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190]   ANNUAL REGISTER
pole, was only made use of; and the said stock was so placed to the credit of him the said Robert Walpole, in the books of the said company, upon and under the trusts, and to and for the intents and purposes hereafter-mentioned ; that is to say, upon trust, and to the intent and purpose, that he the said Robert Walpole, his executors and administrators, should transfer and assign the said 12986l. 2s. 2d. capital stock, and every part thereof, with all the dividends, produce, and profits of the same, to such person or persons, and to and for such uses, intents, and purposes as his majesty, by any instrument in writing, or by any writing purporting his last will and testament, respectively to be signed by his majesty in the presence of two or more credible witnesses, shall direct or appoint ; and until such direction or appointment shall be made by his majesty as aforesaid, or in default thereof, that he the said Robert Walpole, his executors and administrators, shall be and remain possessed of the said 12986l. 2s. 2d. capital flock, and the produce, profits and dividends of and for the same, on trust for the sole use and benefit of his said majesty, and to and for no other use, intent or purpose whatsoever.  In witness whereof, the said Robert Walpole hath hereunto set his hand and seal the 25th day of May, in the year of our Lord 1723.

Witness  R. WALPOLE (L.S>)
L. M. Mehmet

OPINIONS to whom the Right of the King's Personalities belong.

SUBSCRIPTI declaramus nos pro certa & indubita lege tenere quod jocalia & id genus pretiosa secundum legem Angliae semper apud nos usitatam & apporbatam denominantur catalla, Anglise chattels.

Dirimus etiam quod per eandem legem, jocalia, & hujus modi bona & catalla per regem vel reginam Angliae empta, & in vita eorundem minime disposita non descendant post mortem eorundem neque deveniant, illi, quem Rex vel regina Angliae per testamentum instituerit haeredem, bonorum & catallorum suorum, quem nos vocamus executorem testamenti, sed successori ad coronam regiam solummodo adjudicanda sunt; & haec lex stabilita existit judicio juris paeritorum, & continua observatione in omni seculo apprebata fuit.

Et haec bene cognoscimus & scimus per experientiam nostram perscripta veterum in jure nostro Anglicano eruditorum per libros annaliam diversorum regum Angliae & memoranda in curiis nostris fide dignissima.  In cujus rei testimonium huit chartae manus nostras apposimus.
             Hen. Hatfell,   Tho Powys,
             Ja. Mountague,  R. Eyre,
             Jo. Hawles,     Jo. Conyers,
             Con. Phipps,    Sam. Dodd

Declarat & subscript per personas hic nominat stylo veteri 24 Decembris, 1708, coram me,
             Tho. Trevor.

An Account of a Man's standing the Shot of a Cannon at a small Distance, with the Method of doing it with Safety.

I Was a few day since in company with a person, who affirmed he had the secret of doing a thing I have often heard of, but hitherto

       For the YEAR 1772          [191
hitherto always imagined impossible ; that is, standing the shot of a cannon charged with a proper ball, and full quantity of powder, at the distance of only ten yards.  A set of us, who were together, on his positively asserting this, against all our objections to the possibility of it, offered, in short, to procure a cannon, and powder and ball, if he dared to put it into execution ; to which he readily consented ; and the next day we got an iron gun, a nine pounder, a bullet of that weight, and a quantity of powder for a charge.

All that he required was, to have the charging of the gun himself, which when he had done, he placed himself at ten yards distance, strait before the muzzle, and desired one of us to fire it : We were a good deal surprized at his confidence, but unwilling to be accessary to his losing his life by his rashness, desired him to stand from before the cannon, and only place his hand to receive the bullet.  This he did, and I fired it myself:  The loudness of the report gave us no room to doubt but that he had put in the full charge of powder we gave him; but, to our amazement and surprise, we saw him stop the ball with his hand ; the ball fell directly down; in short, he received no hurt.  Some of the company judged he had done this by putting in a false ball made of hollow paste-board, but, on examining it, we found it the very bullet we had given him ; so that it was plain there was no cheat.

On the whole, after a thousand random guesses about the way in which this was done, the man offered, for a certain sum of money, to tell us the secret, which we joined to purchase, and found to be this :

When you have the proper quantity of powder for a charge, put a very little of it into the cannon, then put in the ball, and over it put in the rest of the powder, then put in the wadding, and ram it down hard as usual.  This is the whole mystery, and a cannon thus charged will not carry the bullet twenty yards.  The report of the cannon this way is as loud as any other, for all the powder is fired, the bullet is not filling the barrel so exactly as to prevent its catching ; and the effect of the ball is almost nothing, because the ball is only thrown forward by the small quantity of powder that is below it, that which is above rather driving it back than forward.

When we had purchased the secret, we tried it several times, firing against thin deal boards, without hurting them ; and, for fear of accidents, that, I think is much the best way of making the experiment.

                        T. W.

Extraordinary Literary Work.

THERE have lately appeared, at Paris, proposals for printing, by subscription, a literary work, which is, perhaps, the most extraordinary that ever appeared.  The author is Mons. Count de Gebelin, member of the Academy Royal at Rochelle, and of the Oeconomical Society at Bern, whose learning and abilities are universally acknowledged.  It is intitled, Du Monde Primitif, analyze et compare avec le Monde Moderne ; ou Recherches sur les Antiquites.