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service of the East India company at Canton, keeps a regular journal, a la Bos well, of his occupation and amusements in the metropolis. Like other journalists; he sometimes deals in the marvellous :-Speaking of the grand volunteer review in Hyde Park, he computes the volunteers at an hundred thousand, and the speetators at a million. The Chinese cook who accompanied him, was ill treated"Mob," observes the tourist, "pulled China cook's tail." "N. B. In England strong oppress the weak." "Gave half of three shillings for to go up St. Paul's to see all England-English man cheat poor China boy:-when get up, great fog; instead of all England, see nothing at all." He sings various Chinese songs, and recites several scenes from Chinese plays, in a style which would not disgrace Texier. He saw Pizzarro; and, after admiring Portuguese altar, as he termed it, estimated the expence at a thousand pounds!

Among the expedients resorted to by attorneys, to chastise refractory clients, the following appears to be unique. An attorney had thought proper to charge his client 6s. 8d. for each time that he had taken a dinner with him. The client retaliated by charging the attorney for dinner, and a bottle of wine at each visit. A dispute arose, but the legal wight at length paid his client's demand, and immediately preferred informations against him for selling wine without licence.

A Roman Catholic curate, to free himself from the labour of confessions in Lent, gave notice to his parishioners, that on Monday he should confess the liars; on Tuesday, the misers; on Wednesday, the slanderers; on Thursday, the thieves; on Friday, libertines; and on Saturday, the bad women. scheme succeeded-none attended.

His

MELANCHOLY CATASTROPHE.-The neighbourhood of Hammersmith has been for several nights alarmed by some idle or ill disposed person, who assumed the fancied appearance of a ghost. Not a young miss or an old maid could stir out at night, the one for an innocent game at whist, the other to see a lover, withbut being crossed by this most obtrusive and frightful apparition. The ghost, according to some, appeared in the likeness of Bonaparte; according to others, of a ⚫ horse without a head; but the fact is, to all who really saw it, it was a tall figure in a white sheet. Many attempts were made to sieze it; but it had one property of a ghost, it eluded the quickest pursuit, and there was not a pair of heels in the parish swift enough to overtake it. Encouraged by its success, it became more troublesome than ever, and a party agreed to lay in wait for it. In this number was a man of the name of Smith. He armed himself with a musket, charged with powder and ball, and on Tuesday night, January 3rd, took his station in Black Lionlane, one of the places by which the ghost used to make its escape, when hard pressed by its pursuërs. He had not been long in waiting, when he fancied he saw the wished-for object. A figure dressed in white presented itself; Smith fired, and the supposed ghost fell to the ground. Upon examination, however, the body was discovered to be that of a young man of the name of Milwood, â mason employed in the new buildings going on in that neighbourhood. He was a sober serious young man, of excellent character, and was returning from a visit to his wife, who lives at some distance from the scene of his industry, when his dress, a white jacket, with the marks of his trade in spots of mortar and lime, represented him to the disordered fancy of Smith, as the supernatural agency for which he was watching.

A beautiful French actress lately agreed to surrender her person to one of her lovers, upon condition, that he should fight a duel for her with a person who had offended her. She writes the challenge, and keeps the lover in suspense, until the appointed hour---when, judge of his astonishment, he meets his own father. She threatens and promises, and he is on the point of committing a parricide, when some people interfered. The police, by way of punishment, forbid her appearing on the stage for one decade. She is now the mistress of a great banker at Paris.

A bottle containing a note, of which a copy follows, and a letter addressed No. 21, Botolph-Lane, London, was found by Hector Gilles, one of Capt. M'Caskill's servants, near the Point of Ruindunan, Isle of Sky, on the 23d February, 1803. The bottle was surrounded by floating sea weeds, which saved it from being broken against the rocks.,

"On board the ship Isis, Capt. Skinner, from London, for New York, N. iat. 47, W. long 21, on 9th Sept. 1802.

"As an experiment, one of the passengers recommends this letter to whoever may find it. Any expence in forwarding it, will be paid by the person it is directed to in London. Write on the back of the letter where it was found, the time, latitude, and longitude, and by whom it was found."

The winter 1802-3 was uncommonly mild and dry, especially on the north west coast of Scotland; and the prevailing winds were from the north-east.--Captain M'Caskill forwarded the letter to the gentleman in London with a line, but had no return. From 9th September, 1802, when the bottle was thrown into the sea, to 23d February, 1803, when it was found, 167 days. Distance from N. lat. 47, long. 21, to Ruindunan in the Isle of Sky, about 12. 12. or 846 English miles; so that the bottle proceeded five miles a day, in a direct line to the point where it was found. Hence it is evident, that there is a strong current setting to the N. E. which carried the bottle along, and in a direction contrary to the prevailing wind for the time.

DIED,

At her Brother's, Troston-Hall, near Bury, Suffolk, 26th Dec. 1803, Miss Olivia Lofft, aged 45: Daughter of Christopher Lofft, Esq. late Recorder of Windsor, and of Anne his wife, formerly Anne Capell; and sister to Capel Lofft, Esq. Barrister at Law. Heaton Wilkes, Esq. aged 76, brother to the late Chamberlain. Mr. S. Parsons, son of the late comedian. Peter Mellish Esq. Mr. Spencer, of the Garrick's Head, Bow-Street, as he was going in a hackney coach to the Gloster Coffee House, Piccadilly. Mr. Spencer was formerly the Harlequin of Drury-Lane Theatre, and his house was frequented by the professors and amateurs of the drama. He was in good health when he entered the coach. At Carhampton, the Countess Dowager of Clanricarde. At Bath, H. Partridge, Esq. the King's Counsel. At Buxton, the Lady of Sir R. Peel, Bart. Mrs. Powell, wife of Mr. Powell of Drury-Lane Theatre. At Croydon Grove, Lady Bridges. Of an inflammation in the bowels, the Countess of Talbot. Sir Francis Sykes, Bart.

MONTHLY MIRROR,

FOR

FEBRUARY, 1804.

Embellished with

A PORTRAIT OF MR. CHERRY, OF DRURY-LANE THEATRE, ENGRAVED BY RIDLEY, FROM A FINE PAINTING BY SAXON.

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PRINTED, FOR THE PROPRIETORS,

By J. Wright, No. 38, St. John's Square, Clerkenwell.

And published by Vernor and Hood, in the Poultry;

Sold, also, by all the Booksellers in

the United Kingdom.

CORRESPONDENCE.

The Memoir of Sir JAMES MACKINTOSH is unavoidably deferred till the next number.

We wish we could give a satisfactory answer to E. A. P's query. We have re-perused his observations, and they shall appear next month.

The Romance, by VARGES, shall have a place..

Will MIRANDA (Chertsey) be so good as to point out the page which has occasioned her animadversions?

Lines by G. G. are not sufficiently striking.

The Wonderful Juggler, if possible, in our next.

We are sorry it will not be in our power to oblige a Constant Reader at

Ashford.

The Ode on Maria's Birth Day, by VARANES, at the first opportunity. Cursory Remarks on the Philoctetes of Sophocles certainly in our next. The delay has hitherto been unavoidable.

The Eastern Tale, by OROZIMBO is much too long.

A. M. is referred to the contents of No. 96, for an answer to his enquiry.

The following articles are inadmissible, viz:

The Invader invaded, by NAVICULUS;

The Rival Queens, or the Lane and the Garden, by a FOLLOWER OF THE MUSES;

Sonnet to Despair, and Elegiac Stanzas, by MÆSTOSO; and

The Letter to Lord St. Vincent, on the present disposition of the British Fleet, by an OBSERVER,

ERRATUM.

In the last Number, Page 51, last line but 7, for "acceptation" read "accentuation."

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