† So called, in allufion to the following conversation piece, written on Colman's forfaking Garrick for Powel, and becoming manager of Covent Garden. Says Colman to Garrick, once brother and brother, But boaft not too early, for foen 'twill be found, THE MONTHLY CHRONOLOGER. Particulars of what passed previous to and at the Execution of the tavo Brothers, Robert and Daniel Perreau, &c. N Friday the 12th inftant, a petition was presented to her Majefty, by the wife of the unfortunate Robert Perreau, which concluded thus: "The execution of Robert Perreau will, in its confequences, involve an innocent family in ruin: The agonies of his afflicted wife most fhortly end her days, and his children must be left without a parent; fhame and forrow must be at beft their por tion. The punishment which extends itself with fach feveritybeyond the unhappyconvict is not a common cafe. Your petitioner therefore flies to your Majesty's commiferation, prefuming to hope that by changing the fentence of the law to transportation, the ends of juftice would be answered. Juftice has never been fo rigorous in this country, as not to hear the cues of humanity for the fake of the innocent, guilt has been often fpared; and if your Majesty will be graciously pleased to fue for a mitigation of the dreadful fentence, mankind will honour the generous tendernefs, which on a throne can feel for a wretched mother and her unhappy children. Your petitioner therefore with refignation, but not without hope, commits her cafe to your Majesty's royal goodness. Moft humbly imploring your Majefty to intercede with your royal confort, the father of his people, that he may be pleafed fo far to extend his mercy, as to order the unhappy Robert Perreau to be tranfported for life: And your petitioner will ever moft fervently pray, &c." His crime however was thought too great to admit of royal mercy, and he was left to fuffer the fate of his fentence. On Wednesday the 17th, the morning of their execution, Daniel came in first from chapel, bowed to the company, and went to the fire, where he warmed himself with the greatest compofure. Robert foon after followed, and looking at his brother for a moment, wiped off a falling tear, which he fecmed anxious to hide: he then turned to a little table, where lay the ropes with which they were to be bound; his emotions were then fo ftrongly painted in his countenance, that the furrounding fpectators gave vent to their fympathy in loud lamentations. Daniel now aflifted in putting the rope properly round himself with decent firmness; but when he faw the man do the fame office for his brother, it quite unmanned him.-he fighed and wept. They then took a laft farewell of their friends, and on their quitting Newgate, the malefactors were conveyed to Tyburn in the following manner; George Lee, for robbing Thomas Cudding, Efq; on the highway; Saunders Alexander and Lyon Abrahams, alias Lipe, for breaking into the house of Mr. Sandford, baker, in Winchefter-ftrçet, with intent to fteal his goods, went in a cart; Richard Baker, and John Radcliff, for counterfeiting the coin of this kingdom, viz. half-crowns, fhillings, and fixpences, were drawn on a hurdle; and Robert and Daniel Perreau were carried in a mourning coach, accompanied by a clergyman and a gentleman. The two sheriffs and the under fheriff attended. They arrived at Tyburn before eleven o'clock, and all behaved with the utmost refignation and pe nitence. 54 The MONTHLY CHRONOLOGER. nitence. The Perreaus delivered each a paper to the Ordinary, previous to their being turned off, affuring him in the most folemn manner, that the contents were strictly true. The original papers, of which the following are copies, are in the hands of the Rev. Mr. Villette. "As I am now going to appear before my great and juft God to answer for all my actions, I do folemnly declare to the world in thefe my laft moments, and I call God to witness, that I never had the least knowledge or fufpicion of criminality whatever in any of the bonds or other fecurities that I negociated of Mr. William Adair's for Mrs. Margaret Caroline Rudd and my unhappy brother, but did always believe them to be valid and genuine fecurities. I do folemnly declare alio, that I did firmly believe, till the moment the forgery was difcovered, that Mrs. Rudd and my brother were intimately acquainted and connected with Mr. William Adair, as they had from time to time impofed upon me; and under this firm belief I was led to negociate thefe fecurities; and when the bond I carried to Mr. Drummond to raise the money upon was objected to, as not being the hand writing of Mr. Adair, to Rudd to inform Mr. Adair Jan. Hearses attended to receive the bodies of the two Perreaus, which were privately interred on the Sunday evening following, in the family vault of Robert Perreau, in St. Martia's in the fields; Lee, the highwayman, was a handfome young man, about 18 years of age, dreffed in a pompadour fuit of cloaths, with a narrow gold laced hat. He was fitted out genteely by his friends to go a voyage in a Weft-India fhip in the capacity of steward; but getting acquainted with a young proftitute, he spent all his money, and, being unwilling to afk his friends for more, to fupply his wants, he went on the highway a few days before he was to have gone on board the fhip, and committed the robbery for which he fuffered. It is faid it was his first offence. Juft before the malefactors were executed, a fcaffolding broke down, by which accident four men were killed, and feveral much bruifed. Several other accidents happened in different places. LONDON. MONDAY, JAN. I. N Friday arrived a transport from Bofton I applied to Mrs. Ru, to told me the had at Dover, after a very thort paffage,; feen him, and that he would fatisfy Mr. Drummond that it was his hand writing if he would call or fend to him about it, and defired I would return to Mr. Drummond and tell him fo. Accordingly I returned to Mr. Drummond, and from the implicit confidence I had in all Mrs. Rudd told me, I inadvertently gave her words to him as my own, faying, that I had feen Mr. Adair; but this 1 folemnly proteft was done from no motive of defrauding whatever, nor did I ever detain any of the monies arising from the discounts of thefe fecurities for my own ufe: therefore, through my imprudence, or foily, in telling a falfity, I am unh ppily. brought to an ignominious and shameful death. ROBERT PERREAU." "I do folemnly declare, in the presence of Almighty God, before whom I am going to be judged for all my actions, that I am totally innocent of all the forgeries of bonds, or other fecurities of Mr. William Adair, given to my unhappy brother and myself by Mrs. Margaret Caroline Rudd, to be negociated : but that my unhappy connection with her, and infatuation to her, made me believe every thing fhe told me was true; therefore, through her impofitions, I deceived my brother in the fuppofed and pretended acquaintance with Mr. Adair, always believing, however, from her ftories, that I was very foon to be introduced and connected with him by meansof her family alliance, and thereby to derive confiderable advantages in life; by which I am unhappily brought to an ignominious end through her artifices. DANIEL PERREAU." fhe brings a confirmation of the taking of the Nancy, Hunter; the particulars are as follows: fhe food in for a pilot, when a boat with eight men put off, and told them that they would pilot them in; but no fooner had they got on board, than they drew their hangers and piftols, and infifted on carrying her into Portfmouth instead of Boston. She had on board, befides what has been mentioned, a great many ftands of small arms, and a large brafs mortar, upon a new con ftruction. WEDNESDAY, 3. A letter from Cork, dated Dec. 23, fays, The Rockingham transport, which was loft laft night, miftook Robert's Cove, about ten miles from hence, for (as is fuppofed) this harbour; it blew a gale of wind, and was thick weather; there were on board three companies of the 32d regiment. Lieut. Marth and his wife, Enfign Sandiman, Lieur. Barker's wife, and upwards of go foldiers, befides the captain and crew, were drowned; five officers and 20 foldiers faved themselves in the flat-bottomed boat.-In the like manner, by mistake, last war (taking the Bolthead for the Ram, near Plymouth) the Ramilies, of 90 guns, and 850 men, all perished, except 20 feamen, and one midfhipman." TUESDAY, 9. A letter from Lifbon, dated Nov. 28, fays, "The governor of Pernambuco, in Brafil, has written to his Majefty, informing him, that at Siara, the capital of a province of that name, one Andrew Vidal, of Negrei ros 1776. The MONTHLY CHRONOLOGER. ros, had lately died at the age of 124 years. He had enjoyed the ufe of his memory and his fenfes till the day of his death. In the year 1772 he was chief magiftrate of the city, and, notwithstanding his great age, performed the office of judge to the entire fatiffaction of every one. He was father of thirty fons, and five daughters." THURSDAY, 11. This day came on at St. Margaret's Hill, the trial of the principal rioter at Vauxhall, on the last night of the feafon, when after a trial of feven hours, he was fined, apd obliged to give fecurity for his good behaviour for two years. The fine was paid in court. THURSDAY, 18. On Tuesday the Thames was entirely frozen over at Mortlake, where feveral perfons walked over the ice, and one man ran in imminent danger of lofing his life, by wheeling a barrow of dung from Mortlake to the oppofite fhore, for the trifling wager of five fhillings. Her Majesty has ordered 500l. to be diftributed among the distressed poor in five parishes, towards relieving them with bread and coals. WEDNESDAY, 24. A citizen, who had raised himself to the diftinction of a common-councilman of one of the wards of this city, and had the misfortune to fail, and compounded with his creditors, lately called them together, to acquaint them he had embarked in another business, in which it had pleased God to bless his honest endeavours with fuccefs, and he paid them every fhilling of their debts. At the fame time he defired one of them, who was churchwarden of his parish, to accept his benefaction of 20l. towards cloathing the poor children at this fevere feafon of the year. COUNTRY.NEWS. Containing the Particulars of the Damages done by the great Fall of Snow. A Letter from Chelmsford, dated Jan. 19, fnow is the moft confiderable that has happened within the memory of the oldeft perfon living. Round this neighbourhood, and as far as we have been able to learn, through this and the adjoining counties, it is driven in many places into the roads and hollow ways from fix to twelve feet deep; the average is not above fifteen inches. We have heard of a man being loft near Baddow, and a poor woman at Willingale, with feveral other accidents." By a veffel arrived in the river from Dover, an account is received that the town is fo full of gentlemen and ladies, lately come from France (who are detained there on account of the badness of the roads to London) that provifions of all kinds are fo dear, many poor families are in a starving condition; 55 that beef, mutton, veal, &c. fell at iod. per pound; that there are no fowls to be got, the country people not being able to bring them to market. A letter from Oxford of the 13th thus concludes, "The roads are rendered impaffable for carriages, infomuch that many of the ftages from hence have been utterly incapable of pursuing their journies; feveral accidents have happened; and not only ftages, but poft chaifes, have been obliged to be dug out of the fnow. "In fome of the turnpike roads, the fnow is drifted from fix to eight feet deep; and in many bye roads, we are informed, to the depth of near 18 feet." They write from Gloucefter of the fame date, that an account of the following accidents has already reached that place; a young woman on Broomfgrave-Licky; the poftboy between Birmingham and Wolverhampton; the poftboy between Wotton-Underedge and Bristol, a man on Marcle-Hill, in Herefordshire; another near Witney, and another on Eafham Hill, in Oxfordshire; and a poor woman on Corfe Lawn, have all perished in the fnow. Yesterday a journeyman tiler and plaifterer and his wife, of this city, were found dead in the fnow on Mendip. A recruiting ferjeant is also faid to be loft on the Gloucefter road. A man who travels the country with Irish linens was found frozen to death, in Wooten-Wood, near this place, with his box at his back. Near Trowbridge a labourer was found dead in the field; and near Salford, another man was dug out of the fnow, quite dead, and a shepherd was found frozen to death, up to his middle in fnow, near Aylesbury. So great is the number of people detained at different places on the road from Dunstable to Daintry, and fill further on towards Coventry, and the stock of provifions fo fmall, that mutton fold laft week from ten-pence to upwards of a fhilling per pound, and other things in proportion, owing to the cros roads and lanes being topped up. A poor woman and two infants were found frozen to death on the 21ft inftant on Windfor foreft. The further particulars of thefe calamities we must defer till our next. A letter from Canterbury, dated Jan. 10, fays, "By the heavy rains which fell on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday last, the ri ver Stour, which runs through this city, was fwelled to an amazing degree on Monday morning, and continued rifing till fix in the evening, which broke the banks in many places above the city, making a free paffage through houfes and gardens, fo that all the houfes in the Areets next the river were upwards of four feet deep in water. It came on fo fuddenly, that many of the cellars and low rooms were full, before any of the moveables could be t ken away. The inha-. bitants were obliged to betake themselves to 56 FOREIGN AFFAIRS. their bed-chambers for fafety, and many families were under the neceffity of leaving their habitations. The current ran fo extremely ftrong through North Lane, that it has done confiderable damage to the pavement, as likewife to the foundations of feveral houfes. Had this flood happened in the night, the confequences would have been of the moft alarming hature. Happily only one perfon's life is loft. By yesterday noon the water had left the streets; but the confufion which ftill prevails among the inhabitants is fo great, that their loffes cannot as yet be afcertained. AMERICAN AFFAIRS, Rivington's New York Gazetteer, of Nov. 23, gives the following Extract of a Letter from Cambridge, Nov. 9. E account of the regulars Jan. great distance, when they found them retreating, and ran up with all speed in hopes of bringing them to an engagement, before they reached their boat. All this time an unceafing warm fire was kept up from the before-mentioned forts and the fhip, and from the foldiers and their boats. Our lofs is, one killed and three wounded; their lofs uncertain, but have fince heard three of their men were found dead on the field. One of the enemy's boats was funk from our Fort on Profpect Hill, by a 24 pounder, and the enemy was beat off the ground about two o'clock and landed at Charles Town. During the engagement 22 large ships hove in fight, with troops from England and Ireland." A letter from an officer at Bofton, to his friend at Edinburgh, dated Dec. 14, lays, "The American army is much elated at the fuccefs of their troops in Canada, which they look upon as an immediate interpofition of W landing at Letchmore's Point, about Providence, and have had a day of thanksgiv a mile and a half from Cambridge; about 300 of the regulars landed from Boston, on the above mentioned point, under cover of a very heavy and continual fire from their batteries on Bunker's, Breed's, Corps, and Beacon Hills; as alfo from a frigate which Jay within 300 yards of the point on which they landed. They had poffeffion of the hill for near an hour before they could be obAtructed, owing to a very high tide, which prevented our people from crofting a taufway, which was overflowed, and the only way to get at the enemy. During this time they were fhooting horfes and cows, with an intent of taking them off; but a battalion of rifle-men, under command of colonel Thompfon, difregarding danger and difficulty, took to the water, which was then up to their middles, and a quarter of a mile over, and notwithstanding the Regulars had lodged themselves behind ftone walls, and in an orchard, where they might have done our people much damage, yet on Colonel Thom fon's approach they filed to their boats in great confufion, but not without a warm ferenade from the rifle-men, who fired at a ing for their victories. They have fortified a bill near Bofton, and from their refent temper we expect an attack foon upon the town, which muft bring on fomething decifive; our works are of fuch ftrength, that there is little doubt of the Americans being repulfed," FOREIGN AFFAIRS. A hath thrown out fire, and feems to indicate an "For fome days paft Mount Vefuvius approaching eruption, which draws hither a Bareith, with his whole retinue is arrived great number of foreigners: the Margrave of here." "They write from Vienna, that the negociations relative to adjutting the limits of Moldavia, by the commiflaries of that court and those of the Porte, were not broke off as had been reported, the two courts having agreed to the principal points in difpute; and that the commiffaries only wait for a more favourable feafon to put the finishing stroke to this bufinefs.." To our CORRESPONDENTS. OBSERVATIONS on Affaffination is obliged to be deferred till next month.` The vindication of Bishop Bedell, witb remarks on Lilly's Hiftory, and Mr. Granger, in our next. An Ode to the new year—Stanzas on Winter-Epigram on a Mifer-and an Epitaph for an Infant, are received. We hope for the thanks of J. D. both for our impartiality and care. of the notes was preferved, and his remarks placed to greater advantage, than at The order the bottom of the page. If we were to publish his late reflections, probably anoiber correfpondent would retort" uncandid, party concerned, prejudiced, &c." We advife Mr. S. N-s not to publish his poem. The Verfes and Ghost, which he fent as a fpecimen in fpelling and poetry, are too difmal to appear in public. The lines figned L. M. are inadmisible. Lift of Marriages, Deaths, &c. in our next. Epitaphs in Salisbury Church-yard Converfation between fome Portuguese Gentlemen on their Prime Minister, &c. 87 State of the annual Income of the Nation E9 ibid. 105 ibid. ibid. 106 ibid. 107 Prologue to the New Comedy of the Run away Monthly Chron loger ibid. 108 Account of the Proceedings at Guildhall on the Election of Chamberlain With the following Embellishments, viz. A neatly engraved Head of the late Comic Actor Mr. WESTON, AND ibid. An ALLEGORICAL PRINT on the late Marriage of the MARQUIS of GRANBY. Of whom may be had complete Sets, from the Year 1732 to the prefent Time, ready bound LONDON, printed for R. BALDWIN, at No. 47, in Pater-nofter-Row. and ftitched, or any fingle Volume to complete Sets. |