The National Register. — London, England, 1809-08-13 00:00:00

AUG.'M. direct our judgment. This is the. case with many of our public mo►iumeuts. I had almost forgot the bullocks fields, billy goatp, and the little decayed lamb, who seems to he resigued to his hard fate, that of being left unnot red to starve to death upon► a barren rock, unless he can feed upon the artichokes, cabbages, &c. brought by the kind little boy in the back ground, whom an ignorant passenger supposed to repre sent Covent•virden: and the only specimen, we have of breeding, is from the little urchin on the right angle of the pedestal, who seems to have bred what he does not like to keep. The execution of the work, ;as far as I can jud4e, is bad in the extreme: the head is something like Noilekin's bust: the neck is a complete . mill-post: the body may be right, for it is hid: the right arm is longer than the left, and the right le!.. the same: the sta ding leg isrfour inches out of its place, and the whole forms a disgustitig rci semblance of a man whose figure was as fine as his mind, and perhaps the most happy subject that could fall into the hands of any artist on earth. I find, Sir, I have exceeded all bounds in the length of this epistle; if you wilt curtail it, you will much oblige me. I shall oniy add, that 1 have no dog►bt many regular pull's will appe:►r on the beauties of this work; but let them say what they will, the Public must determine our merits, and to Public judgment, whether we will or not, we. must bow. Your's, &c. As if.NGLISII ARTIST. LAST MOMENTS OF TOM PAIN B. EXTRACT OF A LETTER § • - nom NEW-YORK, DATED 6TII JUNE. iBG9. 44 I witnessed a scene, last night. which has occasioned sensa lions Only to befell, not described. The scene I. allude to was no less extraordivary, than that of beholding the noted Tom Paine struggling to hold a little longer his soul and body together.' Near an hour 1 sat by the bed •side of that well-known charActer„, to whom 1 wan introduced by a pat-tit-al:a friend of his. Could in memory hove retained the Suggestions of my mind, in the moments when l was viewing the va!litl looks . ofhim who had attempted . 10 over-throw kingdoms and ,n a atrchies—of who had abtonishcd the world with the fruits of n great mind, whose works have caused a great part of mankind to think, and feel, as they never did . before, they would not have been uninteresting to you. I could not contemplate the approaching dissolution of such a man---4ee him gasping for breath, groaning in agony of body, even in a state of living rottenness, w ithout feelings of a peculiar nature. Poor Paine s body gave way before his mind, which is yet firm. Mortification has taken up its duelling in his mortal part, and he will soon he no more. With respect In his principles, he will die as he has lived : they are unaltered. Some Methodists went to him a few days ago, to endeavour to wake a convert of him, but he would not lipteu to their entreaties." • PROv ixciaLS. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. . TIIUNDER STORM!. On Thursday sennight, Newcastle was visited by a most awful storm of thunder and lightning, accompanied by n torrent of rain, and a great quantity of hail. During the whole after umm, which was very close and sultry, distant thunder was heard in the south east ; about half past five, the storm re.' cited that place, and continued about an hour, during which time the flashes of lightning followed each other in an swful and rapid succession, accompanied with such tremenduous thunder, as threatened to dissolve the town, and • " Leave not a wreck behind !" The-deluge of rain and hail that fell. speedily inundated the streets, and must have done considerable damage io the lower parts of the town. The injury done by lightningis very great, as will appear by the following particulars: — A ball of electric matter entered the house of Mr. D. Sutton, in Prince's-street. .11 first struck the chimney top. which it threw down, partly into the street, and partly into the house. Li tiles followed the direction of the chimney into thaiiittingpar• 5 6 3 lour, in which were eight persOns, daihed part of the tea equi page upot, tti:! door, shivered the book-case, and, proceeding towards the door, shirk was fortunately open, burst with tlreadful explosion, followed by six small ones, but, fortunately, iljnred no person aerionsly. Two ladies were slightly stntek, one on the side of be cad, and the other's mit was slued, and her arm slightly affected; a gentleman of the trarty was also Wells ly struck in the face. The electric fluid then communicuted with the heit-wires, which it melted all over the house, following them ['rim room to room, in an upward direction. tearing tirthe (loon, &e. in it, passage; it hroke the glass of a crock, and stops prd it, shivered three bed poles, and finally passed out at tars upper part of the house. In the different rooms 2) scpsnres cir glass were broken and forced outwards, and in one of the rooms 51r. Sutton hada most providential escape, being there with tee intention (4 shutting a window at the time it was struck. The oxydalion of the boil wires hits pi oduced an eflect beautiful be yond description. Immediately nflrr the explosion, the titling room was tilled w ith smoke, attended with such a strong smell of salphur, as rendered it dangerous to remain in the room. The door jamb of the adjoining house Is as ;also tofu of. The light,. ning also struck down ta chili - wry and entered the roof of Mr. flumble's dwelling house, near the Fort li, and at the sante tiled shattere' one of the piihr• of the front door,commenienth7g with anti destroying all the wires of the hells est the first end ocean& stories ; shattered the stock of • a gun in the kitchen, :tinplate window shutters of three rooms, singeing the p: wiser, and tossliqt about the lime from the tops of the windows wherever the heti& wires communicated ; then hers! out of the bark-staircase nubs dew, with a dieat}fol explosion, similar. to the dischwrge Ire ai cannon, and 6ltiug !hr different rooms with black sutphoreout smoke. Providentially none of- the family were materialiy hart. Mrs. ilutuble was deprived for a few minutes of bet hearing, and experienced a numbness in one arm ; one of the servants was.slightly scorched is one band. Mrs. Hawk's house, near Jestoond, was struck ; anti the Works of a gold watch, which was banging up in one of the.rooms, were melted, and considerable damage done to the walls, pictures, &c. The light ning set a bark mill near St. Andrew's eharch, on tire, but for: tunately it was extinguished without snuck damage, except to the wands and one beam. On the same day the home of Mr. Usirt, nt Preston. nrm- North Shields, suffered materially by the lightning. w hick en tered the chimney, and made its way to a fr•aet riann an the ground floor. where it damaged some of Cie ; it Open broke the partition bets ix t the room stmt ;he kitchen, where it struck one of Mr. ii-ha': daughters to the ground, and sex erelv hunted tier neck and arm;; it then shattered itnntlicr parti tion in its course to a hack kitchen, whence it forced Its wad• out of the house through a strong wall, which it consi derably rent and da ma ged. A lamb wax struck dead, amongst many others, belonging to a butcher of North ShieMs. On lionday se'inii4lit. a storm passed over llevcrle.y : the clap.; of thunder were trentenduinisly loud, and t! e lightning nuctim manly ; the rain poured down io torrents. During the storm, tit! house of Mr. Daniel Foster, in laundrcs:-lone, struck bs ligtiteing, which shattered the top of the chimoev, then penetrated the ridge, anti proceeded tha n the g r ret wall, into a lodging-room. After ptwitigsome spo , c tlimn the u an, it struck the bedstead, and shattered it in :t w awlerful manner, one of the castors beln,.• driven into the land ieg Foster had providentiall got out of bed a few iiiitutteg before. The electric fluid then passed into I Iv! kitchen below, nod w attracted by a pair of tong 4, liting in the corner of the c:limnt.v, :eaving a s uficient line to mark its progress. 'The w hole of tile glass was driven out of the cham!ter window; ald of twelve squares in the kitchen window, ody four were left ;. the casing of the window was entirely taken away, and the I)lv:tering da maged indifferent plate.. Mrs. Foster, her grandson, and maid servant, were struck down in the kitchen, but received nu WA* terial injury. • An unfortunate accident happened last Monday, at the Cue powder Mills, lately erected in Cautives Woud, near Peurvu. Otte of the carpenters was directed to make a ,mall alteration in the machine that works the sieves, and ti!e man who h:td care of the house was preparing to remove all the powder ucder process, but was prevailed on to let it remain, upon an ftssurance from the carpenter that he shou!d only use it wooden . Soon after, however, the neighbourhood wn- ala toed I y 44/. explosion, and the manaf....er of the workc appro4cniag the hpw r foun4 the carpenter and the other workmen, with two won't blown about twenty yards from the ruin, and dreadfully ed. The man and weans survived only a few hours ; the oiler