2] 
the lord president of his majesty’s 
council, the duke of Leeds, the 
duke af Devonshire, the earl of 
Cholmondeley (lord chamberlain), 
and the earl of Jersy (master of the 
horse to the prince of Wales), lord 
Thurlow, and the ladies of her 
royal highness’s bedchamber, were 
present. Her royal bighness and 
the young princess were in perfect 
health. 
h Between eight and nine 
14th. clock this day, the pow- 
der mills belonging to Mr. Hill, 
at Hounslow, owing to the wheels 
of ‘the mill not being properly 
supplied with oil, took fire, and 
blew up with a dreadful explo- 
sion, which not only terrified the 
inhabitants of the place, but alarm- 
ed the cities of London and West- 
minster, and the houses of the peo- 
ple several miles round the metro~ 
polis experienced the effects of its 
powerful concussion; three men, 
who were at work inthe manufac- 
tory, have lost their lives, and the 
flames from the mill communica- 
ting to a punt'in the mill river, 
in which were 30 barrels of gun- 
powder, set fire to the whole, and 
blew up with a terrible explosion ; 
the man who’ had the care of the 
vessel being shattered to pieces, and 
the boat being blown out of the 
water. Nota vestige of the millis 
left standing, and Hounslow heath 
is covered with bricks and tiles, 
and the mangled limbs of the unfor- 
tunate sufferers. ‘The houses in 
Hounslow, Isleworth, and even 
Brentford, have suffered consider- 
ably ; the Crown Inn at Houns- 
low, and the King’s Head at Brent- 
ford, have not a whole ‘pane of 
glass in the windows; and the inha- 
bitants were so terrified near the 
spot, that they not only forsook 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1796. 
their dwellings, but a number of wo- 
men, with their children, through 
fear, appeared half naked in the 
streets, expecting every moment 
that their houses would fall and 
bury them in the ruins. The scat- 
tered limbs of the unfortunate vic- 
tims, who for the most part have 
left large families to lament their 
loss by this unforeseen event, were, 
by order of the magistrates, collect- 
ed together and deposited in the 
church-yard. The loss of this va- 
luable manufactory is estimated at 
near 20,000]. The shock was felt 
as far north of London as the extre- 
mities of Enfield parish, and South 
beyond Croydon. A similar dis- 
aster happened to the same concern 
about 20 years ago. 
i6th Vienna. ‘The princess royal 
* of France, Maria Theresa, 
arrived here on the 9th, ‘a little 
after six o’clock in the evening,’ 
amidst the loudest ac¢lamations 
of crowds of people, who accom. 
panied her carriage as far as the 
Burg, where his Imperial majesty 
had caused a residence to be pres — 
pared for her. Count Colloredo, 
cabinet minister to the emperor, ac- 
companied her to the place of her | 
residence from Burkersdorff, whi- 
ther he went to welcome her, in the — 
name of his Imperial majesty,’ 
soon as information of her arrival 
was received. Prince Stahremberg, 
the principal lord of the beécham- 
ber, on the 10th, went to the re- 
sidence of the princess, and pre- 
sented ‘to prince Gavre all the fu- 
ture household servants, &c. des- 
tined for ber use—The first who 
received the French princess royal 
of France in this capital, were the 
archdukes and archduchesses. The 
emperor and empress honoured her 
With a visit soon after her arrival, 
