England, which he can never see more. I have had this account from many hands, and can assure you of its authenticity. K. C. is, I believe, the first woman in England that has had two husbands to attend her to the grave together.

DREADFUL SUFFERINGS OF SIX DESERTERS.

THE following singular and affecting narrative of the sufferings attending six deserters from the artillery of St. Helena, was related before a Court of Inquiry, on oath, by John Brown, one of the survivors:

In June 1799, I belonged to the first company of artillery, in the service of the garrison; and on the 10th of that month, about half an hour before parade time, M'Kinnon, gunner, and orderly of the second company, asked me if I was willing to go with him on board of an American ship called the Columbra, Captain Henry Lelar, the only ship then in the Roads. After some conversation I agreed, and about 7 o'clock, met him at the Playhouse, where I found one Mr. Quinn of Major Searle's company; another man called Brighouse, another called Parr, and the sixth Matthew Conway. Parr was a good seaman, and said he would take us to the Island of Ascension, or lay off the harbour till the Columbra could weigh anchor and come out. Brighouse and Conway proposed to cut a whale boat from out of the harbor, to prevent the Columbra being suspected; which they effected, having therein a coil of rope and five oars, with a large stone she was moored by: this happened about eleven at night. We observed lanterns passing on the line towards the sea gate, and hearing a great noise, thought we were missed and searched for. We immediately embarked in the whale boat, with about twenty-five pounds of bread in a bag, a small keg of water, supposed to contain about thirteen gallons, and a compass given to us by the commanding officer of the Columbra. We then left the ship, pulling with two oars only to get ahead of her; the boat was half full of water, and nothing to bail her out. In this condition we rowed

out to sea, and lay off the Island a great distance, expecting the American ship hourly; about twelve o'clock, the second day, no ship appearing, by Parr's advice, we bore away, steering N. by W. and then N. N. W. for the Island of Ascension, using our handkerchiefs as substitutes for sails.. We continued our course till about the 18th in the morning, when we saw a number of birds, but no land; about twelve that day Parr said he was sure that we must have passed the Island, accounting it must be 800 miles from St. Helena. We then each of us took our shirts, and with them made a small spritsail, and laced jackets and trowsers together to the waistband to keep us warm, and then altered our course to W. by N. thinking to make Rio de Janeiro, on the American coast. Provisions running very short, we were allowed one ounce of bread for twenty-four hours, and two mouthfuls of water.

We continued till the 26th, when all our provisions were expended. On the 27th, Mr. Quinn took a piece of bamboo in his mouth to chew, and we all followed his example. On that night, it being my turn to steer the boat, and remembering to have read of persons in our situation eating their shoes, I cut a piece off one of mine; but it being soaked with salt water, I was obliged to spit it out, and take the inside sole, which I ate part of, and distributed to the rest, but found no benefit from it. On the first of July, Parr caught a dolphin with a gaff that had been left in the boat. We all fell on our knees, and thanked God for his goodness to us. We tore up the fish, and hung it to dry; about four we ate part of it, which agreed with us pretty well. On this fish we subsisted till the 4th, about eleven o'clock; when finding the whole expended, bones and all, Parr, myself, Brighouse and Conway proposed to scuttle the boat and let her go down, and put us out of misery. The other two objected, observing, that God, who had made man, always found something to eat. On the 5th, about eleven, M'Kinnon proposed that it would be better to cast lots for one of us to die, in order to save the rest; to which we consented. The lots were made, William Parr, being sick two days before with the spotted fever, was excluded. It was agreed that No. 5 should die, and the lots being unfolded, M'Kinnon was No. 5.

We had agreed that he whose lot it was should bleed himself to death, for which purpose we had provided ourselves with nails sharpened, which we got from the boat. M'Kinnon, with one of them, cut himself in three places; in his foot, hand and wrist, and praying God to forgive him, died in a quarter of an hour. Before he was quite cold, Brighouse, with one of those nails, cut a piece of flesh off his thigh, and hung it up, leaving his body in the boat; about three hours after we all ate of it, only a very small piece: this piece lasted us till the 7th. We dipped the body every two hours into the sea, to preserve it. Parr having found a piece of slate in the bottom of the boat, sharpened it on the large stone, and with it cut another piece off the thigh, which lasted us till the 8th; when it being my watch, and observing the water, about break of day, to change color, I called the rest, thinking we were near shore, but saw no land, it not being quite day-light. As soon as day appeared, we discovered land right ahead, and steering towards it, about eight in the morning we were close to the shore: there being a very heavy surf, we endeavored to turn the boat's head to it, but, being very weak, we were unable. Soon after the boat upset; myself, Conway and Parr got on shore. Mr. Quinn and Brighouse were both drowned. We discovered a small hut on the beach, in which was an Indian and his mother, who spoke Portuguese, and I understanding that language, learnt that there was a village about three miles distant, called Belmont. This Indian went to the village, and gave information that the French had landed, and in about two hours the gov ernor of the village, a clergyman, with several armed men, took Conway and Parr prisoners, tying them up by their hands and feet, and slinging them on a bamboo stick, and in this manner took them to the village. I being very weak, remained in the hut some time, but was afterwards taken. On our telling them we were English, we were immediately released, and three hammocks provided. We were taken in them to the governor's house, who let us lay on his own bed, and gave us milk and rice to eat; not having eat any thing for a considerable time, we were lock-jawed, and continued so till the 23d; during which time the governor wrote to the governor of St. Salvador

who sent a small schooner to a place called Port Sequro, to take us to St. Salvador. We continued there about thirteen days, during which time the inhabitants made up a subscription of £200 for each man. We then embarked in the Maria, a Portuguese ship, for Lisbon, Parr as mate, Conway boatswain's mate, myself, being sickly, a passenger. In thirteen days we arrived at Rio de Janeiro. I was determined to give myself up the first opportunity, in order to relate my sufferings to the men of this garrison, to deter them from ever attempting so mad a scheme.

SINGULAR ESCAPE DURING THE REIGN OF TERROR.

DURING the Reign of Terror in France, a man in the town of Marseilles was protected from the fate with which he was menaced, in a manner totally unlooked for. His name being on the list of the proscribed, a party of the terrorists came to his house to seek for him. They found his wife, who said that her husband was not at home; he had been absent for several days, and she knew not whither he was gone. The party, however, insisted on searching the house, which they did, without finding the man. They then quitted it, and went to make some other visits with which they were charged. One of the party returned very soon, and finding the house-door open, went in. He looked about, but saw no one; and then hastening up stairs to a room on the first floor, he knocked at the panel of a wainscot, and said, " open, open quickly." The panel was accordingly opened, and a double barreled pistol discharged at the same moment from within, but happily it did no injury to the person on the outside; the master of the house, at the same time, came forth from his hiding place. "Now," cried his visitor, "I came to save you, and you would kill me." Then addressing himself to the wife, whom the report of the pistol had brought thither in an instant-"Hear me, madam," said he, "I have associated myself with those men who were recently here, only that I may save my fellow citizens as much as lies in my power. As we were searching your house, I observed a strong

emotion in your countenance, and a tremor in all your frame, as we passed this spot, and I had no doubt, therefore, that your husband was concealed within. This occasioned my speedy return, to warn you that your good man is not in safety as long as he remains in this house, or even in the town. It is not doubted but that he is here; and you will never cease to be troubled with like visits till he shail be found. I will, however, engage to procure you the means of escape," added he, turning to the man, “if you dare confide in me." This was not a situation in which to hesitate on accepting such an offer, and with tears and thanks it was embraced both by the husband and wife. It was now dusk, and the benevolent visitor said he would return in about half an hour, and take the man with him to his own house, where he might remain in perfect security till means could be found for him to quit the town. This was accordingly done, and a few nights after, he was consigned to a Genoese vessel, which carried him in safety out of the republic.-Miss Plumptre.

MOST REMARKABLE SUICIDE.

THIS singular account was published some years ago by a German author, who asserts the authenticity of it. In a coffee house, in a city of Livonia, a man one day made the following proposition: "I am tired of my life, and if any body would be of my party, I would not hesitate to quit this world." Nobody answering him, he said no more; but, after some time, all the company having left the room, except two persons, these came up to him, and asked him if he were really serious in the proposition which he had made? "Yes, gentlemen," said he, in a determined tone of voice, "I never speak without due reflection, and I never retract what I have advanced." "Then we will be of your party, for we have formed the same design." "Why so, gentlemen? My actions are always determined by an adequate motive, and I am incapable of urging a man to adhere to such a resolution as this, unless his misfortunes be such as to render life insupportable to him."