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Lady Beresford's son, as had been predicted, is since married to Lord Tyrone's daughter. The black ribbon and pocket-book were formerly in the possession of Lady Betty Cobb, Marlborough Buildings, Bath, who, during her long life, was ever ready to attest the truth of this narration, as are, to the present hour, the whole of the Tyrone and Beresford families.

A CRIMINAL SELLING HIS BODY.

The following curious letter was found among the papers of Mr. Goldwyr, a surgeon of Salisbury.

To Mr. Edward Goldwyr, at his House in the Close, of Salisbury: Sir,-Being informed that you are the only surgeon in this city (or county) that anatomizes men, and I being under the unhappy circumstances, and in a very mean condition, would gladly live as long as I can; but, by all appearance, I am to be executed next March, having no friends on earth that will speak a word to save my life, nor send me a morsel of bread to keep life and soul together until that fatal day: so, if you will vouchsafe to come hither, I will gladly sell my body, (being whole and sound), to be ordered at your discretion; knowing that it will rise again at the general resurrection, as well from your house as from the grave. Your answer, sir, will highly oblige, Your's, &c.

Fisherton-Anger Gaol: Oct. 3rd, 1736.

JAMES BROOKE.

DREADFUL SUFFERINGS BY FAMINE ON BOARD A FRENCH VESSEL In the year 1555, Villagagnon, a knight of Malta, having abjured the Roman Catholic faith, succeeded in establishing a Protestant colony on the Coast of Brazil. In consequence of this success his nephew obtained the royal authority to fit out three vessels and carried over 120 new settlers. A part of these were however so disgusted with the tyrannical conduct of Villagagnon, that they determined to leave the colony, and accordingly embarked in Le Jacques, a vessel bound for France. Nothing but misfortunes attended them on board this vessel. At a very early period of the voyage she ran upon a shoal, from which she was with difficulty removed: she then sprang a dangerous leak, and the carpenter pronouncing her unfit for sea, several of the passengers left her and made for land in an open boat. The vessel meantime beat about the ocean, and in a few days another leak was discovered. All determined to leave the ship; but the pilot with a drawn sword, swore he would cut down the first that attempted it. Clothes, &c. were quickly collected and stuffed in the hole, and she was thus preserved from sinking. To add to their misfortunes, the pilot mistook their course; their provision was at an end, and they were doomed to undergo all the horrors of famine; every thing being exhausted, the sweepings of the bread-room, though full of maggots, and whatever else was calculated to excite repugnance, were carefully collected together, and made into dough as black and biner as soot. Still the extremity was so urgent that it proved palatable food. Many of the parrots and monkeys which had been brought from America, were also devoured by their owners, and those by whom the remainder were spared, saw that there would soon be a necessity for following the same example.

Though the people on board were so much reduced as scarcely to be able to discharge their respective duties, they were obliged to be inventive in seeking wherewithal to support life. Some therefore cut pieces out of the skin of the wild hog, and tried to eat them, after being steeped in water: but few found this an expedient plan. Several broiled pieces on the coals, which proved

more agreeable; and when the skin of the wild hog was consumed they resorted to others. The different skins were preserved with the utmost anxiety, and pieces concealed in bags constantly carried about by the owners. Some likewise devoured their leathern jackets and shoes: and the ship boys appeased their ravening hunger, by sucking the horn plates of the numerous lanterns in the ship, and eating the candles wherever they could be found. All the crew were gradually reduced so low as to be incapable of pumping the vessel; and they were chilled to inaction, by the blasts of a cold north wind, for fifteen days.

In the first days of May, the gunner, who had lately been seen devouring the raw entails of a parrot, departed this life; and his body, as those of the others, was deposited in the ocean. The survivors were not much affected by his death: they had little occasion for his aid, and would even have rejoiced at being captured by a pirate, provided they could have expected any thing to eat. But throughout the whole voyage, not more than a single ship was seen, and, from inability to hoist the sails of their own, they were unable to reach her.

All the things above mentioned being consumed, and every other article that could be ate, down to the leather, and the very coverings of trunks, the last moments of the unfortunate people seemed to be approaching. But necessity, the parent of invention, inspired some of their number with the idea of hunting for mice. Numbers of these creatures, themselves pinched with hunger from privation of their accustomed crumbs, now converted to the use of man, left their lurking places in quest of food. Various devices were constantly at work to catch them, and several of the people, like cats, even lay watching for them during the night. Indeed this pursuit was so diligently followed, that very few mice escaped. Nay, three or four crowns were offered as the price of one; and a single mouse was then more highly prized than an ox had been ashore. The surgeon having been so successful as to catch two, was offered a complete suit of clothes, at the first port, for one of them, which he refused; and, in strong evidence of the prevailing necessity, after the master had cut off the feet of a large rat, which were left without the cabin door, he returned, to collect and broil them on the coals, declaring that they were as savoury as the best game. Nothing but bones were thrown away, for the skin and entrails of the animals were carefully preserved and ate. Nor did the sufferers themselves call in question but they should have tried to feed on grass or straw, could such have been procured.

For twenty days, that a famine so terrible prevailed, there was neither a drop of wine nor water in the ship; nothing but a small cask of cyder remained, which was served out at the rate of a wine glass full daily to each person. If rain chanced to fall, it was industriously caught in sails spread out, with a bullet in the centre; and what ran through the scuppers of the vessel was carefully collected, though far more turbid than water in the kennels of a town.

Some were reduced to the exigence of trying to gnaw Brazil wood, the hardest and driest of any, with their teeth. When Philip, the chief of the passengers was thus employed, he said, with a deep sigh, "Lery, my friend, four thousand pounds are owing to me in France, which I would gladly relinquish for a loaf of bread and a glass of wine." Peter Richer, their minister, had now almost expired of want: stretched out in his cabin, he prayed as long as he was able; and, at length his voice ceasing, life departed a short time afterwards. -The most horrible sensations accompanied the excessive hunger that was endured not only were the bodies of the people debilitated, but their dispositions became morose, irritable, and ferocious, and they felt the full truth of what it is to rage with hunger. Now, though the horror of divine vengeance alone

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restrained the sufferers in this unfortunate vessel from proceeding to that atrocity, they began to view each other with a malignant eye, and had not the evil soon drawn to a close, the living would have begun to preserve life on human flesh.

One of the sufferers had anxiously preserved a beautiful parrot, for a present to the Admiral Gasper Cologny. Besides its uncommon size, and the elegance of its plumage, it had been taught to speak, which rendered it more valuable, and though entirely without food, he secretly kept it alive five days. But the gnawings of hunger, and dread that in the night it might be clandestinely taken away, forced him to kill it. His friends and himself fed three or four days on the parrot; not the smallest particle except the feathers was thrown away: so that, in addition to the entrails and feet, the very nails and beak were devoured.

At length the welcome cry of "land!" announced their being near the coast of Britanny. They reached the port of Blavet; where they were humanely received, and those who were prudent enough to use a sparing diet, recovered, though many had suffered so much by long fasting, that they never perfectly regained their health.

FATALITY ATTENDING THE STUART FAMILY.

Few kings have been more unhappy than the Stuarts; and there is not in history an example of a family that has been so long unfortunate.

The first of that name, King of Scotland, who bore the name of James, after having been eighteen years prisoner in England, was, with his queen, assassinated by his subjects.

James II. his son, was, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, killed in fighting against England.

James III. was imprisoned by his own subjects, and afterwards killed in battle by the rebels.

James IV. perished in a battle which he lost.

Mary Stuart, his grand daughter, (queen of Scotland,) was driven from her throne, a fugitive in Scotland, and having languished eighteen years in prison, was condemned to die by English judges, and beheaded.

James the Sixth, and first of England, her son, died at his palace at Theobald's, not without strong suspicion of being poisoned.

Charles I. his son, sold by the Scots, and sentenced to die by the English, lost his life on a public scaffold.

James, his son, the seventh of his name, and second in England, was driven from his three kingdoms, and to complete his misfortunes, even the birth of his son is contested.

This son attempted to mount the throne of his ancestors, only to cause his friends to perish by the hands of the executioner.

And we have seen prince Charles Edward, uniting in vain the virtues of his parents, and the courage of king John Sobieski, his maternal ancestor, perform exploits and endure misfortunes almost incredible.

If any thing can justify those who believe in a fatality, which it is impossible to surmount, it is this continual course of misfortunes, which has persecuted the house of Stuart three hundred years.

FEMALE INFATUATION FOR A MURDERER.

In the year 1769, one Rossiter, a young Irishman, came to Leghorn in search of adventures, with no other recommendation than the deportment of a gen

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tleman, added to a fine figure and countenance. Soon after his arrival, a lady, whose personal property was considerable, saw, and became violently enamoured of him; which was soon succeeded by a direct proposal on her part (no uncommon thing in Italy) to live with her. As he had been previously informed of her circumstances, and was pleased with her person, he immediately closed with the offer, and they in consequence, resided together in all the warmth of love, and intimacy of marriage

Her passion for him had, at first, prompted her to disregard the common law of modesty; after cohabitation it grew to such excess, as to trample on all prudence; for not satisfied with having purchased a lieutenancy for him in the Tuscan army, she anticipated his every wish, more than supported his profusion, and on being obliged to visit her relations in a distant part of Italy, entrusted him in her absence with jewels, her money, and, in short, every thing she owned. Can you suppose that a man so cherished, and so relied on, could betray a confidence of this nature? Should you wonder at it, how much greater will be your surprise, when I tell you, that he not only robbed her of her property, but of her life.

She returned to Leghorn sooner than she had intended, being pregnant by this monster, who received her with every mark of unaltered affection: but that same night, murdered her in the very bed-chamber that had so often been the guilty scene of her weakness and affection; a place that should, of all others, have been inviolable. The deed was soon discovered, and Rossiter was apprehended, judged, and condemned to the gallies for life.

Previously to the execution of this sentence, he was led out before the troops of the garrison, when his sword was broken over his head, his uniform stripped from him, for the coarse habit of a galley slave; and thus, with a halter about his neck, was he delivered over to his punishment, under every mark of degradation and infamy. Yet even this wretch, thus stigmatized, could create affection in the female sex, who took every opportunity of supplying him with food; and one, a woman of condition, exerted all her interest to obtain his release, for the purpose (it is said) of marrying him; but the good Leopold rejected the petition with horror, declaring that he should look upon that man as a disgrace to his court, who could intercede on so wicked an occasion. How more than brutal was the affection that could attach itself to such a monster as Rossiter!

SINGULAR PRESERVATION OF A CHILD FROM ASSASSINATION.

Before the Irish rebellion broke out in 1641, Captain Edgeworth, not aware of the immediate danger, left his wife and infant in the castle of Cranallagh, while he was summoned to a distance by some military duty. During his obsence, the rebels rose, attacked the castle, set fire to it at night, and dragged the lady out, literally naked. She escaped from their hands, and hid herself under a furze-bush till they had dispersed; she then made her way to Dublin, thence to England, and to her fath r's house in Derbyshire. After the rebels had forced this lady out of the castle, and had set fire to it, they plundered it completely; but they were persuaded to extinguish the fire, from reverence for the picture of Jane Edgeworth. Her portrait was painted on the wainscot, with a cross hanging from her neck, and a rosary in her hands. Being a Catholic, and having founded a religious house, she was considered as a saint. The only son of Captain Edgeworth was then an infant, lying in his cradle. One of the rebels seized the child by the leg, and was in the act of

swinging him round to dash his brains out against the corner of the castle-wall, when an Irish servant, of the lowest order, stopped his hand claiming the right of killing the little heretic himself, and swearing that a sudden death would be too good for him; that he would plunge him up to the throat in a bog-hole, and leave him for the crows to pick his eyes out. Snatching the child from his comrade, he ran off with it to a neighbouring bog, and thrust it into the mud; but, when the rebels had retired, this man, who had only pretended to join them, went back to the bog for the boy, preserved his life, and, contriving to hide him in a pannier under eggs and chickens, carried him actually through the midst of the rebel camp, safely to Dublin.

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It has been long too feelingly known, that instead of observing the generous and hospitable part of the laws of war, and saving the unfortunate who fall into their power, the Indians generally devote their captives to death, with the most agonizing tortures. No representation can possibly be given, so shocking to humanity, as their unmerciful method of tormenting their devoted prisoner.

When the company return from war, and come in view of their own town, they follow the leader one by one, in a direct line, each a few yards behind the other, to magnify their triumph. If they have not succeeded, or any of their warriors are lost, they return quite silent; but if they are all safe, and have succeeded, they fire off the Indian platoon, by one, two, and three at a time, whooping and insulting their prisoners. They camp near their town all night, in a large square plot of ground, marked for the purpose, with a high war-pole fixed in the middle of it, to which they secure their prisoners. Next day they go to the leader's house in a very solemn procession, but stay without, round his red painted war-pole, until they have determined concerning the

VOL. I.

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