hope naturally increased; but in the midst of this joy, they remembered their unfortunate shipmate Flat, and regretted that he could not be made sensible of his approaching deliverance. Their passions, however, were still characteristic, and they proposed a can of joy to be taken immediately. This the Capt. with great prudence strenuously opposed, and at length, though with some difficulty, convinced them that their deliverance in a great measure depended upon the regularity of that moment's behaviour.

All but the mate, therefore gave up the can, which would have made them all very drunk before the vessel could come up with them, and he disappeared to take the can of joy by himself.

After continuing to observe the progress of the vessel for some hours, with all the tumult and agitation of mind that such a suspense could not fail to produce, they had the mortification to find the gale totally die away, so that the vessel was becalmed at two miles distance; they did not, however, suffer long by this accident, for in a few minutes they saw the boat put out from the ship's stern, and row towards them full manned, and with vigorous dispatch. As they had been twice before confident of deliverance, and disappointed, and as they still considered themselves tottering on the verge of eternity, the conflict between their hopes and fears, during the approach of the boat, may easily be conceived by a reader of imagination.

At length, however, she came along side; but the appearance of the crew was so ghastly, that the men rested upon their oars, and, with looks of inconceivable astonishment, asked what they were.

Being at length satisfied, they came on board, and begged the people to use the utmost expedition in quitting their wreck, lest they should be overtaken by a gale of wind, that would prevent their getting back to their ship.

The captain being unable to stir, they lifted him out of his cabin, and let him down into the boat by ropes, and his people followed him, with poor Flat still raving, and they were just putting off, when one of them observed that the mate was wanting; he was immediately called to, and the can of joy had just left him power to crawl to the gunnel with a look of idiot astonishment, having, to all appearance, forgot every thing that had happened.

Having with some difficulty got the poor drunken creature on board, they rowed away, and, in about an hour, reached the ship."

She was the Susanna of London, in the Virginia trade, commanded by Captain Thomas Evers, and was returning from Virginia to London.

The captain received them with the greatest tenderness and humanity, promised to lie by the wreck till the next morning, that he might, if possible save some of Captain Harrison's cloths; the wind however, blowing very hard before night, he was obliged to quit her; and she probably, with her cargo, went to the bottom before morning.

The Susanna proceeded on her voyage; and though she was herself in so shattered a condition, and so short of provisions, as to be obliged to reduce her people to short allowance, she reached the Land's End about the 2nd March; from the Land's End she proceeded to the Downs, and Captain Harrison, a day or two afterwards, proceeded to London by land.

The mate, James Doud, who shot the negro, and one Warner, a seaman, died, during the passage; Lemuel Ashley, Samuel Wentworth, and David Flat, that was to have been shot for food, arrived alive; Flat continued mad during the voyage, and whether he afterwards recovered, we are not told. When Captain Harrison came on shore, he made the proper attestation of the facts related in this narrative upon oath, in order to secure his insurers. And the whole is so authenticated, that it would be folly to doubt of its truth.

CONSUMMATE VILLANY.

Many attempts have been made to open a friendly intercourse with the irascible Indians of Newfoundland, the government at length offered a reward of fifty pounds to any person, who would bring one alive to St. John's. A fisherman contrived to seize a young female, who was paddling in her canoe to procure birds' eggs, from an inlet, at a short distance from the main-land. This woman was conveyed to the capital, the fisherman received his reward; and the captive was treated with great humanity, kindness and attention. The principal merchants and ladies of St. John's vied with each other in cultivating her good graces, and presents poured in upon her from all quarters. She seemed tolerably contented with her situation, when surrounded by a company of female visitors; but became outrageous if any man approached, excepting the person who had deprived her of her liberty. To him she was ever gentle and affectionate.

When this singular female had remained long enough at St. John's to be made sensible of the kindness and good intentions of the Europeans, the fisherman, who brought her, was employed to reconduct her to the spot, whence he had dragged her away. The villain, who had deprived this poor savage of her relations, friends, and liberty, conceived the plan of murdering her on her voyage back, in order to possess himself of the baubles, which had been presented to her by the inhabitants of St. John. By this dreadful act, the assassin obtained articles to the value of nearly an hundred pounds; and subsequently retired to England, to enjoy the plunder of his unfortunate victim.

PRINCE MENZIKOFF'S RISE.

As Prince Menzikoff was a person raised from a very low degree, I was told the following circumstances of his rise. He was born of gentle but very poor parents; and they dying, left him very young without any education, insomuch that he could neither read nor write, nor ever did he to the day of his death: his poverty obliged him to seek service in Moscow, where he was taken into the house of a pastry-cook, who employed him in crying minced pies about the streets; and having a good voice, he also sung ballads: whereby he was so generally known that he had access into all the gentlemen's houses. The czar, by invitation, was to dine at a boyar's, or lord's house, and Menzikoff happening to be in the kitchen that day observed the boyar giving directions to his cook about a dish of meat he said the czar was fond of, and took notice that the boyar himself put some kind of powder in it, by way of spice. Taking particular notice of what meat that dish was composed, he took himself away to sing his ballads, and kept sauntering in the street till the czar arrived, when exalting his voice, his majesty took notice of it, sent for him, and asked him if he would sell his basket with the pies: the boy replied, he had power only to sell the pies, as for the basket, he must first ask his master's leave, but as every thing belonged to his majesty, he needed only lay his commands upon him. This reply pleased his czar so much, that he ordered Alexander to stay and attend him, which he obeyed with great joy. Menzikoff waited behind the czar's chair at dinner, and seeing the before-mentioned dish served up and placed before him, in a whisper begged his majesty not to eat thereof; the czar went into another room with the boy, and asked the reason for what he had whispered to him, when he informed his majesty what he had observed

in the kitchen, and the boyar's putting in the powder himself, without the cook's perceiving him, made him suspect that dish in particular; he therefore thought it his duty to put his majesty upon his guard. The czar returned to table without the least discomposure in his countenance, and with his usual cheerfulness; the boyar recommended this dish to him, saying it was very good; the czar ordered the boyar to sit down by him, for it is a custom in Moscow for the master of the house to wait at table when he entertains his friends, and putting some of it on a plate, desiring him to eat and shew him a good example. The boyar, with the utmost confusion, replied, that it did not become the servant to eat with his master; whereupon the plate was set down to a dog, who soon dispatched its contents, which, in a very short time, threw him into convulsions, and soon deprived him of life: the dog being opened, the effect of the poison was clearly discovered, and the boyar was immediately secured, but was found next morning dead in his bed, which prevented all farther discovery.

Menzikoff's remarkable introduction soon gained him credit and confidence with his royal master, who from being one of the meanest and poorest, raised him to be one of the richest subjects in the Russian empire; he was not only dignified with the title of a prince in Russia, but also declared a prince of the Roman empire. He was tall, well-shaped, very handsome in his person, and of great penetration: he acted as vice-czar at the imperial court, the czar himself appearing at all public meetings as a private person, attended by two servants at most, and instead of pleasing himself with the pomp of grandeur, his delight was the improvement of his empire, which he visited every where in person.

UNFORTUNATE FATE OF MR. SPALDING.

This gentleman was a native of Edinburgh, where he carried on an extensive business as a sugar-refiner and confectioner.-Since the days of Dr. Halley, not an individual ever made the least effort to go under water by means of the diving-bell. Mr. Spalding, impelled by curiosity, an intrepidity of spirit, and a genius for mechanics, made several attempts to remain for a considerable time in deep water under the bell, which were always crowned with success.

He at length became such a proficient in this aquatic art, that he could remain, if necessary, for a whole day in water of twelve or fourteen fathom deep. His acquaintances having so many proofs of the trifling danger with which this wonderful visitation of the deep was attended, many of them ventured at different times to accompany him; nay, once an Amazonian lady belonging to Edinburgh, went down with him, where she remained for upwards of half an hour. A ship from London to Leith having been wrecked some years since, in which Mr. Spalding had a great many articles, he made a proposal to the owners of the cargo, that, if they would bear a share in the expences of his journey to the wreck, he would make every effort in his power for the recovery of their joint property; but they all declining, Mr. Spalding went at his own charges; and although he recovered little of his own, being in the water perishable commodities, he brought up a considerable part of the rest of the cargo, which no law could wrest from him.

When the unfortunate accident happened to the Royal George, Mr. Spalding was sent for, and engaged by the Admiralty and Navy-Boards, on the following condition: That he was to have one-third of all the property he could

raise belonging to the Royal George.' He in consequence brought up nine brass guns and a few iron ones, and stores to the value of near a thousand pounds, the whole being estimated, on a fair valuation, at £.30,000, but it is reported they were so much under-rated, that he did not receive above £.400 out of which his expences came to the one-half. The cold season approaching, Mr. Spalding left Portsmouth last October, with a promise that he would return in the warm months and resume his avocation. The treatment, how ever, he received from these Boards not being of the most liberal kind, and another offer presenting itself of infinitely more emolument, he of course readily embraced the latter. He was sent for from Edinburgh by the under-writers of the Belgioso Imperial East-Indiaman, which was wrecked some time ago in Dublin-Bay, outward bound from Liverpool, and not a soul saved. Their agreement with him was truly liberal! The cargo was valued at near £.150,000 of which £.30,000 was in silver and lead. He was to have one-fourth of the silver and lead, and one-half of the rest of the cargo; and although he should not recover an article, they were to defray all his expences from the day he left Edinburgh to the day he returned. As she laid in ten fathom water, two leagues from the shore, and not in quick-sands, with her mast above water at ebb, there was the greatest probability of this useful member of society being nobly repaid for his ingenuity and spirit.

Accordingly, he went to Ireland, and if he had soon accomplished his business there, he was to have set out for Gibraltar, strongly recommended by Commodore Elliot to the valiant governor of that name, as there are above 400 brass guns, which were sunk in the bay on the glorious 13th of September, in the Spanish gun-boats, each of which, even at the price of old metal, is worth upwards of £.200.

Mr. Spalding being down, one very clear day, alongside the Royal George, perceived every object as distinctly as above water, and beheld one of the most tremendous and shocking spectacles that the human mind can form! Great numbers of the dead bodies in various attitudes! Some clung to the carriages of the guns, others with the carriages above them, &c. and when it is recollected what visages they must have in that state of putrefaction, no imagination can paint it without the utmost horror! But what sensations must he have felt, when viewing it in reality!

What a disgrace to the police of this country, that a gentleman who had proved his abilities in recovering so many of the guns and stores of the Royal George, should not have met with the utmost liberality; the more especially when he has been heard to declare, that he could bring up the most, if not all her guns and stores, and perhaps get even the ship herself raised this summer; or if that were found totally impracticable, he could blow her up with gunpowder; by which means the greatest part of her timbers and remaining stores would float on the surface.

But these reflections are now useless. His attempts in favour of the proprietors of the Belgioso Indiaman unfortunately failed, and the public are deprived for ever of the services of this ingenious man. The particulars of his melancholy end are as follows:

On the 2nd day of June, Mr. Spalding, assisted by his friend, Mr. Ebenezer Watson, dived a fourth time in seven fathom water, to survey the position of the wreck of the Imperial Indiaman, lately lost near the Kishes: they had been down three times the preceding day, and in the last fatal attempt had remained an hour and a quarter; during the first hour the signal had been properly attended to, and three supplies of fresh air conveyed down, but, un

happily, as is supposed, the last barrel had not reached them, which must immediately have brought on a speedy suffocation, so as to have prevented them from adopting the mode of preservation invented by Mr. Spalding, of cutting the weight that hung from the centre of the bell, by which means it must have immediately reached the surface of the water. Upon an examination of Mr. Spalding's captain by the inquest jury, it also appears, that for the last half hour the signal ropes must have been entangled. No medical gentleman being near, all means of recovery, upon the vessel's arriving at Dublin, proved abortive. Upon drawing up the bell, Mr. Spalding was reclining on his breast, and Mr. Watson was sitting erect.

From the authority of several investigators into the ill-fated cause (particularly one eminent for his philosophical abilities) it appears evident, that it was undoubtedly owing to a highly noxious effluvia, either arising from the putrid bodies in the Indiaman, or the great quantity of the medical plant called Ginseng, part of the cargo, that the public experienced this melancholy loss. Their death must have been instantaneous, from the highly active and exalted state of the putrid air, otherwise it must rationally be supposed, the unfortunate gentlemen would have adopted the ingenious mode of preservation, that of cutting the rope. The sudden deaths caused by foul air in mines, wells, cellars, and other subterraneous places, leaves no doubt how speedily it must operate in the putrid regions of the sea. The excessive joy which Mr. Spalding expressed on finding the deck of the Indiaman open, leaves little doubt of the great probability he had in succeeding. When we consider the wonderful experiments of Mr. Spalding, particularly in his remaining under water at times till almost suffocated, without the aid of the air-barrel, in order the more effectually to bring his improvement to the highest summit of perfection, what friend to merit and deserving genius but must feel the irreparable loss; heightened as it is by what will equally affect every humane mind, the consideration that he left a widow and seven children.

MISERIES OF CIVIL WAR.

In the parish church of Maveston Ridware, in Staffordshire, is the tomb of Sir Robert Maveston, which recalls to memory a melancholy story. In the beginning of the reign of the usurping Henry, when the kingdom was divided against itself, two neighbouring knights, Sir Robert Maveston and Sir William Handsacre took arms in support of different parties: the first, to assert the cause of Bolingbroke; the last, that of the deposed Richard. They assembled their vassals, and began their march to join the armies, then about to join battle, near Shrewsbury. The two neighbours, with their respective followers, unfortunately met not far from their seats. Actuated by party rage, a skirmish ensued, and Sir William was slain on the spot. Sir Robert proceeded to the field, and met his fate with the gallant Percy. What a picture is this accident of the miseries of civil dissension! What a tale is the following, of the sudden vicissitude of hatred to love, between contending families! Margaret, one of the daughters, and co-heiress of Sir Robert Maveston, gave her hand to Sir William, son of the knight slain by her father; and thus, with her person and fortune, compensated the injury done by her house to that of Handsacre.