The National Register. — London, England, 1811-09-15 00:00:00

THE Then give me, give me, While I Weep, ss .1.1k4'4 • e sanguine hope that brightens woe, 4 -4 4 .4.!'" And teaches even our tears to keep, The tinge of rapture while they flow. The child, who sees the dew of night . • Upon the spangled hedge at more., .Attempts to catch the drops of light, But wounds his finger with the thorn. Thus oft the brightest joys we seek Dissolve, when touch'sl, and tern to pain ; The flush they kindle leaves the cheek, The tears they waken long remain. But give me, give me, while I weep, The sanguine hope that brightens woe, And teaches even_our tears to keep, 'lle tinge of rapture while they flow. EXTRAORDINARY CASE. Our Readers will recollect a statement respecting a Soldier of the First Somerset Militia, who had lain in a very surprising state of insensibility from the Pith of April, in the present year, down to the 18th of July. Val:hiss means had been re sorn:d to for the purpose of a-certsining whether the illness was real, or only assumed, such as thrusting snuff up his nostrils, administering nitrous oxyd gas, electrical shocks, powerful me dicines, &c. etc. all of which prayed utterly unavailing in the attempt to arouse him from the unaccountable torpor in which he had lain so long ; nor, indeed, did any of these espedients produce in him the sft!!! test symptoms of animation. We. have now to add to this account a few facts, which, for their singularity, nee; chellerge competition with the most marvellous necurrence that ever reached the public notice. . A few days after our account appeared, Phineas Adams, the • subject of this curiens narrative, and whose age was no more than eighteen, on the 6th of June last, Was removed from the jaii in which he then was, to the pa:ish of Bickenhall, a small seven riles from Taunton. His parents residing at that place, bat being unable to receive him in their own habitation, Adams was lodged in the Poor-house—a small coltaage djoin ing the Church-yard. In this situation he continued to lay, without exhibiting the least evidence of an improving condition. • 'When any of his limbs were raised, they fell with the leaden weight of total inanimation ; his eyes were closed, and his coun tenance evinced the paleness of death, though divested of any of the concomitant symptoms of approaching dissolution. His re spiration continued free, and his pulse maintained its character of.a healthful tone. The sustenance he received was entirely that of eggs dilated with wine, and occasionally with t• which he sucked in through his teeth ; all attempts, forcible as 'some of them were, to compel. him to open his mouth having been re. peatedly tried in vain ; and various experiments were :elan] Made to excite sensation without effect, particularly that of thrusting pins under his linger nails. In this hopeless condition lie was vbitcd by Mr. Welch, sur geon of Taunton, who suggested the propriety of performing the operation of scalping the patient ; lvt,it a view to ascertain whether the fall, to which the illeess was attributed, mieht not . have produced a depression pt the brain. The proposal was communicated to the parents of Adams, who expressed tin it williegness that the experiment should be made. Accordingly, at the time appointed, the surgeon accompanied Adams's father, ths bed-side of his son, and there,• in the presence of several respectable persons, deseribed to both the younes man's parents the nature and precise course of operation about to be perform ed. Old Adams then shaved hiseson'S head. The.ineisions were made, the scalp drawn up, and the head examined, during all which time the young manifested no audlble symptom of pain, or sensibility of suffering whatever, until the application of an instrument, with which the head was scraped in a particular part, and then, and once only, he uttered a groan. No beneficial result appearing from thie experiment, and as his case seemed absolutely remediless, application was nude to his regiment for his discharge. On Tuesday the 20th, the discharge arrived, and was taken over to Bickenball by the serjeant. On the 1 w•sday tol!nwing, (the E7th) old Adams brought his son down stairs in his arms; and on the 28th he brought him down again, the son still re maining insensible. Next night (the 29th) he was seen sitting in the Poor-house, with a gun in his hand, conversing with his fattier; and en Friday the 30th-of August (our readers will pasticlpete with us in the complete astonishment eeched by the tact) he was at N.'s'. Palmer's, a farmer at Thurlly two miles from Bickenhail, cutting spars, carrying reed up a ladder, and assisting his father in thatching a rick I On the next day, the he was in the Barton of Mr. Cozens, of 1 - lickenl, with a eick fz his hand. k.lling mice ; and on Sund4y the IA inst. Mr. Coxi•as hirast.lt met him in a neighbouring cop -e•, gather- Liz nuts! joining to t h,. - poor-, surprise suddenness of his rec;tvery, area how he was . to te.ilet go so much suffering? To which he answered, that he had uo recolleceiOn of having experienced any.' She then asked him, if he did not recollect feeltag any pain when the Surgeon 'PTAs scraping his heal ? To which he replied, " that he per. feet!) , recollected that." The extraordinary rayidity of this young man i s recovery, sf ter obtaining his discharge from his regiment, having excited, in combination with the other circumstances which we formerit stated, an opinion that imposition had been practised, some of the neighbours reported that a press. gang was coming for him.. This, it is supposed, having reached his ears, he absconded, and not a syllable has been hard of him since. Old Adams was himself formerly in the military service, and effected his discharge by counterfeiting illness,; though not of that description which has been assumed by his son. The opi, nion is very general that he has assisted his son in his artifices, and that Mod has been secretly conveyed to him. Under this impression, however, it is necessary to state that the father was denied all access to him for several days while he was is jail. Whe the degree of suffering, to which this young man has submitted m various forms, and the term of misery to which he has devoted himself (a period of between four and five months) are considered, it is hardly possible not to pronounce the present ca:;tt as one which, for unsubdued resolution—crafti ness of plan, and perseverance of exertion, is beyond all parallel in the records of systematic villainy. The incessant vigilance necessary to Linde detection—the Spartan fortiutde in suppress in.; the evidences of pain—the youth of the delinquent—the skitful arrangements connected with this infamous exploit— when all these are tA , :n into consideration, we are inclined to subteribe to the pliil , Aol.hy of those who assert the omnipotence of mind over the baser n - atterials of our nature, and cease to wonder at the torturt4 Indian, who, in the ingeniously pro tracted agoilks of I derides the savage triumph of his env. tuies.—(Taiintete Colo LT.) PUGILISM. As we feel pretty well convinced many of our readers are not sufficiently milted in their notions to have availed themselves of an opportunity to witness the lortbarous.nmxity of persons ethi• biting themselves on a stage, for the purpose of blackening the eyes, breaking the noses, and picking the pockets of their bigai- , fied patrOns (pltgiliitically tortured into the piano phrase of " giving indruction in the Science id eelf-defence '') Ae esteem it a matter of duty to inform them, that three perilous, ackilqw-. ledgod adepts in all die arts ccimetted with pugilism (which is said to include amongst its embellishments the adroitness of Big Soantes), have been Fez - Arming tt the Royal Circus, in this town, during the last wcek to numbers of their now en-ligbt ene,l votarie , .. It will hardy be credited, that the admirers of' those Gewlemen are so far infituated (i. e. gul l ed), as to be y bottle of wine for access to their society—five shillings ' to lie hold the divrasting disproportion of the breast of one of thefts-,.. half a crown for a sct-to thumpitig-match) with Mr. Tom Belcher. who is allowed, by enenent judges to be a pretty hither { and to possess much science—tive shillings for a drop of claret (a blocHly nose) —a angle (seven shilling piece) for a Mayne= eye (a Mack cye)—half a gei:,ca for a knock-down blow, provided it is cleanse/ done, which comprehe7lds much, namely, to take the practitioner coMpletely oft his feet with one thump, ant send him spinning out of the ring—but should this even be accompa• nird by a broken jaw, dislocated•teeth, and a split lip, the pro je.:32r makes no extra charge, but it is cm:ornary to give Nolte thing additional for such a happy combitratik.n at circumstance'r the effect: of science, dc.rt::rity, Lind sfrength, in the proftssnr.-- A kw anuteurs (like stab:e-boys employed to exercise holies) have had the felleity of a ;cf-ta , ..l.vith Molyovux, for the purpose of promoting perspiration, and keeping him in wind, an essen tial part of training, preparatt , ry to the ruffianly cont. st between him and Crib. Others, not so highly . INvourrd, are obliged to content themselves with a lesson from Richman, an etc! hand on, the town; and the remaining amateurs, whose abitost feminine softness renders it hazardous to lift a piece of Irish iron-tithe counter to the shelf, prudently content themselves with tying their cravats in the Belcher kick (style), aping the slows my gait of Molyneux, contracting their bows into a pugilistic frown s and jostling the ladies on the pier, to show that the brave are:al ways gallant. Such are the particulars, and such the influence of our new visitors on the habits of their patrons and admirers. One circumstance should not be °mitt, d which is, that Mr. Molyneux lictrayel a white feather (cowardice) to one -- Bull, in a field near Newland, where the monarch of the- herd atonally attacked the wuuld-be Champion of England, who was NATIONAL ,lIECASt Eil . .5610 On the morning of Friday the Mh. young Adams winter; t, into the cottage of Martha tozens, who lives next door and ad- joming to th- poor-hou,e. She expressed great surprise at the suddenness of his reclvcry, I•tild a,lted him, how he wu able to