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From the BRITISH CHRONICLE,
to the PRINTER.

SIR,
IT is a just observation of a very celebrated au-
thor, that in proportion at every country is
barbarous, it is addicted to inebriety. Were
the people of England to be judged of by this
standard, it is much to be feared that our nat-
tional character would be nine of the most amiable.
Notwithstanding few people can lay down better rules
for behaviour than ourselves, there are none more
unaccountably preposterous in their conduct. When
we visit at one another’s houses, and propose to pass
a few hours in an agreeable manner, how absurdly
do we set out! Instead of endeavouring to enjoy what
Mr. Pope finely calls

the feast of reason, and the flow of soul,
we think every entertainment insipid until reason is
totally kicked out of company; and imagine, through
some monstrous depravity of imagination, that a so-
cial emanation of soul is never to be obtained but
where politeness and propriety are apparently sacri-
ficed, and the roar of under-bred excess circulated
round the room, at expense of bothe sense and
morality.

To the indelible disgrace of this country, there is
scarcely a vice or a folly of our meighbours but what
we sedulously copy, at the very moment we affect to
mention the people whose manners we thus ridicu-
lously imbibe with the most insuperable disregard.
Their good qualitiesare in fact the only things which
we scorn to adopt, as if it was derogation either
from our spirit or our understanding to owe a single
instance of prudence or virtue to the force of example.
France in Particuler has kindly supplied us with an
abundance of follies; but there is not, to my recol-
lection, any one circumstance wherein she has given
the smallest improvement to our understandings; not
that France is destitute in sense, or deficient in virtue.
It is we who want wisdom of imitating her, where
she is really praise worthy; and are infatuated, to
follow those which ought to be the objects of our
highest aversion and contempt.

In the present case, I mean their convivial enter-
tainments, the French are particularly sensible and
well bred; they are all vivacity, without running into
the least indelicacy, and can keep up the necessary
life of a social meeting without borrowing the smallest
assistance from immorality. In the most elevated flow
of spirits they never think of sending the woman out
of company, merely to give an unbounded loose to
ribaldry and licentiousness. On the contrary, they
estimate the pleasure of the entertainment by the
number of the Ladies; and look upon an evening
to be the most wretchedly trifled away where a party
of men make an appointment for a tavern. This
their politeness prevents them from deviating ei_
ther into folly or vice; and in the most intimate
intercourse of families, nothing scarcely ever passes
but a round of sensible freedom and unconstrained
civility.

With us, however, the case is widely different: If
half a dozen friends meet at the house of a valuable
acquaintance, instead of treating his wife, his sister,
or his daughter, with a proper degree of respect, we
all manifest an absolute disinclination for their com-
pany; the instant the cloth is taken away we expect
they shall retire, and look upon it as a piece of ill
breeding if they accidently stay a moment longer
than ordinary. And for what are we so impatient to
be left to ourselves? Why, for the mighty satisfaction
of drinking an obscene toast, and the pleasure of in-
discriminately filling a bumper to a woman of honour
and a strumpet; the friend of our bosom, and a fel-
low whom we consider perhaps as the greatest scoun-
drel in the universe.

[obscured, illegible]the country where the women are so generally
[obscured, illegible]rkable for good sense and delicate vivacity, where
they also enjoy in other respects an ample share of
liberty, and in a manner regulate the laws of propriety,
it is not a little surprising that in in the moments of con-
vivial festivity we should treat them with so palpable
a contempt. The hour in which we strive to be most
happy, one would naturally imagine, should be the
time in which we ought most earnestly to solicit the

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favour of their company: But no, it is impossible to
make an Englishman happy without allowing him to
run into the grossest illiberalities. The conversation
of an amiable woman he thinks by no means equal
to the roar of a dissolute companion; and it is abso_
lutely necessary to make him gloriously drunk, as the
fashionable phrase is, before he can reach the envied
pinnacle of a bon vivant felicity.

The pleasantest excuse which all our Choice Spirits
give fot this extraordinary attachment to toasting is,
that without a toast there would be no possibility of
finding a sufficient fund of conversation for the com-
pany. Why then are the Ladies excluded, who could
add so agreeably to the conversation? “O, because
their presence would be an invincible restraint; we
could not say what we please, nor push the toast about;”r>that is, in plain English, “we could not indulge our-
selves in a thousand scandalous excesses, which would
disgrace the lowest plebian of the community; we
could neither destroy our constitution, nor our prin-
ciples; neither give loose to obscenity, intemperance,
and execration; ridicule the laws of our country, nor
fly out against the ordinances of our God.” Alas!
civilized as we think ourselves, is it an impossibility
for a nation of savages to be more barbarous or ab_
surd? The general consequence of our convivial
meetings is the severest reflection which they can un-
dergo; for, with all our boasted understanding, is it
not rather and uncommon circumstance for the most
intimate acquaintance to break up without some broil
highly prejudicial to their friendship, if not even dan-
gerous to their lives?

To remedy so great and so universal an evil, to
rescue our national character from the imputation of
barbarism, and to establish some little claim to the
reputation of a civilized people, there are but two
ways left; these however are both short and effectual
ones: To abolish toasting in all taverns, and at all
private houses never to make the Ladies withdraw
from company. By this means, in the first place,
there will be no emulation amaong giddy headed young
fellows to swallow another bumper, nor any obliga-
tion for a man with a weak constitution to drink as
hard as a seasoned fox hunter; and in the second in
stance, the meetings at private families, by being
conducted agreeable to the principles of politeness
will never swerve from the sentiments either of reason
or virtue; but be, as they always ought, productive
of social mirth and real happiness.

Some account of Mr. Quin, the celebrated actor,
who lately died atBath.
Mr. Quin was the son of an English Gentleman
of a moderate fortune, of about 600 l. a year.
His father, in order to improve his fortune, in the
early part of his life went over to America, where
he married a Lady with whom he continued to live
for some years; but having no children, he grew
weary of her, and returned to England, from whence
he went over to Ireland, where he married another
Lady, his former wife still living, and by her he had
our celebrated actor.

As his father kept his new family entirely ig-
norant of his former alliance, his son was educated
in all that elegance which was supposed necessary for
the heir apparent to a pretty estate. He was sent to
a grammar school, and afterwards to the university
of Dublin, where he continued until his father died;
who leaving no will, young Quin came into the
possession of the estate, without any opposition at first;
but he was soon alarmed with a claim from America,
the heirs at law to his father grounding their rights
upon Quin’s being a bastard. This claim was too
well supported, and proved, not to succeed; so that
the unfortunate Quin, fortunately for the publick,
being disinherited, was obliged to go upon the Irish
Stage.

Very little was expected from his first Attempts;
and for want of encouragement, or perhaps desirous
of improvement, he came to England. His reception
here was not much superior to that he had met with
in Ireland; he was put on in the meanest characters,
such as the Lieutenant of the Tower in Richard III.
and Banquo in Macbeth. This he continued for
some years, until Booth died; when Cato, which
was then a favourite character with the publick, being
in danger of falling for want of an actor to support it,

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Mr. Quin was put into it, merely as a case of nece-
sity. The part was therefore printed in the bills of
the day, to be attempted by Mr. Quin. The modesty
of this invitation produced a full house, and favour-
able audience; but the actor’s own peculiar merit
effected more. When he came to that part of the
play where the dead son is brought in upon the bier,
Quin, in speaking these words “Thanks to the gods,
my boy has done his duty,” so affected the whole
house that they cried out, with a continued acclama-
tion, Booth outdone, Booth outdone.

From that time Mr. Quin became a favourite of
the publick, and rose through the gradations of his
employment until he was made manager of Drury
Lane playhouse. His skill, or his address as a ma-
nager, are not much applauded; but his merit as an
actor outbalanced that defect, and still kept him in
his station. What gave him the severest blow in his
profession was the extreme popularity into which Mr.
Garrick came, about the time in which he was de-
clining in his profession. It was vain that Quin cracked
his jokes upon his antagonist, that he called his act-
ing Sir John Brute, merely enacting Master Jack
Brute: Garrick was followed, and Quin forsaken;
fo that what Quin called a heresy in taste was at last
universally allowed to be a reformation. With these
disappointments, therefore, he retired from the stage
sooner than he would otherwise have done, and went
to reside at Bath. He bought an annuity of two
hundred a year from the Duke of Bedford; and this,
added to about 7000l, more, which his friend Samp-
son Gideon had amassed in Change Alley for him,
contributed to make the latter part of his life easy and
independent. He was always addicted to epicu-
rism, and at last became notorious for his fondness
of good eating; the fish called John Dory, everybody
knows, was first introduced by him to the tables of
the delicate. He was at the same time an agreeable
facetious companion, and as much a wit in company
as an ill natured man could be. His jests have been
in circulation nor for more than twenty years, but
they are in general more remarkable for their inde-
cency or maliguity than their humour. Some of them,
however, are such as deserve our real applause. We
will mention a few of them, and of such as have not
made their way into the jest books.

When Lord T------ showed him his beautiful gar-
dens at Stowe, and the charming variety and ta[illegible]of
the grottoes and buildings, Ah! My Lord, cried Quin,
all this makes death terrible!

When Quin was one day lamenting his growing
old, a pert young fellow asked him what he would
now give to be young as he: I would be con-
tent, cried Quin, to be as foolish.

Quin, when manager, had kept a poet’s tragedy
too long. The poet calling often, and being angry,
Quin sent him to the bureau, and desired him to take
it. After searching for some time among several
others, and not finding his own Well, said Quin,
take two comedies and a farce for it.

Quin was one day coming in a chair from having
dined at the sign of the Three Tuns in Bath. Lord
Chesterfield, meeting him, said that if Quin came
from thence there were but two tuns left.

He died aged 73, of a mortification in his arm
occasioned by a slight scratch on his fore finger.

PHILADELPHIA
Mr. BRADFORD
SIR
Please to insert the following in your next, and
request the Sons of Liberty in the several American
provinces to sing it with all the spirit of patriotism.
I am, &c, S.P.R.

Sure never was picture drawn more to the life,
Or affectionate husband more fond of his wife,
Than America copies and loves Britains sons,
Who, conscious of freedom, are bold as great guns
Hearts of Oak are we still, for we’re sons of those men
Who always are ready, steady, boys, steady,
To fight for their freedom again and again.

Tho’ we feast, and grow fat, on America’s soil
yet we own ourselves subjects of Britain’s fair isle
And who’s so absurd to deny us the name?
Since true British blood flows in every vein.
Hearts, &c.

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The number of land forces to be kept on foot for
the service of the present year is to consist of 17,306
effective men, which os less than what was kept on
foot for last year’s service

Yesterday[illegible]re was [illegible]a prodigious[illegible]ull House of
Commons; a[illegible]ral feats were ta[illegible] early in the
morning; a[illegible]ebate[illegible]running hi[illegible] they sat late.

Feb. 18 [illegible]hea[illegible]that a petition, signed by a
very considerable numb{illegible}of merchants and principal
traders in the city, will shortly be presented to Par-
liament, humbly to request, for the benefit pf trade,
that the late Stamp Act so disagreeable to the traders
and inhabitants of all the British colonies and settle
ments abroad, may therefore be totally repealed.

Several complaints have been received on account
of merchandise [illegible]shipping having been seized by
the men of war on [illegible] American stations, some of
which are preparing[illegible]be laid before a superior
Board.

A memorial from the merchants and traders of
Philadelphia, addressed to the merchants and manu-
facturers of Great Britain, has been received by a
merchant at Newcastle, earnestly requesting that he,
and the manufacturers and traders in and about that
town, would unite with all those who are in any way
interested in the trade of Philadelphia, and in general
with every well wisher of the American colonies,
particularly with merchants of London, Bristol,
and Liverpool, in endeavouring to obtain a repeal of
the Stamp Act, and a redress of other grievances,Br>This memorial is signed by above 330 colonists.

We are informed that one manufacturer, in the
shoe way, in this city, since the resolution of the
Americans to wear their own manufactures, has been
obliged to reduce the number of his workmen from
about 350 to less than 50; and that another in the
stocking trade has been obliged to discharge as large
a proportion of his workmen, on the same account.

The inhabitants of Jamaica have caused a petition
to be presented, by their Agent, complaining of the
distresses they labour under by a late unpopular act.

We hear high encomiums are paid to a certain great
Commoner for his assiduity, and great judgement, in
an affair so interesting to the merchants and tradesmen
both at home and abroad.

Yesterday near 100 of the principal merchants,
interested in the trade to North America, dined at the(br>King’s Arms tavern in Palace Yard, Westminster,
and afterwards attended an august Assembly.

It is said one million, four hundred and ninety two
thousand, seven hundred and eighty eight pounds,
nine shillings, and eight pence, will be granted for
the service of the present year.

A Gentleman has lately taken an accurate survey
of the country round Dunkirk, which it is said will
be laid before a great Assembly.

Podore fort and settlement, lately deserted by the
English on the coast of Africa, has again been taken
possession of by a detachment from Gambia; and
they only waited the arrival of the troops and stores
from England, to repair the damage which had been
done by Cidy Hamet, a Prince of the country, said
to be greatly in the interest of the French.

The Thames frigate, Captain Elliot, is arrived ex
press at Plymouth from Gibraltar, with an account
that they had lately there a most violent storm of hail;
that the torrent was so strong that several houses were
washed away, and many persons perished; it washed
the hill quite bare of all the loose stones, earth, and
every thing but the bare rocks; and the great quan
tity of stuff that came down from the hill filled the
town so full that many of the houses were almost bu-
ried under it, so that the inhabitants were obliged,
after it was over, to get out of their upper windows;
the magazines and storehouses were all safe, and the
fortifications but little hurt.

The damage sustained by the late storm at Gilbral-
tar, as mentioned in some letters from thence, is com-
puted to a very considerable sum; many of the Ge-
noese vinyards and gardens were entirely destroyed.

Some letters in town mention that considerable da
mage has been done by the dreadful hurricane at
the Portuguese island of Azores.

The treaty between our Court and Russia is not yet
concluded. Some articles, it is said, relative to tim-
ber for building, flax, and military stores, brought
into the ports of this kingdom from Russia, are to
undergo a change, on account of the same articles
being imported from America. On the arrival of a
new Minister on our part in Russia, it is expected the
last hand will be put to this negotiation.

Letters received at Bristol from Senegal inform that
the French have lately landed a large quantity of
ordnance stores at Buisso, on the continent of Africa,
and that they had concluded an advantageous treaty
with the natives.

They write from Leghorn that a Tunisian xebeck
of 18 guns, was taken by a Maltese galley near Ci
vita Viecchia, after an engagement of near two hours,
in which two thirds of the xebeck’s crew were killed.

Admiral Palliser will sail from Newfoundland by
the 15th of March next, and several store ships are
now loading to go under his convoy.

A worthy merchant of this city, willing to learn
what was doing at a certain tavern in westminister,
got into an apartment over the great club room,
where he could hear every thing that was said. Some
of the members, his acquaintance, a few days after,

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asked him how he got into that room: Why, by the
same method, replied he, that you got into the other;
a proper distribution.

About half an hour after three, as Mr. Pitt, in a
chair, was passing through the Lobby of the House,
he was huzzaed by almost all the persons there, con-
sisting of the principal American merchants; but he
very prudently showed his disapprobation of such an
unbecoming procedure, by desiring them to be silent.

Feb. 22 It is now said the stay of their Serene
Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Brunswick in
England will be longer, by some months, than was
expected.

It is said a Board of Ordnance will soon be held,
to estimate the expense necessary for carrying on the
intended new works this summer at Milford Haven,
in order to be laid before an august Assembly.

The ball that was given at St James’s on Thursday
night was most brilliant and numerous that has
been for many years. Their Majesties entered the
ball room about nine o’clock, when the ball was
opened by his royal Highness the Duke of York and
Princess Louisa Anne. Minuets were danced alter-
nately until eleven, when their Majesties withdrew;
and country dances commenced, which continued
until two o’clock, when the Nobility withdrew. To
the honoour of our Nobility, not a Nobleman or Gen
tleman appeared on Thursday at Court (except fo
reigners)in any other dress than the manufacture of
Great Britain or Ireland. The very elegant suits of
clothes worn by his Royal Highness the Duke of
York, and his Serene Highness the Prince of Bruns
wick, were manufactured in Spitalfields, being the
first gold velvet shapes ever made in England, and
for which a premium is now, or shortly will be ad-
judged, by patriotick Society of Arts and Sciences.

A few days since two reputable tradesmen near
Lincoln’s Inn Fields, being intoxicated with liquour,
agreed to exchange wives; when one of them, whose
wife was reckoned the most personable woman of the
two, received a 20l. note, a gold watch, and one
guinea in exchange, and delivered his wife at the
other’s house accordingly, who was entirely ignorant
of her husband’s design in carrying her there. The
women refused to abide by their husbands foolish bar-
gain; however, the man who received the money,
&c is determined to keep the same, by way of pun-
ishment for the folly and stupidity of the other.

Feb. 25. It was determined early on Saturday
morning, in an august Assembly, to bring in a bill
for the repeal of the American Stamp Act.

It is said the act passed for restraining paper bills of
credit in the American colonies will be repealed, and
their domestick currency regulated upon a new plan,
ectremely beneficial to credit and commerce.

Every ship in the river, employed in the American
and West India trades, have now their complete suit
of colours ready prepared for display, against an ex-
pected event; and severalgrand entertainments will
be given on ship board on that occasion.

It is reported that upwards of 3000 letters were
dispatched from the General Post Office in Lombard
street, last Saturday night, from the merchants and
tradesmen of this metropolis, to their correspondents
in Great Britain and Ireland, to inform them of the
bill to be brought in for a repeal of the Stamp Act.

Friday evening there were upwards of 20 men
booted and spurred in the lobby of the Hon. House of
Commons, ready to be dispatched express by the
Merchants, to the different parts of Great Britain and
Ireland, upon this important affair.

It is said likewise that several light ships are con-
tracted for by the merchants, to sail forthwith in bal-
last to America, to inform their correspondents in that
part of the world of the same news.

Extract if a letter from St. Kitt’s

”The inhabitants of St. Kitts’s have followed the
spirit of the North Americans, by burning and totally
destroying the Stamps/ You never saw people more
spirited than they were on that occasion; the North
American sailors that belonged to sloops and school
ners in the road behaved like young lions. The peo
ple in the Island of Nevis followed their example,
and were so enraged that they burnt two houses, and
went so far as to burn the King’s boat that was lying
in the Bay.”

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales is to be
inoculated by Caesar Hawkins, Esq; and apartments
are fitting up in the nursery of St. James’s for the
reception of Prince William Henry, his Majesty’s
youngest son.

Friday Colonel Monro was introduced to his Ma-
jesty, and most graciously received. He has brought
over a horse from the East Indies, for which he was
offered one thousand guineas in the country, as a
present to his Majesty

His Majesty has been pleased to appoint his Grace
the Duke of Devonshire Lord High Treasurer of
Ireland, which place has been vacant some time.

Letters from Rome say that Cardinal York is mak-
ing great movements at that Court, in order to pro-
cure his brother the same titles and honours which
their father enjoyed.

On Thursday the day set apart for the celebration,
of her Majesty’s birth, we hear that a person very
richly drest was turned out of the drawing room, on
account of his hand being found in a Gentleman’s
pocket, by accident.

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They write from France that the very large levy
of militia no making in that kingdom occasions
abundance of conjectures there.

We are informed there is now a scheme on foot,
planned by a patriotick Nobleman, to take off the
late additional duty on porter.

A lady of distinction, at the well end of the town,
took the following odd method of testifying her sor-
row for the loss of her late husband: She dressed her-self-entirely in black crape, had two black servants
to wait on her, eat nothing but black pudding, and
drank nothing but black cherry brandy, for one whole
year.

They write from Marbucca that an uncommon
scarcity of provisions had occasioned an epidemical
distemper to break out among the Negroes which
daily continued to carry off numbers of their slaves,
and greatly retarded their sugar works and manufac-
tares of molasses, in much demand on the coast of
Guinea.

The late Dr. Pococke, Bishop of Meath in Ireland,
hath bequeathed his curious collection of manuscripts
to the British Museum, a legacy to the Rev. Mr.
Archdale his chaplain, for seeing his curiosities proper-
ly packed up, which are to be sold; and the remain-
ing part of his fortune, real and personal, after paying
some legacies, is left to the Incorporated Society, for
founding and endowing Protestant schools, wherein
none but the children of Popish parents are to be re-
ceived.

Last week some custom house officers seized a box,
which they thought contained some French lace, and
carried it to the custom-house; but on opening it,
there jumped out upwards of 100 rats, for it con-
tained nothing else.

Feb.27. Letters from Birmingham by yester-
day’s post, say that as soon as the news of the intended
repeal of the Stamp Act arrived there on Sunday, the
bells were directly ser a ringing, other demonstrations
of joy showed in the different parts of the town, and
some hundreds of journeymen artificers, who had
been long unemployed, were immediately engaged
again for the different manufactures carried on at that
place.

This day a full Board of Treasury was held at the
Cockpit, Whitehall.

Extract of a letter from Gibraltar, Feb. 11.

After returning God thanks that I am yet in the
land of the living, I shall give you a concise account
of the dreadful calamity that the garrison has been lately
threateded with. On the 30th ult. At half past seven
at night, came on a most dreadful storm of hail, rain,
thunder, and lightning, which continued near two
hours; in which time it brought down such immense
quantities of stone and gravel from the hill, that was
equal with the tiles of the houses in the greatest part
of the town. Many houses tumbled down, and the
inhabitants buried in the ruins; those who were en-
deavouring to escape, were carried away by the
torrent. Never was such a dreadful scene seen, in
this part of the world; to hear the shrieks and cries
of the distressed, and none able to give them relief,
was most shocking. The snow or hail, all over
the garrison, was from 7 to 14 feet deep, the damage
it has done cannot be yet ascertained, though num-
bers perished; even of whole families none escaped.

”It is said there are already to the amount of 150
persons, that perished in their houses, dug out of the
snow. The works have suffered greatly, and the
aqueduct is damaged; and it may suffice when I tell
you that 18 and 24 pounders were washed out of the
carriages at the Prince of Wales’s lines, and the plat-
forms set a floating. The trading people have suffer_
ed greatly; and had the hail, &c continued one hour
longer, the place must have been utterly ruined. By
the confusion werein in town, we did not perceive
it; but the ships in the Bay felt the shock of an earth-
quake, and imagined they were all a-ground, some
of them having struck on the new mole; and, by a
flash of lightning, one ship lost her foremast. There
are upwards of 600 men clearing the streets, but it
will be a long tome before it can be effected.”

We hear upwards of 30 vessels have been engaged
since last Monday in the river, to sail for America.

It is said his Grace the Duke of Richmond does
not return to Paris until after the breaking up of
the present session of Parliament.

We hear Lord How will soon be appointed to
relieve Admiral Tyrrel, for Barbados.

They write from Senegal that the French had
again reassumed their project of last year, to establish
a fort and settlement on the island of Arguin, on the
coast of Africa. Two transports were arrived at
Govee, from Brest, with stores.

Yesterday a trial came on in the Common Pleas at
Guildhall, before Lord Camden, wherein a Gentle-
man was plaintiff, and a noble Earl defendant for
criminal conversation with the former’s wife; which
lasted about 12 hours, when a verdict was given by
a special jury for 5000l. damage for the plaintiff.

The Hon. House of Commons sat until c o’clock
yesterday morning, and meet again this day.

We hear a very spirited memorial is preparing to
be sent off to the Court of Madrid, on the subject of
some advices lately transmitted home from Gibraltar.

It is said all the ships of war in the kingdom are
ordered to undergo a thorough repair, and afterwards
be sweetened with fumigations of tar and vinegar.

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We are told from Colchestester, in Essex, that on
receiving the news concerning the Stamp Act, there
were the greatest rejoicings ever known at that place,
and orders given for baize (the manufactory of that
town) to the value of 11,000l.

Yesterday a vessel was cleared for Charlestown,
South Carolina, being the first for upwards of two
months. Her cargo consists only of expresses relative to
the Stamp Act, and she is to load with the homeward
bound crop.

Letters from Paris mention that some disturbances
were apprehended on account of the manner of
mustering the new milita.

Private letters from Hamburg mention that a treaty
of marriage was reported to be on the carpet between
one of the Princesses of Denmark, sister to his present
Majesty, and one of the branches of the House of
Mecklenburg.

It is generally talked the Government will borrow
one million and a half, to discharge the debt of the
navy, and other expences.

It is reported that all the turnpike and publick
roads in this kingdom will shortly be taken into the
hands of the Government.

It is said his Excellency Governour Irwin, of
Gibraltar, has requested that the proper attention may
be paid towards supplying the garrison with provi-
sions and stores from England; in case the commu-
nication should, as was much to be apprehended, be
shut up on the side of Barbary, as has lately been
done on that of Spain.

They write from Gilbraltar that great devastation
has been made on the Barbary coast, near Ceura, by
the late dreadful hurricane.

South Hickham, Lincoln, Feb. 16. A few days
since was married here, a woman to her 7th husband.
What is remarkable, this woman and 7 husbands have
been 23 times married.

WESTMINSTER, Feb. 19. This day his Ma-
jesty came to the House of Peers, and being in his
Royal robes seated on the throne with the usual so-
lemnity, Sir Francis Molineaux, Knight Gentleman
Usher of the Black Rod, was sent with a message from
his Majesty to the House of Commons, commanding
their attendance in the House of Peers. The Com-
mons being come thither accordingly, his Majesty
was pleased to give the Royal assent to

An act for continuing and granting to his Majesty
certain duties upon malt, mum, coder, and perry, for
the service of the year 1766.

An act to continue an act made in the last session
of Parliament, entitled an act for importation of slated
beef, pork, bacon, and butter, from Ireland, for a
limited time.

An act to prohibit the exportation of corn, and
grain, malt, meal, flower, bread, biscuit, and starch,
for a limited time.

An act for allowing the importation of corn and
grain from his Majesty’s colonies in America into this
kingdom for a limited time, free of duty.

An act for allowing the importation of oats and
oatmeal into this kingdom, for a limited time, duty
free.

And to three publick, and two private bills.

BRISTOL, March 1.

On Sunday night William Reeve and Jospeph Far-
rel, Esquires, deputies appointed by the merchants of
this city to attend the Hon. House of Commons on
the American affairs, arrived from London with the
agreeable news that the grand question, Whether the
American Stamp Act should be totally repealed, had
undergone long and warm debates in a committee of
the whole House, and was carried last Saturday morn-
ing, at two o’clock, in the affirmative, by a majority
of one hundred and eight. Monday the inhabotants
expressed their joy, on this important occasion, by
ringing of bells, firing cannon, bonfires, illumina-
tions, &c, &c

ANNAPOLIS, April 10.

To Mr. Jonas Green.

SIR,
LAST evening, on receiving the most agreeable
news here of the repeal of the Stamp Act, a
few Gentlemen, that met on that interesting occasion,
opened a subscription for the purpose of erecting a
monument at the city of Annapolis, in Maryland
(being the seat of government, and the most publick
place in the province) to the honour of Mr. Pitt, to
stand to the latest time, in grateful remembrance of
his patriotick defence and support of the rights, liber-
ties, and privileges, of British Americans. Thirty
guineas were presently subscribed, and we doubt not
a vast sum will be raised in our country, and that every
county in the province will do the like. We would
propose that some one Gentleman in each county
should be appointed to receive the subscription money,
and that a day should be set for those Gentlemen to
meet at Annapolis, and agree upon a plan for exe<->cutting the work in the best and most respectable man-
ner the sum of money raised will afford.

We hope the same grateful sense of that worthy
Gentleman’s very extraordinary merit will be shown
in every colony on this continent.

Yours, &c,

Column 2

PHILADELPHIA.

To the PRINTER.
Your inserting the following will oblige a well wisher
to the rising generation.

AS it pleased the Almighty to give Liberty to our
forefathers as their birthright, and they by the
protection of Heaven have handed the same down
from one generation to another, even to us, though
at the expence of blood; and since it is now our birth-
right, shall we sell it, as Esau did his of old, for a
mess of pottage, or content ourselves to have it taken
from us without any opposition? I hope every man
in North America will say No; for to say Yes would
be slighting the inestimable gift of the Almighty.
And since the Stamp Act imposed upon us is uncon-
stitutional, and is meant to deprive us of our religious
privileges, shall we not then all as one man join in
opposing it, and spill the last drop of our blood (if
necessity should require) rather than live to see it take
place in America.

If we lose our liberty, we must of consequence
lose our property, for riches and planty are the natu_
ral fruits of liberty; and where these abound, learn-
ing, and all the liberal arts will immediately lift up
their heads and flourish: But, if deprived of these,
learning and religion will immediately sink into obli
vion, and our children after us must certainly be
brought up in the most gross and brutal ignorance.
Nothing but ignorance will hinder them from cursing
us after we are dead and gone; and when walking
over our grave, will they not say, Here lies the last
remains of our forefathers, who resigned Liberty,
their birthright, without any consideration or oppo-
sition, which might have been handed down to us,
and posterity yet unborn? Will they not for their
wretched slavery curse the hour that their fathers be-
gat them, and the instant that their mother brought
them forth? He who after considering these, and
thousands of other dreadful circumstances that will of
consequence attend the stamps taking place, and still
remain a friend to the Stamp Act, is an enemy to his
country, and deserves, justly deserves, the curse of
God, and the detestable abhorence of his countrymen.
But any one, after a thorough search and serious con-
sideration, would, rather than lose his liberty, be
be bored through the center of life with the fatal lead;
nay, would rather be sacrificed to the ungodly ap
petite of the savage Indians than live to see that woful
day.

The cause he fights for animates him high;
M+Namely, religion and dear liberty:
For these he conquers, or more bravely dies,
And yields himself a willing sacrifice.

The LYE. By SirWALTER RALIEGH.
From PIERCY”S reliques of Ancient English
Poetry.

GOE, soule, the bodies guest,
Upon a thankelesse arrant;
Feare not to touch the best,
The truth shall be thy warrant:
Goe, since I needs must dye,
And give the world the lye.

Goe tell the Court it glowes,
And shines like rotten wood;
Goe tell the Church is shows
What’s good, and doth no good:
If Church and Court reply,
Then give them both the lye.

Tell Potentates they live
Acting by other actions,
Not lov’d unlesse they give,
Not strong but by their factions:
If Potentates reply,
Give Potentates the lye.

Tell men of high condition,
That rule affairs of state,
Their purpose is ambition, Their practice onely hate:
And if they once reply,
Then give them all the lye.

Tell them that brave it most,
They beg for more by spending.
Who in their greatest cost
Seek nothing but commending;
And if the make reply,
Spare not to give the lye.

Tell zeale, it lacks devotion;
Tell love, it is but lust;
Tell time, it is but motion;
Tell flesh, it is but dust;
And wish them not reply.
For thou must give the lye.

Tell age, it daily wasteth;
Tell honour, how it alters;
Tell beauty, how she blasteth;
Tell favour, how she falters;
And as they shall reply,
Give each of them the lye.

Tell wit. How much it wrangles
In tickle points of nicenesse;
Tell wisedome she entangles
Herselfe in over-wisenesse;
And if they doe reply,
Straight give them both the lye.

Column 3

Tell physicke of her boldnesse;
Tell skill, it is pretension;
Tell charity of coldness
Tell law, it is conte[illegible]tions;
And as they yield[illegible]rly.
So give them still the lye.

Tell Fortune of her blindnesse:
tell nature of decay;
Tell friendship of unkindness;
Tell justice of delay:
And if they dare reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell arts, they have no foundnesse, But vary by esteeming;s,
Tell schools, they want profoundnesse,
And stand to much on seeming:
If arts and schools reply,
Give arts and schools the lye.

Tell faith, it’s fled the citie;
Tell how the country e[illegible]eth;
Tell, manhood shakes off pitie;
Tell, virtue least preferreth:
And if the doe reply,
Spare not to give the lye.

So when thou hast, as I
Commanded thee, done blabbing,
Although to give the lye
Deserves no less than stabbing;
Yet stab at thee who will,
No stab the soule can kill.

MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE.
MARRIAGE, that makes two bodies

one,

Will soon their minds disjoint;
The magnet’s power is lost and gone,

The needle turns its point.
When contradictions come apace,

The inclinations tack;
And love, that brought them face to dace,

Soon leaves them back to back,
For ever different hours they keep,
And different ways they take;
When spouse is much dispos’d to sleep,

Then Madam’s wide awake.
The wedding pair their fate deplore,

No joys their union bless;
She ever sighs for something more,

And he for something less.

On the DEATH of >/em>WILLIAM CASLON, Esq;
ON letter-founding Caslon’s fame,
Though death has shut the portal,
The groaning press will stamp his name,
With his own typed immortal.

WILLIAMSBURG, May2.
Mr. Purdie,
I AM glad to find that our Press in Virginia is now
conducted with spirit, and I doubt not but your
conduct hitherto, if you still persevere, will procure
you the esteem, favour, and good wishes, of all who
have it in their power to serve you. I have sent you
a small piece, which I the other day picked out of
a News Paper lately set up in Liverpool. It is an
advice to the publisher, and please accept of it in the
same light from one of your constant readers and well-
wishers.

AT Athens, where Demosthenes declaim’d,
(For arts and sciences a city fam’d)
Newsmaking, and tale-telling, were in fashion,
And love of novelty the reigning passion;
The orator his eloquence display’d
Against the dealers in the tatling trade;
Summon’d attention, in the common cause,
The Macedonian monarch to oppose.

News-writers! Learn such matters to retail,
As may your readers palates well regale,
In politicks be cautious, without fear
Of telling proper truth, when facts are clear;
But be not fond of spreading vague reports,
Credulity an author’s credit hurts.
To your dear country’s interests ever true,
Render to God and Ceaser both their due.
From factious libels on the church or state
All extracts, doubtless, will disgust create.
That universal favour you may merit,
Be sure to guard against a party spirit:
The generous cause of Liberty epouse;
Let Freedom’s voice all sleepy readers rouse
The profitable with the pleasant join,
If all competitors you would outshine.

By a greater increase of news and
advertisements this week than was at first
expected, the pages are not properly placed.
Our readers, therefore, after perusing the
first page of this supplement, will please turn to the last.

Column 1

The cheer up, my lads, to your country be firm:
Like King’s of the ocean, we’ll weather each storm;
Integrity calls out; fair liberty, see,
Waves her flag o’er our heads, and her words are be

free
Hearts, &c.

To King George, as true subjects, we loyal bow

down,
But hope we may call Magna Charta our own:
Let the rest of the world slavish worship decree,
Great Britain has order’d her sons should be free.
Hearts, &c.

Poor Esau his birthright gave up for a bribe,
Americans scorn the mean soul selling tribe:
Beyond life our freedom we choose to possess,
Which thro’ life we defend, and abjure a broad S.
Hearts of Oak are we still, and we’re sons of those men
Who fear not the ocean, brave roarings of cannon,
To stop our oppression, again and again.

On our brows while we laurel crown’d liberty wear,
What Englishmen ought we Americans dare;
Tho’ tempests and terrours around us we see,
Bribes nor fears can prevail o’er the hearts that are

free.
Hearts of Oak are we still, for we’re sons of those men
Who always are ready, steady, boys, steady,
To fight for their freedom again and again;

With loyalty, liberty let us entwine;
Our blood shall for both flow as free as our wine:
Let us set an example, what all men should be.
And a toast give the world, “Here’s to those dare be

free.”
Hearts, &c

WILLIAMSBURG, May 2.
Mr. Printer, April24, 1766.
Should you invariably conform to your re-
peated declarations of keeping a free Press, you
will undoubtedly procure the esteem, good wishes, and
assistance, of every honest man in the colony; for
upon the freedom of the press depend, in a great
measure, not only the civil liberties of a country, but
also the propriety of many of the customs, habits,
general notions, and of most of the relations and ac-
tions of individuals, known by the name of morals,
or manners. The place you hold therefore is of the
highest importance, and when executed with the bold
liberty and honest integrity it requires, you may not
be improperly said to unite the high offices of censor
and dictator; for in our moral police, as well as inour civil government, it is your official duty to take
care Ne quid republica capiat detrimenti.

The following piece was wrote with no other view
but that of benefiting my countrymen, and to answer
this purpose it demands a place in your paper. By
granting this indulgence, you will at least oblige
one of your constant readers and well wishers.

To thePRINTER.

SIR,
I AM by birth a Virginian, and as it becomes a
native, nothing scandalizes me more than to hear
malicious and evil disposed persons speak disrespect-
fully of my country. This sort of declaimers, it is
observable, make a great noise about truth and reason,
as if these alone were sufficient to authorize their
impertinency. To appeal to these, Mr. Printer,
sometimes, and upon important occasions, at a gaming
table or a horse race, may be excusable enough;
but to be always introducing them, as the custom is,
in every trifling debate, about the depravity of our
morals, our extravagances, and our debts, is alto-
gether unpardonable, and shows the height of igno-
rance and ill breeding.

To have answered these cavillers, by inquiring
whether all their ill natured assertions are really sup-
ported by truth and reason, as they pretend, would
be a tedious and endless piece of business; because
their censures are not confined to a few objects, but
extend to the greater part of our transactions, in our
private as well as publick conduct. This difficulty,
I must confess, has a good deal embarrassed me; but as
the honour of my country was concerned, I have been
indefatigable in my speculations, and have the plea-
sure to think that I am now able to demonstrate the
futility of our adversaries arguments, and that what
they advance about truth and reason is not a single
straw to the purpose.

It was the boast of Sparta, Mr. Printer, that all
its inhabitants were warriours. But pray what was
their glory to ours? We are, I do assure you, a whole
colony of Gentlemen. No matter from whence we
sprung, or from what climate we originally came;
as soon as we arrive here, such is the alteration that
is made. This perhaps may appear to strangers no
better than a fiction, but among ourselves it is a fact
well known, and of which some of the learned have
given us a very natural and easy solution. In the days
of antiquity, if Homer and Ovid can be depended
on, there were vast numbers of persons changed into
beasts of various kinds; some into swine, and other
into bears and asses. From this circumstance, there-
fore, is derived the opinion of the learned, that in
the revolutions of time there will be a re-metamor-
phosis; and to make some satisfaction fo the indig-
nity those persons have suffered, their posterity will
nor only be changed into men, but also into Gentle-
men.

Column 2

But notwithstanding, Mr Printer, the reason why,
and the manner how, we became Gentlemen, may
be made by the over inquisisitive a subject of contro-
versy; yet that we are so is a fact, as I have said,
universally acknowledged. As Gentlemen then,
what have we to do with truth and reason? Is it not
evident that our gentility ought to be the only rule of
our actions? Or rather, does it not entitle us to act
in any manner we please? As the proof of this will
for ever silence our adversaries, I shall produce in
support of it, the unexceptionable authority of the
learned writer of the Spirit of Laws. “In some
states (says the author) they have little or no virtue;
”in the room of which they substitute honour, which
”is the only rule of action.” If others therefore can
banish virtue, which is the only truth and reason improved,
surely we have a right to banish truth and reason
themselves. And if honour can supply the place of
virtue in other countries, without doubt our gentility
will answer all the purposes of truth and reason in
this.

This, Mr Printer, I presume I have defended,
by an invincible argument, the reputation of my
country from the black aspersions of busy slanderers,
who have hitherto urged, as a sufficient reproach,
that we always behave and act like Gentlemen, with-
out the least regard to truth and reason, justice, and
equity. And as I have added very much, by this
method of defence, to the stock of credit belonging
to my country, so I cannot help placing a good deal
of merit to my own private account. Not am I al
together without example, in this way proceeding;for if the much talked about Mr. Hume could so far
forego his usual modesty as to assure the world, in his
Essay on Miracles, that it was under infinite obliga-
gations to him for having very ingeniously demonstrated
there never was a miracle, because he had never seen
me,and of consequence that there was no such thing
as a revealed religion, so I hope I am excusable in
flattering myself that the service I have now done will
be taken into consideration; and if, after settling
with Mr. Hume, the world should have any favours
left upon its hands, it will be grateful enough to
bestow them upon me. Indeed I am the bolder in
making this request, as I am confident my labours will
be thought, by proper judges, very little inferior to
those of that Gentleman, in point of real merit and
usefulness; in as much as I have treated truth and
reason in the same manner as he had treated religion,
in proving them utterly unqualified for the society and
company of any Gentlemen whatever.

This, Mr. Printer, I esteem myself happy that
my labours should contribute, with those of other
great and learned men, to facilitate the improvement
of mankind; and I have the laudable vanity to think
that in a very little time we shall be so accomplished
as not only to excel in knowledge and manners those
Gentlemen like people who are settled near the Cape
of Good Hope, but even to get rid of all those qua-
lities and faculties which distinguish the rational from
the brute part of the creation.

I am, Mr. Printer,

your most obedient humble servant.

A GENTLEMAN.

To the Printer of the VIRGINIA GAZETTE.

Mr. Printer, April 7, 1766.
ONE would be apt to imagine, from the great
anxiety which some people appear to the under,
on account of the stagnation of the business of the
law, that they are influenced by the desire of pro-
ducing some real advantage to this community; but
that, before they proceed to decide any thing upon
the important question Whether the courts of law in
this colony shall be opened or not,a question which re-
gards the whole community, they would at least show
some reason why it should be carried in the affirma-
tive, as well as point out the authority by which they
determine it.

I conceive that whenever any matter relating to
publick affairs requires a discussion, the event of which
must bind the community, the representatives of the
people are the only persons who may constitutionally
decide the controversy. How county magistrates have become vested with legislative authority, I am alto
gether ignorant; but I must dispute the validity of
their acts, untilI shall be better informed of their
power. The British Parliament enacted a law which,
it had been received in this colony, would have
deprived us of our liberty and property. In conse-
quence of that law, the courts of justice in this colony
were shut up;, but the effect seems to have been
attributed to very different causes, viz. the fear of
incurring the penalties to be inflicted from that act,
and to a principle of policy; the former seems to have
influenced the conduct of these magistrates, who now
think it consistent with duty to their country to pay
no regard to the Stamp Act, and to proceed with the
business of the law in the usual course. The only
argument which can favour this sudden change of
opinion is founded on a reason contradicted by all
our actions, and therefore cannot have the force
which at first it may seem to carry with it. A tacit
submission can only be implied from non-resistance;
and surely our words and actions fully envince the
fallacy of that supposition, and prove how inconsist-

Column 3

ent the reasoning is: But when we deduce our
reasons from political principles, the argument coin-
cides with our actions, and shows the advantages that
may result from our present conduct. Our liberty
and property being attacked, nature puts us upon our
defence; and that preventative against the success of
such attempts is ever most eligible which is most safe,
and easy to be found. Hence the basis of this
affirmation, that we should act an inconsistent part to
give the only means out of our hands which promise
us any support in this controversy; and if publick
liberty can only be preserved, by withholding pro-
perty from those who attempt to deprive us of it
(and this can only be done by inattention to the laws
of this colony respecting that matter) the good effects
arising to the community from such a procedure will
sufficiently argue our justification,

If it is the opinion of this colony that the courts of
justice should be immediately opened, their meaning
cannot be so well expressed as by their representatives;
but as we have great reason to expect we shall, after
a few weeks, have the resolution of the British Par-
liament communicated to us, their resolution perhaps
may render a meeting unnecessary, and therefore I
cannot foresee the necessary for their being called toge-
ther, nor can I find any reason to support the impatience
of these few of my countrymen. The oppression
which must follow such an irregular proceeding is too
obvious to be pointed out; and these Gentlemen can-
not assure themselves of the concurrence of the pub-
lick, for whom however they seem inclined to de-
termine. A FRIEND to LIBERTY.

HAGUE, February 4.
THE Council of State has delivered to the As-
sembly of the States General the annual me-
morial, relative to the plan of government for the en-
suing year; in which, among other things, it is ad-
vanced that it were to be wished the republic had an
army of 50,000 men on foot for its protection, and
recommends the building of 25 men of war,

Feb. 10. It is assured that the States of Holland
lately took into consideration what present they should
make to the Prince Stadtholder on his coming of age,
and that theu agreed to give him a discharge of the
700,000 florins which the late Princess Gouvernante
his mother borrowed of the province of Holland some
years ago, to enable her to purchase some estates be-
longing to the King of Prussia in this country. They
likewise took in consideration the presentto be made
to the Prince of Wolfenbuttle for his care in the edu-
cation of the young Stadtholder, which it is thought
will be 140,000 florins.

PARIS, Feb. 7. About the end of this month, or
the beginning of March, an ordinance will be pub-
lished by the King for raising 72,000 militia through-
out this kingdom, and most of the persons who have
heretofore been exempted will be no longer entitled
to that privilege.

VIENNA, Feb. 5. This day died, greatly la-
mented, Field Marshal Count Dhann, Commander in
Chief of all the Imperial forces.

LONDON, Feb. 11.

An extraordinary express, we hear, arrived late on
Thursday night at Mr. Secretary Conway’s office,
from the Court of Portugal.

They write from Lisbon that the reigning Count
La Lippe was soon expected in that capital, in con-
sequence of an express despatched to his Excellency.
It is added, that a camp of a considerable number of
men would be formed early in the summer.

Several British officers now on furlough from the
Portuguese service have received orders to re-embark
for Lisbon by the 1st of March next.

the King of Spain has just made a promotion of
one hundred and forty officers in his marine.

It was yesterday reported that several more ships of
war would in a few days be put into commission, in
consequence of some recent advices received from
Madrid.

If credit may be given to some foreign advices,
there is at present a system adopted by three Protes-
tant Powers for establishing the independency of Cor-
sica on a lasting foundation.

It is said that what the late Captain Glass unfor-
tunately miscarried in, as to effecting s settlement be-
tween Cape Verd and the river Senegal, on the coast
of Africa, has been successfully carried in to execu-
tion by the French at Govee, of which intelligence
has been transmitted to England.

It is reported that a pretty warm remonstrance has
been received from the Court of Versailles, relative
to the late proceedings of the English at Turk Island.

It is confidently asserted that the French have ac-
tually at this time in commission sixty men of war,
two thirds of which are of the line.

They write from Guernsey that orders had just been
received from London to put the several fortifications
on that island in a proper state of defence.

All the troops in the province of Britany are in
motion, and a strong detachment of the Marechausea
is ordered to St. Malo, where it will be under the
orders of the commission.

It is observable that the young Prince of Brunswick, nephew to his majesty, born on Saturday morning
late, is the only Prince of the Blood royal of England
whose mother was an Englishwoman.