Gavres, govenor of the princess's court. The princess of France exceeded the general expectation on this occafion. Her beauty, her sensibility, her grace, her affability, and easy deportment, excited at once furprize and admiration. She faid the most flattering things to field marshals Lafcy, Clarfait, Colloredo, and Pelegrini, and to count Trautmansdorff. The French emigrants were presented to her royal highness by the marquis de Gallo, the Neapolitan ambaffador. They were fix in number: the duke de Guiche, captain of the guards to Louis XVI. who diftinguished himself on the 5th of October, 1780; the marquis de Riviere, the Blondel of his master; count de Gourci; count de Merci; the marquis de la Vaupaliere, and M. D'Afchepar. Amongst the other French and foreigners, who were acknowledged by the princess, were the duke of Richelieu, count de Ferfen, the chevalier Mayer, fo well known for his literary productions; the bishop of Nanci, alike celebrated for his virtues and his talents; the duchess de Guiche, who shed tears; the countess de Vauban, and the countefs d'Oudenarde. The prefence of these faithful and unfortunate nobles contributed not a little to render the scene peculiarly interefting.

DIED.-In his 84th year, Abbé Raynal. He walked to Paris a week before his death; got a cold, which was followed by a catarrh, and kept his bed some days. On the day of his decease he got up, shaved and dressed himself. At fix in the evening he went to bed; heard a news-paper read, and made fome critical observations upon the operations announced in the paper.

At ten o'clock he died. The juftice of the peace of the section des champs Elysées did not chuse to bury him until he had asked the Government whether it was intended to pay him any funeral honours. He was employed, juft before his death, upon a new edition of his philofophical history, and had presented an address to the directory to obtain from the agents of the republic in foreign countries the documents, of which he stood in need, relative to the commerce of different nations, to the Eaft India companies, and fome other objects of his work. The directory immediately complied with his request, and sent the neceffary orders to the French ambassadors in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, and Italy. It is known that the abbé had among his manufcripts, a hiftory of the revocation of the edict of Nantes, in four volumes; but it is rumoured that, under the reign of Robespierre, he burnt part of his papers.

17. At the Hague, Peter Paulus, prefident of the first national convention there, and one of the principal authors of the revolution in Holland. In him his country loses one of its most zealous defenders, the patriotic party their chief support, the convention its head, and marine its ableft director. He has fallen a facrifice to his exerertions as president. His death has produced the same sensations at the Hague as the death of Mirabeau did at Paris. The greatest honours have been paid to the firft prefident of the Batavian conven tion; and a decree of that affembly declares that he never ceased to deferve well of his country; which decree, written on vellam, the convention convention has refolved to present to his widow; and to give her, at the fame time, the national scarf with which he was decorated at the opening of the convention.

At his houfe in Norton-ftreet, fir William Chambers, knight of the polar star, furveyor-general of his majesty's board of works, treafurer of the royal academy, and fellow of the royal and antiquarian societies. A further account of this architect shall be given under the head of characters.

APRIL.

The intimation of the first performance of a piece ascribed to the pen of Shakspeare produced this night the effect which might naturally have been expected in a metropolis filled with his admirers. At four o'clock the doors of the theatre were befieged; and, a few minutes after they were opened, the pit was crowded folely with gentlemen. Before fix not a place was to be found in the boxes, and the paffages were filled. The play of Vortigern was announced for representation as the production of our immortal bard, but the tale of its long concealment and happy recovery was not heard without fufpicion; which his votaries wished to heighten into immediate incredulity. The town, however, retained its candour; and, we believe, the predominant fentiment in the audience, on this evening, was a with to welcome with rapture the recovered offspring of their beloved Shakspeare. A play was, therefore, performed, founded in fome degree on the historical account of the ambition of Vorti

gern, the ufurper of Britain; his murder of Conftantius; 'his alliance with the Saxons; and his paffion for Rowena, the daughter of the Saxon chief. The events are warped into a resemblance to those of Macbeth, Richard III. &c. with the inadvertency of a copyift, who was more intent on imitating the language than the genius of Shakspeare. The characters are such as would not have been drawn by that aftonishing writer in the exercife of his ufual faculties. He is remarkable in feldom borrowing from himself. The play is deftitute of all those gigantic metaphors, and bold allufions, which, approaching the limits of poffibility, attonish and alarm our imaginations into a sympathy with his fublime conceptions. The language, though evidently an imitation, is infinitely beneath the original, which pofieffes an aptitude, a facility, and harmony, which has never been furpaffed. The audience betrayed symptoms of impatience early in the representation; but, finding its tafte insulted by bloated terms, which heightened the general infipidity, its reason puzzled by difcordant images, false ornaments, and abortive efforts to elevate and astonish; pronounced its fentence of condemnation, at the conclufion of the play; and we have no doubt that Vortigern, if it be published, will rank in character, though not in merit, with the perverted and furprising labours of the unfortunate Chatterton.

This moft gross and impudent impofition had, however, its fupporters, as the following atteftation, drawn up by the rev. Dr. Parr, shews.

We whose names are hereunto fubfcribed, board of admiralty, in not going out to the West Indies in the Aftrea frigate, the court were of opinion that the charge was not proved, and therefore acquitted admiral Cornwallis upon that charge."

tures.

6th.

The new charter of Northampton, this day brought from London by the mayor, was met at the foot of the bridge by the corporation with great ceremony, and conducted to the Guildhall amidst the congratulations of the townfmen on the re-establishment of their ancient privileges, and the security and protection afforded to the poor.

The trial of admiral Corn7th. wallis, for difobedience of orders in not proceeding to the Weft Indies purfuant to the instructions of the admiralty board, commenced on board the Orion at Portsmouth, at eight o'clock in the morning. The charges were three in number. The fubftance of them is as follows: 1ft, That admiral Cornwallis, after having failed from England for the West Indies, and proceeded a confiderable way on his voyage, did return contrary to the orders he had received, 2dly, That

not having a sufficient regard to the importance of the fituation of a commander in chief, he omitted to shift his flag on board of fome other ship after the Royal Sovereign had been disabled, in order to proceed, as he ought to have done, to the place of his destination; but that, instead of doing fo, he gave his inftructions and the command of the convoy to another officer. And. 3dly, That after his return he disobeyed another order of the board of admiralty, by not hoifting his flag on board the Aftrea frigate, and proceeding to the West Indies, as he had been ordered by their lordships.

The evidence having been gone through, the trial closed at one o'clock, when the court pronounced the following fentence:

"The court having heard the evidence in support of the charges exhibited against the honourable William Cornwallis, vice-admiral of the red; and having heard his defence, and the evidence in his behalf, and having maturely weighed and confidered the fame, were of opinion,

"That with respect to the two first charges, of his returning without leave, after having been ordered to proceed to Barbadoes, and of his difobeying the orders he had received, misconduct was imputable to him, for not having thifted his flag on board the Mars or Minotaur, and proceeded in either of them to the West Indies; but, Indi in confideration of other circumfiances, the court acquitted him of any disobedience in his conduct on that occafion.

Early this morning, the 10th. wife of Mr. Sawyer, a boatbuilder, near the Bishop's-walk, Lambeth, was discovered in her bed-room, with her brains dashed out, and stabbed in a most shocking manner. This horrid deed is supposed to have been accomplished by fome diabolical villains, who entered the back part of the house leading to the river, and, meeting with refiftance to their schemes of plunder, perpetrated the hellish deed. The murderers escaped without creating the leaft alarm. It is a circunftance particularly remarkable, that, although the hufband of the murdered woman was in the house the whole time, he declares he neither heard nor faw any thing of the tranfaction.

This morning a little be

11th. fore 12, three malefactors were executed at Kenningtoncommon: a brush-maker, for a riot in St. George's fields, young man for theep-ftealing, and a man for house-breaking.

a

Letters from Smyrna unfortunately advise us of the conflagration of 4000 warehouses, entirely belonging to Ottoman merchants, the value of which is eftimated at four millions of piastres.

Advice was received at the admiralty, brought by lieut. Crifpe, of the Telemachus cutter, of the capture of the enterprising fir Sidney Smith, commander of his majefty's ship Diamond, on the coast of France. Having, on the 18th inftant, boarded and taken a

lugger privateer, belonging to the enemy, in Havre-de-Grace harbour, by the boats of his squadron, then on a reconnoitring expedition, and the tide making strong into the harbour, she was driven above the French forts, who, the next morning, the 19th, discovering, at break of day, the Ingger in tow by a string of English boats, immediately made the fignal of alarm, which collected together several gun-boats, and other armed vessels, that attacked the lugger and British boats; when, after an obftinate resistance of two hours, fir Sidney had the mortification of being obliged to furrender himself prisoner of war, with about fixteen of his people, and three officers with him in the lugger. The Diamond frigate is fafe, but could afford her commander no afsistance, there not being a breath of wind during the whole of this unfortunate tranfaction: we are happy to add, that only four British feamen were killed, and one officer and fix seamen flightly wounded. The feamen were immediately thrown into prifon on their landing; and fir Sidney underwent a long examination before the French commandant, after which he was ordered to be conveyed, under a strong escort, to Paris. The following were amongst the officers captured with fir Sidney Smith: Meifrs. W. Moory, R. Kenyon, and R. Barrow: one of these was wounded. When the officers on board the Diamond heard of the disafter which had befallen their gallant commander, they fent a flag of truce into Havre, to enquire whether he was wounded, and entreating that he might be treated with kindness. The governor returned turned for anfwer, that fir Sidney was well, and that he should be treated with the utmost humanity and attention. The French, it appears, warped out another lugger of fuperior force against that captured by fir Sidney Smith in Havre-deGrace harbour, with which they engaged him, for a confiderable time, with so much heavier metal, that rendered all his refiftance ineffectual, and therefore compelled him to ftrike.

Two of the officers belong14th. ing to Bow-ftreet arrived in town from Liverpool with Henry Weston, who is charged with committing divers forgeries on the bank of England to the amount of 170001. He had got to Liverpool, and fent his luggage on board the Hector, bound for St. Vincent's in the West Indies, which ship had got down to a place called the Gut, about feven miles below Liverpool, and was to have failed the next morning. The officers found him in bed at Bates's hotel, with a brace of loaded piftols by his fide. On their road to town, Wefton found means to conceal a cafe-knife in his pantaloons, and on changing chaises at the King's-Head, Hounflow, he requested to go to the privy, where he cut his own throat, but miffing one of the arteries, did not effect his purpose.

This night the counting25th. house of Mr. Mingay, of Smithfield (who in the interim was speaking to a friend in the back room on the fame floor) was broke open, and a bag of gold, containing 1200 guineas, which had been placed in readiness to send to his banker's in the morning, was taken clear off.

In confequence of a pub 30th. lication addressed by lord

Malden to the inhabitants of the borough of Leominster, the duke of Norfolk, accompanied by capt. Wombwell, of the firft Weft York regiment of militia, and lord Malden, accompanied by capt. Taylor, aid de camp to his royal highness the duke of York, met on Saturday evening in a field beyond Paddington. The parties having taken their ground, and the word being given by one of the seconds, they fired without effect. The feconds then thought proper to offer their interference, and, in consequence of a conversation which passed while the parties were on the ground, a reconciliation was effected.

In an act now before the house of commons, for the further fupport and maintenance of curates within the church of England, the preamble recites the act of the 12th of queen Ann, by which every rector or vicar is enjoined to pay to each curate a fum not exceeding 501. and not less than 201. a year. It flates, that this allowance is now become infufficient for the maintenance of a curate. The bill therefore enacts, that the bishop or ordinary shall have power to allow the curate a fum not exceeding seventy-five pounds a year, with the use of the rectory or vicaragehouse, where the rector does not refide four months in the year, or 151. in lieu thereof.

DIED-19th. In Doctors Com mons, George Harris, D. C. L. forr of Dr. John Harris, bishop of Landaff, chancellor of the dioceses of Durham, Hereford, and Landaff, and 'commiffary of Effex, Herts, and