This I conceive to be purely a political consideration, and as such totally out of my department; and as I have most carefully avoided, at all times, and under all circumstances, ever interfering in any political points, I must hope that you will not call upon me to deviate from the principles by which I have been invariably governed. Believe me, my dear brother, your most affectionate brother, (Signed) FREDERICK,

His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

No. XVI.

Carlton-House, Oct. 14, 1803.

MY DEAR BROTHER---It cannot but be painful to me to be reduced to the necessity of further explanation on a subject which it was my earnest wish to have closed, and which was of so clear and distinct a nature as, in my humble judgment, to have precluded the possibility of either doubt or misunderstanding. Surely there must some strange fatality obscure my language in statement, or leave me somewhat deficient in the powers of explanation, when it can lead your mind, my dear brother, to such a palpable misconstruction (for far be it from me to fancy it wilful) of my meaning, as to suppose for a moment I had unconnected my object with efficient military rank, and transferred it entirely to the view of a political station, when you venture to tell me "my object is not military rank, but that a post should be allotted to me, upon the present emergency, suitable to my situation in the state." Upon what ground you can hazard such an assertion, or upon what principles you can draw such an inference, I am utterly at a loss to determine; for I deny the most skilful logician, in tor turing the English language, to apply with fairness such a construction to any word or phrase of mine, contained in any one of the letters I have ever written on this, to me, most interesting subject. I call upon you to peruse the corres pondence in my letter of the second instant. I told you unequivocally, that I hoped you knew me too well to imagine, that idle inactive rank was in my view, and that sentiment, I beg you carefully to observe, I have in no instance whatever, for one single moment, relinquished or departed from. Giving, as I did, all the considerations of my heart to the delicacy and difficulties of your situation, nothing could have been more repugnant to my thoughts, or to my disposition, than to have imposed upon you, my dear brother, either in your capacity as commander in chief, or in the near relationship which subsists between us, the task, much less the expectation, of causing you to risque any displeasure from his majesty, by disobeying in any degree his commands, although they were even to militate against myself. But, with the impulse of my feelings towards you, and quickly conceiving what friendship and affection may be capable of, I did not, I own, think it entirely impossible that you might, considering the magnitude and importance which the object carries with it, have officially advanced my wishes, as a matter of propriety, to military rank and subsequent command, through his majesty's ministers, for that direct purpose; especially when the honour of my character and my future fame in life were so deeply involved in the consideration. For, I must here emphatically again repeat, "idle inactive rank was NEVER in my view, and that military rank, with its consequent command, was NEVER out of it." Feeling how useless, as well as ungracious, controversy is, upon every occasion, and knowing how fatally it

operates on human friendships, I must entreat that our correspondence on this subject shall cease here; for nothing could be more distressing to me, than to prolong a topic on which, it is now clear to me, my dear brother, that you and ́ I can never agree, &c.

(Signed) No. XVII.

Copy of a letter from the Right Hon. HENRY ADDINGTON.

G. P.

Richmond Park, Oct. 23, 1803. SIR--In consequence of some intelligence which has reached me, I am impelled by a sense of duty to your royal highness, and to the public, to express an earnest and anxious hope, that you may be induced to postpone your return to Brighton until I shall have had an opportunity of making further enquiries, and of stating the result of them to your royal highness. I have the honour to be, with the utmost deference and respect, Sir, your royal highness's faithful and most humble servant,

The Prince of Wales.

(Signed)

No. XVIII.
ANSWER.

HENRY ADDINGTON.

SIR-By your grounding your letter to me upon intelligence which has just reached you, I apprehend that you allude to information which leads you to expect some immediate attempt from the enemy. My wish to accommodate myself to any thing which you represent as material to the public service, would of course make me desirous to comply with your request; but if there be reason to imagine that invasion will take place directly, I am bound, by the king's precise order, and by that honest zeal which is not allowed any fitter sphere for its action, to hasten instantly to my regiment. If I learn that my construction of the word intelligence be right, I must deem it necessary to repair to Brighton immediately, &c.

Right Hon. Henry Addington.

G. P.

NEW YEAR'S DAY.-By an edict in France, A. D. 1564, the commencement of the year was fixed to the first January. The Jews commence the year in the beginning of September; the Turks the beginning of July; and the modern French the 21st of September.

The vicinity of Dijon has for a considerable period been dreadfully infested by wolves, which committed the greatest ravages. It became necessary for the inhabitants to resort to some extraordinary measures for the expulsion of these troublesome visitants. It was accordingly agreed, that in every commune a general arming should take place. This plan was immediately carried into effect. A pitched battle ensued, and, as might be expected, terminated in the destruction of the greater part of the wolves on the field of battle. A French journalist, giving the particulars of the fight, describes the victory in terms which might not be considered too lofty for the record of the first triumph of Gallic valour on the shores of England.

A Chinese boy lately come over, under the care of a respectable officer in the

service of the East India company at Canton, keeps a regular journal, a la Boswell, of his occupation and amusements in the metropolis. Like other journalists, he sometimes deals in the marvellous :-Speaking of the grand volunteer review in Hyde Park, he computes the volunteers at an hundred thousand, and the spectators at a million. The Chinese cook who accompanied him, was ill treated*Mob," observes the tourist," pulled China cook's tail." "N. B. In England strong oppress the weak." "Gave half of three shillings for to go up St. Paul's to see all England-English man cheat poor China boy:-when get up, great fog; instead of all England, see nothing at all." He sings various Chinese songs, and recites several scenes from Chinese plays, in a style which would not disgrace Texier. He saw Pizzarro, and, after admiring Portuguese altar, as he termed it, estimated the expence at a thousand pounds!

Among the expedients resorted to by attorneys, to chastise refractory clients, the following appears to be unique. An attorney had thought proper to charge his client 6s. 8d. for each time that he had taken a dinner with him. The client retaliated by charging the attorney for dinner, and a bottle of wine at each visit. A dispute arose, but the legal wight at length paid his client's demand, and immediately preferred informations against him for selling wine without licence.

A Roman Catholic curate, to free himself from the labour of confessions in Lent, gave notice to his parishioners, that on Monday he should confess the liars; on Tuesday, the misers; on Wednesday, the slanderers; on Thursday, the thieves; on Friday, libertines; and on Saturday, the bad women. scheme succeeded-none attended.

His

MELANCHOLY CATASTROPHE.-The neighbourhood of Hammersmith has been for several nights alarmed by some idle or ill disposed person, who assumed the fancied appearance of a ghost. Not a young miss or an old maid could stir out at night, the one for an innocent game at whist, the other to see a lover, without being crossed by this most obtrusive and frightful apparition. The ghost, according to some, appeared in the likeness of Bonaparte; according to others, of a horse without a head; but the fact is, to all who really saw it, it was a tall figure in a white sheet. Many attempts were made to sieze it; but it had one property of a ghost, it eluded the quickest pursuit, and there was not a pair of heels in the parish swift enough to overtake it. Encouraged by its success, it became more troublesome than ever, and a party agreed to lay in wait for it. In this number was a man of the name of Smith. He armed himself with a musket, charged with powder and ball, and on Tuesday night, January 3rd, took his station in Black LionJane, one of the places by which the ghost used to make its escape, when hard pressed by its pursuers. He had not been long in waiting, when he fancied he saw the wished-for object. A figure dressed in white presented itself; Smith fired, and the supposed ghost fell to the ground. Upon examination, however, the body was discovered to be that of a young man of the name of Milwood, a mason employed in the new buildings going on in that neighbourhood. He was a soberserious young man, of excellent character, and was returning from a visit to his wife, who lives at some distance from the scene of his industry, when his dress, a white jacket, with the marks of his trade in spots of mortar and lime, represented him to the disordered fancy of Smith, as the supernatural agency for which he was watching.

A beautiful French actress lately agreed to surrender her person to one of her lovers, upon condition that he should fight a duel for her with a person who had offended her. She writes the challenge, and keeps the lover in suspense, until the appointed hour---when, judge of his astonishment, he meets his own father. She threatens and promises, and he is on the point of committing a parricide, when some people interfered. The police, by way of punishment, forbid her appearing on the stage for one decade. She is now the mistress of a great banker at Paris.

A bottle containing a note, of which a copy follows, and a letter addressed No. 21, Botolph-Lane, London, was found by Hector Gilles, one of Capt. M'Caskill's servants, near the Point of Ruindunan, Isle of Sky, on the 23d February, 1803. The bottle was surrounded by floating sea weeds, which saved it from being broken against the rocks.

"On board the ship Isis, Capt. Skinner, from London, for New York, N. lat. 47, W. long 21, on 9th Sept. 1802.

"As an experiment, one of the passengers recommends this letter to whoever may find it. Any expence in forwarding it, will be paid by the person it is directed to in London. Write on the back of the letter where it was found, the time, latitude, and longitude, and by whom it was found."

The winter 1802-3 was uncommonly mild and dry, especially on the north west coast of Scotland; and the prevailing winds were from the north-east.--Captain McCaskill forwarded the letter to the gentleman in London with a line, but had no return. From 9th September, 1802, when the bottle was thrown into the sea, to 23d February, 1803, when it was found, 167 days. Distance from N. lat. 47, long. 21, to Ruindunan in the Isle of Sky, about 12. 12. or 846 English miles; so that the bottle proceeded five miles a day, in a direct line to the point where it was found. Hence it is evident, that there is a strong current setting to the N. E. which carried the bottle along, and in a direction contrary to the prevailing wind for the time.

DIED,

At her Brother's, Troston-Hall, near Bury, Suffolk, 26th Dec. 1803, Miss Olivia Lofft, aged 45: Daughter of Christopher Lofft, Esq. late Recorder of Windsor, and of Anne his wife, formerly Anne Capell; and sister to Capel Lofft, Esq. Barrister at Law. Heaton Wilkes, Esq. aged 76, brother to the late Chamberlain. Mr. S. Parsons, son of the late comedian. Peter Mellish Esq. Mr. Spencer, of the Garrick's Head, Bow-Street, as he was going in a hackney coach to the Gloster Coffee House, Piccadilly. Mr. Spencer was formerly the Harlequin of Drury-Lane Theatre, and his house was frequented by the professors and amateurs of the drama. He was in good health when he entered the coach. At Carhampton, the Countess Dowager of Clanricarde. At Bath, H. Partridge, Esq. the King's Counsel. At Buxton, the Lady of Sir R. Peel, Bart. Mrs. Powell, wife of Mr. Powell of Drury-Lane Theatre. At Croydon Grove, Lady Bridges. Of an inflammation in the bowels, the Countess of Talbot. Sir Francis Sykes, Bart.

MONTHLY MIRROR,

FOR

FEBRUARY, 1804.

Embellished with

A PORTRAIT OF MR. CHERRY, OF DRURY-LANE THEATRE, ENGRAVED BY RIDLEY, FROM A FINE PAINTING BY SAXON.

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.