96 ANNUAL REGISTER, 
termination. Baker then, till his 
finish, during which he danced 
three hornpipes, surprised the 
whole course, and in high spirits, 
accomplished 75 miles and 192 
rods, completing then his match 
by the time already mentioned, 
and afterwards retired to the Cos- 
sack amidst the cheerings of those 
present and the roaring of a huge 
elephant. He appeared again by 
ten, dressed in a white flannel 
jacket, new hat, and old boots, 
and continued to walk up and 
down the course. At twelve he 
began to complete the miles that 
had been allowed him in the rods ; 
by this time thousands of specta- 
tors had arrived. He madegood 
by one o'clock five miles, and by 
a quarter after two completed the 
ten miles. Baker and his friends 
‘afterwards went to the Cossack 
public-house to spend the re- 
mainder of the day. 
22.—A French paper states as 
a fact, the following trait of ani- 
mal sagacity :—“In the night of 
the 22nd Nov. there was a great 
fall ofsnow at Commercy( Meuse), 
for the first time this winter, and 
of such violence that the ground 
was covered to a depth of eight or 
ten inches. When the Russian 
dragoons stationed there were 
taking their horses to water in 
the morning, these animals, sur- 
prised and delighted at a sight 
which doubtless reminded them 
of their country, began to prance, 
neigh, and roll themselves in the 
snow. A number escaped from 
the hands of their conductors, 
who had great difficulty in catch- 
ing them again.” 
23.—About twelve o’clock in 
the evening, a fire broke out at 
Mr. Slack’s, sugar baker, Grove- 
1815. 
place, Kentish-town, which was 
attended with most melancholy 
circumstances. The flames burst 
forth with such fury, as almost 
to preclude the possibility of any 
of the inmates escaping, as all 
had gone to bed. However, the 
servants being roused from their 
sleep, some of them made their 
escape in time. Mr. Slack him- 
self, aware that his child was left 
behind, and must inevitably be 
lost, came to the resolution of 
rushing through the flames to its 
assistance, or perish in the at~ 
tempt: the latter unhappily was 
his fate, after preserving the ob- 
ject of his attention, by throwing 
it out of the window of the bed- © 
room into the arms ofsome friends 
below.’ On his return to reach 
the door, the stairs gave way, and 
thus perished in the flames an 
excellent parent, and a friend of 
humanity. On mustering the 
household, it was found that the 
cook, who wasin years, had also 
fallen a prey to the devouring ele- 
ment. The dwelling was entirely 
destroyed. 
24,.—A dreadful fire broke out. 
at night in the premises of a gold- 
beater in Red Lion-street, Hol- 
born, who had but lately settled 
in that neighbourhood.—The fire 
was first discovered a little before 
twelve o’clock, from which time 
it raged with great violence for 
above an hour before any assist- 
ance could be procured. The 
engines at length arrived, and 
every exertion was made, but they 
came only in time to prevent the 
spreading of the conflagration.— 
The house in which it first ap- 
peared was reduced to a mere 
shell.. The engines had -collect- 
ed in such numbers at half-past 
