has happened to several other churches, particularly that at Mangotsfield in Gloucefterfhire, and Wilbraham church near Cambridge.

A houfe in Queen-ftreet, Lincoln's-inn-fields, which had been lately repaired, and two in Gracechurch-ftreet, which thewed no figns of craziness, fuddenly tumbled down to the ground; thofe in Gracechurch-ftreet without any other notice than a loud crack, which however was fufficient to alarm the inhabitants, so that no lives were loft.

One Richard Watfon, tollman of Maryborne turnpike, was found barbaroufly murdered in his tollhoufe; upon which, and fome attempts made on other toll houses, the trustees of turnpikes have come to a refolution to encrease the number of toll-gatherers, and to furnish them with arms, ftrictly enjoining them, at the fame time, not to keep any money at the toll-, houfes after 8 o'clock at night.

Came on, at Bury St. Edmund's, the trial of Philip Thickness, Efq; lieutenant-governor of Land-guard fort, for a libel, reflecting on the military conduct and perfonal courage of the right honourable lord Orwell, colonel of the eastern battalion of the Suffolk militia; when it appearing that a wooden gun had been fent to provoke his loidfhip to a breach of the peace, and

the fact being clearly proved by the gunner of the fort, the jury, after ftaying out fome time, found him guilty.

At Maidstone affizes eight prifoners were capitally convicted, all for the highway.

At Croydon eight perfons were capitally convicted, fix (one a boy of feventeen, who at the place of execution, is faid to have owned the murder of a man and a woman) for the highway; one for a rape, and the other,a woman,for burglary.

At the aflizes at Buckingham, one for robbery, and one for borfe ftealing, received sentence of death.

At the affizes for the county of Devon, fifteen perfons received fentence of death for various crimes; fome for highways, some for private robbery, fome for murder, fome for burglary, fome for cattle-ftealing, and one, a lad of eleven years old, for fetting fire to his master's house.

At the affizes for the city and county of Bristol, three men were capitally convicted.

At the affizes at Wells for the county of Somerset, three perfons received fentence of death, all of whom were reprieved.

At Gloucefter aflizes four received fentence of death, among whom was the highwayman who cut his throat on being apprehended.

At the aflizes at Durham, a girl received fentence of death for the murder of her baftard child, and was executed accordingly.

At the aflizes at Coventry, three received fentence of death. They belonged to a large and dangerous gang, confifting of men and women, who úfed to travel from place to place, in fearch of opportunities to plunder the weak and the un

wary;

wary; and from being discovered at Coventry, were called the Coventry Gang.

At Leicester affizes five perfons received fentence of death, among 'whom was one for returning from transportation, one for forgery, and one for the highway.

At Lancaster one only was capitally convicted;-his crime-returning from transportation.

At Ely affizes a girl of fixteen was capitally convicted of robbing her master's house, and fetting it on fire, by which it was entirely conLumed.

At Winchefter affizes, fourteen (one of them for the murder of his wife) were capitally convicted, ten of them were reprieved; at Worcefter three, two of whom were reprieved; at Chelmsford five, two of whom were reprieved; at Aylefbury two, one of whom was reprieved; at Dorchefter two; at Shrewsbury one; at Stafford one, but reprieved; for Yorkshire three, two of them were reprieved; at Derby two; at Monmouth one, but reprieved; at Warwick three'; two of them were reprieved; Norfolk, Norwich, Huntingdon, Horfham, Northampton, Oxford, and Abingdon, proved maiden affizes.

The judges have been pleased to order, that profecutors who come to profecute felons at a distance, fhall be allowed moderate travelling charges, which are to be paid by the treasurer of the county, on producing a certificate from the clerk of the affize.

A caufe was lately tried in the - theriffs court in Ireland, in which a merchant was plaintiff, and the creditors of one Maybury defendants. The merchant had fold Maybury two bales of filk for

ready money, which, on delivery, was feized in execution before the money was paid. The jury gave a verdi& in favour of the merchant

By virtue of a fearch warrant, fome valuable MSS. that had been ftolen from a public office by a woman who used to sweep the room, were lately recovered at a grocer's fhop, where the had fold them for wafte-paper at two-pence a pound. On her examination it appeared, that he had practifed this fraud at the fame office a year and a half, in which time she had difpofed of an incredible number of papers, many of which are never to be retrieved.

Arrived in the port of Liver pool, from June 1762 to June 1763, 752 veffels, exclufive of thofe which arrived in ballaft.

The Venetians, in confideration of an immediate payment of 50,000 ducats, and an annual payment of 5000, have obtained leave from the Algernies for 15 of their ships to trade freely in the Mediterranean.

By the Georgia Gazette, it ap pears, that from the 5th of January, 1762, to the 5th of January, 1763, the exports of that province amounted to 7440 whole, and 119 half barrels of rice, 9633lb. of indico; 96 hhds. 832 bundles of deer fkins; 13 bundles of beaver fkins; 417,449 feet of pine timber; 292 barrels of pork; 688,045 fhingles; 359,002 ftaves and heading; 38 barrels of beef; 1250 bufhels of India corn; 776 bushels of rough rice; 246 barrels of tar;1602 fides of tanned leather: 10,500 hoops; 1050 hand-spikes ; and 2033 bars.

Paris, July 15. The following ordonnance was this day published . here.

1

here. When young fellows of family fhall be guilty of irregularities, capable of wounding the honour, or difturbing the quiet, of their families, or which are reprehenfible by the police, without being crimes punishable by law, it fhall be lawful for their parents to afk the fecretaries of ftate in the department of war and of the marine, to tranfport them to the island of Defirade. If the proofs which they fhall be obliged to deliver for that effect are found juft, an order fhall be delivered to them from the king, by virtue of which they may conduct, at their own expence, those young fellows to the port of Rochefort, where they fhall be detained in prifon, and maintained at the king's expence, till they be put on board a packetboat, the commander of which fhall be anfwerable to his majefty for their fafe cuftody. During the voyage they fhall mefs with the common failors, and at their arrival at Martinico, the captain fhall confign them to the governor-general of the island, and take a receipt for them, which, at his return to France, he fhall deliver to the fecretary of state. The young fellows fhall be fent to prifon by the governor-general, and dieted as the common foldiers, till they be fent to Defirade. On their arrival there, the commandant, to whom they fhall be delivered, shall ftation them in a fruitful, healthy part of the island. They fhall be lodged in cabins built on purpose for them. He fhall forbid them the ufe of any fort of arms, and take all neceffary precautions to prevent their making their efcape. They shall be fed as the common

foldiers are, and fhall be furnished gratis with inftruments for tilling the earth, and feed to fow it, 'and the produce fhall be for their own benefit. They fhall be new cloathed every year; and in cafe of fickness received into the hofpital as foldiers. They fhall be distributed into claffes as foon as they difcover any figns of amendment; and the commandant fhall give an account to the minifter at war and of the marine, that he may inform the pa rents. In cafe it thould be difcovered that their families, notwithstanding their reformation, want to keep them abroad, that they may enjoy their eftates; the young fellows fhall be aflifted to recover them, if they chufe to remain in the colonies, or they shall even be allowed to return to France, to take care of their affairs in perfon.'

The wife of Mr. Prieftly, of Rosemary-lane, was lately brought to bed of two boys and a girl.

Died lately. William Pickworth, near Lynn, Norfolk, aged 102. John Baxant, of Laxfield, Suffolk, aged 102.

John Bates, near Wem, Salop, aged 103.