of the provisions. The French persuaded ha Joan was sent from heaven to their assistance, resumed fresh courage, and fought with so much vigour, that she and her convoy entered the town. She was received there as their guardian angel, and all the streets were decorated with tapestry. She was lodged at the house of Jacques Boucher, treasurer to the Duke of Orleans; and although she had been on horseback all day without taking any rest or refreshment, she refused partaking of a magnificent entertainment, and only ate some slices of bread dipped in a cup of wine and water, She lay in the same room with the wife of Jacques Boucher, with his daughter, When she heard that the English had detained her heralds, and had made use of injurious language respecting her character; and that the Count de Dunois had sent to say, that if any harm was done to the heralds, all the English prisoners at that time in Orleans should pay for it, she said, "Let them alone; in the name of God, they will not hurt them." The English seat back only one herald, whom she asked, "What says Talbot?" And when he informed her that he, as well as all his countrymen, spared no abuse in speaking of her, and declared if they caught her they would burn her; "Go back again, (said she), and doubt not but thou wilt bring with thee thy companion; and tell Talbot that if he will arm himself I will do the same and let him come before the walls of the town, and if he can take me he may burn me, and if I discomfit him, let him "raise the siege and return into his native country." The herald went, and brought back his companion. Before her arrival 200 English had driven back 500 French in the different skirmishes; but it was now reversed, which increased prodigiously the courage of the French. Soon after her entry, she prepared for the attack of Fort St. Loup, which she carried sword in hand, as well as the bulwarks of St. John, and of the Angustins. Six days afterwards she made a sally with the Count Dunois to facilitate the entry of a convoy under the command of Marshal de St. Severe, which she fortunately succeeded in. A little time afterwards fresh assaults were made to drive the English from the other forts; in one of these she was wounded in the fool, but it did not prevent her from continuing in the field. These attacks lasted the whole day, and the English were only forced to recede, owing to a want of ammunition. She here receiv ed a second wound, more dangerous than the first, in her neck; and as a · large quantity of blood issued therefrom her life became despaired of. She, to re-animate her men, said "it is not blood, but glory that runs from my wound," In one of these excursions as she was passing the Loire with Jacques Boucheur, some fishermen offered him a shad, who said to ber, Joan, let us eat this shad before we go farther." "In the name of God, (said she), we will not eat of it before Sapper when we shall have repassed the bridge, and have brought with us a Godon (ack-name on the English) who shall have his share.” The siege of Orleans was raised the 8th May, 1429. Joan carried the news of this fortunate event to the King. As soon as she was in bis presence, she kuelt, and embracing his knees, said "Gentle Dauphin, come and be crown. ed at Rheims. I am very earnest that you should go there, and have not the smallest doubt of your receiving the crown which is worthy of you." When the King and those with him had considered the great things they had seen ber perform, with what prudence and courage she had conducted herself, as if she had been bred to arms all her life, and had seen how modest and pious her behaviour was; considering all these things, those who before had advised the expedition into Normandy, now changed their opinion. Then the King and a few of his prin cipal courtiers, thinking among themselves it would not displease Joan if they asked her what voice it was that she said advised and comforted her; but before they made their request she said, "In the name of God I know what are your thoughts, and what you wish to know concerning the voice I have heard touching your coronation: I will ed you, that having placed myself according to my usual method when I pray, and having complained that what I said was not believed, the voice then said to me, Girl, go, go; I will be thy aid and supporter- go. The moment I heard this voice I was marvellously rejoiced." She ordered preparations to be made for the coronation at Rheims; but this was not very easy, as the English were masters of all that part of the country. About this time the constable de Richemont, who succeeded to that honour after the death of the Earl of Buchan's ancestor, John Stewart, Earl of Douglas, (and when he was Duke of Brittany, after his brother's death, thought it bonourable to retain the constables sword), seeing the affairs of France take a more favourable turn, was desirous of making his peace with the King. Joan was sent to meet him. When near, they both alighted; and as she was embracing his knees he said to her, "Joan, they tell me you wish to fight with me. I know not where you come from, or who you are. If you are sent by God I fear you not, for he knows my intentions as well as yours; if by the devil I fear you less " She soon satisfied him as to herself and her intentions, and they both went together to the siege of Gergeau. During this siege, the English having kept up a very warm fire upon that part where the Duke d' Alencon lodged, Joan came to bim and said, "Hand-ome Duke, take yourself from your present quarters as fast as you can, for you will be endangered by the cannons." The Duke followed this advice; and he had scarce gone a few paces when a ball from the town struck off the head of a gentleman from Anjou, who was standing in the place of the Duke when Joan spoke to him. (To be concluded in our next.) New Books. Memoirs of the last Ten Years of George II. by Lord Orford, better known by the name of Horace Walpole. A very interesting Work has just been published under the above title, containing a variety of information never before made public. We purpose giving an impartial Review of it as speedily as possible, and in the mean time, we present our readers with the following extract, containing the CHARACTER OF GEO. II. "The King had fewer sensations of Revenge, or at least knew how to hoard them better than any man who ever sat upon a throne.-The insults he received from his own, and those obliged servants, never provoked him enough to make him venture the repose of his people or his own. If any object of his hate fell in his way, he did not pique himself upon heroic forgiveness, but would indulge it at the expence of his integrity though not of his safety. He was reckoned strictly honest; but the burning of his father's will must be an indelible blot upon his memory ;-as a much later instance of his refusing to pardon a young man who had been condemned at Oxford for a most trifling forgery, contrary to all example when recommended to merey by the Judge, merely because Willes, who was attached to the Prince of Wales, had tried him, and assured him of his pardon, will stamp his name with cruelty, though in general, his disposition was merciful, if the offence was not murder. His avarice was much less equivocal than his courage; he had distinguished the latter early it grew more doubtful afterwards; the former he distinguished very near as soon and never deviated from it. His understanding was not near so deficient as it was imagined; but though his character changed extremely in the world, it was without foundation; for whether he deserved to be so much ridiculed as he had been in the former part of his reign or so respected in the latter, he was consistent in himself, and uniformly meritorious or absurd. His other passions were Germany, the army, and women. Both the latter had a mixture of parade in them: he treated my Lady Suffolk, and afterwards Lady Yarmouth, as his mistress, while he admired only the Queen, and never described what he thought a handsome woman, but he drew her picture. Lady Suffolk, was sensible, artful, and agreeable, but had neither sense, nor art enough to make him think her so agree able as his wife. When she had left him, tired of acting the mistress, while she had in reality all the slights of a wife, and no interest with him, the op At the Battle of Oudenarde. † Soon after her first arrival in England, Mrs. ****, one of the bed-cbamber women with whom he was in love, seeing him count his money over very often, said to him," Sir, I can bear it no longer, if you count your money any more, I will leave the room." position affected to cry up her virtue, and the obligations the King had to her for consenting to seem his mistress, while in eality she had contined herselfto mere friendship-a ridiculous pretence, as he was the last man in the world to have a taste for talking sentiment, and that with a woman who was deaf!Lady Yarmouth was inoffensive and attentive only to pleasing him, and to selling Peerages whenever she had an opportunity. The Queen had been admired, and happy for governing him by address; it was not then known how easily he was to be governed by fear.Indeed there were few arts by which he was not some time or other governed in his life; for not to mention the late Duke of Argyle, who grew a favourite by imposing himself upon him for brave; nor Lord Welmington who imposed himself upon him for the Lord knows what. The Queen governed him by dissimulation, by affected tenderness and deference: Sir Robert Walpole, by abilities and influence in the House of Commons; Lord Granville by flattering him in his German politics; the Duke of Newcastle by teasing and betraying him; Mr. Pelham by bullying him-the only man by whom Mr. Pelham was not bullyed himself. Who indeed had not sometimes weight with the King, except his children and his mistresses! With these he maintained all the reserve and majesty of his rank. He had the haughtiness of Henry the Eighth, without his spirit; the avarice of Henry the Seventh without his exactions; the indignities of Charles the First, without his bigotry for his prerogatives; the vexations of King William, with as little skill in the management of parties; and the gross gallantry of his father without his good nature or his honesty. He might have been honest if he had never had hated his father, or ever loved his son." ON THE TERMS "BLACK" AND "DARK." TO THE EDITOR. SIR-IT is a well known philosophic truth, that all bodies become visible by A relation of Cheselden, the Surgeon, was condemned to be hanged; Cheselden proposed, if the King would pardon him, to take out the drum of his ear in order to try what effect it would have; and if it succeeded the experiment was to be repeated on my Lady Suffolk. The man was pardoned; the operation never tried! rays of light transmitted from their superficial boundaries to our eyes, and that upon the quantity absorbed by the visible body, depends the darkness of its colour. Where all the rays are absorbed, the body is said to be of a black colour, and other names are given to the colours which result from the quantity and arrangement of the reflected rays. The darker any body appears, the less light is transmitted from it to the eye, and total blackness is a total privation of light. The difference between blackness and darkness is simply this:-blackness is when a body upon which rays of light fall, absorbs them, whilst the surrounding objects are illuminated and visible; but darkness takes place when no rays of light fall upon the body, and that consequently, surrounding objects are invisible. The expressions blackness and darkness are often used synonimously, but it hence appears evidently incorrect. I may farther remark, that the expression "seeing black," is improper: for if vision be performed by rays of light reflected from the object perceived to the eye, there can be no vision where there are no rays reflected-there can be no rays reflected if they be all absorbed --and the absorption of all the rays is what causes the particular circumstance in bodies called blackness: therefore blackness is not a visible circumstance in bodies, but an inferential one: inasmuch as it is only used to denote the absence of those which, to us, are visible wherever they exist. It hence appears contradictory to say, "I saw a black colour." The same remarks apply to darkness. It is true there is no kind of body known which is perfectly black; for all solid matter which receives the rays of the sun, or of any artificial light, reflect a part, however small, and of course according to its quantity and configuration makes the object appear brown, blue, &c. through all the shades and varieties of colour up to white. And a perfect white, or in other words, the reflection of all the rays of light, is as impossible as a perfect absorption. The error probably arose from the same source, as according to Dr. Watts, many others have done, giving positive names to negatives of quality or existence. Yours, &c. T. S. D. Leeds, March 5th, 1822. PRESTON GUILD. "At Preston Guild, the streaming flags are borne From street to street;-elate the heart of man, And makes him feel that life has still its joys, The aged, and the young, man, woman, child, Unite in social glee: "With sober cheerfulness the grandam eyes Her offspring round her, all in health and peace; And, thankful that she's spared to see this fete Return once more, breathes low a secret pray'r That God would shed a blessing on their heads." The Guilda Mercatoria (or, Guild of Merchants;) of Preston, is derived from the Saxon word Gilo, signifying money, aud means a fellowship, corporation, society, fraternity, or company of merchants, combined together, by orders and laws made among themselves, by their Prince's licence. Hence a fraternity or commonalty of men gathered into one combination, supporting their common charge by mutual contribution. They have peculiar privileges whereby to hold certain pleas of land among themselves. They formerly undertook to punish crimes, make losses good, and acts of restitution, in proportion to offences; for which purpose they raised sums of money among themselves, and put the same into one common stock; they also endowed chantries, for priests to perform orisons for the defunct. Fraternities or Guilds were long used in this kingdom before any formal licences were granted to them; though, at the present day, they are obliged to receive licence from the body-corporate of the respective towns they are holden in,which authority primarily emanates from the king.-The Guild of 1802, under the Mayorality of N. Grimshaw, Esq; was peculiarly imposing, the splendour and dignity exhibited by the nobility, gentry, and others who attended this local Jubilee, surpassed all former precedent. By charter, the Guild is to be held every twentieth year, in default of which, the elective franchise of the in habitants, and the privileges of the burgesses, coupled with that of sending members to parliament would be forfeited. The first charter given to the burgesses of Preston was in Henry the second's reign, A. D. 1172; granted inter alia, and have been fully ratified by other charters from King John, two from Henry III. Edward III. Richard II. Henry IV. V. VI. Philip and Mary, Elizabeth, and three of Charles II., viz. for the year 1637,-1681,and the present charter, by which the government of the town depends for its Attested real existence, that of 1684. copies of these charters have lately been translated by Dr. John Lingard, D. D. and L. L. D. and published by Mr. Wilcockson, of Preston. The Guild as held in 1802. "Vain bis attempt who tries to please them all." The illustrious family "of the house of Stanley" possess great influence at this pleasing time, (and from time immemorial have been patronizers of Preston Guild,) and give "Gaiete de cœur," to this interesting Jubilee by their presence. All kinds of amusements suited to all ranks and conditions are introduced at this time into the town, by visitors in search of the one thing needful,' from all parts of the kingdom. The Guild commenced on Monday the thirtieth day of August, under the most pleasing auspices imaginable, assisted by a clear atmosphere, and fine weather, which gave all the various spectacles a "coup de grace." The immense concourse of people of all ranks, from the peer to the plebian, was such, (it was believed,) as was never before seen on any similar occasion. The first day of the Guild was ushered in by the ringing of bells, sounding of trumpets, and other martial music adapted peculiarly to the occasion. All the various inns, where the different fraternity or companies assembled, had their windows ornamented by flags hanging out of them, and embellished by streaming and rosetts of ribbands, together with bands of music playing, calculated to "sooth the savage breast." This was indeed, cailing forth old and young, to enjoy the Jubilee, and it may be said as a truism, that all parties mutually formed a con· centric body, in exerting themselves to support the pleasures attendant upon this fete, with concinnity and honour to the town, and its people generally. The gentlemen's procession commenced on the aforesaid Monday morning about nine o'clock, and was preceded by the "Chief Officer," who marshals the procession, armed "cap a pee," on horseback, (the horse richly caparisoned,) trumpeters on horseback, two and two, &c.; then came twentyfour young, graceful, and flowry women, appertaining to the different cotton mills of the town, habited in an uniform of peculiar beauty and simplicity. Their costume chiefly consisted of the manufacture of the town, the lower vestment was of fine white calico; the head-dress was formed after the manner of a wreath (of dark azure) wrought very curiously of cotton, so as to have all the denouement of a garland Each female carried in her hand, the branch of an artificial cotton tree, as being the symbol of her profession. Indeed, these branches appeared as if they were in full bloom, and had a powerful similitude to nature. The ingenuity with which they were formed, and their beauty of execution, reflected great credit on the taste displayed by Mrs. Horrocks, (late consort of S. Horrocks, Esq. our present M. P. for Preston,) and the female part of her family who made them. This portion of the spectacle had a truly primeval and gay effect. The manifold numbers of nobility, gentry, clergy, ladies and others, walked in pairs, preceded by his lordship, Edward Smith Stauley, Earl of Derby, (Lord lieutenant and Custos Rotulorum, for the county palatine of Lancaster,) and the Hon. Thomas Erskine. They amounted in all to about four hundred, consisting of all the chief noblemen, gentlemen, merchants, manufacturers, and tradesmen of this and the neighbouring counties. "Now sounding tongues assail his ear, At the head of the manufacturers, were John Horrocks, Esq; M. P. for the borough, (since dead,) and John Watson, Esq; arm in arm, (the two principal, and indeed rival manufacturers of the county,) carrying white wands in their hands: upwards of one hundred workmen and mechanics follow ed them in pairs: they paraded through the principal streets of the town, attended by full bands of music;-and flags bearing painted devices thereon, and then proceeded to St. John's, the parish church, to hear divine service. In the course of the procession, came his worshipful the Guild Mayor, (N. Grimshaw, Esq.) with his maces, the grand Seneschal, or Recorder of the borough, Bailiffs, Aldermen, Common Council-men, Halbert men, and other corporation officers; such as the Dapifer, first, second, and third stewards, comptroller of the household, clerk of the kitchen, chief cook, chief butler, yeomen of the guard and wine cellar, the pantler, guardian of the spicery, gentlemen of the nappery, gentleman carver, usher of the guild-rooms, groom' and porters, town-crier and beadle, &c. &c. as likewise all the various companies, or incorporated bodies, headed by their respective wardens and other proper officers, with staves of office in their hands, richly arrayed in their respective habiliments, and with their usual' coat armour,' painted on flags or banners: also, one of the lodges of free and ac cepted masons, all in their singular, but yet curious dresses and decorations. The excellent band of musicians belonging to his Majesty's 17th regiment of light dragoons, preceded the municipal body, all in full dress, and their officers in new cloathing. The company of butchers in uniform and characteristic dresses, and those of the tanners, skinners, and glovers, habited in like manner, closed the whole. The other companies were the wool-combers, spinners, and weavers: the carpenters company; the smiths, (joined by the plumbers, painters, glaziers, and watch-makers,) and the mercers and drapers company: each were preceded by a full band of music, playing melodious tunes, and a very neat flag or pennon, bearing appropriate heraldic figures. The tailors company was attended by a man and woman decorated with fig leaves, an emblem of the high antiquity of their business. The Eve, though selected from among the fair Lancastrian witches, looked so facinating on this occasion as to win the admiration of all spectators. The butchers company were about forty in number, each man wearing a new white apron, and a steel attached to them; and twelve of their sons walked |