before Richmond races, near which place he was born, and to arrive there in time, he hit on the following expedient:-He applied to a blacksmith of his acquaintance to stamp on a padlock the words "Richmond Gaol," which, with the chain, was fixed to one of his legs, and he composedly went into a corn field to sleep. As he ex, pected, he was soon apprehended, and taken before a magistrate, who, after some deliberation, ordered two constables to guard him in a carriage to Richmond, no time being to be lost; Kilburn saying he had not been tried, and hoping they would not let him lie till another assize. The constables, on their arrival at the gaol, accosted the keeper with Sir, do you know this man?" "Yes, very well: it is Kilburn; I have known him many years." "We suppose that he has broken out of your gaol, as he has a chain and padlock on with your mark." "A prisoner! I never heard any harm of him in my life." Nor," says Kilburn," have these gentlemen, Sir. They have been so good as to bring me out of Bedfordshire, and I will not give them any further trouble. I have got the key of the padlock, and I'll not trouble them to unlock it; I thank them for their good usage." The distance he thus travelled was about 170 miles.

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There is a copper coin in the possession of colonel Ross, of Nigg, of a size somewhat less than a farthing, which was found in the ruins of his old farm offices. On one side of it the Scotch thistle is

easily traced, but the impression on the other side seems difficult to ascertain. The date, however, is perfectly distinct, being 918. We cannot venture to affirm, that this is a Scotch coin, the silver penny of Alexander the second, 1214, being the oldest we have any knowledge of. The coin in the possession of colonel Ross, however, deserves the attention of the antiquary, as it may strengthen the belief that there are Scotch coins of older date than that last mentioned.--Inverness Courier.

A curious medal has lately been offered in Inverness, by a poor man, as a penny, the description of which may entertain some readers. It is about the size and thickness of a penny. On one side is the pope's head, with the triple crown, which, reversed, displays the head of the devil: motto, "Ecclesia perversa tenet faciem Diaboli ;" on the other side is a cardinal's head, with hood and hat: reversed, this gives the head of a fool, with cap and bells

motto, "Stulti aliquando sapientes," or "Sapientes stulti aliquando," as the legend may be read.* The execution of the piece upon which the heads are stamped is ancient, and uneven round the edges; but the heads are extremely well executed, in high and well rounded relief, and display, in the sour faces of the pope and cardinal, and in the folly of the fool, much spirit of caricature. The piece is probably of the period of some religious ferment, such as the reformation, or revolution. Perhaps it is foreign,

and

A few nights since a murder was perpetrated in the neighbourhood of Whitechapel, on the person of Richard Neads, a labourer. It appears that on the night of the murder, the deceased was with some of his companions, at the Green Man public-house, in Castle-street, Whitechapel, where a man, named Mahoney, with whom the deceased had fought a pitched battle about twelve months ago, interfered with their conversation, and brought forward this circumstance, which gave rise to high words. Mahoney coolly observed, "That he was not done with the deceased, and, it would not be long before he would do for him," or words to that effect; and on Neads quitting the place with his companions, about one o'clock in the morning, Mahoney, in company with another man followed him outside the door, and made an attack upon the deceased who was knocked down by him and beaten in a dreadful manner. On the deceased getting up to defend himself against the attack of his opponent, the latter seized a tremendous stone, and, with the greatest violence, gave the deceased a blow upon the back of the head, which felled him to the ground in a state of insensibility, and the blood issued in profusion from his nose and ears. Assistance was immediately rendered to the unfortunate man, who was taken to the London hospital, and put to bed. A surgeon attended him, and on examining his head, a dreadful injury was found on the back part. Every attention was

violence he had received. He has left a wife and two children to deplore his loss. Mahoney was taken into custody.

The following melancholy event took place a few days ago in this neighbourhood. A person of the name of Hunt recently went to reside in a new-built house at Rainhill, and for several nights his three sons, who slept in an upper room, in which there was a fireplace but no grate, had a fire kindled in it: on Sunday, the 9th instant, they did not come down to breakfast at the usual hour, but as they had no business to do on that morning, it excited no surprise. In a short time, however, Mrs. Hunt went to their bedroom, and, dreadful to relate, had the heart-rending affliction of behold. ing them all lifeless! Their deaths had been produced by suffocation. It appeared that the door of the room, which had been formerly left open, was on this night closed, and the humidity of the room, it is supposed, prevented the smoke from ascending by the chimney. From the posture in which the bodies were found, only one of them appears to have been awoke to their terrible situation, and he, so overpowered from the effects of the effluvia, that his head was only partly raised. They were of the respective ages of 14, 19, and 24. They were interred at Farnworth church, and their funeral was attended by the most numerous concourse of spectators ever witnessed in that part of the country.-Liverpool Advertiser.

In the course of last summer, a lady of Liverpool, intending to

visit her friends in Manchester, sent a piece of very valuable lace to her dress-maker, to be prepared for her wear on that occasion. The lace was clear-starched and put to bleach on a grass-plat in the outskirt of the town, at the back of a respectable dwellinghouse, well fenced with high walls; notwithstanding which, it disappeared in the course of the day. The only occupiers of the premises were a lady and her female servant. The most painful suspicions were excited, and all search and inquiry proved fruitless. The lady made her visit to Manchester without the ornamental appendage, and the other parties thought of nothing less than indemnification for the loss on the lady's return. It so happened, some time after, that the bed-room window had become so bespattered, on account of a bird's nest over it, that the lady engaged a workman to remove it, when to their astonishment as well as joy, the lace, which was of consider able length, was, neatly rolled round the inside of the nest, and although a little soiled, was not in the least injured.

-The state of Ireland is gradually improving, in consequence of prompt measures adopted by government, to suppress the disorders of the south. The commission which has been issued in trying the violaters of the public peace, will probably complete the restoration of order. A change has taken place in the government of Ireland; the marquis of Wellesley having been called to succeed lord Talbot and Mr. Goulburn, to take the place of Mr. Secretary Grant.

FRANCE.

A new administration has been formed, composed of persons who have ranged themselves with the ultra-royalist party. The viscount de Montmorency is secretary of state for foreign affairs; M. de Corbiere minister of the interior; M. de Villele minister of finance; marshal Victor minister at war; the marquis de Clermont Tonnerre minister of the marine and colonies; and M. de Peyronnet keeper of the seals. They have begun their career by withdrawing a project of law which had been introduced by their predecessors, for renewing the censorship in periodical publications, and adding to the restrictions on the press generally.

and others have totally perished. Among others, a brig and a koff loaded with wheat, have been foundered off Wangerog and Borkum, and only two men of the crew of the last saved themselves. Another brig and a koff perished near Schiermonikoog, and a third brig near the island of Ameland. Seven or eight damaged vessels have been driven on the coast of Delfzyl. A Russian ship of war is stranded near the Vriesche Gat; she has, however, been brought to Zoutkamp, but with the loss of all her masts. The Carthagena, captain G. Kind, bound from Porto Rico to Amsterdam, has perished on the Searhorn. A bottle has been found on the sand near Busum, containing a letter from this captain, dated the 1st of December, from which it seems that he endeavoured to save himself, with his crew, in the long-boat, but in vain. He writes, that during nine days that the storm continued he had been three times on the coast of Holland, without being able to obtain a coasting pilot: that at last, on the 30th of November, after having lost the best part of his sails, he arrived in sight of Heligoland, hoping to get into the Elbe the next day, and to procure a pilot, but that the storm having driven him off again during the night he gave up himself and his crew for lost, and that in these circumstances he wrote this letter, that those persons who were interested might be informed of his fate. Lastly, accounts from Heligoland of the 27th of November, say, that two sloops and two other vessels had succeeded in towing in a threemasted vessel which was drifting

with the current, and full of water; it had Swedish colours, and was laden with timber. It is supposed to be the Providence, and that the crew escaped on board another vessel near Zanderland, where she first stranded.

SWITZERLAND.

The Lausanne Gazette of the 11th contains the following article ::

"The government of Thurgovia has enacted a remarkable law on the subject of converts. No change of religion can take place without the permission of the government. Any ecclesiastic who receives an application for that purpose, must inform the magistracy of the place to which the applicant belongs, who is then summoned before his own pastor.

If he persist, he loses all his rights in the commune which he abandons, and must acquire new privileges in that of the confession he chooses to adopt. Every conversion in which these regulations are not observed is declared null."

This article may give occasion to useful reflections on the manner in which certain persons interpret, with regard to religions different from their own, that great principle of toleration which they loudly claim for themselves. The government of Thurgovia is a Protestant government, and it is surely a very singular circumstance, that an inhabitant should be obliged to address a Protestant authority, which in matters of faith acknowledges no other rule than the reason of individuals, to ask permission to believe or not to believe this or that dogma. It is also very whimsical, that a conversion, that is to say, a change of opinion,

should,

should, like an act in the exercise of a civil right, be declared null for a defect of form. This appears to us a very pleasant chapter to be added to the great volume of human inconsistency.

AMERICA.

In Mexico, affairs have relapsed into their former state of confusion and uncertainty. General O'Donoju, the new viceroy nominated by the Cortes, after the signature of the treaty with Iturbide at Cordova, on the 24th of August, proceeded with that chief to Mexico, where he had an interview with Marshal Novella, the viceroy chosen by the army, but was unable to obtain his sanction to the treaty, or his acknowledgment of the rank conferred on him by Spain. Iturbide therefore drew his army nearer to the capital, and invested it. A battle was fought on the 5th of September, in which the independents (or, as they have latterly been designated, the imperial army of the three guarantees) were repulsed. They subsequently sued for an armistice, which was granted them by Novella. Another attempt at conciliation followed, but the propositions of Iturbide appeared so extravagant to Novella, that he rejected them all, and hostilities recommenced on the 13th. Both parties were concentrating their resources for a general engagement, which was expected to take place the latter end of September.

On the Spanish main the contest, which has for a long time been feebly maintained by the royalists, is rapidly drawing to its close. Cumana was taken by general Bermudez on the 15th of October, and the garrison, consisting of 1,100 men, shipped off

An

for the island of Porto Rico. expedition was preparing at Caraccas, in which the English troops who had entered the service of the republic were to be principally employed against Panama, to which place they were to proceed by land, after disembark ing either at Santa Martha or at Carthagena. Morales, one of the generals left in command of the remnant of royalist troops at Puerto Cabello, had arrived at Curaçoa, with the hopeless design of raising 50,000 dollars there for the continuance of the war. So lively was the interest felt at Curaçoa in behalf of the independents, that they determined to seize the opportunity of being revenged on Morales, who would have fallen a victim to their fury, but for the active protection of the government.

The American navy has struck a decisive blow against the hordes of pirates that infest the seas of the West Indies. Off Cape Antonio, on the 16th of October, a small fleet of bucaneers, consisting of four schooners and one sloop, was descried by the United States' brig Enterprize, in the act of plundering a merchant vessel, and she succeeded in capturing the whole of them. The crews were sent to Charleston for trial. This vigour if followed up, must soon lead to their annihilation.

Letters dated the 27th of October, from Pernambuco, mention a great change produced in the situation of affairs there, by the arrival of orders from Lisbon, in pursuance of the decrees of the Cortes, - 1. For the recall of the Governor. 2. For the formation of a Provisional Government by the votes of the College of Electors