o'clock, a fire was discovered in the long range of auction-rooms, manufactories, and ware-houses, between Frith-street and Deanstreet, Soho. On the first alarm, the manufactory of Jackson and Moser, furnishing ironmongers, and the work-shops of Jameson and Willis, coach-makers, appeared to be in flames. The drums of the St. James's and royal Westminster volunteers immediately beat to arms, and detachments of these valuable corps hastened with the most commendable alacrity to lend their assistance in subduing the flames, and in protecting the property of those persons who were suffering from this calamity. It was nearly two hours, however, before water could be procured in suflicient quantities to supply the engines, now collected from every corner of the town. In the mean time, the flames were raging with uncontrollable fury. Adjoining to the buildings already on fire, were the large furniture repositories of Messrs. Hemmings and Westwood, extending from Frith to Dean-street; the schoolroom of the Frith-street academy; a large auction-room in the rear of Compton-street; and the back ware-houses, full of goods, belonging to Mr. Bond, furnishing ironmonger, also of Compton-street; all of which soon formed one general mass of conflagration. From these premises, the flames were rapidly communicated to the dwelling-house of Mr. Ram, upholsterer, in Compton-street, and to the potatoe warehouse adjoining, both of which houses, together with the back part of Mr. Reid's, the grocer, were consumed. At this time, the wind changing from due north to near south-west, the flames avoiding, as if by miracle, the corner house in Compton-street, communicated to the west side of Frithstreet, where the following houses were consumed in regular progression, one after another: the house No. 39, gutted. The house of Mr. Stort, No. 40, a complete ruin. The following houses are levelled with the ground: the house of Mr. Hogard, attorney; the Frith-street academy, front and rear; the house and premises of Messrs. Hemmings and Westwood, auctioneers; the house and extensive work-shops of Messrs. Jameson and Willis, coachmakers; the house and work-shop of Mr. Lucas, a taylor; the dwelling-house of Mr. Moser; and the dwelling-house, offices, and extensive manufactory of Messrs. Jackson and Moser. It was in their premises that this destructive calamity is supposed to have originated; and it was with the destruction of their dwelling-house, within three doors of Queen-street, that the progress of the flames was arrested, and an end put to the conflagration which threatened with desolation the whole of the neighbourhood. About ten o'clock in the morning, the front of one of the houses in Compton-street fell in with a terrible crash. Several friends who had come to enquire for Mr. Reid, the clothier, at No. 9, were in imminent danger, the parapet from the falling house opposite, drove in his shop door, just as his friends, seeing their danger, were running into the back parlour for shelter. Besides the above-stated, the back parts of all the houses in Dean-street, and the whole fronts of the east side of Frith-street, have received consi. derable injury. Indeed the latter street " Volunteers! it is with the highest satisfaction I take upon me the honourable office of presenting the royal Spelthorn legion, this day, with their colours. When I view so respectable a corps, and consider the high character attached to it, it would be superfluous in me to point out those duties and obligations which have been so fully exemplified in its conduct. When you behold these colours, (taking them in his hand) they will remind you of the common cause in which you are engaged, for your king, your country, your religion, your laws, liberty, and property, your children and your wives; nay, in short, for every thing dear to Englishmen. Accept, then, this pledge, this sacred pledge, which you will take care to defend with your last drop of blood, and only resign with your lives." After the ceremony, the prince was escorted, by the troop of the legion, to the Bush inn, at Staines, where his royal highness and the officers of the corps dined. The ground was kept by the Windsor and Chertsey yeomanry cavalry.— The prince was dressed in the uniform of the 16th light dragoons. In the court of common pleas a cause was tried, wherein col. Shee was plaintiff, and capt. Malcolm, commander of the Victorious, of 74 guns, was defendant. The action was brought to recover damages for criminal conversation with the plaintiff's wife. The criminal intercourse was found to have taken place on board the defendant's ship, in which col. and Mrs. Shec were passengers for India. It appeared, however, in the course of the trial, that very unhappy differences had prevailed between them, and that col. Shee had treated his wife with severity.The judge was also of opinion, that the plaintiff had not used due diligence to prevent her, strong as her tendency to vice appeared to be, from throwing herself into the arms of the defendant. The jury, after a short consultation, found a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 40s. 6th. This day, about 9 o'clock, a soldier, belonging to the 70th regiment, was escorted from the provost, at Hilsea-barracks, Portsea, to Portsdown, for the purpose of undergoing the sentence of death, as passed on him at a recent courtmartial, for repeated desertion. This unfortunate man was only 20 years of age. He had received repeated sums of money, from different parishes and individuals, for the army of reserve; after which he always deserted on the first opportunity. On his arrival at the fatal spot, spot, he shewed every mark of penitence, and prayed fervently for a considerable time. Then kneeling on a truss of hay, the soldiers appointed for the execution marched in a solemn manner, till they arrived within ten yards of him, and then proceeded to do their duty. The first fire wounded him in the thigh, the second, it was supposed, missed him, and the third deprived him of his feelings, though it did not entirely kill him; when three file marched close to him, and instantly dispatched him. 7th. In the court of king's-bench, John and Michael Hedges were indicted for a conspiracy to defraud government, by procuring false vouchers (obtained from the clerks and keepers of the stores at his majesty's dock yards at Deptford and Woolwich) for work done, and goods delivered; which, in fact, never was done, nor the goods ever delivered. Mr. Erskine stated, that the prosecution was instituted at the instance of the lords commissioners of the Admiralty, in consequence of certain vouchers transmitted to them from the commissioners of the navy. He should shew that, for the work which, if fairly paid for, amounted to no more than 2351. 5s. 54. between the periods of the 11th of March, 1800, and that of the 11th of December, 1801, the contractors had charged, and were paid, (it could hardly be credited) the sum of 2,6501. 18s. 9d.; thus defrauding government of the sum of 2,4151. 13s. 4d. in a business whose fair amount was not 3001. Mr. Erskine then proceeded to state the manner in which these frauds were committed; the facts of which being maintained, and fully proved in evidence, the jury found a verdict of guilty. VOL. XLV. 9th. At 12 o'clock, Redhead, the brandy-merchant, for defrauding the revenue, was put in the pillory at the royal exchange; whence, after being exhibited for an hour, he was committed to Newgate, where he is to be confined for two years, and to be a second time exposed in the pillory. 10th. In a severe storm, this day, in Lincolnshire, two men, returning from Caistor, were lost, and found dead next morning amongst the snow. One of them was warrener to Mr. Smith, of Elkington. 11th. Four children playing on the ice, on a pond at Great Tew Park, the seat of G. Stratton, esq. it broke, and they were all unfortu nately drowned. Their bodies were not found for two hours. Dublin.-12th. About six this morning, the chimney of a house in Crane-lane, Essex-street, fell in, precipitating the roof and floors of the front rooms to the bottom. By this dreadful event, four persons have been killed, and six or seven dangerously wounded. Through the exertions of the officers and privates of the 26th regiment, quartered at the old custom-house, several persons were got out of the house, who, otherwise, must inevitably have shared the same fate; the men with great humanity took off their great coats, and carried the unfortunate naked sufferers, conducting them into the guard-rooms, til other relief could be afforded.— Among the persons killed, were an industrious man of the name of Kelly, a hair-dresser, with his wife and apprentice boy, who occupied the shop floor. This calamity has reduced a number of poor persons, chiefly women and children, to the greatest misery. II h Glasgow. Glasgow.-13th. About four in which number were two of the soldiers on duty. The back wall fell in about five next morning. At the first beat of the fire drum, a great number of the volunteers of the different corps assembled, and were most useful in assisting the magistrates, till a large detachment of the Stirlingshire militia arrived from the barracks, the whole of which continued most actively employed till cleven o'clock, and a great proportion of them till five next morning. o'clock this afternoon, an alarm was given that the cotton mill in the Gorbels, the property of Messrs. M'Kerlie and M'Taggart, was on fire, and soon afterwards the flames burst through the roof, the accident which occasioned the calamity having taken place in the upper floor. The magistrates both of Glasgow and the Gorbels, with the city engines, immediately repaired to the spot; it was evident, however, that there was no hope of saving the mill, as the fire, from the inflammable nature of the materials with which it was fed, had attained a great height, and sent forth volumes of flame, illuminating the whole atmosphere around to a great distance, and presenting an awfully sublime spectacle. The wind blowing strong from the north, and several thatched houses, communicating with another cotton-mill, being in the opposite direction, the principal attention was directed to prevent the fire from spreading in that quarter. Indeed, at one time, the immense shower of fiery sparks threatened destruction to the whole village; and several times the flames caught hold of the thatch of the adjoining houses, but it was always happily got under. About 7 o'clock, the fire, having made its way through the lower floors, was contained within the walls of the original building, and the apprehensions of its extending farther ceased. It still, however, continued to burn till about one this morning, when the front wall fell forward to the street, with a tremendous crash. An unfortunate boy was killed on the spot; another was so severely wounded, as to be still in great danger, and several persons were much bruised, 14th. This morning about half past two, a fire was discovered in the dwelling-house of Mr. Thomas Stacey, at Ringwood, from whence the flames were rapidly communicated to the dwelling-houses of W. Rabbits, W. Pearce, Miss Street, and J. Morgan, all of which were in a short time consumed. On the first alarm that Mr. Stacey's house was on fire, the inhabitants hastened to lend their assistance in subduing the flames, and in protecting the property of the sufferers. Mr. Stacey caught his infant in his arms, forced through the smoke, and desired his wife to follow him; but the poor woman unfortunately perished in the attempt. Her remains were afterwards dug out of the ruins. Great part of the premises and stock were insured. A child belonging to Mr. Page, carpenter, in Canon-street, Win. chester, having been left by the mother in a room up stairs (in company with another child), in which there was a fire, she was suddenly alarmed by hearing it shriek, in a dreadful manner; and, hastening to its assistance, beheld the infant enveloped in flames, which she stifled, but the child was so burnt, that it expired next morning. A child, about about four years old, at Southampton, was also burnt to death by similar negligence. The clothes caught fire in the absence of its parents, and the suffering infant expired in great tortures. 17th. A boat piloting a brig into the harbour of Little Hampton, was this day upset; by which acci. dent, Mr. Leggat, formerly master of the vessel, and a man named Sutton, neither of whom could swim, were unfortunately drowned. A third person, who was in the boat with them, saved himself by swimming. The same day a vessel was iost off Elmer, and all hands perished. The crew were seen in the shrowds, waving their hats as signals of distress; but the sea ran so high, and no life-boat to be obtained, that the anxious and commiserating spectators of the distressful scene could afford them no relief.-A vessel was also on the same day lost off Rustington, but the crew were all sared. A short time since, the new steeple which was building for the Gaelic church at Campbeltown, gave way, drove in the roof, and materially injured the walls. Luckily, no person happened to be near at the time. 21st. This day, a fire broke out on the premises of Mark Dobito, at the Green Dragon inn, at Fordham, Cambridgeshire; which, in a short time, consumed the barn, stables, and out-houses belonging thereto, with a considerable quantity of wheat and other grain, and also a large quantity of hay. 24th. This morning, between three and four, a poor man employed at Mr. Elliot's brew-house, Pimlico, fell into the copper of boiling liquor, and was scalded to death before he could be got out. He has left a wife pregnant, and four small children. 25th. This day, the high wind blew off part of the roof of the Truchsessian gallery of pictures, opposite Portland-place; in conscquence of which, the pictures have been removed until the necessary repairs can be made.-Several of the new buildings of Hythe barracks were blown down; and in different parts of the country houses have been unroofed, and trees torn up by the roots. A cutter belonging to Folkstone foundered at sea, and every person on board perished. The beach was covered, for some days, with timber of different sorts, barrels, staves, &c. As the congregation was assembling at Margate, for divine service, in the parish church, a large portion of the tiling came down on the sky-lights, and drove in upwards of fifty large squares of glass; and, though falling on the pews where several persons were seated, providentially none of them were injured thereby. But, from the tiles continuing to fall, it being dangerous to proceed with the service, the congregation was dismissed. His majesty's sloop of war, La Suffisante, of 16 guns, capt. Heathcote, was lost at the entrance of Cork harbour. Seven of the crew were unfortunately drowned, and three killed by the falling of a mast. La Suffisante sailed from Cove on the preceding day, with a number of volunteer seamen and soldiers on board for England; and, in attempting to return for shelter, she struck upon Spike island, and, in a very short time, went to pieces. No other material accident happened in that direction during the late tremendous gale, though the Hh 2 harbour |