of his country, Genoa. The one he stabbed before the altar, in the Magdalen Chapel, and the latter he strangled in his study in the senate house. He never murdered any females; and persons of the other sex under twenty, and above sixty, were always respected by him. On the 17th of May he was executed, and shewed, on this trying occasion, an uncommon firmness. From the prison to the place of execution, he kept the step with his escort as if he had belonged to their battalion. He would not suffer any bandage for his eyes; he called out to the gens d'armes who were to shoot him, "Courage, comrades!" And he died in asking of God forgiveness for his mistaken notions, not for his crimes. His body was buried in the usual place for criminals, but it was dug up in the night, and in its place was interred the body of Signor Sebastiano, who had decided as a judge for his death.---These facts prove that his band has survived its chief. BIRTHS. In Grafton-street, the lady of Sir Henry Peyton, Bt. of a son. In Piccadilly, the lady of Sir F. Burdett, Bt. of a daughter. At Beaumont Cottage, the lady of the Hon. C. R. King, of a son. In Lower Brook-street, the lady of Lord W. Beauclerk, of a daughter. At Amport-House, Hants, the Marchioness of Winchester, of a son. At Winchester-house, Chelsea, the lady of the Hon. and Rev. T. De Grey of a son. Mrs. T. Woodfall, of the Haymarket Theatre, of a son. At Chevening, Kent, the lady of the Rev. Arthur Onslow, of a son. At the Cottage, Sunning Hill, the lady of the Hon. W. Browne, of a son. At Bath, the Right Hon. Lady C. Drummond of a son. At Woodford, the lady of G. Smith, Esq. M. P. of a son. At Ashford, the lady of the Hon. Major General Forbes, of a son. At Chatham, the lady of Montagu Wynyard, Esq. of a son. MARRIED, Lord Viscount Hinchinbroke, son of the Earl or Sandwich, to Lady Louisa Corry, niece to Lord Castlereagh, and sister of the Earl of Belmore. At the house of Lady Perth, the Right Hon. Earl Moira, to the Countess of Loudoun. The ceremony was performed by the Bishop of London. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales gave the bride's hand, and the nuptials were attended by a brilliant circle of the nobility, their friends. After the ceremony, the Noble Eart and Countess set off for the seat of Lord Keith, at Hampton Court, where the happy couple mean to spend the time which the Noble Lord can be spared from his duty, as commander in chief in Scotland. The Countess accompanies him on his return to Scotland. Major Mitchell, of the 26th foot, to the Right Hon. Lady H. Somerset. DIED, At the Marquis of Stafford's house, in Arlington-street, Lord W. L. Gower. After a short illness, General Ainslie. Mrs. Mills, of Covent Garden Theatre, who had long been in a decline. In Harley-street, the Hon. Lady Salisbury. Of a rapid decline, Mrs. Richer, wife of the celebrated rope dancer, and daughter to Mr. Watson, manager of the Cheltenham and other theatres. MONTHLY MIRROR, FOR AUGUST, 1804. Embellished with A PORTRAIT OF MR. MATHEWS, THE COMEDIAN, ENGRAVED BY RIDLEY, FROM A FINE PAINTING BY DE WILDE. PRINTED, FOR THE PROPRIETORS, By J. Wright, No. 38, St. John's Square, Clerkenwell. And published by Vernor and Hood, in the Poultry; Sold, alse, by all the Booksellers in the United Kingdom. CORRESPONDENCE. The Biographical Sketch of Mr. Jefferson will be concluded in our next. We acknowledge the receipt of the following favours. Love Qualms. To E. M. by E. B. A Song; an Epigram; an Address, &c. by PERCEVAL. Elegy on a deceased Relation, by W. A. P. Letter from E. A. P. (Stamford.) The Union of Wit and Genius, by CACAMBO. The Slippers, a Turkish Tale, by VARGAS. If MARCUS will present his extracts in the form of a review of the work, every attention shall be paid them. It is not our province to interfere with the reviewers of another publication; and we must therefore decline the insertion of J. M-d's letter. Roman Letters, No. V. by MORTIMER, in our next. We thank that gentleman for his letter of the 15th July. OBSERVATOR referred for an answer to his enquiry to the frequent apologies we have offered to our poetical contributors, for delaying to insert their favours. We reply to all the queries of E. D. (Norwich) in the affirmative, ERRATA. The TOWNSMAN (Manchester) desires us to correct an error into which we have fallen, by stating, that the letter attributed by him to Mr. WHITE, is contained in our number for March, and not in that for April. Under the Portrait of SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH, by mistake, we have given him the Office of Recorder of "BENGAL." It should be corrected to "BOMBAY," according to the Biographical Sketch. In our last, page 7, article LE KAIN, 1. 4, for " quartain” read “quatrain." In the Townsman's letter, page 65, for "exalt me" read "excite me," MONTHLY MIRROR, FOR AUGUST, 1804. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF MR. CHARLES MATHEWS. (With a Portrait.) THIS valuable comedian, whose merits have made an impression on the public mind, which, we are convinced, will prove as lasting as it is powerful, was born on the 28th of June, 1776, and is the younger son of Mr. James Mathews, a bookseller of much worth and respectability in the Strand. His brother William and himself received their education at Merchant Taylor's. The former, who was designed for the church, entered himself of Pembroke college, Cambridge, and took the degree of Master of Arts in that university. Having completed his studies there, he altered his original intention, and became a member of the Middle Temple, where, in due course, he was called to the bar. In 1801 he went to the West Indies, with the view of practising at Tobago, but unfortunately fell a victim to the climate in a few months after his arrival in that island. He was a gentleman of considerable learning and talents, and very much respected by a large circle of acquaintance. Charles, the object of our present attention, was intended for a bookseller, and, at the age of fourteen, three years before he quitted Merchant Taylor's, was bound apprentice to his father. Nothing could be more prudent than this measure; but articles of indenture have no power over the inclinations. Young Mathews was fonder of reading books than selling them, and those he preferred were, of all others, the books which his father wished him to leave unnoticed. Bell's British Theatre, The Beauties of the Dramatists, and A Collection of Farces, were the volumes he singled out from the numberless sermons and theological tracts with which the shelves in the shop groaned. The Tradesman's Assistant was neglected for the Spouter's Companion, and he longed for an opportunity of reciting, in public, some of the fine speeches which he had treasured up in his memory in private. This opportunity soon occurred: he heard that "hard by there were spirits at work," who, like himself, having souls above either buttons or books, were resolved to become the mimic representatives of kings and heroes. In short, a private play was to be exhibited; the scene of action was a small room up one pair of stairs, over a pastry-cook's shop, in the Strand. Here an elderly French lady gave evening lessons to a few select pupils, who, in return for her French exercises, proposed to treat her, and her friends, with an English tragedy. This intelligence no sooner reached our hero, than he felt an unaccountable desire to learn French. So laudable an inclination could not but be encouraged, and he was accordingly sent to acquire the true Parisian accent, at this evening academy. The ceremony which took place at his introduction may easily be imagined; instead of Boyer's Dictionary, he received a copy of Philips's Distrest Mother, and our French pupil, by way of coup d'essai, prepared to "counterfeit the deep tragedian," in the part of Phanix. Mr. ELLISTON was the Pyrrhus, and the whole perform ance went off with much eclat. Our hero, upon whom Melpomene had not bestowed her choicest favours, still acquitted himself with tolerable credit, and, but for the decorateur of the evening, who had adorned his side with a Toledo of more than ordinary length, which somewhat embarrassed his action, he would probably have enjoyed a more ample share of the puffs which the audience, as a token of respect, no doubt, to the congenial spot over which they were collected, very liberally rewarded the exertions of the young tragedians. It is often curious to trace the history of public characters to its origin, and it is not a little remarkable, that two young persons, who, for their own amusement, had acted together in a small room over a pastry-cook's shop, should find themselves, after a separation of fifteen years, the tragic and comic heroes of the THEATRE ROYAL in. the HAYMARKET, enjoying the highest honours of the profession, and followed by the most genuine applauses of the public. But before we bring our hero to this point of elevation, we must accompany him through the humble gradations which led to it. He had not yet witnessed the representation of a play at the theatre, a place which his father, from religious motives, was not in the habit of encouraging. One evening, however, in the year 1790, he paid a stolen visit to Covent Garden, when the Orphan, and the farce of Retaliation, were to be presented. The effect the performance had on his mind decided his future destiny. The stage now entirely occupied his thoughts; for this "all causes must give way;" trade became his fixed antipathy, and instead of attending to business behind the counter, the stage-struck youth was frequently mounted upon it, endeavouring to give the shopman, and the maid, some relish of the opposite beauties of Otway and O'Keeffe. The ruler was used for a truncheon, the red ink for blood: these, with the kitchen poker gracefully dangling from a button-hole of the breeches pocket; a towering goose-quill affixed to his hat, turned up in the front à lo mode Espagnole; and the skirt of his coat carelessly thrown over the |