S14 LON 
of the bank, prefented an account of the total amount 
of the notes brought for payment, and refuted, from being 
forged, for the eleven years from iIt January 1801, to 31It 
December 1811.—The nominal value was 101.661I. in¬ 
cluding the forged notes fuppofed to have been fabricated 
on the continent. 
In the month of April, a German adventurer, who had 
affumed the name of Baron Geramb, and who had for a year 
or two pad made a very confpicuons figure in the metropo¬ 
lis, was ordered out of the country, under the alien-act. 
This Angular perfon ulhered himfelf into public notice in 
London, by publishing a molt inflated and ridiculous letter, 
which he dedicated to earl Moira; wherein he defcribed him¬ 
felf as an Hungarian baron, who had headed a corps of vo¬ 
lunteers in thecaufeof Ault ria again ft Bonaparte; and dated, 
that after the peace he went to Spain, to give the benefit 
of his courage and profound military experience to the op- 
prelfed patriots of the peninfnla. He accompanied this 
production with every other mode of obtaining notoriety, 
fuch as filling print-Ihop windows with three or four dif¬ 
ferent engravings of his perfon, in various coltumes, which 
a few fools bought: a ftar, a death’s head and crofs-bones, 
and other terrific emblems, adorned the perfon of the ba¬ 
ron. Nobody who had walked the public-ftreets for foine 
time pall but muft have known this redoubtable nobleman. 
Wherever notoriety could be acquired, there was the ba¬ 
ron Geramb. At the funeral of the lamented duke of 
Albuquerque, he exhibited himfelf in all the parade of 
grief, in a jet-black uniform. Where money alone could 
not gain admittance, the magnificent exterior of this 
feeming magnate of Hungary was lure of procuring an in¬ 
troduction. At the opera, at the theatres, and the park, 
his furred mantle and refplendent ftars were feldom milled. 
When that wonderful mailer of the hiftrionic art, Mr.Coates, 
played, or rather attempted to play, Lothario, at the Hay- 
jnarket, the Hungarian baron fat with indefcribable dig¬ 
nity in the ftage-box, and appeared the patron of the ab- 
furditiesof the night, confoling the white-plumed Lothario 
with his nods, and bows, and cheers, for all the coarfe and 
fevere, but juftly-rnerifed, raillery which was unfparingly 
dealt out to him from the pit and galleries. But the ba¬ 
ron was formed to embellilh a court as well as to dignify 
a play-houfe. He was frequent in his inquiries after the 
health of theBritilh fovereign at St. James’s ; and appeared 
with more than ufual fplendour at the celebrated fete of 
the prince-regent at Carlton-houfe. The fafcinations 
of that fcene of courtly feftivity and princely elegance 
became the fubjeft of the baron’s pen; and he accordingly 
publilhed a letter to Sophie, defcribing, in the moll ro¬ 
mantic language, ail the fplendid objefts of the night, 
and the feelings with which his chivalrous mind was im- 
prefled. What the baron had been doing to get himfelf 
lent out of the country we cannot exactly fay. It is faid 
that he alleges he had propofed to engage 24,000 Croat 
troops in the fervice of England, a propofal which he 
pretends to have confidered as favourably received by our 
minifters abroad, becaufe they (Mr. Bathurll, general 
Oakes, and Mr. Henry Welleftey, to whom he appeals) 
did not hefitate granting him palfports to enable him to 
come to England to fubmit his plan; and for this fervice 
his charges were—Journey from London to Cadiz, 250I. 
eltablilhment in London, twenty-two months, at two 
hundred pound per month, 4400!.—return to Hungary, 
700I.—total, 5350I. The baron, it feems, while the po¬ 
lice-officers were befieging his callle, told them he had 
two hundred pounds of gunpowder in his houfe, and, if 
they perfevered, he would blow up himfelf and that to¬ 
gether; but, finding them not intimidated, he furrendered. 
The baron, it is reported, had uncommon fuccefs in cer¬ 
tain gaming-houfes. He is faid to be a German Jew, who, 
having married the widow of an Hungarian baron, affirmed 
the title. 
The following month brought a ftranger to our ffiores 
who may well conlole us for the lofs of baron Geramb. 
D O N. 
—This was a child under eight years of age, who, with¬ 
out any previous knov.dedge'of the common rules of arith¬ 
metic, or even of the ufe and power of the numerals, 
and without having given any particular attention to the 
fubjeft, poffieffies (as if by intuition) the lingular faculty 
of folving a great variety of arithmetical queftions by the 
mere operation of the mind, and without the ufual affift- 
anceofany vifible fymbol orcontrivance. His name isZerah 
Colburn; he was born at Cabur, a town lying at the head 
of Onion-river, in Vermont, in the United States of Ame¬ 
rica, on the ill of September, 1804. About the month 
of Auguft 1810, although at that time not fix years of 
age, he firft began to fliow thofe wonderful powers of cal¬ 
culation which have fince fo much attrafted the attention, 
and excited the aftonifhment of every perfon who has 
witnefled his extraordinary abilities. The difcovery was 
made by accident. His father, who had not given him 
any other inftruftion than fuch as was to be obtained at 
a fmall fchool eftablillied in that unfrequented and remote 
part of the country, (and which did not include either 
writing or ciphering,) was much furprifed one day to hear 
him repeating the products of feveral numbers. Struck 
with amazement at the circumftance, he propofed a va¬ 
riety of arithmetical queftions to him, all of which the 
child folved with remarkable facility and correftnefs. 
The news of this infant prodigy foon circulated through 
the neighbourhood ; and many perfons came from diftant 
parts to witnefs fo lingular a circumftance. The father, 
encouraged by the unanimous opinion of all who came to 
fee him, was induced to undertake, with this child, the 
tour of the United States. They were every-where received 
with the moll flattering expreffions; and, in the leveral 
towns which they vifited, various plans were fuggefted to 
educate and bring up the child, free from expenfe to his 
family. Yielding, however, to the advice of his friends, 
and urged by the moll refpeftable and powerful recom¬ 
mendations, as well as by a view to his Ion’s more com¬ 
plete education, the father brought the boy to this coun¬ 
try, where they arrived on the 12th of May ; and the in¬ 
habitants of this metropolis had for about three months 
an opportunity of feeing and examining this wonderful 
phenomenon, and of verifying the reports that had been 
circulated refpefting him. 
Many perfons of the firft eminence for their knowledge 
in mathematics, and well known for their philofophical 
inquiries, made a point of feeing and converiing with him; 
and all were [truck with aftonilhment at his extraordinary 
powers. It is correftly true, as Hated of him, that “ he 
will not only determine, with the greateft facility and dif- 
patch, the exaft number of minutes or leconds in any 
given period of time ; but will alfo folve any other queftion 
of a fimilar kind. He will tell the exacl produft arifing 
from the multiplication of any number, confining of two, 
three, or four, figures, by any other number confining of 
the like number of figures; or, any number, confifting of 
fix or feven places of figures, being propofed, he will de¬ 
termine, with equal expedition and cafe, all the laftors 
of which it is compofed. This Angular faculty confe- 
quently extends, not only to the railing of powers, but 
alfo to the extraction of the fquare and cube roots of the 
number propofed; andliketvife to the means of determining 
whether it be a prime number (a number incapable of di- 
vifion by any other number) ; for which cafe there does 
not exift, at prefent, any general rule amongft mathema¬ 
ticians.” All thele, and a variety of other queftions 
connefted therewith, are anfwered by this child with fuch 
promptnefs and accuracy (and in the midft of his juvenile 
purfuits) as to altonilh every perfon who has vilited him. 
At a meeting of his friends which was held for the pur- 
pofe of concerting the bell methods of promoting the 
views of the father, this child undertook, and completely 
fucceeded in, railing the number 8 progreffively up to 
the lixteenth power; and, in naming the lalt refult, viz. 
281,474,976,710,656, he was right in every figure. He 
w.a§. 
