near Maidstone, in his eighty-seventh year. Jan. 4th. At Bath, the rev. Charles Barton. At Runwell, in the Ise of Wight, sir William Oglander, bart. 5th. At his mansion at Benham, in Berkshire, his serene highness the margrave of Anspach, Bareuth, &c. A violent cold seized him while hunting on New Year's Day, which, after three days illness terminated his life, in the 69th year of his age. In 1791 he married Lady Craven, whose refined taste and judgment in the fine arts, joined to his engaging manners and behaviour, made their residences at Benham, and Brandenburg House, Hammersmith, the resorts of all the taste, genius, and wit, both foreign and domestic; and great as his hospitality was, his hand and heart were so open to charity, that the language of the Scripture might be applied to him, being a father to the fatherless. He was buried in the village church of Speen, near Newbury, in a vault belonging originally to the family of the Cravens. The funeral was attended by the hon. Keppel Craven, who had lived with the margrave from his infancy; earl Craven; the hon. Berkeley Craven; his excelJency baron Jacobi, the Prussian mi. nister; and his two chamberlains, lieutenant-colonel Berkeley, and Mr. Hamilton. The pall richly adorned with escutcheons of his arms, was borne by the friends who were with him at the time of his decease; Mr. Swartskoff, Mr. Carr, Mr. Canning of Speen, doctors Winterbottom and Sainsbury, of Newbury, Mr. Rivers, Mr. Simons, and Mr. Nixon. Several gentlemen from Newbury, and the volunteers of that town, attended with the ser vants of the household, and a numerous body of poor people, who had continually been supported by his bounty, came to pay their last tribute of respect to their benefactor. At Nawer-house, Ross-shire, general sir Hector Monro, K. B. and colonel of the 42d, or Royal Highland regiment. FEBRUARY. 3rd. In consequence of some re. pairs which the sewers were undergoing in the Strand, close to St. Clements's church, a hackney-coachman, unacquainted with the interruption, drove upon the railing by which the opening was surrounded, and one of the horses was precipitated a depth of several feet, whilst the other lay over the mouth of it, apparently dead. The coachman was thrown from his box, and severely bruised. After much labour the horse was extricated, apparently not much hurt. 4th. The Lord Chancellor addressed the court of chancery to the following effect: "Before 1 take leave of this court, I wish to address a few words to you, gentlemen, expressive of the feelings I entertain for the respectful attention I have, on all occasions, experienced from you. I have doubted whether the more dignified manner of parting would not be simply to make my bow to you and retire; but, observing that I have been represented yesterday, and the day before, to have addressed you on the subject, I shall not resist the impulse I feel to say a few words. I quit the office I hold without one painful reflection. Called to it by the authority of those whom it was my duty to obey, I have exe cuted, cuted it, not well, but to the extent of my humble abilities, and the time which I have been able to devote to it; and I enjoy the grateful feeling, that there is no suitor of this court who can say I have not executed it conscientiously. There is yet, however, one painful emotion, by which I am assailed-it is the taking leave of you. In retiring into private life, I am upheld by the hope that I shall carry with me the continued esteem of a profession, for which I feel an attachment that will descend with me to the grave. "For the great attention, respect, and kindness, I have always received from you, accept, gentlemen, my sincerest thanks, accompanied by my best wishes for your long continued health and happiness, and uninterrupted prosperity.' Mr. Pigott, the new attorney-general, evidently affected, made a brief answer to the chancellor, in the name of the whole bar. 5th. This morning was executed in the Old Bailey, Leonard White, for cutting and wounding William Randall, a watchman, in the execution of his duty, in Little Ormondstreet, Bedford-row. In the court of king's bench, an application was made on behalf of colonel Thornton, for leave to file a criminal information against Mr. Flint, for challenging him to fight a duel, and horse-whipping him on the race-ground at York, last summer, &c. The quarrel arose out of a bet of 1500 guineas, which Mr. Flint claims to have won of colonel Thornton, by the race he rode against Mrs. Thornton, whose bets were adopted by her husband. Whereas colonel Thornton maintains, that of the bet alluded to, 10001. was a mere nominal thing, intended to attract company to the race, and that nothing more than 500 guineas were seriously intended by the parties. After a full hearing of the whole case, lord Ellenborough was of opinion, that the case before the court was one in which their lordships ought not to interpose with its extraordinary power. On the contrary, he conceived that it would be degrading its process to interfere in favour of such parties in such a cause. Colonel Thornton had chosen to appeal to the Jockey Club, and should have abided by their decision. He had, however, not found them exactly fitting his notion of justice; and, therefore, for every thing that had happened since, he must have recourse to the ordinary mode of obtaining redress, namely, by preferring a bill of indictment at the sessions of the county. The other judges being of the same opinion, the rule was discharged. 6th. As five boys were coming on shore at North Shields, from the Ship Pomona, the boat unfortunately got upon a ship's hawser, and upset. Four of them got hold of the rope, but the fifth, who was a Scots lad, (to whom they had given a passage from Mona Island, where he had been shipwrecked, and suffered many hardships) went to the bottom, and before assistance could be rendered the others, one of them, a boy belonging to London, let go his hold, and was likewise drowned. One of the bodies was found two days after. PLOUGHING MATCH.-The Cockburnspath agricultural society had their first annual ploughing match on the 20th ult. in a clover lea field be belonging to Mr. Wood, tenant in Path-head. Twenty-one ploughs appeared on the field. The day was favourable. The ploughmen finished their respective tasks with great expedition, and in a masterly style.The work was, on the whole, so well executed, that the judges had the utmost difficulty to determine the prizes. The society gave each of the competitors a comfortable refreshment, and half-a-crown to drink. The good effects of this ploughing match are very conspicuous, as the greatest emulation now subsists amongst the ploughmen in the neighbourhood. Upon the motion of Mr. deputy Birch, at a court of common council, after much discussion, and several divisions, it was at length carried by 77 against 71, for a monument to be erected in the Guildhall of the city of London, to the memory of Mr. Pitt. 8th. The court of king's bench, after the judicial business was over, being cleared of all but the counsel, the thanks of the bar to lord Erskine were moved by Mr. Daryll, (senior of the outer barristers) and seconded by D. P. Coke, esq. M. P. The following are copies of the resolutions: Resolved unanimously, That the following address be presented to the right honourable lord T. Erskine, now lord high chancellor; and that Edward Dayrell, and Daniel Parker Coke, esqrs. being the senior bar. risters of this court, do present the same: "That we cannot deny ourselves the satisfaction of presenting our sincere congratulations to the right honourable Thomas lord Erskine, on his appointment to the office of lord high chancellor of Great Bri tain, and of expressing the deep impression made upon us by the uniform kindness and attention which we have at all times experienced from him during his long and extensive practice amongst us; and we further beg leave to assure his lordship, that in retiring from us he is accompanied by our best wishes for his health and happiness." The following is the reply of lord chancellor Erskine to the above address. "Gentlemen, "I cannot express what I felt upon receiving your address, and what I must ever feel upon the recollection of it. "I came originally into the profession under great disadvantagesbred in military life, a total stranger to the whole bar, and not entitled to expect any favourable reception from similar habits or private friendships, my sudden advancement into great business, before I could rank, in study or in learning, with others, who were my seniors also, was calculated to have produced, in com, mon minds, nothing but prejudice and disgust. How, then, can I look back without gratitude upon the unparalleled liberality and kindness which, for seven-and-twenty years, I uniformly experienced among you, and which I feel a pride, as well as a duty, in acknowledging, alone enabled me to surmount many painful difficulties, and converted what would otherwise have been a condition of oppressive labour, into an uninterrupted enjoyment of ease and satisfaction. "I am happy that your partiality has given me the occasion of putting upon record this just tribute to the character and honour of the English bar. • My My only merit has been, that I was not insensible to so much goodness; the perpetual and irresistible impulses of a mind deeply affected by innumerable obligations, could not but produce that behaviour which you have so kindly and so publicly rewarded.—I shall for ever remain, gentlemen, your affectionate and faithful humble servant, "ERSKINE." "Lincoln's Inn Fields, Feb. 9, 1806." 8th. This morning the committee appointed to try the merits of the Middlesex election assembled, the right honourable I. Corry in the chair. No opposition was made by sir Francis Burdett to the petition of Mr. Mainwaring; and two of the votes of the former being disqualified, the latter has since been returned duly elected. The above was a matter that had been previously understood by both parties for some time past. 9th. "Mr. Ryan, at whose house, in Marlborough street, Dublin, the meetings of the Roman Catholic committee were held, wrote to Mr. Fox, congratulating him on his accession to political power, and hoped that he would not forget his friends the Irish Catholics, who had always supported him. Mr. Fox answered the letter rather in a general manner; thanked the gentleman for his congratulations; said, that, either in or out of office, he would not forget the Irish Catholics, and that Mr. Ryan might make what use he should think proper of his letter. In the Irish court of chancery lord Redesdale took an opportunity to allude to the change of ministers, and thank the barristers for the attention they bestowed during his chancellorship. VOL. XLVIII. 13th. A deputation from the university of Dublin waited upon this royal highness the duke of Cumberland, at St. James's Palace, with the grant of the office of chancellor of the university of Dublin. the Came on the election of a member of parliament for Westminster. After the usual proclamation, Mr. Fox appeared upon the hustings, supported by Mr. Byng. The lat tergentleman addressed the electors, and congratulated them on change that had taken place in his majesty's councils: he observed that Mr. Fox, in accepting a place of great public trust, was not actuated by personal or interested motives. In the present momentous crisis, his object was to serve, and, if possibie, to save his country. He was not a man who would deceive or de sert them; and it was only by the firm support of the people, that his friend and his colleagues could hope to make this nation safe and happy at home, and glorious and respectable abroad. He then proposed the re-election of Mr. Fox, which motion was seconded by Mr. Wishart. Mr. Fox afterwards addressed the electors, and explained the meaning of the law which rendered a new election necessary for a man who had ac cepted a place in his majesty's councils. He declared that he could have but little inducement to accept such a situation, at a period when there was much more reason to fear disappointment than to expect suc cess. "We can discern (said Mr. Fox) little consolation for the past, and but small hopes for the future. There is, undoubtedly, one splendid exception to the general gloomy state which we have to look to, I mean the very high reputation so justly earned by the British navy. Bb Let Let us hope that the immortal day of Trafalgar, though so dearly purchased by the death of the great and heroic character who commanded on that occasion, will more than compensate for all that Britain has suffered in every other quarter. Un der these circumstances it is that we have come into office. We have acted upon public grounds, uninfluenced by any motives of ambition or personal interest. We have undertaken an arduous duty in a perilous crisis, and without much prospect of succeeding as we could wish. But whatever may be the difficulties we have to encounter, your support will enable us to meet them with confidence, and to overcome them with effect. With regard togeneral politics, I feel that it would not be suitable, at my time of life, nor to the long connexion that has subsisted between us, to make professions. I am now what I always have been-a friend to liberty, an enemy to corruption, and a firm and decided supporter of that just weight which the people ought to have in the scale of the constitution.' After tumults of applause and acclamation, the high bailiff declared Mr. Fox duly elected. Mr. Fox then got into the chair prepared for him, which was crimson damask, richly gilt, and covered with laurels, and was chaired round Covent Garden. The usual practice of pulling down the hustings commenced, the instant Mr. Fox entered the chair. They began to demolish them from the foundation, when the roof came down with a crash, and buried near twenty under its ruins; some of them were much hurt, but none dan, gerously. As James Coleman, bricklayer, of Swardeston, Norfolk, was ringing a bell in Swardeston church, when half up, the crown and cannons breke from the bell, and it came down through both floors, breaking the door that covered the well-hole in the lower floor, and killed him instantly on the spot. Jean A FEMALE CONJUROR. Maxwell was lately tried before the steward depute of Kirkcudbright, and a jury, for swindling Jeanie Davidson, a simple girl, who consulted her upon a love story, out of several sums of money, and other articles. She pretended she was educated at Oxford, and was acquainted with the occult sciences, and that the devil would appear to her in the shape of a sow or a ball, and money must be given to lay him. Upon these pretences, she nearly turned the poor girl's head (who was before that time far gone in love) and extorted her money. The jury found her guilty, and the steward depute sentenced the prisoner to be imprisoned for twelve months, in the jail of the Burgh, and to stand in the pillory for an hour once every three months during that period. 14th. A man named John Gowthorpe exposed his wife for sale in the market, at Hull, about one o'clock, but owing to the crowd which such an extraordinary occurrence had gathered together, he was obliged to defer the sale, and take her away. About four o'clock, however, he again brought her out, and she was sold for 20 guineas, and delivered in a halter to a person named Houseman, who had lodged with them four or five years. There is a person, one Lambert, now living at Leicester, who is sup posed |