L O N 
having e Cc aped to fa ire their lives,) and burnt every thing 
in the'houfe. This aft feerned a fignal for more exten- 
five outrages, which fpread over the circumjacent towns 
and villages. Though the obnoxious frames were the 
chief object of their hoftility, they began to declare en¬ 
mity again!. millers, corn-dealers, and all whom they Aip- 
pofed inftrumental in raiting the price of provifions. The 
niagiftrates at length found it neceflary to call in the aid 
of the military ; but, before any number of them could 
be collefted, much further mifchief was done. And, even 
after a fiffideist force was ftationed at Nottingham to fup- 
prefs any open violations of the peace in that vicinity, 
the deitruftiou of frames ftill continued, as it could be 
eafily effefted by fmall parties, which finifhed their bufi- 
nefs, and difperfed, before notice was given of their ailem- 
bling. Their proceedings appeared to be direfted by a 
fpirit of fyftem that rendered them the more dangerous. 
The rioters affumed the name of LnddiUs, and acted un¬ 
der the authority of an imaginary Captain Ladd-, which 
name feems to have fignified, not one individual, but a fe- 
cret committee of management. The fpirit of tumult 
fpread into the neighbouring counties of Derby and Lei- 
celter, in the manufacturing parts of which many fi'ames 
were deftroyed during the month of December, though 
Nottinghamfliire (till continued the principal fcene of mil- 
chief ; and an advance of pay to the workmen had not the 
defired effeft of refloring order. The difturbances at 
length became fo ferious-as to excite the attention of go¬ 
vernment, and were by no means fupprefled at the clofe 
of the year. The rioters, whofe great objeft feems to 
have been the demolition of frames detrimental to their 
ufual courfe of employ, proceeded with a caution and re¬ 
gularity that denoted a fyftematic plan, and rendered in- 
effeftual the exertions of power to defeat their meafures, 
and bring them to juitice. 
On the 22d of November, anew-invented vefle!, named 
the Conftellation, intended to fail againlt wind and tide, 
arrived above Blackfriars-bridge, from Briftol. The vef- 
fel is about fifty feet in length, with only one malt made 
of iron, and an upright windlafs affixed to it; there are 
twelve horizontal fails, fimilar to the fliape of window- 
fliutters, which are extended or fhortened in an inftant ; 
on any occafion, the malt, with all its appendages, is alfo 
as quickly ftruck. It has neither blocks, nor any running 
rigging, except a fore and aft flay and cable; the guns, 
which are of curious mechanifm, will keep their own ele¬ 
vation. 
On the morning of the 27th, the city was thrown into 
confiderable agitation by the report of two explofions, 
which were heard at an interval of little more than a fe- 
cond, and which were attributed to an earthquake. It 
■was afterwards afcerrained that they were occafioned by 
the powder-mills in the vicinity of Waltham-Abbey tak¬ 
ing fire. Seven of the workmen loft their lives; and an¬ 
other was fhockingly fcorched and bjuifed. The con- 
fternation that prevailed in the neighbourhood was fuch 
as language could not defcribe : the people fled terrified 
from their habitations, imagining that the explofion was 
■an earthquake. At Stepney a mirror of plate-glafs was 
broken by the fliotk; at Hackney feveral panes of gbfs 
were forced in ; and at Blackwall the windows of a. whole 
itreet were (hattered. 
On the 31 If, at about twenty minutes before three in 
the morning, a fliock, refembling that of an earthquake, 
was felt very generally in the towns of Portflnouth. Part- 
fea, and Gofport, and their vicinity. It was inftanta- 
neous, and caufed fuch a tremendous motion in many 
houfes, that as many as twenty families were awakened 
by it, and fprang out of bed to afcertain its caufe. To 
many perfons whom it awoke, it appeared as though forne 
heavy body had been moved in the lower part of the 
houfe, and (hook its whole fabric ; to others, it was a hid¬ 
den motion of the bed, as though caufed by the main 
ftrength of a perfon (landing near it; the furniture in the 
.rooms cracked, and the handier of drawers moved, as by 
Vsl. XIII. No. 905. 
DON. 273 
an eleftric (hock. It appeared to have iafted near a mi¬ 
nute. Similar effects were felt at Ryde in the Ifle of 
Wight, at Arundel, Midhurft, and Petworth; but chiefly 
along the coaft, at Bofham, Siddlelham, Selfea, Pagham, 
Bognor, Havant, Emfw.orth, See. 
The pen of the hiftorian recoils when it falls to his lot 
to record bloody deeds, and to e.nfanguine the pages of 
his annals with afts of foul murder and unprovoked afl'af- 
fination. Yet he mud be faithful to his duty ; and, whilft 
he writes with heartfelt horror, impofe (lienee, if poflibl'e, 
on his offended feelings. We thank moll .gratefully that 
Providence who watches over the fecurity of our lives, 
that we have not oftener to relate fuch horrid tran(abtions 
as the following ; and grieve at the lame time, that the 
fuieide of one ot the perpetrators has, for the prefent, caft 
a veil of myftery over the caufe and particulars of thefe 
abominable deeds. But, although the fecret proceedings of 
the infallible tribunal of Eternal Juftice are (low, yet Uiey 
are fure, and will, fooner or later, bring forth the concealed 
authors of the crime: 
Hard anteccdcntem fcelcjhvn. 
Dejeruit pede pccr.a claudo. Hor. iii. 2. 
Yet with fure Heps, though lame and flow, 
Vengeance o’ertakes the trembling villain’s fpeed. Franctn 
Indeed the time which elapfes between the commif- 
fion of the crime and the execution of the criminal, 
feems often to have been purpofely lengthened by Provi¬ 
dence, in order to add the unavoidable tortures ot a guilty 
confluence to the chaftil’ement preferibed by the law ; in 
fuch a way, that death becomes often rather a releafe than 
apunifhinent infiifted upon the wretch. 
About twelve o’clock at night, on Saturday the 7th of 
December, Mr. Marr, mercer, at N°.29, Ratcliff-highway, 
fent out his female fervant to buy lome oyfters for flip¬ 
per, whilft- he was (hutting up the (hop-windows. On 
her return, in about a quarter of an hour, (fie rang the 
bell repeatedly without being let in. This alarmed her; 
and flie communicated her fears to Mr. Parker, the ad¬ 
joining neighbour, who obtained admiffion by the back 
way. On entering the warehoufe, he beheld a fpeftacle 
which fo petrified him with horror, that it was with dif¬ 
ficulty he could make known the fad cataftrophe which 
had befallen the whole of this unfortunate family. Mr. 
Marr was found lying near the window, dead, with his 
fkull broken. His wife, who, it w'otild feem, had come to 
his relief from belowr on hearing a fcuflle, had been met 
by the villains at the top of the flairs, where the was'found 
deprived of life; her head was too fhockingly mangled 
for defeription. The fhop-boy, to all appearance, had 
made more refiftance than the reft, or el(e they had not 
made fo fure of their blow; for the counter, which ex¬ 
tends the whole length of the warehoufe, was found be- 
fpattered with his blood and brains from one end to the 
other; and the body of the unfortunate youth lay nrol- 
trate on the floor, weltering in flis gore. Nor did the 
work of the blood-thirfty villains flop here : even a child 
in the cradle, only four months old, found, in its infancy, 
innocence, and incapacity of impeaching them, no pro- 
teftion from their barbarous bands: it was difeovered 
with its throat cut from ear to ear. Such refined cruelty 
is hardiy furpaffed in the annals, of human depravity.- 
With fuch iilence were thefe murders committed, that not 
the leaft noife was heard by the neighbours during the 
abfence of the fervant-gi'rl for the oyIters. The watch¬ 
man on that beat, we underhand, had on all occafions 
fhown himfelf both attentive and faithful to the neigh¬ 
bours; and it was every night his culfom to examine Kir. 
Marr’s window-fhutters. On this occafion he reports, 
that a little after twelve o’clock he found fome of the 
window-diutters not fattened; and called to thofe he heard 
within to acquaint them with it; and received for an- 
fwer, “ We know it.” It was no doubt the murderers 
who an five-red,' after the accompliftiment of their work of 
death! The repeated ringing of the beii induced them 
i A 1* 
I 
