Star.
London, England, 1809-09-06 00:00:00

• - DE.P.R.ErliftiON OF PAPER MONEY.. •
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One cause of the present depreciation deserves the
serious consideration of Governtnent. We pointed
out some time ago, and we must again advert to it.
While articles of .contraband were deposited in the
Islands of Guernsey and Alderney, English bills of
exchange were received for them, and the smuggling
• trade was carried on in the same manner as any in-
land traffic, that requires no exportation of specie.
But the trade has since been driven into a new chan-
nel., Depots of contraband articles have been f rmed
on the French coast, and smuggling is carried cn to
as great an extent as. before, and the advantages cf
the circuitous trade are lost to our own fellow-sub-
. jells and given to our enemies. But the mischief, as
far as it affects the subject in question, is alarming.
Gold must be now exported to pay for these commo-
dities, as the French receive nothing else in return.
.Hence above a year ago we mentioned that guineas
.were bought for exportation on the Eastern coast at a
premium of 2s. or in other words, paper money was
at a discount of 10 per Cent. Private accounts from
rhishing confirm this depreciation. The Island of
Walcheren was one of the great emponums of con.:
araband articles, of which a considerable quantity was
found there.
But France is not in want of similar ports to attract
thestmuggler. Morlaix, Cherbourg, Ostend, and in- I
.;. flejescleeery creek and harbour opposite to our coast,
..:4143e.be eaSily, stored with goods for the convenience
of the illegal trader, with the same disadvantage to
*-411.4 country. Lord Noarn and Mr. PITT had the
'same Ohjectin view, but they had the sagacity of
' foosseeing the disastrous consequences of giving up
,our advantages to our enemies.
i• • •

t a IMPROMPTU,
•• ON itINWING THE BOW-STREET STATURS.
'a! t
nth steady step and brow serene,
he Alto e of CoMroY is seen;

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While her glum Sister, stiff as post,
Seems of Poor TRA C E or—the Ghost!"

XArP/t.

• ANOTHER.
it Mott Po MMONT !" sari Jack,," then suppose
" 'Pother's her sLiter NAN---they're like as slats !"
A GROUNDLING.'

Yesterday the Loan gefAYOR ordered the price
bread to be continued at Is.'2ld. the quartern loaf of
'Wheaten, and Is. Itd. household.
A female child abut a month old was found at.the
door of M-r. Hoo, in Charlotte.street, Rathbone.place,
on Sunday night, wrapped in a filthy rug. The child
was taken iu by the Lady of the house, and taken
care of.
A singislar accident happened on Sunday night, in.
Wardour.street. Two singe-horse chaises traversing'
the street in apposite directions, came in contact with
each other, and the shafts of each chaise entering the
• br.east of the opposite horse, both the horses were killed
on the spot. 'The parties in the chaises escaped unhurt.
An alarming circumstance took place last week on
the farm of Messrs. Hellands, of Ruckland, Lincoln-

shire. On Thursday se'nnight, about three o'clock
in the afternoon, a ball of fire, npparently 'a yard in,
• diameter, passed close by a stack of hay, on which
two- men were at work, and struck the end of an ad-
joining cottage. This alarming phenomenon passed
so neir the men on the stack as to render them for
some-rinie quite stqpified, and 'unable to render any
assistanciro the inhabitants inthecottage, wfkb con-
sisted of a latiourer, his wife, 'and family. The ball
in its descent struck the upper part of the gable, which
was of btick, in a slanting-direction, and • entered the
room- of the terrified family, then. at dinner, tear-
ing up several of the bricks in the Boor immediately
under the mates chair, and drove him with consider-
able-violence to the opposite wall. He received no,
other injury than a bruise from a fall. The heat was
very perceptible to the men on, the stack, and in the
'cottage it was-very intense, attended with a suffocat-
big smell. The poor fellow, in his fright, crept out
bf the door way on his hands and knees; to the no
alitizn of his panic-struck friends on the stank,
•
Who— no dolibt took him for a belng of another wotild,;
ltis clOthes being .singed nearly black by the consum-
ing fluid. Although only one mass of fire was vi. j
Bible, it made two large apertures in the gable, and
the bricks driven from the tor were literally dashed
'ice pieces, besides considerable injury being done to
other parts of the building. I

Joinisow.—A gentleman once. told Br. ktnKSON;
.that a friend of ins, looking into the Dictionary which
the Doctor had lately published, could not find the
word ocean. " Not find the word ocean," exclaimed
Our leticographer ; " Sirs I doubt the veracity of your !
information !" He instantly stalked into his library, ,
and opening the work in question with the utmost im- '
. patience, at last triumphantly put his finger upon the 1
object of research, adding-, " There, Sir, there is.,
ocean I" The gentleman was preparing to apologize
for the mistake ; but the Doctor dismissed the subject
with " never mind it, Sir, perhaps Mr. * • • spells'
Ocean with an s."

Da. HENNIKER.—The following anecdote is well
known, yet we are induced to repeat it, since we
much doubt whether it has been attributed to its just
author ; who, being in a private conversation with
the late Earl of Chatham, his Lordship, amongst other
questions, asked him how. to define wit?—" Wit,
my Lord, (said Dr. Henniker) is what a pension
would be, given by yeur LOrdship to your humble
servant—a good thing well applied."
PRIOR.—As Prior was one day surveying the apart-
ments at Versailles, being thewn the victories of
Lewis, painted by Le Brun, and asked, whether the
King of England's palace had any such decorations ?
—" The monuments of n 4, master's actions," said
• he, " are to be seen every where but in his own
house."—lt has been observed, that the pictures a
Le Brun are not only in themselves sufficiently,osten-
tatious, but were explained by inscriptions so arrogant
that Boileau and Racine thought it necessary to wale
them more simple.
COLLINS.—During one of the lucid intervals of this
wiglappy poet., he was visited by an ingenious triendo
fund him wito a )took in his ha. d; ch bone,
iiteS what he 'aii.;ii,eitA," that ``.hel32:ttja
one book, but that Was the bee." It was the New
westatunit in English.

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