fleet, but received for anfwer, that when he has to do with master-carpen41 "every thing went fo well that his afters and caulkers, to have a verbal profiftance was not wanted;" yet the many cefs drawn up, to fhew that his plan had boats that went off to the Tailla Piedra: not been followed in the conftruction of must have known the contrary. The thefe floating-batteries. To confole the nine other batteries farther from the public difappointment, he has been told, fpot, and much less incommoded by the that the project itself was a bad one; for enemy's fire, might have retired and re- had his batteries done their utmost, and paired. affault would not have been practicable. the walls next the fea been levelled, the And yet thefe very judges laid a particular ftrefs on the fuccefs of them. It has been faid, the enemy would have continued the defence with cannon concealed under the mountain, and by countermining the principal street; and that one bomb on a gun-boat was fufs ficient to disorder all the dispositions for the affault. Thefe, and the like ob jections, have been made by an officer of fuperior rank, a man of genius and weight, who undertook to carry the place fword in hand. Yet how can it be, that he who indulged fuch fanguine hopes, Sept. 12. and on Sept. 14. gave up this enterprife as impoffible, fhould, by the event, learn new facts about the local circumftances of the place? But all thefe objections have been started afterwards, to amufe the public about the extraordinary and wilful loss of the floatingbatteries.

on the following fimple principles:
The whole of the author's defign rests

If it be asked, where was the author at the time of this inactivity and fatal refolution? he was confined to his hip. About fix o'clock, he proposed to the Prince of Naffau to go out of it, "to get more decifive general orders; for that he could do him and the reft more effectual fervice without than within.". But the: Prince desired him not to quit his battery; and he complied from a principle of delicacy. It is pretended that the Prince faid, he wanted fome body to be refponfible for the accidents of this battery." But can this be believed of the Prince of Naffau? The truth is, we never fufpected the ftrange difpofitions that followed; but were in continual expectation of having a fafe retreat effected in fight of a fleet of fifty fail, for which there was fix hours good, even for the Tailla Piedra, where the fire was not got to a head till after midnight. The author then quitted her, and ran to the admiral, who referred him to the general, who, he said, fhould have fettled every thing with the commander of the batteries. He went, but found no body, only heard of the order, no fooner given than executed, to fet fire to all the bat. teries. This refolution to abandon them was covered by an abuse of the batteries themfelves. Yet, after their effects were reduced to one fifth of what they ought to have been, and they abandoned in the moft decided manner, they fuftained five hours advantageous fight, and, which is more, above eight hours inactive ftation, and after all were not mastered by the enemy; and the incendiaries fay, they only prevented a neceffary effect, for that the batteries were not incom buftible. It is vain to say they were not bomb-proof; for in fourteen hours pelting if it is not admitted that, cæteris paribus, 4. There can be no forefight in war, with near 900 balls, only one man was fix pieces of artillery will always filence killed. It has been faid, that the cap- one. tams were not in condition to tow them off, and yet they worked them on. Cer- of cannon once fuccefsful, and all ob5. An affault protected by 400 pieces tificates and written evidence have been ftacles of fortification removed, is not an got, to prove they could not be brought affault, but a taking poffeffion without off. The author has been advifed, ftriking a stroke.

VOL. XLVI.

of no effect against five feet thickness of 1. The ftrongest known calibres are hard wood compacted and disposed in joints.

conftantly moistened to a degree of total 2. Experiments fhew, that wood, kept immerfion, will check the progress of fire.

polition that will burn in the water, and 3. There certainly is a chemical comconfume fome parts of wood which it immediately touches, but only till the compofition itself is burnt out; after which nature refumes her ufual course, and wood thoroughly foaked will fhew. no figns of fire.

F

But

42

But thofe of the contrary fide say, you would have hindered them from making promised us batteries fire-proof, and yet themselves mafters of all the batteries, they are burnt. To which we anfwer, and all their tackle. But, after admitting they were not warranted againft incen, the circulation had been moft complete, diary friends; and there was not time al- who knows if it could have refifted the lowed to defend them against the ene- brimstone cloaths faftened by the burnmy. But this is not the queftion; for, ers on the starboard oppofite the enewhen threatened with pofitive experi- my? It is generally known, that the ments on the fubject, they change their garrifon talked of not being able to hold. tone, and fay, that, admitting the merit out againft the preparations. Gen. EIof the batteries, the affault would have liot himself queftioned two of our peobeen impoffible. It has been given out, ple on the evening of the 13th: when one that the author refused to fatisfy the of our floops (chaloupes chavirée) carried court of France with experiments. But eleven fwimmers to the place, he asked the French minifter's answer to him, them, with a kind of uneasiness, what July 22. " if you obtain a trial of their thefe floating-batteries were made of, effential qualities," &c. proves that he that the red-hot balls had no effect on defired an experiment; but as to thofe them. He did not yet doubt of the mifto be made before the other preparations chief these balls did us, but he doubted were admitted, he answered, that he lefs of the moral mischief which they did thought the Spanish minifter feared the us. experiments made before the batteries The author, with more than probable were undertaken would produce endless difputes; and therefore knowing, as he did, the ground-work of the mechanifm, he had ordered them to proceed.”

The experiment made by the author was this: After soaking a piece of oaktimber a foot square fix hours, he took it out of the water, and bored a hole fix inches deep, of the exact diameter of a 24 pounder. He then heated in a forge a ball of this fize, and drove it red-hot into the hole; the ball attracted all the moisture of the wood, and after fmoak ing a quarter of an hour went out, without leaving any mark but a circle of wood dried about an inch thick in the circumference of the ball, and the bottom of the hole was only black, without being burnt. If this was the effect of one fingle moistening, much more would it be of repeated wetting, which, by the fpongy medium, would have been inexhauftible, if the caulkers had done their duty. It is well known he was refufed a trial of his batteries before actual fer vice; and when the want of internal cir. culation was difcovered, they thought they had no time to remedy it. Yet, even as it was, one of them held out fourteen hours before the fire fhewed itfelf externally; and four of them refifted for twenty hours the order to burn them all, as well as the red-hot balls of the enemy. The enemy likewife fhewed great timidity and caution; for, after the univerfal filence of the affailants, and fo de, cided an abandoning of them, nothing

means of fuccess, with physical and mo-
ral caufes difficult to exprefs, without
He had his
rank or authority, could not command
times and circumstances.
fhare in the mistakes; but he thinks
himself so much above his faults, that
he need not diffemble them. He cer-
tainly committed fome, both in the par-
ticular conftruction of the batteries, and
in the choice of the points of attack.
He has even given in a lift of his faults
to government, and would have given
them here, if these objects were not con-
nected with fome further difpofitions.
He muft, however, confefs, that most of
these faults were foreseen and involunta-
ry; but it was a very great one in him to
fuppofe, that fuch an enterprife, de-
pending on two elements, could have
been governed by a subaltern and foreign
hand, or that such a perfon could have
confulted fo many different interefts,
and directed them all to the advantage
of the undertaking, and the glory of the
service of two kings.

Such is the apology of Monf. d'Arcon, inventor of the famous floating-batteries, which were infallibly to have put Gibraltar into the poffeffion of the King of Spain. He had difperfed a number of copies of it in MS. among his friends, till the general demand for it induced fome of them to print it, without even omitting many paffages and notes, which the author intended to have fuppreffed.

Account

Account of an extraordinary SUICIDE.

In a letter from a gentleman at Paris.

SIR,

SUICIDE is thought to be common only in England; but I have reason to believe that it is much more common in France: A gentleman of my acquaintance, who attends the Hotel Dieu, where there are conftantly 3000 patients, affured me, that scarce a day paffes over, in which he does not fee fome unfortunate wretches brought to the hospital, who had made an attempt upon their lives; fome by fhooting, fome by hanging, o. thers by poison, and not a few by ftabbing themselves, or cutting their throats. However, fuicide is generally attempted in France in moments of defpair, or in paroxyfms of love or jealousy. I myself faw a woman, a few days ago, throw herself out of a window three ftories high, in the Fouxbourg St Honore. Her skull was fractured by the fall, both arms and a leg were broken. She lived long enough, and had juft voice enough to say, that the had caught her fweetheart, who was a barber's boy, in company with another woman. She died while fome charitable people were carrying her to the Hotel Dieu.

There was, however, lately a fuicide committed from far different motives than thofe of despair, love, or jealousy; for religion, which ought to guard man kind against fuch attempts, was what occafioned this melancholy affair; or rather it was a religious frenzy, and not religion itself, that prompted the unfortunate person who fell a victim to it. He was an Englishman, and an officer of diftinction in the British Eaft-India Company's fervice, where he held the rank of major: for the fake of his family, I will not mention his name. For fome time he had been fubject to a kind of melancholy, which led him to feek retirement; and a few days before he proceeded to carry his fatal resolution into execution, he was seen to pass a great maBy hours in fervent prayer. He prayed on his knees, and frequently bowed himfelf to the ground, which he kiffed most devoutly, as if to exprefs his humility. Nothing could lefs indicate an intention of fu cide than this conduct; and therefete, the people of the house, not fuf.

43

pecting that this would end in a dismal tragedy, were highly edified by the manner in which the Major dedicated to devotion that time which young men like him (for he was a young man) spent in idlenefs, or in vicious courses.

fhould have been his last, he rose early; On the fatal morning that he intended and at about five o'clock his fervant, who lay in the next apartment, was wakened with a noise in his master's room. He and to his aftonishment, he found the ran in to see what was the cause of it; Major lying on the floor, weltering in his blood. He had placed the point of his sword to the pit of his stomach, and thrown himself upon it. was fhivered in four pieces; and one of them, about four inches long, remained The sword in his body. As foon as he faw his fervant enter, he called to him to run inftantly for a piftol, with which he wanted to put an end to the most excrutiating pains that were occafioned by the wound. The man afked if it would not be better for him to run for a furgeon ; the Major, after a moment's hefitation, replied, " Well, do what you please.”

known to any of his countrymen in Paris,
This unfortunate gentleman was not
the Duke of Manchefter excepted, to
whom, merely as the British ambassador,
out any previous acquaintance, or recom-
he had once paid his respects, but with-
mendation. The news of this melan-
choly affair having reached his Grace's
ear, he immediately fent his furgeon to
the Major. The piece of the fword was
extracted, and every poffible affiftance
was given him. He bore his pains with
calm refignation, and frequently expref-
fed a regret for having committed the
rafh act that, had occafioned them. He
faid, however, that he was thoroughly
convinced that, as he fancied he had
acted from a divine impulfe, God would
receive him into the manfions of the
bleffed, and that the angels would re-
joice at his triumphant entry into para-
dife. These were nearly his own words.
He feemed, however, to feel much men-
tal pain, from an opinion that his con-
duct would be condemned by mankind,
and his memory held in execration.

the Ambaffador's furgeon having called
He lived to fee the third day, when
to fee him, found no pulfe in the arm,
and juft a thread of pulse towards the
head. He then broke to his patient, in

F 2

the

the moft judicious manner he was able,
the difmal tidings, that his diffolution
must be near at hand. The Major was
furprised at the news, and seemed not to
believe it; for the violent pains that had
tortured him for the two preceding days,
had totally fubfided, and he said he felt
a most sweet tranquillity of body: How
ever, it was the mortification of the parts
lately affected, that had deprived them of
fenfibility. The furgeon juft went outcome, ye toil-worn wanderers, come,
of the room, to order fomething to wet
his patient's mouth, and when he re-
turned, in lefs than three minutes, he
found him fpeechlefs: in a little time af-
ter he expired.

ODE for the NEW YEAR.
Written by W. Whitehead, Efq; Poet Laureas.
NOUGH of arms.
Her forward view Britannia bends;
To happier ends
The generous hosts who grafp'd the sword,
Obedient to her awful word,

Though martial glory cease,
Shall now with equal industry,
Like Rome's brave fons, when Rome was free,
Refume the arts of peace.

The body was to have been opened the evening of the morning on which he died; but fo careful is the police of this city, that though death was produced by violent means, and there was not even the fhadow of ground to suppose a poffibility of recovery, ftill the Lieutenant-General of the police fent an order, that the body should not be opened for twentyfour hours more. At the end of that time the operation was performed; and it was found that the fword had cut through an artery, and pierced the liver; fo that the wound was ab initio mortal, and it was a matter of surprise how he could live fo long after having received it. The Ambaffador took poffeffion of his effects, for the ufe of the family of the deceased, and fealed up every thing with his own feal; his Grace behaving from the beginning in a manner that did him much honour, and ought to endear him to his countrymen. He provided for the funeral in a decent manner; and the remains of this unhappy gentleman were depofited in the fame burying ground where thofe of Mr Maddifon had been laid a few weeks before.-From the

To genial hearths and focial home,

The tender housewife's busy care
The board with temperate plenty crown'd,
And fmiling progeny around,

That liften to the tale of war!
Yet be not war the favourite theme,
Teach them more justly far to deem,
For what has war with blifs to do?
Teach them 'tis in the will of fate,
And own experience taught it you;

Can make their country truly great,
Their frugal industry alone

And in her blifs fecure their own.
Be all the fongs, that foothe their toil,
And bid the brow of labour smile,
When through the loom the fhuttle glides,
Or thining share the glebe divides,
Or, bending to the woodman's stroke,
To waft her commerce, falls the British oak!
Be all their fongs, that soften these,
of calm content, and future well-earn'd cafe.
Nor dread, left inborn spirit die :

One glorious leffon, early taught,
Will all the boafted powers fupply

Of practis'd rules and ftudied thought.
From the firft dawn of reafon's ray,
on the young bofom's yielding clay
Strong be their country's love impreft,
Tell them 'tis their's to grafp the fword,
And with your own example fire their breaft.
When Britain gives the awful word;

And guard, from faction nobly free,
To bleed, to die, in Britain's caufe,
Their birthright blefling, Liberty,

True Liberty, that loves the laws.
ELEGY on the death of Mr Ro. LEVET”.

By Dr JOHNSON.

ONDEMN'D to Hope's delufive mine,
By fudden blafts, or flow decline,

Well tried through many a varying year,
Our focial comforts drop away!
Officious, innocent, fincere,
See Levet to the grave defcend;

papers found in his trunks, it was caly
to fee that the Major's heart had been one
of the very beft: his great object feemed
to be of ufe to mankind; and even then we toil from day to day,
moft unfortunate and criminal did not
escape his attention. Among other papers
was found a memorial to the Compte de
Vergennes, in favour of the galley flaves
whom he had feen at Marseilles. It con-
tained a plan by which their fufferings
might be alleviated, by means that would
prove highly beneficial to fociety. What
a pity that a wrong head fhould destroy
a heart that beat with univerfal philan
thropy !
A TRAVELLER,

Paris, 08.1783.

Of every friendless name the friend,

fire; and though not regularly bred to phyfic, had Mr Levet was a native of Hull, in Yorkacquired a confiderable degree of knowledge in the healing art. He was patronized by Dr S. Johnfon, and had for several years an apartment in the Doftor's house, and a confiant place at bis table-He died Jan. 19, 1982.

Yet