no perfon about him; and if he accordingly the first opportunity, he did inform him of the reputation and honefty of the man, and and then what he defired, and of all he knew of the matter The duke, according to his ufual opennets and condefcenfion, told him, That he was the next day early to hunt with the king; that his ⚫ could obtain admiffion to him, fhould be fure to be undone.''horfes fhould attend him on Lam The perfon replied, as he had done before, That he fhould never find reft till he should perform what he required; and therefore he were better to dispatch it: that the access to his fon was known to be very eafy, and that few men waited long for him; and for the gaining him credit, he would tell him two or three particulars, which he ⚫ charged him never to mention to any perfon living but to the duke himself, and fhould no fooner hear them, but he would believe all the reft he fhould fay;' and fo repeating his threats he left him. beth bridge, where he would land by five of the clock in the morning and if the man attended him there at that hour, he would walk and speak with him as long as should be neceffary.' Sir Ralph carried the man with him the next morning, and prefented him to the duke at his landing, who received him courteously, and walked afide in conference near an hour, none but his own fervants being at that hour in that place, and they and Sir Ralph at fuch a distance, that they conld not hear a word, though the duke fometimes fpoke, with great commotion; which Sir Ralph the more eafily obferved, and perceived, because he kept his eyes always fixed upon the duke, haying procured the conference, upon fomewhat he knew there was of extraordinary. And the man told him in his return over the water, 'That To In the morning the poor man, more confirmed by the laft appearance, made his journey to London, where the court then was. He was very well known to Sir Ralph Freeman, one of the mafters of requeft, who had married a lady that was nearly allied to the duke, and was hinfelf well received by him. him this man went, and tho' he did not acquaint him with all particulars, he faid enough to let him fee there was fomething extraordinary in it; and the knowledge he had of the fobriety and difcretion of the man, made the more impreffion on him. He defired that by his means he might be brought to the duke, to fuch a place, and in fuch a manner as fhould be thought fit; affirming, That he had much to fay to him and of fuch nature, as would require great privacy, and fome time and patience in the hearing Sir Ralph promifed, he would fpeak firft with the duke of him, and then he should understand his pleature: when he mentioned those particulars which were to gain him cre'dit, the fubftance whereof he faid he durft not impart to him, the duke's colour changed, and he fwore he could come to that knowledge only by the devil; for that thole particulars were known only to himself and to one perfon more, who, he was fure, would never 'fpeak of it. The duke purfued his purpofe of hunting; but was obferved to ride all the morning with great penfivenefs, and in deep thoughts, without any delight in the exercile he was upon, and before the morning was spent, left the field, and alighted at his mo ther's ther's lodgings at Whitehall; with whom he was fhut up for the fpace of two or three hours; the noife of their difcourfe frequently reaching the ears of those who attended in the next rooms; and when the duke left her, his countenance appeared full of trouble, with a mixture of anger; a countenance that was never before obferved in him, in any converfation with her, towards whom he had a profound reverence. And the countess herself (for tho' fhe was married to a private gentleman, Sir Thomas Compton, The had been created countefs of Buckingham, fhortly after the title of Earl of Buckingham had been conferred on her fon) was, at the duke's leaving her, found overwhelm'd in tears, and in the highest agony imaginable. Whatever there was of all this, it is a notorious truth, that when the news of the duke's murther (which happened within a few months after) was brought to his mother, the feemed not in the leaft degree furprized, but received it as if he had forefeen it; nor did afterwards exprefs fuch a degree of forrow as was expected from fuch a mother for the lofs of fuch a fon " Upon the whole of this ftory, perhaps there may be fome reafon to fufpect, that the officer of the wardrobe, whofe name appears to have been Towfe, was employed by the duke's mother, finding her own remonftrances of no effect, and her fon's danger increase with the popular difcontent, to pretend a meffage to him from his father's fpirit, as the laft effort to influence his conduct, and preferve his life. The man was by no means a low or obfcure perfon; he was once ed; he was alfo known to the dutchefs, and the might the rather truft him with her purpose, as he received obligations from the family which he was always ready to acknowledge. This conjecture seems to receive fome degreeof probability from the conference between the duke and his mother at his hafty return from hunting to Whitehall; for if the duke believed the man had really seen an apparition, and from that learned the fecret particulars that were to obtain him credit, what fhould induce him to repair in fuch hafte to his mother, to expoftulate with her, whom he had always treated with profound reverence, fo loudly as to be heard to the next appartment; to leave her not only with a troubled but an angry countenance, overwhelmed with tears and in the higheft agony. Particulars which will be easily accounted for, if it be supposed, that he fufpected her to have employed this monitor, and, to gain him credit, trufted him with fecrets which fhould not have been related. This will alfo account for the turbulence of his converfation with Towse. A meffage from the dead would rather have been received with aftonifhment, reverence, and awe, and the particulars, which he declared known only to himself and one more, could have produced no expoftulation with the relator, except they gave him reafon to fufpect a collufion. Tranflation of the French King's Ordnance concerning the English Veffels detained in the Ports of France. By the King. TIS Majefty being informed that follicited to fill a feat in parliament H feveral English hips have been and once to accept the honour of knighthood, both which he declin *See Hearne's edition of Hiftoria et Vite et Regai, Ricardi II. p. 495. Oxford, 1729. feized or carried into the ports of his kingdom, in confequence of the orders. he had given fince the refufal made by the king of England to reftore the French French veffels which his fhips have taken, in contempt of all laws and public faith; and his majefty being willing to prevent the lofs or decay of the faid Englifh fhips detained in the ports of the kingdom, and of their cargoes, and likewife prevent their being confounded with the prizes that may be made during the war, which the king of England has recently declared; to this end his majefty has ordered, and does order, that the officers of the admiralties fhall proceed, according to the forms prefcribed by the ordnances, to the fale of the faid English veffels that are detained in the ports of the kingdom, as alfo of the effects on board. His majefty wills and intends that the produce of the faid fales fhall be and remain depofited, till he fhall have otherwife ordered it. His majefty enjoins the faid of ficers of the admiralty to draw up verbal proceffes of the faid fales, and of the places where depofited, and to fend copies thereof to the fecretary of fate that has the department of the marine; and the faid officers fhall be likewife bound to call to the faid fales, and to the depofitum of the fums that fhall proceed therefrom, as alfo to the verbal proceffes thereof which they are to draw up, the captains, with another man of each of the faid fhips. His majefty commands Monfieur le Duc de Penthievre, admiral of France, to look to the execution of the prefent ordnance, which fhall be read, published, and registered wherefoever it fall be needful. Done at Versailles the first day of June, 1756, Signed LOUIS! And underneath MACHAULT. particulars that have been mentioned before. It was known very early in the fpring that the armaments at Toulon and Marfeilles were intended against Mahon, and therefore on March 30th Commodore Keppel failed from Portsmouth for the Mediterranean with 4 fhips of the line, but returned again to Plymouth very fickly. April 5. The Admirals Byng and Weft failed with 10 fhips of the line, but no tranfports. April 8. The French transports, efcorted by their fleet, failed for the iflands of Hicres, where they formed, and on the 12th proceeded to Minorca. April 18. The French tranfports and feet arrived at Mahon. May 2. Byng arrived at Gibraltar, and joined Edgecombe, where he ftaid 6 days. May 8. Byng failed from Gibraltar for Mahon with 13 fhips of the line and 3 frigates, but ftopped at Malaga to take in his wines. May 19. Byng first appeared off Mahon; fo that tho' he failed from England 3 days before Galiffoniere failed fron. Toulon, he did not reach Minorca till a month afterwards. May 20. The two fleets met, after which nothing was heard of Byng till June 19, When he put into Gibraltar a second time, and joined Broderick with 5 ships more. Upon receipt of the first letter from Byng, giving an account of his not arriving at Gibraltar before May 2, and of his ftaying 6 days there, it was determined to take the command of the fleet from him, and on June 16 Admiral Hawke failed for that purpose. On receipt of his fecond letter, with an account of his mock fight, orders were given to put him under arreft, and he has been fince fent home in the Antelope, and is now in cuftody of a mellenger.. It is hoped we shall be able to refume, and carry on this journal in a pro per manner. In the mean time we fhall continue the account of the fiege: The French having landed and made themselves mafters of all the defenceless parts of the island, were prevented from breaking ground, and erecting batteries fo foon as they intended by many accidents, particularly the lofs of a tartane laden with mules to draw the artillery. of May 5. they erected a battery 5 24 pounders, and mortars near an old fortification called Philipet Fort †, in which they found 6 pieces of cannon; and this battery being on the right of the entrance into the harbour, as Fort St. Philip was on the left, enabled the French to share the command of the harbour with us; for as no French fhip could enter without being expofed to the fire of the fort, no English hip could enter without being expofed to the French battery. May 6, 7. This battery continued masked, and the neceffary difpofitions to serve it were made. May 8. It began to play. May 9. The fuburbs of St. Philip, called the Ravale, were occupied by a detachment of 100 volunteers, 4 companies of grenadiers, and 6 pi A battery of guns is a bank of earth thrown up to cover the men that are to ferve the guns; this bank is cut into holes for the cannon to fire through, about 12 feet diftant from each other. The holes are called embrafures, and the mafles of earth between them are called merlons; the height of the hole on the infide is about 3 feet, but they go floping lower towards the outfide; within this bank is laid a floor of planks, on which the cannon are placed and which prevents the wheels of the guns from ploughing the ground. A battery of mortars is funk into the ground, and therefore neither has nor needs embrafures. A fort is a caftle or work encompaffed with a ditch called a moat, with an elevation of earth of various figures capable of refifting the cannon of the enemy. VOL. XII. quets under the command of count de Briqueville, with 500 labourers to erect batteries against Anftruther's battery; the Queen's redoubt † ; and Kane's lunette The befiegers May 10, 11, 12. were employed in building these batteries to the right, left, and center of the Ravale. May 12 at night. The detachment. of the Ravale was encreafed to 3 companies of volunteers; 7 companies of grenadiers; and 7 piquets; and about midnight the bomb batteries began to fire, and continued firing till the 17th. May 17. The battery of cannon to the right began to fire, and was well ferved. May 18. The Sieur de Pinay, who commanded the left was killed, and Prince Lewis of Wirtembourgh, Marthal de Camp, was wounded. May 19. Byng having appeared off the island, the Duke de Richelieu fent 13 picquets (See p. 31 article x. and note) to the Count de Galiffoniere, and made the neceffary dif pofitions for cutting off all communication between the English admirals and the befieged. May 20. Byng's mock fight prevented farther precautions of the fame kind, as his fquadron appeared no more off the inland. At two in the afternoon a bomb from the fort fet fire, to one of the befiegers batteries, which the befieged perceiving redoubled their fire, and made a fally from the queen's redoubt, but were foon repulfed by the enemy's grenadiers. About midnight the two battalions of the royal regiment, under the command of the Count de Maillebois, lieutenant General, repaired to their poft in the trenches, A picquet is a detachment of men from each regiment. + A redoubt is a fall fort furrounded by a ditch. A lunette is an elevatian of the earth of two faces, usually made in the middle of a ditch. D whence whence they fent 5 companies of grenadiers to relieve the posts in the Ravale. May 2r. The firing continued, and the befieged were 'bufy in repairing the old batteries and building new. May 22. The French fquadron returned off the port, and at night the army made rejoicings for the departure of Byng. May 23, 24. The batteries continued to play from the Ravale, and the befieged to repair the damage they fuftained, and maintain a brisk fire. a houfe of 3 pieces of cannon and flacken. May 25 The Ravale being now totally destroyed by the artillery of the befieged, and the houses which afforded helter to the enemy levelled with the ground; they found it neceffary in fome measure to change their ftation, and the place of their batteries, which employed them fe veral days, during which the miters for the garrifon, ners pushed on their works, and the other batteries were ply'd inceffantly. June 7, The befiegers threw 30 bombs this day, which the Frenc affirmed killed them no more tha 3 men, and wounded but 8. Th French fleet which continued t cruize unmolefted in fight of th harbour, feized a xebeck with pr foners, and a packet boat with let June 2. A bomb from a battery of the befiegers fell into a magazine of oil which it fired, and a neighbouring magazine of powder was in great danger. June 5. Several of the new batteries began to play with great fuccefs. June 6. All the new batteries played, which with the reft were twelve in number. The first confifted of fix 24 pounders, and played cross-wife. The fecond of five. The third of ten, and batter'd the body of the place in breach. The fourth of fix ruined the general defences: The fifth confifted of five mortars. The fixth of five pieces of cannon which batter'd the weft and fouth weft Lunettes. The 7th confifled of eleven mortars. The 8th to the left of Mount Dupine confifted of eight pieces of cannon. the 9th of five. The roth on the Peninfula over against Philipet Fort of 33. The 11th near the fignal June 8. The miners of the be fiegers had got within thirty yard of the falliant angle of the co vered way of the queen's redoubt June 9. Two confiderable breache were made in the body of the place. and every poffible effort to attack and defend was made by the befiegers and befieged, without any confiderable alteration of circumstances till. June 14. A breach was made at which 6 men might enter abreaft; upon which the belieged made a fally deftroyed fome batteries, and killed many men; but having advanced too far they were furrounded, and not a fingle man got back to the fort. The lofs of this party was probably the crifis of the fiege, as there was not a fufficient number of men to man the works before. On this day too an The falliant angle is an angle of work made by the meeting of two fides of it that run out from the place towards the country. The cover way is a fpace of ground level with the country, running on the outside the wall defended by a parapet; it is ufually palli faded in the middle, and undermined on all fides. officer |