counter my accusers, and I dismissed my wife with an assurance of speedy delivery from the degradation of a prison.

Well acquainted with all the intricacies of trade, I was by no means an ill-informed man, and was supposed to know much more than my neighbours about legal questions. Yet, strange as it may appear, I was not aware that I had rendered myself obnoxious to the law. I did not even think that I had committed forgery; for I had written no real name. The acceptances were fictitious, and the bills were for a small amount. The thing was not done with any fraudulent design. I had intended to take them up when due, and could not, therefore, consider myself a criminal. I was, however, soon undeceived; the assizes were held the following week, and the terrible verdict of guilty' was recorded against me.

The clerk of the crown read this verdict with the greatest unconcern, but I heard it with bewildered amazement. It seemed to have instantly changed my nature; my sight lost its distinctness, and multiplied every object I looked upon; my thoughts were wild and confused, and I imagined that my head must, in a few minutes, have exploded like a petard, from an excess of the matter which appeared to augment within it. My hands involuntarily clasped my brows with intensity; but the torture felt in my breast quickly occasioned their withdrawal to my stomach, the agony of which threatened a speedy dissolution. The operations of the mind produced real bodily pain-a pain compared with which the worst surgical operation is absolute pleasure: but these afflictions kill not suddenly, and I was destined to experience the utmost amount of mental suffering to which a human being could be subjected.

The visits and inquiries of a friend or two recalled me somewhat to myself, and the sad and silent sorrow of my wife produced a more melancholy oppression than I had yet felt. Her tenderness and her fondness

reminded me at once of my former happiness and my present degradation, and her soothing words softened me into tears: we wept together, we embraced, and I felt consoled. At that moment the chaplain entered: his visit was opportune, and his words of comfort, though bitter, relieved me of half my pain. I requested of Fanny to bring me the children, and during her absence I flattered myself that I could derive consolation from the words of life, and half persuaded myself that it was possible to bless God, and kiss the sanguinary hands of the executioner. The chaplain was yet with me when my little ones arrived; it was a month since I had seen them, and the first sound of their tender voices dislodged my heart from its usual position. It seemed struggling to quit my body, and the sensations of the moment were those of suffocation. Those actors are not unnatural, who, like Miss O'Neill, appear, at a time of frightful excitation, to be enduring the pains incidental to an interruption of breathing, for the emotion is experienced by all who are blessed with strong feelings, when exposed to a sudden and overpowering attack of mental anguish.

The sight of my children overturned in an instant the lessons of the chaplain; their innocent looks-the fondness of their embraces-their ignorance of my fate, and their incapacity of sympathising with me, awoke a thousand recollections. With a prejudiced love I gazed upon their faces, their very flesh appeared transparent, and the partiality of the father, convict as I was, rejoiced in the beauty of the girls, and the manly aspect of the boys. But who was to protect the one from harm, and tutor the other to virtue? There was madness in this mental query. Perhaps villany might make my little daughters the victims of crimeof infamy; and some unfeeling task-master, some brutal ruffian, might torture my sons into mindless monsters-break their little hearts with severity, and distort their little frames by premature toil. Poverty awaited them, and they would not recollect a father's

cares-a father's fondness. In the virtue and prudence of my wife I had confidence, but my children! what was to become of them?

I hardly remember what I did or said; but my wife has since told me that I acted like a madman. I recollect well that I was even rude to the chaplain; and was impious enough, in my frenzy, to question the justice of Providence. The comprehensive designs of Omnipotence offered no consolation; the great scheme was, in my case, imperfect, and I blasphemously thought that, when I suffered, I had a right to impugn the impartiality of the Creator. To me the government of the universe was of no consideration; and I felt that I could not admire the system which, in providing for the happiness of others, immolated me. I stood, as I thought, alone, a being distinct from others; and it appeared to argue an absence of presiding goodness, if unoffending innocents, like my children, should be exposed to the world's hardships-the world's temptations-before they had the benefit of experience, merely because their parent was imprudent, for criminal I certainly could not acknowledge myself. I meditated no wrong; and only offended against a law, of the existence of which I was ignorant.

For

It is easy to be religious in the absence of affliction the guilty may repent, and die even by the hangman's hand, in a state of enviable confidence and tranquillity; but I cannot understand how the guiltless can approach the gallows in a spirit of resignation. I would not be thought to judge harshly; but I fear there is more of pride than devotion in the conduct of such men. my part, I could not pray; the world demanded too much of my thoughts for me to bestow any consideration on the future; and in those extreme moments of existence I found myself a misanthrope. I hated the world-cursed myself and others; and I shudder to think of the extent of my blasphemy. I hope, however, that I was not then an accountable being; yet my madness was not devoid of method. Every one desires happiness; in pursuit of it men will become criminal;

and I sought to redeem the wretchedness of my last moments by an act of terrible guilt. I resolved that those I loved should not survive me; and the very thought was pregnant with happiness. The night on which I matured my plan, I slept soundly, and was inclined to cheerfulness the whole of the ensuing day. I cherished the secret in my bosom; and prepared to execute my purpose with calm deliberation. Having concealed a knife, I determined, when my wife and children came to take their last farewell, first to silence the gaoler, by spilling his heart's blood, and then, having secured the door, proceed to the immolation of my family. I imagined myself, like the heroine of Spanish tragedy, standing, surrounded by the lifeless victims of my frenzy; and, such is the unaccountable nature of the human mind, there was pleasure in the sanguinary thought. My own destruction subsequently was, of course, contemplated.

Let not the reader too hastily condemn me. He has never contemplated a felon's death and a young and unprotected family at the same time; and though I am now as ready as any one to reprobate the deed I meditated, I am nevertheless convinced that I was prompted to it by an excess of those feelings which do honour to human nature. I would have killed my children, because I loved them; and in the idea divines may discover the necessity of religion to regulate the habits and actions even of the good.

Having laid my plan, I was no longer so unhappy as I had been; there was, to be sure, something terrible in the thought, but it was less horrible than the idea of leaving them behind me. I was, no doubt, perfectly insane at the time; and, happily, the active affection of my wife prevented the commission of my sanguinary purpose. Before the day appointed for my execution had arrived, a reprieve, at the solicitation of Fanny, came down, and my sentence was commuted to transportation for life. In those times it was easy to obviate this decision, and in less than six months I was a happy man in the New World.

Industry and perseverance met their usual reward; and the forger regained his character. This narrative is well known to my friends at Boston; I never concealed the facts; and, perhaps, their publicity may awaken attention to the state of our criminal code. How many have died a felon's death, who might have ornamented society? and how many might say with the illustrious Boerhaave, on seeing a criminal led to execution, 'Perhaps this man is less guilty than I J. W.

am.

SONG.

THE gale rose laden with perfumes
From many flowers,

As I wandered amid their blooms
At twilight hours;

But yet I did not care to make
That soft gale mine,

For oh! it wafted to my cheek
No breath of thine!

I heard at night a harper's strain,
And, sweetly clear,

True echo breathed it back again
To my list'ning ear;

Yet long as my lone lyre has rung

In love's pure track,

The faintest tone of thy sweet tongue

Hath ne'er come back.

But when I'm gone from this cold clime
To that calm place,

Where willows weep, and joy-bells chime,

And all is peace,

Oh! bless me in that low eclipse,

As mute I lie,

With a song of grief from thy dear lips,

Cork.

And one sad sigh!

VOL. I. April, 1830..

ENDYMION.