542 LON 
and Wollafton, C. Hatchett, efq. and four other gentle¬ 
men, who reported, that the whole collection confilted of 
about 20,000 fpecimens ; that the feries of cryftallized ru¬ 
bies, fapphires, emeralds, topazes, rubelites, diamonds, 
and precious ftones in general, as well as the feries of the 
various ores, far furpaffed any that were known to them 
in the different European collections ; and that the value 
of the whole was 13,727!. including that of the cabinets, 
which coft 1600I. 
On the 23d of July, the earl of Northefk and fir Richard 
Strachan received, at the Mnnfion-houfe, the fwords voted 
to them by the city of London. They were accompanied 
by earl St. Vincent. Appropriate fpeeches were made by 
the chamberlain, and anfwered by the admirals. After 
this ceremony, they ftaid and dined with the lord-mayor. 
On the 14th and 15th of Auguft, the metropolis and its 
neighbourhood w'ere vifited by a tremendous thunder- 
iiorm. At two o’clock in the afternoon it appeared as if 
a cloud burft over the metropolis, and difcharged in the 
.courfe of a minute a profulion of water : this was fuc- 
ceeded by a fliower of very large halftones, which broke 
ieveral windows, and much glafs in the gardens fouth- 
weft of the town. The flafhes of lightning fucceeded in 
the molt rapid fucceflion ; and, from the clouds being 
Jb low, the air was fo (trongly impregnated with fulphur 
as to become quite offenfive. About a mile beyond Kil- 
burn Wells, a brilliant ball of fire palled rapidly along, 
which had a fublime and awful effect : the Watford coach 
was coming to town at the time, and the coachman and a 
female paflenger were (truck down by the lightning; the 
hand of the woman was very much hurt, and the ring on 
her finger was melted ; a team which was near the coach 
had one of the horfes killed, and a woman in the cart 
ftruck down by the lightning. An aged man, working in 
the garden of Mr. Sneathe, in the Edgeware-road, was 
Itruck blind by the lightning. Three men were ftruck by 
the lightning on Bexley Heath, one of whom was killed, 
and his watch-cafe melted. At Ditton, a barn filled with 
corn was burnt by the lightning. At Hampltead and 
Highgate the claps of thunder refembled the firing of 
heavy artillery. The tempelt extended to mod parts of 
Kent; and two gentlemen were killed near Canterbury 
while taking fhelter under a tree. But the greateft da¬ 
mage was produced by the rain : in many parts, the ftreets 
were impaffable; and the property of the inhabitants in 
their kitchens and cellars received much injury. Weft- 
minffer-hall prefented an unufual appearance: the water 
overflowed the fewer at the back of the Exchequer coffee- 
houfe, and foon covered the lower part of the hall. Boys 
were ftationed with brooms to fweep away the inunda¬ 
tion j but the flench produced by the overflow made the 
place uncommonly difagreeable to thofe who attended on 
bufinefs. The corufcations, which prevailed at intervals, 
frequently occafioned a momentary fufpenflon of the pro¬ 
ceedings in the courts, as the lightning had a peculiar ef¬ 
fect on the eye-fight. 
On the 4th of September, at fix in the morning, a fatal 
duel was fought on Wimbledon Common. Mr. George 
Payne, who was killed, was the younger fon of the late 
Rene Payne, efq. who left him his fortune, to the amount 
of 14,000k a year. The caufe of the fatal duel is truly 
melancholy. The orphan daughter of the late Dr. Clark, 
of Newcaftle, was the friend of Mrs. Payne, and a vifitor 
in the family. An unfortunate attachment took place 
between Mr. Payne and Mifs Clark, which the irritated 
feelings of her brother forced him to refent. Every means 
were tried by Mr. John Payne, the elder brother of the 
deceafed, to avert the cataflrophe, but in vain. Mr. 
George Payne was molt exemplary in all his conduit 
through life, except in this fatal attachment. He was a 
molt liberal and niofl amiable man. He had whifpered to 
his fecond, Mr. Abbott, that he fliould not return Mr. 
Clark’s fire 5 but the firfl fhot was mortal. Mr. Clark ef¬ 
fected his efcape- 
On the 3d of Odcb^i the coffer-dam at the Limehoufe 
DON. 
entrance of the Weff-India docks, ereffed for the purpofe 
of keeping out the water, while the building of the winV- 
wall of the lock was going on, gave way. At nearly high 
water in the afternoon, the workmen employed in exca¬ 
vating the earth for the foundation, having obferved the 
water to burft underneath the piles, were ordered to re¬ 
move immediately from the dam. The confidence how¬ 
ever repofed in its fecurity, from the immenfe ffrengtb of 
the braces, &c. was fuch, that hopes were entertained that 
it would not entirely give way. But in a few minutes 
the piles (which were upwards of thirty feet long) were 
forced perpendicularly into the air 5 the water of courfe 
filled the dam, and the effects were immediately felt in the 
bafon, though not to the extent that might have been ex¬ 
pected. Fortunately no lives, were loft. The fituation of 
the dam was fo much expofed, that not lefs than from 
thirty to forty veffels palled every tide. Many of thefe, 
in paffing, (notwithftanding every exertion on the part of 
the dock-mafter,) came with a fevere crafli againft the 
dam ; and from this circumftance, and the preflure of 
about fifteen hundred thoufand tons of water, the blow¬ 
ing up of the whole was not to be wondered at. 
To our antiquarian readers the following anecdote will 
not be unacceptable. The workmen employed, in the be¬ 
ginning of November, to repair the church of St. Mary, 
Aldermanbury, difcovered the remains of the notorious 
chancellor Jefferies. A large flat ftone was removed near 
the communion-table ; and in a vault underneath tlie 
men found a leaden coffin containing the body. The 
coffin did not appear to have fuffered much decay. It 
was doled, and a plate remained on it, infcribed with the 
name of Chancellor Jefferies. His fon and daughter are 
alio bimied in the fame vault. The coffin was not opened 3 
and, after public curiofity had been gratified, it was re¬ 
placed in the vault, and the ftone raitened over it. 
We have had, in the courfe of this article, feveral occa- 
fions to notice the hoaxes played on the credulity of the 
public. The following inflance is mod egregious, and 
ought to be recorded to give future readers an idea of the 
humour of the prefent times, and put our cotemporaries 
upon their guard.— On the 26th of November, by nine in 
the morning, the houfe of Mrs. T. a lady of fortune, at 
N° 54, Berners-ftreet, was befet by dozens of tradefpeople 
at one time, with their various commodities; and fuch 
crowds had collected as to render the ftreet impaffable. 
Waggons laden with coals from the Paddington-wharfs, 
uphollterers’ goods in cart-loads, organs, pianofortes, li¬ 
nen, jewellery, and every other defcription of furniture, 
were lodged as near as poflible to the door, by anxious 
tradefpeople attended by a laughing mob. About eleven 
the lord-mayor arrived in his carriage ; but his lordfhip’s 
flay was fliort, and he was driven to Marlborough-ftreet 
police-office. At the office his lordfhip informed the fit¬ 
ting magiftrate, that he had received a note, purporting to 
have come from Mrs. T. which ftated that Ihe had been 
fummoned to appear before him, but that (he was con¬ 
fined to her room by ficknefs, and requefled his lordfhip 
would do her the favour to call on her. Berners-ftreet at 
this time was in the greateft confufion, by the multipli¬ 
city of tradesfolks, who were returning with their goods, 
and fpefrtators laughing at them. The officers belonging 
to Marlborough-ftreet office were immediately ordered out 
to keep order; but it was impofiible fora Ibort time. The 
firfl thing witneffed by the officers was fix flout men bear¬ 
ing an organ, furrounded by wine-porters with permits, 
barbers with wigs, mantua-makers with band-boxes, op¬ 
ticians with their various articles of trade; and fuch was 
the preflure of tradefpeople who had been duped, that at 
four o’clock all was Itill in confufion. Every officer that 
could be muftered was enlifted to difperfe tlie people ; and 
they were placed at the cornel's of Berners-ftreet, to pre¬ 
vent more perfons from advancing towards the houfe with 
goods; The ftreet was not cleared till a late hour; as f'er- 
vants of every denomination, wanting places, began to af- 
fgmble five o’clock. It turned out that letters had 
beets. 
