The Sun.
London, England, 1810-01-06 00:00:00

EXI7I4OB.DINdiRY J.NciDEArr.

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[The following vt•ry extraotdinary recital appeared in the last
Nunibr of ACK EK 1,1 Awiles ikeptoitory of Arts, .Bcd. and,a;
it is not only strotigly u t;:resting m itself, but may operate
in prodticint4,the itttn,,st diligence and caution towards the
august and revered chaiacier ry whom it is supposed to re-
hite, we deem, it our duty to present it to the Public
throilgh the channel of this Paper.

Lathe month of- Weber, 1800, Went into Es-
'sex., 'DO a visit to a near relation' in th neighbour-
hood of Chelmsford. After remaining there. three
;weeks, I went 'Up to tows; to yass a' few days with
My son, a resident in Lincoln's T arrived in
_London the 18111 of November, saw my 'son soon
after at his.chattillers, and agreed to"dine with him
the following day, and to ,accompany him to the
theatre. The morning of. the' 19th,was unusatally
pleaktnt for .that glOotny.,seaaon, alai-I left Bishopa.
7gate,street'immediatelv. after breakfast, with an ina
tentidn- of passing some 'hours at the west end of the
town. Atter espendiag an hour in Westminster
Abbey,- I ,walked into the •Nrk,. and when I had:
reached the middle of the Malle I observed a Con-
siderable nuniber of people, either runningOiewalk-
ing with great haste towards the palace. finquired
the .reason•of one of the sentinels, who_Very
informed me that his .Majesty was-liolding a levee
at St. James' ; that Lord Nelson was -to be lare-:
sented his return from the Continenr; and that
the Algerine Ambassador :was expeeled with, `same
:-heautiful Arabian horses: My curio.siity
Gently excited to carry me to this interesting seede,
and-leatered the court-yard of the palace just
.sooit
enough ao see hia African Excellency at the top of.
the great staircase.- But the majority of the people
. of distintition had, I was told, already passel by to
the drawing-room, on hich acc:Amt I resolved-to
resnamathere till the breaking. up of the levee. s But
s I had been' on foot several hours that ',day, and
felt extremely latigned, and was not in health, I
w;lkel-down' the piazza, and leant against one of
the. pillars which.support it. I had nat been in this
situation more than two miinites, When I heard 'be;
hind me' an exclamation, in a low bo-n-se
" Never fearaoe ! I'll warrant you, I'll sticks it into
his great guts." I involuntarily turned round, and
saw, ayith an' horror which I never 'shall forget, an
shabailyadresseil fellow, apparently half
drunk, witba.large chrsii knife in' his, hand opened,
which he pot'under his coat in. great haste. Two
genteelly dressed Meat, who hadalie appearance -4
foreigners, stood ,beforebirnal'o Whom he had ad-
dressed this diabhlical speech, and who, I make no
doubt, had incited him to t his bloody puraoae.•
ther the two men saw me, and auspe6ted that I had-
observed them, I know not,. bat immediately they
.left the assassin /sander, the piazZa; and Walked arm
• in 'arm out of the front of the palace, where a great
number of persons were waiting,' It will appear
very extraordinary, an-I almost incredfble, that these
two Men, in introducing this asaassin, should be able
to escape the observai ion of.the erowa at the frtint of
the palace, or of-others who were frequently paving
up andalown the piatzave I can otily aecount for it
by supposing- that these wretches had' entered the
piazza from some avenue very near it, and had seiza
cd a favourable-opportunity-before the.hteaking up
of the levee, and at a tittle avln.-ay many of the, spec-
-
tatora had departed horn the court-yard. Proitably
escaped their observation, by being rather thin in
person, and standing with my, arms folded oti the
opposite side of the pillar. It-will readily he believ-
, ad,. that, the suddenness and sineularity Of this in-
cident mt-ht have 'placed me in a most painful predia
Carwilt; Indeed 1 cannot; even at this distance 'Of_
time,
_think of it Without pain. I felt alternately.
hot and colde -and•was inclined to doubt the evi-
• dence of my-senses, anel to suppose ,it wholly an
Illusion. I still,- however,preServed sufficient pre-
-settee of mind attd recolledion' to be aware, that
here was evidently the premeditation of an attempt
On the life of some one ; that not a single creature
but myself was privy to it;; -and that I had an heavy
duty attached: to me to defeat the intentions of this
villain, by, my -interference and a6ti'vity. In this very
unoomfortabre state of \mind; I did not, however,
lose sight of the assassin. As he sauntered about, I
followed him at a shalt distance, and as I occasion
ally passed him, could easily discern the point of the
knife under his coat.- I once observed him shut the
knife wiih his left hand, and convey it with great
ak;autiolt into his packet. This left him at liberty to
take,a pinch or two of sneiff'frorhea shabby box.
The knife was, however, immediately, and: with
great dexterity, replaced in his right hand ujader-his
coat. Although I followed him in this manner for
almost the space of an' hour, and scrutinized all his,
aaions so minutely, it is astonishing that I did not
excite either his suspicion/or observation. During
this period, I revolved in my mind 'various projeas
:to defeat his villainous 'intentions. At one time, I
had resolveaeto hasten up to liow-street, and give
information at the police:csEce.• This project I gave
up, from the fear that during my absence he might
hate ofe6ted his bloody purpose, At lasa [conclud-
ed to search out one of the guards, and to havethim •
apprehended,' if possible, without exciting a to-
-Mutt. Jost,at this period; I was very much greti-
fled with seeing several men (whom ke'all pages) in'
the royal livery, and with cane§ in their hands, enter
and place themselves at certain distances
from each other. , I soon found that they were sta-
'tioned there to -regulate :the attendince oft he ser-
vants of those who were. at the li vee. observed
that'aperson'with a white wand•stood at the bottom,
.of the great staircase, and on' the appearance of ally ,
one refuroing froM the drawing-room, he announced
with a loud voice their name and quality; This no-
- tice was ,repeated by one of these pages; and again
by another nearest' him, and so on from! one to an-
other, by, which means the servants immediately at-
teaded. I addresSed
itnysell to ore of these men, ,
'and drawing; him aside to avoid being overheard, I
tacit-me:l him, in as few words as I. could, what I
had heard, and what I had , seen. At the same
ticric I' described to him the dress of the
lain 4 which appeared to be that of an 'hair-.
dresser,' and pointed out his •situatiOn at •no great 1
distance from ourselves. I felt somewhat reliev-,
ed rat ,this step,e and watched the countenance
and'aedons of the, page with so much anxiety, tha!,
I telt,l confess, rather mortified at his not taking-sot'
immediate-and waive a part as I wished., The csorn-
patay was now returning- very fast 'fromrthe levee,
and his Majesty's- post-cnaiseewith a 'pair of black