The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-23 00:00:00

INUNDATIONS IN FRANCE

SWIMMING.

Patrono Corporis Piscatorum et Urinatorutn.
If they only presented them with a medal, with an
appropriate inscription, it would be a mean of stir-
ing them up to farther exertions.

I am, Sir, your's, &c.
F. S., Oct. 19, 1827. D. P.
P. S. Natation or Swimming is an important art,
though but little known and appreciated by many
people ; and it is an art easily and soon learned by
boys or men, if they have a good swimmer to teach
them. They should first learn the elementary prin-
ciples out of water, and then attempt it in water, in
a bathing dress of calico. If you think the above
worth public notice, it is at your service. I could
give you a deal of information on swimming. I was
.a swimmer near .50 years ago, and so I am now, and
as fond of it as ever I was. If you Gentlemen,
Editors of Papers, would give all such accounts of
swimming as you meet with worth notice, you
would be doing a public good, and highly gratify a
numerous class of your readers and well-wishers.

AWFUL VISITATION.--
This day, at half-
past eleven o'clock, as a man in the dress of a sail,* was
passing along Tothill-street, Westminster, he suddenly fell
back, and remained motionless for several minutes. The
extraordinary appearance of the man attracted the attention
of the passengers, who immediately went up, and conveyed
him into the shop of Mr. Hindle, surgeon, where the un-
fortunate man expired in a short time. An inquest will
be held this day before Mr. Higgs, Coroner for Westminster.
REMARKABLE CABBAGE.--On the 16th of
March last, Mr. Robert Lane, of Mottram St. Andrew,
near this town, sowed an onion bed; among the seed was
a stray cabbage seed, of the Scot kind ; without being
hoed, or any care being taken of it, it grew to an enormous
-size, and being cut on Sunday last, it was found to be of
tile extraordinary weight of 25 pounds !—Maecles.field
Herald.
Cobbler 'Will, whose name has been familiar
with the public, in connexion with the murder of Mr.
Akehuret and housekeeper, at Fetcham, Surrey, has passed
through Ringwood, on his way to a ncighbonring town in
Dorsetshire, where he claims considerable property, which
is said to have devolved to him by the death of an elder
brother, a respectable surveyor Lately deceased.—Hants
Chronicle.

An extraordinary mail robbery, we hear, has
taken place in this neighbourhood this week,—the walking
postman between Aynho and Brackley being stopped
and robbed of four bags. The robber, it is said, had
afterwards gone by the mail coach to London, and there
being apprehended, was brought down in custody on Fri-
day morning, in the same mail-coach, to be examined in
the immediate vicinity of the robbery. [Since the above
was composed, we learn that two nien were concerned iu
the robbery, one of whom was found at Banbury. The
property they had obtained was greater than might have
been expected, being about 300/. We are glad to announce
that the greatest part of the property has been recovered,
and that the robbers were on Friday committed to North-
ampton gaol.]—Becks Chronicle.
A remarkable instance of self-destruction oc-
curred, on §unday last, at Towersey, Bucks. Ann, wife
of John Jackman, of that place, bad been for some time in
a deepondiag state, but appeared as well as usual on that
morning, and ate her breakfast heartily. She was soon
afterwards left alone by a relation, and was seen by one of
ler childr.en washing her hands in a pan containing about
half a pad, full of water. A short time after,
she was
discovered sitting on the floor, with the pan, inverted on
her head, nearly dead, and expired in about two hours' a f terwards. It is supposed she held her head in thepan,-
and in her struggles turned it in the position in which
she
WAS found. Deceased was about forty-six years old,.and
has left a family of five children to lament her melancholy
end.—Bucks Chronicle.

A SEXTON INHUMED.--A few evenings
since a sexton, who resides within fifty miles of Chelford,
in this county, formed the resolution of watching and cap-
turing certain youths who had been in the practice of steal-
ing his walnuts. Armed with a good resolution, he sallied
forth to the scene of action, and found two striplings in
the act of premeditated plunder; he challenged ti :em, and
demanded an instant surrender; scoffings and revilings
were the returns to his commands and exhortations. The
sexton then said, that he would carry the intruders to a
constable, and place them in durance vile; when Jo ! the
tables were turned, and the young thieves, bearing the digger
of graves to his chapel-yard, cast him into a new-madegrave.
The "house of the dead" was very deep, the evening was unu-
finally dark, and it rained with all the vehemence of an equi •
noctial storm. The sexton, thus inhumed, roared aloud,
the neighbourhood was alarmed, and many well-disposed
persons flew to the consecrated ground, whence the dolor-
ousiad
sounds proceeded. An old woman declared that she
seen/Satan bear the sexton through the air, and drop
him into a pit, and that, no doubt, he had sufEeient cause
to lament his exit from this world to " the Lord knew
where he was gone,"At length the voice of this man of
" the turf" was marl), recognised some
who, by the assistance aby • neighbours,
'
a rope, drew him from his un-
comfortable abode, and took him to his home. The grave
was soon tenanted by one who made no con3p
iletfield Herald.

(From the Quotidienne.)
LYONS, OCT. 14.—For two days the waters of
the Rhone have increased in a prodigious degree.
The whole of_ the plain of Brottean is inundated;
the inhabitants have been driven to the first. stories
of
,their houses, and a number or draught cattle
which could not be got out of the stables have
perished. The Bourbon course is covered and the
works of the Mound of La Vitriolerie has been in
many Places destroyed.
The intelligence received from Datiphigny, and
from the banks of the Rhone, states that the waters
have occasioned deplorable ravages there. The dili•
gence from Valence to Lyons, which accomplishes
the journey ordinarily in twelve hours, was de-
tained three days. The waters had, however,
greatly diminished, and the river was once more
within ita banks.
At Avignon, the river covered the quays and
streets to a great depth, and flowed into the ware-
houses. The country house of NI. Achard, near
Avignon, was overthrown by the waters. That
merchant 'was swept away by the stream, and ex-
posed to very great danger. He was at length res-
cued, but in a wounded state, and he is still very ill.
Another country house, containing eight persons,
was crumbled to pieces almost at the moment that
a boat, which had gone to their assistance, had
landed them on the quay. A man was snatched
from the stream, lying almost lifeless in a little boat,
and by his side an infant in a cradle.
The town of Roquemauro has lost seventeen
houses, and that of Caderousse more than thirty.
The same day, at two o'clock, persons were still
obliged to pass from street to street in boats. The
Rhone, however, continued to fall. The impetuo-

city of the Ardeche was such, that its stream, as
it were, cut that of the Rhone, which they crossed,
bore down the mound of the opposite bank, and, at
a quarter of a lsague's distance, destroyed the cause-
way which joins the road of Lyons to that of Langue-
doc, by means of the bridge St. Esprit.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'SUN.
SIR—I was much pleased with the account you
gave in your Paper of the 17th inst. of the heroic
courage of a youth, aged 15 years (Master Samuel
Green, of Yougbal), who, after the usher had failed
in his attempt to save his school-fellow from drown-
ing, boldly plunged in, and rescued him from a watery
grave.
It particularly attracted jay attention, as I have a
son, who, at the age of 13 years (in 1819), had the
courage and skill not only to save his school-fellow
from drowning, but also the usher, who had at-I
tempted to save him, but failed, and they both sunk
two or three times; and • he, seeing their danger,
immediately threw himself into the water, and swam
to their assistance, and, laying hold of one of them,
'he brought both of them to the bank, swimming
with one hand, by which means they were both
saved from drowning.
I 'taught him the elementary principles of swim-
ming, on land, and the first time he went into the
water, at the first attempt, he swam, and soon be-
came an expert swimmer.
It is a pity that there is not a Society in Grea
Britain to patronise such courageous youths, as wel
as in Ancient Rome—