Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

to his perfon; and hath fince, in the hearing of Mathias Darly, declared his intention to maffacre the faid John Wilkes the first opportunity; and therefore the faid John Wilkes craves fureties of the peace against the faid Alex. ander Dunn, not out of hatred or malice, but merely for the prefervation of his life and perfon from danger.

These are therefore to will and require, and, in his majesty's name, ftrictly to charge and command you, and every of you, upon fight hereof, to apprehend and take the faid Alexander Dunn, and bring him before me or one other of the Justices of his Majesty's Court of King's Bench, if taken in or near the cities of London or Weftminfter, otherwise before fome Juftice of the Peace living near the place where he fhall be herewith taken; to the end he may become bound with fufficient fureties for his perfonal appearance, in his Majelly's Court of King's Bench, on the first day of Hilary Term, to answer the premises, and, in the mean time, to keep the peace and be of good behaviour towards all his Majesty's fubjects, especially towards the faid John Wilkes; and hereof fail not at your peril.

Given under my hand and feal this

eighth day of December, 1763. To Richard Elfton my Tipftaff, and to all chief and petty Constables, Headboroughs. Tything-men, and all others, whom these may concern. The following account of Mr. Dunn may, it is thought, be relied on as genuine.

The facts infifted upon, are, That Alexander Dunn was a lieutenant of marines on board the Bienfaisant, captain Belfour; where he gave fuch evident proofs of his infanity, that the captain was obliged to confine him. Dunn was fet on fhore at Gibraltar, and put under the care of the physician of the hofpital there, who confidered him, during the fpace of fix or eight months that he was under his management, as in a very high state of lunacy, and in deed, among other marks of it, he made fome attempts upon his own life,

infomuch that they were forced to confine him more clofely. Dunn was dif charged from the hospital, as being incurable, and came home in the Blenheim. It is but a very fhort time ago (a few days it is believed) that Dunn's father was fo fenfible of the infane ftate of his fon, that he wrote to an eminent furgeon in town, defiring him to use his utmost endeavours to find him out, and put him into fome proper place of reftraint, fit for perfons in his unhappy condition: and, with refpect to Dunn's declarations, it is obfervable, that at the time, almoft in the fame breath that he ufed menaces against Mr. Wilkes's life (in the presence of numbers of people) he likewife declared, that it was neceffary for him to fave his (Mr. Wilkes's) life.

On faturday, Dec. 10, came on at Guildhall, before the right honourabble lord chief justice Pratt, and a special jury of eminent merchants, the important caufe, wherein Mr. Dryden Leach (the mafter printer, who was arrested as the fuppofed printer of the celebrated North-Briton, 45.) was plaintiff, and three of the king's meffengers defendants; when, after a hearing of seven hours, a verdict was given for the plaintiff, in four hundred pounds damages with full costs of fuit.

The council for the plantiff were, Mr. Serjeant Glynn, Mr. Recorder of London, Mr. Stow, Mr. Dunning, Mr. Wallace, and Mr. Gardiner; the attorney Mr. James Philips, of Cecilftreet: the council for the defendants, Mr. Sollicitor-general, Mr. Serjeant Nares, Mr. Serjeant Davy, and Mr. Yates; the attornies, Philip Carteret Webb, Efq; Sollicitor for the Treasury, and Mr. Secondary Barnes.

Immediately after the virdict was pronounced, the gentlemen concerned for the plantiff's declared, "That as they had the happiness of feeing vindicated, afferted, and maintained, all the great and conftitutional points of liberty, which had been so folemnly debated and determined, they were willing to accept nominal damages (which carry costs of

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

"This warrant is unconftitutional, illegal, and abfolutely void: It is a general warrant, directed to four meffen. gers, to take up any perfons, without naming or defcribing them with any certainty, and to bring them together with their papers. If it be good, a Secretary of flate can delegate and depute

any one of the meflengers, or any even from the loweft of the people, to take examinations, to commit or releafe, and in fine to do every act which the highest judicial Officers the law knows can do or order. There is no authority in our law books, that mention these kinds of warrants, but in exprefs terms condemn

them."

From the BRITISH MAGAZINE.

Some Medical Obfervations on the deAtructive Confequence of foul dir. By Dr. Brocklesby,

DR

R. Pringle has well obferved, "That air, corrupted by pu. trefaction, is of all other caufes of ficknefs, the most fatal and least understood; for these deftructive steams work like a ferment, and ripen all distempers into a putrid and malignant nature: but the air in hofpitals, and crowded barracks, clofe tranfport fhips, and, in a word, in every place where air is fo pent up, not only lofes a part of its vital principal, by frequent refpiration, but is alfo corrupted by the peripirable matter of the body, which, as it is the

most volatile part of the humours, is alfo the most putrefcent."

We have a melancholy confirmation of the truth of this remark, and a ftrong inftance of the fubtile penetrating nature of these noxious effluvia, in fome facts that fell within the knowledge of Dr. Brocklesby during the late war; and are by him related in his Medical Obfervations tending to the Im provement of Military Hofpitals, &c.

"After the unprofperous expedition (fays this ingenious phyfician) against the coaft of France in the year 1758, a very unusual number of fick foldiers were lodged every where round Newport in the Isle of Wight, in old houses,

barns, &c. in one of these close hovels the fixty-third regiment, was placed, on or miferable hofpitals, a poor fellow, of In a day or two he was feized with the being landed fick out of the transport. worst fpecies of the malignant fore throat I ever have feen, with ulcerous mortifications about the noftrils, and other parts, which carried him off on the third day.

"Another patient unfortunately was placed in the fame bed, with only fresh fheets; for the crouds that hourly fickened, compelled us to be thrifty in the general ufe of bedding and blankets, fo that he happened to be lodged in the fame spot, even before death had quite chilled the putrifying body, which was difplaced to make way for him. He was instantly attacked by the fame dreadful diforder, and, after a fhort ftruggle, fell a victim to it.

"A third man was condemned, by hard neceffity, to the fame fatal abcde, and foon fhared the fate of his comrades. Rouzed by fo many melancholy proofs of deadly infection, befides what had been already attempted, I ordered fresh bedding of every fort, the boards all around to be scraped, and thoroughly washed with vinegar; depending on this, but rather compelled by the feanty fpace that was allotted to the fick, a fourth vielim, in the fame deplorable manner, fell a facrifice to this irresistible contagion.

F 2

" Now

"Now again the ill-fated spot under went a most rational purification; vinegar fumes, burnt gunpowder, kindled refinous fubftances were used in abundance; all the contiguous parts were fcraped, washed, and fumigated. A fifth man we thought, after all this precaution, might fafely be ventured: but, alas! the event fruftrated our expectations, for he was attacked with the fame disease, and not without much difficulty escaped perishing in it.

"Thus, after all we could do, the fpot continued more dangerously in fectious to the next comer, than (I fuppofe) any leprous houfe was ever known among the Ifraelites. Though no figns were manifested upon the walls [Leviticus xiv.] yet having loft four brave men, and having with difficulty faved the fifth, I was as much fatisfied of the danger belonging to it, as any farther ocular demonftration could have conveyed to others. I therefore prohibited any more men to be lodged there, till after a longer interval than feven or eight days; and yet, notwithftanding this precaution, the foldier who next lay there fuffered a like attack, tho' he had the good fortune to recover from it, but not without much difficulty.

"This instance clearly demonstrates, that nothing short of fcraping away the whole external furface of the floor, as well as of the walls, and thereby fubftituting an entire new layer of the whole infide of the house, is capable to extinguish the feeds of infection in certain diseases once fown, nor to prevent them from breaking out after a long time, even in this cold nothern region.”

What Dr. Brocklesby mentions of the Savoy prison is another proof of the juftness of Dr. P's obfervations.

many newly enlisted men, who were in great numbers, without having committed any offence, often fo huddled together there, that numbers of them, in the courfe of the impreffing service of the late war, were, at various times, feized with the gaol-fever; and we had not a few of them brought to Pimlico hofpital, in this fever, after a mortification had deprived them of a foot, a part of their toes, or fome other extremity of their bodies: and this was abfolutely owing to the naftiness and unwholefomeness of the foul air, which they were doomed to live in. Mr. Fordyce made feveral remonttrances against the confinement of newly enlifted men and deferters in fuch noxious places : but I had the mortification to find, by the number thrown in upon Pimlico hofpital, to the last, that all had availed nothing,"

What excufe is made for this feeming difregard to the good of the fervice and want of common humanity, by those whofe duty it was to fee the abuse redreffed, I know not. The House of Commons, which fo liberally provides every year for the comfortable fubfiftence of those who are worn out in the service, would certainly, had the matter been properly represented to them, have paid due attention to the preservation of the health of those who were fit for actual service, and who were so much wanted; by granting money fufficient to put this loathsome prifon in a condition worthy of the humanity of a great nation, which in punishing individuals ftill remembers that they are men.

From the UNIVERSAL MUSEUM.

hiftorical Account of the most cele. brated English Beauties.

T

"In 1762 Mr. Fordyce, furgeon to An the third regiment of Guards, called me in (fays Dr. B.) to see some of his men, who had been infected with a gaol fever in the Savoy prifon, in the month of January and February. Thefe men of the guards had, for the military of fences, been confined in a clofe unwholesome apartment of the Savoy, with

HE beauty of women intimates to men fomewhat of the excellencies of angels: princes have bowed to its empire, heroes have been subdued by its power, philosophers have felt its influence, and poets have exerted them

felves molt in its praife. Carneades called it royalty without force: it is irrefiftible: but Monfieur St. Evremont was too fevere upon the fair fex, when he affirmed, that the laft fighs of a handfome woman are not fo much for the lofs of her life as of her beauty. Virtue is dignified by beauty; yet many ditinguished ladies have been happily adorned with the latter, while they were fufficiently amiable with the former. Antiquity affords many inftances of this kind; but without dwelling upon thofe fatal effects which beauty brought upon Helen in Greece, Lucretia in Rome, 'Cleopatra in Egypt, and Mariamne in Judea, there are striking proofs enough of it in the history of England.

Editha, daughter of Earl Godwin, was married to King Edward the Confeffor, in 1044. She was the most amiable lady of her age, both for beauty and virtue; but as the King, who was of a very timorous difpofition, was obliged to marry her, in pursuance of a promife he had made to her father, the marriage was never confummated. Godwin was hated by the king; he fomented a civil war, and was banished the kingdom; while the king ungeneroufly ftripped his own queen of her effects, and confined her in the nunnery of Werewel, only because she was the daughter of Godwin.

However, Godwin was reftored to his honours; and his fon Harold afterwards afcended the throne: for King Edward died without iffue, whereby the male branch of the Cerdic and Egbert line became extinct; though, if this weak prince had not preposterously abftained from converfing with his queen, he might perhaps have had children, and thereby prevented a revolution, which involved the English in flavery, and transferred the crown to William Duke of Normandy.

The Norman and Saxon lines were unted in the Prince's Maud, daughter of Henry the First, by Matilda, daughter o Malcolm King of Scotland, by Margaret, filter to Edgar Atheling, the right Saxon heir to the crown. marrid the emperor of Germany, whole

She

death left her a beautiful widow, and the miftrefs of an immenfe fortune; while, on the death of her brother prince William, who was drowned with his natural fifter, the countess of Perche, on the coaft of France, she was the undoubted heiress to the crown of England; and, as fuch, the parliament took an oath to pay their allegiance to her, if the king, who was then married to his fecond wife Adeliza, daughter to the duke of Louvain, died without iffue male. After this, in 1127, the empress Maud married Geoffry Plantagenet, or Broom-ftalk, earl of Anjou, by whom she had a prince named Henry; and the English not only renewed their fealty to the mother, but extended it to the son. Maud fucceeded her father in his duchy of Normandy, while the kingdom of England was feized upon by Stephen, Earl of Bulloign, third fon of the earl of Blois, by Adela, daughter to William the Conqueror, who found little difficulty in obtaining the crown, before Maud could arrive in the kingdom; for the English dreaded that her husband fhould have any command over them. However, Maud gained the discontented clergy and nobility to her interest; took Stephen prifoner, who promised to renounce the crown, and pass the remainder of his life in a monaftery, if Maud would grant him his liberty: but this was impoliticly refused, and a revolt enfued in favour of Stephen; because the Emprefs retained that Norman pride, which made her father, uncle, and grandfather, confider the English subjects as fo many flaves. She was beficged in Winchefter caftle, and with difficulty efcaped being taken prifoner; but her fon married the divorced queen of Lewis, king of France, and again invaded England; when Stephen agreed, that, after his deceafe, Henry should fucceed him as his lawful heir. Thus Maud was precluded from afcending the throne; but it was afcended by Henry the Second, her fon, in whom the Norman and Saxon blood was united.

Henry the Second was an illustrious prince, and had feveral children by

queen

queen Eleanor, daughter of William duke of Aquitain: but, among his vices, luft was his predominant paffion; and he was fo greatly enamoured with Fair Rosamond, daughter of the Lord Clifford, that he kept her in a labyrinth, built on purpose at Woodstock, to fecure her from the rage of the queen, who, it is reported, in 1172, found means to dispatch her rival out of the way by poison. Fair Rofamond was certainly the most beautiful lady in EngJand: her beauty won her the love of a great monarch, but it raifed the jealousy of a bold spirited queen, who encouraged her fons to rebel against their father. This occafioned the effufion of much blood, the death of Fair Rofamond, and the imprisonment of queen Eleanor; for the greatest beauty, without fome virtue, is attended with many calamities.

of Marche; but they were defeated by king John near Mirabel in Poictou, in 1202, who took them prisoners, toge. ther with the princess Eleanor, fifter to the duke. This lady was called, The Beauty of Bretagne; but she was sent to England, where the was confined forty years in the caftle of Bristol, and her brother was murdered by his uncle.

The princess Joanna, fifter of Richard the First, was married to William, king of Sicily, whofe crown was feized by Tancred, his baftard brother. Joanna was a very amiable lady; but Tancred, instead of paying her dower, imprifoned the English princefs, till fhe was released by her brother, whom fhe accompanied, with his queen Berenguella, to the holy war, where Richard gained immortal glory; but was fhipwrecked on his return, in the gulph of Venice, and imprifoned feveral years by the duke of Auftria, whom he had affronted in Palestine.

Avifa, the daughter of the great earl of Gloucester, was remarkable for her beauty; she was married nine years to king John, who, in 1200, became fo ftrongly enamoured with the charms of Ifabella of Angouleme, that he obtained a divorce from his queen Avisa, and married Ifabella, though he was contracted to the Earl of Marche, who, in revenge, attempted to dethrone the king.

Arthur, duke of Bretagne, was the right heir to the crown of England, which had been feized by his uncle John, whom he also endeavoured to dethrone, in conjunction with the earl

Edward the First unhappily loft his excellent queen Eleanor in 1291. She had faved her husband's life in Palestine, by fucking the poifon out of his wound, but he died of a fever at Grantham in Lincolnshire, to whofe memoryCharingCrofs, and feveral others were erected, wherever the corps refted in the way to Westminster. This monarch was the fcourge of Scotland: he was to have been married to the Scotch princess, but The died in her paffage to England: however, in 1299, he married Marga ret, fifter to the king of France, though fhe was only eighteen, and Edward was fixty years of age. Edward had three children by Margaret, but none of them fucceeded to the crown; and this beautiful lady was very unhappy; for her fon-in-law Edward the Second married her niece Ifabella, daughter of the French monarch, when the was only thirteen years old. Notwithstanding the beauty of his queen, Edward was fo fond of his favourite Pierce Gaveston, that Ifabella complained to her father of the fondness of her husband for this man, which alienated his affections from her, and made her an entire stranger to his bed. Gaveston was beheaded by the earl of Warwick; but the king became equally fond of Hugh Spencer. Charles the Fair, king of France, was diflatisfied at the ill treatment of his fister Isabella, who went into France, where the formed a confpiracy for dethroning her husband, and putting her fon upon the throne: fhe fucceeded in her views, but prostituted her charms in the embraces of Roger Mortimer, while the husband was cruelly murdered. Indeed, the Spencers had fo far incenfed the people against the king, that they called the queen their deliverer but

[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »