The National Register.
London, England, 1818-09-21 00:00:00

FOY .1G.1; OF DISCOVERY.

At length the official dispat;hes from the ships oat•
ployed on the discovery of the North West Passage
?taw been received. and, we understand, are most saute.
fectorv. They are dated July 28th, at which time the
Isabella- and the Alexander were in let. 75-deg. 10 min.
N. long. 60 deg. 30 ruin. W. well over to the American
coast, the weather serene awl perfectly clear. The
variation of the compass, by aecurate observations,
repeatedly made on board both ships, was 39 deg. and
the dip 84 deg. 50 min, which led them to conclude
that they were upprouching very needy to the mag-
netie pole. It has been pettedly calm : the sea wi:4 as
strewth as glass for there or four days, and the cerrent
drifted theta to the South Eastward, which :mind their
hopes of un open passage round the point of Atuerie
from which quarter it appeand to ooted: All the
way up the middle of Darits's Strait they skirted an un-
broleu field of ice on the left, but as they proLeeded it
became thhiner and apparently rotten, and they were
sanguine that the moment the breeze sprung up the ice
to the Westward would open them a passage, and al-
low theta to reach the northern shores of America.
The utmost harmony prevailed among the officers
and every part of the ship's company, and all
vete in perfect health. Such is the saint/ince of the
accounts. There are abundance of private letters to
the friends and relations of those who have embarked
iu this most important and interesting enterprise.

MARGATE, -SEPT. 17.—The following melancholy
circumstance occurred here, yesterday, abort four
tido& in the afternoon :—As a gentleman from Lon-
dun, whose name is Woodyer, and Mr Webb, the- ce
lebrate. . _r, were about to take an airing be-
fore dinner in the former's gig,on the Birchington-road,
t'le horse on entering High Street, from Cecil &rave,
made a sudden spring, turned round, and one of the
wheels came in contact with a post ; the shock snapped
the shafts and threw both the gentlemen out on the
. pavement, with great violence. Mr. Webb was token
up senseless and carried into Mr. Munton's shop. Dr.
NVaddington was immediately sent for, who bled him,
and he was put to bed, dreadfully bruised, particularly
or the tight hip, elbow, and knee-pan. Aar. Woodver
firtunately escaped with less injury. The horse finding
himself disengaged, rot emit:tidy down High Street,
with the parts of the simfts,—When near the post
office, a poor woman, with a child in her arms, was
struck on the head by one of ti.e shafts, knocked down,
and died almost instantly ; the child escaped unhurt.
The animal then pursued MS course, when coming to
the railway near the York Hotel, he leaped OVar,.
slug over the railing at the bottom of the Parade; he
t!.en directed his course up to the Market, and into an
retry, where he was secured. A boy was also knocked
(!nivu, but only received a slight wound on the head.
The body of the ponr woman now lies at the workhouse
until the Coroner's July sit, to-morrow. A liberal
ealiscrip.ion has been entered into for the husband and
bey nine children, thus deprived of their mother. Mr.
Webb had only finished his engagement and taken his
knefit at the Theatre the evening before. Not the
:.Lightest blame attaches to the gentleman that drove.
Last night a collier brig broke from her moorings, and
running agnsnst Garner's Library, carried away hart of
the balcony next to the water, and did sonic damage to
C.c :atliing-rooms.
The publie.do not seem to be aware of the existence
of a law relative to limiting the price of hooks ; but in
en Act respecting Copyright, of fhe Bth of Queen Anne.
5.,•1 iind that if any• bookseller or printer shall, after
f.e 25th of March, 1710, set a price upon, or sell any
Leeks at such a price es shall be ertneeiv'ed by any per-
Lea to be high and unreasonable, be may make coin-
rluitat to the Lord Chancellor, the bishop of London,
• 'se. who have aathority to call, the publishers, end to
, inquire the reason of the dearness of the books : and
should they fled it unreasonable, they can alter the
• price, atarthe publishers shall remunerate the person
who laid the complaint, it' auy alteration should take
place ; and should any books..lier to printer sell or cx-
r.se the honks At a greater price than the oac to fixed,
they shall tUrilit the sum of sl. for every such book.—
The mutter, we think, deserves some attention. In
particular, we Oink that those authors and publishers
who hags hut mall edition, with a iota to raiue the
price, should he—controlled : they ought rot to be suf
fei•ed to plead the artificial means they themselves
leo c te.ed lily enhancing the value of their publications,
es an extenuation of their °Kux% Their works, we
believe we may say generally, are of na great utility or
esteasiN e interest : but still the principle should be
()wised and eradicated.
Mr. Kean arrived on Saturday night at Drury Lane
Theatre. He drove up to the stage door in a post chaise
sad four, and was welcomed by many of his brother
actors. Ile will be announced in some of his favourite
characters in the course atilt, week
A young gentleman, n pupil of Nuldi, s eLgaged at
Covent (;,,tdcn theatre, whose voice. it seems, is a
smoke bly line bass ; his name is O'Callaghan.
.The total number of Sunday • scholars in Great Bri-
tam and /reland is 'about 55-0,000, attended by about
• 60,000 kaehers.