288 



ANNUAL REGISTER,' 1809. 



any previous illness, on Wednesday 

 morning last, at Stamford, whither 

 he had gone with an intent to exhi- 

 bit himself during the races. He 

 was in his 40th year, and upon be- 

 ing placed in the famous Caledonian 

 balance within a few days of his 

 death, was found to weigh 52 stone 

 lllbs. (14lbs. to the stone), which 

 is 10 stone lllbs. more than the 

 famous Mr. Bright, of Essex, ever 

 vireighed. His coffin is 6 feet 4 

 inches long, 4 feet 4 inches wide, 

 and 2 feet 4 inches deep, consists of 

 112 superficial feet of elm, is built 

 upon two axletrees and four clog 

 wheels, and upon these the remains 

 of the poor man will be rolled into 

 the grave, at St. Martin's. A regu- 

 lar descent will be made, by cutting 

 away the earth slopingly for some 

 distance. The window and wall of 

 the room in which he lies must be 

 taken down, to allow the removal 

 of his corpse. 



29. The Jbllotving is an excellent 

 illustration of a tvell known fact, 

 that the general tendency oj" currenia 

 in the ocean is from the East to- 

 "wards the West. 



(copy). 

 " Neptune, St. John's Roads, 

 Antigua, June 29, 1 809. 



*« Sir, — As the inclosed letters 

 picked up in a bottle, on the wind- 

 ward part of the island of Marti- 

 nique, on the 18th of April last, 

 tend to elucidate the state of the 

 current in the Atlantic Ocean, I 

 inclose them to you, with a request 

 that you will be pleased to make 

 the circumstance known to the 

 Lords Commissioners of the Admi- 

 ralty. 



** The bottle appears to have been 

 thrown overboard by the princess 

 Elizabeth Packet, goingto the Bra- 

 zils, on the 6th of September, 1808, 



in lat. 14. 45, and long. 25, and it 

 must have been carried about 2,020 

 miles in 224 days, which gives 9 

 miles per day on a west course. 

 I am, &c. 

 (Signed) Alex. Cochrank. 



29. The dangerous consequences 

 likely to result from sleeping in an 

 outhouse, during astate of intoxica- 

 tion, were singularly exemplified on 

 Thursday last. — A labourer, in the 

 employ of Mr. Laybourn, of Whit- 

 ney, near Oxford, having retired 

 greatly inebriated, to recover from 

 a debauch, was attacked by som§ 

 rats. The liquor and sleep had so 

 overpowered the unfortunate man, 

 that he was incapable either of re- 

 pelling them, or calling for assist- 

 ance. He continued in an agonized 

 statefortwo hours, when his groans 

 attracted the notice of a person 

 passing the door, and who, on en- 

 tering, found a number of rats of a 

 large species, assembled round the 

 feet of the sufferer, seven of whose 

 toes had been entirely devoured by 

 them. 



29. Court of Common Pleas.-^ 

 Sittings before Sir James Mans- 

 field. — The Earl of Leicester v. 

 the Projjrietors, Sfc. of the Morn- 

 ing Herald. — This was an action 

 for a libel against the printer, pub- 

 lisher, and proprietors of the Morn- 

 ing Herald. The damages were 

 laid at 20,000/. 



Mr. Serjeant Best stated the case 

 on the part of the plaintiff. It was 

 an action against the publishers af 

 a newspaper, for a libel of such a 

 nature and such malignity, as per- 

 haps was never before complained 

 of in a court of justice. When he 

 stated that the damages were laid 

 at 20,000/. he would add, that he 

 did not think justice would be done 

 to his client, if ^ny thing less than 



that 



