the owners of them; and made fome progrefs in reviving the long neglected affair of the Manilla ranfom.

Thofe who had not confidered the fluctuating state of adminiftration for fome years back, might have been apt to imagine, that in confequence of fo fair a beginning they were fecurely fixed in their prefent fituation.

It was then to the great furprise of the nation, that, notwithftanding these appearances, a fudden and unexpected change took place in the miniftry. For on the 30th of July, the Duke of Grafton was appointed to the head of the treafury, in the room of the Marquis of Rockingham; the Earl of Shelburne, Secretary of State, in the room of the Duke of Richmond; Lord Camden, Lord High Chancellor, in the room of the Earl of Northington; Rt. H. Ch. Townfhend, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the room of the Right Hon. William Dowdefwell; and the Right Hon. Will. Pitt, (created fome days before Vifc. Pynfent, and Earl of Chatham), Lord Privy Seal. Many other changes took place, both at that time, and fubfequently, in all the different departments of state.

The patriotic opinion which

On

niftry was much increased by the difintereftednefs they had fhewn upon quitting their places; as they retired, without a place, penfion, or reverfion, fecured to themselves or their friends. The fenfe which the public held of their fervices, was alfo fully teftified, by the numerous addreffes, which were prefented to the Marquis of Rockingham upon that occafion. the other hand, many of those who were most attached to the Earl of Chatham, regretted, that inftead of weakening and dividing an inte reft which the public wifhed to be fupported, and contributing to remove a miniftry, in which they had placed a confidence; he had not rather by coinciding and acting along with them, contributed to give them that permanency which was fo much defired and wanted. There were other reafons which contributed greatly to leffen the popularity of which this noble Lord had before poffeffed fo boundles a fhare; among thefe, his quitting the houfe of Commons and accepting a peerage, was not the leaft; and his acting along with, and bringing into place and power, perfons who had the misfortune to be fuppofed of a party, which had been long held very obnoxious, contributed its full share.

CHRO

JANUARY.

1. HE premium of 1001. was adjudged, by the fociety of arts, &c. in the Strand, to Mr. Benjamin Donn, teacher of the mathematics at Bristol, for his accurate and large map of the county of Devon; drawn by a scale of one inch to a mile.

In pursuance of a regulation propofed and agreed to by the grand jury and principal gentlemen of the county of Norfolk, the custom of giving vails to servants ceases in that county.

A messenger set out for Po6. land, with the dies and impreffions of a new coin defigned by the king himself, and engraved hy Mr. Pingo of Gray's-inn-lane. On the face is reprefented the buft of his Majefty, richly dreffed, and decorated with a new order. The motto Stanislaus Auguftus D. G. Rex Poloniæ, M. D. L. The reverfe is a regular fhield with the arms of Poland quartered, and efcutcheon of pretence crowned in the centre, with the Poniatowski's arms. Over the arms is a Polish crown, with MDCCLXVI. The fhield is fupported on each fide with oak and palm, and a ribband twining round with the following fuperkription: Pro Fide, Rege, et Grege. The order is tied with the oak and palm branch at the bottom: the VOL, IX,

motto, Talarus Polonicus LXXXIV. Flor. Pol. Marca

9.

The Rev. Dr. Birch, fecretary to the Royal Society, was unfortunately thrown from his horfe, and died a few hours after. His friend Dr. Watson of the fame fociety arrived juft as he was expir ing, and by the fymptoms judged, as it is faid, that his fall was occafioned by an apoplexy.

Letters from Devonshire lay, that there is now living at a place called Thoracombe, in that county, one Mary Allen, relict of Robert Allen, a carpenter, in the 118th year of her age: fhe enjoys all her fenfes, walks to church, which is about 200 yards from her own habitation, every Sunday, with the affiftance of a stick, can make a fhirt, or fhift, and read a chapter in the Bible without spectacles.

At Civita Vecchia, in Italy the ancient temple of Ifis has been lately difcovered. This temple is almost entire in all its parts; the walls are covered with paintings that have fuffered but little damage from time. There are altars, on which are found the bones and afhes of the victims, with many utenfils ufed in facrifices; alfo, feveral statues of bronze, infcriptions, and ancient monuments, that contribute to render this difcovery more and more interefting. Since the month of June laft, when the [E]

work

workmen began to discover the theatre of Pompey, there has been a continual concourfe of the nobility, and perfons of all ranks, and even of foreigners, to fee thefe precious remains of antiquity.

The Tripoline Ambaffador having been informed, that debts have been contracted in the names of former ambaffadors, without their authority or knowledge, and particularly by a Jew, who by that means defrauded numbers of tradefmen and others, has, very much to his honour, caufed an advertisement to be inferted in all the morning papers of laft month, "That, as he has given orders to all his domeftics to pay ready money for every thing wanted in his family, he will not pay any debts which may, after that notice, be contracted in his name." So that no perfon whatsoever can complain, if they fuffer themselves to be defrauded after fo public and general a notice.

The laudable project set on foot by the gentlemen in the North, to form an eafy navigation between the Eastern and Western coafts from Hull to Liverpool, by opening a canal from the Trent to the Merley, has revived the long rejected fcheme of opening a navigation from the Thames to the Severn; the confequence of which will probably be a more equal rate of all merchandize and raw materials for building and manufactories throughout the kingdom, as well as a greater convenience for the improvement of gentlemen's cftates. The northern navigation is carying into execution by a general fubfcription, the latter is under the confideration of the corporation of Bristol.

This morning between one 14. and two o'clock died at Copenhagen, Frederick the Vth. king of Denmark and Norway, aged forty-two years, nine months, and thirteen days. He was crowned the fourteenth of September 1747. He was married the eleventh of December 1743, to the Princess Louifa of England (who died the nineteenth of December 1751) and the third of July 1752, his Majel ty married the Princefs Julia Maria, daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albert of Brunswick Wolffenbuttel. His Majefty's death being notified as ufual, from the balco ny of the palace at Copenhagen, by Baron Birnftorff, as first minifter of ftate, who, at the fame time, declared the acceffion of Chriftian VII. to the thrones of Denmark and Norway, the young king was pleafed to fhew himself to the peopie from the balcony, and was immediately proclaimed through the city by the heralds, His Majefty, after having confirmed all the chief minifters, and other officers, in their former pofts, retired to Frederickstadt, there to remain till the funeral ceremony was performed, the great officers civil and military fworn, and the government settled. There never appeared in any kingdom more deep and affecting forrow for the lofs of a fovereign than now in Denmark on the death of their late king; his reign was a perfect model for all future reigns: his lenity was the more commendable, as the form of government gave him abfolute power: he preferred the happinefs of his fubjects to all the confiderations which ambition and vain glory could infpire: he was quick to reward, and flow to

punish:

punith his bounties were royal, and his chastisements paternal: in private life he ever appeared the true friend; the dutiful fon; the tender husband; the good father, and the generous mafter. About an hour before his Majefty's deceafe, he called the Prince Royal to his bedfide, and taking him by the hand, faid, "My dear fon, you will foon be king of a flourishing people; but remember, that to be a great monarch it is abfolutely neceflary to be a good. man. Have juftice and mercy therefore conftantly before your eyes; and above all things reflect, that you were born for the welfare of your country, and not your country created for your mere emolament. In fhort, keep to the golden rule of doing as you would be done by; and whenever you iffue an order as a fovereign, examine how far you would be willing to obey fuch an order, had you been a fubject yourself."-When the Royal prince was proclaimed king, amidft the acclamations of Long live Chriftian the VIIth, the people cried out, May he not only live long, but reign well like his fa

ther.

This day his Majesty went to the houfe of peers, and made a moft gracious fpeech, in which he acquainted the parliament that he had ordered all papers relative to the American disturbances to be laid before them; had iffued the earlieft orders for the effectual fupport of lawful authority in that country; and committed the reft to their wifdom. For the fpeech at large fee our State Papers.

A board of general officers was held at the Horfe Guards, prefident, Lord Viscount Ligonier, to take

under confideration, and establish a rule, as to the future purchasing of commiffions in the land service, and afcertaining the purchase money to be paid. In time coming all brokers of commiffions will be laid afide; no fubaltern or officers will be appointed without the confent and approbation of the colonel or commanding officer of the regiment firft had and obtained.-The last board of this nature was held fo long ago as 1725.

A very great perfonage, a few hours before his decease, is faid to have expreffed himself much to the following purport. "I now, thank God, fee a speedy period to all my afflictions.-Yet, young as I am, the continual party feuds which diftract this unhappy country, embitter my last moments, because I am morally certain, that one time or other they must prove the deftruction of the kingdom."

The feven malefactors were 15. carried in three carts from Newgate, and executed at Tyburn; among thefe were Steven Wheat and Robert Tull, watermen, for robbing a boat on the river Thames; they are the firft that have been executed on the late act of parlia ment, which makes it a capital offence to steal goods on any navigable river, to the value of forty fhillings. They all behaved with becoming penitence and decency.

An elderly man and woman offered to a gentleman upon change (whom they fuppofed to be a captain of a fhip) a fine girl of eleven years of age, faying, he was their own, and that they would have thirty guineas for her; but the gentleman fufpecting that they had decoyed the child from her parents, had them taken before the [E] 2

Rt.

Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor; when, on the examination, it appeared that the man was her father's brother, and that her father was dead: that they took her out of the workhoufe at Bodmin, Cornwall, and brought her to town to fell. The man was committed to Woodftreet compter, and the woman to the Poultry, for further exami

nation.

A charitable lady at the Weft end of the town, having read the above account in the papers, waited on the Lord Mayor, and being fatisfied of the goodness of the poor girl's character, which he made a proper enquiry into, has taken her into her family, with an intention to provide for her.

They write from Petersburgh, that the Marquis de Bouffet had at laft obtained of the Ruffian court the establishment of a French factory at Archangel, from which great commercial advantages were expected,

The feffions ended at the

20. Old Bailey, when John Wilfon, for publishing, as true, a forged bill of exchange for 1000l. John Wilford, for horfe-ftealing; and John Darly for returning from transportation, being capitally convicted, received fentence of death. -At this feffions were many remarkable trials, among which that of James Gibson, late an eminent attorney, for forging a certain writing, purporting to be written by the clerk of the report-office inthe court of Chancery, with intent to defraud Mr. Hunt, of Stratford upon Avon of the fum of 4371, 13s. 7d. but a point of law arif ing, whether this forgery was within the ftatute, the jury brought in their verdict special.-Alfo that

of Kinfey Tyrer a bankrupt, for not furrendering himself, who was acquitted; and that of Thomas Plymner, tried for the murder of John Etheridge, found guilty of man-flaughter; and Sarah Lane, &c. &c, well known for marrying the banker's clerk, was, for robbing her lodging, to be tranfported; as fhe had been convicted of bigamy, and had the benefit of clergy before, fhe could not have availed herfelf of it again, had it been objected in the court; one is to be transported for 14 years, 13 for 7 years, and 3 branded.

This morning between two and three o'clock, a perfon was obferved to watch his opportunity of difcharging musket-balls from a steel crofs bow at the two remaining heads upon Temple-Bar. On his examination he affected a diforder in his fenfes, and faid his reason for fo doing "was his ftrong at tachment to the prefent government; and that he thought it was not fufficient that a traitor fhould merely fuffer death; that this provoked his indignation, and that it has been his conftant practice for three nights paft to amufe himself in the fame manner;" but it is much to be feared that he is a near relation to one of the unhappy fufferers.

Orders are given for building a new chapel at the Queen's palace for performing divine fervice; which is to be carried into execution the enfuing fummer.

Orders are lent down to Chatham and Portfmouth, to prepare the materials neceflary for the conftruction of fome fwift-failing floops, to be fent on board fome transports for Africa, in order to their being put together for coun

try