in admitting the justness of the declaration of our venerable and excellent British historian.

Edward was, notwithstanding, an excellent husband; and his faithfulness and affection were amply rewarded by the tender attachment of his devoted queen. She accompanied her royal spouse in all his perilous enterprises, even to Palestine; and tradition reports an illustrious instance of her conjugal affection, by which she saved his life, sucking the poison from a wound which had been inflicted in his arm, by the poisoned dagger of an assassin in the Holy Land.

Queen Eleanor died, November 29, 1290, at Herdebie, or Herdelie, near Lincoln, as she was accompanying Edward in his expedition against the Scotch. Her bowels having been taken out and inhumed in Lincoln cathedral, the body was embalmed, and the coffin filled with spices; her heart being inclosed in a separate box, was deposited in the church of the Friars Predicants, or Black Friars, in London, which had then been recently rebuilt, principally from the donations of Edward and his lamented queen.

Extraordinary pomp attended the solemn progress of the funeral procession towards Westminster, the king himself attending as chief mourner. Walsingham says, "When the body arrived at St. Alban's, all the convent being solemnly clad in their copes, went to meet it at the entrance to the town, which is at St. Michael's church, whence they conveyed the body and placed it before the great altar in the monastery, where it was, during the whole night, honoured with sacred offices, performed with the utmost devotion. From that place the body was conveyed to London, where it was met by the king and all the nobility and clergy of the realm, and buried in the church of Westminster, with the greatest reverence and honour; but the heart was interred in the choir of the Friars Preachers in London. In every place and town where the corpse rested, the king commanded a cross of admirable workmanship to be erected to the queen's memory, that prayers might be offered for her soul by all passengers; in which cross he caused the queen's image to be depicted."

Obsequies were finally solemnized in the abbey church at Westminster, on the Sunday before the day of St. Thomas the Apostle, by the bishop of Lincoln. The exact number of crosses which Edward erected for his deeply lamented consort, cannot be ascertained from any record now known to exist. It is thought probable that they were twelve, though some writers mention Woburn, as making thirteen: the other places were Lincoln, Newark, Grantham, Leicester, Stamford, Geddington, Northampton, Stoney-Stratford, Dunstable, St. Alban's, Waltham, Cheapside, Charing, now Charing Cross at Westminster.

"Waltham Holy Cross," is represented in our engraving, as it appeared in 1832, when a subscription was made to defray the expense of renovating the whole in exact conformity with the original work. Many parts had suffered both from the corroding influence of more than five centuries, and from wanton defacement; yet the sculptural details, particularly, where sheltered by the Falcon Inn, the building seen immediately behind the cross, and were sufficiently obvious to be fully understood; except as to the crowning finial, of which nothing but the central shaft remained. During the year 1833, the restoration was proceeded with under the direction of Mr. W. B. Clarke, assisted by a committee of subscribers.

Those who possess an architectural taste, find many things in each of the stories, especially the second, of this elegant structure, to admire, many of

its ornaments bearing a strong resemblance to those in the interior of Westminster Abbey church; and with its graceful statues of queen Eleanor, which enrich its open divisions, it is considered one of the finest examples of the science and genuine taste of our forefathers, which is now extant in England.

CHARACTER OF QUEEN ELEANOR- AND STATE OF RELIGION IN HER TIME.

Holinshed, an historian of the reign of queen Elizabeth, thus speaks of queen Eleanor:-" In the nineteenth yeare of king Edward, queene Elianor, king Edward's wife, died upon Saint Andrew's euen at Hirdebie or Herdelie, as some haue, neere to Lincolne, the king being as then on his waie towards the borders of Scotland: but hauing now lost the iewell which he most esteemed, he returned towards London to accompanie the corps vnto Westminster, where it was buried in St. Edward's chapell, at the feet of king Henry the third. She was a godlie and modest princesse, full of pitie, and one that shewed much favour to the English nation, readie to relieve euerie man's greefe that susteined wrong, and to make them freends that were at discord, so farre as in her laie. In euerie town and place where the corps rested by the waie, the king caused a crosse of cunning workmanship to be erected in remembrance of her, and in the same was a picture of her ingrauen. Two of the like crosses were set up at London, one at Charing, and the other in Westcheape. Moreouere, he gaue in almes euerie Wednesday wheresoeuer he went, pence a peece, to all such poore folkes as came to demande the same."

Fabian, a compiler of chronicles about the latter end of the reign of Henry VII. speaking of queen Eleanor says, "She hath ii waxe tapers breunynge vpon her tombe, both daye and nyght; whyche so hath contynued syne the day of buryinge to this present daye."

Every possible security was taken for the welfare of her soul, according to the notions of religion of that age; for in Rymer's "Foedera," a vast collection of public documents, under the head, "De oranda pro Regina, concerning praying for the queen," there appears a copy of a letter addressed by king Edward to different prelates and abbots, in which he describes the object of these prayers to be, "that if there should remain any thing of a stain, not purged in her, whether by defect of memory, or in any other manner, it may be washed away by the effectual security of your prayers, according to the abundance of the Divine mercy."

ON DIVINE INFLUENCE.

CONCLUSION,

HAVING now completed the series of essays to which I proposed at the commencement of the present year to direct your attention, I shall devote the present paper to a brief recapitulation of the topics which my subject has embraced, and a concluding address to you on a review of the whole.

The Scriptures being clear in their assurance that the agent of divine influence on the mind and heart is the Holy Spirit, I attempted, in the first place, to point out that he is a person separate and distinct from the Father and Son, though entitled to share with them in the glory due to the divinity. Your atten. tion was then directed to some general observations upon the nature of the influence which he was commissioned to bestow, by which it appeared to be uni

versal in its extent and gradual in its operation. It was also stated that this influence is not perceptible by the senses; that conscience is the chief medium through which it is carried on, and that its continuance and efficacy depend greatly on the diligence of each individual possessor. My next endeavour was to evince the indispensable necessity of regeneration, and to impress on every one the solemn words, "You must be born again."

These general observations were followed by a series of essays upon the several distinct topics of the agency of the spirit in producing Conviction of Sin-Repentance-Faith-Love to God-Love to Man-Grace to resist temptation-Prayer-Peace and Joy; concluding with practical directions upon the subject of obtaining this aid; reflections upon the course of conduct by which it is lost, and likewise an admonition and encouragement as to regaining it.

And now I stand in the solemn but interesting position of one who has accomplished a somewhat arduous ascent to the top of an acclivity, and looks back upon the course he has pursued; and I am unwilling to allow the opportunity to pass of offering you a concluding address before I close my labour upon this deeply important and practical subject.

1. I have told you nothing that is not consistent with the most common and admitted principles of reason. I am among the number of those who feel but little thanks to those members of our faith who have voluntarily conceded that the gospel is so far superior to their reason that they cannot understand it, and I should hesitate but little to reject as untrue any doctrine which my mind could not receive without doing violence to the laws by which it is governed. If, indeed, I had led you to anticipate any direct infusion of spiritual assistance, I should have trembled to make the bold avowal I now do, but, resting satisfied in the conviction that none who have read my essays can have for one moment imagined they were to be the objects of any influence or power, other than that which is consistent with the laws of the universe, and analogical to the operations of nature in the growth of every plant, I am prepared to challenge the infidel or enemy of the gospel to shake the positions which it has been my honour and my privilege to maintain before a Christian and enlightened public. No! the religion of Jesus Christ is perfectly reasonable. I glory in the avowal, and none who will unite with me in making it and will bestow their time and pains upon investigating the true meaning of the Bible, need fear the application of any reasonable test to their opinions, or the sophistry of any designing infidel. Alas! I have too much reason to know that the heart and not the understanding is the place where the power of religion is rejected and despised, and much do I fear that if I were to satisfy every reasonable inquirer of the truth of the Gospel, I should have done but little to induce him to embrace it. No! they will not believe; they cannot believe; their hearts are hardened by the delusions and practice of sin, and in spite of all that can be addressed to the intellect, they will not come to the Saviour and receive life. Let me, therefore, entreat all who shall henceforth be led to avow before the world that the Scripture doctrine of divine influence is perfectly reasonable, ever to bear in mind that the opposition they will meet with lies in the wickedness and not in the ignorance of mankind. If they wish really to be useful let them forbear to waste their time in argument, and direct all their efforts to the prevention of sin; in the firm and unshaken confidence that every evil habit which they can persuade an in

dividual to overcome, is rendering him more fit to be the subject of the aid of God, and leading him to understand and feel practically, that which neither he, nor probably themselves, may be able to explain theoretically.

2. Let me affectionately assure every individual to whom these words may reach, that he is entitled to receive at the hands of God all assistance and grace, if he will ask for it through the mediation of Jesus Christ. There cannot possibly be any impediment in the way of one man obtaining this divine influence more than another, except it can be shown that the Almighty does not act upon a system, and has two different modes of governing his creatures. Oh! I will forbear to plead with the old man now tottering on the brink of the grave; and I will not stop to enforce my admonition on him who has arrived at the years of maturity, and is overwhelmed in the business of life; nor will I utter the voice of expostulation and entreaty to those who have long been immersed in the pleasures of the world! I feel, indeed, that their case is deeply important, and that their hope, so far as the promise of God is concerned, may be sure and unfading, but I shall add no more to the exhortations which I have already addressed to them. My desire is now to apply myself to the young, and, if possible, to awaken them to a sense of the privilege once more presented for their acceptance. Little children; ye who fill the forms of our school-rooms, and supply the merry circle round our firesides, I speak to you. Young and small as you may be, believe me, you are the objects of most tender solicitude on the part of Jesus Christ, and for your welfare and virtue he is most anxious, knowing that your own happiness and the well-being of society depend on the characters you possess. do not attempt or desire to lead you into argument or reasoning about the doctrines of divine influence, but I do assure you, that if you, each one of you, will in sincerity and truth kneel down at the commencement of the day, and ask Almighty God to enable you to do your duty, check your passions, and be obedient to your parents and masters, he will hear and grant your prayer, provided you really endeavour yourselves to do the things that you request him to help you to do; and if when you feel disposed to be rude, disobedient, wicked; if in your hour of temptation and of trial you will lift up your voice to your heavenly father to strengthen you in the path of duty, you may be sure that he will indeed bless and assist you. Then, my dear young friends, allow me to request that you will seriously follow my advice in the firm conviction that Jesus Christ is the friend, and desires to be the counsellor of little children.

In conclusion. I am desirous of addressing myself to the whole world, whether christian or not, whether believers or rejecters of the gospel, that I may furnish them with the result of my own earnest and practical inquiries into this important subject, so far as the best mode of securing the assistance of the Holy Spirit is concerned. I have read many books upon the subject, and have, in compliance with the directions contained in those books, adopted many methods of accomplishing an object which I shall not scruple to avow, and have long deemed superlative in its importance. It is not with the dissatisfaction of pedantry, but with the honesty of one who thinks he may communicate unexpected knowledge to his fellow-creatures that I assure my readers I found by far the greater number of these books wholly inefficient as spiritual guides. I felt that God did not impart strength to me, that is, the kind of strength which I considered I was entitled to

expect and receive; and I was naturally led to inquire the cause of my mistake or my misfortune, and the opinion to which I have now come is this, that to adopt serious and vigorous efforts to make the daily conduct in every respect similar to that of Jesus Christ, united with humble and earnest prayer for the assistance of God to accomplish his object, is the real and scriptural way to secure the influence of the Holy Spirit. In conformity with this opinion also add, that no ordinance is so calculated to further the object the christian has in view as the Lord's Supper, when received according to the intention of its most blessed Founder, viz. as a memorial of him; as a service by which to keep the recollection of his virtues and his sufferings ever before the mind.

may

IMITATE JESUS CHRIST. Do it honestly, entirely, fully. Do not say that the patience, meekness, and submission which marked his conduct are not intended for you. If you expect to secure his assistance you must imitate him altogether.

And now, christian friends. accept my thanks for your kindness in perusing these simple efforts for your welfare, and my assurance that if in any respect that most desirable object is secured, I am amply repaid for my exertions. Unknown and far separated from each other, we are now pursuing our arduous journey to the better country; but the hour is fast approaching when all the servants of the Redeemer shall be united in one happy family, and devote all the knowledge and experience which they have derived from the troubles of life to the promotion of happiness, and the accomplishment of the Divine purposes. Let each, therefore, in our several stations, devote every energy of mind and body to the attainment of virtue, in the firm conviction that a full recompense shall be given us at the resurrection of the just. "O may the God of peace sanctify us wholly."

B. Z. Our valued correspondent, B. Z., having in this paper concluded his instructive essays on 66 Divine Influence," we have sincere pleasure in recommending his "Practical Essay on Prayer," published by D. Mason, 1, Clements' Inn, Strand. EDITOR.

A CHRISTIAN WRONGFULLY REPROVED. ILLUSTRATIVE OF SAM. i. 13-15.

IT is sometimes a difficult thing to know how to act when unjustly accused of a fault. It is by no means difficult to know how one ought to feel. And in general, the impression is very correct, that when one is reproved, and manifests bad feeling, that there was ground for the reproof. If one is perfectly innocent, the consciousness of it, is a good security against any outward manifestation of anger.

A case once occurred, in which a pious person was most unjustly suspected and accused of a heinous crime. The circumstances of the accusation were, in some respects, peculiarly aggravating. Yet the perfect purity and innocence of the accused, the calmness and meekness with which she met the

charge, affords a lesson for those who may be justly or unjustly charged with sin.

It was Hannah at the tabernable. And her case is indeed a beautiful exemplification of the spirit with which unjust accusations should be received. She was engaged in the most fervent petitions, when Eli the priest suspected her of sin. Her venerable, and doubtless much loved pastor was her accuser, and that too of the most disgraceful and debasing crime. How mild and affecting is her reply! "No,

my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief have I spoken hitherto."

This is a description of a Christian's conduct under a false accusation. Her heart as it here exhibits itself, is a lovely example of what is enjoined upon us throughout the gospels and epistles of the New Testament. Divine grace here gives us an instance in living characters, of our Saviour and his Apostles, so often inculcated by precept. How would the beauty of this narrative have been changed and marred, had Hannah given to good Eli some irritating reply. Happy Hannah! would that all the disciples of the present day possessed more of thy spirit and that of thy master, who, when he was accused of crime, made no angry denial, and when reviled, reviled not again.

Hannah's meek, and gentle and respectful answer, and her ingenuous manner had an effect upon Eli, which no other course could have had. Instantly satisfied of her innocence, he says, "Go in peace; and the God of Israel grant thee thy petition, which thou hast asked." Thus Hannah left the temple with a blessing on her head, and "her countenance was no more sad." Readers, have you ever been wrongfully accused? How did you feel? angry, or had you Hannah's spirit? Were you ever justly accused? How did you feel then?

CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA.-The progress of Christianity in India is not to be judged altogether by the actual number of converts. The number of these would have been much larger had the missionaries exercised less caution in receiving them. No temporal inducements have been offered to the profession of Christianity; and none are admitted to baptism until after a long probation. The apparent progress is thus rendered slow but this is counterbalanced by the assurance that outward conformity is a sign of internal conviction, and that those who forsake their old religion are real and not merely nominal converts. In the meantime, the knowledge of the great truths of revelation is spreading far and wide, and where so many hear, some will be convinced."-Thornton's India.

IMMORALITY OF BETTING.-Gambling and betting have a melancholy influence upon the minds of men to blunt and destroy every moral feeling. The following will serve as a fearful illustration :-" Two gentleman at a tavern having summoned the waiter, the poor fellow had scarcely entered, when he fell down in a fit of apoplexy. He's dead!" exclaimed one. "He'll come too!" replied the other. "Dead for five hundred !" "Done!" retorted the second. The noise of the fall and the confusion which followed brought up the landlord, who called out to fetch a doctor. "No! no! we must have no inter

ference; there's a bet depending." "But, sir, I shall lose a valuable servant." "Never mind! never mind! you can put him down in the bill."

Unless our women be brought up in modesty, and with industrious and religious habits, it is in vain that we educate the men, as the women keep the character of men in its proper elevation.-Fellenburgh.

CHRISTIAN LADY'S FRIEND.

THE MOTHER'S GUIDE.
DIGNITY OF MOTHERS.-No. I.

"MOTHER!" The name which is associated, in every virtuous mind, with all that is amiable and delightful. "Mother!" most tender, endearing, and expressive of all human appellations! A title employed equally by the royal prince, the sage philosopher, and the untutored peasant-by the savage and the civilized in all nations, and through all generations. A relation, mercifully founded in the constitution of our nature-universally felt-and most uniformly acknowledged. And who among all the children of men, except those who in early infancy were bereaved of their anxious parents, has not happily experienced the inexpressible influence of its charming and delightful power? Who, of all the great and the mighty upon the earth, does not recognize the unnumbered blessings which he has enjoyed through this endeared relation ?

His own infinite wisdom and boundless goodness, prompted the Almighty Creator to ordain this beneficent relation with all its sweet attractions and happy endearments. Must he not, therefore, have made it honourable, noble, and dignified? And ought its elevation and importance to be forgotten or neglected? Surely it demands our most intelligent consideration and devout acknowledgment. But what mind has ever possessed a capacity enlarged and matured to comprehend fully the true dignity of a

mother?

Woman was formed by the glorious Creator as a "helpmeet for man:" whatever dignity, therefore, attaches to him as a rational being, and the representative on earth of his Maker, is shared by the partner of his life, his "other self." Woman is the equal participator of all the honours which pertain to human nature. But woman's highest dignity, and her greatest honours, are found in contributing to the perfection of the Divine purposes of her creation, in her peculiar character of mother.

A mother's dignity, however, will but imperfectly appear, unless she considered as bringing into the world a rational offspring, whose existence will affect others, and will continue through eternal ages. Adam, by intuitive wisdom imparted from God, perceived this surpassing excellence, when "he called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." (Gen. iii. 20.) Woman must be contemplated as giving birth to those whose principles, characters, and labours, will deeply and permanently influence individuals in the domestic circle, and which will be felt by large communities; and, in some instances at least, by the whole population of the world. Our blessed Lord acknowledges this sentiment, expressed by the woman respecting himself, when, having seen his mighty works, and heard his wise discourses, she exclaimed, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." (Luke xi. 27.) On this rational principle, we cannot separate the greatness which distinguished the worthies of ancient and modern times, from the characters of their favoured mothers. Watts, Doddridge, Wesley, king Edward, king Alfred, and many others, have immortalized their names by their personal virtues, and by their imperishable works to benefit their country: but while we contemplate and enjoy the fruits of their extraordinary labours, we cannot fail to reflect upon the influence of their excellent mothers. We cannot refrain from rendering to them the honour which is their due, on

account of their noble endeavours to discharge their maternal obligations, rendering them public blessings.

Divine inspiration has directly sanctioned this principle in the case of the Virgin Mary. Congratulated by her venerable relative, Elizabeth, mother, by miracle, of the herald prophet of Messiah, and filled with the Holy Spirit, who directed her to look forward to the future greatness of her mysterious son, her enlightened and pious mind burst forth in devout admiration at the honour which would be ascribed to her on account of his unspeakable blessings to mankind. She gave expression to her elevated thoughts and said, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his hand-maiden. For, behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed." (Luke ii. 46-48.)

Mothers, in our times, though not dignified in the manner of the blessed Virgin, and not warranted to anticipate a similar honour to that which attached to her name, may yet contemplate the influence which their children will have upon society, and their own honour will be secured and promoted by labouring to form their infant minds to religion, to virtue, and to love of their country.

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Immortality, especially, gives dignity to its subjects and hence arises, in an inconceivable degree, the exalted honour of a mother. By the sovereign ordination of the Almighty, she gives birth, not to a being of a mere momentary existence, and whose life will perish as that of the beasts of the field, but to an immortal! Her sucking infant, feeble and helpless as it may appear, possesses within its bosom a rational soul- an intellectual power-a spirit, which all-devouring time cannot destroy-which can never die-but which will outlive the splendours of the glorious sun, and the burning brilliancy of all the material host of heaven! Throughout the infinite ages of eternity, when all these shall have answered the beneficent end of their creation, and shall have been blotted out from their positions in the immense regions of space, the soul of the humblest child will shine and improve before the eternal throne, being filled with holy light and divine love, and ever active in the praise of its blessed Creator.

Likeness to the infinitely glorious Creator, constitutes the chief dignity of our nature. And the intelligent, pious mother, looks upon her infant offspring with adoring gratitude to God, as possessing that likeness. Originally, "the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Gen. ii. 7.) By the same omnipotent and gracious will, God has given being to human souls through all generations, as at the first creation: but the mother is honoured as the medium of this mysterious creation in the case of every child. And though the moral likeness of its blessed Maker is defaced by the fall of our first parents, still, in thousands of instances, by means of early tuition and the fervent prayers of the faithful mother, the child is "created in Christ Jesus, in righteousness and true holiness." (Eph. ii. 10.; iv. 24.)

What then can be the greatness, dignity, and honour of her who is the appointed medium of such amazing powers and blessings! Must not mothers feel their high distinctions? Should they not frequently be invited to contemplate them? In this the security, the prosperity, and the happiness of our country, and even the welfare, the regeneration of the world, are involved; he, therefore, who is most successful in leading their minds to a proper, a rational, and scriptural view of this greatest of earthly

relations, will most effectually engage, as he will most worthily merit, the gratitude and esteem of dignified, happy, and Christian mothers!

MRS. HANNAH MORE'S VIEW OF CHRISTIANITY IN HER SEVENTY-FIFTH YEAR. HAVING made some critical observations on a splendid publication of Madame Necker, whose views of Christianity were far from evangelical, Mrs. More remarks:

"I cannot help adding a word on what appears to me to be the distinctive character of Christianity. I mean a deep and abiding sense in the heart of our fallen nature; of our actual and personal sinfulness; of our lost state, but for the redemption wrought for us by Jesus Christ; and of our universal necessity of a change of heart; and the conviction that this change can only be effected by the influence of the Holy Spirit. This is not a splendid, but it is a saving religion; it is humbling now that it may be elevating hereafter. It appears to me also, that the requisition which the Christian religion makes on the most highly gifted, as well as the most meanly endowed, is, that after the loftiest and most successful exercise of the most brilliant talents, the favoured possessor should lay his talents and himself at the foot of the cross, with the same deep self-abasement and selfrenunciation as his more illiterate neighbour, and this from a conviction of who hath made them to differ."

Madame Necker having expressed her obligations to Mrs. More for her candid remarks, Mrs. More again, in writing to her friend, observes, Truly glad should I be if such a mind could be brought to receive the truth as it is in Jesus;' for those fine speculations, which she and her accomplished relatíve have fed on as Christianity, afford no solid relief to a fallen creature, and such the best of human beings are by nature. The wisest and the best stand in as much need to be redeemed by the blood of Christ, and to be sanctified and guided by the Holy Spirit, as the most illiterate and the most unworthy. The two great principles on which our salvation must be founded are faith and holiness; faith, without which it is impossible to please God-holiness, without which no man can see the Lord. Those are not my words, as you know, but the words of the great apostle."

MY SCRAP BOOK. LEAF LXXX.

"The Bee that wanders, and sips from every flower, disposes what she has gathered into her cells."-SENECA. EXTRAORDINARY EXECUTION IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE, IN 1660.

THE CASE OF JOAN PERRY, AND HER TWO SONS, JOHN AND RICHARD PERRY, FOR THE SUPPOSED MURDER OF WILLIAM HARRISON, GENT.

WILLIAM HARRISON, steward to lady Campden, at Campden, in Gloucestershire, about seventy years of age, went Aug. 16, 1660, to receive my lady's rents, which he did, and not returning home that night, gave cause to suspect he was murdered.

After some time, John Perry, his servant, gave information before a justice of peace, that his brother Richard had robbed and murdered him, and his mother stood by while it was done; and that Richard had once before broke open his master's house and

robbed him. At the following assizes, Joan, John, and Richard Perry, had two indictments preferred against them; one, for breaking open the house of Mr. Harrison, and robbing him of 1401. in the year1659; and the other, for robbing and murdering him Aug. 16, 1660. Upon the last indictment, the then judge of assize, Sir Christopher Turner, knight, would not try them, because the body was not found. On the former indictment, for robbery, they pleaded not guilty; but on people's persuading them, they retracted their plea, and pleaded guilty, begging the benefit of his majesty's most gracious pardon and act of oblivion, which was granted them: and though they pleaded guilty to this indictment, being prompted thereto, yet they all at their deaths denied it. Yet at this assize, John Perry persisted in his story, that his mother and brother had murdered his master, and that they had attempted to poison him in gaol for discovering it, so that he durst not drink with them; and,

At the next assize following, Joan, John, and Richard Perry, were by the judge of assize, Sir Robert Hyde, knight, tried upon the indictment for murder, and pleaded not guilty; when John's confession before the justice was proved, viva voce, by several witnesses who heard the same. He then told the court, he was mad, and did not know what he said. The other two, Richard and Joan Perry, declared they were wholly ignorant of what they were accused; that they knew nothing of Mr. Harrison's death, nor what was become of him; and Richard said his brother had accused others as well as him, to have murdered his master; which the judge bidding him prove, he said, "that most of them that had given evidence against him, knew it;" but naming nobody, nor any body speaking to it, the jury found them all guilty. Some days after, being brought to the place of execution, which was on Broadway-hill, within sight of Campden, the mother, (being reputed a witch, and to have bewitched her sons, so that they could confess nothing while she lived), was first executed. (Strange ignorance and superstition!) After which, Richard, being on the ladder, professed, as he had done all along, that he was wholly ignorant of the fact for which he was to die, and that he knew nothing of Mr. Harrison's death, nor what was become of him; and did with great earnestness beg and beseech his brother, for the satisfaction of the world and his own conscience, to declare what he knew concerning it. But he, with a dogged and surly carriage, told the people he was not obliged to confess to them; yet immediately before his death, said, that he knew nothing of his master's death, nor what was become of him, but they might hereafter possibly hear.

It is strange that a judge should order the execution of three persons, for the supposed murder of a man whose body was not found or heard of at the time of trial, upon the confession of a madman or an enthusiast!

However, Mr. Harrison, some years after, appeared alive; and in a letter to Sir Thomas Overbury, of Burton, in Gloucestershire, gave an account, how that very night, Aug. 16, returning home after receiving the rents, he was set upon, and forced by several stages to the sea-side, put on board a ship and carried into Turkey; where he was sold for a slave to a physician, and continued with him for about a year and three quarters, when his master died; then he made the best of his way to a seaport, and with great difficulty got on board a Hamburgh ship bound for Portugal, and arrived safe at Lisbon; from whence, by the means of an English merchant, he got on board an English vessel, and