thrown there by the college plate robbers, of notorious memory: they took the dish to a silversmith of the first water in that town, to ascertain its worth, who, after a double eyed survey, told them it was worth four pounds as old silver, but advised them to take it by all means to the master of the college, who instantly told them they were welcome to it, as it was nothing but pewter; the poor men then returned to the silversmith, and related what was told them by the master, which rather ruffled the knowledge of the alchymist, and he again looked into its worth, and desired them again to take it to the master, with a note he would write descriptive of its worth; upon the second appearance of the dish, the master thought of returning a pyrotechnic proof of its value by thrusting a red hot poker through it, and desired the men to go about their business. They again returned to Mister Silver dealer, when he told them them the dish was silver, but was lessened in its value Ss. by the perforation, and he could only give them three pounds seventeen shillings for it; this sum the poor men (fifteen in number) gladly received, and repaired to a public house to enjoy the fruit of their finding; but on the morrow, alas! our alchymist found that he was in possession of an old pewter dish, worth about 18 pence.-He hastened to the labourers, with the dish under his arm, and demanded his money back again, but 'twas vanished! like the baseless fabric of a vision, and left naught but the old pewter dish behind! Mosaic Pavement. A Mosaic Roman pavement, of considerable extent and in fine preservation, has been discovered in the garden of J, Matthie, Esq. of High Wycombe, three feet below the surface. Langley, the Historian of the Hundred of Desborough, mentions a similar discovery as having been made in the grounds of the Earl of Shelbourne, in the same vicinity, about 60 years since. As some workmen were forming a small quay a few days ago, at Carnarvon, they discovered the remains of an immense wooden bridge, formed of oak, buried several feet in the sand, and extended over the river Seient. One beam, which was got up, measured upwards of 50 feet in length. This bridge appears to have formed originally a communication between Segontiuni and Coed-Helen summer house, in all probability a Roman watch-tower, one end of the bridge being contiguous to the old walls of Hengaer Cysteint. This bridge is supposed to have extended up wards of four hundred yards. Antient Bridge. mony took place of laving the foundation of Wellington Monument.-Lately the cereHill, Somerset, in honour of the Duke of the monument to be erected on Blackdown Wellington. A great procession, preceded by several bands of music, troops of yeotraiu of Noblemen manry and artillerymen, with a unmerous carriages, moved from the centre of the and Gentlemen's its arrival at the spot, Lord Somerville detown of Wellington, towards the hill. On livered an address, and then proceeded to deposit in a recess formed in the centre of denomination of the present reigu; and the foundation stone, coins of every current which were enclosed in a thick glass case, and covered with a brass plate with a gradually lowered to its destined bed, suitable inscription. The stone was then amidst discharges of cannon, and the acclamations of ten thousand persons, who, joined in the national anthem of "God save the King," proclaimed the accomplishment of this interesting ceremony. The procession lington, and the business concluded, as usual, then returned with increased pomp to Welwith a dinner. POLITICAL PERISCOPE. LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDI- WHITEHALL, Nov. 6. "Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Augusta, daughter of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, and consort of his Serene Highness the Prince Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg, was delivered of a still-born male child at 9 o'clock last night, and about half past 12 o'clock her Royal Highness was seized with great difficulty of breathing. restlessness and exhaustion, which alarming symptoms increased till half past two o'clock this morning, when her Roy 1 Highness expired; to the inexpressible grief of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, of her illustrious consort, the Prince Leopold, and of all the Royal Family." Panorama Office, Nov. 28, 1817. O Death! all eloquent! thy triumphs prove What dust we doat on, when we mortals love! Never had the Panorama a task so melancholy to fulfil, as that which by inevitable necessity, now falls to its lot. Neyer the expectations of all ranks so painfully were the feelings of a nation so acute, and disappointed! Youth, beauty, maternity, 5131 virtues, the most flattering prospects, the most affecting endearments, the importance of this loss to the country; the almost singularity of the circumstances to which the Crown may be exposed; the remote contingencies on which this event may have an influence; the possibility of mournful topics succeeding, with a rapi Close twisted with the fibres of the heart, all swept away at a stroke, without a moment's warning;-two generations of successors to the Crown of an Empire no less distinguished than that of the Uniteddity not anticipated by all; with other items on which silence is prudence. Much Kingdom!!-The whole forms a of this is felt, and more is feared: neverpainful to every mind capable of sympatheless, we think it a duty not to enlarge thy, and to every thinking mind uncom monly embarassing and perplexing. Scene further on this melancholy subject. It consists with our knowledge that too already cost several lives, of ladies near their time; and have produced consequences against which we cannot too studiously and even anxiously provide. We recolleet no occasion on which the na-powerful impressions arising from it, have tion-the whole nation, was so unanimous in grief-so congenial in feelings-so uni: form in reasonings-so precise in foresight so accurate in conclusions. The mere ordinary dealer, whose daily ideas are confined to his counter, on this occasion, reasoned with all the acuteness of the most practised Statesman. Perhaps there never was a moment when intelligent foreigners could behold the people of these islands to equal advantage. The sorrow expressed was a powerful appeal to the honest principles of human nature; it borrowed nothing from the parade of grief; and never were orders for gene. ral mourning less necessary, or less waited for, than on this occasion. In fact, the sentiments of the Public out-ran the directions of authority, and the mourning was general, before a word to that purpose had been issued from the Press. Amidst the universal gloom, this conduct of the British nation affords a mourn Undoubtedly, the instance of the Princess Charlotte, dying in child-bed, is striking, from the illustrious character of the deceased; but, such instances are rare; and this, though distinguished, adds, in fact, but one to the number. Nor let it be forgot, that extreme solicitude to avoid danger, has been one cause of the very danger deprecated: we understand, from good authority, that the matron ladies of Kingston foresaw a difficult time, from a certain disposition to avoid exercise; and from the absence of lively exertion.Anxious to encrease the nation's joys, the lovely sufferer has converted them into sorrow. Our fair countrywomen will take the bint; and assure themselves that good spirits, and cheerful hopes, and moderate activity, will meet their reward in realising their desires and wishes. give an opinion, at present, were to make more haste than good speed. ful kind of alleviation. True it is, these spontaneous tokens of regard will not reThe politicians of the day have employcall the illustrious deceased; but they afford demonstration that the sympathy of ed their memories in reviving old stories, Britons with what befalls their native land, and their imaginations in inventing new ones. Neither can safely be trusted. We is not fictitious; Hot momentary; not superficial; but genuine, deep, and lasting. would not wish to countenance even possibilities, at present. A little time must pass Never were two such painful hours exover our heads, before any thing like a perienced by the oldest inhabitant in the Metropolis, as during the time of the Fu-tolerable conjecture can be formed: to neral, when every bell tolled with most expressive vibration, throughout the whole city; while the dread note of St. Paul's ratified, as it were, the solemnity, at varied intervals, as the atmosphere wafted the sound. To say truth, when the painful ceremony was over, our feelings-not our sorrows-felt a kind of relief; and the mind, without resuming its elasticity, experienced the removal of a depression, which is more easily conceived than expressed, and more proper to be illustrated by an appeal to the sympathy of the reader, than attempted to be described by any eloquence of the writer. In the mean while, the barometers by which the Public welfare is usually esti mated, shew no symptoms of decline. The Public Fuuds manifest no want of money; the circulation of coin and of credit is not impeded; and report speaks favourably of the national receipts, in general. We learn, however, that the call on the Bauk for gold has, of late, been fully equal to expectation: principally, it is understood, as a supply to the circulation of Ireland; where the aid will be very accepIt cannot but be supposed that the table; and not a little owing, as some conPanoramist Board has fresh on its mind,jecture, to the curiosity of Foreign nations, Political Periscope. who mean to hoard specimens of this new coinage. It is said, that Sovereigns bear a premium of fourteen pence in Paris, merely from the desire of amateurs to possess the pieces. We believe, that the French are not the only people who have expressed the same wishes; but, this spirit of curiosity will, in all probability, be soon satisfied. FRANCE is endeavouring to play a deep game, by complaining of the enormous demands made on her Treasury, to pay the debts incurred by French armies in parts overrun by their power. She stands engaged to pay for supplies furnished to her troops; but, she pleads, that the amount exceeds her expectation, and also, her ability. Public bankruptcies have been so common in France, that nobody was surprised at them formerly: if the same notions should again obtain the ascendancy, those who see no danger to French credit, stability, and tranquillity, have much the advantage of us. At the same time, we should not grudge a little smart, in the way of payment adjourned, to those Germans, or others, who on French principles advanced their property con amorc, to support the slavery of their country. PRUSSIA has talked loudest in reply to French complaints. Undoubtedly; Prussia has been an inexpressible sufferer.We can wonder at nothing she says or does, where France is the subject. She wants the money; and has more than ways enough for it. There is also among her people, at this time, a kind of what d' yecall it? disposition, that may take a turn embarrassing to the wisest. We have repeatedly alluded to it As yet it has not been violent; but, there seems to be some reason to fear, that parties are concerned in fostering it, who would be sorry if the people saw the whole of their plan, or that a correct and definite prospectus of what is really for the people's benefit, or according to the people's real wishes, were formed into an ultimatum, to be discussed, approved, and granted. re AUSTRIA seems to stand next in her lations with France. If the finances of this state continue to improve, she has neighbours who will indulge the kind inquiry, at whose cost? and fancy will go far in answering the question. Austria has disbanded her army; at least, the additional parts of it; she will, therefore, not be pleased to see France strengthening her military power, at a great expense, and at the same time professing inability to pay those sums for which she had stipulated. There is in this conduct, a contradiction, that may, by possibility, be reconciled by [516 common dictates of common honesty. ception of news from Russia, whose court DENMARK is quiet; which, we presume to think is her best policy. Prince honestly informing the grand CounBELGIUM exhibits the spectacle of a cil of the nation, on the difficulties experienced in meeting expences. The deficiency is not so great as to become terrific; Statesman look about him. We are of and yet, it is sufficient to make a thinking opinion that Dutch perseverance will find ways and means to render it harmless. the present article. We know not how A word on Spain, must close this part of far the new finance system has answered, or will answer the expectations of its author. If it succeeds, it will mark him as an able man, and a benefactor, beyond expression, to his country: not merely from the circumstance of having raised a few dollars by taxation; but from that of having laid his taxes level on all classes, which ought to contribute. We can discover very little of the truth through the gloom that involves the intethere have long been agents in this counrests of Spain in America. We know, that try, who have exerted themselves to mislead the public; and we fear, they have misled not a few individuals to their eventual misfortune. Nor is it unlikely, that agents of a similar description, are active employed in beguiling the public in the North American United States, and elsewhere; so that no confidence whatever can safely be placed in articles of intelligence manufactured in that quarter. That they are wholly lies, may not be the fact; but, we are persuaded, that they are not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Though the United States may be said yet, if we conjecture rightly, the councils to be, comparatively speaking, on the spot, of that country are little more enlightened than ourselves. To reconcile policy with honesty is not always easy; and though of these the official characters of America we are at no loss to determine to which have given the preference, yet what, if policy to-day, should prove im-policy tomorrow? country forming one Empire, as she stands America is too extensive as a at present. Additional territories will un- | bined with the approach of Christmas, doubtedly bring with them, eventually, which, for obvious reasons, is constantly additional regrets. felt as a period of slackness through the We have heard but little from the Cape country, has acted with more than usual of Good Hope, and the oriental territories severity, and has extended, as well as of Britain, recently. To judge from ap-deepened, the gloom of the time. pearances the danger to our East Indian Empire has blown over. We should be glad to find it so in reality; and especially, if a few years do not see the late insults repeated. It is, however, much, to have effectuated the restraint for a time; Death sweeps away there, as well as elsewhere, the haughty, the troublesome, and the vengeful; which is pretty nearly the true character of those insidious Chiefs, who have lately ventured to extend their inroads into the dominions of the company. Another month will hardly elapse, without bringing us more substantial grounds for observations, and for speculations. Trade is not yet revived; and, we must wait till the new year, the meeting of parliament, the appearances of politics, and the infinite variety of speculations on what turn affairs may take, with the interval of time, may have given different directions to the public mind and imagination, and returning spring brings with it more animating sensations. Report speaks very unfavourably of the disposition of the inhabitants of the Dutch islands towards their now masters. Some go so far, as to affirm that war and bloodshed, have shewn their terrors, and destroyed their victims. And now we must close this article. The principal contents of it have spoken home to every Briton's heart and bosom : they have afforded themes for the pious who now, more than ever, may enforce the duty, and advantage of religion; for the moralist, whose comparison to the fair but fading flower, has received an addition of force, from no common cause; for the patriot, who looks forward with a concern marked in his brow; but seated in his heart.-Can we forget the husband, the parent, the sovereign, the relations connected by consanguinity, affinity, and intercourse? Can we forget the mourner the profoundly afflicted mourner?—No ; No; No. Commercial Chronicle. STATE OF TRADE. Lloyd's Coffee House, Nov. 20, 1817. The internal Trade of the country has suffered a kind of interval, or stagnation, in more of its branches than might have been supposed, from the engagement of the public attention to one concern and feeling, by which it has been engrossed, during many days. The melancholy event has not only rendered completely useless the preparations made by mauy for celebrating the joyful tidings expected, but it has turned into another channel the expenditure of thousands of families;-this, com The Commerce of the nation partakes also of the languor of the season. The period for shipping goods to the northern ports is elapsed; for most of them must be expected to be found, more or less, closed up by frost.--Aud ships which enter them must do so with the design of passing the winter there, which can be convenient only to vessels appertaining to such places as their home. The reader will not, therefore, be surprized if the present Report should present symptoms of no great briskness, or any livery. A report has indeed been spread, remarkable animation of purchase and debrandy vintage in France, the French Gothat owing to the insufficiency of the vernment had determined on admitting British Rums for the use of the allied army. If this news were unquestionable, we should not doubt the wisdom of those who have bought at angmented prices; but, if it should prove premature, or insufficiently authenticated, then those who have sold at high prices will have the best of the hargain. However that may prove, eventually, it has had the effect of raising good rums 4d. or 5d. per gallon, and inferior, 3d. or 4d. It has encouraged the holder to stand firmly to his price, yet has in no instance repulsed the speculator. Whether this will continue is more than the most experienced will venture to affirm. Unless the report be authenticated in a reasonable time, the article will take its place among those which figure in the ledger as profit and loss, and the balance will appear on the wrong side, among recent purchases. BEANDY, though highly raised, on the same account, already feels a heaviness, that is inconsistent with recent speculations. The brandy vintage in France may be deficient in quantity, without being inferior in quality; or it may be inferior in quality without being deficient in quantity: the French dealers may have less to export; or the French people may drink a worse article, and may pay a higher price for it yet it may not inevitably follow that a foreign beverage, Rum, will find admission, in considerable quantities or on favourable terms among a people so jealous of their natural productions as the French are. The Continent seems to be in a great degree recovered, or on the point of rccovering from that depth of depression to which it had been reduced by the famous Continental System, the unavoidable desolations of war, and the remorseless rapines of French military visitation. should affect the sales, as at present affects bargains by private contract, the major part of what is offered will be withdrawn, or the market will feel the effect, and a depreciation of some extent will ensue. There is this difference between a fair market price, though heavy, and a price heightened by extensive and grasping speculation, that, in the first case, nobody is to blame, and nobody has made either rivals or enemies; whereas, in the latter case, offence has been given, or has been taken, has been unavoidable, or has been wanton; and it will be faithfully remembered when time shall serve. the OIL trade, in consequence of those Something of this has taken place in extensive speculations which we have had occasion to report. The holders are now extremely anxious to sell. The time for payments rapidly approaches. The winter stocks of dealers, if not equal to what adequate to the expected consumption.— The winter, as concerns the dealers at first hand, is far advanced. If those who should buy, will not buy, how cau those sell, who should sell? There is, therefore, little business doing. Sperm. Oil, from its scarcity, is advancing, and likely to advance; Cod Oil is lower; Linseed Oil, lower; Rape Oil, considerably lower.→ The other kinds are kept up, as well as the holders can keep them. It is understood, that a desire for superior articles of clothing, upholstery, and general accommodation, has manifested itself, at late markets and fairs in different parts of Europe. That the more costly goods are lighter of carriage, and bear the best profit, is well known. They may, there fore, be carried to greater distances, yet prove more profitable to the dealer, thau heavier and coarser articles. This disposi-they would have been, are not totally intion may give vigour to the manufactories on the Continent; and it will be found advantageous to our own Country; which having further to send her articles to meet a market, will naturally choose to send those principally, which comprise most value in the most compact form; the lightest weight with the heaviest purchase. COTTON articles are those which, especially, come under the principle just mentioned. The finer sorts have hitherto been too dear for Continental purchasers: yet the Continent has taken off great quantities of the finer kinds of twist; because, the manufacturers could finish this to their mind: after having bought it, perhaps, at a lower price than they themselves could have produced it at. The demand, however, for raw Cottons is not very brisk; and this is the case as well at Liverpool as in London. It is partly owing to the season of the year. We are sorry to report the destruction of such a considerable quantity of Cotton, by fire, at Calcutta, that the price of what remained was raised in consequences.-It is said, also, that the quality of this assemblage was mostly superior, so that the detriment is the greater. SUGAR experiences the same steady or rather heavy state. The prices are the same as before; but, there is little doing at those prices. Those inclined to buy are waiting the events of sales which are announced: should these go off with any degree of spirit, there is reason to think that the article may feel somewhat of a run, and considerable quantities may change hands. But, if the same languid indifference The Provision trade experiences a great want of Prime BEEF; the article is really wanting, through scantiness of supply, The prices rate high in Ireland; consequently, they must rate higher here.PORK of the best kind is also in very short supply; and in fact, there is some jealousy lest the present stocks which are getting very low, should be exhausted, before an adequate supply arrives: some is expected; but more is wished for. BACON, however, is cheap; and not deficient in quantity: if those who cannot get Pork, can bring themselves to put up with Bacon, the article would meet them at a fair price. BUTTER Continues steady; the middling sorts more in request, at this moment, than the superior. We are glad to report a considerable revival in the demand for FLAX; amounting, in fact, to a great briskness; it is a good sign for a future day: The prices are higher, and probably will further improve. The limited quantity on sale, or remaining for further supply, has pointed out this article as a subject for speculation. The demand for HEMP has also increased; and this, too, is a pleasing symptom of additional exertions in the shipping line. It is a kind of predictive omen |