CHRONICLE. 



391 



meeting of the charity children was 

 held at St. Pauls. The scaffolding, 

 as usual, formed an amphitheatre 

 under the dome, with the pulpit in 

 the middle, covered with crimson 

 cloth. By twelve the children were 

 all seated, the boys on the higher 

 seats, and girls below ; their diffe- 

 rent devices were displayed with 

 pleasing uniforn)ity ; and in other 

 rcspedts the arrangement was such 

 a« presented a scene awfully grand, 

 and gratifying to a benevolent mind. 

 The procession of the children from 

 St. Pauls to their respective parishes, 

 afforded the same pleasing spectacle 

 as at their going ; the beadles at 

 their head, and the Hags which they 

 carried, made them the objects of 

 admiration. St. Paul's church- 

 yard was so crowded by spectators 

 as to be almost impassable; the 

 crowd in the church was also vast ; 

 on leaving it, the charity collected 

 at the gates was consderably aug- 

 mented by their donations. 



DiEn. — 5th, Airs. Margaret 

 Holmes, of Sunderland-bridge, Dur- 

 ham, 103 years of age. 



17th. At Walmesby Ford, near 

 Blackburne, aged 103, Mr. Richard 

 Heaten, farmer : within the last two 

 years he was able to go on foot 

 from his own house to Preston and 

 back again in one day, a distance of 

 not less than 29 miles. 



JUNE. 



4th. The following report has 

 been made and signed by Thomas 

 Henley, constable of St. Helier, in 

 the island of Jersey : — " On the 

 above date, being the anniversary of 

 the birth-day of our gracious sove- 

 reign, all the forts in this island fired 

 a royal salute at noon; by order of 



his excellency the commander in 

 chief. The cannon in the new fort 

 on the large hill wcro also fired. A 

 corporal of the invalid company of 

 artillery then received the matches, 

 and locked them up in the powder 

 magazine, at the top of the hill, 

 which is constructed in such a man- 

 ner as to be bomb-proof; it con- 

 tained 209 barrels of gun-powder, 

 charged bombs, caissons full of 

 cartridges of every kind, and a great 

 quantity of other combustibles. The 

 magazine was then shut, and the 

 keys carried out of the fort. About 

 six in the evening, while the officer 

 on guard was at dinner with the 

 brother officers of his regiment, the 

 soldiers on guard observed smoke 

 issuing through an air-hole at one 

 of the ends of the magazine, and 

 immediately ran from the fort. Mr. 

 P. Lys, the signal officer on the hill, 

 seeing from the watch-house the 

 soldiers in motion, and hearing them 

 calling out. Fire! ran out before 

 they had all set off, and approaching 

 the magazine, observed the smoke 

 issuing through the two air-holes at 

 the two ends. Having found Tho- 

 mas Touzel and Edward Touzel, 

 two brothers, and both carpenters, 

 employed by him in the town, who 

 had come to assist him to take down a 

 temporary ensign-staff, he sent them 

 to acquaint the commander in chief 

 of the danger with which the maga- 

 zine was threatened, and to Capt. 

 Salmon, of the artillery, to get the 

 keys. Touzel, before he set out, 

 used every effort to induce his bro- 

 ther to quit the spot. E. Touzel 

 replied, that he must die some day 

 or other, and that he would at- 

 tempt to save the magazine, and the 

 town, at the hazard of his life ; and 

 seeing a soldier making his escape, 

 he proposed to him to remain to as- 

 C c 4 sist 



