wered them rather neatly : " Gentlemen, is it
then that you think the celibacy of the Clergy is
more advantageous to population than their mar
riages ?"—The ecclefiaitics flirugged up their
Jhoulders, and complimented the Emperor on his
facetious raillery.
The Carron Manufactory in Scotland, is the
greatest perhaps of the kind known in the world
-Its weekly confuniption of coals amounts to
n,oootons, at 4s. pr. ton ; and the consumption
of each day is equal to that of the city of Edinburg,
durifig a whole week; As many coals are there
conluined in the Catron foundaries, as would
fufttce to supply a city of 700,000 inhabitants.—
A thousand workmen are duly employed in this
manufactory, whose wages amount to 7001. per
week, or 39,4001. pr. annum.
On Thursday last at Newmarket the Duke of
gueenlbury and Sir John Lade mounted on a brace
of mules, to run from the Ditch-in for ioool.
This ludicrous heat was obstinately contested—
the event was in favor of the Duke. The match
was made over night> and over a bottle too, no
doubt atthe Macaroni Club—Nobly done, at least !
Paris, October 20. An exprets arrived at
the Imperial ambafladorslalt night, with the im
portant news of the surrender of Belgrade. '
It is also reported that sixty thousand Prulfian
troops have entered Brabant, in support of the
insurgents, and that the Dutch are marching,
with all polfible expedition, to poflefs theinfelves
of the Barrier Towns.
A correspondent fays, that by hints he has re
ceived from Bruflels, the Emperor may bid adieu
to that fine country.
M. Matonde la Varenne, an advocate inthe Parliament of Pa
ns, has publilhed an cxaft copy of a paper, found by him in the
Baftile, the day after it was taken : thefcare the contents :
" Copy of a letter, written by me, Duflfault, a prisoner in the Bafti/c,
on the 1H as December, 1642, to Cardinal Richlicu, dangeroujty ill.
" There is a time, my Lord, when a man ceases to he cruel and
urijuft, and it is when his approaching dissolution forces him to
dcfcend into the gloomy recenes of his conscience, to weep for
the troubles, fotrows, and misfortunes, he has caused to his fel
low creatures ; for now you mud be fcnfible of what you never
would be persuaded ol.that thefupreme and excellent Creator From
above h.ismadc us all alter the fame model, and that his intention
was, that men, Ihould not be dillinguiftiedfrom one another, but
hy their virtues. You know, my Lord, that for these eleven
years pad, you made me fuller a thousand deaths in the Baftile,
-where even felons, and the mod unloyal of his Majesty's lubjefts,
■would deserve pity and companion : Much more I then, my
Lord, whom you in.ike perish by inches for having disobeyed an
order of yours, that would have doomed my foul to everlaftmg
torments, and made me appear in the presence of Almighty God,
our tremendous Judge, with handsJlained in blood. Ah ! were you
to hear the plaints, figb>, »nd groans, I inceflantly heave, from the
dungeon you have condemned me to, I ain sure you would forth
with restore me to liberty.
I earnestly coniure yon, my Lord, to do it, in the name of
that eternal God, who is to judge you as well as my felf; take pity
oi» my ciuel furtVmigs and sorrows ! and if yon wilh to be merci
ful before you die, -;ive immediate orders for my chains to be bro
ken ; for when once in the power of death, you will no longer
be able to do me that justice I can claim but from you ; and you
would then profecutc ir»e even after death, which God preserve
you from, it you will vouchfafe to yield to the humble prayer of
a man, who has always been a loyal fubiett to his Majeftv.
11 I am, My Lord,
" With veneration, rcfpeO, and fubmiflion,
" Your's, See.
li Duss AU IT ."
From the LONDON PUBLIC ADVERTISER.
TONTINE. /
MR. Pitt said the other day on opening
the budget, " that front the present great
plenty of money in the city, he was resolved to
try the spirit of adventure in a Tontine."
Some readers of newspapers boggle at the word
Tontine, and perhaps may search their Dictiona
ries in vain.—lt was derived from Tonti, an Ita
lian, who was the firlt projector of the mode of
railing money on furvivorlhips.
The old lady who is now living and enjoying
i 2,0001. a year, by having been a fubferiber to
Queen Anne's Tontine, has not yet been found.
Has any body ever seen this old lady ? Does any
body know this old lady ? Has any body seen the
man that saw the man that saw this old lady ?
The new Tontine, it is hoped, will have its ef
fect on the manners of the age, and encourge
temperance in eating and drinking, as the only
means of furvivorlhip. '
A Tontine is surely the most plealing way of
alking for a loan ; for every one lias the strong
liope°of life; and willing to believe that to be
true, which he ardently wifhesto be so, pleases
himfelf with the idea of long life, and rhus free
ly ventures upon the wager.—Every Tontine is
little more than a bet: 1 lay iool. that I out live
you The present Tontine is certainly favorable
to the public because it secures a large interell upon
government credit. —Other Tontines may and
have been involved in law suits, and consequently
injury and delay;—this cannot be so circumstan
ced.—Lives too, in general, are little better up
on the whole, than they used to be ; and every
member being confined to an annuity of ioool.
per aim. so that no long liver can ever receive
more dividend, so much of the national debt is
in fair prospect to be annihilated. —But the in
crease of premium will f'oon bring it to the price
of the Ilocks.
A waggilli correspondent informs us that a
roongthe number of thofewho are to fubferibe to
the Tontine, in hopes offurv'tvorfhip, are the Earls
of Mansfield, Batliurft and Guilford.—Macklin—
Deputv Ellis, &c. &c. and other proinilingyoung
mew,
REFLECTIONS of ONE designed for a Nunnery.
Written 100 years ago.
T
A O avoid the tyranny of lawless paflion,
The hazards of contempt and calumny*
The heats and hectics both of fear and love,
The qualms, and quarrels of a married life,
The cumbers, hummings 'bout a family:
To ride secure out of the reach of fortune,
O'erlooking all those roiling tides of fate,
Which a vain world is hurried with, and then
To be Wrapt up in innocence, a Devotee
Dear and familiat to the Deity ;
Is furelya condition to be caught at
With all th' expansion both,of mind and body:
But then again, to weigh the cancelling
Of what I'm born to, tugging all tny life
Against the tide ; still {training up the hill,
The plains and pit afant vallies ever hidden.
What is it less than the bold undertaking
Of a perpetual war with nature ? which how well
I may cbme off in, is to me unknown.
But does not nature in her genial pourfe,
Dcfign all creatures for their fixed end ?
Did the wife God of nature give me seX
Only to cast it off ?
Our paflions, our affections and desires
We are enjoin'd to regulate—not relinquish 1
Why were these obiefts lent us, set before
Our open eyes, and we forbid to view them ?
Our joys, our hopes, the feathers of the foul
Were never given to become our torment:
I cannot think so meanly of the Deity,
That it should fill our fails with pregnant gales,
And yet forbid us touch those pleasing coasts,
That we thereby are driven to.—All spiritual is
Too fine for flefli to live by ; and too gross
Is food corporeal all : As man is mixt,
So his affection's object must. Love temper'd right
Is chaste as cold Virginity. And since
He merits more, that means, unbound, to pay,
Than he that is ty'd up to ftrift conditions ;
I'll rather chufe to keep myfelf in that
£(late iny wife Creator did appoint me,
Than to miftrult his Grace, and out of fear
Lock up in forced chains my free-born foul.
For the GAZETTE of the UNITED STATES.
THE G U E S T—No. I.
" Ignorant old age, is the worfl picture that
Time can draw of Man."
HOW important is it to make provision inyouth
to alleviate the inevitable miieries of old
age ! that we may mitigate the sorrows of our de
clining years, by finding a substitute for tliofe va
cancies which time, accidents and death, will
make in our friends and enjoyments ! Though
we cannot fly from our fate, yet we can meliorate
its leverity. Nature in a thousand direifUons teach
es us the mod ufeful leflons of prudence, and fore
thought. We anticipate winter ; we provide for
its approach, and its inclemency is abated. The
difference between a wife man and a fool is, that
the latter lives to the moment; the former al
ways calculates for the confequeilces of events.
Providence hath llot pointed out any expedient
to relieve tis under the infirmities of age, equal
to knowledge, study and meditation. A taste foi
these must be acquired in youth; while the mind
is flexile and fufceptibleof impreflions, our stock
of ideas should be laid in. These will prove oui
lie vet failing friends and companions, when others
desert us. With our books we can always find
tlie best company.—The fprightlinefs of youth;
the gravity of age *the politics of palt ages,and the
current history of our own times paTs in review,
and beguile the tedioufnefs of confinement. With
these we connetfi the present with the past; and
while we are on the limits of exiltence, we can
fend our thoughts backwards and trace the inci
dents of ufefulnefs, friendfhip and happiness thro'
which we have palled. Chearfulnefs is the off
fpring of knowledge and virtue, and it fmootlis
the furrows of age—lt attra&s the company, love,
and veneration of the young—lt fmootlis the pil
low of lonelinefs—lt shuts the door to chagrin and
fretfulnefs, and gilds the last moments of life with
the rays of future glory.
But a vicious and ignorant old age, is the foil
that produces a congregation of miferies—lt adds
a {hade to the shadows of the long nights, and
clouds the snort days of the winter of life. Igno
rance and weakness incapacitate from employ
ment; and impose the mott irksome sensations ot
idleness 011 the mind.—'Tis this makes old age
to be dreaded ; for except its infirmities arc
tempered by information, experience, and vir
tue, it will bedeferted by the young and middle
aged ; and cotemporaries in ignorance, chagrin
and ennui, will add to the weig'.it that finks it.
unpitied into dull.
BASTILE ANECDOTE.
THE DREAM BOOK.
TMIESE lingular volumes, we (inderftand have been preserved
1 jnd we hope to gratify the Curiosity of our readers by the
followiug authentic account of them.
It wasihe custom of the Lieutenant Governor, or rather, as we
believe he was called, the Major of the Baftile, not from any or
der of government, but as a curious whim of his own, to enquire
of any prisoner who was destined to liberty or death, On the
morning of the day of execution or deliverance, concerning the
dream of the preceding night. Whatever fancics had troubled
or sweetened the repofc of the prisoner, we may believe to have
been related with agitated fidelity, and the vtlion, whatever it
might have been, being noted down by the officer, he always
retired with great politeness, but never was known to commu
nicate whether the dream of the night was or w'as not ominous of
tiie event of the day.
The Gentleman who inflrufts us in this article, and from whom
w-lball receive further notifications concerning this horrid m»n
tion, was once a trembling inhabitant of it.
On the day of his dclivcrance, but before he had received any
information concerning it, the Major of the Prison waited on
liijn a* he ocCalionally did, and after forae officialcoHvetfation dc
frred him to relate thedrea'.n of the preceding night.—The ques
tion he thought foreboded something, and he was not in a situation
to fuppofethat it foreboded any good ; however, after some time
the dream enquired after was recolle&ed, and was as follows :
The prisoner dreamed that he was walking in a church yard ;
that the path lay round the church, which was a very large and
lofty Gothic building, and that a croud of persons of all age*
and both sexes, who appeared entirely unknown to him, were
taking the fame circuit with himfelf. On a sudden a large globe
of fire feeniedto be suspended over the church, and in a short time
the lead, melted by the prodigious heat, ran in streams from eve
ry part of the building, and as it it'll onrthe people beneath, it
instantly destroyed them. After some time a stream of the burn
ing metal fell upon him, but without doing him the least injury,
and he alone appeared to escape the horrid ruin that surrounded
him.
The Major wrote down miuuteS of this dream, rrturned the
prisoner thanks for his communication, and took h;s leave—lt was
however, ominous of his deliverance, for in less than an hour he
was restored to liberty.
B O S T O N, November 21.
AUTHENTIC NEWS FROM FRANCE.
Oil Monday la It, His ]\loft Cbriftian Alajtfty's
cutter, La Levrete, commanded by M. Chevalier
de la Bourdonnaye, arrived here in 36 days
from Brest, with dispatches for the Hon. Consut.
of France, who in conl'equence thereof has
given the agreeable official information that all
the Free Ports of the French Welt-India IHands,
are open until the ill of February next, for the
introduction of Flour and Bifcuit,from the Unitecl
States.
At the departure of tlie above cutter, we can
afl'ure our readers that the National Afleinbly was
still progreliing towards a completion :—That
the loan of 80,000,000 of livres was tilled up :—
That tranquility was intirely restored : Ami that
there was everyprofpetft thatFRANCE was ••apid
ly approximating to that state of refpetf ibility
as a Nation, which her imnienfe refoiirces—the
fertility of her foil—and the patriotism of her
King, and People, intitle her to.
It is with pleasure we hear, that the Massa
chusetts, Eaft-Indiaman, will be completly fitt
ed with Sails, Cordage, Anchors, &c. of Ame
rican manufacture. Yellerday her largest Cable,
of 18 inches, and 120 fathoms, made at Meflrs.
Austins' Ropewalk, wasi'ent onboard.
NEW-YORK, DECEMBERS.
The present war between the Ruilbns, Auftrians, Swedes, and
Turks, exhibits a moll degrading piQure of human nature—how
humiliating the consideration, that to gratify the spleen, caprice,
and ambition of a few individuals, whom a fortuitous con' urrence
of events, have placed in a particular situation, that wi )le regions
should be depopulated—that human creatures Should be clafled
together, clothed in a particular manner, wearing the livery oP
death, and marched through extensive regions ; leave their wives,
children, and habitations, all the delights of domelike enjoyment,
to be (laughtcred for the acquifii ion. of an object in which thri
are not intuited. Can it be poffjble that so great a proporl oa
of our fellow men will much longer submit to fuel) vallallage ?—
Opprcffion over the bodies, and efl .tcs of men in a time of peace,
may well rdtife the fdffererito refiftariee ; but the cruel depreda
tions committed by the tyrants of. the earth upon the rights, the
fieedom. the ti..nqui!ity, the prosperity, and I'ecurity, not only
of their enemies, but their /'V ' • ~tru "J Kar > U P the
measure of human mifeiy and fcter/adatrjn.
According to an accurate calculation the Inter
est of"the Domestic Debt of the United States a
mounted on the 31ft December, 1737,
to Dc/lan, 90ths, Bths.
8,123,124 55 7
Two years Interest will be 7 ,
due the 31ft Dec. 1789. 43 7
The total due on Ift Jan. 7 6 6 6
1790, will be 5 7 '
When it is considered Tiow inadequate the funds
of the Continent were under the old Confedera
tion, for the difcliarge of this Interest—How in*
efficient the powers to bring tliofe funds, ineffi
cient as they were, into the Continental Freafury
: When the accumulation oftliis Interest, and the
consequent perplexities are taken into view, the
difl'olution of the Union, the loss of reputation,
and public confidence, that must inevitably have
ensued, had we been so judicially blind, as to
have persevered 111 our bewildered system any
longer, we never can fufßciently adore the wif
doni, and mercy of JTeaven, that arrested us in
our career to ruin—and directed our footfteps to
the paths of Government, Peace, and Honor. j—
In this view of the fubje<ft,it is extremely difficult
to account, upon the principles of hofiefty and
common fenfe/for any remaining traces ofoppo
fition to the New Government.—lt is no breach
of charity to suppose that a virulent spirit of op
position discovered at this late period, indicates a
mind, that would convulse the Universe to carry'
a favorite point.—Some such chara«flerS are now
and then found floating, like bubbles, on the dead
lake of Anarchy—but the Lake itfelf is in a fair
way of being dried up, when, deprived of their
element, envy, chagrin and difappointmcnt will
be no more.
The Theatre was unusually crctuded onMon
day Evening—The Campaign bids fair to close
very much to the fatisfacftion of the Old American
Company—Recent exertions have in a peculiar
manner contributed to their success. Sat verbam,irc.
The A<fts and Resolves in the fourth page of this
number completes oar publication of the Laws,
&c. of the firft session of the national Legislature
under the new Constitution.
ARRIVALS.—NEW-YORK.
Tucfday, Schsoner Edwaad, Smith, Shelburne.
Sloop Fanny, Randolph, Philadelphia,
Brig Mary, Nisi, Eriftol, 39 days.