was continued for feveral days, till it was judged expedient that the fhould draw in the gas from a proper vessel, with lefs mixture of the atmospheric air; and the lady recovered.

UPWARDS of three thoufand copies of the Arabic Bible, to be published under the infpection of Profeffor Carbyle, are fubfcribed for. The work will confift of two volumes octavo, of five hundred pages each.

As very few people go to church on Ath Wednesday, Mr. Pearfon, whose indignation at fome of his brethren on the omiffion of part of the late fast fervice was mentioned last month, propofes that the Commination Service appointed to be used on that day fhould be used on the first Sunday in Lent, as well as on Afh Wednesday. This worthy divine will probably meet with more fupport, if he recommends it to be expunged out of the Prayer Book, for the objections of us uninformed people are rather important, and we are to be commended rather than blamed for difliking "to join in curfing our neighbours."

THE two young gentlemen first on the lift of honours, upon the examination for degrees at Cambridge this year, were Mr. Raye, of Chrift College, and Mr. Garratt, of Trinity. By the will of Dr. Smith, two prizes of twenty-five pounds each were given annually to the two beft proficients of the year in mathematics, who have taken their degree. For thefe prizes, the two young gentlemen, of course, were candidates; when Mr. Garratt, who had been second at the preceding examination, obtained the first prize, and Mr. Raye the fecond prize.

THE American Government has publifhed an account of Louifiana, in which is mentioned the difcovery of a falt mountain, about a thousand miles up the Miffouri, and not far from the river. The mountain is faid to be a hundred and eighty miles long, and forty-five in width, compofed of folid rock falt. That a falt mountain may exift, we cannot doubt; but farther authority is requifite to establish its dimentions.

A NEW edition of the works of the Abbé Fleury, on the Manners of the Jews and Chriftians, has been published at Paris.

PROFESSOR Robifon, of Edinburgh, is about to publith his Lectures on Niechanical Philofophy.

A DESCRIPTIVE catalogue of the Coptic Manufcripts found in the library of Cardinal Borgia has been prepared for the prefs by Mr. Zoege, author of a Treatife on Ŏbelisks.

AN answer to Mr. Mark's Pamphlet is in the prefs, by the author of the former reply, who is faid to have a feat on the right reverend bench. The manner in which this controversy began does no honour, affuredly, to the anonymous antagonist of Mr. Marsh, a man, whose talents and indefatigable industry and ingenuousness do honour to the country. To advertise a caution against the writings of fuch aman, and to prejudice the cause in an advertisement, are high offences in the republic of letters.

MR. Gaufs, of Brunfwick, has announced, that there are innumerable cafes of infcribing regular polygons in circles, which are known in the following manner: in the geometrical feries 1-2 -4-8-16-32, &c. continued indefinitely, add unity to any term; then if the fum is a prime number, a pygon of that number of fides may be infcribed in the circle by the operations employed for refolving problems in the elements of geometry.

MR. Baugh, of Llanymynech, is employed on the map of Shropshire, on a large scale.

A CHART of the Hondt, or Western Scheldt, from the fea to Antwerp, was made by order of the Minifter of the French Marine, by Beautemps Beaupre, with proper affiftants, and it is now published by Mr. Steel, of Tower

Hill.

A COLLECTION of the Italian writers on Political Economy, in thirty vo lumes, is now in the prefs, at Milan, under the infpećtion of Mr. Pierre Cuflodi.

MR. Le Brun is faid to have invented a mode of preparing hemp and flax, in fuch a manner as to procure from them a kind of cotton and filk thread. A thousand pounds may, he fays, with the labour of very few individuals, be converted into cotton, and the new manufacture gives commodities equal to thofe made of cotton and filk. The advantages of fuch a procefs are obvious, but we must wait till the boats of the French are proved by experience.

PROFESSOR Matthei, of Augiburg, has difcovered, in a MS. which is depofited in the library of Augfburg, a fragment of three hundred vertes of the

Clytemnestra of Sophocles: he intends to publifh them immediately. This fragment begins with the prologue fpoken by Tifiphone, and finishes with a chorus; whence it is very probable, that it contains the whole of the firft act.

THE National Inftitute has nominated the President Cavelli their correfpondent at Naples.

The celebrated Brunck.

M. Heitz, formerly printer to the University of Strasbourg, and at prefent to the Academy of that city, whose preffes are fufficiently known to all the lovers of Greek learning, by the exquifite editions of Greek authors which have proceeded from them, under the direction of M. Brunck, has lately celebrated the memory of that learned fcholar, by printing on one large folio fheet the numerous claims which he poffeffed to the love, the gratitude, and the veneration of his compatriots, and of the literary world.

The first page contains a Latin in fcription in honour of M. Brunck; it is the compofition of M. Dahler, a worthy literary character, well verfed in Greek and Oriental literature, and who for a long time fince has dedicated his labours and his talents to the propaga tion, at Strafbourg, of a taste for let ters, and for folid knowledge. The fecond page prefents a French translation of this infcription. The third and fourth contain a lift of the editions of the Greek and Roman claffics published by M. Brunck.

This finall typographical monument in honour of a man of learning, whom the city of Strafbourg ought to be proud of in every refpect, is very well executed, and does honour to the prefs of M. Heitz.

M. Schweighaufer, who, during a long period of time, was the obferver, and fometimes the fellow labourer, of M. Brunck, will doubtlefs present us with the 'éloge of his learned friend; for no one is better able than himself to appreciate and to communicate the immenfe obligations which literature is indebted to him.

We are happy in being able to announce to the literary world, the pub

lication of an unique and truly elegant edition of Goldjinith's Poetical Works. A life of that fafcinating poet is prefixed, which is not only authentic, but contains fome new information, particularly with regard to his birth, and there are various additional notes fcattered throughout the poems. The typographical execution of the work is elegantly neat, and the wood-cuts by Austin are impreffive fpecimens of that branch of art. Indeed, the whole appearance of our departed bard's works do great credit to the taste of the different artists.

THE work of Mr. Parkinfon, of Hoxton, on the Organic Remains of the former World, is in confiderable forwardncis. The First Part, on the Fofils of the Vegetable Kingdom, illustrated with coloured plates, in quarto, is propofed to be published on the first of June

next.

Henry T. Hardacre, Efq., of the Royal Navy, has lately received the thanks of the Right Hon. the Lords Commiflioners of the Admiralty, for his excellent plan (which he has communicated to their Lordships) for the purpofe of keeping the fquadrons of his Majefty's fleet upon their ftations before the enemy's ports in blowing weather. This plan is likewife of the utmolt utility to prevent a fhip from falling into the trough of the fea; and, in a gale of wind, to keep her from the danger of being drove upon a lee-fhore, where there is no anchorage. It will alfo be found of great importance, in cafe a fhip fhould lofe her fails, carry away her maits, lofe her rudder, get becalined after a ftrong gale in a heavy fea, or become otherwife in a diftreffed fituation. The above invention is rendered invaluable, by its being at once upon fo plain and fo eafy a principle, that it may be comprehended in an inftant; and two or three feamen can, at any time, conftruct the whole machine in a few minutes out of a part of the thip's materials, without any los or expence whatever; as the machine (after it is done with) can with cafe be taken to pieces, and thofe parts which compofed it ufed again for their ordi nary purposes.

THE gloom which overfpread the nation, when our last report was made, is not entirely diffipated; but

the strongest affurances have been held out, that there is no longer an occafion for national alarm, and that

pro

the country may foon be relieved from its fears with refpect to its Sovereign. Bulletins have been regularly flued, figned by the phyficians in waiting, and giving a daily account of his Majefty's health; but from them nothing could be collected on the nature of the difcafe with which he was afflicted. The fame filence was preferved in both houfes of parliament; and the public, of course, left to its own conjectures, from the extraordinary attendance called in upon this occafion, conceived the diforder to be of that nature which is moft afflicting to humanity, and renders the patient, more than any other, incapable of performing the duties attached to any office in civil fociety. In fuch a ftate of the Chief Magiftrate, and in the daily apprehenfion of the noft formidable attack that was ever planned by the enemy, it was natural that great anxiety thould prevail: queftions were put in parliament, which were intended to be followed up by motions of enquiry; and there was reafon to expect, that an examination of the physicians would take place, to afcertain the bability of a fpeedy exercife of the royal powers. A member of an election committee cannot be abfint from his poft without a certificate from the phylician of his incapacity to attend; and, if the royal functions were fufpended from any caufe, it seemed coniftent with the high nature of the kingly office that the other branches of the legislature fhould have the state of this fufpenfion properly laid before them, that, in cafe of neceffity, they might provide the means fuitable to fuch a diftreffing occafion. Motions of this kind were daily expected, when flop was put to all farther difcuffion on fo delicate a topic, by the declaration from the Chancellor that he had had an audience with his Majefty, whom he found fully competent to perform the duties of his high ftation; and, however diftreffing the remains of illnefs might be to himself and fubjects, there was nothing in it to prevent the bufinefs of the nation from going on in its ufual courfe. A declaration of fuch importance from an officer peculiarly converfant in affairs of a fimilar nature, and who would not permit the act of an inferior man to be deemed valid, if he were not in perfect poffeffion of his intellectual faculties, ught to fatisfy the moft incredulous.

It could not be prefumed, that he would trifle with national feelings; and it could not be doubted, that in his in terview with his Majesty he had received thofe convincing proofs which would have fatisfied him in the court of judicature over which he prefides. The bulletins, however, continued in their ufual ftrain; they declared that his Majefty was daily growing better, daily approaching to recovery: but how far the ftate of his diforder, previous to the vifit of the Chancellor, differed from the fucceeding ftate, in the opinion of the medical men, can be known only to few perfons, and for others the authority of the Chancellor is fufficient.

If the feelings of this country were highly agitated by the diftrefiing fitustion in which they apprehended that their Sovereign was placed, the dan ger that threatened the life of the fovereign at war with us excited no lefs alarm in the neighbouring country; and the eyes of all Europe are directed to the fcenes which are daily taking place in the capital of France, The Minifter of Juftice made a report, on the 17th of Feb., to the govern ment and the legislative bodies of the difcovery of a formidable confpiracy against the life of the First Contul. The great agents in this confpiracy were two celebrated Generals, Pichegru and Moreau, and a confiderable leader in the war of the Vendée, Georges. Pichegru was well known to have been in England, and to have been received in that country with great respect. Moreau was fuppofed to have been living in retirement, and enjoying a dignified leifure, the fruits of fignal fervices he had rendered to his country. They could, however, it was afferted, prove a connection be tween Pichegru and Moreau, and allo lay open the whole plan, in which a number of inferior agents was concerned, having in view the affaflination of the First Conful, the overthrow of the government, and the plunging of France again into all the horrors of civil war.

In confequence of this report, Moreau was arrested; and orders were iffued for the arreft of every perfon de nounced by the Minister of Juftice. Pichegru was foon after difcovered inParis, and conveyed to a place of confinement; and Georges, difguifed, and in the act of making his escape, met with the fame fate. Numbers of the denounc

ed perfons were fucceffively taken up; and in the publishing of their names, the times when they came from England, and the thips, and matters of fhips, who brought them, are mentioned. The French, with the r ufual vivacity, poured in addresses to the First Conful, congratulating him on his efcape, and expreiling their indignation aga nft fuch perfons, as, after having rendered effential fervices to their country, could harbour fo wicked and atrocious a delign. The cale remains to be tried, and it will be curious to fee to what degree either juftice or the forms of juftice are preferved.

Such a conspiracy would be of little importance to this country, if it were not for the language that has been ufed by the Minifter of Justice upon this occafion. He does not fcruple to affert, that the affaffins were in the pay of England, and that the plot was laid on England. The Englith government is accufed of participating in the plot, and of endeavouring to overthrow, by perdy and affalination, that fyftem which the French had cftabl fhed, and, which would continue firm against every attack of open force or fecret treafon. Affallination, we truft, is a crime which every Englihman holds in abhorrence; and, if there were a man in his Majesty's councils capable of harbouring fuch a delign, or of paying the villains to perpetrate fuch an act, we do not doubt that, as foon as his infamy was detected, he would be driven with deferved difgrace from his poft, and be treated with contempt by every one of his countrymen.

The war in which we are now engaged does not authorife us to commit an act difgraceful to humanity. Upon the fame plea, that a man would vindicate the afiaffination of the First Contul by means procured by Englith gold, would justify the affaflination of our Sovereign by the hands of the French. Thus a moft difgraceful fpecies of warfare would be kept up, and, inftead of ranking high for honour among the nations of Europe, our name would be coupled with that of the moft atrocious barbarians who have difgraced fociety. The First Conful of France has been acknowledged by us as a lawful fovereign: we have fent ainballadors to him, and received ambafadors from him. War does not alter his ftate. Whatever VOL. I.

caufe of complaint certain Frenchmen may have against him, in fuch complaint we have no right to interfere, and much lefs in the atrocious manner attributed to us. We cannot, therefore, acquiefce in the charge brought against us. It is not an English act; at least, if an Englithman has been found bate enough to patronife it, he has acted totally against the feelings and the consent of the nation.

An eminent character in the law is faid to have not only viewed the accufation in the fame light that we do, but to have called on the Minister to difavow the charge. We applaud entirely his fpirit: it is that of a true Eng lithman, who cannot bear that fo difgraceful a fufpicion fhould attach to his country. But we may doubt the propriety of any notice being taken of the charge, till the proceedings of the judicature of France are known. They have made an affertion which it is now incumbent on them to establish by proper evidence. They will, we trust, fail even in their own courts. Europe will then know what confidence to place in their future affertions, or, if any iufpicion thould attach to this country, it will then be time for Minifters to remove fo terrible an afperfion.

The d fcovery of the plot ferves only to ftrengthen the government of the First Conful, and to give sanction to many violent meafures which may now be faid to be required for the national fafety. In the mean time, the preparations for the attack upon our coafts continue to be made with the greatest alacrity. The number of gun boats collected in Boulogne harbour is almost incredible; and we have the mortification of hearing continually, that little fquadrons, by keeping near the fhore, evade the vigilance of our cruizers. A plan is faid to have been proposed to government to render the whole scheme inefficient, by finking veffels in the mouth of the harbour of Boulogne, which fhall block it up entirely: but this plan is not received with any fanguine expectations. This is certain, that all the preparations we have heard of cannot bring over a fufficient armed force to cope with the inhabitants of Britain, fighting for their liberty and property, and unanimous in the defence of their country.

Incitements cannot be requifite to call forth the wonted courage of this ifland in its defence; but, if they were, Rr

the ftate of the Dutch would teach its inhabitants what they might expect in cafe of the fuccefs of the French arms. They retain the forms of liberty, but are expofed upon every oc cafion to the moft mortifying infuits, as well as rapacious extortions. By a late order, fearch has been made after British property in the province of Zealand, which to a great amount has been feized, and transported into the interior of the French republic. A remonftrance made by the Prefident was of no avail, and indeed the language he ufed ferved only to difgrace his own Countrymen, and to excite ridicule in the conqueror. "We befeech you, Sir," he now addreffes the French General, "by the liberty of Batavia, acknowledged for more than two centuries, and acquired in battle by our ancestors, at the expence of their valour and their blood, that you will not convert that liberty to a fhadow, by perfevering farther in the execution of a measure which has been carried to great lengths already, and against which we proteft with all our might. If in the mean time, agamft all expectation, you refufe to give ear to this juft and well founded proteft, we folemnly and energetically implore you that the goods and property of our fellow citizens, already feized and placed in fecurity, may not be tranfported elsewhere; at leaft, that the facred right of property be fo long refpeéted, till both the governments fhall have treated as to the deftiny of fo many inhabitants, whofe welfare and exiftence depend folely on the prefervation of their property and polletions." It was not in this manner that the ancestors of the Dutch pleaded with the proud Spaniard; nor would they have acquired their liberty, and been fo renowned in hiftory, if they had conceived that the property which they could not guard by their own fwords could be preferved by negotiation, “Væ viêtis!” woe to the conquered, was the expreffion ufed by the Gaul, when he had got poffeffion of antient Rome; and the Dutch can have no reafon to expect that this woe fhould in their cafe not befall them. Having loft the fpirit of their ancestors, they muft not expect that the mere memory of former atchievements fhould preferve them from the fatal confequences of their late inglorious conduct.

The fate of the Dutch feems to be impending over the parts of Italy which

have not hitherto fubmitted to the power of France. The northern parts may be confidered as entirely under its influence or direct government: the papal dominions are of too little confequence in any respect, either of resistance or acquiefcence: but it is faid that Naples is threatened, and, in confequence of the force we have in the Mediterraneau, the French will think it neceflary to fecure to themfelves the firong places in the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily, However great may be our naval force, when we reflect on the force that the French can easily tranfport into those quarters, the difpofition of the inhabitants, and the horrid barbarities cxercited on the reitoration of the Nea politan government during the late war, refifiance wil probably be very fecble or ineffectual. Our fleets may fuccour the difirefs of the fugitives, and increase the calamities of those who are compelled to remain, by the deftruction of cities and mansions near the fea coaft; and the wretched Neapolitan, at a lofs to difcriminate between the evil effects of both parties, will load with equal execrations both his friends and his foes,

A degree of fpirit unknown to the Neapolitans appears on the coast of Africa, and excites at present much curiofity, as it may hereafter be matter of parliamentary enquiry. Mr. Falcon, the English Conful at Algiers, was fome time ago difmiffed by the Dey, on the ground of ill conduct, and a breach of the laws of the country. The particulars are not fufficiently known, but the chief infult confifted, it is faid, in the Conful keeping in his house frce Mahometan women; a privilege, it feems, which is denied to a chriftian, A tumult in confequence arofe in the city, and the prejudices of the inhabitants could not be removed but by the difmiffal of the Conful. The Conful took refuge on board of our fhips: the circumstances were made known to our government; and Lord Nelfon was in confequence directed to proceed to Algiers, to infift, it is faid, on the reinftatement of the Conful, and at the fame time to require that all the Maltefe, lately taken by the Dey's cruifers, fhould be given up as British fubjects.

Thefe ørders are fufficiently peremp tory. On the receipt of them, Lord Nelfon difpatched Capt. Reats in the Superb, with the Conful on board, to Algiers, to deliver to the Dey in a let ter the demands of our government,