and did not his wife and every body talk of his complexion all through the play? You need not stand there, Mr. Stephen, holding up your hands and eyes, and looking as if you thought me a fool. I am not such a dunce as Sally North. I have been to London, and been to the play, and what I have seen I believe, for all your strange looks. He's as black as my master's great greyhound,'-continued Peggy, who had gradually talked herself into such a passion, that her cheeks, generally like a cabbagerose, were of the colour of a red cabbage-'as black as your hat.'

"Stephen on his part was for the first time in his life dumb founded; first at the singular mixture of ignorance and simplicity implied in the assertion and the reasons brought to support it; secondly at the impudence of the little country damsel who did not know Westminster Abbey from St. Paul's, and yet ventured to impugn his authority on such a point. Let me tell you-' he began, when a little recovered from his consternation, 'Let me tell you child-'

""Child!' interrupted Peggy, touched on the very point of dignity; 'child yourself! It is well known that I am sixteen all but eight months, and as for you, you'll look like a boy all the days of your life. You play Tragedy! Why your hardly tall enough for punch. Child indeed! And I almost sixteen. Never come near me again Mr Long, I have nothing to say to youand off marched Peggy; and poor Stephen twice rejected in three days would certainly have hanged himself in Sally North's scarlet garters, had he not had the lucky resource of tender poesy, that admirable vent-peg of disappointed love. He went back to Town, and wrote an elegy, and we have heard no more of him since.'

St. DAVID'S DAY.

On the evening of this day, a party of the Ivorian Lodge of Independent Odd Fellows met at the King's Head, Tredegar, to celebrate this national Welsh anniversary. Each of the party wore the badge of their titular saint on their hats, ornamented with gold leaf. A Welsh harper, with several other musicians and vocal singers, attended on the occasion, and the company were highly entertained with excellent songs and national airs, and curw da. This is the first time this ancient custom was celebrated at Tredegar Works.

MR. EDITOR,

THE PATRIOT KING.

You must insert the following-'tis not politics.

How grateful to the feelings of an honest man, when he can now conscientiously join in the National Anthem, without incurring the censure of those who knew he could not formerly be sincere. Hundreds, nay thousands, will now chaunt it, that never could before, and the subjects of a Patriot Kiug no longer be branded as hypocrites. How differently does William Henry fill the throne, compared with those of whom the poet speaks :

"Where half the monarchs who have sat before,

Have only sat to eat and drink and snore;

To dn the credit of the age,

And load with folly History's blushing page."

Manchester, June, 1831.

ΜΟΝΑ.

Authentic narrative of a plan, (now first made public,) for capturing Prince William Henry, his present Majesty, during his stay at New York in 1782; with the original letters of General Washington.

When his present Majesty William IV. served as a midshipman in the British navy, he was for some time on the coast of the North American colonies, then in a state of revolution, and passed the winter of 1782 in the city of New York. He is still borne in lively recollection by many of the elder inhabitants of that city, as a fine bluff boy of sixteen: frank, cheery, and affable; and there are anecdotes still told of his frolicsome pranks on shipboard. Among these, is the story of a rough, though favourite, nautical joke, which he played off upon a sailor boy, in cutting down his hammock while asleep. The sturdy sea urchin resented this invasion of his repose; and not knowing the quality of his invader, a regular set-to of fisty-cuffs ensued in the dark. In this, it is said, the Prince shewed great bottom; and equal generosity on the following morning, when he made the boy a handsome present of money. His conduct in this boyish affair is said to have gained him the hearts of all his ship

mates.

As the

The prince manifested, when on shore, a decided fondness for manly pastimes. One of his favourite resorts was a small fresh water lake in the vicinity of the city, which presented a frozen sheet of many acres; and was thronged by the younger part of the population for the amusement of skating. Prince was unskilled in that exercise, he would sit in a chair fixed on runners, which was pushed forward with great velocity by a skating attendant, while a crowd of officers environed him, and the youthful multitude made the air ring with their shouts for

Prince William Henry. It was an animating scene, in the bright sunny winter-days, so common in that climate, and probably still retains a place in His Majesty's memory.

While the prince was thus enjoying himself in the city of New York, a daring plan was formed, by some adventurous partizans of the revolutionary army, to pounce upon him and carry him off from the very midst of his friends and guards. The deviser of this plan was Colonel Ogden, a gallant officer, who had served with great bravery in the revolutionary army from the very commencement of the war, and whose regiment at that time was stationed in the province (now state) of New Jersey.

The present statement is drawn up from documents still preserved by the family of Colonel Ogden, a copy of which has been obtained from one of his sons. The Prince at the time was living on shore, with Admiral Digby, in quarters slightly guarded, more for form than security, no particular danger being apprehended. The project of Colonel Ogden was to land secretly ou a stormy night, with a small but resolute force, to surprise and carry off the Prince and the Admiral to the boats, and to make for the Jersey shore. The plan was submitted to General Washington, who sanctioned it, under the idea that the possession of the person of the Prince would facilitate an adjustment of affairs with the mother country, and a recognition of the United States as an independent nation.

The following is a copy of the letter of General Washington to Col. Ogden on the occasion. The whole of the original is in the handwriting of the General :

To Col Ogden of the 1st Jersey Regiment.

"Sir,-The spirit of enterprise so conspicuous in your plan for surprising in their quarters, and bringing off, the Prince William Henry and Admiral Digby, merits applause; and you have my authority to make the attempt in any manner and at such a time as your judgment shall direct.

"I am fully persuaded, that it is unnecessary to caution you against offering insult or indignity to the persons of the Prince or Admiral, should you be so fortunate as to capture them; but it may not be amiss to press the propriety of a proper line of conduct upon the party you command.

"In case of success, you will, as soon as you get them to a place of safety, treat them with all possible respect; but you are to delay no time in conveying them to congress, and reporting your proceedings, with a copy of these orders.

"Given at Morris Town, this 28th day of March, 1782. "G. WASHINGTON.'

"Note. Take care not to touch upon the ground which is agreed to be neutral-viz., from Raway to Newark, and four miles back."

Vol. 2-No. 1.-B.

Before relating the particulars of this plan, it may be expedient to state, that the city of New York is situated upon the point of an island which advances into the centre of a capacious bay. A narrow arm of the sea, vulgarly called East River, separates it on the left from Long to Nassau Island; and the Hudson, commonly called the North Kiver, separates it from the state of New Jersey. The British Army was in possession of the city, and was strengthened by a fleet; but the opposite bank of the Hudson, which is about two miles wide, was under the power of Congress, and the revolutionary army was stationed at no great distance in New Jersey, in a winter encampment of wooden huts.

The party that should undertake this enterprise, would have to embark in boats from the Jersey shore and it was essential that the whole affair should be accomplished between sun and

sun.

The following is the plan intended to be observed, copied literally from the original, in the handwriting of Colonel Ogden :

"It will be necessary to have four whale boats (which can be procured without cause for suspicion); they must be well manned by their respective crews, including guides, &c. ; beside these, one captain, one subaltern, three sergeants, and thirty-six men, with whom the boats can row with ease.-N. B It is known where the boats are, and that they can be collected without suspicion, with their oars-men; and it is taken for granted, the owners will not object, though, for fear of giving the least cause of alarm, nothing has as yet been said to them.

"The time of embarkation must be the first wet night after we are prepared. The place is not yet agreed on, as it will be necessary to consult those skilled in the tides previous to determining, which must be put off until we are as nearly prepared as possible, for fear of inferences being drawn from our inquiries. We must, however, set off from such pars of the Jersey shore, as will give us time to be in the city by half past nine. The men must be embarked in the order of debarkation.

"The Prince quarters in Hanover-square, and has two sentinels from the 40th British regiment, that are quartered in Lord Stirling's old quarters in Broad-street, 200 yards from the scene of action. The main guard, consisting of a captain and forty men, is posted at the City Hall-a sergeant and twelve at the head of the old slip-a sergeant and twelve opposite the coffee house-these are the troops we may be in danger from, and must be guarded against. The place of landing at Coenties Market, between the two sergeants guards, at the head of the old slip and opposite the coffee house.

"The order of debarkation to agree with the mode of attack, as follows:

"First-Two men with a guide, seconded by two others, for

the purpose of seizing the sentinels-these men to be armed with naked bayonets, and dressed in sailors' habits-they are not to wait for anything, but immediately execute their orders.

Second-Eight men including guides with myself, preceded by two men with each a crow bar, and two with each an axe, these for the purpose of forcing the doors should they be fast, and followed by four men, entering the house and seizing the young Prince, the admiral, the young noblemen, aides, &c.

"Third-A captain and eighteen to follow briskly, form, and defend the house until the business is finished, and retreat a half gun shot in our rear.

"Fourth-A subaltern and fourteen, with half of the remaining boats' crew, and form on the right and left of the boats, and defend them until we return-the remainder of the crews to hold the boats in the best possible position for embarking.

"Necessary-Two crow bars, two axes, four dark lanterns, and four large oil-cloths.

"The manner of returning as follows;

"Six men with guns and bayonets, with those unemployed in carrying off the prisoners, to precede those engaged in that business, followed by the captain (joined by the four men from the sentry) at a half gun-shot distance, who is to halt and give a front to the enemy, until the whole are embarked in the following order—

First-The prisoners, with those preceding them.

"Second-The guides and boatmen.

"Third-The subalterns and fourteen.

'Fourth-The rear,"

Such was the daring plan laid for the capture of the Prince, and which, even if not fully successful, might have placed his Royal Highness in a most perilous predicament. It appears, however, from a fragment of a letter addressed by General Washington to Col, Ogden, and apparently written almost immediately after the preceding one, that some inkling of the design had reached Sir Henry Clinton, then in New York, and commander in chief of the British forces. General Washington communicates in his letter, the following paragraph from a secret despatch, dated March 23rd, which he had just received from some emissary in New York.

"Great seem to be their apprehensions here. About a fort. night ago a great number of flat boats were discovered by a sentinel from the bank of the river (Hudson's), which are said to have been intended to fire the suburbs, and in the height of the conflagration to make a descent on the lower part of the city and wrest from our embraces His Excellency Sir H. Clinton, Prince William Henry, and several other illustrious personages, since