The Virginia gazette (Williamsburg, Va.), 1773-08-12 00:00:00

VIRGINIA
GAZETTE.
Open to ALL PARTIES,
but influenced by NONE.
REFLECTIONS on some GREAT EVENTS occasioned by causes quite trivial in their nature.
All human things, Of dearest value, hang on slender strings.
WALLER.
WHEN we make enquiries into past ages, and investigate the primordial causes of the greatest events which have happened in the world since men have been incorporated in society, what a multitude of philosophical reflections will present themselves, and carry surprize into the soul! As a serious observer, by ascending to the source of rivers, sees with astonishment, that though they extend, in a manner, from one pole to another, and water immense countries, they have for origin but a stream of water; so by diving into the principles of the most famous revolutions, we find that they have been almost always the effect of the most trivial causes. It seems that the power which presides over what passes in the world takes pleasure in disconcerting all the views of human wisdom and politics. Let us here with a rapid crayon sketch over some of the events which astonish us by the singularity of the circumstances which have given birth to them. The histories of different people abound with instances of the kind; and first taking a view of the different wars which have brought desolation on the earth, how many of them shall we find waged with rage and obstinacy, from the most frivolous motives.
I see in Rome citizens armed one against the other. Revenge and cruelty prompt them to the most horrid excesses. A price is set upon the heads of the most illustrious. In that dreadful proscription, the slave who has assassinated his master receives the two talents promised to his treachery. The son, with hands still reeking from his father's blood, dares to ask the reward of his parricide. Whence, then, this general overthrow, and this contempt of the most sacred laws? What could have caused that intestine war, and who could believe that so much slaughter proceeded from Sylla's having had represented on his ring Bocchus delivering up Jugurtha to him. Nothing more, it seems, was wanting to kindle up in Marius the flames of a jealousy and hatred, not to be extinguished but in his own blood, and in that of an infinite number of Roman citizens. Thus, in our towns, does a spark often cause the most dreadful fires.
Let us proceed to times less remote; we shall equally see discord, stimulated on the most frivolous accounts, stalk along with its torch from one extremity of the earth to the other. At Ptolemais, the quarrel of two men of the dregs of the people, two common porters, kindles a bloody war between the republics of Genoa and Venice. At the port of Bayonne a Norman sailor, wanting to smite with a poignard his enemy, an Englishman, misses his blow, and stabs himself. The French prosecute the revenge of their countryman; the English stand up in defence of theirs; animosity begets insult on each side. Our Edward the First, and their Philip le Bel, interest themselves in the quarrel of their subjects. Minds are highly irritated. Both nations arm; draw others into the quarrel; they fight; Europe is in flames; and all is the effect of a slip.
At Metz, in Lorraine, a basket of fruits is the occasion of a cruel war; and in Switzerland a cart loaded with some fleeces is attended with not less fatal consequences.
In the East Indies the Sovereign of Pegu marches forth at the head of a million of fighting men, two hundred thousand horses, five thousand elephants, and three thousand camels, and lays siege to Siam: What was the intention of this expedition, of all this warlike apparatus? Its object must undoubtedly have been some exceeding grand and important concern; at least, the conquest of all the countries bounded by the banks of the Ganges. Not a title of all this. The King of Pegu had heard of a white elephant in the possession of the King of Siam; he is covetous to have it, and for that purpose besieges Siam, takes the place, carries off with him the so much coveted elephant, and returns to his States, pleased, satisfied, and proud of his conquest, though it had cost him five or six hundred thousand men.
The outlines I here mark out would compose volumes, if I undertook to explore all the latent seeds of great events. But some further touches may help us to conclude.
Arnold has for competitor of the empire Guy, Duke of Spoleto, who is already master of the capital of the world. He passes into Italy, presents himself before Rome, and the inhabitants are determined not to yield to him. An affrighted hare scouts across Arnold's camp, and runs towards the city. His soldiers pursue the hare with loud cries; a panic fear seizes the besieged; they believe they see the enemy already on their ramparts; they abandon them; Arnold perceives it, he forthwith orders an assault to be made, takes Rome, and gets himself crowned there.
A Norman Baron fights a duel, kills his enemy, and flies from the pursuit of justice, accompanied by his brothers, and some relations, resolved to follow his fortune. After wandering from country to country, they land on the coasts of Italy, where their merit, their valour, and their services, make them acceptable to the Prince of Salerno, and procure for them honourable establishments. Little contented with their happiness, if they do not share it with
others, they invite over their countrymen to enjoy with them the beauty of the climate they inhabit. The children of Tancred, of Houleville, accept of their invitation. They emigrate, and these brave people, thus incorporating together, become the founders of an illustrious monarchy (the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.)
Switzerland, after having long groaned under the most cruel tyranny, shakes off its yoke, and becomes free. I shall say nothing of the cause of this sudden revolution, it being well known; and taking notice only of the strange chain of events, shall ask what analogy there could be between a cap and liberty? Grissler, the Austrian Governor, having had his cap placed on a pike, ordered the same honours to be paid to it as to his person, which was the first origin of this rebellion.
The arrival of a courier is retarded for some hours; the Vatican brandishes its thunderbolts, and the inhabitant of Albion acknowledges the supremacy in his King. The affair of Henry the Eighth's divorce with Catharine of Aragon would probably have been compromised in an amicable manner, by the mediation of Francis the First, King of France, if a courier dispatched from Rome to England had arrived two days sooner than he did.
After a reign of sixty years, spent for the most part amidst happiness and success, Lewis XIV. of France, imagined nothing was wanting to his glory but to see a Prince of his blood seated on the throne of Spain. Scarce was his scheme perceived, when Europe having leagued against him, soon made him experience a strange reverse of fortune. Abandoned by victory in the plains of Hochstet, Ramillies, and Malplaquet; threatened with being the enemy at the gates of his capital; destitute of all resources by the general impoverishment of his people, he asks for peace, offers to yield his former conquests, and to give up his grandson Philip to his fate. His proposal is rejected with contempt. The inimical power avail themselves of his misfortunes to impose on him still harder conditions. All was lost, and he was likely to survive his own glory, if, to draw him out of that abyss of misfortunes, the tutelary genius, I may say, of France, had not, by means of the sensibility of an offended queen, thrown in his way advantages, which all the abilities of his negotiators, and the most humiliating offers on his part, were not able to procure for him. The peace of Utrecht was therefore signed, and France passed out of a most terrible crisis. If we believe the authors, who pretend to the best information in this matter, and particularly Voltaire, this is what originally gave place to the peace of Utrecht. The Duchess of Marlborough, after having been long in the good graces of Queen Anne, at last disgruntled her by her haughty manner, and Lady Masham succeeded to her favour. The Duchess, to be revenged of the Queen and favourite, affected one day to let fall, in presence of the Queen, a basin full of water on Lady Masham's clothes, without making the least apology or excuse for what she had done. Another time she appeared at court, with a pair of gloves of a new fashion, shewing them to all the courtiers with an affected earnestness, but seemed quite regardless in respect for the Queen, who, piqued at her indiscretions, resolved to be revenged, in her turn, of the Duchess, by taking away the command of the army from the Duke of Marlborough. She therefore had secret proposals of peace made to Lewis XIV. which were advantageous enough to be accepted. Thus the war concerning the succession of Spain, which had cost France so much blood, terminated like those we might sometimes see decided in our fields, by throwing a handful of dust among two swarms of bees.
Hi motus animorum, atque hæc certamina tanta, Pulveris exigui jactu, compressa quiescent.
To the PRINTER of the TOWN and COUNTRY MAGAZINE.
SIR,
ONE can scarce pop one's head into any company, good, bad, or indifferent, but you hear great stress laid upon keeping good company ; yet you seldom find where this good company is to be met with. Probably at St. James's they may talk of Northumberland routes, Almack's, and the Pantheon; here certainly you will meet with good company. I deny it; for I have been at them all, and never was worse entertained in my life. If cutting up a character, with a piteous Who'd have thought it? You, my Lady, play spadille forced!—Heavens! I never hold a black ace! till her Ladyship is almost black in the face, with fretting and fuming; I say, if such conversation as this constitutes good company, it is certainly to be found in these very polite circles.
Good company, says Theatricus , with a tone of critical decision, where should it be found, but amongst the beaux esprits . At the Bedford, the Shakespear, the Beefsteak club; here you have sheer wit and pointed satire, that set the table on a roar, and force you to be good company whether you will or no. Softly, Mr. Theatricus ; here too have I assisted, but very seldom to my satisfaction. Actors in general are the worst company in the world. A quotation from a play, lugged in head and shoulders, a shrug and grimace from a ridiculous part, a hackneyed song, or a still more hackneyed joke, for the most part, constitute their conversation, their wit, their humour, and
pleasantry; and I can never allow these retailers of more than second hand conceit to make good company.
'That is true, says Lexiphanes ; but you should get a step or two farther, and go to the Feathers or the Devil, and here you may associate with the littérateurs , the first scholars of the age, and you must certainly allow them to be good, nay, the best of company. If dry and tedious lectures upon antient and modern writers, interlarded with common place quotations from the Greeks and Latins, pronounced in a dogmatical stile, accompanied with affected gestures, or seeming paralytic shakes of the head, commanding attention, and enforcing passive obedience to their dogmas from all present, can be called agreeable, entertaining, or amusing, then these associations of the literati are certainly the very best company; but, in my humble opinion, where a man is not allowed to deliver his own sentiments with freedom, yet politeness, without being pronounced an ignoramus for dissenting from the great presiding luminary, these associations form the very worst company in the world.
I shall leave the lawyers to quibble and quirk about precedents and cases in point; their subtlety is too refined for common understandings, and very often for themselves; or else the glorious uncertainties of the law are so very uncertain, that a prudent man had better submit to a real injury than endeavour to obtain redress, according to the advice of the largest wig and deepest head upon the bench.
Where, then, Mr. Printer, you will say, is good company to be met with? The answer is ready. Wherever a set of rational beings of good education, and a liberal way of thinking, associate to amuse and entertain each other, where their different business and pursuits are laid aside; where no man talks to shew his superior skill in oratory; where no man holds forth to display his extraordinary knowledge in any particular branch of learning; where no man exposes his warmth of temper at the price of his judgment; where every one is willing to applaud another's conceit, though his own has not been so successful; where all hackneyed stories are exploded, and where all new ones are allowed a fair hearing, without anticipating their good or bad effect; where no man's veracity is called in question, whilst he does not traduce any particular character; in short, where every one endeavours to throw in his mite to promote the mirth or entertainment of the company, and endeavours to please as well as be pleased, and where no one carries his raillery so far as to be disagreeable to any individual.
This is my idea of good company, and whether it be at St. James's or Whitechapel, I shall think it the same.
A LOVER OF REAL GOOD COMPANY.
L O N D O N, May 26.
SATURDAY a paper maker bargained for a parcel of paper to a considerable amount with a stationer in the neighbourhood of Lombard Street, and after he had been gone about half an hour he returned, begging the stationer to let him have twenty guineas directly, for he had laid a wager with some chaps at a public house that he could shew that sum. The stationer very judiciously cautioned him against returning with the money, as he had certainly got among sharpers, but as he had left a guinea in their hands, it was agreed that the stationer's clerk should go along with him. When the sharpers saw another person with the paper maker they avoided coming to the business, and slipped off one by one, leaving the paper maker to reflect that he lost one guinea by his own folly, and had saved nineteen by following the advice of his good friend and customer, the stationer.
Letters arrived yesterday from Canton in China, bring advices of a most dreadful hurricane or tornado, that happened in that river in the month of July last, by which all the shipping were totally lost, except the London, a ship belonging to the Honourable the East India company. This loss is computed at many millions sterling, besides the lives of one hundred thousand inhabitants, which were sacrificed on this dreadful occasion.
Princess Amelia has lately presented the Princess Royal with a diamond pompoon, in fashion of a coronet, valued at 17,000l. sterling.
Saturday a wolf made his escape from a menagerie in Holborn, which occasioned a great alarm, and many dogs immediately pursued him as far as Clare market, where he stood at bay, and killed six or seven of them; at last a fierce bull bitch was let loose, and held him by the throat till he was secured, when his master conveyed him safe home again.
Sunday evening two fellows fought a sham battle in the Spa Fields, Hlington, and a great crowd being gathered round them gave an opportunity to some pickpockets to rob forty or fifty persons of their handkerchiefs, and four Gentlemen lost their watches.
On Sunday morning, as two women were disputing in a public house near Marlborough, one of them, after uttering many horrid imprecations, dropped down, and expired immediately.
The following droll affair happened lately at a public house in Westminster: Some scoundrels going in to drink, happened to meet with a brother of the flop coming out, who they insisted should go in again with them to drink, but he refused, saying he had enough; upon this they at-

A SOBER, DILIGENT, JOURNEYMAN BARBER, WHO UNDERSTANDS WIGMAKING AND HAIRDRESSING, WILL MEET WITH ENCOURAGEMENT, BY APPLYING TO WALTER LENOX, IN WILLIAMSBURG. * * * Or I would gladly purchase the remainder of a SERVANT's time, if he is well acquainted with the above business. W. L.
NORFOLK, July 27, 1773. THE subscriber has lately received, on consignment from the manufacturer, in bales of about 23 pounds sterling value each, a large parcel of KENDAL COT- TONS, which he will dispose of on reasonable terms, pay- able next April. Any person inclinable to purchase will please to apply to him at the ensuing meeting in Williams- burg, or afterwards, by orders addressed to him here. JAMES INGRAM.
** The subscriber has also for sale Irish linens and sheetings, tin ware, British and German oznabrigs, tweel- ing, and hats; also red and white wines, rum, and sugar.
PETERSBURG, July 24, 1773. RUN away from Mr. Thomas Banks's store, in Meck- lenburg county, in May last, a Negro wench named JUBA, about 23 years of age, 5 feet 2 or 3 inches high, and has a remarkable scar on one of her arms; she has been but lately imported into this colony from St. Vincents, and speaks English very indistinctly. Whoever apprehends the said slave, and secures her in any gaol, or delivers her to Mr. Thomas Banks, Mr. James Ingram, merchant, in Norfolk, or the subscriber, shall have FORTY SHIL- LINGS reward. EMANUEL WALKER.
For SALE immediately, altogether, or to any number of purchasers that will agree upon a division among them- selves.
TWELVE hundred acres of LAND in Sussex, one mile below the courthouse, and adjoining Nottoway river for about a mile, which affords plenty of fish, and makes near 100 acres of low grounds, well stocked with cypress, and other timber; in the banks are plenty of shells very good for lime. Great part of the high land is rich, has a pretty situation on it for a house, and cleared land sufficient for ten or twelve hands to cultivate grain on. Mr. Clements, Mr. Hoomes, or Mr. Balfour, will shew the land; and for terms apply to David Rofs, Esquire, merchant at Petersburg. J. SYME.
FOR SALE, THE house wherein Mr. Hansen formerly kept store, in Petersburg, and in which Doctor Hall now re- sides. Likewise three tracts of land, viz one in Dinwid- die, about 25 miles from Petersburg, containing 700 acres. Most of this tract is exceeding good for grain of all kinds, and the remainder may be laid off to great advantage in a meadow; on it is a new dwellinghouse, kitchen, &c. Another in Halifax county, containing upwards of 2000 acres of good tobacco and corn land, on which I lately built a compleat gristmill, &c. The third tract lies on the river Hyco, in Orange county, North Carolina, almost adjoining the Virginia line, and contains about 300 acres of as rich low ground as any in the colony. The times of payment will be made agreeable to the purchasers. ALEXANDER SHAW.
FOR SALE, THREE thousand acres of LAND in Brunswick coun- ty, on the river Meherrin. Part of this land is that valuable plantation whereon my father in his lifetime re- sided, and has a large body of as rich low ground as any in the colony. There are four or five hundred acres of the land cleared, most of which is under good fence, and in fine order for cropping; the remainder is found very ser- viceable in pasturage, which it yields in the greatest per- fection. The improvements consist of an antient dwelling- house, many convenient outhouses, and several new and very substantial barns. A further description is unneces- sary, as a purchaser, unacquainted with the land, would, no doubt, incline to see it before he bought. It may not, however, be improper to observe, that it may be divided into two advantageous settlements, which would be found extremely valuable to persons who resided on them; but my residence out of the colony makes me desirous of dis- posing of them, which I will do on very advantageous terms, allowing the purchaser liberty to name the time of payment, not to exceed five or seven years, and paying the annual interest punctually. The terms of sale may be known on application to my brother, who lives adjoining the lands, or to me in Newbern, North Carolina. I. EDWARDS.
RUN away from the subscriber, in New Kent county, a likely, well set Negro fellow, named WILL, about 40 years of age, and about 5 feet 5 or 6 inches high, is quick of speech, and very fond of liquor; had on, when he went away, a cotton waistcoat and breeches, and ozn- abrige shirt. He was formerly the property of Mr. Ben- jamin Valentine, of whom I purchased him, and in whose neighbourhood he may probably be lurking, or about Williamsburg. However, as he is extremely artful, there is also a probability of his endeavouring to make his escape out of the colony; for which reason I forewarn all masters of vessels from carrying him out of it, or entertain- ing him, at their peril. Whoever apprehends the said fel- low, and brings him to me, shall receive FIVE POUNDS. RICHARD CROSHOR GRAVES.
STOLEN from the subscriber, on Saturday evening the 7th instant, a forrel horse, about 15 hands high, has a roach mane and short switch tail, a blaze in his face, has very bad fore feet, which have broad shoes on them, and branded, I believe, on the off shoulder L; she has been foundered. And on the following evening was also stolen a roan horse, near 14 hands high, has a switch tail and hanging mane, trots and gallops, branded on the near buttock RP, and is a little ewe necked. I will give TEN SHILLINGS for each of them, and pay all reasonable expences of travelling. JOHN DRAPER.
colonies which produce not sugar, tobacco, rice, or indigo, and consequently add little to the revenue of Britain; yet they support a large navigation, and, being cold countries, take off abundance of our woollen and other manufactures, and supply our people in deficient harvests with bread and rice.
CHARLESTOWN (SOUTH CAROLINA) July 5. Upwards of three thousand eight hundred Negroes have been imported here since the beginning of May, yet they are all sold, and the demand for them still continues; which proves a rapid encrease of wealth and inhabitants, of late years, in this province.
The drought that at present prevails in the country is so great, that in most settled plantations they are obliged to supply their creatures with water from the pumps. There has not been such another dry season since the year 1752.
July 16. On Thursday last the Honourable Rawlins Lownes, Esquire, Speaker of the Honourable the Com- mons House of Assembly of this province, laid before the said House a letter received by him from the Speaker of the House of Burgesses of Virginia, enclosing the resoluti- ons of that House of March 12th, 1773, published in this paper of the 23d of April last, which being read, were una- nimously approved, and the House came to the following resolutions, viz.
"Resolved, that Mr. Speaker and any eight of the other members of the standing committee of correspondence be a committee to enquire for and obtain intelligence, upon the several matters mentioned in the said resolutions, and to correspond with the committee appointed by the said House of Burgesses and committees appointed, or to be appoint- ed, in our sister colonies, respecting the same.
Resolved, that Mr. Speaker do transmit the thanks of this House to the Speaker and members of the said House of Burgesses of Virginia for communicating the said resolu- tions to this House, as well as for their steady attention to the general interests of America."
The Assemblies of Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, have come into resoluti- ons similar to those of the House of Burgesses of Vir- ginia, and have ordered letters of thanks to be transmitted to the Speaker and members of the said House.
A Governor of one of the more northern colonies, we hear, among other complaints exhibited against him by a member of the Council for the province over which he pre- sides, was charged before his Majesty in Council, with some irregular proceedings relative to grants of land. The charges and defence were heard about the end of March last, and judgment was to be given the 8th of April. Some things which appeared during the course of the said cause have, it is said, conspired, with other reasons, to render ne- cessary the temporary prohibition of granting lands in North America. It does not appear that any public notice of the said prohibition has been given in Great Britain or Ireland; when generally known in those kingdoms, it will probably much damp the prevailing spirit of emigration to America.
NEW BERN, July 7. Last week his Excellency the Governor received instruc- tions from his Majesty for shutting up the land office in this province, and similar orders are sent to all the Governors on the continent. This political manœuvre causes much speculation here, as it is certainly a prelude to granting the lands of this province on higher conditions than here- tofore, the burthen of which will be very great, as the vast tracts of waste lands, already granted at four shillings a hundred, is very sensibly felt by the proprietors.
July 16. Last week safely returned to this gaol, his old habitation, the famous infamous Thomas Hines, alias Spencer Dew, who received sentence of death at a special court of Oyer and Terminer lately held in Duplin county, and made his escape from the sheriff the day before his ex- ecution. There is something surprizing in the conduct of this man, whom fate seems to have destined to the gallows, in spite of fortune, which has so often stood his friend. Three times he escaped from the sheriff, several times broke gaol, and in a few days after his escape from death in Duplin, was seen in this town, and kept lurking about, till surprized in robbing a barn about ten miles from town.
NEW YORK, July 15. The landlords and opulent people of Great Britain and Ireland, who, with the ministry, seem to have forgot that they are of the same species with the rest of their country- men, will perhaps find, when it is too late, that the system of tyranny and oppression, which they have for some years past been labouring to introduce and establish, will involve the authors of it in the general distress they have brought upon their country, which, at last, may fall heaviest on themselves and their posterity. Their riches already seem to be making itself wings to fly away; and when oppression has left them their land desolate, they will have none to prey on but one another.
On Monday the 23d of this instant (August) if fair, if not, the next fair day, will be LET, to the lowest undertaker, THE BUILDING OF A CAUSEWAY OVER SANDY BAY
RO. C. NICHOLAS, WILLIAM NORWELL, PHILIP JOHNSON, DUDLEY RICHARDSON, CHAMPION TRAVIS, NATHANIEL BURWELL, WILLIAM HOLT, WILLIAM SPRATLEY.
STRAYED, or stolen, from the subscriber, in the upper end of James City county, about the last of June, a bright bay mare, about 14 hands high, has a switch tail, trotts and gallops, has a remarkable piece of white in her forehead, resembling 2, was bred by Mr. John Davis, in said county, and has no brand. If the said mare is taken in New Kent, and brought to me, I will give TEN SHIL- LINGS, or TWENTY SHILLINGS if taken out of the said county. MARTHA DRUMMOND.
tempted to force him, which produced a struggle and some oaths from the man, wishing he might sink into Hell if he went in any more that night; at this instant the board (which was rotten) that covered the entrance for the beer, gave way, and the man fell some yards into the beer cel- lar, where discerning nothing but a glimmering lamp at the farther end of the vault, he began to think he was got into the infernal regions. Providentially he received no hurt, but his fright was so great, that it was some time be- fore he could be brought to himself. This odd accident has been attended with one good effect; for the man, who before was remarkable for swearing, has never been heard to utter an oath since.
Nothing, says a correspondent, can be more wretched than Lord North's conduct with regard to East India mat- ters. After all his pother about mismanagement, he leaves the affairs of the company where he found them, and in the same villainous hands who have ruined other nations, and have gone far to ruin this.
In order to ease the minds of mankind, with respect to the present high price of provisions, an old correspondent asserts the evils they complain of are not to be remedied, ex- cept by natural causes, and that, consequently, a discon- tented and riotous disposition can only encrease the mischief, instead of accelerating a cure. In deciding what are high prices of provisions, says he, a comparison must be drawn between them and other articles of consumption. If clothes, house rent, furniture, luxuries of life, and provisions, have kept a nearly proportionate advance, surely we have the clearest proof that there is some one general cause which affects the whole; and if it appears that the rise in the price of all the various commodities bears a just proportion to the interest of money, it is as self evident that the gene- ral cause is the riches of the nation, or a real scarcity; which last no prudence can remedy.
With respect to the exportation of horses, says the same Gentleman, as much as it has been exclaimed against, surely no one, who considers the matter properly, can see it in any other light than as being greatly beneficial to the nation; for whether we export the corn, or the cattle that feed on it, the money received is for the produce of the earth.
They write from Rotterdam that there lately died at that place a Jewess, named Rachel Salomon, relict of Levi Philips, aged an hundred and ten years, who retained the use of all her faculties to the last. She has left nine children, thirty two grand children, and twenty five great grand children. Though the progeny from the above woman is very numerous, yet it is not at any rate to be compared with that of a woman who died the beginning of last month, at the age of ninety two, at Betenikien, a town in the bailiage of Winge, in the neighbourhood of Konigsberg: She was mother to thirteen, grandmother to an hundred and twenty four, great grandmother to an hundred and fourteen, and great great grandmother to thirteen, who are all living at this time.
During the review on Wimbledon Common on Saturday last a crow was observed to hover over the heads of the regiment, and continued to change its situation exactly as the troop did, nor did she quit the place till the review was over.
On Wednesday se'nnight, as a Gentleman was returning from Lambourn races, near Woolhampton, his pocket dropped off with his purse, containing in cash and notes to the amount of near 1000l. After riding some time, he re- turned and found his purse in the hands of a poor man going to work, who returned it very honestly to the owner; for which he was generously rewarded with five shillings and six pence.
One Mr. Harley, a Gentleman of fortune, has obtained a patent for preventing the raging progress of fire. This scheme is to sheath every floor in the house between the ceiling and the floor, with iron, rolled out as thin as paper, and fixed in the brick work. This will not only prevent the flames communicating with the upper story, but stop the fire from making any progress, even in the room where it begins. It has been found by experiment that a thin plate of iron, though heated till it is quite hot, by a fire underneath, will not set the wood on fire which lies upon it. The Lord Chancellor has ordered the floors in his house in Piccadilly to be so sheathed, and the Queen has given the same directions for the palace at Richmond. A public trial of the effects of this scheme is to be made before the King on a house prepared for the purpose, in the course of six weeks. An estimate has been made, and it is found that the floors of a whole house of a moderate size can be sheathed at the expence of fifteen pounds.
If it be asked why government does not impose heavy taxes on places of public entertainment, it may be answer- ed, because the sums arising from thence would scarce be an object worthy the attention of the state, and would cause as much murmur as a tax which would produce fifty times as much. But it is also very well known, the ministers do not want money; they make purchases, grant pensions, and lend by millions at a time. A minister during peace jogs on very well with the common revenues. If he is ex- cused paying off old debts, he is not so unkind as to think of new taxes. Things will last his time; he takes them as he finds them. If he is any thing of a manager, seven years continuance in office will make his fortune, his fami- ly's, and his friends; and when he makes his last will and testament, he bequeaths his rotten inheritance, with Sir Robert's complete system of corruption, with marginal manuscript notes, to his successor.
It is well known to all the commercial world, says a correspondent, that the American colonies are much the best branch of trade belonging to this kingdom, not only because the productions of sugar, tobacco, rice, and indigo, do not interfere with the produce of the mother country; but because they take off more of its manufactures than any, if not all, the other branches of the British commerce. But the trade of our colonies has this peculiar advantage, above all the branches of foreign commerce, that Britain may enjoy it for a perpetuity. All foreign trade may be prohibited, or loaded with duties amounting to a pro- hibition; but no foreign power can affect our own colonies. Britain may enjoy that trade for ever, with proper care, protection, and encouragement. Even those of our