ENGLISH PRISONERS IN FRANCE.-The following is an extract of a letter, dated Valenciennes, April 4, from a young gentleman detained a prisoner at that place. He writes thus to his friends: "It is in vain I pleaded that my age (under eighteen) exempted me from the Consular decree; I was told that circumstances required I should be kept a prisoner with the rest of the English at this place. This part of the country is extremely unhealthy; an epidemic fever has raged for a considerable time past, and has proved fatal to a degree.-Fifteen or sixteen of the inhabitants are carried off daily, and upon the average, eight or ten in a week of the poor English prisoners. There are two hundred and thirtysix prisoners ill in the hospital, though the fever, thank God, has subsided in a great degree. There are between seven and eight hundred of us in this town, most of them are in a sickly state. We daily fumigate our rooms with tobacco, and have hitherto found the custom extremely beneficial in repelling the contagion. Lord Barrington has been extremely kind and benevolent to his indigent countrymen, some of whom, bereft of money and of friends, have expired in the streets, unable to procure medical aid, and chusing to perish, rather than submit to the treatment of a French hospital. God knows what is to become of us; I fear I shall never see my dear friends and native country again."

A letter received from Germany, states that Dr. Olbers has discovered a planet, which, from its immense size, he has called Hercules. It is three times the size of Jupiter, and goes round the Sun in the space of 211 years, because it is supposed to be 3,047,000,000 of miles from the Sun; it looks, to the naked eye, like a star of the sixth magnitude, and is now in the sign Gemini. Dr. Olbers observed, on the 8th of December last, that it moved, and on the 6th of February, that it was a planet, attended by seven satellites, one of which is twice the size of the earth. It is inclined to the plane of the ecliptic, in an angle of 30 degrees. It is in 13 degrees North amplitude; its eccentricity is 1100, and the Sun, to an inhabitant of the earth placed in it, with our powers of vision, would appear no larger than the smallest of the fixed stars.

The Prince de Condé has written a circular letter of thanks to the emigrants who assisted at the high mass lately celebrated in compliment to the memory of the murdered Duke d'Enghein, in which his Highness says:-" We feel it as much our duty, as it is our anxious wish, to make known to them our entire gra、 titude. The number of those worthy persons to whom our thanks are due, being too great to permit us to address ourselves to each in particular, we have requested the minister of the King, who is the head of the Bourbons, to express, as · perfectly as it is possible, to those emigrants so worthy of the cause they support, how sensible we are of the generous and distinguished manner in which they have mingled their regrets with ours, in this august and mournful ceremony."

The Berlin Gazette contains the following notice of the death of a very distinguished animal:-" On the night of April the 17th, died, of an atrophy, in a good old age of 40 years, the favourite horse of his late Majesty Frederick the Great. It was called Condé, and was kept in the Royal Veterinary School." An elegy has already appeared on the death of this favourite of Frederick the Great, which reached an age which that quadruped is seldom known to have attained. His memory has also been preserved by drawings and engravings. This famous horse had been purchased in England in 1770. He was always

calm during the heaviest cannonade. Frederick the Great had become very fond of this animal, which was led out before him almost every day, when the king was used to feed him with sugar, and, in their season, melons and figs; he would, in return, follow the king into his apartments. One day his majesty permitted him to enter into the saloon at Sans Souci, but having injured the fine floor with his hoofs, he was never more admitted. The only hard service which Condé had to perform, was at Potsdam reviews. Even during the war about the Bavarian succession, in 1778, Condé remained at Sans Souci, and was, by the king, given in particular charge to Count Schwerin, the master of the mews, who was obliged, from time to time, to report to his master the s'ate and condition of his favourite. This was the horse on which the king made his last attempt to take a ride in July 1786.

The new gallery, in the palace of Luxemburgh, which leads to the assembly room of the senate, is regarded as a chef d'œuvre in architecture. It is to be decorated with thirty statues of celebrated persons, who have served and perished since the revolution. Among other statues, those of Barnave, Vergniaud, Coadorcet, Chapelier, Thuret, Alexander Beauharnois, (the first husband of Madame Bonaparte) Joubert, Hoche, Marceau, Dugommier, Caffarelli, Dufalga, and Dampierre, are already placed. At the entrance of the assembly zoom, are the busts of Demosthenes, Cicero, and Mirabeau. The statue of the first consul, by Chandet, is to be placed between those of Generals Dessaix and Kleber.

A very singular circumstance lately occurred at Paris: Count Bunau, the Saxon Resident at that city, having intimated to his cook his intention to discharge him, for embezzling his property, and a day being appointed to settle his accounts, the villain took the opportunity of creeping into the count's sittingroom unawares, and surprising him, with one pistol pointed to the count's breast, and the other with the muzzle in his own mouth; fortunately that directed at the count missed fire; the other was discharged, and blew the brains of his intended murdered about the apartment.

A letter from Madeira gives the following account of the explosion of the Aurora, Portugueze frigate, on the 5th of September, at half past twelve A. M. "She had about forty casks of powder on board. I was at this moment sitting at my door with my friends, the ship in full view, only five hundred yards off. Anxious to render every assistance in my power to the sufferers, I immediately ran down to the beach, procured a boat, and obtaining three men and two boys, put off towards the wreck, which, by this time, was enveloped in flames. Mine was the second boat that arrived. On enquiry, I found only two poor fellows had escaped out of thirty-four souls on board. They were found on board, and immediately taken by one of its boats on board an English frigate. The quarter deck, with the mizen and main masts, were blown into the air, and the ship fairly split in two. The ballast and guns, most of which were stowed in. the hold, went to the bottom. The ship, by this means, was thrown on her side; the fire increasing, it became necessary to tow the wreck clear of the shipping. One of the English frigate's boats fastened a tow-line to the fore mast We were soon joined by the boats of the other vessels in the harbour, with one or two from the shore. My situation was tolerably hot, as you may suppose

The night, very fortunately, was perfectly calm, so that not the least injury happened to any other vessel in the harbour. The scene, during the night, was awful; but that which presented itself at day-light was borrid. The poor wretches were lying in every position on board the wreck, some without a leg, and others without arms; several of them were actually roasting in the flames. Eighteen of their bodies only were found. About six I got home, much fatigued and distressed, both in body and mind. Various opinions are circulated respecting this disaster. The most prevalent is, that the act was designedly perpetrated by a desperate villanous sailor, one of the crew, who had sworn vengeance against the captain, for having confined him a few days before for malpractices. He belonged to Lisbon, where he had been immured in the condemned hole for murder. He was heard to declare that the ship should never depart from this port, and the wretch was sufficiently desperate to sacrifice his own life with his shipmates, for motives of private resentment. The ship and cargo were estimated at £.60,000.

A famous brigand, called Saint Rochetto, has lately been arrested in Piedmont. He has been the chief and creator of sixteen bands of barbets, or robbers, in the Alps, of whom five hundred and six have already been executed. He never had any fixed house, but he knew perfectly well the Alps, and all retreats in these mountains, and wherever he went, he had the talents to form new bands, and to inspire his followers with the most violent hatred against the French, of whom he acknowledges to have killed, with his own hands, upwards of one hundred and twenty, and that his comrades, during the last war, have, by ambuscades which he had prepared, destroyed upwards of fifteen hundred Republicans. The jealousy of one of his mistresses delivered him up at St. Benigno. Memorials concerning many of his transactions were found upon him, and receipts from different priests and friars, for 2,560,000 livres, which he has given to churches and convents, to have masses and prayers said, for obtaining the assistance of the Virgin Mary in his undertakings. He had besides a list upon him of thirty persons, whom he intended to dispatch this year, as soon as possible, among whom where two Buonapartes, Vice President Melzi, Generals Menou, Murat, St. Cyr, &c. On his way to Turin, he knocked out the brains of a gendarmes with his hand-cuffs, and bit the nose of another, who attempted to tie bis hands on his back. He is a very strong man, and his body is covered over with hair, like that of a goat.

A plan has been presented to the minister of the French Marine Department, which he has laid before the First Consul, for his approbation, to raise a corps of swimmers, from the children of sailors. They are to be educated at the expence of the Republic, to learn to swim, to plunge, to climb the side of a ship, and to board. From the age of fifteen to twenty-five, they will be obliged to serve their country; after that period they are at liberty to dispose of themselves. Twenty-five to fifty of them are to be on board each man of war, and they are to receive the double pay of sailors. Their arins are a sword, a dagger, and a boarding axe. In etuis, impenetrable to water, they are to have some combustible matter, to be used as occasion requires or presents itself. Their number is proposed to be 12,000, distributed and instructed in twenty-four of the principal sea-ports.

There is now little doubt that Bonaparte will assume the title of Emperor of the French, or the Gauls. Private letters state that this event has already taken place; and a neutral vessel arrived in the river, has brought the additional intelligence, that he has annexed to the title that of King of Lombardy. That a considerable progress has been made in this Imperial arrangement, which we think is no good omen for the Corsican and his family, is obvious from the following extract of a letter from Rouen, of the sixth instant:

"In the sitting of the 3rd instant, the Tribunate, after having heard the report of the Special Commission, appointed to consider of the proposition made by Citizen Curee, have resolved

"I. That Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul, shall be proclaimed Emperor of the French, and in that quality be charged with the government of France. "II. That the title of Emperor, together with the Imperial power, shall be hereditary in his family, in the male line, and in the order of primogeniture.

"III. The Constituted Authorities, in forming the necessary regulations for the establishment of the hereditary powers, shall make all due provisions for preserving equality, liberty, and the rights of the people.

"IV. The present vote shall be carried to the senate by a deputation of six members, who are to explain to it the motives which have induced the Tribunate to take this resolution."

BIRTHS.

In Wey

At Littleton, the Right Hon. Lady Caroline Wood, of a son. mouth Street, the Right Hon. Lady H. Gill, of a son. At Winchester, the Right Hon. Lady L. Atherly, of a son. At the Duke's house, Stable Yard, St. James's, the Duchess of Bedford, of a son. In Duke Street, the Lady of B. Hobhouse, Esq. of a son. In Welbeck Street, the Lady of Sir T. M. Wilson, of a son. In Pall Mall, Mrs. Montague, of a son. The Right Hon. Lady C. Duncombe, of a son. At Tilchurst, the Lady of Lieut. Col Taylor, of a son. At South-hill Park, the Lady of the Right Hon. G. Canning, of a daughter. At Paddington, the Lady of Lord Folkestone, of a daughter.

MARRIED,

At Bath, Sir J. Keane, Bart. to Mrs. Crespigny. Charles Godfrey, Esq. to Miss Thurlow.

DEATHS.

At his seat, Dupplin Castle, in the county of Perth, Robert, Earl of Kinnoul!, Viscount Dupplin, Baron Hay. Mr. C. Bennett, upwards of 40 years organist of Truro church. In Portugal Street, the Lady of Major General Brownrigg. In Dover Street, the Hon. Mrs. P. Marsham. In Privy Gardens, Henry, Marquis of Exeter, Lord Burleigh, Joint Herditary Grand Almoner to the King in Fee, and Recorder of Stamford. Sir George Russel, Bart. of the Checquers, Bucks. On the night of the 21st of April, his Serene Highness, the reigning Duke of Saxe Gotha. The celebrated M. Neckar, formerly Minister of Finance in France on the 9th April, at Geneva, at an advanced age. Mrs. Chapman, of the Liverpool theatre, and late of Covent-Garden.

MONTHLY MIRROR,

FOR

JUNE, 1804.

Embellished with

A PORTRAIT OF THE CELEBRATED LE KAIN, THE FRENCH TRAGEDIAN, ENGRAVED BY RIDLEY, FROM AN ORIGINAL PAINTING.

PRINTED, FOR THE PROPRIETORS,

By J. Wright, No. 38, St. John's Square, Clerkenwell,

And published by Vernor and Hood, in the Poultry;

Sold, also, by all the Booksellers in

the United Kingdom.