which afterwards however turned out to be two piftols ftrongly tied together, he feized him by the throat, and faid, " Are you the villain that fired ?" The man faid he was, and, a footman coming up at the fame moment, either wrenched the piftols out of his hand, or took them he dropt them: that then, up as having feen the lady taken into a fhop, he went with the prifoner to Juftice Hyde's. In going there he expreffed great joy at what he had done; and in particular faid, that now he should die in peace, as he had fent the lady before him; that two more pistols were found in his pocket, apparently loaded to the muzzle, and thofe Mr. Nicol delivered into the hands of Juftice Hyde, and had not feen them fince. That during the examination, a lady came into the office, and faid, fhe was happy to find that Mifs Boydell was not dangerously wounded; upon which the prifoner, clafhing his hands together, feemingly in an agony of disappointment, exclaimed,

Is the not dead?"-and from this time, and during the continuance of the examination, he burst into a torrent of abuse against the lady, the Alderman, and his family.

These facts were clearly and circumftantially corroborated by the evidence of the livery fervant and of Mr. Griffith, a fhoemaker in Princes-street, who faw him fire the piftol, and who affifted in fecuring him. The fervant fwore that Elliot dropt the piftols, and he took them up. He found the one upon half cock, and the pan fhut down, and fome grains of powder in the panthe other had all the appearance of having been inftantly fired, and he thought indeed that they had both

been fired, notwithstanding the circumftance of the lock being on half cock. In all the points of the prifoner's declarations of his intentions -of his behaviour at the juftice'sof the two loaded piftols in his pocket, &c. they agreed with Mr. Nicol.

Mr. Nicol then fwore that almoft one half of the lady's cloak was burnt, and that there were two marks on her gown, juft below the fhoulders, which feemed to correfpond with the marks of the pistols as they were tied together.

A furgeon fwore that Mifs Boydell had two contufions just below the fhoulder blade, which correfpond with the marks on the gown, and whichevidently proceeded from blows received from fome hard substance. Being afked, if piftols loaded with bullets difcharged fo near the body could have made fuch marks? He faid, he did not know; but it was certain, that a piftol put quite clofe home to any refifting body, and difcharged fo as not to have the affiftance of the air, loft much of its force.

The cloak, handkerchief, and gown, were produced, to thew the effects of the explosion and fhot.

Juftice Hyde was worn, and he gave an account of the pistols. He faid, that about a quarter of an hour after Mr. Nicol had withdrawn, a perfon who called himself Thomas Brown, and whom he obferved in converfation with the prifoner, came to his office, faid he came from Mr. Nicol, and defired to have the piftols, which he accordingly delivered to him. He could not find this Brown, nor did he know him. He swore that the piftols were loaded to the muzzle, and that the paper wadding [0] 2

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being broken in the ramming of the bullets down, he clearly faw the lead of the bullets.

There was fome other evidence not fo material. A gardener be longing to Mr. Jofiah Boydell in the country, fwore that the prifoner had lodged with him fix months laft winter, and that by fo doing he had often got into the house of Mr. Boydell, where Mifs Boydell frequently vifited.

Mr. Silvefter, on the part of the prifoner, called a Dr. Symmonds to prove that he was infane. The doctor gave it as his opinion that he was to, and he had firft formed this opinion from a letter he had received from him in January last, the purport of which was a philofophical hypothefis, that the fun was not fpecifically a ball of fire, but that his heat proceeded from the quality of the atmosphere that furrounded his body.-Some part of this paper was read, and fo far from betraying fymptoms of infanity, it had all the marks of quick and cultivated parts. The hypothefis, however falfe, was ably argued and as to the abfurdity of the doctrine itself, the recorder aptly afked the doctor, whether, if he judged of his intellects merely from a vague fuppofition as to the nature of the fun's heat, he might not equally declare Buffon, and other philofophers, to be mad.

many

Mr.O'Donnell, the fucceffor of Mr. Elliot, faid, he had obferved fymptoms of infanity in him, although he attended his patients very regularly and very properly. This inconfiftency drew from Mr. Garrow fome, fharp questions, which Mr. O'Donnell faid did not, by the way in which they were put, enable him

to give fo clear an account of the cafe as he otherwife would do, if not puzzled by the council.

Two people with whom he lodged alfo faid, they remarked infanity; but he was a good, quiet lodger, and they faw no harm of him.'

The recorder was beginning to fum up the evidence; and he stated, that as the indictment varied, it was neceffary that the jury fhould be convinced that one or both pistols were loaded with ball-That at leaft one of them was fired, and fired at the lady-That it was done wilfully and maliciously, was clear and manifeft, on the teftimony of three concurring witneffes-It was evident, firft from the exultation, and afterwards the difappointment expreffed by Elliot, as well as by the declarations, that his intention was to take away the life of the lady—that he had deliberated on the fact, and had coolly prepared the means ;but it was for them to inquire, whether, in the anxiety incident to fo horrid a project, he had not either blundered in the loading, or had chofen the wrong pair of piftolsfor if they were not convinced that one or both of them was loaded with ball, they muft acquit the prifoner. Here one of the jurymen faid,

Surely, my lord, nothing can be more clear, than that the piftols were not loaded with ball." On this the recorder faid, if they were all of this opinion, it was needlefs for him to enumerate the evidence in defence of the prifoner.

The jury, after fome confultation, brought in a verdict, Guilty of fhooting, but they do not find that there was ball. On this the recorder directed them to acquit the prifoner, which they did.

The

The recorder faid, this was no ground for exultation to the prifoner. His crime in the eye of Heaven was the fame, and he should order him to be detained to be tried for the affault; and it was a duty which the profecutors owed to fociety to bring him to his trial in that way. 21ft.

Arrived a mail from Hol'land, by which we have advice, that the prince ftadtholder found in the hofpital of the town of Wyck, lately captured by his troops, ten pieces of cannon, two hundred and fifty mufquets, and a great quantity of gunpowder and military flores; and in the town-house three flags, the firft white, adorned with three fleurs de lys, and the motto, Pro His Morimur: the fecond green, with the motto, Terror Tirannidas; and the third red, with a French motto, Prerogatives Privileges, and under it Majeftas populi.

An account is received by 23d. late advices from Madras, of the following very extraordinary circumftance.

Shaik Soyliman, a private foldier of the 20th battalion of the feapoy corps, ftationed at Chepauk, was tried at the Madras quarter feffion, in October laft, for murdering his wife the fact being fufficiently proved, the prifoner made the following very extraordinary defence: that he and his family having, from a variety of circumftances, been plunged into an infupportable ftate of diftrefs, himself and his wife thought death infinitely preferable to the lingering rack of existence; that, after debating again and again the melancholy fubject, it was refolved that he should first deftroy their infant daughter, then his wife,

and afterwards himfelf. This horrid plan was defeated, he faid, by his wife's maternal feelings, who not being able to endure the dreadful thought of beholding the flaughter of her beloved and only child, entreated him to give her the first fatal blow; that, in compliance with her request, he put an end to her mifery, by plunging a dagger into her bofom, and that whilft, in an agony of defpair, he was preparing to deftroy his daughter, the guards, alarmed by her cries, ruthed in, and prevented the execution of his purpose.

The jury, taking all the circumftances into their confideration, brought in their verdict," Guilty without malice"-but the court reprefenting the illegality of fuch a verdict, they agreed to find him

Guilty," at the fame time ftrongly recommending the unfortunate wretch to his majefty's mercy. He will therefore remain clofely confined till his majesty's gracious pleafure fhall be known.

The removal of the minor lord vifcount Gormanftown, from Ireland to Liege, supposed to have been accomplished by the means of his uncle, a Roman catholic, has been thought a measure of fufficient magnitude to call for the interference not only of the government of Ireland, but alfo of the cabinet of Great Britain. The marquis of Caermarthen wrote in his majefty's name to the prince bishop of Liege, to defire that his highnefs would caufe the young lord to be delivered into the hands of fuch perfons as his majefty fhall commiffion to re. ceive him. But his highnefs returned for anfwer, that though he was the fovereign of Liege, he was

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bound by the laws and conftitutions of his principality, and therefore could not take upon himself finally to determine in fuch a matter with out the advice and concurrence of his grand chapter and his government; that he would, however, immediately communicate the affair, together with his majefty's wishes, to his council, and without delay make the marquis acquainted with the result of their deliberations. Accordingly the affair was maturely confidered and debated in the prince's council; and it was at last resolved, that his highnefs could not, confiftently with the laws of the ftate, force a catholic out of his dominions, for the purpofe of putting him into the hands of those who would bring him up a proteftant. 26th.

Orders were yesterday fent off from the admiralty office, to the commiffioners of the feveral dock-yards, to take on a number of additional workmen immediately, to expedite the work now in hand.

DIED. 4th, about two o'clock, at his houfe in Powys-place, Great Ormond-street, fir Richard Jebb, phyfician to his royal highnefs the prince of Wales. Sir Richard has bequeathed the bulk of his fortune to a niece; and has left his brother a legacy of 2000l. with an estate of 300l. a year.

12.

Át his house, near the Bishop's Palace, Lambeth, at about a quarter before fix in the evening, by a flash of lightning, Mr. Bacon, clerk to the Salt-office. At the beginning of the form he was drinking tea with his wife; the back windows of the one pair of ftairs

to the fouth having been open all day, he went up for the purpose of fhutting them; and in the action of lifting up his right arm received the ftroke, which tore his coat eight inches in length, and four in breadth'; from whence it entered his right fide, nearly oppofite his heart, went through his body, and out at the left hip, and down his left leg to his buckle (which melted) and tore the upper-leather of his fhoe from the fole. His dog, being at that foot, was also struck dead; after which, the lightning penetrated the wainscot and floor of the one pair of ftairs, and made its way into the front parlour, north, where it tore the wainscot in a fingular manner, and went off with an explofion louder than any piece of ordnance.-Another account fays, That he owed his death to a gun being laid across the window, placed there to prevent thieves from breaking into the house, which, on this occafion, operated as a conductor for the lightning; for at the inftant that he was fhutting the window he received the electrical fire from the barrel of the gun, which he accidentally touched, and was immediately ftruck dead. The violence of the ftroke was fuch, that it tore out his intestines, and made his body a moft fhocking fpectacle. He was firft discovered by a little girl in the house, who was fo terrified as to be unable to explain the cause of her alarm to Mrs. Bacon, who went into the room herself, and, in confequence of seeing this dreadful fight, has been at times in fits ever fince, and great doubts are entertained whether fhe will ever recover.

AUGUST.

AUGUST.

Aug. 11.

"The measures which have been lately taken, and which are, agree able to order, carrying on with the utmost dispatch, appear to indicate an approaching disturbance.

"All the registered feamen within this admiralty have received monitions to attend the naval commiffioners; the dockyards have been augmented with additional hands, and 400 men have just arrived in addition to the garrifon.

"The Marquis de Poligne, an experienced officer, and of the Croix St. Louis, has the entire conduct of the new arrangement."

Naples, Aug. 15. By letters from Sicily we have had a relation of an extraordinary eruption of Mount Etna, fuch a one as has not happened in the memory of man; a rumbling noife and numberless fhocks of earthquakes preceded this eruption; but on the 18th of laft month, about three o'clock in the morning, a terrible volume of fire iffued from the mountain like a whirlwind, and of fuch a prodigious height, that it feemed as if the mountain was opened, and the column of fire appeared two thirds higher than the fummit. An immenfe cloud of fmoke preceded the flame, the blaze of which was fo great that people could fee to read

at twenty miles diftance ;-befides that a fhower of fand, or calcined lava, and ftones of an enormous fize, were caft to a prodigious height, and fell down again with a moft terrible noife. Sulphurous ftones, lightnings, and horrible noifes followed this dreadful eruption. The column of fire took its direction towards the Ionic Sea, to the eastward of the coast of the Morea, but at a certain diftance it fhifted towards Africa. We learn that the fhower of fand and stones fell on the city and fuburbs of Meffina and Calabria, and on all the islands and adjacent coafts as far as Malta.

All the ice and fnow on the tops of the mountains was melted, and fome persons wounded by the ftones which fell in the neighbouring countries; the inhabitants fuffered from a fuffocating smell of fulphur and bitumen, and from the extreme heat of the air; all the produce of the earth, the olives, fruits, and Indian corn are burnt; in fhort, for many miles distance, the land resembles the fcorched deserts of Lybia.

It is remarkable that Vefuvius at the fame time began to fend forth flames, and the lava flows at prefent along the valley which feparates that mountain from Mount Somma.

Conftantinople, Aug. 18. M. de Bulgakow, envoy from the court of Ruffia to the Sublime Porte, was this day fummoned to a public audience, when it was proposed to him to affix his fignature to an inftrument for the reftitution of the Crimea, and the annihilation of all the conventions fubfequent to the treaty of Kainardgik, and upon his refufal he was conducted to the castle of the Seven Towers. -To-mor

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