The National Register.
London, England, 1811-09-08 00:00:00

NATIONAL REGISTER.

INTERESTING NARRATION.

Extract of a Later from a Private in the Old Buffs' who wls
taken prisoner in the battle of Albuera, and effected his escape
from the enemy t—
" I was knocked down by a horseman with his lance, who
luckily did me no serious injury. In getting up, I received a
lance in my hip, and shortly after another in my knee, which
slightly gtaied me. 1 then rose, when a villain hurried me to
the rear a tew yards, striking me on Cie side of the head with his
lance. He left me, and soon after another come up, who would
have killed me, bac not a French officer came up, and giving the
fellow a blow, told hi& to spare the British, and to go on, and
do his duty with those of my .unfortunate comrades.—This Offi-
cer conducted one to the rear of the French lines ; and here the
sight which struck the eye was dreadful—men dead, where the
column stood, heaved upon each other—the wounded. tying for
assistance, and human blnud flowing down the hill. I came to
where the French baggage was, where I found a vast number of
my own regiment, with a good proportion of officers, prisoners,
like myself; numbers of them desperately wounded, even after
they were prisoners. Here then I offered up my fervent thanks_
to Heaven for having escaped so sate. 1 remainedprisoner seven
days; and the whole I received front our enemy (marching six '
leagues ever) day on the road to Madrid) was three ounces of
rice, nine ounces of bread, and a pound of meat. However,
when on the line of march, they indulged us by entering bean-
Ileitis—using the same language to ul as the Spaniards to the
ovinti—" ifurrah ! Hurrah! —Conceive my feelings, for, be.
lieve me, 1 cannot describe theta. On the seventh evening I left
them, in open day-light, and after gt ring two miles, lay down.
Shortly a piceieet passed close by me, but they did not see me.
Soon after I arose, and alth:iugh a mere skeleton, rushed forward
to a hill, crossed it, and entered a corn-tick., where I was again
&tanned by the trampling of horses. I inintediattly fell on my
Face; it again pleased Heaven to save me; they passed me, and
(lid not observe. I again ruse, and travelled over mountains,
through valleys and rivers, till exhausted by excessive fatigue, I
sat down, and was unable to rise. Here a refreshing bleep
allayed my hunger, and recruited exhausted nature. I arose,
and proceeded to ayillage, where I was received according to
the Scripture.—" I was naked and they clothed me ; I was
hungry, and they fed me." Such treatment I never before ex-
perienced, as going through this ex t:nsive ceuntry, every rerson
outvying with each other to soften the hardships I had endured.
in sixteen days I reached Elvas, and soon atter joined my regi-
ment."

.SPOI?TING.

XING.—A most sanguinary conflict took place at natiford,
Pucks, on Monday, for 201. between Burke, a bargeman, stand-
ing six feet, and weighing 16 stone, and Wahirgray.2, a farmer's
son, and a reputed boxer, something less it len!Jh and weight.
Both were knocked &mil by counter hits in the first round, and
In the second Waldegrave received a right-handed hit, which
levelled him with the force of a horse s kick. Twenty san-
guinary rounds were fought, when Waldegrave was declared
victor. Burke was inofiensive with the lc ft hand, and his anta-
gonist won the battle by stopping with his right hand, and lunging
it the same time with the left.—Several hundred .spectators were
presttit.
MATCH AGAINST TIME.—Mr. Titch, of Nottingham-street,
made a bet of 100 guineas, a few days since, that he would pro-
duce a galloway under 14 hands, to do 50 miles in four hours,
and to carry eight store. The animal started from Hampton-
wick on Thursday morning early, into the western road, and
returned again in five minutes less than the given time, having
performed the match with apparent ease. 'The half of the dis-
tance was per;Ormed in one hour and fifty minutes.
EXTRAORDINARY PEDESTRIAN rs:/t T.—Last week, at In-
verness, Alexander Fraser, formerly a hair-dresser, now a letter-
carrier, aged nearly tiO years, undertook, on a bet, to walk two
Scots miles and a half, over ground intersected with brush-wood,
hedges, and ditches. in one hour, which he rriOrnied in 32 mi-
nutes. This was witnessed by a brawny Serjeant of the Flgin
Local Militia, who, willing to show his superior agility, took an
equal bet that he would outrun the light-footed letter-carrier.
Old Fraser instantly accepted the heroic challenge, and to show
what he could do when put to vigorous trial, took a lad on his
back of 20 years of age, and thus encumbered, began his career
with the Serjeant over the same intersected path which he had
so recently ran. The crowd set up an univeisal shout at the mo-
ment of starting, and away darted the old carrier as nimble of
foot as though he only bore a couple of letters in his big. The
massy Serjeant toiled after, but exertions such as his were fruit-
less--the man of years gained the wager, leaving the permanent
man of the sword only half a Scotish mile b. hind him. He ar-
itsod amid repeated huzzas of the spectators, who regaled the
yetteraii with a . 12,hiand gill for his rai)idity of running.

NA UT IC.AL INTELLIGENCE.

Another ship of the line, to be named La Hogue, of 74 guns,
will be launched from the Royal Dock yard at Deptford, ots
Wednesday, the 18th instant, when the tide will serve at half
past two in the afternoon. It is expected that the heaUtiful &g-
-rate line of battle ship, now building at Woolwich, will be cont..
pleted in a few months. This vessel is to be called the Lord
Nelson ; and, as a grateful tribute to his revered memory, she is
to he graced with the full leegth figure, and a representation of
some of the achievements of the immortal hero.
An heroic deed has lately been performed by the Hon. Capt..
Gore, ctmmanding the Scorpion sloop of war on thin station,
and who arrived at this anchorage, with Lrigilder-General Sir
CliarleS Shipley, last Saturday. A few days before the Scorpion
made this island, she experienced a heavy squall to windward
of Martinique, which was so sudden and so violent that she lost
some of her masts, and three poor sailers went overboard,
whilst it was blowing with the greateSt violence. On sAeing
the poor fellows struggling for life in a tremendow; sea, their
brave Commander instantly, and alone jumped overboard vrith
two gratings ; and after a long time buffeting the waves, suc-
ceeded in saving two of the men; but the third being so much
exhausted, and the sea so high, sunk to rise no more.—(Bar-
badoes Mercury, May 4.)
Extrac? of a letter from a Gentleman at St: John's Newfound-
land:—" On the 3d inst. a schooner of about 50 tons, arrived
here from Waterford, having been upwards of 50 days at sea.
When she left Ireland, With passengers and crew, there were no
less than 209 persons on hoard; 27 of whoirt died before getting
in here, and 12 or 15 since her arrival; a number more are not
expected to survive. It was from want of water and provi,ions
that the unfortunate people lost their lives. I was told by one
of the passengers, that a number of their tongues absolutely
split before they died. A Gentleman had thirty barrels of oat-
meal on hoard, which they mostly eat, mixed with their own
urine. Had they been out for one or two days more, most of
them would have died. When they were landed I never
beheld such a melancholy sight. The Magistrates have
entered a prosecution against the Captain and owner of the
schooner."
ISLE. OF MEN, Avo. 4.—lVltitazo Loos ESCAPE or SEVEN
MEN IN A SMALL Bong.—On the morning of the 23d of July,
as the fishing-smack Tartar, of Darby Haven, was drifting in
the Channel with her net-shot W. N. W. from Peel, a heavy
gale of wind came on with a rough sea, which caused them td
haul their train or nets on board • and, in the act of hauling,
she drifted down on a boat a-head of her, and with the scud of
. a sea, took the point of her boom into her forebuddiegs. Be-
fore the crew perceived any damage, the water was over the
ballast; the leak encreasing fast, in less than ten minutes she
went down; the crew, seven in number. providentially escaped
in the punt. The otins boat's crew, judging the boat and men
went down together, made the 'best of their way home with
the lamentable news of their fate to their f'milies. But Provi-
dence still had them in tow. They lay in the small boat com-
paratively like a tub, eight feet keel and live fret beam ; and to
prevent the sea from breaking in, they ranged their arms alor.g
the gunnels. At day-light, the brig Lively, of and from Green-
ock, Captain Roderick M'Kenzie, tor Gibraltar, hove in sight
to leeward, and under reefed topsails close hauled, beating to
windward, the punt drifting in her headway ; and when within
pistol-shot, the men, cue and all, gave a great. shout, which was
heard by the Captain, but the sea rite so hollow lie could not
perceive them ; apprehending something wrong below, or a
man overboard, called all hands on deck; on the second shout,
the sailors were astonished, not seeing any vessel near them,
and on the third, one of the sailors running up the rigging, per-
ceived a number of men in the water, to his great astonishment,
not seeing any thing under them, as the state they lay in, with
their arms near the water's edge, prevented him ; with the
greatest difficulty they were hoisted on board the brig one aka'
another ; when on board, the Captain made this remark, " such
a miracle was almost equal to walking on the water." Some time
after, the Prince of ‘‘,rales cutter, Cept. Wallace, hove in sight,
and, by a signal from the brig, was soon alongside. Captain
Wallace immediataly steered direct for the Isle of Man, and
lauded them safe in Darby Haven, to the inexpressible joy of
their despairing families.

On Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the King's
acting Serjeant-Trumpeter attended at an inn in Bartholomew
Fair, and issued licenses to all the trumpeters, drummers, fifers,
&c. It is not generally known, that all persons who presume
to sound, beat, or play, at any opera, play, dumb-show, rope.
dancing, mountebanks, or public exhibition, without such 11.
cense, are liable to he apprehended and punished as rogues sudi
vagabonds throughout England.