followed him; the Spaniard, instead of treating him with the defired hofpitality, meanly threw him into prifon as a spy. and there kept him in a dark damp dungeon for fome months, without either pen, ink, or paper. Being thus deftitute of every means of making his cafe known to his countrymen, he at length bethought himself of writing with a piece of charcoal on a bifcuit, which was allowed him for his fubfiftence, to a captain of an English man of war then lying in the harbour; who, though with much difficulty, and after being previously fent to prifon himself, at length effected the captain's release. Here he continued for fome time, till his wife and daughter, a beautiful girl about eleven years old, came to him from home, and from the Canaries they all joyfully embarked for England on board the Sandwich, Capt. Cockeran, commander, Glas now fuppofed that all his dangers were over; for the hip had come within fight of his native country, when a part of the crew mutinied, and fecretly refolved to murder all the reft. The names of the confpirators were George Gidley, cook, a native of the welt of England, Peter Mackinley, the boatfwain, a native of Ireland, Andrew Zekerman, a Dutchman, and Richard St. Quintin, an Englishman, Thefe villains entered into a confpiracy to murder the captain and all the other perfons, and to poffefs them felves of the treasure on board the ship, which amounted to above an hundred thousand pounds. This defign, on their paffage, they attempted three different nights to

accomplish; but were prevented more by Captain Glas, than Captain Cockeran's vigilance. At length, on Saturday the thirtieth of November 1765, at eleven o'clock at night, the four affaffins being ftationed on the night-watch, and Captain Cockeran being come on the quarter-deck to fee every thing properly fettled, upon returning to his cabin, Peter Mackinley, the boatswain, feized him and held him faft till Gidley knocked him' down with an iron bar, and repeating the blows till he was dead, they then threw him overboard. The captain's groans having alarmed two other feamen who were not in the confpiracy, they coming upon deck, were dispatched in the fame manner. As this horrid fcene was not performed without noife, it awakened Captain Glas, who was at that time in bed; upon his coming upon deck, he there perceived what they were about, and flying back with the utmost precipitation to get his fword, as he was unarmed, Mackinley imagining the cause of his going back, went down to the steps leading to the cabin, and there ftood in the dark at the foot of them, expecting Glas's return, He fucceeded but too well in his defign; for the captain going up, Mackinley behind his back feized him in his arms, and ftrove to hold him faft. Glas, who had great ftrength, had in fome measure difengaged one of his hands, when the other three ruffians came up to attack him. Mackinley ftill kept calling out to his affociates: but Zekerman, rushing on before the rest, received the captain's fword in his arms, where the weapon was enG 4

tangled,

tangled, and at length wrefted it out of the captain's grip. When they got the sword, they gave him feveral ftabs, while his groans and refiftance were all this time diftinctly heard by his unfortnnate wife and daughter. It is a circumftance that adds fomething pathetic to this relation, that the poor child had but that very day finished a fampler which he was working, in which the records her name and her age. The two poor trembling creatures had by this time come upon deck, wading through the blood of the husband and the father. Upon coming in fight of the murderers, they threw themfelves down, and implored for mercy; but this they were not difpofed to grant, but Zekerman bid them immediately prepare for death, The ladies, now feeing that no entreaties could avail, clafped each other with a laft embrace, refolving to die in each other's arms, while Mackinley and Zekerman taking them both together, flung them into the fea, where they foon funk together to the bottom.

the moft diligent; in debates, the moft eloquent; in enterprizes, the moft active; in devotion, the most fanatic; in misfortune, the most firm; in an assembly of divinės, the moft learned; in a confpiracy, the most factious. He never made any mistake, never let flip an opportunity, never left an advantage incomplete, never contented himself with being great when he had it in his power to be very great. Chance and natural temper, which determine the conduct of other men, did not influence the most inconfiderable of his actions.

Born with an abfolute indifference to all that is praise-worthy or blameable, honeft, or dishonest, he never confidered virtue as virtue, crimes as crimes; he regarded only the relation which the one or the other might have to his elevation. This was his idol; 'he facrificed to it his king, his country, his religion; which he would have defended with the fame zeal, had he had the fame intereft in protecting, as in deftroying them. The fyftem of his ambition was conducted with an art, an order, a boldness, a fubtlety, and a firmness, of which I believe hiftory can fhew. no example.

All fects, all ranks, all nations; peace, war, negotiations, revolusions, miracles, prophecies; all advanced the fortune of this bypocritical ufurper. He was a man born to decide the fate of nations, empires, and ages. pires, and ages. The fplendor of his talents hath almoft made the horror of his outrages to be forgot; pofterity at lealt will question, whether Oliver Cromwell deferved execration or admiration.

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The following natural history of cold was wrote by one of the most ingenious naturalifts in Europe; and we believe there are few of our readers but will find in it fomething both to inform and enter tain them.

A natural history of cold, with feveral curious experiments.

NOLD is a quality whofe nature, like that of fire, is best known by its effects. Whatever are the properties of fire, thofe of cold feem to be directly oppofite; fire increases the bulk of all bodies, cold contracts them; fire tends to diffipate their fubftance, cold condenfes them and strengthens their mutual cohesion. But though cold thus feems, by fome of its effects, to be nothing more than the abfence and privation of heat, as darkness is only the privation of light, yet cold is feemingly poffeffed of another quality, that has induced many to think it a distinct fubftance from heat, and of a peculiar nature. It is univerfally known, that when cold, by being continued, contracts and condenfes fubftances to a certain degree, if then its power be increased, inftead of continuing to contract and leffen their bulk, it enlarges and expands them, fo that extreme cold, like heat, fwells the substance into

which it enters. Thus in fluids, they contract fenfibly with cold till the moment they begin to freeze, from thenceforward, they dilate, and take up more space than they poffeffed while in a state of fluidity, When liquor turns to ice in a close cask, it is often known to burst the veffel. When ice is broke upon a pond, it swims upon the furface; a certain proof of its being of a larger bulk than fo much

water.

But though this dilatation of fluids by frost seems at first fight to be the refult of exceffive cold only, yet it very probably proceeds from a different caufe, and the power of freezing may be increafed while the intenseness of the cold receives no confiderable addition; on the contrary, a subftance which fhall melt ice will increase the degree of its coldness. To prove this, mix fal-ammoniac with pounded ice, or with fnow the falt fhall thus melt either of them into water, and, what is moft extraordinary, it shall increase their cold to a furprifing degree, as we find by the effects of this water in finking the thermometer, This experiment has induced therefore, to confider the freezing of fluids as not being entirely the refult of cold, but of fome unknown property either in the air or water which thus mixes with

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the body, and for a time deftroys its fluidity. What that body is that thus unites with fuch subftance, we must not pretend to determine. Muffchenbroek him felf, who is ready enough at affigning caufes, is obliged to leave this to the future elucidations of accidental experiment.

They who know the phænomena of nature, though ignorant of the causes which produce them, are wifer than is generally imagined. The freezing of water is attended with several very curious circumftances, which though not to be reduced to fcience, yet may ferve to employ curiofity: the following are a part. When water is firft laid out to freeze, which for the better obfervation is generally put into very thin glaffes, there first appears upon the furface an extremely thin coat of ice, fhortly after all the fides of the veffel dart out small filaments, like the rudiments of a fpider's web, to be inferted in the under part of the covering pellicle of ice. All thefe filaments enlarging by degrees, ones being conftantly added, at length by their union form one folid mafs. From hence we may fee that fluids freeze always at the top firft, and not at the bottom, as fome have imagined.

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Before the congelation, and while the fluid is congealing, a number of air-bubbles continually rife to the furface, where they efcape; and the more flowly the congelation is formed, the more flowly do thefe bubbles come up. The fwifter congelations, however, confine a great quantity of thefe air-bubbles before they have time to escape, and the ice thus quickly

formed, always contains a much larger portion of air than that more flowly produced. For this reafon, the fwift congelation's produce ice, which, containing great quantities of air, wants that evennefs of its contexture, which is remarkable in the ice which has less, and it thus becomes more opake. It resembles broken crystal, while that brought on by flow congelation is perfectly fmooth and transparent like glass.

Huyghens, in order to try the force with which ice would expand itself when confined, filled a cannon, the fides of which were an inch thick, with water, and then clofed the mouth and touch-hole fo as that none could escape. The inftrument thus filled, was expofed to a strong freezing air. In lefs than twelve hours the ice within was frozen, and began to dilate itself with fuch force, that it actually burft the piece in two different places. Mathematicians have calculated the force of the ice upon this occafion: fuch a force, they fay, would raise a weight of twenty-feven thousand feven hundred and twenty pounds. From hence, therefore, we need not be furprised at the effects of ice deftroying the fubftance of vegetables, trees, and even splitting rocks, when the froft is carried to excefs.

Freezing is carried on much more expeditiously when the water is at reft, than when it is in motion. It is eafy to affign the caufe of this : as the ice is carried from one furface to another by filaments, the current is ftill deftroying them as foon as formed; and it would be as difficult for a fpider's web to be formed while

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