186 LON 
wail in Hart-ftreet, which killed one man and bruifed fe¬ 
vers! others. A fubfcriptioh was opened, ami liberally 
patronifed, for the relief of the fufferers. The Opera- 
houfe’ was, with much liberality, offered by Mr. Taylor 
to Mr. Harris; and the Covent-Garden company, a few 
clays after the event, performed there. 
No time was loft in clearing away the rubbifli, and in be¬ 
ginning to rebuild ; and on the 31ft of December follow¬ 
ing the fonndation-ftone of the new theatre was laid by his 
Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales, as grand-matter of the 
Rree-Mafons. The fpectacle was unufually interefting, as 
it is not recorded that lb diftinguithed an honour was ever 
conferred by any prince of Wales upon a fimilar edifice. 
The preparations and arrangements were every-way wor¬ 
thy of the event. Detachments of horfe and foot guards 
were Rationed to prevent the influx of the populace, and 
clear the avenues to the ground. The difpolition upon 
the fcite of the building, both for the ceremonial and for 
the accommodation of the fpectators, was extremely judi¬ 
cious. At the north-eatt corner of the intended itage of 
the theatre, the foundation-ftone, containing nearly lixty 
cubic feet, and weighing three tons, was fufpended over 
a bafement-ltone. On the weft fide, a covered and exten- 
five awning, with a parapet in front, and inclofed be¬ 
hind, furnilhed with ranges of feats, was appropriated 
for the reception of the lpeftators, who filled it before 
twelve o’clock. On the oppofite lide, and parallel 
to Bow-ftreet, another inclofed awning was conftrubted 
for the numerous deputation of free-mafo 11s. Near the 
Rone was erefted a fpacious marquee for the illullri- 
ous grand mailer and his fuite. On an elevated plat¬ 
form, parallel to Hart-flreet, were placed the military 
bands of the two regiments of horfe-guards, the Cold- 
ltream and 3d regiments of foot-guards, and that of the 
city light-horfe in full uniform. The grenadier-company 
of the ill regiment of guards, with their colours and band, 
were Rationed near the Bow-Rreet entrance, as a guard of 
honour. At the angles of the ground were hoiRed naval 
and military flags; and, near the Rone, the royal Randard 
of England. Upwards of feven hundred workmen, em¬ 
ployed in the building, were placed on furrounding fcaf- 
folds. At twelve o'clock the grand officers of the feveral 
free-mafons’ lodges, with the principals of the craft, 
amounting to near four hundred, decorated with their 
paraphernalia, entered, the chevalier Rufpini bearing the 
i'word before them, as grand tiler, and a band preceding ; 
thefe took their Rations in the gallery. The feveral 
bands now played alternately till one, the hour fixed for 
the arrival of the prince of Wales; at which time 
his royal highnefs, accompanied by the duke of Suifex, 
attended by general Hulfe and colonels M‘Mahon and 
Bloomfield, arrived under an efcort of horfe-guards. His 
royal highnefs was received, on his entrance at the Bow- 
llreet door, by earl Moira as deputy-grand-maiter ; the 
detachments of guards faluting with grounded colours, 
and beating the grenadiers’ march. The arrival was an¬ 
nounced by loud plaudits of the people, and the difcliarge 
-of a royal falute of artillery. The prince was dreffed in 
blue with a fcarlet collar, and decorated with the infignia 
Hif his office as grnnd-mafler. As he proceeded uncover¬ 
ed, with his fuite, over a railed platform fpread with green 
cloth bordered with fcarlet, the company all rofe and 
gave him three cheers, the united bands playing God fave 
the king. Mr. Harris and Mr. Kemble, having paid their 
' refpefts to his royal highnefs, ufhered him to the marquee. 
Mr. Smirke, the architeft, now prefented a plan of the 
building to his royal highnefs, who, attended by all the 
grand malonic officers, then proceeded to the ceremonial. 
On a fjgnal given, the Rone was raifed feveral feet; his 
royal highnefs advanced to the north-eall corner of it, 
and depotited in a fpace cut in the bafernent a brafs 
box, containing the Britifli coins of the year,. and a 
bronze medal bearing a likenefs of the prince, with this 
infcription on the reverfe— Georgiusprinceps WalliarumThca- 
tn Regiis injlaurandi, av.fpie.iis, in Hortis-Bcnediciinis Londmi 
D O N. 
fua manu locavit M. DCCC.VTII.—Another medal alfo ac¬ 
companied the above, with the following infcription 5 
Under the aufpices of hismoft (acred majeRy George III. 
king of the.united kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, 
the foundation Rone of the Theatre, Covent- Garden, was 
laid by his royal highnefs, George prince of Wales, 
M.DCCC.VIII.” On the reverfe of this medal is in- 
fcribed : “ Robert Smirke, arc like 61 .” 
Six bod-men now conveyed the neceffary quantity of 
cementing-mortar, which was fpread on tile bafe-Rone by 
the fame number of workmen. His royal highnefs then, 
as grand-mafler, finiflied the adjuRment of the mortar with 
a filver trowel prefented to him by earl Moira ; the Rone 
was then lowered to its deRined poiition, all the bands 
playing Rule Britannia, and the-people applauding with 
the moR animating cheers. The prince then tried the 
work by the plumb, the level, and the fquare, which were 
prefented to him by the proper mafonic officers, and then 
finiflied laying the Rone by three Rrokes of his mallet'; 
three filver cups were then fucceflively prefented to him, 
containing the ancient offerings of com, wine, and oil, 
which he poured over the ltone with impreffive fo- 
lemnity. His royal highnefs then reitored the plan of 
the building into the hands of the architect, defiring him 
to complete the Rructure conformably thereto; and, ad- 
dreffing Mr. Harris and Mr. Kemble, vviflied profperity 
to the building and the national obje6ts connected with if. 
Thus clofed the ceremony ; and his royal highnefs, v.ho 
performed his part with dignity, and whole manners dur¬ 
ing the whole time were highly captivating, retired to his 
carriage under another falute of artillery, and amidR the 
acclamations of the multitude. 
The metropolis has feldom witnefled a more tremendous 
■“gale of wind than that which commenced on Monday, 
the 10th of April, and raged with uncommon violence 
from ten till near three o’clock. Several fliips in the ri¬ 
ver drove from their moorings. About one o’clock a 
large flieet of lead was raifed, by the violence of the wind, 
from off the top of a houfe in Ludgate-hill, and thrown 
down on the pavement : it its way it broke a part of the 
parapet wall, which fell on the ground with a terrible 
crafti. The hand of Providence was never more vilible 
than in this inflance; for, though the ltreet was crowded 
with paffengers, yet none received the fmalleR injury. 
The fummerof this year proved remarkably hot. From 
Hayes in Middlefex we have a particular account of the 
heat, as obferved in a north open afpect by two thermo¬ 
meters, quite detached. On Tuefday the 12th of July, 
at two P. M. both Rood at 87°; at midnight, 69 ; at half 
paft eleyen in the morning, 90; and at one had fallen to 
88. The hot Sunday and Tuefday, in the year 1790, 
only amounted to 83 degrees in open fliaded fituations. 
The average heat of the Weft Indies is about 82 degrees. 
The thermometer, which is always expofed at the opti¬ 
cian’s under the northern entrance of the Royal Exchange, 
was on Tliurfday at noon, at 87. The thermometer 
in the Riade at a window in the open air, oppofite St. 
James’s Park, without any reflection of heat, was on the 
Tuefday at three o’clock P. M. at 88, and on Wednefday 
at 94.. In a tranfparent glafs thermometer at a window 
in the Strand, on Wednefday afternoon, it was 101.—The 
heat of the atmofphere in the north-eaRern parts of Lin¬ 
coln, on Wednefday the 13th, exceeded what it is Rated 
to have been in any other part of the kingdom. A ther¬ 
mometer, hanging in the (hade, in a north afpeft, at Gainf- 
borough, at one o’clock in the day Rood at ninety-four de¬ 
grees (ten degrees higher than the meteorological records 
of this country Rate it to have ever been before). Human 
efforts were paralifed under fuch a temperature, and many 
of the brute creation died. A refpeftabie correfpondent af- 
fures us, that a large quantity of flieep vvas found dead at 
Burgh in the Marfh, and in the neighbourhood of Spiifby, 
which had perifhed by the heat. 
Lord Eldon has informed us, from the woolfack, that 
“the virtue and morality of the higher orders alone keep 
us 
