magazines, &c. as he had at Portf- 
mouth. He faid he was wae Citoyen 
du Monde; that his pafiport was 
Pargent (fhewing fome filver), and 
that his companions were his books. 
On being queftioned why he came 
by way of Oxford, &c. he faid to 
fee the country, and that he came 
here to goto Falmouth to embark 
for Liibon—faid he knew none of 
his own nation in London—that he 
_ wifhed not to be recognized by 
them, and that he was a man of 
no note in his own country. 
_He had a good map of the coaft 
' with him; but perfifted that he had 
no other object than curiofity—to 
gratify his wifh to know the man- 
ners and cuftoms of England. 
_ It is fomewhat remarkable that he 
_ + Was averfe to write to the Spanifh 
»ambaflador in London, which oc- 
cafions a conjecture that he is not a 
_ Spaniard, but a Frenchman. 
’ On Tuefday the 12th inft. the 
people of Dartford and its neigh- 
bourhood were terribly alarmed by 
_ within a fhort mile of that town. 
No certain account can be given 
ofthe manner by which the fatal 
_ fpark was communicated tothe gun- 
powder in the corning-houfe, which 
was the firft building that blew up. 
No work was carrying on in that 
lace at the time the fatal accident 
Benet: it is therefore fuppofed 
that fome electric fire had entered 
the building, and ignited the loofe 
% Berercer: From hence the explo- 
_ fon inftantly communicated itfelf to 
the ftoves, to five powder-mills, and 
toaclofe magazine containing 25 
barrels of gunpowder, which from 
their confined ftate, fpread dreadful 
devaftation around. The ftoves, 
 €orning-houfe and magazines, were 
initant'y levelled with the earth; the 
wh 
° : 
ead RO, Na G Ly F; 
the blowing-up of the powder-mills’ 
[aan 
{trong beams were fhivered in pieces, 
and thrown every where around to 
a confiderable diftance; and broken 
bricks, tiles, and pieces of wood, 
fhowered ruin on the neighbouring 
fields. ; 
The doors of a magazine which 
flands at a fmall diftance from the 
works, to the S.W. up the river, 
and which contains near 200 barrels 
of gunpowder, were forced open by 
the explofion; but the wind blowing 
with great violence from that quar-~ 
ter, providentially prevented the 
flath from reaching it: for had it 
communicated with this laft, the 
whole town of Dartford wauld pro« 
bably have been Jaid in ruins. 
Six men were deftroyed in the 
dreadful havock, moft of whom have: 
left wives and families behind them. 
The foreman of the works has left a 
wife and feven children. 
A caufe came on in the fhe- a. 
riff’s court at Guildhall, in?"* 
which John Wilkes, efq. as chamber- 
lain of the city of London, was plain- 
tiff, and John Pardoe, efq. defendant. 
The action was brought to recover 
the fum of 6ool. being the penalty 
which is ordained by a bye-law of the 
court of Common Council, to be 
paid for declining to ferve the office’ 
of fheriff of London, to which office 
the defendant had been’ elected in 
the year 1783; but refufed to ferve, 
on the ground of his being incapa- 
citated, It appeared that Mr. Par- 
doe, when he was chofen fheriff, was 
fixty-nine years of age, in an infirm 
ftate of health, and totally unfit to 
ferve the office of fheriff. The jury, 
which was fpecial, gave a verdict for 
the defendant. 
Canterbury, Of. 28. Yefterday 
morning, at ten o’clock, Mr. Fofter 
Powell, the celebrated pedeftrian, fet 
off from the Talbot inn, in this city, 
te 
