was that of a man for the murder of his wife. He seemed about 35 years old, and was dressed in respectable mourning. He stood at the bar with an air at once of firmness and depression. He was a little under the average height, and his countenance rather prepossessing than otherwise. From the evidence in chief of the first two witnesses, it would have appeared clear that he had been guilty of a most barbarous murder. On their depositions before the coroner, a verdict of manslaughter only had been returned; but in reading them, Mr. Justice Patteson had felt it his duty to instruct the grand jury to bring in a bill for murder-a step which seemed most amply justified by the evidence which they now gave. It appeared from the testimony, that the deceased had been very far advanced in pregnancy; that the prisoner had had some dispute with her-being a most violent man, they said-and knocked her down, her head falling against the sharp corner of a chest of drawers, which cut it open, and the wound bled profusely; and that, while she was thus prostrate and insensible, the prisoner furiously kicked and struck her repeatedly-death, on the same evening, or the evening after, I forget which, being the consequence.

As far as this evidence went, nothing, of course, could have been more brutal than the conduct of the prisoner; but, on the cross-examination of the first witness, a little ill-looking old woman, the mother of the deceased, and who gave her evidence manifestly under the influence of the most bitter resentment towards the prisoner, the case began to assume a very different aspect. It was wrung from her after great prevarication, and was also established by other witnesses, that she had herself, on the evening in question, been drinking gin with the deceased, at the residence of the latter, a miserable cellar. That she had herself fetched five quarterns of gin for the deceased on that occasion. That the deceased and the witness, at her request, had frequently pawned all her husband's clothes, and those of her children, whom she had once or twice sent to bed early in the afternoon, to enable her so to dispose of their clothes. That the prisoner was a pilot, a remarkably steady and hard working man, and earned amply sufficient to enable himself and family to live in very comfortable circumstances; but this accursed propensity of his wife's had beggared them, and driven them from their former comfortable dwelling to the wretched cellar in which had occurred the catastrophe then the subject of inquiry. That on the evening in question he had come home from the sea wet and weary, but found that every article of his clothing had been pawned by his wife, and that his children were lying in bed almost naked, their little clothes having shared the same fate; and that his wife was drunk, as was also the first witness. Furious words very naturally ensued, and it was under these truly exasperating circumstances that he had struggled with his wife, so as to occasion-but it was clearly unintentional-her fall; and it clearly did appear that, either while she was falling, or immediately afterwards, he had more than once struck her with some violence, but not in a way to

have alone caused her death, which the medical evidence showed to have been occasioned by the injuries which she had received upon her head in falling upon the drawers, added to the effects of violent excitement and excess of liquor upon a person in her situation.

The third witness brought forward against the prisoner was, alas! his own daughter, a little girl about five or six years of age, decently dressed in black. When her name was called, the prisoner, with an agonized countenance looked, away from the spot where she was to stand; his lip quivered, his chest heaved, and, in spite of his efforts, tears forced themselves from his eyes. Mr. Justice Patteson observed his agitation, and seemed himself not a little affected when he beheld the little thing, in obedience to the summons of the loud-voiced officer, was brought into court, and placed close beside him, to give evidence which might seal the fate of her father. She was so very short, that he handed over to the officer the footstool he had been using, in order that she might stand upon it, and even then the head of the little witness did but just come above the top of the witness box. She was rather a pretty looking girl, and her face was very sad and pale. She did not, however, cry though her eyes seemed glued to the figure of her miserable father, who never once ventured to look towards her, and whose tears, silent evidence of the anguish he was enduring, fell frequently. In all other respects, he preserved a stern composure, throughout the proceedings.

"My child," said the judge, as I thought, with a little emotion, as he bent down his ear to her, "do you know that you have come here to speak the truth?"

“Yes, sir.”

"And will you, my dear, speak the truth-and tell us all the truth, and nothing else?"

"Yes, sir."

"What will become of you, do you think, if you tell a lie?”

She paused: the judge repeated the question; and she answered distinctly, "I shall be burned in everlasting fire."

"Where did you learn that?"

"The Bible, sir."

"Have you ever been at school?"

"Yes, sir, at the Sunday school."

"She may be sworn," said the judge, and the oath was immediately administered to her.

Was not this, dear Christopher, a grievous sight to see? The little daughter called to give evidence against her father, on his trial for his life; for the murder of her mother? Though in a melancholy tone and sad manner, she gave her evidence with great propriety, clearly and firmly. Her tiny voice could be heard distinctly in all parts of the crowded and silent court. She evinced, as was to be expected, a strong leaning towards her father; but she admitted that he had twice struck her mother when she was

lying bleeding on the floor. She also stated that her mother had several times actually taken her-the little girl's-shoes and stockings off her feet, that she might pawn them for gin; and that she and the other children had been often obliged to lie in bed, because their mother and grandmother had taken away their clothes for the vile purpose above mentioned! Who could listen to all this without feeling the deepest commiseration towards the unhappy prisoner? Till he had been hurried into the act with which he then stood charged, he had always borne an unblemished character as a quiet, respectable man, who labored hard to support his family, and who could have kept them in comfort but for his wife's ruinous propensity to drink. His counsel addressed the jury on his behalf with much earnestness, contending that on the whole of the evidence, the prisoner was entitled to an acquittal, or, at least, to a verdict of manslaughter. The judge, however, directed the jury that there was no evidence to support the charge of murder, but that the prisoner had been clearly guilty of manslaughter. He then recapitulated the evidence; and, after a quarter of an hour's consideration, the jury pronounced a verdict of "manslaughter." He was sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment, with hard labor.

INDISCRIMINATE APPLAUSE.

"It is the fault of many that they do not always carefully distinguish between running into the error of detraction, and its opposite extreme of undeserved praise. This proceeds from the false idea they entertain, that the direct contrary to what is wrong, must be right. Thus the dread of only being suspected of one fault, makes them actually guilty of another.

The desire of avoiding the imputation of envy, impels them to be insincere; and to establish a reputation for sweetness of temper and generosity, they affect to speak sometimes of very indifferent characters with the most extravagant applause. But this habit of exaggeration greatly weakens their credit, and destroys the weight of their opinion on other occasions; for people very soon discover what degree of faith is to be given both to their judgment and their veracity."

"When upon mature deliberation we are persuaded a thing is fit to be done let us do it boldly, and not affect privacy in it, nor concern ourselves at all what impertinent censures, or reflections the world may pass upon it; for if the thing be just and innocent, it is foolish to stand in fear of those, who will themselves do ill in censuring and condemning what we do well."

"The late proprietary left his estate, in England and Ireland, amounting to the yearly value of £1500 sterling, and upwards, to William Penn, his eldest surviving son and heir, by Gulielma Maria, his first wife, and to the issue of that marriage; which, at the time of making his last will, in 1712, besides his said son William Penn, and his daughter Letitia, appears to have consisted of three grand children, Gulielma Maria, Springett, and William, the children of his son William. He could, therefore, make no provision, out of the said estate, for the payment of his debts, which were very considerable; nor for his widow, and his offspring by her; which are mentioned, in his last will, to be, John, Thomas, Margaret, Richard and Dennis, all minors.

It is observable that his estate in Europe, about this time, was esteemed of more value, than all his property in America, especially under its then present incumbrance (the mortage of 1703 not being yet entirely discharged*) and as he left it by his last will and testament, made on the sixth of April, 1712; wherein both the province, and the government of it, are left and devised in the following manner, viz.

My eldest son being well provided for by a settlement of his mother's, and my father's estate, I give and devise the rest of my estate, in manner following. The government of my province of Pennsylvania and territories thereunto belonging, and powers relating thereunto; I give and devise to the most honorable, the earl of Oxford, and earl Mortimer, and to William, earl Powlett, so called, and their heirs, upon trust, to dispose thereof to the queen, or any other person, to the best advantage they can, to be applied, in such manner as I shall hereafter direct. I give and devise to my dear wife, Hannah Penn, and her father Thomas Callowhill, and to my good friends, Margaret Lowther, my dear sister, and to Gilbert

*As soon as the proprietary's decease, the only surviving, or at least, active mortgagees, appear to have been, Henry Gouldney, Joshua Gee, John Woods, Thomas Oade, and John Field.

Heathcote, physician, Samuel Waldenfield, John Field, and Henry Gouldney, all living in England, and to my friends, Samuel Carpenter, Richard Hill, Isaac Norris, Samuel Preston, and James Logan, living in, or near Pennsylvania,* and to their heirs, all my lands, tenements and hereditaments, whatsoever, rents, and other profits, situate, lying and being in Pennsylvania, and the territories thereunto belonging, or elsewhere in America, upon trust, that they shall sell, and dispose of, so much thereof, as shall be sufficient to pay all my just debts, and from and after payment thereof, shall convey to each of the three children of my son, William Penn, Gulielma Maria, Springett and William, respectively, and to their respective heirs, 10,000 acres of land, in some proper and beneficial place, to be set out by my trustees aforesaid. All the rest of my lands and hereditaments whatsoever, situate, lying, or being in America, I will, that my said trustees shall convey to and amongst my children, which I have by my present wife, in such proportion, and for such estates as my said wife shall think fit; but before such conveyance shall be made to my children, I will, that my said trustees shall convey to my daughter Aubrey,† whom I omitted to name before, 10,000 acres of my said lands, in such places, as my said trustees shall think fit. All my personal estate, in Pennsylvania, and elsewhere, and arrears of rent due there, I give to my said dear wife, whom I make my sole executrix, for the equal benefit of her, and her children.'

William Penn, prior to, or about the time of, making his last will, had offered the government of Pennsylvania for sale to queen Anne; to whom afterwards an agreement was actually made, for disposing of the same, for £12,000; of which sum, on the 9th of September, 1712, or soon after, he received one thousand pounds, in part of payment. But after this, and before a surrender of the said government was effected, he was, by sickness, rendered incapable of executing the same; so that the government, at the time of his decease, still remained to be vested in the aforesaid earls, in trust, by virtue of his will, and as therein abovementioned is ex

*About the same time, the four following trustees, named in his will, were likewise deceased, viz: Margaret Lowther, Samuel Waldenfield, Gilbert Heathcote, and Samuel Carpenter.

† Laetitia.

In a codicil to his will, in his own hand writing, it is further expressed, as follows, viz.

"Postcript, in my own hand, as a further testimony of my love to my dear wife, I, of my own mind, give unto her, out of the rents of America, viz. Pennsylvania, three hundred pounds a year, for her natural life; and for her care and charge over my children, in their education, of which she knows my mind; as also, that I desire they may settle, at least, in good part, in America, where I leave them so good an interest, to be for their inheritance from generation to generation; which the Lord preserve and prosper, amen."