CHRONICLE. 75 
implements were likewise de- 
stroyed ; so rapid were the flames, 
that the owner and his family had 
scarce time to save themselves. 
The premises are suspected to 
have been set on fire by some 
eyil-disposed person. 
5.—A dreadful fire happened at 
Swaby, four miles from Sleaford, 
which raged with great fury for 
a considerable time, and was at- 
tended with an immense loss, 
The fire took place upon the pre- 
mises of Mr. Codd, owing to the 
carelessness of a servant having 
left a lighted candle in the stable ; 
it entirely consumed his house, 
barns, stacks of corn, and every 
thing upon his premises, as well 
as three valuable horses in the 
place where the fire broke out: 
it then communicated to an ad- 
joining farm house, which unhap- 
pily shared a similar fate, the 
house, outbuildings, and stacks 
being entirely consumed. The 
fire was not extinguished until 
a malting house and all the uten- 
sils were likewise destroyed. 
9.—As four young gentlemen 
were upon a shooting party, in 
the neighbourhood of Llangharne, 
Wales, one of them stumbled and 
fell, in consequence of which his 
gun went off, and lodged its con- 
tents in the leg of another of the 
party, Bingham Walter Hamil- 
ton, esq. Surgical assistance was 
immediately afforded, and no fa- 
tal consequence was anticipated, 
until the wound, in the short 
space of six-and-thirty hours, 
turned to a gangrene, which 
spread so rapidly as to render 
amputation and all medical assis- 
tance useless, 
13.—About one o’clock in the 
afternoon, more than one-third 
of the town of Soissons *was de- 
stroyed by theexplosion of a pow- 
der magazine. ‘The seminary has 
suffered greatly, and, about eight 
or ten of its inmates are killed. 
The injury done to the cathedral 
is estimated at thirty thousand 
francs. The number of victims 
isincalculable. This unfortunate 
town presents a most shocking 
spectacle, the streets being en- 
cumbered with dead and wound- 
ed. When the place was deli- 
vered up to the Russians, a 
French captain of artillery remain- 
ed to take care of the magazines, 
and was making arrangements 
respecting the powder, at the 
moment the explosion took place. 
14.—A most destructive fire 
broke out on part of the pre- 
mises at Howick farm, belonging 
to William Curre, esq. of Itton, 
near Chepstow. About midnight 
one of the buildings, in which 
was erected, at a great expense, 
a powerful thrashing machine, 
and the straw-house adjoining 
thereto were discovered to be in 
flames: and a poor man who 
slept in the latter building unhap- 
pily perished. The blaze of light 
on the dwelling house disturbed 
the servants, who seeing that any 
effort of theirs to extinguish the 
fire would be unavailing, hasten- 
ed to their master’s residence, 
about half a mile from the farm, 
where, to their great astonish- 
ment, they found that a building 
that contained another thrashing 
machine was also on fire. The 
family at Itton being summoned 
to assist in extinguishing the 
flames, they used such judicious 
methods in cutting off the com- 
munication of the fire with the 
numerous ricks of corn, hey, &c, 
