July 7, 1781, Thomas Craddock, a baker, threw himself over the north side; he cleared the pedestal and the iron rails, but fell just outside of them, near to the N. W. corner.

Jan. 18, 1810, Lyon Levy, a Jew, fell from the gallery, on the east side; he struck the pedestal, but cleared the rails, and fell one yard outside near to the S. E. corner.

The fall from the top of the gallery inclosure to the ground, is about 175 feet.

CAPTAIN DAVID ROCHE, THE TIGER.

His

This unfortunate gentleman, whose father was descended from one of the best families in the county of Limerick, was born in Dublin, in the year 1729, and was instructed in the elements of polite education in that metropolis. turn for a military life was so apparent, that the late Earl of Chesterfield, while he was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, offered to give him a commission; but his friends, having different views with respect to his settlement in life, declined that nobleman's favour; and Roche, who determined to be nothing but a soldier, neglected every other pursuit, and continued in a very dissipated situation for some years afterwards; when, having been unfortunately in company with some collegians, who had killed a watchman in a riot, he fled to Cork; and, on the war breaking out between France and England, he went over to North America, where he entered a volunteer in one of the provincial regiments, and gave proofs of his courage in several skirmishes with the Indians in the French interest.

He was soon after taken particular notice of by Colonel Massy, and several other distinguished officers; but an unlucky circumstance happened, which prevented his preferment in that part of the globe: an officer in General Murray's regiment had lost a very valuable fowling-piece, which he soon after heard was in the possession of Roche, and obtained an order to examine his baggage, among which the piece was found. It was in vain for the accused to protest his innocence, as one Burke, a corporal, whom he declared he bought it of, swore he knew nothing of the transaction.

Upon this, in the summary method usually adopted in the army, he was brought to a Court Martial; and though many circumstances appeared in his favour, he was ordered to quit the service, with every mark of disgrace. Distracted at this sentence, Roche challenged his prosecutor, who refused to meet him, as he had been degraded from the rank of a gentleman; on which he insulted the officer in the grossest terms, and flew to the piquet guard, where he attacked the corporal sword in hand. The man defended himself till his companions came to his assistance; and, on their disarming the assailant, in a paroxysm of despair, he jumped at Burke's throat, and almost strangled him before they were disengaged. From his behaviour on this occasion, he obtained the name of the TIGER.

The army, a few days afterwards, proceeded to force the French lines at Ticonderago, and Roche was left, totally abandoned by his friends, and pennyless, at Albany, a town many miles distant from that fortress. In this disagreeable condition, with singular resolution, he joined a party of Indians allied with the English, and, by forced marches, arrived time enough to attack with the troops under General Abercrombie, when he received four wounds, and gave various proofs of uncommon courage in the transactions of that unfortunate day.

The stigma, however, with respect to the robbery, still remained upon him, and all his endeavours to justify himself were without effect.

After undergoing a variety of distresses, which, he declared, he never could have supported, but for the humanity of Governor Rogers, he embarked, in consequence of receiving a supply of money from his friends, the latter end of the year 1758, at New York, for England, where he arrived soon after. By the above supply, Roche's finances were considerably augmented, and his active spirit prompted to purchase a commission, which, just as he had agreed for, the disgraceful treatment he had met with in America was mentioned as an objection to his being received in the regiment: he traced the origin of this report, with great industry, to a Captain Campbell, whom he insulted in the British Coffee-house at Charing-cross; the captain resented this behaviour with great spirit, and a duel ensued, in which both parties were dangerously wounded.

When Roche was able to go abroad, he romantically declared, in every public place, that, as he could not obtain justice upon the villain in America, who had attacked his character, he was determined to chastise every one here who should mention any thing to his disadvantage.

Colonel Massey, and another field officer, being in the Green Park, soon after their return from America, Roche accosted them as men who had it in their power to remove the obloquy thrown upon him; but those gentlemen, treating him with that contempt which they thought he deserved, he abused ⚫ the colonel and his friend, and struck at the latter with a stick; the officer immediately drew and disarmed his antagonist, and amidst a number of spectators gave him a severe drubbing with his own cane. This defeat only irritated Roche the more; and, understanding the officer had set out for Chester the next day, he, frantic with rage and disappointment, followed him post to that city, where he met with a second discomfiture, which was attended with a wound in the sword-arm that disabled him for several months.

A circumstance happened a short time after, which placed the subject of these memoirs in a very distinguished light; it was no less than the confession of Burke, who had been mortally wounded by a scalping party of Indians, in which he declared he himself had stolen the fowling-piece, and afterwards privately sold it to Roche, who was unacquainted with the manner in which he obtained it: This intelligence at once restored Roche to the good opinion of his brother officers, who seemed to vie with each other in giving him proofs of their friendship; and he soon after, without any expence to himself, obtained a lieutenancy in one of the new-raised regiments on the Irish Establishment. This may be reckoned the most fortunate period of his life; he was received with the greatest warmth by his friends in Dublin, and, as he was an excellent dancer, was no small favourite at the assemblies in that metropolis, and soon gave an instance of courage, which recommended him in a particular manner to the ladies.

There was a set of beings at that time who infested the city of Dublin, who were called Sweaters. They were young men of some distinction, who used tɔ amuse themselves, as they called it, after they left the tavern, with breaking off the bottom of their scabbards, and leaving out about half an inch of the point of their swords, with which they slightly wounded almost every one that was so unlucky as to fall into their hands. A set of these wretches had late one evening attacked an old gentleman, his son and daughter, on Ormond Quay; Roche, accidentally hearing the cries of a woman, ran to her assist

ance, and rescued her, after desperately wounding the ringleader and two others of that abominable gang.

The credit of this exploit was increased by his collecting together a number of officers, who entered into an agreement to rid the public of those despicable disturbers of the city; which they spiritedly executed, and in a few weeks their depredations were no longer heard of.

The conclusion of the peace, in the year 1763, occasioned Roche to return to London, where he lived in a way much superior to his income. He was soon after married, to a Miss Pitt, with whom he pretended he was to receive a portion of £4000, and accumulated debts to a large amount upon that occasion. After waiting a considerable time, his creditors lost all patience, and he was at length thrown into the King's-bench, where he experienced a variety of misfortune.

It is not unworthy of remark, that in this place the spirit of the Tiger was so broken, that he seemed to have lost all sense of honour, and gave several proofs of being planet-struck. On a trifling dispute with a fellow prisoner one day, he received a blow in the face, to which he made no other return than by turning aside his face and bursting into a flood of tears; and, at another time, in a quarrel with the celebrated Buck English, he was beat in a barbarous manner, without shewing any signs of resentment.

An Act of Grace happily relieved Roche from the state of despondency into which his miseries had thrown him, and a small legacy, which had been left him by a relation, enabled him to make a tolerable figure once more in the gay world. He resumed his former spirit, and oftentimes in company became exceedingly offensive, from his arrogance and irritable disposition. One instance we shall give out of many. Being at the Bedford billiard table, which was extremely crowded, he was knocking the balls about with a cue, when Major Williamson, with whom he was engaged on business, desired him to leave off, as he monopolized the table, and hindered gentlemen from playing. "Gentlemen!" exclaimed Roche, with a sneer, 66 Why, Major, except you and I, and two or three more, there is not a gentleman in the room, the rest are all black legs, by G--d." On leaving the place, the major expressed some astonishment at his rudeness, and wondered that out of so numerous an assembly, it was not resented. "Oh, d the scoundrels, Sir," said Roche, "there was no fear of that, as there was not a thief in the room that did not suppose himself to be one of the two or three gentlemen I mentioned."

-n

Mrs. Roche underwent a series of neglect and ill usage, and about the year 1768 parted from her husband; and he soon after made an acquaintance with a young lady of good fortune, who constantly frequented St. James's Park. This person and her mother had lived together in a very genteel manner for some time, when her unhappy attachment in favour of Roche commenced. The extragancies he daily ran into, and his constant visits at the gaming-table, soon exhausted their income, and they were presently after obliged to leave London, in consequence of the debts they were involved in.

Having a dispute with a Captain F. the latter grossly insulted him at the Colcannon Club; in consequence of which, a duel ensued, and Roche gave a fresh proof of his spirit and generosity. The latter end of the year 1772, as he was going alone to his apartments at Chelsea, he was attacked at midnight by two ruffians, near the water-works, who presented their pistols to his breast; on which he jumped backwards, and drew his sword, declaring

he would not be robbed. Proctor, one of the villains, immediately fired, and the ball grazed the captain's head; he then briskly attacked them, and, pinning (to use his own expression) one of them to the wall, the other fled. Roche secured his prisoner, and his companion was taken the next morning. For this offence they were tried in the January sessions 1773, at the Old Bailey, and Proctor capitally convicted; but by the intercession of Roche, who shewed great humanity upon the trial, afterwards received his Majesty's mercy, and was transported.

In the same year, Roche was appointed Captain of a company of foot in the East-India service, and embarked on board the Vansittart, Captain Young, which sailed for India in May 1773; in which ship the unhappy quarrel commenced between Captain Ferguson and himself, the particulars of which are thus related.-Roche had not been many days on board when he had differences with most of the passengers. Among others, he quarrelled with Captain Ferguson, to whom he behaved so ill at Madeira, that Capt. Ferguson was under the necessity of calling him out; but it is said he refused to fight, and in the presence of Mr. Murray, the Consul, and other gentlemen, made all the concessions which Captain Ferguson required.

The behaviour of Captain Roche, upon this occasion, prevented the most respectable of the passengers from ever speaking to him again; and, having persevered in the same conduct, all the gentlemen in the ship, a few weeks after, unanimously insisted, with Captain Young, that he should be expelled their table; which was accordingly done, with circumstances of the most mortifying contempt. This desperate situation, into which his own conduct had brought him, excited his revenge; and, as he looked upon his behaviour at Madeira to have been at least the first cause of this, his revenge seems to have been principally directed against Captain Ferguson; though to the common soldiers and sailors, the only people who conversed with him, he had frequently denounced his vengeance against every gentleman in the ship. Upon the 4th of September, the very day of the arrival of the ship at the Cape of Good Hope, Roche came ashore late in the afternoon, after all the other passengers; and in the dusk of the evening came skulking about the door of the house where he had learned that Captain Ferguson lodged. When it was dark, Roche sent a message to Captain Ferguson in the name of a friend, Lieut. Martin, that he wished to see him at his lodgings. Captain Ferguson went, and, as he turned the corner of the street, was stabbed to the heart by Roche, who stood with his sword ready drawn for the purpose. Roche then made his escape. Capt. Ferguson, it is said, received no fewer than nine wounds, and all upon the left side, which must have been given when off his guard. It is said that Roche was since broken on the wheel at the Cape of Good Hope. And thus terminated, in a shameful manner, a life which, if it had been regulated by the dictates of reason, might have been eminently serviceable to the community.

AWFUL VENGEANCE.

The following instance of dreadful retribution, is given in substance from the mouth of a Spanish gentleman and distinguished patriot, of unblemished character, who assisted in performing the last sad offices to the intrepid heroine :-When the town of Naval Carners, about thirty-five miles south of Madrid, was taken by the troops of the Imperial Spoiler, among the horrid

butcheries that succeeded, was the inhuman massacre of the father and mother of a lady, named Mariana Samaniego. After the tumult of blood and murder had, in some measure, subsided, Gen Veluci, and six of his officers, entering the house of the above lady demanded refreshment. Probably the idea then first struck her mind. In a short time the meal was ready, and they prepared to eat; when one of the officers suggested the probability that it was poisoned, (for some times, when villages were deserted, whole vineyards were poisoned; and numbers died by drinking,) but the firm and fearless Mariana, to avert suspicion, offered to eat with them, and accordingly they all sat down together.

After the meal, Mariana said to Veluci, "You murdered my father and mother, and in return I have destroyed you. In a short time you will all be dead;" and, indeed, in a few hours they all expired; a dreadful sacrifice to the manes of her parents and the freedom of her country. But to crown all, the intrepid Samaniego, soon fell dead among her lifeless guests.

While it is impossible to mourn for the fate of the minions of Napoleon, we cannot but lament the destiny of the heroic maid, and heave a sigh of regret that a country, once the greatest in the world, should have become a prey to rapine, cruelty, and blood.

HORRIBLE CATASTROPHE

The following are the details of an unfortunate catastrophe which happened in the city of Eisnach in 1810.

About half-past eight o'clock, on the first of September, a French waggon, drawn by nine horses, and loaded with fourteen cases of gunpowder, cartridges, and grenades, arrived at the gates of the city, and entered it; in spite of the difficulties which arose, the waggons continued their route, although it was remarked that one of them smoked; it hardly arrived at the marketplace, opposite one of the inns, when it caught fire with so great an explosion, that it was heard at Erfert, twelve leagues distant. In a moment the neighbouring houses were on fire; every person who came near them was shattered to pieces. The limbs of seven cannoniers, who escorted the waggon, and of the horses were scattered in the streets. Two young married people, who were sitting in front of their house, were crushed to pieces by an enormous free-stone, which the explosion hurled upon them. M. Counsellor Dorr was burnt, and seven persons were found dead in his house. Captain Schenk occupied the second floor of this house; he was at that time in his room, with his wife, children, and a very interesting person, daughter of Eichell, minister of finance; when the captain perceived the conflagration, he precipitated himself into the street, and was saved; his family and Miss Sophia Eichell fell victims to the flames. In another house, Šellett, an advocate, who had been married about three weeks, was sitting by the side of his young wife, on a couch which looked into the street; the explosion struck the wall and the top of the house, and, by a miraculous phenomenon, the couch fell from the second floor into the street, and the married couple were quite free from any harm, but all the others perished in the flames. The conflagration lasted until the afternoon of the next day, although there were more than a hundred pumps at work, and a prodigious number of persons assembled from all points to render assistance; there were about forty houses burnt; the windows in all the houses of the city were broken, and there were