Star.
London, England, 1821-12-29 00:00:00

NAi7AI INITELLIGENCE.

Union-street, Bankside, &e. were also in a state of
immersion. Bankside, particularly, from its vicinity
to the river, and the 'several streets adjoining, were
completely covered by the flood:
The following disastrous accounts have been re-
ceived from the country :
Extract of a letter from a Gentleman, on his way
to Salisbury :
STA IN as, Dec. 26.—" I left London in the Old Salis-
bury coach, about four o'clock on Monday afternoon.
It rained heavy, and the night fell dark as pitch.,
Two miles and a quarter short of this place our
coachman pulled up in consequence of a terrible
outcry of distress. He took the coach-lamp in his
hand, and turned it towards the place from whence
proceeded the sound. I looked out of the coach, and
saw, by the glare of the lamp, a man's head just
above the water, about twelve or fifteen yards dis-
tant, and near to him two wheels, half above the
surface. It was plain that a carriage bad been upset,
and that the man was in jeopardy. I made haste
to get out of the coach, to lend a helping hand for
his salvation; and, forgetting that I was an invalid,
ran knee deep into the water, which flowed to the
middle of the highway, without thought or fear.—
The coachman hallooed out thitt the water was very
deep, and that I was in danger. I returned to con-
sult what should be done, but betting impatient lest
the man should sink from sight, I rushed towards
him, and, before I got half way, sunk to the neck.
As I could not swim, and the bottom (muddy) was
entangling my feet, I was glad to crawl out again,
which, with some difficulty, I performed. I now
asked the company to join hands, and let me go in
first, but none having yet paid earnest, they were
unwilling, like the cats, to wet their feet. I then
thought of unharnessing the horses, so as to get the
traces and reins for a safety rope; but the coachman
produced a spare set of traces, and these, tied toge-
ther, were sufficient. One end was made fast round
my body, and the other held by lusty fellows : all now
i.was made safe for me,and ladvanced towards the object
in distress, but coming to the deep water, agaid
plumped in to the neck, and falling forward, had to
be dragged ashore like a log. I was in painful sus-
pense for a few moments how to get at the man, but
seeing that one of the wheels might be reached by
an effort, I made towards this, and getting hold of
it, passed to the other, and from thence, by making
a long arm, caught hold of the man by the collar.
He held fast by something I did not see, I suppose
the pole, and bawled out continually to save his
horses, of which I saw nothing. Having made good
my gripe, I called to the people on shore to haul
away, which they did. I tore the man from his hold,
and we were together dragged to land. Through
the deep water it was well enough, but as I had to
be dragged some yards along the shallow, I was al-
most pulled in two, while the buckle of the trace
sunk into my left breast, where I had the blow from
the trunk last October. This I liked worst, but now
I think all is well. We had the poor man, a London
post-boy, thrust up behind the coach, I mounted and
held him on till we reached a house half a mile on
the way here, where he was attended to. I came on
to this place, where I got a comfortable bed, which,
by the Doctor's advice, I kept all yesterday ; I am
now up and pretty well, and shall proceed to-night on
my destination. It is ascertained that the poor man
must have been in the water an hour, and could never
have been snore.elevated than to save suffocation. He
has been taken to town, and I trust may recover ;
the horses were got out soon after."
BRISTOL—Tuesday, the Birmingham mail,which
usually arrives in this city at six in the morning, did
not reach its destination till one at noon : it was stop-
ped at Norton-mills, between Tewkesbury and Glou-
cester, where the water was six feet deep ; the guide
of .the road being lost, the horses soon got off their
legs, and the greatest danger was evident ; to increa'e
the difficulty, Shurmer's stage-waggon had also been
stopped in its progress, and was rendered immovable ;
one of the horses of the latter was drowned, and ano-
ther died soon after ; but, by the great exertions of
i the coachman and guard, the passengers and mail
horses were preserved : the former were obliged to
go back to Tewkesbury: the parcels and luggage
were left behind, and the mail of letters conveyed
at length to Gloucester, from which it reached this
city, as before stated, about noon. No other coach
reached Bristol from Birmingham during the day,
and this morning (Wednesday) the mail was three
hours after its ti me,being obliged to go by Cheltenham.
DORCUUTER.—A very heavy thunder storm was
experienced on the 18th inst. at Blandford and the
neighbourhood. The tower of Wareham Church
received considerable injury by the lightning that day.
TAUNTON.—The continued rains have considerably
injared the lands in most parts of this county. All
the moors and low grounds present vast sheets of
water. The sheep in many places are suffering by
a disorder incidental to them in wet weather. The
dreadful gale that blew with such awful fury over''
this town and neighbourhood on Thursday night, ap-'
pears to have been general throughout the kingdom.
The effects have been extremely destructive in many
places, but the mischief in this town and its vicinity
has been comparatively light. ,
WoacxaTza.—ln consequence of almost incessant
rains, there has been a rapid succession of floods on II
the river Severn during the last few months. Yester-
day afternoon the inundation had attained a very un-1
usual height, though nearly two feet below the flood
of 1795. The lands on both sides the river are flooded
to a great extent. Of course travelling bat been
touch impeded in various parts of the country. Yes-
terday, Tuesday, the 23d inst. the coach did not ar-
rive in this city till twelve o'clock. This day, the
water had risen so high as to impede the passage over
Tewkesbury Bridge ; in consequence of which the
guard was obliged to take a boat, swim a horse by
&e side of it, and thus gaining the read *hich was
not under water, mounted the horse, and proceeded
for this city. The barometer stood this day (Wed-
nesday, the 26th inst.) 28 3-10ths—a very unusual
depression. We have at length some intimation of
the approach of winter; snow fell on some of the
hills of this County on Sunday, and this morning
Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at the freezing point.
Srastroao.—The late incessant rains have caused
a greater flow of water throughout the low lands and
valleys in our neighbourhood than we have heard ot ,
for many years. The London road, near Carton,
Huntingdonshire, was on Saturday night for some
time impassable for any kind of carriage, and the
Edinburgh Mail was detained full six houra, until the

falling of the water enabled it to effect a paw*, £t
the village of Godmanchester, nearly every house
fias been filled with water by the overflowing of the
Ouse; and some of the inhabitants were compelled,
after making their lower doors and wiarions as close
as possible, tleject their unwelccm3 visitor from their
chamber windows by bucket.. At Wan.fo d, the
Nene rose so high as to inundate the yard of the Hay-
cock Inn • and every village situated in the val ey
through ;frith the Ouse, Nene, or Welland flows, has
experienced some inconvenience from the sad& n
rising of the water. The fens of Lincolnshire are ft r
the greater part three or four feet under water. At
Spalding and its neighbourhood, the Welland rose so -
high on Wednesday morning, that the inhabitan s re-
sident near the river on the Deeping-road, were called
'from their beds at four o'clock, to assist in erectin •
s
a water-tight fence on the crown of the road, to pre-
vent the flood flowing over to the fields on the op-
posite side: numbers of horses and cats, and a very
great quantity of men, were employed on Wednes-
day, to check the inundation; and, notwithstanding
their efforts, we learn, that at half•past seven on Wed-
nesday evening, the water had increased so much as
almost to bid defiance to all their attempts to arrest
its progress.
BIRMINGHAM—The communication between this
place and Bristol is quite stopped, on account of the
great quantity of rain that has fallen within these few
days.; the road in many places is rendered quite im-
passable, particularly below Gloucester and Tewkes-
bury. Christmas-day the Bristol mail did not arrive
here until half-past three o'clock in the afternoon,
although its regular time is five minutes before six
o'clock in the morning ; at the same time running
very great risk, and, after all, was obliged to come
round by way of Cheltenham. The Bristol bags
(with a spare mail from Worcester) did not arrive
this evening until after five o'clock, and the account
the gUard gives is dreadful, the water being, for a
great distance, 10 and 11 to 15 feet deep at Tewkes-
bury, when he, with the bags, was brought over in a
boat, and proceeded to Worcester on horseback. Mr.
Gabb,.the carrier from hence to Bristol, has lost a
very valuable horse; the others, with the driver, nar-
rowly escaping the same fate. The waggon, laden
with very valuable goods, still remains in the flood
under a strong current, but not thrown down, and
therefore it is hoped, if the weather clears up, wit
not sustain much damage. Neither the mail nor the
letters from hence to Bristol are gone out this even-
ing. The Bath coaches have not gone further than
Worcester the last two days, which is only twenty-
six miles from us. The snow is now a foot to four-
teen inches deep, over what is called the Licky, which
is between this place and Worcester.
PLYMOUTH, DEC. 27.—0 n the evening and eight
of Thursday last, we were visited by a tremendous
hurricane of wind and rain from the W.N.W. the
former of which has occasioned considerable damage
in this and the adjacent towns. At Stonehouse, the
chimney of an old house on the quay fell through the
roof and forced the floor of the room, in which a
poor man named Richard Beavis (an old pensioner)
was lying in bed, into the cellar underneath, where
he was crushed to death by the bricks and rubbish.
The stack of chimnies on the New Town Hall, Dock,
yielded to the violence of the gale, and falling with
a dreadful crash on the roof, carried everything be-
fore it, and so materially injured the paintings and
ingenious machinery of the Theatre of Arts, belong-
ing to Mr. Thiodon, which has been exhibited there
for some time past, and which cost him upwards of
£l,OOO, that they are not now worth £250.
OXFORD, Dec, 28.—The floods in the vicinity of
this city have, for some days past, been higher than
ever before remembered, except when caused by the
sudden thawing of ice and snow. In 1809, the flood
came on with great rapidity, in consequence of the
melting of quantities of snow, which had been some
time accumulating.; the present flood proceeds en-
tirely from the rain that has fallen. Tuesday and
Wednesday, nearly the whole of the Christ Church
meadow-path, considered as toater-prof was over-
flown, and in various parts the rivers ran over it with
the noise and force of a cascade ; much of the gravel
is washed away ; the path in many places spoiled,
and the sluice bridge, at the junction of the Cherwell
and Isis, blown up by the force of the water. Most
of the houses in St. Thomas's Parish were knee-deep
in water ; the inhabitants of the new buildings in the
Friars, were obliged to reside up stairs, and were con-
veyed to and from their houses in boats. The Abing.
don and Botley roads were inundated, and in many
places reached to the horses bellies. Magdalen walks
were also overflown, and the various entrances into
Oxford had the appearance of springing from the
bosom of an immense lake. Gosford bridge, on the
Bletchingdon road, was partly blown up, though not
rendered completely impassable.
Sussex.--A very high flood, on Tuesday, inun-
dated all the low lands near Lewes. The water has
not been known to be so high at tickfield, and other
places, for many years. There has not been a higher
flood at Arundel than at present, since the great one
that extended its sweeping havoc to Chichester., At
Bramber the inhabitants, in consequence of the flood
being nearly breast high on the ground-floors of
their houses, are obliged to lire in the upper stories.
The Groyne, at Black Rock Bottom, near Brighton, •
has been so assailed by tire late heavy seas, that little
hope exists of its being able long to withstand further
attacks. The outer part of the work is nearly ren-
dered useless. We still have a continuance of dread-
fully tempestuous weather, and it now blows with
increased fury from the S.C. with torrents of rain.
No collier has been able to come on our beach for -
upwards of two, months.
KttiOSTOW.UI'O2.I..TMA3IES.—The floods are so great
here, that persons calling at the neighbouring houses
are obliged to hire punts.
CHESTER, DEC. 28.—Perhaps so mild a season to
the 24th of this month, as the present, has not been
before recollected by any one living. On Christmas
Day there were in toll bloom, in a garden in Fore-
gate-street, in this City, the primrose, the gilliflower,
the chysanthmam, and the carnation ; all healthy,
and some of very fine colours. The rain, however,
has made dreadful havoc in many parts if the coun-
try : the meadows at Mollington, Allington, Barrow,
and several other places in this neighbourhood, a e
completely under water; and in Staffordshire and
Leicestershire, the accumulation is excessive, particu-
larly in the vicinity of Tamworth.--On Christmas
Eve there was a frost, which was Wowed by a very
Sharp Oue the next night; yesterday A heavy fall of mist.

.~