254 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



the smallest attention to any thing 

 round her, excepting once, when 

 she waved her hand to me not to 

 advance nearer. During the whole 

 ceremony, which lasted considera- 

 bly more than an hour (for I was 

 too much interested to look at my 

 watch), she was as firm and col- 

 lected, and perhaps more so, than 

 most of the bye-standers. I never 

 took my eyes off her the whole 

 time, and dare assert that not the 

 smallest degree of compulsion was 

 used. 



8. The grand bas-relief which 

 adorns the pediments of the colon- 

 ade of the Louvre, at Paris, has 

 been recently exposed to view. 

 It is described as being the most 

 magnificent piece of modern sculp- 

 ture to be seen. It is 74 feet long 

 by M broad, without including the 

 cornices. It represents the Muses 

 celebrating the glory of Napoleon, 

 as protector of the arts, and to 

 whom France is indebted for the 

 finishing of the Louvre, so vainly 

 wished for by the nation, and by ten 

 sovereignsjfornearlythreecenturies. 



A large picture of King Charles 

 1st on horseback, which has for a 

 long time hung disregarded in the 

 hall of the Middle Temple, having 

 lately been cleaned, is declared by a 

 connoisseur to be a very fine ori- 

 ginal by Vandyck ; and it is con- 

 jectured, that as James 2nd, was a 

 member of the Middle Temple, he 

 was the donor of this valuable 

 painting to the Society. 



12. Catnbridge — The subject of 

 the Seatonian Prize Poem for the 

 present year is, The Conquest of 

 Canaa?! — The Hulsean Prize is 

 this year adjudged to Mr. J. C. 

 Hobhouse, B. A. of Trinity Col- 

 lege, for his Essay on the Orig'm 

 and intention of Sacrijice. 



15. Bank Forgery. — On Friday 

 John Nicholls was indicted for ut- 

 tering a forged 5/. bank note, with 

 intent to defraud the Governor and 

 Company of the Bank of England. 

 The detail of the necessary evidence 

 occupied the Court the whole morn- 

 ing, but the facts of the case may 

 be detailed in a short compass. On 

 the 20th December last, Vincent 

 Alessi, an Italian, offered a bank 

 note in payment for two bottles 

 of wine, to a person of the name 

 of Taylor, resident in Holborn. 

 The note, on inquiry, turned out 

 a bad one, and Alessi was imme- 

 diately taken into custody. He 

 then disclosed, that he purchased 

 the note in question from the pri- 

 soner Nicholls, who resided at Bir- 

 mingham, to buy plated goods, to 

 carr)' with him to Spain : the per- 

 son with whom he dealt produced 

 a 1/. note, and asked him if he 

 would buy any of those articles, 

 and said he would introduce him 

 to the maker. Accordingly in the 

 evening he was introduced to the 

 prisoner Nicholls, and he bought 

 some notes of him. It was then 

 agreed, if he wanted any more, he 

 was to write for them under the 

 name of candlesticks. He added, 

 that the prisoner had been in town, 

 and sold him the note which he 

 had tendered at his lodgings, at the 

 Lemon Tree in the Haymarket. 



In order to confirm the truth of 

 the story, it was settled between the 

 officers and him, that he was to 

 write to the prisoner for a fresh 

 supply, and to invite the prisoner 

 to come to town with thera, for 

 which he offered him two guinens 

 as the expense of his journey. He 

 accordingly wrote for 20 candle- 

 sticks. No. 5, meaning 5/. notes, 

 and two dozen ditto, No. 1, mean- 



ini? 



