were 130,000 l. in debt, their forts and catles in ruins, and their credit and reputation loft. In 1749, the traders to and from Africa, between Cape Blanco and the Cape of Good Hope, were incorporated by act of parliament, but prohibited trading in their corporate capacity, from having any transferrable stock, or borrowing money on their common feal. The majority of a committee of nine were empowered to make orders concerning the forts and factories, and to appoint governors and officers. Thus the old royal African company was abolished, and received, in confequence of a refolution of the house, 112,1421. 35. 3d. as a full compenfation for their charters, lands, forts, castles, flaves, books, papers, and all other effects. From this time the parliament has revived the grant of 10,000 l. a year, and in the years 1750, 1753, and 1755, the grant was increafed to 16,000l. for the fupport and repair of the forts and fettlements. There is now reason to apprehend, that the French are upon the point of attacking these forts by the fleet that is lately failed from Breft, and it will appear that at prefent we are not prepared for an effectual defence. In the first place we have not fo much as three men of war on that ftation; and as to the forts, the following account of their condition will shew that a fleet is abfolutely neceffary. 1. James Fort in the river Gambia, though mounted with 36 guns, is not able to resist any European enemy. 2. Anamaboe Fort, not yet finished. 3. Tantumquerry-fort,13 g. Not able to 4. Winnebah, 16 g.refift an Ex 5. Accra Fort 36 g. ropean enemy 6. Wydah Fort, formerly of 35 guns, but now deferted, In general out of repair. 7. Commenda Fort, 31 6. 8. Succondee Fort, 295. 9. Dixcove Fort 30 g. 10. Cape Coast Castle, 40 g. In 11. Fort Royal, 12. Phipp's Tower, 13. Q. Anne's Point, It appears therefore, that notwithftand our 13 forts, a fquadron of 8 men of war might drive all the English from Africa, by which our fugar colonies would be ruined, from whence we fhould then get no fugar, rum, melaffes, cotton, ginger, and aloes, in return for our woollen and other manufactures fent from hence, which pays duties to the crown; and which alfo they furnifh to our North American settlements, in return for fhipping, horses, boards, ftaves, hoops, lumber, timber for building, fish, bread, bacon, corn, flour, and other plantation neceffaries; for then, by means of the French ingroffing the flave trade, (and with it that of elephants teeth, gums, dyewoods, drugs, bees-wax, gold, &c.) upon the coaft of Africa, they would ruin our fugar colony planters, and furnish all the foreign markets, as well as our own, with fugar, which, by the fame means, and new impofts, they did, till lately with indigo. a state of 12 g. defence proper 5 g. to keep the na gives in awe. That a matter of fo great impor tance fhould have escaped the notice of Mr. P. only for one feffions, may perhaps be lefs extraordinary, fays the author, than that the late miniftry fhould not have thought of it at all, fince the method of fecuring our African poffeffions feems only to require a fmall fquadron of men of war to be ftationed there, and proper funds to fupport the forts already erected, and render them fit not only to reprefs the inroads of the favages, but to refift the attack of an European enemy. That our African fettlements are now defenceless, must be manifest from the mere confideration of circumftances, which are almost universally known. The late company, when they were 130,000l. in debt, and had no hope of parliamentary fupport, eftimated that their forts could not be kept in a useful ftate for lefs than 20,900l. 2s. 6d. per Ann. according to the following diftributions. Cape Cape Coaft Caftle £ 7779 00 to receive their wages, which wages Anamaboe, (confidering the great expence we have lately been at for the rebuilding it, and which is unfinished, fhould at prefent be Fated higher) 1196 12 6 Trantumquerry Accra Whydah Commenda Succondee James Fort at Gambia 659 176 1071 4242 26 L. 20,900 2 6 Now the parliament having paid no more than 10,000l. per Ann. towards this 20,900 l. 2s. 6d. fince the conftitution of the new company, except three years, in which it was increased to 16,000l. it follows, that the annual deficiency of 10,900 l. in the fum neteffary to make these forts effectual for defence, muft have occafioned their being altogether ineffectual; and excepta fquadron is immediately difpatched thither, or the fquadron in the Weft Indies fo reinforced as to fpare a proper number of ships, without being too much weakened, the French armaments that are fent to Africa muft be fuccefsful. This writer has propofed feveral measures for the future fecurity of our African trade and fettlements, against the arts of the French, by which they may at length fubvert us, if they fhould not difpoffefs us by force. But it will be time enough to give an account of these when we shall certainly know whether the fettlements in question are ftill in our own hands, or in thofe of our enemies. Some Account of the Marine Society, from a Letter addressed by a Member to the Public. are confidered as part of the officer's pay. Thefe fervants are generally boys between 13 years of age and 18; for when they are at or near their full growth, as they can then rank as feamen, and receive pay in that class, it is not to be fuppofed they will be content to enter on board as an officer's fervant, for fifty fhillings a year, which is their stated wages. The government therefore has allowed this number of boys to officers, not only because they are neceffary in the fhip, but because by this means every fhip becomes a nursery of young feamen, who acquire skill and strength together, and are not only able but expert failors before they are one and twenty years of age. Thefe fervants, however, it has been found very difficult to procure; the poor vagarants, who are covered with filth and rags, and fubfift either by begging or by pilfering, had no immediate inducement, wretched as they were, to enter on board a ship, where they muft at once renounce their lounging and idleness for conftant aetivity and labour; and if they had at any time a tranfient with for fuch a change of fituation, they did not know how to apply to bring it about: the officers who wanted them had neither time nor opportunity to fearch and follicit them, and the gentlemen who refide in the country, though they might be inclined to render the children of their poor thus ferviceable to their country, there being no establishment to which they could apply, had no means of putting their intention into practice. But befides that it is defirable for every fhip to have its complement of boys, it is defirable in a time of war, that not more than one third of the number fhould be less than 16 or 17, because it would be too long before thofe that are younger can be rated as feamen; nor can they create a N order to make an account of the views of this fociety generally underftood, it is neceffary to premife that the officers of every fhip of war which carries 60 guns and 400 men, have a right to carry 30 fervants, and quick fucceffion of youth into the fer vice vice of others, as a ftate of qualification. It must also be observed, that the youth that are procured lofe feveral advantages by the difficulty of procuring others, for an officer when he loofes a fervant, lofes his wages, and he will naturally be unwilling his fervant fhould be rated as a feaman, when he knows, not how to get a nother. The view of this fociety, therefore, is to encourage the induftrious poor to fend their children to fea, and invite the vagabond and pilferer, not only boys and lads, but men, to be come ufeful to the ftate by the following advantages. 1. They hall be received immediately upon application, and taken care of in a proper place, where they will be accommodated with fire and beds, and three meals a day, good bread and broth, and roots, and meat, till they are fent on board. 2. If any that offer are diftempered, they are immediately put under proper methods of cure, and when they are fent on board they are compleatly fitted out with cloathing and bedding. Thus are men and boys ftripped of their rags, cured of their distempers, and fent clean and well cloathed, with as good bedding and accomodations as any common feaman on board. As to the lads, if they are 16 or 17, they are very foon qualified to receive wages as feamen; and as to the men, the diftinction between landmen and feamen on board, which ufed to create animofity, and fubject the land men to fome hardships, is loft, as they are no longer known by their apparel. Thefe accomodations, befides that they are, an immediate inducement to lads and men to enter, are fo necef fary to health and life, that for want of them many have miferably perished,, who might otherwife have been of fingular fervice to their country.g The advantages are not lefs to the community than to the individuals; for it procures a fpeedy fupply of ftoit mariners in the room of those who in the profecution of a war muft neceffarily be cut off, at the fame time that thofe evils are prevented which the idle and diffolute poor of the rifing generation would produce if they had continued at home. To obviate any ill confequence that miglit arife from this encouragement, and prevent the entering of children and apprentices unknown to their. masters and parents, fuch" mafter or parent who milles an apprentice or child, are invited to fee the boys at Mr Fielding's, where they attend every Thurfday from 9 to 11 for that purpofe, or at the Sea-men's Office over the Royal Exchange, where the fociety meets on the fame day, and its from 11 till 2, and upon producing the indenture of an apprentice, or reclaiming a child, they will be immediately difcharged, Those who would take the advantages offered by this fociety, are to apply to the fociety at their office over the Change, to Mr. Juftice Fielding in Bow-treet, or to the fecretary of the fociety in Princes ftreet, near the Bank. The Trial, Sentence, Execution, &c. of Damien, the Affaffin who attempted the Life ofthe French K. (See p.178) ON N Saturday March 27, the princes, dukes, peers, and marthals of France, being come to the grand chamber of the parliament, Damien was brought in, and fentence paffed, that after being put to the ordinary and extraordinary torture to make him confefs his accomplices, be fhould make the Amende honourable before the principal door of the church of Paris, being carried thither on a fledge in his hist, with a lighted wax flambeau in his hand of the weight of two pounds; and there, on his knees, confefs and declare that wickedly and traitorously he committed the faid moft most wicked, moft abominable, and moft deteftable paricide, and wounded the king in the right fide with the flab of a knife; of which he repents, and afks pardon for it of God, of the king, and of juftice: this done, that he fhould be carried on the fledge to the Place de Greve, and on a scaffold there erected, have the flesh of his breast, arms, thighs, and legs torn off, with red-hot pinchers; "his tight hand, holding the knife with which he committed the parricide, burnt with flaming fulphur and melted lead, boiling oil, wax and fulphur mixed together poured upon the places where the flesh was torn off; and afterwards his body torn afunder by four horfes, his members and body confumed with fire, and their afbes scattered to the winds; his eftate and effects confifcated; and the house where he was born pulled down (after making fatisfaction to the owner) never to be rebuilt. Damien, in pursuance of this fentence, was, on Monday the 29th of March, brought to the place of execution, and what 'feems very remark able, is, that during his trial and all the time of his fuffering he had his face covered with a wax-cloth. His behaviour after fentence was fo like that of Ravilliac already defcribed, (Jan. Mag. p. 13.) fometimes uttering prophane oaths and blafphemous exeerations, and at other times calling upon God for mercy, that one can hardly help fufpecting, that the newswriters have rather copied their account from that of the former than from the behaviour of the poor wretch himself. Another circumftance, which is related of him, feems to ftrengthen this conjecture, it is obferved that the horses made ufe of to tear him afunder were either too young or too weak, tho' a horfe was added to each leg, which made fix in all, yet they could not have quartered him if the executioner, who has been imprifoned for prolonging his torture by his ignorance, had not made large flashes at the joints of his arms and thighs. After His execution the parliament iffued an arret against his family, whereby his wife and daughter and his father, are ordered to leave the kingdom within a fortnight, and never to return upon pain of being hanged; and his brothers, and their wives, together with all his other relations of the name of Damien, are enjoyned to change their names, under the fame penalties. Damien declared before his execution, that there was no plot formed, neither had he any accomplices. To the account already given of this enthufiaft, (p. 178) we fall add the following. The name of Damien is famous in hiftory for daring attempts: Befides the villain now executed, there have been other mifcreants of the fame name. In 1737, one Damien, captain of a gang of robbers, being defirous of fignalizing himself by fome defperate action, refolved to go and kill Solyman II. in his tent, in the midit of his army, which then encamped near the town of Butronto Albania. He imparted his defign to fome of the favage people that inhabited Mount Chimera in the fame province; and reprefenting to them the glory and profit that would attend fuch an act, he perfuaded them to be accomplices with him in the enterprize. But fortune did not favour this wretch; for, being come down from the mountains to defcry precifely the spot where Solyman's tent ftood, he climbed up. a tree, a branch of which cracking under him, the noise discovered him to the Janiffaries, who feized him. By dint of torments they made him confefs his defign. Solyman caufed him to be devoured by a wild beaft which he had just caught, and detached fome troops to exterminate the favages that had joined with him in the plot. In the anecdotes or fecret memoirs concerning the conftitution unigenitus, mention mention is made of a confpiracy hatched in 1715 againft Cardinal de Noailles. We don't know what the nature of it was to have been; but one Damien, a tradefman or fhopkeeper fettled at was to be at Paris, where he came every year during the fair at St. Germeins, and another fellow named Saintonge, had agreed to take with him, in this city, fuch meafures as could not fail of doing the business effectually. The plot was difcovered, Saintonge confeffed his connections, and the project concerted with the fhopkeeper: he also confeffed that the latter had received a confiderable fum at Liege for two men, members of a body who were no friends to the Cardinal. However, his eminency never would consent to the making known the authors of this confpiracy, and it was by his papers that the affair was difcovered after his death. Rational and eafy methods to purify the Air, and regulate its beat in Melon Frames and bot Green Houfes. By the Rev. Dr. Stephen Hales, Clerk of the Clofet to ber Royal Highness the Princess of Wales. 1. B Y taking a pane of glafs out at each end of the upper fide of a melon-frame, or hot-house, and then fixing to the rails of the frame a board over the hole, with a round hole in it, near four inches in diameter; the board to be like a wedge, fo much thicker at its lower end than the upper, as to have its furface horizontal; on which to fix (by fliding under fmall ledges or mouldings, the lower fpreadout part, fo as readily to take off or put on) a tin tube four inches in diameter, and a foot high, with a cow! on it, made readily to turn to and fro by means of a vane, fo as to have its clofed fide always to the wind, and its open part from the wind for the foul vapour which arifes from the dung and perfpiration of the plants to pafs off inceffantly as they rife. And this without admitting any cold air, as is done in the common method, by raifing the glass covers a little, which endangers the plants fuffering by cold. It is probable that more than two of these tubes with vanes will be wanting in long frames. When therefore plants by this means enjoy a conftant fresh air, they will probably thrive with vigour, and alfo become more, hardy, by being always in a temperate air, than when they are fometimes ftewed in the foul, hot, and clofe-confined vapour of the hot-bed, and perspiration of the plants; fresh pure air being as requifite and falutary for plants, as for animals. There is in the middle of the tin tube a round valve, which turns on an axle, fo as to open or clofe the tube more or less, if it fhould be found needful, in proportion to the different degrees of the heat of the dung or bark, and the different temperatures of the outward air. Or there may be a fliding fhutter at the lower wedge like board on which the tin tube is fixed. It is very probable, that the flavour of melons and pines will by this means be confiderably more delicate, than when, in the common way, they are long ftewed in the foul vapour of dung or bark, and of what perfpires from the plants. For it is a matter of common obferva tion, that the fruits on trees both thrive moft kindly, and are alfo the better flavoured, the more freely they perfpire in a pure air. II. There is also another improve ment, which, as I have lately found upon trial, will be of future confi derable benefit in melon-frames and hot-houses, viz. I laid floping in a heap of dung a leaden pipe, which was eight feet long, and an inch and quarter wide within. The lower end of the pipe, which was bent a little downward, was near the furface of the ground. The upper end of |