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TERRIFIC REGISTER.

nephew!" but the nephew not coming, he would go himself to the laboratory, always continuing his lecture as if he still had been with his auditors, and at his return had commonly finished the domonstration he was then about.

One day, in the absence of his brother and nephew, being left to perform the experiments himself, he said, "Gentlemen, you see this cauldron upon this brazier; well, if I was to cease stirring a single moment an explosion This was no sooner would ensue, which would blow us all into the air!" said than he forgot to stir, and his prediction was accomplished; the explosion All the windows in the laboratory taking place with a most horrible crash! were smashed to pieces, and two hundred auditors whirled away into the garden!

A PREACHER SAVED.

During the protectorate of Cromwell, a cobler of New York killed an Indian: but as this man was an eloquent preacher as well as a cobler, the colonists determined not to lose him; they tried him in the accustomed manner, and he was found guilty; but on the day of execution, they took a poor old weaver who had long been bed-ridden, out of his bed, and hanged him instead of the real offender.

WONDERFUL PROVIDENCE.

The following singular account is related by Thuanus in his History of the civil wars of France. When the Catholics besieged Rouen, in the year 1562 (a period of time rendered remarkable on account of the civil wars which originated from religious disputes), Francis Civile, a gentleman of the Calvinist party received a wound, which made him fall senseless from the Some soldiers, who believed him dead, stripped ramparts into the town. and buried him with the negligence usual on such occasions. An affectionate servant whom he had retained in his service, desirous of giving his master a more honourable burial, went with a design to find his remains. His search being fruitless among so many dead bodies, he covered them again with earth, As he was retiring, but so that the hand of one of them remained uncovered.

he happened to look behind him, and perceived the hand, and fearing that object might incite the dogs to unearth the body to devour it, he returned in order to cover it, when the light of the moon just emerging from a cloud discovered to him a diamond ring on the finger, which he knew to be Civile's. Without delay he took up his master, who had just breath in him, and carried him to the hospital of the wounded; but the surgeons being fatigued with labour, and considering him as on the point of death, took no trouble about his wounds. The servant found himself obliged to take him to his own house, where he laid for four days without any help. At the end of that time conquetwo physicians visited him, and by their care and attention he was placed in a fair way of recovery. The town having been taken by assault, the rors had the barbarity to throw him out of the window. He fortunately fell on a heap of dung, where, abandoned by every one, he lay three days in the most miserable condition. Du Croiset, his relation, had him carried off in the middle of the night, and sent to a house in the country, where his

wounds were dressed, and he completely recovered, Civile lived forty years after this event in perfect health.

That particular Providence which had saved this man from so many perils had also presided over his birth. His mother dying with child in the absence of his father, had been buried without any one thinking of extracting the infant by the Cæsarian operation. The day after she was interred, the husband arrived, and learned with the greatest surprise and sorrow, the death of his wife, and the little attention that had been paid to the fruit of her womb. He had her immediately dug up, opened, and extracted Civile still living!

A SINGULAR EXPERIMENT.

"In the anatomy house of Trinity College, Dublin, (says Dr. Wilkinson), is a human skeleton of between seven and eight feet high. They told me it belonged to one Magrath, an orphan, in this county, somewhere near Cloyne. This child fell into the hands of the famous Berkeley, then bishop of that see, This subtile doctor who denied the existence of matter, was as inquisitive in his physical researches, as he was whimsical in his metaphysical speculations. When I tell you that he had well nigh put an end to his own existence, by experimenting what are the sensations of a person dying on the gallows, you will be more ready to forgive him for the treatment of the poor foundling, whose story I am now to finish. The bishop had a strange fancy to know whether it was not in the power of art to increase the human stature. this unhappy orphan appeared to him a fit subject for trial. He made his essay according to his preconceived theory, whatever it might be, and the consequence was, that Magrath became seven feet high in his sixteenth year. He was carried through various parts of Europe, for the last years of his life, and exhibited as the prodigious Irish giant. But so disproportioned were his organs that he contracted an universal imbelicity of body and mind, and died of old age at twenty. His under jaw was monstrous, yet the skull did not exceed the common size."

And

COURAGEOUS INDIFFERENCE.

At the battle of Fontenoy, an officer of the name of Honeywood was endeavouring to cleave down a French soldier, but his hanger sticking in his shoulder, the fellow gained strength enough to run him through the side with his bayonet, while another struck him on the head and face with a sabre, so that he immediately fell. Next day Lord Robert Manners, looking at the waggons that were carrying off the wounded, beheld Honeywood on one of them, with half a dozen soldiers lying on the top of him-" Poor fellow !" said his lordship, "thou art now done for, sure enough!" But what was his surprise, when, on arriving at Hannau, he received a message with " Mr. Honeywood's compliments," desiring him to go and see his wounds dressed. He went directly" And now Bob," said the gallant creature" look sharp, and thou shalt see my brains, and Middleton, the surgeon here, shall testify that I have some."

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THE melancholy scenes and dreadful massacres exhibited in the town and on the bridge of Wexford, during the rebellion in Ireland, in the year 1798, and which are here recorded, may, to some readers, appear not only extraordinary but incredible; yet they are not more extraordinary than true, as the following account from the pen of an eye-witness can testify.

On the 19th of June, the Protestant women in Wexford received the heartrending intelligence that all the prisoners of that persuasion were to be murdered by the rebels the next day. The next morning, the never-to-be-forgotten 20th of June, Thomas Dixon, one of the rebels, rode to the gaol door, and swore that not a prisoner should be alive against sunset; then rode into the street, repeating the same with horrid imprecations, adding, "that not a soul should be left to tell the tale." Neither tongue nor pen can describe the dismal aspect of that melancholy day-a day in which the sun did not so much as glimmer through the frowning heavens. The town bell rung, and their drums beat to arms, to assemble the rebels for the purpose of joining those at the Three Rocks, in order to march against general Moore's brigade. In the evening Dixon assembled the murdering band, and immediately hoisted that harbinger of destruction, the black flag, which had on one side a bloody cross, and on the other, the initials-M. W. S. that is, " Murder without sin," signifying, that it was no sin to murder a Protestant. It was an awful sight to such prisoners as understood the dreadful signification of those letters Having paraded some time to give more solemnity to the scene, the poor Protestants who were confined in the gaol and prison-ship, were led forth to the slaughter.-They were conducted under a strong guard of unrelenting furies to the bridge, piked to death, with every circumstance of cruelty, and then flung into the river to leave room for more! While this work was going on, a rebel captain being shocked at the cries of the victims, ran to the popish bishop, who was then drinking wine with the utmost composure

VOL. II.

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after his dinner, and knowing that he could stop the massacre sooner than any other person, entreated of him "for the mercy of Jesus" to come and save the prisoners. He, in a very unconcerned manner, replied, "It was no affair of his," and requested the captain would "sit down and take a glass with him," adding, that the people should be gratified!" The captain refused the bishop's invitation, and filled with abhorrence and distress of mind, walked silently away. All this time the merciless pike-men were butchering the poor Protestants on the bridge; some they would perforate in places not mortal, to prolong and increase their torture, others they would raise aloft on their pikes, and while the poor friendless victim writhed in the extreme of agony, and his blood streamed down the handles of their pikes, they exulted round him with savage joy. In the midst of this torturing work, General Edward Roche rode up in great haste, and bid them beat to arms, declaring," that Vinegar-hill was nearly surrounded by the king's troops, and that all should repair to the camp, as reinforcements were then wanting.' This express had a wonderful effect; they instantly closed the bloody scene, and fled in all directions, leaving three of the prisoners on their knees. Some of the rebel guard returned shortly after, and remanded back the prisoners, who had continued all the time on their knees, without making the least effort to escape, being stupefied with terror. Shortly after that sanguinary monster Thomas Dixon, returned; his thirst for Protestant blood not being yet satiated, he ordered out the remainder of the prisoners from the gaol and prison-ship, the greater part of whom were tortured to death in like manner as the former. He then proceeded to the market-house, and having fixed his vulture's eye on others, dragged them to the fatal bridge for execution. While they were enduring the pangs of death, who can convey to the mind and feelings of another, what the remainder felt on this occasion? After butchering them, they returned and brought out ten more, whom they also barbarously murdered. The third time they took out eighteen, and were massacring them, when Dick Monk rode into the town from Vinegar-hill, with his shoes and stockings off, and shouting, "D――n your souls, you vagabonds, why don't you go out and meet the enemy that are coming in, and not be murdering in cold blood?" Some Protestant women followed him, and asked him, "What news?" he replied, "Bad news indeed, the king's forces are encamped round Vinegar-hill." He then rode towards the convent, and perceiving the women (who were anxious to be more fully informed of this matter) following him, he drew out a pistol and swore, "that if they came any farther he would blow their brains out." They being intimidated by this menace, durst not pursue him farther, but stood and viewed him riding towards the convent; shortly after priest Corrin was seen running towards the bridge. There were six of the poor Protestants killed out of the last party that were taken down before he arrived; and it was with great difficulty he prevailed upon them to spare the rest. The massacre that day ceased about eight o'clock in the evening. Out of forty-eight prisoners who had been confined in the market-house, only nineteen escaped.

The very awful appearance of the evening, and the bloody scenes of the day, alarmed the remaining Protestants, and terrified them beyond description ; for the rebels declared openly, that they would put every Protestant man, woman, and child to the sword the next morning.

The different columns surrounding Vinegar-hill now became impatient for battle. At half past five o'clock on the 21st of June, a gun was fired from the right, and answered from the centre and left columns, as a signal for a

general attack; which began with a general discharge of artillery, and was incessantly kept up for an hour and three quarters. The position of the right column, when the firing commenced, being on a rising ground at the west end of the town, and Vinegar-hill being on the east, they played on the rebels with six-pounders, while the column, covered by the fire of their own cannon, attacked them in the town, who, though they had taken the most advantageous positions they could in the streets and houses, were obliged to yield, if not to numbers, to the superior bravery and skill of his majesty's troops, and the slaughter among them was great. They then thought to fly to the hill for shelter, but before they could gain the top it was cleared by the centre column, which had formed their line on a rising ground on the north side of the hill, where the rebels had raised a breast-work. Here they were plied well from six-pounders and mortars. Seeing the shells, they were put into the utmost confusion, nor could they think what to make of them; some shouting in a kind of delirium (as shell followed shell) "They spit fire at us,"-others, "we can stand any thing but these guns which fire twice." Indeed the carnage occasioned by them was very great, and fully answered the end. Perceiving the effects of the shells, they fled from their strong hold, and took another position on the lower hill, on the east side. The king's troops now mounted the summit, tore down the rebel standard, which was on the top of an old windmill, and displayed the royal banners, which the rebels again bid defiance to, and planting themselves behind the ditches, which served them for entrenchments and breast-works, they kept up a very heavy fire on the light troops, commanded by colonel Campbell; but nothing could retard the progress of these brave troops, they rushed on them like furiescharging them in their entrenchments, and with the assistance of the left column, soon put them to the route. Their own cannon were turned on them, which threw them into the greatest confusion; the cavalry then pursued, and mowed them down like grass. Among the slain was priest Thomas Clinch, a most notorious and resolute rebel. They now made for Wexford; the pass leading to that town being left open. There fell, however, of the rebels in the town, on the hill, and in the retreat, above 500. Throughout the whole of this arduous undertaking, the troops displayed astonishing courage and perseverance. But, alas! just after the battle, while the soldiers were yet filled with rage, a few poor loyalists that had encountered the greatest difficulties to escape the merciless hands of the rebels, and transported at the approach of the army, unthinkingly ran to them for protection, but being in coloured clothes were shot by their deliverers, before they had time to make known their distress; in this the soldiers were blameless, not being able for the moment to discriminate between the rebel and the royalist.

When the rebels, (who were filled with rage and disappointment,) arrived at Wexford, they were for putting to death all the prisoners; others were for evacuating the town, while more were for fighting to the last. It was the intention of lieutenant-general Lake, for general Moore to march from Taghmon, lieutenant-general Dundas, general Sir James Duff and Loftus, to march through Enniscorthy, and general Needham to proceed through Oulard, and surround Wexford by land, whilst eight frigates then riding outside the harbour, with some gun-boats, were to come into the river under the town, and with their united force lay it in ruins, if not evacuated. The rebels in town, knowing that general Moore and his brigade, must of course be advancing from Taghmon, and that the victorious army at Enniscorthy would follow him, saw themselves in a very critical situation, and being convinced they

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