The Sun.
London, England, 1801-10-03 00:00:00

£REAL COMBATS.

WE lately gave an account of a curious bat-
tle in the. air between the Swifts and Swallows,
at Saffron Walden. Records of battles •as extra-
ordinary, fought in the same element, are to be
found in a Pamphlet published, as it imports, for B.
B. London, in t ozz, in it we read, that in the. I zth
of RiChard the Second, a battle was,fought between
Gnats, at Shene, now called Richmond ; their mul-
titudes were so great, that the air was darkened by
them. It was computed- that two parts. of them
were killed, and the remaining thirdi, suddenly
vanished. •

The above account is inserted as preliminary to
one of an engagement between the Starlings at cork,
in Ireland, on the rith of Oclober, z62i they
mustered four or five days previously, every' day
increasing in number. Some came from the. East,
others from the West, and as it were encamped
themselves, Eastward and . Westward of the. city.
During the:time
.of their . assembling, those who
came from the Eatt sought their. meat eastward,
and those from the West sought their's westward,
no one flying in the circuits of the other. On
Saturday the I.lth of October, they fought, and on
Sunday none were to be seen. Upon this Sunday,
a similar battle was seen between Gravesend and
'Woolwich, and a Raven flying between the com:
batants. On Monday the 14th, they again appear_
ed "-at Cork, and- fought with ag much violence as
before, the dead and wounded falling on the houses
into the streets and the river. After this battle
there'were found dead a kite, a raven and a crow.
Another Pamphlet, printed- at Oxford,
1676, and purporting to be a translation of
one publiihed at isle, on. the lyth of March, in,
the same year, retates a prodigious battle of birds;
between Dole and Salines in the Franche Comte, on
the 'z6rh of February 1676. The most numerous
of the Warriors were of a description not` very
much unlike our scare=crows, but there were abr•ve
an hundred kinds. After fighting several hours,
those who were not disabled retired no man knew
whither. Bushes as high as men were-hidden, and
the earth covered 'with. heaps of them for above.
five hundred paces in length, and the screams of
the wounded and dying terrified the inhabitants of
Burgundy. This extraordinary engagement had
been prediacd by Nostrodamus, about the end of
the first century, in his tooth article.
The above Pamphlets are now extremely. scarce ;
they are, however, still extant in the British
Museum and the Libraries of the Curious.

SPT., 25.

. . .
ON .Wednesday last, a meeting of the Lieutenancy
of this county- took place .korfar, agreeably to
letters [coin the-Lord Lieutetiant and his Grace the
Duke Montrose, to concert the. mostreffedual
means. for resisting the attempts of the-enemy to
invade this country, :when several resolutions were
passed for this purpose. Another meeting is
_to
take place next week for the further consideration
of this important subjett.
Five hundred pikes, arrived here this week, and
more are expeacd. soon, for the purpose of arming
the2posse-comitatus to •be raised in case of gtual
invasion.
. The price of oatmeal yesterday, in our market,•
was is. sd.---Potatoes Tod.: Ouartern loaf is.
Butter sells at the extravagant rate of is. 6d. to
7d. per lb. -
We understand that it is in contemplation to
build a dry dock, fit to contain large vessels, at the
Rood Yards, a.milehelow the town ; that an engineer
of eminence is at , present. employed in drawing a
plan for this purpose.
, At the Fair held at the Muir, in this neighbour-
hood, on Tuesday, the chew of cattle was small,
at the-prices very high ; the horses were of an in.
ferior kind, and met with a dull sale.

VIOLENT Ass,vo unfOrtunate man who
was so dreadfully mangled- by the inhuman .itiffians
on the night of Monday se'nnight, in• St. George's.
tow fay mentioned in our Paper-of Monday last), is
not :dead, as reported ; his recovery is, notwitfr-
startdingoloubtful, It is astonishing that no steps
have been taken to apprehend the midnight .A'ssas.:
sins who attempted the murder, they being known
to several of the inhabitants of that neighbourhood,.
.house where the transaftion • took place _is
mentioned with, horror. by the people who reside in
the tow. :They point out this house as the scene of
nightly enormities, and the women who keep it as
of tlse most depraved charaeler. The cireumstances,
of this horrid transaflion ;ire briefly as follows: about
a quarter before twelve. o'clock, on the night above-
mentioned, the person assaulted was passing down
-George's,row, when he heard alarming cries,
proceeding from a housedowii the row, on the' left
hand side from the public road. He knocked at the
doot., when two men= came out, and one, struck him
witka bludgeon. Upon .this he ran to 'the public-
home for assistance, and, brotight with him three
young men, who were all without any kind of wea-
pons, to aft on the defensive. They were immediately
attacked by the two villains; one had a cutlass, the
other a bludgeon. Not being able to stand against the
attack-of these miscreants,
,the three assistants ran
away, and left this unfortunate man, whose
face; and hands, were cut in so shOcking a manner, 1,
as to deprive him for some time of, sense. After'
leaving the objeet of their vengeance for dead,
dick atrocious villains walked , off, -daring any one'.
to follow, and swore they would murder all who
attempted to apprehend them. The unfortunate
sufferer was carried to a neighbouring Surgeon's
house-i, but it 'was some hours before his recolleflion
returned. The cause of *alarm has not beendis-
covere4. • 41i
• THANIES FOLIC E.OFFICE:-011 Thursday the
Mate and four of the crew belonging to' the Brig
Range of London, Captain Lea, were exaniined
by John Harriott, Esq. being charged on suspicion
of being privy •to the robbery of; seven large
trunks, containing property to the value of
belonging io Mr. Taylor, resident merchant at
New Providence. The deficiency in the cargo was
not discoVered till the Brig :unloaded there; thexe-
fore the plunder must have-been committed when
she was taking in her cargo in the River Thanies.
The Mate and men gave' a clear account of them-
selves, although closely interrogated by the Magi-
strate separately and colleCtiyely; 'and nothing ap-
peared to implicate them in the robbery. They
were of course discharged.
It is thought that the hatches-of the Brig might
haVe. been opened by means of false keys, while
the crew below were asleep, and fastened again by
the same means. • • ,

On Sunday se'nnight, between five and six o'clock_
in thd 'evening,- a , dreadful fire happened at Mr.
George Bowden's, a respectable farmer in the parish
of Duloe. No person can .give any account how it
happened.. The straw before • the barn door was
first discovered to be on fire; from thence it coin-
munica...l to the dwelling-house, barns, and litabl.s.
By this time near I 5o people were assembled, who
did every thing in their power -toprevqnt the taines
from reaching the stacks of corn, but in vain ;, the
corn being, so near the. barns. -Five stacks of corn
were on fire at one time. 'All the. houses were 'burnt
• to the ground, except two rooms of, tar e dweding-
house., He lost all his wool, and' great part of his
hay ; and most of his furniture was ,_bri.. Ile up, but
none burnt. Mr. - Bowdon ha& always b een a very
industrious and honest man, but Fortun t: has ever
.4owried. About six years since, a grea t many of
I'!s cattle were bit by a mad dog, and all lied mad.
Not long after, he had a bad disorder in his flock
f sheep,- which injured him very much ; lout two
cars'since he lost all his horses, except one ; :Ind but
a few months since, he lost his wife in a fe V(7, who
left him with five small children'. Since tiLat time
he has been very ill himself with a fever, and' is not
yet recovered. .

CONCRETE LEMON JUICE.

- .
COXWELL, of_ Temple-Bar, having been
given
,to understaird that some other Acid has
been sold for Concrete Lemon Juice, feels it ne-
cessary to observe, that he is pet mitted to refit
to the highest' Authorities in this Kingdom, fur
the purity of that prepared by himself; and he
trusts that the precaution of signing every Package
with his name, and in .his oWn hand-writing, will
afford sufficient security against imposition to thoe
who shall be desirous to riake use of this conve-
nient and elegant preparation.

SHIP NEIL.

POOLE, SEPT. 27.

Arrived--the. Hope, Long,. from London ; Ditt, Williams;
Active, Williams;. and Liberty, Pledge, from Portsmouth
and Frederica, Tom Mering, froiu Christiana.
Sailed -tt~e Mary, 'Ebster, and Nlary, Boyle, from Hull
and Mary,,Robson, from Sunderland.

CIiAIik.SLND, SEPT, O.

Passed by—the Indian Chief; Ferrier, from Bengal ;
Duttliess of Ruccieugh, Barr, from Dantzie ; and Favourite,
Petersburgh.
Sailed—the Columbus, --, for Charlestown; Anna
• tlizabeth, --, for St.Vallery ; Juliana, ---,.for Riga
Anima-Sophia, for Stettin'; Paris, for Petersburgh
Vrow Cornelius, for Brussels; Twe Gebtoders, for R6tter-
darn ; jongeHendrie, for Bourdeaux ; John, Walker,
and filqterprizs,---,fir Madeira; Belzebub, Graves, and
Hebe; ----, for Hambro'..
OCT. t. Passed by—the Henry, Bruce, from Stockholm.
Sailed—the Vrow Anna , fbr Rotterdam Beaver,
Cording, for Harnbro' ; Johanna Carolina, ----, for Lis
bon ;.Vrow keuskien, —, for Ghent ; Mary and Jane,
Young, for Boston; and Vroiv Helena, —,-tor Bremen.