The National Register. — London, England, 1811-04-21 00:00:00

EINEM - ,-- , y i, ' , tti ti, NATIONAI, A TALE OF MYStRY. IV THE EDITOR OF THE NATIONAL REGOTER. ••••••••••• him received the enclosed' from a friend who wished that I slyould communicate its contents to one of the moat aitaeuud weekly publications, you will therefore, I trust, have no abjection to Live. it a place in your paper.—Yours, &c. A CONSTANT READER. In this vast metropolis interestiug occurrences daily happen, which are last la the unbounded variety of ceaseless events. — This is the more to be regretted, not because it curtails the amusement of the public ; but because, in many cases, it enables villainous schemes to be carried on with perfect impunity.— It is an evil, however, for which it would be difficult to appoint any other remedy, than the reduction of the size of this city, the immense emporium of almost all the vices and virtues, follies and talents, wealth and mibery, which exist in the world. The tc cellence and activity of our pollee, unless its establishment should be as numerous as that of our regular army, however great and skilfully exerted, must be frequently baffled by the multiplicity of cases. The Press must therefore, when itis in its power, come to the assistance of the civil power, and by pointing out si , gular occurrences, direct its attention to circum stances, which, although when fully unfolded they may not lend to the detection of any grievous offence, are nevertheless too mysterious in themselves not tf) deserve inquiry. As I was p ssing some time :,irice t hrough one of the streets in the neighbourhood of BlackfriarF Bridge, I was attracted by the appearance of a young lady, seemingly in the act of throwing herself out of a twovair of stairs window. I hastened towards the Louse, riund which a crowd was speedily collecting, and perceived that it was entirely shut up, the shutters being made fast on all the windows, except that from which the young lady, almost suspended by a sheet, which she had that moment slightly tiatened to a pail hi the wall, seemed ready tor descend, or rather to fall. A general exclamation of terror burst from the crowd, and the was loudly exhorted by every voice not to expose her ald to. certain desu uction. But she seemed. resolved to carry ter rash plan into execution, when, before she had hazarded be- Tend the possible recovery of her balance, the nail began to give se ay, andshe was coinpelled with the as - .istanee of the window • frame, et:which she fortunately still kept hold, to re-enter the scone front which it was evidently her hi:critic:l to escape, even at the. CA of her life. She soon, however, re-appeared again, screaming most violently and exclaiming, " for God's sake gen tlemen come to my assistance. My father is coming up to mur der me. He has kept both my mother and myself confined Isere : my motherescaped this morning and is in the next house, and if you den% assist me, be will kill me fur having tried to fellow her:"—After a moment's pause, during which her ges tures expressed the wildc:4t fear, she exclaimed anew : " If you come gentlemen, I shall be killed : my father is at the door and is cow trying to burst it open." She bad scarcely finished when a great noise v. as licurd in the of the house, and a gentlemen took hold of her, as she spread her arms in supplication, and forcray dragged her away from the . window.— sOt violent knocking Was Instantly begun by the nearest persons in the crowd at the street door, which, in a short time was either forced open or unlocked, as the shifting of the crowd had re moved me to a position from whence I could not so plainly see t hat took place, by the gentle man who had taken her away from the window, and who angrily demanded why strangers should interfere in his affairs. Arm explanation was required ou the part of the crowd of the mysterious circumstances already elt-iclibed, which he refused to give ; but on some persons inbi..;ing that the young lady should be produced, and threaten ing to get a warrant to search the house, she was brought forth, Pre the gentleman allowed her to depart, saying, " that she was a I, eirl and mii ; ht gu to her mother:" after which he re- R quested the crowd to disperse, locked his door, and walked away ' without any interruption. The young lady, whose youthful and highly interesting countenance bespoke her under twenty, and her dress of a respectable rank in life, thanked her deliverers with her tears, and repaired to the house where she expected to find her mother. Shortly after the crowd dispersed, and all in quiries in the neighbourhood respecting thy cause of, or persons concerned in, this mysterious occurrence proved useless. I remain, Sir, your's, &c. AN OBSERVER. RELIEF OF THE PORTUGUESE. Thursday a respectable number of Portuguese resident* in London, and other Gentlemen, met at the City of London Ta t/ern, in order to adopt measures for affording relief to the Por tuguese who have suffered from the atrocities perpetrated by the French, during their invasion of aid retreat from Portug=al. The Portuguese Consul was called to the Chair; and a letter was then read, both in Portugtiese and English. from the Che valier De Souza Couttinho, regretting his being prevented from attending by indisposition, and stating, that in consequence of numerous applications from various quarters since the publica tion of the advertisement, calling the present meeting, which w.:s addressed principally to the Portuguese, he thought it would he more adviseable to have a General Meeting, in which the British people might take a prominent part, and have a better opportunity of displaying that generosity for which they had al ways been distinguished. He therefore recommended the meet• ing to be adjourned to a future day. when its objects would be taken up with every prospect of ample success. Mr. MACKERREL then proposed a resolution to the above effect, and also that Mr. Whitmore should be invited to take the management of the business, and to preside at the General Meeting which shoulJ be afterwards called. Mr. WARRE seconded this resolution, but objected to that part of it which confined the proposed relief to the inhabitants of Beira and }stremadura. It should be for the relief of the PQrtu guese generally, in whatever part of the country they had suffer ed. They had all acted with the greatest loyalty and patriotism and therefore no distinction should be made. This amendment was acceded to. Mr. FRANCO suggested, that as this was a meeting of the Por tuguese, and a respectable number was assembled, it would be proper to, make a beginning of the subscription, and that books should now be opened for that purpose. Let the matter be sur rendered to others who would make abetter hand of it, but in the mean time there could be no impropriety in the Gentlemen who were present coming forward. Mr. Alderman C. SMITH thought it would be much prefer able to wait till a general meeting, which might be convened at the Royal Exchange, This was not merely the cause of the Portuguese, it was the common cause of mankind, and all should be invited to contribute their aid. The Portuguese nation were not only fighting for their own independence, but in the cruse of England,and were entitled to all the assistance and relief which could he afforded their. He telt the matter in that light, and thought, that to begin the subscription at present, would only damp the spirit with which it would be afterwards taken up. This seemed to be the general opinion of the gentlemen pre sent, and accordingly the meeting separated, after agreeing to the Resolution proposed. There has been a single shock of an earthquake at Lisbon, which damaged some of the shipping in-the Tagus, but did no injury on shore. Madeline Albert, convicted of having murdered her father, mother, and two sisters (the particulars of which horrid act w. 14 given in a former number of the Register), was executed on the 20th of March, at Moulins, in France. Saturday morning the French prisoners, confined in the Castle of Edinburgh, made a hole through the wall, which is six feet thick, and by means of a rope, with a knot tied every fathom, 44 made their ticape.—The centinel, as soon as he discovered it, fired, and the last man going down, was s. - ) frightened that he let go his hold, and was terribly hurt in his fail—he fractured his skull and broke his arm; they have not yet been taken, but troops are dispatched in all directions. DECAYED HOUSES. --- At the Inrisition held last week before the Coroner fur Middlesex, on the bodies of four persons, a mother and three children, who were killed by th e falling of two houses on Monday sennight,. ironmonger-row, St. Luke's, the Coroner observed to the Jury, that the whole of the mai. rials which fell were a deodaud, the value of which they were to assess, not exceeding the true atauur.t. Verdict—Casual Death. Deedunsi 1001.