Gunpowder,

AN Alteration in the Composition, and which is expected to lessen the Expence of Gunpowder, is SUGAR*. Mr. WINSOR has taken out a PATENT, for introducing it as an Ingredient in the Manufacture. He says, that when properly reduced to a Powder, by Trituration, it may be mixed with common Gunpowder, in the Proportion of one-fourth SUGAR, to three-fourths Powder, without diminishing its exploding Force. Query, does this SUBSTITUTE augment it?

GUNPOWDER, has received no Mode of Destruction more formidable, than from the Invention and Use, that Colonel CONGREVE has lately employed it in. These

It is no less singular than true, that SUGAR was scarcely known amongst us, Three Hundred Years ago: SUGAR was first brought into EUROPE, from ASIA, Anno 1150, and at that Time, an Attempt was made to cultivate it, in ITALY, but it totally failed: the PORTUGUESE and SPANIARDS, however, in the adventurous Spirit of Colonization, which first distinguished them, carried the Cane-root into AMERICA, Anno 1510, which succeeded to the full Extent of their Hopes, and thence it was transplanted, to the WEST INDIA Isles, where its luxurious Produce, was extended with such Rapidity, as soon to become an Object, of national Strife and Warfare. SUGAR was first taxed in ENGLAND, Anno 1685. In 1798, the Quantity imported, was, 2,361,715 Hundred Weight; and the net Amount of the DUTIES, Anno 1813, paid upon this Article, were, ENGLAND, 3,5 0.2237. 18s. 10d. IRELAND, 690,550l. 3s. 9 d. making together, £4,270,774 28. 7 d.

Pyrotechnic Arrows will fly nearly two Miles and a half, and are capable of communicating their Fire, for nearly ten Minutes after having reached their Point. They are large, and have an iron-pointed Socket at the End, which sticks in whatever it may be aimed at. This Socket has likewise a Tube, for the purpose of containing the inflam mable Matter, with six Holes, through which it issues in a State of Liquefaction. The Stick attached to the Rocket* is nearly Twenty Feet long. One hundred of these might be discharged in a Minute, from each Vessel. The Rockets are so constructed, as to instantaneously emit, on their Adhesion to any part of a Vessel, or other Substance, a Liquid Flame. The Ingredients of this destructive Composition, are said to be, of so very inflammable a Nature, as almost to defy the counteracting Effect of Water, which, for some time, seems rather to increase, than extinguish its Violence. A few of them, were last Year thrown at

* In a YORKSHIRE Church-yard, is an Epitaph, the Subject of which, was unfortunately killed, by the Descent of the Stick of a Rocket, as is indeed explicitly told us by the POST

"Here I lie,

Kill'd by a Sky

Rocket in my Eye.”

Emulous of the Praise, which the above ingenious Composi tion received, from the Rustics of the Village, a rival Rhymester, on the Death of an Ostler, who was driven over, produced two Lines, which "supplied the place of Elegy," and ran thus"Here I lays,

Killed by a CHAISE."

In 1812, an Attempt was made, by a celebrated CHEMIST, in SWITZERLAND, to revive that dreadful Composition, by which the Lives of our Fellow-Creatures, were sacrificed to such

DOVER, by way of Experiment, from Archliffe Fort, to the Western Heights, and immediately set on fire a Stubble field, in which they chanced to fall, near the celebrated Cliff of SHAKSPEARE. The Fuse with which they are provided, continues to burn for seven or eight Minutes, after they are shot off, when some of the Rockets explode, and act in the new Capacity of Shells. They are capable, we understand, of being thrown with almost as much Accuracy and Precision, as a SHELL, or CARCASE, is from a Mortar. The average Expence at first, was, One pound four shillings per ROCKET, but which will be reduced, to One pound one shilling and eleven pence.

With Respect to the Musquet, the GENIUS of modern Times, has greatly simplified the noble Art, of MAN-KILLING. The Soldier now carries his Cartridges, commodiously and safely, introduces them into the Piece with wonderful Celerity, and which he discharges frequently, in the Space of a Minute. SEE, opposed to him, the Soldiers of QUEEN BESS, with the Load of Murryon, Culiver, Swords, and Daggers, lighted Match, and Touch powder; they must have been momentarily exposed, to the Explosion of their Powder, and to the Danger of losing, or extinguishing, their Mutches, besides they were deficient in

boundless Extent, at the Time of the CRUSADES. This FIRE has been spoken of, by the His TOKIANS of that Day, as possessing such Powers of Destruction, as no Art could counteract or evade, and to re-acquire a Knowledge, of so dire an Instrument of Annihilation, has been always regarded with Abhorrence. The CHEMIST was, however, unsuccessful His Materials, which cost an immense Sum of Money, were, in the midst of his Preparations, blown up, and took with them, his RIGHT ARM, as a PEACE OFFERING.

Evolutions; for we find no Instruction for Advancing, Retreating, and forming into Columns, Divisions, and Squares; yet, as if the Mind of MAN, considered itself beneficially employed, in discovering the Means of KILLING OFF, superior Numbers, Two other Instruments for Human Massacre, have been devised. In 1811, Captain THOMAS DUNDAS, of the ROYAL NAVY, invented a new inflammable Ball, applicable in besieging a Town, and peculiar for its small Weight, by which means it may be thrown to a great Distance, and takes Fire on a very curious Plan. It spreads a Flame in three distinct Openings, which is so strong, that the Fire extends full a Yard in length, from the Ball itself; and is so powerful, that any Thing under, over, or near, cannot escape its Effects; and in 1812, a Mr. M, a Resident of PORTS EA, submitted to Government, a SHELL, that at the immense Distance of three Miles, will explode Twenty Balls of combustible Matter, of three inches Diameter, and upwards of One Thousand Musket and Pistol Balls: these will be scattered on the Horizon, within a Circle, whose Diameter is Fourteen hundred Yards.-The Weight of the SHELL, will be upwards of Two hundred and a half *.

* The WEALTH accumulated, from the Sale of GUNPOWDER, by an obscure Individual, deserves to be recorded, as much for its Magnitude, as for the strange Disposal of it. Mr. HILL left Property, to the enormous Amount, of Eight hundred thousand pounds.-To Mr. FISH, of Greville-street, Hatton-garden, and to another GENTLEMAN, he gave Three hundred and sixty thousand pounds each; To the Rev. Mr. TAYLOR, his nearest RELATIVE, (who was offered some time since, One hundred thousand pounds for the Chance of his LEGACY,) he bequeathed Thirty-six thousand pounds. He left NOTHING to his RELATIONS, in SOMERSETSHIRE, whom he had placed on a valuable Estate in that County, which cost him Seventy-five thousand pounds, and

It remains a Question, whether the super-eminently nice Marksmen of our Days, could be actuated by the same Principle, which MONTAIGNE recites: "An Offer was made to an excellent ARCHER, condemned to die, that his Life should be saved, if he would shew some notable Proof of his ART; but he refused to try, fearing lest his too great Agitation, should make him shoot wide, and that instead of preserving his Life, he should also lose the Reputation he had got, of being a good Marksman."

The Certainty, with which the AMERICANS, manage their Rifle Guns, PRIEST, in his Travels in AMERICA, gives this Account of. During the late War, in 1775, a Company of Rifle-men, formed from the back Woodsmen of VIRGINIA, was quartered here (Lancaster, in NEW ENGLAND) for some time: Two of them alternately held a Board, only nine inches square, between his Knees, while his Comrade fired a Ball through it, from a Distance of one hundred Paces! The Board is still preserved: and I am assured, by several who were present, that it was performed, without any Manner of Deception."

which, he always assured them, they should inherit. Mr. HILL, the Testator, was originally a Tailor at BRENTFORD, and the Person who succeeded him in that Business, still carries on the Trade in that Town. It was by the POWDER MILLS at WHITTON, that Mr. HILL realised his vast Fortune. He enjoyed the complete Supply of TURKEY, in GUNPOWDER, whence he imported back the Produce of the LEVANT, and with it, carried on the Business, of a TURKEY Merchant. The first of the above Legatees, who died in 1913, seems to have been resolved to dive into a different Practice, to that of the Testator, in lavishing away Money. At his Sale, CHAIRS were disposed of, which cost him SIXTY GUINEAS, each Chair, and a CARPET, the Price of which was ONE THOUSAND POUNDS.