SINGULAR METHOD OF OBTAINING VOTES.

At the very time the good people of Ludgersal were using their best endeavour to preserve the purity of elections, the Neapolitan Prince Lodovisio was exerting his influence at Naples in a manner as disgraceful to him as the conduct of the Ludgersalians was honourable to them.

This unworthy Prince, wishing to have a certain person elected to the office of a Magistrate, and doubting the success of his honest endeavours, thought of the following curious expedient: he ordered two hundred galley-slaves to be habited in the usual fashions of the citizens, and to give their votes as such. Unfortunately for Lodovisio, the imposition was discovered; the inhabitants of Naples were exasperated almost to rebellion, and were pacified with difficulty by the prudent conduct of the Viceroy, who severely reproved the Prince for his dangerous experiment.

REGICIDE GUN.

The English Intelligencer of August 23d 1679 asserts, "From Windsor we have this following account, that on Wednesday last his Majesty shot in the gun that was lately brought over from Italy to kill him, which was taken by one Captain Salisbury. It makes no report when it goes off, but only flashes in the pan. It is in

length

length about a yard, stock, &c. and kills at fourscore yards. It is charged with very little powder, and carries a bullet no bigger than a good handsome duck-shot. His Majesty is very well satisfied in the execution of it, for they have tried it upon a dog, and they could not find the orifice, the bullet being so small, and goes through the body. The person who gives this relation says, he himself saw it shot off, and that it carried clear through an inch deal-board, at a considerable distance."

THE CARRIER OF CIRENCESTER'S MIRACLE.

Perhaps more than enough has already been said on the subject of vulgar miracles; but the Carrier of Cirencester and his five passengers have such forcible claims to superior skill in invention, that it is impossible to let their wonders sleep in oblivion with "The Domestic Intelligence, Published to prevent false Heports.”

"There is a very credible account that, upon Tuesday the 26th of August last past, the Carrier of Cirencester, with five passengers, coming toward London, about two miles from Abingdon, in the morning immediately after sun-rising they observed in the south part of the heavens the perfect appearance and similitude of a tall man in a sad-coloured habit, brandishing a broadsword in his right hand, which was stretched out toward the south, he seeming to walk that way.

This continued for some time plainly visible to them all, and then disappeared; and the sky seemed immediately in the same place to represent a calm sea, with fishes of several forms playing and leaping up and down therein, and a while after seemed to be tempestuous; upon which there presently appeared about an hundred ships of divers shapes and sizes, from whence there seemed some small ships or tenders to be continually plying to seaward, as if they had been sent as spies or advice-boats to the navy. This fleet remained in their sight for near a quarter of an hour, to the great consternation of the spectators; after which the sky cleared again, and then there arose the form of a very high mountain, and several villages, little houses, and woods appeared thereon, and some part thereof appeared plain, upon which they discovered about thirty horsemen well armed with pistols and muskets, which marched toward the villages upon a full trot, but by the rising ground they were soon out of sight, upon which the sky seemed to close again, and return to its usual form and likeness."

A REMARKABLE ESCAPE FROM DEATH.

A Mr. Tyger, of Whitchurch, employed several men to dig a well on his premises in September 1679, which they accomplished, and found a spring at the depth of fifteen ells. At

the

the very moment the master-bricklayer was giving directions to lay a frame of wood to commence the wall of the well, great part of the earth near the, surface fell, and overwhelmed him and the labourers. Every exertion was immediately made to rescue the supposed dead bodies from their premature interment, but, to the surprize and joy of every spectator, they discovered that the frame had been placed in such a position as to prevent the earth from enclosing the men, and at the same time leaving sufficient space for respiration during the short interval of their confinement.

THE DUKE OF MONMOUTH, HIS HORSE, AND

A STAG.

Uncommon as the above escape from sudden death certainly was, the Duke of Monmouth experienced a rescue from the grim tyrant equally extraordinary in the same year and month. His Grace was in pursuit of a stag in Windsor Forest, and in the course of the chace the animal bayed; the Duke pierced him with sword in hand. Smarting with the wound, the stag fled, and sprung across a ditch accompanied by the Duke, with whose horse he came in contact, when both fell. At this instant the unsheathed sword penetrated and passed through the neck of the horse, and grazed that of the Duke, who received a slight wound, but the poor animal bled to death.

THE

THE RIVERS BOYNE AND BLACKWATER.

Rivers in the vicinity of volcanos are frequently interrupted in their progress to the sea by subterraneous convulsions. It sometimes happens that similar occurrences arrest the attention of the Philosopher in countries very remote from volcanos. Many instances might be given of this phenomena; but the aberration of the Boyne in 1679 will be sufficient for the present purpose. The river just mentioned, and the Blackwater, affected by the same unknown impulse, suddenly ceased to flow, and continued motionless for three days; in which time the adjacent country was completely overflowed, several cottages destroyed, and many cattle lost, when the water of each found a new course, and finally joined a mile above the town of Nivan, twenty miles from Dublin, leaving an incredible number of fish on the surface of the country which had been deluged.

Admitting this account to be correct, there are several causes that might produce the stagnation, originating from confined air, or subterranean water. Suppose a stream to have passed immediately under the spot where the rivers ceased to flow, and that stream suddenly increased, the earth above must experience an inconsiderable rise, yet sufficient to render the beds of the rivers a level, and perhaps occasion a slight declination towards