describe the affection these unfortunate a degree, and in so distinguished a manner, women entertain for these humane, intelli- contributed, and on which you have cast gent, and active females. additional lustre." JOHN GANN, Foreman of the Grand Jury. Honour: His honour rose, was visibly agitated, and replied to this effect: "It is impossible that I should not be deeply affected by the sentiments expressed towards me by the gentlemen at the bar. The favourable view they have taken of my conduct, and the kind wishes with which they regard my retirement, excité my warmest gratitude. The attention I have shewn to them could not be greater than their own merits claimed. I have uniformly found the gentlemen who attend in their profession, and for the honour this Court equally distinguished for learning and liberality with which they practised it. The kindness, attention, and respect which me sensibly, and call for my most cordial I have always experienced from them affect thanks. Their conduct towards me since I had the honour to preside in this Court, and the sentiments they now express on my retirement, I shall ever remember with gratitude, and cherish the remembrance as the sweetest solace of the remainder of my life. Gentlemen, farewell! My best wishes shall ever attend you." voice faultered, and he hurried immediWhile pronouncing the last sentence, his ately out of Court, struggling to repress his tears. The gentlemen of the bar seemed greatly affected. The Court was quite crowded. All the King's Counsel (except Mr. Leach) and the other Chancery Lawmarking as they retired. "We shall never yers, were present. They were heard reagain see such a Master of the Rolls." The Southwark Bridge. "Upon your retirement, Sir, from that seat of justice on which for more than 16 years you have presided, the gentlemen of the bar attending this Court are desirous of expressing the sentiments with which they are impressed upon an event of great regret and conceru to them, and upon which they are desirous of expressing the unfeigned respect which you abundantly mherited, and to which you are so justly entitled. The promptitude and wisdom of your decisions have been as highly conducive to the benefit of suitors as they were eminently productive of the general administration of equity. In the practice of your important and arduous duties you have exhibited an uninterrupted equanimity, and displayed a temper never disturbed, and a patience never wearied. You have evinced a uniform and impartial attention to those engaged in the discharge of their professional duties here, and who had the opportunity, and enjoyed the advantage of observing that conduct in the dispensation of justice, which has been conspicuously calculated to excite emulation, and to form an illustrious example for imitation. Accept, Sir, the cordial and sincere wishes of those Domesticated Seal. A gentleman m whom you leave devoted to the labour of the neighbourhood of Burntisland has com this place, that, with the gratifying reflec-pletely succeeded in taming one of these tion which will be the merited reward of so considerable a portion of your life, so meritoriously and exemplarily employed, you may enjoy health and happiness in repose, on your secession from the business and labour, from the toil and anxiety of a painful judicial station, to the importance and eminence of which you have, in so great This is in great forwardness. The bed of the arch leading to Queen-street is composed of a mass of masonry, lying diagonally, to resist the constant pressure of the weight of the arch, and meeting the bend of the whole span. In digging for the foundation on the Southwark side, a copperas spring was discovered, the water of which was quite green. The breadth of each ellipsis, of which there are three, will not in the least obstruct the navigation. -- animals. Its singularities daily continue to attract the curiositity of strangers. It appears to possess all the sagacity of the dog, lives in its master's house, and eats from his hand. He usually takes it away with him in his fishing excursions, upon which occasion it affords no small entertainment. When thrown into the water, it will follow for miles the track of a boat, and although thrust back by the oars, it never relinquishes its purpose. Indeed, it struggles so hard to regain its seat, that one would imagine its fonduess for its master had entirely overcome the natural predilection for its native element. Extraordinary Sentence. The following sentence was lately put in execution at Guernsey, on a female servant who was convicted of concealing her pregnancy, and of the murder of her infant. At twelve o'clock at noon, the prisoner was conducted from the prison to the Court-house, between the halberds, and in one of the lower rooms she was stripped barefoot, and clothed in a white shift made for the occasion; she was bare headed, and from that room she was led up stairs to the door of the Court, where she received from the hangman (l'executeur des hautes œuvres) a lighted candle, weighing two pounds, and two feet long made expressly for the purpose. Thus equipped, she presented herself at the bar of the Court; and falling on her knees, she asked pardon for her crimes in these words :~" [ ask pardon of God, the King, and of Justice!" An immense crowd of people were present, who came from all parts of Guernsey to witness so novel a spectacle. Russia; speaks only his own provincial dialect, and very little Russ and Persian, and is perfectly satisfied with his undertaking, with the only exception, that he dreads the sea, suffering extremely by sea sickness. His name is Musra Kallm Mahomet. He also says he has been very kindly received by the Metropolite, and different priests of the Greek Church, in Petersburg, and has a recommendation from the Asiatic Society, who kindly paid his passage to this country. Economy of Fuel.-The present season has suggested the propriety of making generally known the following composition, as likely to produce much public benefit, if adopted by the middle and lower classes of society. A mixture of sand, clay, and coal, dust or charcoal, or saw-dust, made with water into a moderately stiff compound, are all the materials required, and these may be obtained almost any where. The following proportions may be essayed, until another more preferable may be ascertained by experiment: Coal, charcoal, or saw-dust, or ...... ... Improvements in Gas. 2 parts. These parts may be pecks, bushels, or any other measure at hand. The mass to be made into balls of a convenient size, Adventurous Pilgrim.-The following is moderately dried; and the work is accoma full account of the Pilgrim recently arplished. They will not answer to light rived in this country from St. Petersa fire with; but the fire once brought to burgh :-He is a native of the kingdom of nearly a white heat these balls will support Cabul, and a merchant of the town of it, be very durable, produce a heat incomGazree, and in the habit of taking his parably more intense than common fuel of /merchandize to Buchara. Upon one of these excursions, in company with eight ashes as a manure. The mud swept up in any kind, and increase the value of the other merchants, near the town of Balkh, the streets of paved towns will answer adthey were attacked by eighty Tartars, who mirably in lieu of marl or clay, or with inhabit the mountains of the Hazarchs, in the neighbourhood of Balkh, and plun- mud must unavoidably contain a considea little clay to give it adhesion, as such dered; on which occasion, this man, hav-rable quantity of carbon. ing lost an arm, and received a cut in the head, was left nearly lifeless on the spot; four of his companions were killed, and four made their escape. He was, however, able to reach his home, where he had lain 50 days before he recovered, and during his illness made a vow that he would un dertake a pilgrimage through Russia, and by way of England to Mecca, should the Almighty restore him to health. He has three wives and two children alive; ten are dead. It is his intention to stay 30 days in Mecca, whence, after offering his thanks to the Almighty, and fasting, he returns to his wives and children. He is 60 years old, and states himself to have been indles. good circumstances; he seems very intelligent, and perfectly acquainted with the geography of Cabul, and the of empire Mr. W. Muir, of Kelsoe, has, by a very simple process, constructed an apparatus which produces gas sufficient to supply ten different burners, the flame of each far surpassing that of the largest candle, and which completely illuminates his shop, work-shop, and dwelling-house, with the purest pellucid brightness, the cost of which is only about three pence per night. Wax cloth bags have been invented, which, when inflated with gas, are removed at pleasure from place to place, and, when ignited, they answer all the purposes of can Drying Malt. It appears from the experiments of Messrs. D. Wheeler and Company, that by expo sing common malt to the temperature of about 43° of Fahrenheit, in close vessels, it acquires a dark chocolate brown colour, and becomes so soluble in either hot or cold water, that when it is mixed with pale malt, in the proportion of 1-80th, it communicates to the liquor the perfect colour and flavour of porter. A patent has been taken out for this method of drying and preparing malt. Perpetual Motion. An ingenious mechanic in Linlithgow has invented a machine, in which, by employing magnetism as the moving power, he has realized the boasted discovery of perpetual motion thus far,that the machine, without the application of any other force than the maguetic influence, will move as long as its materials will last. Its construction is very simple. A small wooden beam, with a piece of steel at one end, is put in motion by two maguets, the one fixed about an inch above the piece of steel, the other as much below it. The magnets are covered by valves, which are opened alternately by the beam itself, and the motion is communicated by a crank from the op. posite end of the beam to a fly-wheel. These are the principal parts; but there are some subsidiary contrivances, which could not be well understood without a diagram. The machine has continued in motion for two months without a pause. Suppression of Mendicity. The plan of the Society, whose attention is now so meritoriously directed to this desirable object, appears at ouce judicious and practicable. It is grounded on that which originated with Mr. M. Martin, in 1796, the immediate purpose of which is as follows;-"To supersede all together the bestowing of alms on common beggars, by the delivery to them of tickets of reference to an office to be established in a convenient part of the town, for the investigation of their ca ses, with a view to ascertain their claim on such parish, or fund, as may appear to be properly chargeable with their maintenance, and for relief, if absolutely neces sary, until such claim shall be satisfactorily substantiated." SCOTLAND. Edinburgh, Jan. 17.-Thursday morning the barometer had fallen eight-tenths of an inch; it then blew very hard, and during the whole course of the day slates and chimney pots were flying about in all directions-In the evening the gale in creased, and about five o'clock it blew a perfect hurricane. In houses fronting the west a good deal of mischief was done in breaking the panes of glass, stripping the lead from the roof, dashing the cupola windows from their frames, and shivering them to atoms. Similar mischief was done by the falling of similar ornaments at the lately erected church at Libberton, on Monday last. The North Bridge, the Mound, and several parts of the New Town, were in darkness during the night, it being impossible to get the lamps lighted. LONDON, AS IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN. Had the same degree of judgment, taste, and spirit, been exercised in the renovation of Londou as we find have been manifested in the building of the New Town of Edinburgh, we should probably have had the gratification to see it now, from the progress of the arts, as distinguished above other cities for the elegance of its exterior appearance, and the convenience of its communications, as it is for the comfort of its domestic arrangements. After the conflagration in 1666, intelligent persons who had considered the closeness of the former buildings as the occasion of the spread both of the fire and the plague, which had previously and very frequently proved the scourges of the metropolis, were desirous that the city, on its restoration, should have its streets and wharfs, and public places, so disposed as to preserve a safe and convenient breadth, and to display its larger buildings with the best effect. Sir Christopher, then Dr. Wren, was appointed surveyor-general and principal architect for effecting these arrangements; and in conformity to his own ideas, and those of the men of taste whom he consulted, he proposed a plan, by which the inconveniencies and deformities of the old town were remedied,and a new one raised in regularity and beauty. The aims he had in view were to enlarge the streets and lanes, and carry them as nearly as might be convenient parallel with each other-to place the parochial churches in conspicuous and insular situations-and to form the public squares in such a manner as to be the centres of eight leading ways. The streets he proposed to be of three different magnitudes, the three chief to be those which led through the city, and one or two others, which were designed to intersect them, to be of the width of 90 feet, that of other streets was to be of 60 feet, and that of the lanes to be 30. Courts and alleys, without thoroughfare, were excluded from his plan. The Exchange was to stand free, in the middle of a piazza, and to be the focus of the city; from which, as from a centre, the 60 feet streets were to proceed to all the principal parts of the town. That building was intended to have been in the form of the Roman Forum, with double porticos. Several streets were to radiate from London Bridge; and those of the first and second magnitude were to be carried on as straight as possible, and to unite in four or five public squares. The bank of the Thames was designed to be kept open, spacious, uninterrupted, and convenient as a quay, with wharfs on its northern side, and docks for lading barges. A canal was to proceed to Holborn Bridge, on the sides of which were to have been store-houses, and magazines of coals. The churches were to be constructed in the most commodious form as to capacity and hearing; and, in the larger parishes, adorned with porticos, and ornamented towers or steeples. Church yards, and all establishments which occasion noisome smells, or require large fires, were to be removed beyond the town. Conformably to these ideas, a straight street of ninety feet wide was proposed to proceed from that part of Fleet-street which remained unburnt, (about St. Dunstan's Church) intersecting the valley of the River Fleet, on the south side of the scite where Ludgate had been situated, and terminating gracefully in a regularly built square on Tower Hill. Previously, however, to its reaching that part which was then Fleet Ditch, (now Bridge-street, and Fleet Market) this street was to have opened into a spacious area or circus, designed to have been the centre of eight ways, which were to have led to the following points :-the first, straight forward through the city; the second obliquely through Bridewell Dock, where the Quay was to have commenced, and thence to Tower Hill; the third in an oblique direction, on the opposite side to Smithfield; the fourth straight towards the Thames; the fifth straight also, in an op posite direction, to Hatton-street, and Clerkenwell; the sixth straight westward, towards Temple Bar; the seventh obliquely to the walks of the Temple; and the eighth obliquely, also, towards Cursitor Alley. Passing the valley of the Fleet which had been hitherto an offensive sewer, but then designed for a useful canal, over which there were to have been as many bridges as streets that led in its direction to the great street proceeding towards the scite of Ludgate (which was not designed to have been restored, in the form of a prison, but to have been occupied by a triumphal arch in honour of Charles II. on account of his promoting the restoration of the City), it was then to have separated into two of equal width, one of which was to have led to the south front of the Exchange; and in the point where these two streets were to have left a triangular area, of such large dimensions, as to contain within it the cathedral of St. Paul's. From the north-east corner of St. Paul's Church yard, one branch of the great street was to have proceeded to the Royal Exchange, which was to have stood in its original scite, freed from other buildings, and to have occupied the middle of the space included between two great streets, the one leading from the south front to Ludgate, and the other from the north front to Newgate, and afterwards over the canal to Holborn. In all the leading streets, the way was designed to have been adorned with Churches. Such is an outline of the grand design which Sir Christopher Wren conceived for the restoration of London, and which was defeated by the illiberal spirit of the age to which it was proposed! POLITICAL PERISCOPE, Parorama Office, Jan, 29, 1818. vourable reports, but attended with equiTHE present year has opened with fachief sources of national prosperity have vocal symptoms. In certain respects the revived; in other respects the barometer of national indication has declined. But, the most important event of the month is the meeting of Parliament, which was opened by Commission, on Tuesday last, strongly marks the present situation of the with the following Speech-a Speech which kingdom; and has equally strong reference to the future.-When, before, was an Opening Speech delivered, not from Commissioners delegated by his Majesty but by Commissioners delegated by a Regent, acting in the Name and on the behalf of his Majesty? My Lords and Gentlemen, We are commanded by His Royal Highness The Prince Regent to inform you, that it is with great Concern that He is obliged to announce to you the Continuance of his Majesty's lamented indisposition. THE Prince Regent is persuaded that you will deeply participate in the Affliction with which His Royal Highness has been visited, by the calamitous and untimely Death of His beloved and only Child The Princess Charlotte. UNDER this awful Dispensation of Providence, it has been a soothing Consolation to 9651 the Prince Regent's Heart, to receive from | with the Courts of Spain and Portugal, on all Descriptions of His Majesty's Subjects the the important Subject of the Abolition of the most cordial Assurances both of their just Slave Trade. Sense of the Loss which they have sustained, and of their Sympathy with His parental Sor row: And, amidst his own Sufferings, His Royal Highness has not been unmindful of the Effect which this sad Event must have on the Interests and future Prospects of the Kingdom. We are commanded to acquaint you, that The Prince Regent continues to receive from Foreign Powers the strongest Assurance of their friendly Disposition towards this Country, and of their Desire to maintain the general Tranquillity. His Royal Highness has the Satisfaction of being able to assure you, that the Confidence which He has invariably felt in the Stability of the great Sources of our National Prosperity has not been disappointed, THE Improvement which has taken place in the course of the last year, in almost every Branch of our domestic Industry, and the present State of Public Credit, afford abundant Proof that the Difficulties under which the Country was labouring were chiefly to be as cribed to temporary Causes. So important a Change could not fail to withdraw from the Disaffected the principal Means of which they had availed themselves for the Purpose of fomenting a Spirit of Discontent, which unhappily led to Acts of Insurrection and Treason: And His Royal Highness entertains the most confident Expectation, that the State of Peace and Tranquillity to which the Country is now restored, will be maintained against all Attempts to disturb it, by the persevering Vigilance of the Magistracy, and by the Loyalty and good Sense of the People. Gentlemen of the House of Commons, THE Prince Regent has directed the Estimates for the current Year to be laid before you. His Royal Highness recommends to your continued Attention the State of the Public Income and Expenditure; and He is most happy in being able to acquaint you, that, since you were last assembled in Parliament, the Revenue has been in a State of progressive Improvement in its most important Branches. My Lords, and Gentlemen, We are commanded by The Prince Regent to inform you, that He has concluded Treaties His Royal Highness has directed that a Copy of the former Treaty should be immediately laid before you; and He will order a similar Communication to be made of the latter Treaty, as soon as the Ratification of it shall have been exchanged. IN these Negociations it has been His Royal Highness's Endeavour, as far as Circumstances would permit, to give Effect to the Recommendations contained in the joiut Addresses of the Two Houses of Parliament: And His Royal Highness has a full Reliance on your Readiness to adopt such Measures as may be necessary for fulfilling the Engagement into which He has entered for that purpose. THE Prince Regent has commanded us to direct your particular attention to the Deficiency which has so long existed in the Number of Places of Public Worship belonging to the Established Church, when compared with the increased and increasing Population of the Country. His Royal Highness most earnestly recommends this important Subject to your early Consideration, deeply impressed, as He has no Doubt you are, with a just Sense of the many If we compare the prices of the public funds with what they were at the opening of the last Session of Parliament, undoubtedly the rise is very great; and it must be added, that the difference does not appear to have been effected by the aid of aliens, or by the artificial contrivances of the alert and knowing. Certainly the abundance of money, for a time, was the primum mobile in this alteration ;-although, at another time, and in the present month, money was, during a momentary pressure, worth dou ble, or treble, its legal interest. For, it so happened, that the merchants, foreseeing the additional duty on Sugar, found themselves obliged to raise nearly a million of money instanter, by which they saved almost a hundred thousand pounds. But since that pressure is in some degree over, the Stocks have continued to droop; and we observe with pleasure, in the speech from the throne, that no exter |