was

not, on the other hand, in the least degree extenuate vice. The object that had alieneated the heart of this woman from her allegiance, a person of the name of Mosby, who had been an attendant upon Sir Edward North, her father: he was a man remarkable for neither person nor manners. "But love is blind," and unlawful passion also blinds its followers, and leads them to the edge of a precipice. Mosby, indolent and vicious, was easily persuaded to abuse the hospitality of Arden, at whose house he had been received as a friend, and a criminal attachment had now subsisted between the parties for the space of two years, in which time they had lost all sense of honour as well as religion. They swore fidelity to each other for life; and upon this occasion, in a church in London, had secretly prophaned the holy sacrament, by receiving it together, as a seal of their guilty vows. At the altar, and in the presence of a God of purity, where formerly she had, by the most awful contract, devoted herself to Arden at that sacred place, she shuddered not to call that God of Purity solemnly to witness her infidelity and enormous crimes. Guilt is progressive, and after an action of this nature, what may not be expected from a mind so thoroughly depraved! She had not yet attained the summit of iniquity another step remained to be ascended its nature may be easily imagined, for Arden had now become offensive to her sight; she detested him in her heart, and wished him out of existence. From desiring his death, she easily passed to that horrible degradation, the endeavouring to become his executioner; and soon proved the truth of that Roman maxim, "That the adultress is capable of poisoning her husband." There dwelt at that time in Feversham, a painter, skilled in the preparation of poisons from him, either by artifice or by a bribe, she procured one of the most deadly nature and speedy operation.-Wretched case, where a man's foes are those of his own household! One morning, when Arden proposed to ride to Canterbury, Alice

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prepared and brought him his breakfast, of which, as usual, milk was the chief ingredient. She had, however, Iningled with it the fatal dose; but, probably owing to some degree of agitation and confusion, had forgotten a principal circumstance-she had put the poison to the milk, instead of pouring the milk upon the poison, according to the direction she had received from the painter, consequently it did not blend in a proper manner, and this error saved for the present the life of her victim. Arden had no sooner swallowed a spoonful or two of the liquid, and cast his eyes upon it, than he discovered that it was not as it should be, and found fault with the taste and colour. Alice," said he, "what milk have you given me here?" At this question, she perceived she was in danger of being discovered, and angrily replying, "Nothing, I think, can please you," immediately spilt the whole mess, by tilting it over with her hand. Arden endured this without any farther observation; many such gusts of passion he had doubtless experienced before; and mounting his horse, rode towards Canterbury. The poison presently began to affect him, and he was seized with a violent sickness upon the road, but he soon recovered, and, what may seem singular, certainly appears, throughout the whole of the affair, neither at this nor any subsequent period, to have entertained the suspicion that his wife was plotting his destruction. It was not long before a second scheme was formed, in which the murderous task devolved upon others, who have not yet appeared upon the scene. An accomplice in this horrible design was a person_of the name of Green, living also at Feversham, and in the service of Sir Anthony Agar. This man bore a deadly hate to Arden. Green claimed a right to some lands, originally belonging to the Abbey of Feversham; the other disputed it with him, and at length prevailing, obtained from the Crown a grant in his favour, by which he wrested them altogether out of the hands of Green. In the course of this contention, threats and even

blows had passed between them; but as soon as the decision of the law had made Arden victorious, Green became his mortal foe. Under these circumstances, the adultress found no great difficulty in prevailing upon this man to attempt or procure the murder of her husband; and the promise of an ample reward devoted him to her service whenever an opportunity should occur of putting his design in execution. (Resumed at page 11.)

ANNALS OF NEWGATE. SIR,-You have already (p. p. 20 and 353, vol.1.) favoured your readers with an account of the punishment of pressure inflicted in 1721 upon a criminal named W. Spiggott, for refusing to plead; but as his case was a remarkable one, you will perhaps be glad to receive some farther particulars of it. I have therefore transcribed a passage relating thereto, from a work called "The Annals of New gate," which I subjoin, together with few miscellaneous notices extracted from the same work.

a

FRISK.

"Before Spiggott was put into the press, the Ordinary of Newgate endeavoured so dissuade him from hastening his own death in such a manner, and thereby depriving himself of that time which the law allowed him to repent in to which he only answered, If you come to take care of my soul, I shall regard you; but if you come about my body, I must desire to be excused, for I cannot hear one word.' At the next visit the chaplain found him lying in the vault, upon the bare ground, with three hundred and fifty pounds weight upon his breast, and then prayed by him, and at several times asked him, why he would hazard his soul by such obstinate kind of self-murder. But all the answer that he made was, Pray for me, pray for me!' sometimes lay silent under the pressure, as if insensible of pain, and then again would fetch his breath very quick and short. Several times he complained that they had laid a cruel weight upon his face, though it was

He

covered with nothing but a thin cloth, which was afterwards removed, and laid more light and hollow; yet he still complained of the prodigious weight upon his face, which might be caused by the blood's being forced up thither, and pressing the veins as violently as if the force had been externally on his face.

"When he had remained half an hour under this load, and fifty pounds weight more laid on, being in all four hundred, he told those that attended him he would plead.

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Immediately the weights were at once taken off, the cords cut asunder, brandy was put into his mouth to rehe was raised up by two men, some vive him, and he was carried to take his trial.

"The reasons he gave for enduring the press were, that his effects might be preserved for the good of his family, and that none might reproach his children by telling them their father was hanged, and that Joseph Lindsay might not triumph in saying, he had sent him to Tyburn. He seemed to be much incensed against this Lindsay, for, said he, I was once wounded, and in danger of my life, by rescuing him when he was near being taken, and yet he afterwards made himself an evidence against me.'"

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At another part of this work I find some curious stories of Jack Sheppard, who was as expert in escaping from gaol, as his pursuers were in getting him into it. It appears that many poems and pieces were written upon his life and death. The very pulpit moralized on his extraordinary escapes; and one preacher in particular, after having recorded Sheppard's adroitness, thus concluded his discourse:

"Let me exhort ve then to open the locks of your hearts with the nail of repentance; burst asunder the fetters of your beloved lusts; mount the chimney of hope, take from thence the bar of good resolution, break through the stone wall of despair, and

One of his accomplices; see page 353, vol. 1.

and all the strong holds in the dark entry of the valley of the shadow of death raise yourselves to the leads of divine meditation. Fix the blanket of faith with the spike of the church. Let yourselves down to the turner's house of resignation, and descend the stairs of humility: so shall you come to the door of deliverance from the prison of iniquity, and escape the clutches of that old executioner the devil, who goeth about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour."

The third volume commences with that "black prince" of highwaymen, the desperate and cruel Dick Turpin. He was notorious in the shires of York and Lincoln.-Turpin, after innumerable minor offences, was tried for horse-stealing, and he immediately wrote to his father for a character, as though it could be sent by post. He behaved in York Castle with great impudence.

His villanies were heavy and manifold. His behaviour at the place of execution (for he suffered for horsestealing) is curious.

"The morning before Turpin's execution, he gave three pounds ten shillings amongst five men, who were to follow the cart as mourners, with hatbands and gloves to several persons more. He also left a gold ring, and two pair of shoes and clogs, to a married woman at Brough, that he was acquainted with; though he at the same time acknowledged he had a wife and child of his own.

"He was carried in a cart to the place of execution, on Saturday, April 7, 1739, with John Stead, condemned also for horse-stealing; he behaved himself with amazing assurance, and bowed to the spectators as he passed. It was remarkable, that as he mounted the ladder, his right leg trembled, on whieh he stamped it down with an air of undaunted courage, looking round about him; and after speaking near half an hour to the topsman, threw himself off the ladder, and expired directly.

"His corpse was brought back from the gallows about three in the afternoon, and lodged at the Blue Boar, at Castle-gate, till ten the next

morning, when it was buried in a neat coffin, in St George's churchyard, within Fishergate Postern, with this inscription: I. R. 1739, R. T. aged 28.' He confessed, however, to the hangman that he was thirty-three years of age. The grave was dug very deep, and the persons whom he appointed his mourners, as abovementioned, took all possible care to secure the body; notwithstanding which, on Tuesday morning, about three o'clock, some persons were discovered to be moving it off; but the mob having got scent where it was carried to, and suspecting it was to be anatomized, went to a garden in which it was deposited, and brought it away through the streets of the city in a sort of triumph, almost naked (being only laid on a board, covered with some straw, and carried on four men's shoulders), and buried it in the same grave, having first filled the coffin with slacked lime."

It is impossible to read these volumes, and not arrive at the conclusion, that the punishment of death has no suitable terror on the minds of the culprits.

The public exhibition of a young man dying resolutely, is rather a fearful display of courage, than an awful warning against crime. The deprav→ ed adore what is GAME; and to them, a daring death is rather a stimulant than a dreadful shock to their vices : the halter sublimes the ruffian, and makes him a hero at the Debtors' Door:-the gallows, indeed, is but the tree on which desperate courage hideously blossoms! The convict's piety in the condemned hold is insecure while a chance of reprieve remains; and the moment he escapes the rope, back he rushes to the herd. His solitary penitence is fear, garbed in religion-not a healthy consciousness of crime-not the pure, white repentance of a heart, open to the past and hopeful for the future Before capital offences are decreased, capital punishments must be altered. Our laws must lay aside the frequent rope, for the crimes in the hearts of crimimals are of those stones, which constant dropping will not wear away,