defendant. The action was brought to recover a penalty of 1801. of the defendant, for felling to the plaintiff's brother a parcel of filver buckles, the fame not being of the standard, and not having the marks prefcribed by act of parliament. In the course of the evidence it appeared, that fome time ago the defendant had caufed the plaintiff's brother to be apprehended upon a warrant, for defrauding the defendant of the very buckles, for the felling of which this action was commenced. The perfons examined on the part of the plaintiff were, his brother, and the affay-mafter of Goldfmiths-hall; the former, ftimulated by a motive of revenge, had forgot the commiffion of the fraud he had exercifed upon the defendant, and alfo fome very material circumftances, which, if he had chosen to recollect, would have rendered it unneceffary for the defendant to have called a fingle witnefs; the buckles being produced in court, both the affay-mafter, who was called on behalf of the plaintiff, and the defendant's foreman proved, to the fatisfaction of the court and jury, that they were not buckles manufactured by the defendant, but had been made with the above defect for the purpofe of loading the defendant with this action. Upon this, the plaintiff was nonfuited, and his brother immediately, by direction of the court, taken into cuftody for per. jury.

As fome perfons were go26th. ing through Moorfields, a dog belonging to one of them was obferved to fcratch at a particular place; and his mafter not being able to get him from it, they had the ground opened; when the body

of an infant juft buried was found with its legs cut off, and lying by the body.

28th.

In the courfe of this month, the laft, and next, feveral petitions, &c. besides thofe already mentioned, were prefented to the feveral branches of the legislature against the measures in agitation against the revolted provinces in North-America; particularly by the Weft-India and North-America merchants of London; the people called Quakers; and the merchants of Waterford, in Ireland. On the other hand, the people of Pool thought proper to addrefs and petition in favour of the fame measures. We fhall give in the fubfequent fheets of this volume as many of thefe pieces, and fuch others as fhall be hereafter prefented, in the course of the year, as our bounds will admit of.

BIRTHS. On the zoth inftant, the wife of Mr. Lewin, cheese monger in Fenchurch-street, was delivered of twins. This is the fifth time fhe has had two at a birth; and they are all living.

DIED, the 3d of this month, at Paris, Monfieur Belloy, author of the Siege of Calais, and feveral other pieces which did him great honour.

The 16th, at his apartments at Mr. Carr's, fadler in the Fleetmarket, London, the Chevalier Defcafeaux, well known in London by the name of the French poet. He has left a great perfonage a curious fword, a valuable gold medal. and a curious picture.

10. At Burrowftounnefs, Janet Nimmo, aged 102.

12. At New Reay, in Caithness, Mr. Francis Tait, school-master at that place, aged 102. 18. Rev.

18. Rev. Jofeph Goodwin, fifty years vicar of Shipton underWhichwood, Oxfordshire.

20. Mr. Tullius Baker, aged 81, worth 40,000l. most of which he has left to charitable ufes; among the reft, 5000l. in marriage portions to any ten young women whom his executors may think most deserving.

ift.

MARCH.

Being St. David's Day, the fociety of Ancient Britons, held their anniversary festival; when the collection amounted to 5621. 195. 9d.

zd.

The Houfe of Peers heard an appeal, brought by James Nicol and Thomas Davis, Efqrs. against Governor Verelft, for cruel treatment in India. The appellants had fued the Governor in his Majefty's court of Common Pleas, but the proceedings were ftopt by an injunction from Chancery, on the ground of appointing a commiffion from that court to examine witnesses in India, in juftification of the Governor's proceedings; to remove which injunction the prefent appeal was lodged. But their Lordships, after hearing council on both fides, were pleased to affirm the injunction.

Mr. Nuthall, Solicitor to the Treafury, on his return from Bath, was attacked by a fingle highwayman on Hounslow heath; who, on his demands not being readily complied with, fired into the carriage, in which were Mr. Nuthall, a young lady, and a little boy, who happily received no other injury than being much frightened. Mr. Nuthall returned the highwayman's fire, and, it is thought, wounded him forely,

VOL. XVIII. 1775

as he rode off precipitately. When they arrived at the inn at Hounflow, Mr. Nuthall wrote a defcription of the fellow to Sir John Fielding; but he had fcarce closed his letter, when he fuddenly expired.

3d.

Came on, before Judge Afton, in the court of King's Bench, a caufe, in which the Mafter of a floop was plaintiff, and the Mafter of a collier defendant. The action was brought against the collier for running down the floop, by which two men were drowned, and 448 quarters of wheat were loft. After examining feveral witneffes on both fides, the jury brought in a verdict for the plaintiff.

8th.

An appeal to the House of Peers, in one of the moft important tythe causes that ever came before any court, was heard by their Lordships. Mr. Chaplin, of Ryfom, in Lincolnshire, being in poffeffion of an old monaftical eftate, which, for 174 years before the induction of the prefent rector, had paid a modus of 151. a year in lieu of tythes, had tendered the faid fum to the prefent incumbent Mr. Bree. But Mr. Bree refused to accept of the fame, and infifted on tythes in kind, as by law intitled. On this a law-fuit commenced, and the caufe was heard before Judge Blackstone, and a verdict given in favour of the defendant, Mr. Chaplin. But the Judge being diffatisfied with that verdict, and making his report accordingly, the court of Exchequer ordered a new trial; to prevent which the prefent appeal was made to the Houfe of Peers; when, notwithstanding there was no church at Ryfom, that the rector neither preached nor prayed there, and feldom or never was feen in the pa[G]

rish;

by his Royal Highnefs the Duke of Gloucester for himfelf and family. The people called Qua16th. kers prefented a petition to his Majesty in favour of the Americans; and foon after fome of that perfuafion were invited to a conference with Lord Dartmouth.

The Supporters of the Bill of Rights have voted 500l. for the prefent relief of the inhabitants of the town of Boston, and of the poor diftreffed fishermen of New-England.

The Rev. Mr. Newnham, 17th. one of the minor canons of Bristol cathedral, in company with another gentleman and his own fifter, having the curiofity to fee Pen-park-hole, a remarkable cavern, about four miles from that city, went all together to the place; and Mr. Newnham having a defire, if poffible, to meafure the depth of it, as there was no account of its ever having been fathomed before, advanced to a declivity at the mouth of the hole; but, as he was preparing to let down his line, all on a fudden the ground gave way, and though he had the agility to catch a bough which hung over the hole, yet that too giving way, he flipt down, and was ingulphed in the fight of his friends, who could only bewail his untimely fate, without being able to afford him relief. His body, however, was, after five weeks fruitless attempts, found floating on the water at the bottom of the hole, by a man who fuffered himfelf to be let down into it for that purpose.

18th.

About one in the morning, a terrible fire broke out, at Mr. Hopkins's, hofier, the corner of Warwick-lane, Newgateftreet. The fire had made confi

derable progrefs before it was difcovered, but not enough to prevent Mrs. Hopkins nearly reaching the ftreet-door; when, recollecting that fhe had left her children behind, he went again up ftairs, when the fire had got to fo great a height as to prevent her return; and leave her, after fome fruitless attempts to efcape from the top of the house, no alternative but to fling herself from thence into a blanket, which was held by the people below in the ftreet, to break her fall: fhe fell upon her back, none of her limbs were broke, neither did he appear to be bruifed, yet about 4 o'clock the fame morning fhe expired. The eldest daughter, about nineteen, threw herfelf alfo into the ftreet, and was dreadfully bruifed. The youngest daughter in town, about feven, together with her nurserymaid, perished in the flames. A fervant maid clung to the leads upon the house till fhe was nearly fuffocated, when the let go her hold and fell into the street, very much bruifed by the fall, upon which the was fent to the hofpital. houfe of Mr. Newman, oilman, next door to Mr. Hopkins's; and that of Mr. Philips, tobacconist, the oppofite corner were confiderably damaged. This difafter is faid to have been occafioned by the firing of the chimney of the copper, in which a fire had been left burning when the fervants went to bed. Mr. Hopkins was gone, with two of his daughters, about thirty miles into Kent, in order to place them at fchool there. The account-books were faved; but the flock in trade, and the furniture, were all deftroyed.

The

A treaty of commerce was figned, at Warfaw, between the minifters [G] 2

of

of his Pruffian Majesty and the Republic of Poland. We shall give it our readers in its proper place.

The failors belonging to 19th. the fhips, lying at Shields and Sunderland, began in a very riotous manner to ftop all the fhips that were bound to London with coals, by going on board and unbending their fails, abufing the captains and failors that were willing to proceed upon their voyage. Some hips in the confufion made the best of their way over the bar, with little wind; but they were foon followed by a great number of boats, well-manned, which overtook and boarded them, forcibly brought them back with much difficulty and great hazard to Shields against wind and an ebb tide, and unrigged and moored them. the rioters now collected a great quantity of lighters, or keels, and made a boom of them quite across the river, fo that no craft could pafs up or down without their permiflion. The magiftrates, forefeeing this ftorm, had fent for five companies of the 31ft regiment to Tynemouth and Morpeth; which, with the feasonable arrival from York the next day of three troops of the Scots Grey dragoons, foon put a ftop to this mifchievous riot, which had infected the mob at Newcastle, who stopped the working of all the colliers below bridge, and determined to do the fame by all the colliers in the two rivers Tyne and Wear.

The following is a particular account of a late dreadful fire at Newmarket: It broke out about five o'clock in the afternoon, in a ftraw-loft belonging to Mrs. Bafcubee, at the Bull inn; and, the wind being very high, communicated

with uncommon rapidity to above thirty out-houfes, which were all confumed, together with a wheelwright's fhop, a barn full of wheat, three fmall tenements, a malting, which contained above 400 coombs of malt, befides 100 coombs of barley, moft of it brought in that day; a peafe-ftack, containing about 40 coombs of peafe; a barn, with fome rye in it, and fix pigs, a cow and calf; together with a ftore-house and 100 hogfheads of beer. The ground on which the above buildings flood is fuppofed to be about five acres, and was all on fire in less than half an hour; providentially for the inhabitants, the wind was full fouth: had it been north, the whole town would have been in the most imminent danger of being deftroyed. The damage. fuftained however, is fuppofed to amount to more than 3000l. But no lives were loft; nor was any body materially hurt. It is ftrongly fufpected, that these buildings were malicioufly fet on fire, as fifteen buckets belonging to the engine were ftolen the week before.

21ft.

A very extraordinary affair happened at a certain hofpital; two women, one of whom having the appearance of a nurse, the other of a maid- fervant, applied to the committee to let them have a male child, the youngest in the hofpital, for their lady, who wanted to adopt one for her own. These women, on the committee's clofe examining them, confeffed that the lady's husband was gone abroad; and, as fhe told him before he went the believed the was pregnant, it was necessary on his return to fhew him a child; they likewife acknowledged the lady came from the Isle of Wight to

London