C H R ON rc L E. 



19 



to stand aside, in order that he 

 might glut his sight with the view 

 of his immolated victim ; and iro- 

 nically remarked, " I have sent 

 you before me upon your journey, 

 that you may procure me a lodg- 

 ing." One of the prisoners then 

 inquired, why he did not at least 

 prove that he possessed one noble 

 sentiment, by plunging the knife 

 in his own breast, after the perpe- 

 tration of the deed, in order to 

 escape the gallows? " It was ori- 

 ginally my intention," replied the 

 wretch, •' but it afterwards struck 

 me that I might expire first, and 

 then the certainty of having taken 

 his life would not have been known 

 to me, and nothing less would 

 have gratified my heart." Soon 

 after the villain was ironed, he fell 

 into a sound and apparently tran- 

 quil sleep, from which he did not 

 awake till a late hour the follow- 

 ing morning, when he remarked 

 that he had not enjoyed such re- 

 pose for the last twelve months, 

 and that he gloried in the immo- 

 lation of his victim. On Wednes- 

 day, the coroner's inquest sat on 

 the body of Legue, and pro- 

 nounced a verdict of wilful mur- 

 der against Tardif, who was re- 

 moved next morning to Winches- 

 ter gaol, in order to take his trial. 

 5. The Hotspur, 36 guns, Hon. 

 Captain Percy, arrived on Tuesday 

 evening at Portsmouth, from Lis- 

 bon, with a fleet of transports. 

 She has brought an account of the 

 lamented and melancholy end of 

 lieut.-gen. Sir W. Erskine, com- 

 mander-in-chief of the cavalry 

 under the orders of sir Rowland 

 Hill. In a fit of delirium, sir 

 William threw himself out of the 

 upper window of a house where 

 he was quartered, and was killed 



on the spot. The dejection of 

 spirits, and nnhappy disposition to 

 suicide, first appeared in sir Wil- 

 liam after his return from Wal- 

 cheren, and it is said to have been 

 occasioned by witnessing the mi- 

 series to which his countrj'men 

 were subjected in that wretched 

 expedition. It is most remarkable, 

 that shortly after his arrival from 

 Zealand, he attempted the same 

 mode of destruction as that by 

 which he perished. He was at 

 Ramsgate, in a low stgte ; and con- 

 triving with great dexterity to be 

 left alone in his room, he started 

 from his bed, and threw himself 

 at the window; the resistance he 

 there met repelled him back into 

 his room, breathless and bloody. 

 After this he recovered, and was 

 again employed. 



7. While the people were as- 

 sembled in the church of Roskeen, 

 in the north of Scotland, a part of 

 the gallery, which was immensely 

 crowded, yielded suddenly with a 

 crash, which excited the greatest 

 alarm. In endeavouring to escape 

 from the danger which threatened 

 them, many persons were trampled 

 down and dreadfully bruised. Two 

 women died of the injury they re- 

 ceived. 



8. Extract of a Letter from St. 

 Gall, Switzerland, dated March 8 : 

 — <* We learn, from Constance, 

 that a frightful calamity threatens 

 the town of Uberlingen. For more 

 than eight days it was perceived 

 that the ground upon the borders 

 of the lake had sunk, and this 

 phenomenon was announced in a 

 manner so alarming, that the inha- 

 bitants, after having secured their 

 cattle, fled from their dwellings. 

 This presentiment of danger has 

 been realized: on the 16th and 



02 



