The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1825-12-27 00:00:00

Ira. lased et of ouch rhete PROVINCIAL 11.4 NA'S. BEDFORD BANKS. ,i t h extreme pleasure that we annottnce Messrs. o d Co. haring given notice that they will be pre oily et all their notes now in circulation, on the j im mery next, and it is truly gratifying to record in this town and the run on the Old Bank, e ntirely subsided. The firm of Barnard and Co. for many years in high estimation, and it is honourable to those gentlemen, and satisfactory to z b:i c , to find they conduct titeir banking business on I „ lei i i de, as to be enabled and fully prepared in the ;,/ ' f e w hours to discharge in the most prompt =n o., demand made upon them, not only fur their notes, As on interest, on which, if they thought proper, have claimed fourteen days notice. PETERBOROUGH BANKS. happ' to state that the affairs of Messrs. Simp tllttte of this city, will turn out as stated last A meeting of the creditors was called at the Angel iv i .j oes day, the 21st inst. Earl Fitawilliam in the It was stated that the face of the books showed a a t d copoi. due to the firm after every demand 0 ; ben was paid ; and, in consequenee, the cretlitots of u nanimously agreed to supersede or prevent a com o' bankrupt, and the affairs are confided to a com ae wen gentlemen, (Lord Milton has kindly under hs he owe) to arrange and manag e the same. ; es ho observed that the bank of Messrs. Yorke and Mno danger whatever. It appears that before the 0 was out they returned specie and notes to a very con •Ve amount to their London agents.—Cambridge ; ruled Preis. 'it'd. liar. We on of Pre ems ild of 1 por. to tho 1 oho or.ito !toted SUNDERLAND RANK. , rusuasee of the recommendation of the merchants, ei rwessed at the late meeting held at the Mansion- London, a declaration of the stability of the bank- Pe . , ,b oss e of Messrs. Bickhouse and Co. of Sunderland, ;b ite signed about 300 merchants and tradesmen of that 0 , who also engage to take their notes as usual. This otion, with the signatures, has been published. and ` h a d a mast salutary effect. It was proposed on Satur if morning last to issue a similar declaration in this v,is (+sews of the Durham bank, but it was deemed un 4.sary, the public confidence in its stability (which was er oath shaken) having been completely restored.— Am Adrerfirer. STOCK TON BANKS. Tie revolutions of the times have had an effect upon the . bank, the firm of Messrs. Hutchinson and Place. • lacnk was established in 1795, mud has hitherto with every shock against which it has had to contend. The is which have been derived from it by Stockton and eat districts, at Frio& when depression hovered over class of people, are well known, and have been always P . ;lilted • and there perhaps was no bank in which .fdence was more fully reposed. This confidence has diaplaved even in the present unfortunate crisis. The y::cipal difficulty which they.had to encounter existed in , vo pension of S:r Peter Pole and Company, which was rammed by heavy losses from persons to whom they iJ :dulcet' considerable sums, yet the faith of the e ntry remained unaltered. liowever, the subsequent due of Sikes and Co. and consequent misfortunes, have opened them to suspend payment. The numerous friends Obis firm have expressed the most marked re„n-ret at the semi y to which it has been driven, by the unhappy th ermos which have befallen it in so brief a ;pace. We have the greatest pleasure in stating, that the re ntable establishment of Messrs. William Skinner ant' v. of the Commercial Bank in Stockton, have stood firm :J gush—Durham Advertiser.. MACCLESFIELD BANKS. Neagh no alarm whatever lass prevailed in this town, Congleton, for the safety of our highly respectable ..:kh;g firms, yet in compliance with the custom of the aT, and to convey to distant parts the entire reliance uxd in their stability, declarations to that effect have .en tinted and published by the inhabitants of this tha ne% We cannot but congratulate the public on the uani. thy it:dcli has prevailed on this occasion, and the ad trAars which have resulted from well-placed confidence. Te must also add, that equal confidence pervades the sighbontlng towns.—.2lfaccksfield Herald. SWANSEA BANK. On Monday last, as so as the intelligence hreame burro that the bank of Messrs. Gibbins and Co., of Bir- eeful lU.m er of Yuma Were thcbana, had stopped payment, an immediate and severe ea commenced on the firm of Messrs. Gibbins and Eaton, c. this place (Swansea), and which continued, without &emission, throughout the whole of the day. The next Ening the bank suspended their payments. A eciniderable sensation was produced by this event, and consequence the run became immediate and severe upon the banking-houses of Messrs. Haynes, Day, Haynes, and Lawrence, and Messrs. Walters. The former firm, after ennui' the demands of their creditors for some time, found themselves campelled to suspend their payments. On the following day a most numerous and respectable nesting teak piece at the T3wn-hall, and a committee has ac been appointed to investigate the general state of Hews. Haynes and, Co.'s affairs', the utmost confidence vu expressed in regard to their stability, if the present mine of the times had not existed, and great hopes are etiertai .ed of their recovering the present shock. W e Lave stopped the press, in consequence of the an utincement of a meeting for the purpose of expressing the %Hence of the town in the stability of the banking- ' .taus of Messrs. Haynes and Co. The meeting has not :t..aken place, but we have the pleasure of stating, that Eve minutes guarantees were sub-eribed by a few gen .xmen to the amount of nearly twenty thousand pounds. The trade of the town have also taken up the business with eel: spirit, but as yet their subscription paper has not bun exhibited to us.• We have no doubt of the favours- lle nsult of such decisive and honourable measures. Since the above has been written, the trade list has been shown us, which amounts to nearly ffteen thousand pounds. BRECON BANK. W e are sorry to say that the bank of Bromage and Snead, of Brecon, suspended payment on Wednesday. The leading men and principal inhabitants of the town ml county of Brecon have spontaneously come forward with resolutions to testify their perfect confidence in the vitality of the bank of Messrs. Wilkins and Co.; indeed, the public think themselves fortunate that, in this time of panic and distrust, they have a banking establishment al so much opulence and high character.—Carmarthen ' tarsal. HEREFORD BANKS. Great consternation was excited i.e Hereford on Thurs ,l47 morning, by the sudden stoppage of the bank of Messrs. Garrett and Son. The notes of this firm were very exten sit* circulated ; and as the failure was wholly unex- Petted, the holders are numerous, though chiefly of small amounts. On Thursday evening, a numerous body of ,tradesmen and other inhabitants of the city and neighbour. hood, including many of the principal landed proprietors sf the county, with a view of allaying any fears which, 14 the present :tate of things, the failure of Messrs. Gar rett and Son might cecasion in the minds of the timid, as is the responsibility of the banking establishments of Masts. Matthews, Holloway, and Co. and of Messis. fladenham, Jay, and Co., signed a public declaration, by which they agreed to take in payment, as usual, the notes 'ithese highly respectable firms. This measure of precau tta has, we are happy to state, Lad the effect desired by Promoters.—Conbrion. BUCKINGHAMSHIRE BANKS. i 4 this part of the country, we are happy to add, dis :r- t has ceased ; and people who are alarmed begin to be elriscd or ashamed that they had ever been afraid. At 4 , :bury, there was no pressure on the bank after last k ; and at Buckingham, we learn, the accustomed con : !erce has returned to the establishments there.—Barks DORCHESTER BANK. The Dorchester bank resumed its paytneats on Sstunlay ' l st: the general opinion of the resmarces of the tlrm had, I.4 c't, been very slightly affected by the temporary sus ssion of its business, and the notes arc now received ‘*.thotit the slightest hesitation. The flank of Means. Jicsein g and Co. has not yet opened: all the other ma ll:ill/Dents in this county are looked on as perfectly secure. A ' 11 ° 01 J, Blandferil, Shaftsbury, &c. the inhabitants have tl:claratiens of their confidence in the stability of the several banks in the respective towns.—SherLurae Verculq. BKIGIITON BANKS. There has brcn a meeting of the creditors of Loshmar and Co. who have discovered that upon the winding up and final balance of accounts connected with the concern, a surplus of many thOusands will remain with the firm.--- Sussex Advertiser: DEAL BANK. The bank of Messrs. May, Wyborn. White, and Mercer, gave public notice on Thursday morning, that " they were under the painful necessity of suspending their payments Mull further arrangements could be enteral into." This in the first instance occasioned some degree of anxiety, but from the.well-known respectability of the firm, it is con fidently believed the embarrassment must be but of a temporary nature; the confiflence of the public remains unafrected, and there is not the smallest - doubt the incon venience will speedily be remedied by the bank resuming its business.—Cinque Ports Herald. DUTCH POSSESSIONS IN THE EAST. Some of the morning papers yesterday published With the utmost gravity, es authentic intelligence, some wild reports brought by an. American vessel from Batavia, re presenting that colony as about to pass away iminedialely from the Dutch authorities, in consequence of a formidable insurrection of the natives, who, it was stated, bad killed a number of Chinese, burned we know not how many villages, together with all the rice and coffee plantations. Advice, were yesterday received from Batavia to the 4th of September, and they fully expose the gross exaggera tions of these reports. It is true that the insurrections against the Dutch authorities have assumed a very serious appearance; martial law had been proclaimed, and all Eu ropeans capable of bearing arms, from sixteen to forty-five, were ordered to perform military duty in protecting the towns and villages. The communication between the capital and Sarharang, by land, had been cut off by the in surgents, but very recent intelligence had been sent by sea. General De Kock, who was at Sainavang, st;.tes that every thing was tranquil in the town; the native Princes were iu force at about twenty miles distance. Ile had offered rewards for the heads of the principal conspirators, butt e appears in some fear for his own person, as the Princes had circulated notices that a great reward would be given to the person who should bring in the head of the Dutch Com ma.alant. No action bad taken place. All business at Batavia was completely suspended. The following is the most recent intelligence in the papers from Holland, but not of so recent a date as that which we have given from private letters received in this country:— _ DAARLEU, DEC. 23. From a Batavia Newspaper of the 6th of August, we find that. Lieutenant-Governor de Kock was received i.. the most friendly manner on the 30th July, by the Sultan of Soucacarta, and that his Highness immediately gave the necessary orders for troops to march and to join the Dutch troops in putting an end to the trou. bin in the territory of Djoelocarta ; that in conszeluence of these or ders eight divisions had already marched to vanops points of the territory of Djocjocarta, and that the best hopes were entertained of the result of these measures. The latest aecounts from his Excel. lency were of the lit of August. when he had united in his person the chief authority in the residences of Gonracasta and Djocjocarta, and isLant a proclamation from the palace of the first of thou places, ordering the rebels to return t s their duty, promising par. don to thole who shall repent, and severe punishment to these who persevered in their rebellion. By a Paper of the 10 t h, it appears that by accounts from Sours. carts of the 7th, things were in the same state. Colonel Cochin was again advancing with 400 men towards Djocjocarta ; the rebel. pious Princes were at the distance of seven pal front the place, and a band of robbers was dispersed on the Ist with great loss in the neighbourhood of it. The garrison of Magelang was increased to 350 men, and the vicinity of that place sufficiently secured, but the district of 31Inock was still infested by all kinds of vagabonds from the territory of the Princes. Semarang continued to receive rein forcements, and it was thought at Batavia that General Van Gem, with part of his troops from Celebes, might be daily ex pect 7d. FONT HILL ABBEY. We cannot but regret having to announce the demoli tion in great part of this most magnificent fabric, which has been so universally and deservedly admired. On Wednesday afternoon, about half-past three o'clock, the tower, which rose to the height of RIO feet from the centre of the building, fell with a most tremendous crash, break ing through a great porti on o f th e roo f o f t h e Abbey, and instantaneously presenting an immense mass of ruins. Most fortunately no lives were lost. The tower, it ap pears, was of too slight a construction, and from certain indications, its fall had been expected for se-eral days previous to its actual occurrence. It declined in its descent a little to the south-west, and fell into the fountsin court, destroying the hall, the whole of tl.e octagon, and great part of the galleries, north and south, together with the first crimson room, leaving the grand entrance standing, with the organ in it, and the statue of the lee Alderman Beckford. Mr. Farquhar was in the large cast wing of the building at the time of the disaster, and it is said that he was not much alarmed, as he had expected it. Seven servants were also at the time engaged, by his orders, in taking out the painted windows of St. Michael's gallery, and they all escaped unhurt ; one servant boy, however, was considerably injured. A great quantity of plate is still buried in the tnass of ruins.— Salisbury Journal. On AVednestlay afternoon the inhabitants of Fonthill Abbey were alarmed by a most tremendous crash, which seemed like nothing more nor less than the sudden crushing into ruins of th, whole .building. Their terror was how ever soon abated by finding that the lofty tower had fallen, and burst through that part of the building which nearly adjoined it, without occasioning any personal injury what ever. It appears that the proprietor, Mr. Farquhar, had strong apprehensions of this lamentable occurrence, and had removed most of the costly embellishments to secure them from the impending danger. The cause of this event is not attributable to any fault of the architect, but to the instability of the materials. It not being at first designed to be raised to any thing near its height, the architect had, of course, fixed the foundation proportionately; and vvlie:• it was proposed to raise it to its remarkable elevation, the building was too far advanced to allow of any adoption to render the foundation sufficiently strong to support it; and, in order to meet the wishes of the then proprietor, IVilliam liecl•ford, Esq. in raising it to its noble and com manding height, and thereby add so greatly to the magni ficence of the whole, the architect was obliged to use wood in its erection. 'But, alas! this was not of that quality to render so beautiful a structure a lasting monument of the taste of its designer, and, as a display of architectural excellence, an honour to the country. —B ath Journal. SEN7'ENCE ON THE C.-IPT4IN OF TILE• COMET. We gave vesterday the turd of Captain Winne. and Peter 111`11ride. now pult:ish the verdict and sentence, Verdict—The Jut; unanimously found Captain M'lnncs guilty of culpable homicide. The pilot was acquitted. When the Lord Advocate moved the sentence of the Court, Mr. Cockburn said he intended to avail himself of his privilege of ap pealing to another Court against the present verdict. Upon what grounds the Jury had convicted !Winne& of a most gross crime, and in the same breath recommended him to the leniency of the Court, he really could not see. "So help me God," said Mr. Cockburn, " I do not in my heart know of what specific crime the panel has been guilty." The Jury had returned a verdict of guilty of culpable homicide. Was he found guilty of not having a tight, when it had been proved that it was net ulna! to hare lights in that part of the Clyde ? Or was It for being twelve minutes in the cabin, when it would have been better to have been on deck ? Or was it because a man at the bow committed an error, which led the pilot wrong ? Or was it that the persons on deck had not kept • sufficient look out ? In his own mind he could not settle whether M`lnnes had ben convicted of one or of all of these acts; but he really thought If crime it was, it must be the very veiriumem of possible guilt; and therefore he thought the degree of punishment could not be too nominal. The Lord Advocate said that he considered a most unwarrant able attack had been made by Mr. Cockburn upon the Jury, who had only discharged a painful but necessary and arduous duty—a duty they were bound to perform. The Judge had also been ad. ilre4:d in a tone very unusual, but he trusted that the Court would exercise its discretion, and pass such a sentence as the circum stances of the case required. The Judge Admiral, in reference to what had fallen from the Counsel for the panels, had only to observe, that to far from not wishing the case to be brought under review in a superior Court, nothing would be more gratifying to his feelings. But that could only be done by suspension; it was therefore essential that sen. retire should be pronounced, anti the whole proceedings brought to a conclusion. Ihe Yearned Judge then proceeded to pass sentence upon 111•Innes. ordaining him to be imprisoned in the gaol of Greenock for three calendar months. lie trusted that the cause and result of that ::ay's conviction would be a warning to all ma. tem and owners of steamboats, to induce them to take every step in their power to rant the occurrence similar mislottunes. THE BRITISH PRESS. LITER.4Itr-GLE4NINGS. No. LXXI. MR. COLERIDGE'S FIRST OUTSET AS AN AUTUOP. A learned and exemplary old clergyman, who many years ago went to his reward, followed by the regrets and bles sings of his flock, published at his own expense two vo lumes octavo, entitled, a New Theory of Redemr lion.— The work was most severely handled in the Monthly or Critical Review, I forget which, and this unprovoked hos tility became the good old man's favourite topic of conver sation among his friends. Well ! (he used to exclaim) in the second edition, 1 shall have an opportunity of exposing both the ignorance and the malignity of the anonymous critic. Two or three years however passed by without any tidings from the bookseller' who had undertaken the print ing and publication of the work, and who was perfectly at his ease, asthe author was known to be a man of large pro perty. At length the accounts were written for; and in the course of a few weeks they were presented by the rider for the house, in person. My old friend put on his spec tacles, and holding the scroll with no very firm hand, began—Paper, so much : 0 modetate enough —not at all beyond my expectation ! Printing, so much: well, mode rate enough ! Stitching, covers, advertisements, carriage, &c so much.—Still nothing amiss. Se ll eridg e (for ortho graphy is no necessary part of a bookseller's literary ac quirements), 31. 3s. bless me! only three guineas for the what d'ie call it? the selleridge g No more, Sir! replied the rider. Nay, but that is too moderate! rejoined my old friend. Only three guineas for selling a 'thousand copies of a work in two volumes? 0 Sir! (cries the young tra veller) you have mistaken the word. There have been none of them sold ; they have been sent back from Lond on long ago; and this 31. 3s. is for the cellarage, or ware house-room in our book cellar. The work was in conse quence preferred from the ominous cellar of the publishers, to the author's garret; and on presenting a copy to an ac quaintance, the old gentleman used to tell the aneciote with great humour, and still grattergood-nature. With equal lack cf worldb: knowledge, I was far more than equal sufferer for it, at the very outset of my author ship. Toward the close of the first year from the time that, in an inausp'cious hour I left the friendly cloisters, and the happy glove of quiet, ever-honoured Jcsus Col lege, Cambridge, I was persuaded by sundry philanthro pists and. anti-polernists to set on foot a periodical work, entitled The Watchman, that (according to the general motto of the work) all might know the truth, and that the truth might make us free ! In order to exempt it front the stamp-tax, and likewise to contribute as little as pos sible to the supposed guilt of a war against freedom, it was to be published on every eighth day, thirty-two pages, large (Nuevo, closely printed, and price only fourpence. Accord ingly with a flaming prospectus, " Knowledge is Power," sze. to try the state of the political atmosphere, and so forth, !set off on a tour to the north, from Bristol to Sheffield, for the purpose of procuring customers, preaching by the way in most of the great towns, as an (tireless volunteer, in a blue coat and white waistcoat, that not a rag of the wo man of Babylon might be seen on me. For I was at that time, and long after, thought a Trinitarian, (i. e. ad nor m= Platonis) in philosophy, yet a zealous Unitarian •in religion ; snore accurately, I was a philanthropist, one of those who 60h:re our Lord to have been the real son of Joseph, and who lay the main stress on the resurrection rather than on the crucifixion. 0 ! never can I remember those days with either shame or regret. For I was most sincere, moat disinterested ! My opinions were indeed in many and most important points erroneous ; but my heart was single. Wealth, rank, life itself then seemed cheap to me, compared w: tit the interests of (what I believed to be) the truth and will of my Maker. I cannot even accuse myself of having been actuated by vanity ; for in 6e ex• pension of my enthusiasm, I did not think of myself at all. My campaign commenced at Birmingham; and my first attack was on a rigid Calvinist, a tallow-chandler by trade. He was a tall dingy man, in whom length was so predomi nant over breadth, that he might almost have been bor rowed fur a foundry poker. Il is face I have before me at this moment. The lank, black, twine-like hair, pingui nitescent, cut in a strait line along the black stubble of his thin gunpowder eye-brows, that looked like a scorched after math from a last week's shaving. Ilia coat collar behind in perfect unison, both of &a tr rmd lustre, with the coarse yet glib cordage, that I suppose he called his hair, and which with a bend inward at the nape of his Beek (the only approach to flexure in his whole figure) slunk in behind his waistcoat ; while the countenance lank, dark, very hard, and with strong perpendicular furrows, gars me a dim no tion of some one looking at me through a used gridiron, all soot, grease, and iron ! But he was one of the thorough bred, a true lover of liberty, and (I was informed) had proved to the satisfaction of many, that Mr. Pitt was one of the horns of the second beast in the Revelation, that spoke like a dragon. A person, to whom one of my letters of re commendation bad been addressed, was my introducer. It was a new event in my life, my first stroke in the new business I had undertaken of an author, yea, and of an author trading on his o*n account. My companion, after tome imperfect sentences and a multitude of hums and has, abandoned the cause to his client; and I commenced an harangue of half an hour to Phileleutheros, the tallow , chandler, varying my notes through the whole gamut of eloquence, from the ratiocinative to the declamatory, and in the latter from the pathetic to the indignant. I argued, I described, I promised, I prophecies! ; and beginning with the captivity of nations I ended with the near approach of the millennium, finishing the Whole with some of my own verses describing that glorious state out of the Religious Musings: Such delights. As float to earth, permitted visitants I When in some hour of solemn jubilee The massive gates of Paradise are thrown ride open : and forth come in fragments wild Sweet echos of unearthly melodies, And odours ana:ch'd from beds of Amaranth, And they that from the crystal river of life Spring up on freslien'd wings, ambrosial gales ! lidigiourn Musings, 1. 3::1 My taper man of lights listened with pr.'servant and praise-worthy patience, though (as I was afterwards told, on complaining 61 cert-in gales that were not altogether ambrosial) it was a melting (lay with him. And what, Sir ! (he said after a short pause) might the cost be? Only four-pence (0 ! how I felt the anti-climax, the abysmal bathos of that four-pence !) only . four-pence Sir, each number, to be published on every eighth day. That comes to a deal of money at the end of a year. And how Line!' did you say there was to be for the money ? Thirty-two pages, Sir, large octavo, closely printed. Thirty and two pages ? Bless me, I%fty except what I does in a family way on the Sabbath, that's more than I ever reads, Sir ! all the year round. I am as great a one as any man in Brummagem, Sir ! for liberty and truth, and all them sort of things, but as tothis (no offence, I hope, Sir,) I must beg to he excused. So ended my first canvass : from causes that I shall pre sently mention, I made but one other application in per son. This took place at Manchester, to a stately and opu lent wholesale dealer in cottons. He took my letter of introduction, and having perused it, measured me from head to foot, and again from foot to head, and then asked if I had any hill or invoice of the thing; I presented my prospectus to him ; he rapidly skimmed and hummed over the first side, and still more rapidly the second and con cluding page ; crushed it within his fingers and the palm of his hand ; then most deliberately and significantly ruli bed and smoothed one part against the other ; and lastly, putting it into his pocket, turned his back on me with an " overrun with these articles!" and so without another syllable retired into his counting-house. And I can truly say, to my unspeakable amusement. This, I have said, was my second and last attenipt. On renaming baffled from the tiro, in which I had vainly essayed to repeat the miracle of Orpheus with the Brum magem patriot, I dined with the tradesman who had intro duced me to him. After dinner he importuned me to smoke a pipe with him, and two or three other illuminati of the same rank. I objected, both because I was en gaged to spend the evening with a minister and his friends, anti because I had never smoked except once or twice in my life time, and then it was herb tobacco mixed with Oronoko. On the assurance, however, that the tobacco was equally mild, and seeing too that it was of a yellow colour —(not forgetting the lamentable difficulty I have always experienced in saying No! and in abstaining from Whit the people about me were doing) I took half a pipe, fillibg the lower half of the bowl with salt. I was soon, however, compelled to resign it, in consequence of giddiness and distressful feeline• in my eyes, which as I had drank but a single glass of ale, must, I knew, have been the effi. et of the tobacco. Soon after, deeming myself recovered, I sallied forth to my engagement, but the walk and the fr.•sli air bionght on all symptoms again, and I had scarcely en ' t?red the minister's drawing-room, and op e ned a small pocket of teeters, whi c h h e hail received from Bristol for me, ere I stalk back on the sofa in a sort of swoon rather than sleep. Fortunately I had found just time enough to inform him of the confused state of my feelings, and of the occasion. Fur here and thus I lay., my face like a wall that is white washing, dcnthy pale and with the cold drops of prspfratiOn running down it from my forehead, while one after another there dropt in the different gentle men, who had been invited to meet and spend the even ing with me, frotn the number of from fifteen to twenty. As the poison of tobacco acts but for w short time, I at length awoke from insensibility, and looked round oh the party, my eyes dazzled by the candles which had been lighted in the interim. By way of relieving my embar rassment, one of the gentlemen began the conversation, with " Have you seen a paper to day, Ale. Coleridge?" " Sir! (I replied, rubbing my eyes) " I am far from convinced that a Christian is permitted to read either newspapers or any other works of merely political and tempotary interest." This remark so ludicrously inapliosite ter, or rather, incon gruous with, the purpose for which I was known to have visited Birmingham, and to assist me in which they were all then tact, proilucill an involuntary and general burst of laughter ; and seldom Indeed have I passed so many delightful hours, as I enjoyed in that room from the moment of that laugh to an early hour the next morning. Never, perhaps, in so mixed and numerous a party have I since heard conversation sustained with such animation, enriched with such valley of information, and en livened with such a flow of anecdote. Both then and afterwards they enjoined in dissuading me from proceeding with my scheme; assured me in the moat friendly and yet most flattering expressions, that the employment was neither fit for me, nor I fit for the empiny went. Yet if I had detemtirted on persevering in it. they promised to exert themselves to the utmost to procure subscribers, and in sisted that I should make no more applications in person, but carry on the cal vass by proxy. The same hospitable reception, the same dissuasion, and (that failing) the same kind exertions in my be half, I met with at Manchester, Derby, Nottingham, Sheffield, in deed, at every place in which I took up my sojourn. I often re call with affectionate pleasure the many respectable men who inte rested themselves for me, a perfect stranger to them, not a few of whom I can stilt name among my friends. They will bear witness for me, how opposite even then my ;principles were to those ofjaco binism or even of democracy, and can attest the strict accuracy of the statement which I have left on record in the 10th and Ilth numbers of The Friend. From this rememhemble tour I returned with nearly a thousand names It the subscription list of The ll'atchman; yet more than half convinced, that prudence dictated the abandonment of the scheme. But forithis very iC43011 I persevered in it; for I was at thitt period am) , life so completely hag-ridden by the tear of being influenced by selfish motives, that to know a mode of conduct to be the dictate of prudence was a sort of presumptive proof to my feeling., teat the contrary was the dictate of duty. Accordingly, I commenced the work, which was announced in London by long bills in letters larger than had ever been seen before, r.-+d which (1 have been informed, for I did not see them myself) eclipsed the glories even of the lottery mat. But, alt. ! the publication of the very first Number was delayed beyond the day announced for its appearance. In the second Number an essay Against fast days, with a most censurable application of a t.xt from Isaiah for its motto, lost me near live hundred of my subscribers at one blow. In the two following Nunlike' I made enemies of all my Jacobin and Democratic Patrons ; for disgusted by their infidelity, and their adoption of French morals with French philosophy ; and per haps thinking, that charity ought to began nearest home; instead of abusing the government and the Arisuocats chiefly or entirely, as had been expected of me, I levelled my attacks at " modern patriotism," and even ventured to declare my belief that whatever the motives of ministers might have been for the sedition (^r as it was then the fashion to call them, the gagging) bills, yet the bills themselves Would produce an effect to be desired by all the true friends of freedom, as far as they should contribute to deter men from openly declaiming on subjects, the principles of which they had never bottomed, anti from " pleading to the poor and ignorant, instead of pleading for them." At the smite time I avowed my conviction, that national education and a concurring spread of the Gospel were the indispensable con tlition of any true political amelioration. Thus by the time the seventh number was published; I had the mortification (hut why should I say this, when in truth I cared too little for any thing that concerned my worldly interests to be at all mortified about it ?) of seeing the preceding numbers exposed in sundry old iron shops fur a penny apiece. At the ninth number 1 dropt the work. But from the London publisher I could not obtain a shilling ; lie was a --, and set the at defiance. From oiler rlsees 1 procured but little. nnd atter such delays as rendered that little worth nothing ; and I I should have bean inevitably thrown into gaol by my Bristol primer, who refused even to wait fora month, for a min between eighty and ninety pounds. if the money had not, been paid for me by a man by no means affluent, a dear friend who attached himself to me from my first arrival at Bristol, who has continued my friend with a fide lity unconque:ed by time or even by my own apparent neglect : a friend fram whom I never received an advice that was not wise, or a remonstrance that was not gentle and affectionate. Conscientiously an opponent of the first revolutionary war, yet with my eyes thoroughly opened to the true character and impo tence of the favourers of revolutionary principles in England. prin ciples which I held in abhorrence (for it was pact of. my political creed, that whoever ceased to act as an individual by making him self's member of any society not sanctioned by his government,' forfeited the rights of a citizen)—a vehement anti-ministerialist, but after the invasion of Switzerland a more vehement anti.gallican, aril still more intensely anti-jacabin, I retired to a cottageat Stowcy, end provided for my scanty maintenance by writing verses for a London Adorning Paper. I saw plainly, that literature was not a profession by which I could expect to live; for I could not din pin from myself, that whatever my talents might or might not be in other respects, yet they were not the sort that could enable me to become a popular writer; and that whatever my opinions might be in themselves, they were almost equidiitant from all the three•pro minent parties, the Pittites, the Foxites, and the Democrats. Of the unsaleable nature of my writings 1 had an amusing memento one morning from nor own servant girl. For happening to rise at an earlier hour than usual, I observed her putting an extrava gant quantity of paper into the grate in order to light the fire, and mildly checked her for her wastefulness: la, Sir (replied poor Nanny) why, it is only " Watchmen." I now devoted myself to poetry and to the study of ethics and psychology; and sn profound was my admiration at this time of I larder's Essay on Man, that I gave his name to my firstborn. In addition to the gentleman, my neighbour, whose garden joined my little orchard, and the cultivation of whose friendship had been my sole motive in choosing Stowey fur try residence, I was so fortunate as to acquire, shortly after my settlement there, an inns loable blessing in the society and neighbourhood of one, to whom I could look up with equal reverence, whether I regardei hint as a poet, a philosopher, or a man. l!ia convereation extended to al most all subjects ' except physics and politics ; with the l a tter he never troubled himself. Yet neither my retirement nor my utter abstraction from all the disputes or the day could se cure me in those jealous times from suspicion and obloquy, which did not stop at me, but extended to my excellent friend, whose perfect innocence was even adduced as a proof of his guilt. One of the many busy sycophants of that day (I here use the word sycophant in its original sense, as a writcli who flatters the prevailing party by informing against his neigh hours, under pretence that they are exporters of prohibited figs or fancies! for the moral application of the term, it matters not which)—one of these sycophantic law-mongrels, discoursing on the politics of the neighbourhood, uttered the following deep re mark : "As to Coleridge, there to not so much harm in him, for he is a whirlbrein that talks whatever comes u pp ermost ; b ut lvti he is the dark traitor. You never hear him say a syl lable on the subject.—Biegeopflia Literaria; or, Bionraphical Sketches of ray Literary 4ife and Opinions, by S. T. Coreridge. CIIRISTMASIBOXES TO THE CLERKS OF THE FAILIAG BANKS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS. SlR—While your readers are making grand preparations for celebrating with due honour this season of hospitality, allow me to bring to their notice a deserving class of men who can take no share in the general festivity : I mean the clerks of those bankers who have recently stopped payment. Nothing could be more unfortunate for them, as those failures have occurred just before the period when they receive their Christmas lames, on which they were accus tomed to depend as part of their salary. lo be daprired of View gratuities at a time when they ar.d their families most need pecuniary assistance, is peculiarly distressing. trust, however, that those depositors who have lost but little money by their hankers will make at least the accus tomed present to the clerks, and that even those who have in this respect been unfortunate will not refuse to give a helping hand to those who nine more unfortunate than themselves. The inflation of this hint in some cormr of your journal may be the means of enabling some worthy men and their families to pass the Quinones holy days in a manner somewhat less mournful than they otherwise would. A MERCHANT, ONCE A CLERK. Tonfe C^ffee-licuse, Dn. 26. MURDER AT CALCUTTA. A dreadful event happened yesterday in Fort William. alma four o'clock. p.tn. A private of the 87th, of ti e name of TiMothy Heavy, was observed to spunge his mus ket, which tieing with soldiers a common thing in dam•, weather, elicitAl vecuiiar notice. Ile then loaded 16. d piece, and set it down for a little near the wall of the bar rnek-room, and immediately afterwards took it tip again. And prereeded to 'the berth of Szrgeaht Henry Marshall. A report shortly afterwards was beard, and one or twomett running up to the quarter Whence ft prbteeded, found Ser geant Marshall lifeless and weltering in his blood. Heavy • 'stood near him, we believe, with the discharged musket its his hand. and confessed to having perpetrated the horrible decd. He was, we understand, sober at the time, nor is there any reason to suppose that he Was deranged when be committed the fatal act.. It stems that some words had passed 'two or three days before between the deceased ■ndl the prisoner, and that the latter appeared incchsed at being ordered to perform some routine coy tnr other by Sergeant Marshall. It is said that the prisoner, at or about the time, used some threatening language. We true for his own sake that this may be proved on his trial not to herd been the case. At the time that Heavy deprived his fellow-soldier of life the latter was sitting at the table in the act of writing. Whether the prisoner warned the poor fellow or not we cannot say, but we believe he did not. We conclude this from what we lotiv heard already, and from an inspection of the body. The muzzle of the musket otild not have been fat from the side of the deceased when the shot was fired. The sergeant, as we have said, war in the net of writing. The ball entered his right arm immediately be.. low the elbow, passed through, entered the right side of ; the cavity, of the chest about the fourth rib, tore up the heart, and passed out of the chest ou the left side about the third rib. The blood gushed out as from a kettle, and the man was dead instantaneously, never arm moving a muscle, or uttering a grcan. Sergeant Marshall was Pay Sergeant of his company, and much respected in the regiment. He was a fine-built handsome man, in the prime of life, when thus untimely and fearfully cut off by the hand of violence. It is not yet known whether the prisoner is to be tried by the Su preme Court, or a General Court Martial.—lndia Gazcilei Aug. 4. MURDER AT DUNDEE. We have this week to record the murder of a wife - by her bus. band. The husband's name is David Balfour, a mariner, lately hi the service of the Dundee and Perth Shipping Company. It cep.. pears that they had been married abodt the early age of eixreen, and lied lived together most happily for a number of years. Some time afterwards he was impressed, and nerved on board a man of war for eleven years. Being at last discharged from the navy, he returned to tits 'tome, and lived with his wife for some time; but her chastity had by this time become liable to suspicion, and peace and happiness had fled the house. Ba'cone, who appears to have been sincerely attached to his wife, bore with her failings for a long time in hope of amendment; but she herself became tired of the connexion, and wished to get rid of him. On his return from Greenock, on Monday last, site refused to allow him to sleep with her, and desired him to leave the house, otherwise she would semi for the t'alice. The poor man was compelled to resort to an eeting:. house for his victuals. Overwhelmed with grief anti deepair, he began to meditate acts of violence. Yesterday morning, about eight o'clock, the father of his wife, In whose house site lived, and a saddler, who lodged in the same house, heard, when in the next apartments, a loud shriek front the kite:ben ; and, on rushing to the spot, they found the unhappy woman on her knees, with a large wound, indicted by her husband, in her left breast, from which a torrent of blood was flowing. She expired in about three minute, afterwards. The instrument of death was a butcher's knife, which Balfour had mently borrowed, alleging that he wanted to kill a lamb wilt it. On committing the fatal act, he proceeded directly to the gaol, stated at the grating of the door that he had mdrdered a woman, and wished to be put In confinement. The gaoler being absent at the time, he waited about an hour at the door till be made his appearance. Not having any warrant for his committal, the gaoler conducted hint to the police office. Ile was immediately examined before Bailie Gray and having aga!n confessed his crime, be was committed to prison to await his punislitnent. He is about thirty-eight years of age, of a good appearance, and, so fares we have been able to learn, has hitherto borne a very good character. He appears to be deeply affected by his unhappy situation, but at the same anus manifest', a degree of ['mutest and composure that is trnly remarkable. His mind seems quite made up to meet the fate which ho evidently contemplates as inevitable.—bendea ("eerier. FIRE IN EDI/4131:ml H.—About three o'clock on Friday morning, a fire broke out in the third flat of a house in the West Bo How it was occasioned has not been eery well ascertained; but it began in a Louse of bad repute. occupied by Mrs. Anderson. The flames ragcd with great fury for some time; but by the exertions of the firemen, who were abundantly and troll served with water, the fire was got under in about three hours, after destroying th., fiat in which it began, and the one above, with an adjoin= ing house of one story at the foot-of Donaldson's Clem. But although the fire did not extend to the lower part of the house, it appears to be mostl7 destroyed by water; and a good deal of loss was sustained by the inhabitants of the adjoining tenements in removing their furniture. The one immediately on the left of that destroyed is a Wooden build ing; which, but for the timely assistance of the engine', must bare soon fallen an easy prey to the flames. The upper flat of the licuse destroyed, and the small horse be ' hind, formed the residence of Provost Stewart, celebrated in the evenfs of the year 17.1.5. It had been for many years uninhabited ; but contained some property belong ing to the late Mr. Donaldson, width, we hear, was in sured. The fire engines, on this occasion, were served with water by leather pipes communicating from the fire plugs to their cisterns; and they were much tnore effi ciently supplied than they had ever been before with buckets, and without that co n f us i on an d interruption to frequently caused by the former plan. Indeed the bene fits of systematic management were never more conapicuous than on this occasion. Scarcely half an hour had clapacit from the time of the first alarm, when three engines wire in full play upon the burning tenement; and, notwith standing the confined space in which they were obliged t► operate, by the judicious arrangements of Mr. Braidwooti.. they rot only kept the flames from spreading to the ad-. joining buildings, but bad the complete mastery over theta in two or three hours. No accident of any kind occurred. On Tuesday a female was committed to Downpatrick . goal, on suspicion of having been concerned in the murder of Miss Anne Stott, of Hillsborough. This wornanlhad been a confidential servant of Miss Stott, whose regard for her was so strong, that she had inserted a clause in her will, leaving her H./. per annual during life, with a cow. and a large quantity of houschcld furniture . Some firm.- after perfecting the document, she, for acme cause with which we are unacquainted, parted with ber servant, and, it is 'said, expressed an intention of revoking the bequest. to which we have alluded. Miss Stott also received into her house a very worthy, well-behaved young woman, the daughter of a respectable farmer named Ferguson, lather in the character of a companion than of a servant, 4 and this modest and unassuming girl was assassinated iit the very bloom of life, and left weltering in her gore be- ' side her murdered friend and protector. —Belfast Paper. Some scoundrel has several evetings lately infested th e lonely parts of the town and its environs equipped in a skeleton dress, with a false n ec k an d head, so construetc.l as to make him appear of a prodigious height. On the. approach of a female, or any person whom he consltlei, unable to cope with him, he throws back. his cloak, ne,. appears as described. Several females this week have bo.:. thrown into the greatest agitation by the dastardly Southampton frerall. . DREATFTT. ACCIDIINT.—On Friday afternoon, between the hours of 3 and 4 o'clock, as Col.l:vans was returniag to town in 3 barouche, accompanied by a friend, from, iVoolatch, on tats reaching Charlton, cne of the Greenwich and NVoolwieh stage coaches attempted to pass them, where the read was being repaired ; the consequence was that the off-wheel or the stage canoe in violent contact with the body of the harouche. the horses of which took fright nt the .hoeh, andt.gamped off w i t hfsriosw speed ; the Colonel kNit the reins for some time , but at leasphi the v ehicle ran foul ci a Atrial pat on the read aide with aucia prodigious force that it was overturned, and tae Colonel and his friend were•Precipiated to the ground. Till farmer gentlemea pitched on his head, which rendered him totally sensciese. Vaughan, his companion, however, was more fortunate; he eserea with the exception of a few bruiecs; he was therefore et.stlled to render the Colonel every assistance; at diet it *3l imagined that life was destroyed, but on his being taken in to Carlton-homie, the residence of Sir Thomas Wilson, and a surgeon. sent for, he per. tinily :recovered. His head has merited a severe fracture, anti his right shoulder *au dislocated. He now remains at the abort" Gentleman's, where every attention was paid him. The Inroad* w.:3 steppe!' coon after ape "'Want occurred. .j I. -