CHRONICLE. 



87 



Iiopes of the husbandmen have, in 

 particular districts, been blasted, 

 by the Vistula rising ten feet. 

 Houses and cattle have likewise 

 been destroyed ; and 4,000 lives 

 lost. " Never," say they, " did 

 the harvest promise to be more 

 abundant, or of better quality, had 

 the Divine will permitted them to 

 reap it. It has proved otherwise. 

 And when we reflect upon the 

 state of that country, during the 

 present year, with what it was the 

 preceding, when exhausted by the 

 march of numerous armies, have 

 we not abundant cause of conso- 

 lation ? We have, and let us not 

 forget it." 



OCTOBER. 



1. The commissioners of public 

 records continue their labours to 

 ttethodize, register, and publish 

 the public records of the realm. 

 In the course of their researches 

 many important documents have 

 been discovered which had been 

 supposed to be no longer in exist- 

 ence, or had been lost in the con- 

 fused heaps of unarranged mate- 

 rials. Amongst the charters of the 

 liberties of England, the Carta de 

 Foresta, 2 Hen. HI. concerning 

 trhich sir William Blackstone sup- 

 posed that " the original and all 

 the authentic records were lost," 

 has been found at Durham. In the 

 Tower there has been formed a 

 voluminous collection of letters 

 missive from the kings of England, 

 many of them in their own hand- 

 writing, beginning with Henry III. 

 and extending to the reign of 

 Richard III. 



The excavations among the ru- 

 *n» of Porapeia continue to be pro- 



secuted with much industry. An 

 extent of about 500 feet of the 

 town wall has been completely 

 cleared. It is from 18 to 20 feet 

 high, 12 thick, and fortified at 

 short distances with square towers. 

 In the main street, passing in front 

 of the temple of Isis, has been dis- 

 covered the portico of the theatre. 

 Near the same spot, 10 feet below 

 the level of the street, was found a 

 human skeleton, and immediately 

 beneath it a large collection of 

 gold and silver medals, in the finest 

 preservation, cliiefly of the reign of 

 Domitian. 



2. A dreadful fire broke out at 

 half-past eleven o'clock at night 

 in the extensive farm-yard belong- 

 ing to Mr. T. Biggs, at Orpington, 

 in the county of Kent, about four 

 miles from Chislehurst. The flames 

 were first discovered by the night- 

 patrole on the road, issuing from 

 several ricks of hay. The watch- 

 man immediately gave an alarm, and 

 fortunately succeeded in awakening 

 the family of Mr. B. and rescuing 

 theni from their perilous situation. 

 The flames soon afterwards caught 

 the barns, where large quantities of 

 hay, straw, &c. were deposited, 

 besides several other adjoining 

 buildings; and at one time, the 

 whole yard, containing 16 ricks of 

 hay, straw, corn, &c. was in one 

 continual blaze. The loss is esti- 

 mated at upwards of 10,000/. No 

 lives were lost. 



Winchester. — On opening a 

 vault, last week, in the middle aile 

 of the west transept of the cathe- 

 dral, for the interment of the late 

 Miss Poulter, a stone coffin was 

 discovered immediately under the 

 surface of the pavement, supposed 

 to contain the remains either of a 

 prelate or mitred abbot. A ring of 



