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hardly help smiling at the bother. ‘What, said he, ‘have L todo with all this? I have paid for everything ; 1 am surely entitled to go away iff like. Remember, ane} lose my passage to Boston, you shall answer or it. a I very much regret detaining you, sir,’ replied the keeper ofthe hotel; ‘but you hear there has been a robbery committed within the last few minutes, and as it will be proper to search every one in the house, surely you, who are on the point of departure, will have no ob- jections to be searched first, and then be at liberty to

Q:

‘There was something so perfectly reasonable in all this, that Harvey stepped into an adjoining parlour, and threw open his trunk for inspection, never doubting that his innocence would be immediately manifest.

The waiter, whose mean rapacity had been the cause ef the detention, acted as examiner. He pulled one ar- ucle after another out of the trunk, and at length—hor- rors of horrors !—held up the missing watch with a look ef triumph and scorn!

‘Who putthat there?’ cried Harvey in an agony of mind which can be better imagined than described.— ‘Who has done me this grievous wrong? [know no- thing as to how the watch came into my trunk.’

No one answered to this appeal. All present stood for a moment in gloomy silence.

‘Sir,’ said the landlord to Harvey on recovering from his surprise, ‘fam sorry for you. For the sake ofa miserable trifle, you have brought ruin and disgrace on yourself. This 1s a matter which concerns the honour ef my house, and cannot stop here. However much it if against my feelings you must go before a magistrate.’

* By all means,’ added No. 17, with the importance of au injured man. ‘A pretty thing that one’s watch is not safe in a house like this!

‘ John, send Boots for o constable, said the landlord.

Harvey sat with his head leaning on hishand. A deadly cold perspiration trickled down his brow. His, heart swelled and beat as if it would burst. What! should he do? Efi whole prospects were in an instant blighted. ‘OhGod! do not desert a frail and unhappy being: give me strength '> face tuis mew and terrible misfortune,’ was a prayer ine iniernally uttered. <A lit- ule revived he started to his feet, and addressing him- self to the landiord, lie said, * Fake me to the magistrate instantly, and let us have this diabolical plot unravelled. i court inquiry into my character and conduct.’

‘Iti¢ no use saying any more about it,’ answered the landlord; ‘here is Boots with a constable, and let us all go away togeiher to the nearest magistrate. Boots, carry that trunk. Joln and Sally, you can follow us.’

And so the party, trunk and all, under the constable as conducter, adjourned to the house ofa magistrate in an adjacent stroet, ‘bere the matter seemed so clear a| case of felony—rovbery ina dwelling-house—that Har- vey, all protestations to the contrary, was fully com- mitted for trial et the ensuing March assizes then but) a few days distant.

At the period at which these ineidents occurred, [| was & young inan going on my first circuits. ihad not; as yet been honoured with perhaps more than three or} four briefs, and these only in cases so slightly produc-| tive of fees, that | was. compelled to study economy in) my excursions, Instead of taking up my residence at, an inn when visiting ——, a considerable seaport, where | the court held its sittings, I dwelt in lodgings kept by’ a widow lady, where, at a small expense, I could enjoy perfect quietness, free from interruption.

On the evening afier my arrival on ihe March cir-} cuit of the year 17—, I was sitting in my Jodgings per- using anew work on criminal jurisprudence, when the landlady, afteritapping at my door, entered my room.

‘] am sorry to trouble you, sir,’ said she ; ‘but a lady has called to see you about a very distressing law case —very distressing indeed, and a very strange case it is too. Only, if you could be so good as see her ?

‘ Who is she ? '

‘All | know abont it is this: she is a Mrs. Marvey.— She and her husband and children were tosail yesterday for Boston. Ali were on board except the husband ; and he on leaving the large hotel over the way, was taken up fora robbery. Word was in the evening sent hy the prisoner to his wife to come on shore with all her children and the luggage; and so she came back in ihe pilot boat, and was in such a state of distress, that say brother, who is on the preventive service, and saw | her land, took pity on her, and had her and her children and things taken to a lodging on the quay. As my! brother knows that we have a London lawyer staying here, he has advised the poor woman to come and con-,

sult you about the case.’

‘Well, Pll see what can be done, lady to step in.’

A lady was s

hortly shown in. She had been pretty,

and was so still, but anxiety was pictured in her pale’

countenance. Her dress was plain, but not inelegant ;

altorether she had a peat and engaging appear- iets | * and ahagee —" ‘but a few years before sang to him by the brook side,|in my lodgings, whence ] did not remove til! all wae

said J, bowing; ‘ and tell; was ringing through his brain, and he could recognise | over. Next day James Harvey, 2 v.ctim of cireumstan- ithe little pattering feet of his chilpren, as, sobbing and tial evidence, and of a barbarous criminal code, peris!:

but afterwards clinging to their shrieking mother’s dress, she and they jon the scaffold. ly the whole'were hurried out of court. The clerk, after a painful} ‘Three weeks afterwards, the court arrived ata pop ' pause, repeated the solemn formula. By a strong effort} lous city In the west of England. It fad in the imter- ‘the doomed man mastered his agitation; bis pale coun-}val visited another assize town, and there judge A—~

ance. ‘He so good as sit down, mae ul! you would Jike to say. Tne poor woman burst into tears; recovering herself, she told me pretty near of her history and that of her husband. it bras: Lawyers have occasion tosee $0 much duplicity, that I did not all at once give assentto the idea of Har- vey being innocent of the crine of whieh

gharged, a Pare

THF EXAMINER.

isg

‘ There j ale 4 . tee Sk aed a mas sone tiie perfectly inexplicable in ‘the! ‘Much could [say in the name, not of mercy, but of ’ erved, ‘and it would require sifting. Your justice, why the sentence about to be passed on me

husband, I hope, has always borne a good character 2”

‘Perfectly so, He was no doubt unfortunate in busi- ness; but he got his certificate on the first examina- tion; and there are many who would testify to his up-

‘should not be pronounced: but nothing, alas! that w;!! ‘avail me with you, pride-blinded minisiers of death.— You fashion to yourselves—out of your own vain con- ,ceits do you fashion—modes and instruments, by the

' , ° : ° . 4 hg pata And here again my client broke into tears,|aid of which you fondly imagine to invest yourselves = i. erwhelmed with her.recoliections and prospects. with attributes which belong only to Omniseience ; and ing I recollect Mr. Harvey’s shop,’ said J sooth-)now T warn you—and it is a voice from the tomb, in

ingly. ‘it seemed a very respectable concern; and we aust see what can be done. Keep up your spirits; the only fear I have arises from the fuct of Judge A——— being on the bench, He is usually considered severe, and if exculpatory evidence fail, your husband may run the risk of being—transported.’ A word of more ter- rific import, with which | was about to conclude, stuck unuttered in my throat. ‘ Have you employed an attor- ney if I vidak.

‘No; [have done nothing as yet, but apply to you, to beg of you to be my Siena pia oP tins of

‘Well, that must be looked to. I shall speak to a local agent, to prepare and work out the case; and we shall all do our utmost to get an acquittal, To-morrow I will cal] on your husband in prison,’ |

Many thanks were offered-by the unfortunate lady,

| whose shadow I already stand, which addresses you--- that you are about to commit a most cruel and delibe- rate murder.

He paused, and the jury looked into each other’s eyes for the courage they should not find in their own hearts. The voice of conscience spoke, but was only for a few moments audible. ‘The suggestions that what grave parliaments, learned judges, and all classes of ‘respectability’ sanctioned, could be wrong, much less ‘murderous or cruel, silenced the ‘ still, small’ tones, and tranquilised the startled jurors.

‘Prisoner at the bar, said the judge with his cold calm voice of destiny, ‘I cannot listen to such observa- tions; you have been found guilty of a heinous offence by a jury of your countrymen efter a patient trial.—

| With that finding I need scarcely say I entirely agree.

he stood! self-possessed, he thus replied to the fearful interrega-| however, I bad not attended.

and she withdrew. I am as satisfied of your guilt as if | had seen you com- 1 am not going to inflict on the reader a detailed ac-|mit the act with my own bodily eyes. The circum- count of this remarkable trial, which turned, as barristers|stance of your being a person who, from habits and would say, ona beautiful point of circumstantial evi-|education, should have been above committing so base dence, Along with the attorney, a sharpenough person|a crime, only aggravates your guilt. However, no mat- in his way, | examined various parties at the hotel, and|ter who or what you have been, you inust expiate your made myself acquainted with the nature of the premi-)offence on the scaffold. The I-w has very properly, for ses. The more we investigated, however, the more|the safety of society, decreed the punishment of death dark and mysterious—always supposing Harvey’s in-| for such crimes; our only and plain duty is to execute nocence—did tht whole case appear. ‘here was not! that law.’ one redeeming traitin the affair, except Harvey’s pre-| The prisoner did not reply: he was leaning with bis vious good character; and good character by the Jaw of elbows on the front of the dock, his bowed face covered ‘ngland, goes for nothing in opposition te facts proved) with his outspread hands; and the judge passed sen- to the satisfaction of a jury. It was likewise most un-itence of death in tke aceustomed form. The court turtunate that A wasto be the presiding judge.—|then rose, and a turnkey placed his hand upon the pri- This man possessed great forensic acquirements, and|soner’s arm, to Jeadhimaway. Suddenly he uncovered was ofa spotiess private character; but, like the majo-|his face, drew himself up to his full height—he was a rity of lawyers of that day—when it was no extraordi-|remarkably tal! man~—and glared fiercely round upon nary thing to hang twenty men ina morning at New-/the audience, like a wild animal at bay. * My lord,’ be gate—he was a stanch stickler for the gallows as the/cried or rather shouted, in an excited voice. ‘The judge only effectual reformer and safeguard ofthe social state.|motioned impatiently to the jailor, and strong hands At this time he was partially recovered from a long| impelled the prisoner from the front of the dock. Burst- and severe indisposition, and the traces of recent suffer-|ing from them, he again sprang forward, and ‘his arms ing were distinctly apparent on his pale and passionless outstretched, whilst his glittermg eye seemed to hold features, ithe judge spell-bound, exclaimed, ‘ My Jord, before an- Harvey was arraigned in due form; the evidence was other month has passed away, you. will eppear at the gone carefully through; and everything so far as | was/bar of another world, to answer for the hfe, the inno- concerned, was done that man could do. But at the cent life, which God bestowed upon me, but which you time to which L refer, counsel was not allowed to ad-\have impiously cast away as a thing of naught and dress the court on behalf of the prisoner—a practice|scorn! He ceased, and was at once borne off. ‘The since introduced from Scotland—-and consequently I}court in some confusion, hastily departed. It was was allowed no opportunity to draw the attention of the!thought at the time the judge's evidently failing health jury to the total want of any directevidence of the pri-/had suggested the prophecy to the prisoner. It only soner’s guilt. Harvey himself tried to point oufthe un-)excited a few cays’ wonder and was forgotten. likelihood of his being guilty; but he was nota man| The position ofa barrister in such circumstances is gifted with dialectic qualities, and his harangue felijalways painful. Ineed hardly say that my own feei- ointless on the understandings of the twelve common-| ings were of a very distressing kind. Conscious that if place individusls who sat in the jury-box. ‘The judge|the unfortunate man really was guilty, he was at least finally proceeded to sum the evidence, and this he did) not deserving of capital punishment, I exerted myself to emphatically against tie prisoner—dwelling with much| procure a reprieve. In the first place { waited pri- force on the suspicious circumstance of a needy manivately on the judge; but he would listen to no proposal taking up bis abode at an extensive fashionable hotel; fora respite. Along with a number of individuale—

‘his furtive descent from his apartments by the back!chiefly of the Seciety of Friends—I petitioned the

stairs ; the undoubted fact of the watch being found in crown for a commutation of the sentence. Dat bemg his trunk; the improbability of any one putting it there unaccompanied with a reconimendation from the judre,

‘but himself; and the extreme likelihood that the rob-'the prayer of our petition was of course disregarded:

bery was effected in a few moments of time by the cul |the law, it was said, must take its course. How much prit, just as he passed from the bar of the hotel to the cruelty lias been exercised under the shelter of that re- room which he had occupied. ‘If? said he to the jury,/morseless expression! ‘ in concluding his address, ‘ you can afterall these cir-| I would willingly pass over the succeeding events. cumstances, believe the prisoner to be innocent of the’ Unable to save his life, ! endeavoured to soothe the tew crime jaid to bis charge, it is more thanI can do. The remaining hours of the doomed convict, and frequentiy thing seems to me as clear as the sun at noonday.— visited hini in the condemned cell, The more I saw af The evidence, in short, is irresistible; and ifthe just'him, the deeper grew my syuipathy in his case, which and necessary provisions of the law are not enforced in! was that ofno valgar felon. ‘T have been a most wr such very plain cases,jthen society will be dissolved, and fortunate man,’ said he one day to me. *A destiny to- security for property there will be none. Gentle:nen,! wards ruin in fortune and in life has pursued me. | retire and make up your verdict.’ feel as if deserted by God and man; yet I know, or at The jury were not disposed to retire. After com-|!east would persuade myself, that Heaven wil} one day muning a few minutes together, one of them stood up vindicate my innocenee of this foul charge. To think and delivered the verdict: it was Guilty! The judge/of being hanged like a dog fora crime at which my assumed the crowning badge of the judicial potentate—/soul revolts! Great is the crime of those imbecile jurors the black cap; and the clerk of drraigns asked the pri-/and that false and hard-hearted judge, who thus, by on soner at the bar inthe usual form. if he had anything/irreversible decree, consign a fellow-mortal to a deaths io urge why sentence of death should not be passed of violence and disgrace. Oh God, heip me—help me upon him. ito sustain that bitter, bitter hour” And then the poor Poor Harvey! I durst scarcely look at him. As the} man would throw himself on his bed and weep.

Please desire the! sonorous words fell on his ear, he was grasping ner-| But the parting with his wife and children. Wht | vously with shaking hands at the front of the dock.—jpen can describe that terrible interview! They knelt

He appeared stunned, bewildered, as a man but halfiin prayer, their wo-begone countenanees suffused in awakened from a hideous dream might be supposed to/tears, and with hands clasped convulsively together.—

look. He had comprehended, though he had scarcely!The scene was too harrowing and sacred for the eye of heard, the verdict; for on the instant, the voice whict|a stranger. I rushed from tife cel!, and buried myse't

tenance lighted up with indignant fire, and firm end|had left three for execution. At the trials of these mer, . So shocked had beeu

tory imy feelings with the mournful event which had takes

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