The National Register. — London, England, 1811-06-30 00:00:00

ATIONAL if • yard, where sheepshearing was exhibited in the best 'styles Ile view of prize rams, boars, and Merino rams, closed the morning inspection. The company assembled numerously at dinner; and the toasts of " Constitution and King," and" The • Prince Regent," being drank with great applause, Mr. Coke rose, and after an interesting detail of the progressive improve ment in the tillage and sheep stock of the county of NortOlk, said, he felt it his duty to state his further opinion on the effects of the cross of a part of his Southdown flock by Merino tops. He wished it could be more favourable than what he was about to state. From the further trial he made this (the fourth) year, he must candidly confess, he had reason to believe, from this experience, that however one cross might answer, a fur ther progress would not prove advantageous to the breeder.— Still, however, he should continue the cross this year, as he had promised, and which in all probability would enable him to form and declare a decisive opinion. Mr. Coke then gave— liteding in all its Branches, :old " Lord Somerville, the Prosperous Promoter of the Merino Breed;" for which his Lonish;p. in a few words, returned thanks. After the health of the Duke of Bedford, and Success to the Improvement of Agriculture in the county of Bedford, Mr. Whi bread's health was given, with a handsome eulogium on hi general energetic exertions for the public good. This called up Mr. Whitln.ead,arcd drew from him a neat and appropriate apt. ch ; after returning his hest acknowledgments for this mark of their respect, in the course of which he lamented that it sh tultl devolve on him to advocate the cause of the poor Mel in,' defrueeless flocles, and that a Noble Lord who had ve: fried s:) prosperous an harvest from them, should have heal d t:ieir cone!emnation witiefflt uttering one word in their defence. 111, however, as it might become him, he would offer a few words in their favour. lie could not but think his Honourable had passed too hasty a judgment upon this race of fmeigners i and that the Noble Lord who had most profited by their introduction, had silently abandoned them to their fate.— Was it certain that sufficient experiments had been fully tried, on which to found a clear and conclusive opini,•n of their in trinsic t: Brit ? Might not the ill-shaped and ill-conditioned state of their pr: geny be derived from an i'judiciouspersayer ancc in breeding from old decrepid sires ? Thinking it pro that it might be so, he would entreat a little further in their tllvour, on tha score of clemency, before the - weei doomed to banishment under so high an authority as that under which they were now threattned. A Gentleman pre sent (the Rev. Dr. Bate Dudley), whose judg: , tent in stock come; not be questioned, had that day select ed one of t. is cross out of tbei' pen, so superior in symme try andcouiditioir, that he request d it might be presented this evetriog, that its excelbecy might be demonstrated. He there fore hoped and trusted that some pause would be allowed before a final sentence of condemnation be parsed on this unfortunate though perhaps still meritorious race. Mr. Coke, in reply, ob served, that he bad only stated the result of his expjimeet, and his own opinion thereon. It mieht he that the Negrette sort, from which be bad bred, of the King's fl ,, ck, were not of the best, Or the reasons assigned by his Hon. Ft tend might occasion the detec.s he noticed ; at all events he should continue the _ ... . Eros.; an )tlier year, Nvizil the same care and atlentien, which, he tad nu doubt., would pr,ve decisive of their merits or demerits. In the evenim:.; the company were assembled at the sheep house, where tell lots of Southdown theaves, ten in each, were sold at from twenty-five to twenty-eight guineas a lot. The I Duke of Grafton, Lord Dtvidas, Lord Braybrooke, and the Hon. W. Fitzroy, were the principai purchaurs. Some Merino rams, Iludf bred ditto, and theaves, were also sold at reduced pi ices, evidently affected by the disadvantageous, hut very liberal re port mace by Mr. Coke after dinner, respecting the continua tion of his experiments on the crosses of that breed of sheep- Torsnity.—After breakfast the company viewed the carcase of the crops Merino wether, the sweepstakes on which, by I 2 subscribers, was won by 1)r. Bate Dudley. The slaughter house return was, carcase .s;t Pb.a (141 h. stone); tallow, Il lb ; offal, 101 b. ; skin, 61h. The sheep proved very handsome in all points. The eotrpany then rode and saw an o th er extensive field under turnip tillage. similar to that of the preceding day, on which four different drills were employed in sowing turnips with pulverized rape-cake. A ride through another branch of fine crops towards the sea succeeded, in the course of which the ingenious process of deal lug the new plants of turnips 'w ith a canvas sweeper, was exhibited. A view of the prize we ;hers and Southdown cups for letting, fills up the remaindt r of this ..:ssructive forepart of the day, until dinner. In the even ing, 'he companl assembled at the sheep-pens, at the sale of sotrhdown, and Ryeland crosses, ,and Southdown tbeaves : the former sold low, hut the latter ztmsiderably higher than the Mss oil Monday evening. Severit s l fine Southdown rants were then let s by L.t.tery : the higlistit prised (mac were. • drawn by Lord Diiiidr.s, Ir.t Owen Wyntib, and Mr. Bligk • -- ~~~: 'Ell.. PROVINCIALS. A very singular phenomenon occurred in a wood, on the estate of I'. Thornhill, Esq. at Calverley Lodge, in the storm of the Ist ult.—The wind, which was due south, came in so con centrated a form, that it did not extend more than 15 yards in width, and in its course swept down, or tore up by the roots, ten stately oaks, one of them containing 67 feet of wood, and which, in the opinion of Mi. Thornhill's woodman, was re moved three feet from its situation, though its weight, with the earth attached to its roots, could not be less than seven tons. SINGULAR SPORTING MATCH !!!—A correspondent sends us an account of the following curious occurrence, unexampled, we believe, in the annals of gambling, which took ' place at Deal last Saturday :—" Captain C. of the 71st Foot, received ten points at the winning and losing game of billiards, from Captain B. of the East Kent Militia, and agreed to play the short robber of three,for a wager of some consequence, mounted on. his Po ney ! Captain B. won the two first games, consequently the match—hut unfortunately laid doitble or quits on the next, when the Poney and hiswastcr cattle off victorious. In order to keep the animal quiet when Captain C. played his ball, he was held by the Marker, and /Iberia& supplied with Cakes from a neigh bouring confectioner." Foraces FONE.—By the population of this place, which has just been taken, it appears there are 1673 males, 9.024 f males, total 3897 persona, and 841 families ; 765 inhabited houses, and 19 uninhabited, total 784 houses. In 1801, the number were :is follows:—males, 1714; females 1891; total, 3605 ; 762 inha bited, and 20 uninhabited houses, total, 782, being an increase of 92 persons, and only two houses since that period. A few evenings ago, John Hall, a labouring man, went at low water among the rocks, :It Hume Head, near CawsatM, for the purpose of catching crabs, when, meeting with one ill the interstices of the rocks, of a large size, he imprudently put in his hand, for the purpose of pulling it out ; the animal, how ever, caught his hand between its claws or forceps, and, strange as it may appear, kept its hold so firmly, That every effort on the part of the poor fellow to extricate himself proved ineffec tual ; and no one being at hand to assist him, the tide came in, and he was next morning found drowned: It appeared by an inquisition, taken last week at Lincoln, 1)..1 fore the Coroner for that county,, that Simon Taylor, a labouring man of Hanthrope, had been discovered by some ne4.llbours with his throat cut in a dreadful manner, lying on the flour. The wife of this poor mar, about a fortnight before this catastrophe, aied the chi'd by her side, and preciptated herself and child into a well near her house, and bosh were drowned. The Aossips at Maidstone have been thrown into great con. sternation, by a story circulating among tht m respecting the r. cent birth of a child, who, the moment It was born, as they cx;iidently report, uttered these words :—" There will he a prodigious crop of evty thing this year, but fuw people will live to enjoy it ; ' and died immel:Ltt :y Con‘ndt ring the nature of the prophecy, it seems to have bee:: a very Wi,e chiki to retire at once, without exposing itself to any further incon vcnicnce. A gang of thieves attacked the cottage of Mr. GA K about two miles on the road from Heston to Hayes, on Totsday night last, and after obtaining money and Vlate to the aniount of 901. they broke open the cellar door, and regaled themselves with wine and brandy for about an hour, and decaniped. "I he boost. stands detached, and only Mr. GAR it ETT, and a man and nn:id-scrvant, were at h me. The thieves werr h.vc in nuinbur, and Mr. GARRETT had, fortunately, taken 3001. to Lon:kit Monday afteffnoon. 7'UESD .IY' S LONDON G AZE7'TE, A Dispatch of which the ITowing is a Copy, was this morning received at Lord Liverpool's sst.ti to his Lordship by Lieutenant-Gi iieral Lord VissAniiit date 4 Quinta de Granicha, 6th Jute, 1811. M Y 1.0 R D— vVe haTe continued the operations of the siege of Bad;tjoz wi:h the utmost activity, since l addressed your 1, 0 11., ship 4 ,n the Co:h a:(1 our lire commenced on tl:e morn ing of the ‘2d instant I: . ont four batteries on the right of the Gua diana, directed against the outwork of St. Christoval, and on the enemy's batteries in the castle constructed to su;port that out work : and front two batt • .es on the left of the Guadiana, di rected against the eastern face of the Castle. The fire from these batteries has contmued ever since . , and a breach has been made in the outworks of St. Chriqoval, which, however, is not yet practicable fcf assault ; and considerable pro gress has been made in effectingbreach on the eastern front of the Castle.