120 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



[Nov. 



cited general indignation by a 

 very wicked action : — Having been 

 employed to superintend the work- 

 men who were repairing the Rit- 

 terhohns Church, which is used 

 only for the interment of the Royal 

 family, and of the Knights of the 

 Seraphim, as well as to preserve 

 the tropics of Swedish valour, he 

 broke into what is called the Ca- 

 roline vault, disturbed the ashes 

 of our great King Charles X., and 

 of a Duchess of Holstein, took 

 from the former the crown, sword- 

 hilt, and sceptre, and from the 

 latter a diadem and necklace, all 

 of gold, and in part richly set, but 

 has betrayed himself by his boast- 

 ing. He had even hud a waistcoat 

 made out of the velvet on one of 

 the coffins, and plundered many 

 other monuments in the church. 

 But as there was found in his 

 pocket, when he was arrested, an 

 exact list of the stolen articles, 

 and an account of what had been 

 done with them, the whole have 

 been lecovered. 



Destructive Fire in Newfound- 

 land. — Painful and difficult is the 

 task which devolves upon us of 

 recording the truly distressing fire 

 with which this ill-fated town was 

 again visited on Friday night, the 

 7th instant. The flames were first 

 discovered about half-past ten 

 o'clock, issuing from an uninha- 

 bited house about forty yards 

 from the Royal Gazette office, in 

 front of Mr. William B. Thomas's 

 dwelling, and in ten minutes 

 communicated to the surrounding 

 buildings : by this time the inha- 

 bitants had assembled, but the 

 engines, with their united efforts, 

 seemed of little use in checking 

 this all-devouring element, which 

 now began to assume an appear- 



ance that struck every beholder 

 with terror and dismay. In the 

 centre of the town, between two 

 streets not exceeding 20 feet in 

 width, all exertion was unavailing 

 to stem the current of conflagra- 

 tion : the flames spread in every 

 direction with the rapidity of light- 

 ning, until about six o'clock on 

 Saturday morning, when the ex- 

 ertions of the more respectable 

 part of the community, aided by 

 the army and navy, succeeded in 

 arresting its progress at the King's 

 Wharf, To give an adequate 

 description of the awfnl, we had 

 almost said teirible grandeur of 

 the scene, we confess our inabi- 

 lity. The glaring splendour of the 

 flames dissipated the darkness of 

 the night, and discovered the mi- 

 sery in which we were placed. 

 Immense volumes of smoke rising 

 majestically above the buildings, 

 at once obscured tlie dazzling 

 blaze of light, and reflected it back 

 again on the earth. When the 

 moining dawned, such a scene of 

 desolation presented itself as per- 

 haps very few of the spectators 

 ever before witnessed, and such as 

 we sincerely hope they never may 

 behold again : a space of ground 

 extending nearly a quarter of a 

 mile in length, and three hundred 

 yards in breadth, was cleared of 

 the houses wliich stood thereon. 

 Fiom the Dissenting Meeting 

 house to the church-yard, on the 

 west side j all the buildings from 

 the Court-house to the north-east 

 boundary of Crawfoid's premises 

 (both inclusive) on the east side 

 of Duckworth-street ; from the 

 corner of Churcli-hill to W. Find- 

 lay's on the upper side, and from J. 

 and R. Brine's shop to the King's 

 wharf on the lo^^er side of Abater- 

 street, 



