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by contrivance, and let me know your thoughts n. Perhaps you may like to possess the jeu send herewith enclosed. It was written by Sir Scott many years ago, when Miss Lewis was at Edinburgh with her friend Lady —; and ade this offering, I shall conclude with assuring I am your faithful," &c.

"CRIMINAL LETTERS.

"The King against Sophia Lewis.

ge, &c.-Whereas robbery and murder are, nd all civilised countries, crimes of a high naseverely punishable, especially when aggracircumstances of atrocious cruelty, and perpe-on persons of distinguished merits and talents; rtheless you, the said Sophia Lewis, are guilty art and part of the aforesaid crimes; forasmuch g associated yourself with the Right Honourable -mmonly called Lady, professed tyrant royer of the king's liege subjects, you did frevers assemblies, concerts, plays, sermons, &c. then and there disturb the king's peace and of his subjects, and withdrew their attention ir lawful business, amusement, and devotion, assailing them with certain weapons called both open and concealed, contrary to the stavided against fascination and witchcraft; and ular, upon the 30th day of January, 1801, or day immediately preceding or following the upon one or other of the days of the said month, month immediately succeeding, you did viodrepeatedly assault the person of the deceased den, late preacher of the gospel, with the pur

pose and intent of depriving him of his rest, peace of mind, and other valuables, of which you possessed yourself. And although the said John Leyden was divers times heard to exclaim in the most pitiful and miserable accents, and to complain of your cruelty, yet nevertheless you continued to torment him with divers weapons, called wit, beauty, accomplishments, &c. &c.; and particularly with a pair of keen and piercing eyes, and having penetrated to his very heart, you did most relentlessly extract the same from his body, (he crying pitifully all the while for mercy :) And the said John Leyden having survived the cruel operation, being a man of great bodily strength and vigour,) did, in consequence thereof, become insane and a burden to himself and his friends, being capable of nothing but of uttering complaints of your cruelty, until his compassionate friends had thoughts of sending him to the hospital of Coventry for the recovery of his senses. Nevertheless

you, Sophia Lewis, did renew your attack upon this melancholy object, and did carry him off in a postchaise to W――, (he being altogether unable to resist the violence of your attack,) and there, or at some other place to the public prosecutor unknown, did continue your assault upon him, forcing him to dance while in this lamentable state-a cruelty which can only be paralleled among the savage Indians: In consequence of which repeated barbarity, the said John Leyden fainted, sank, and died away: At last, time and place aforesaid, the said John Leyden was barbarously robbed, tormented, and finally murdered as aforesaid, and you the said Sophia Lewis are guilty actor or art or part thereof. And there will be lodged in evidence against you divers poems, in the handwriting of the said John Leyden, all marking the progressive derangement of his understanding, and imputing the same to your ill usage; also a letter addressed to the public prosecutor, beginning with the words Dear sir, and ending with the words turn over, with a postscript in the hand of the unfortunate sufferer, in a language unknown. For all which crimes you have justly deserved to undergo the punishment of

law, namely, to be attached by means of a ring to such person of merit, fortune, and accomplishments, as may be found worthy of being public executioner upon the present occasion. Given under our signet at Edin1. this 2d of February, 1802.

(Signed)

"WALTER SCOTT,

"Counsel for the King in this case."

March 1st.-I received several letters from abroad; amongst them one from Sir Wm. Gell.

"Scene-a charming little room with the window open, looking out on the lovely bay. Orange-trees, myrtles, and flowers under my window. The sun shining as it can only shine at Naples.

"Present, an individual dressed in an orange and blue-coloured dressing-gown, a red velvet nightcap upon his head, his countenance nearly of the same hue as his gown, perhaps a little more resembling a citron colour; his feet rolled up in flannel, and deposited on a stool. He exclaims occasionally with much anger and vehemence, as a twinge of the gout makes itself severely felt.

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"Now why, say you, put in such an ugly figure in the foreground, to destroy the beauty of the scene? Remove yonder monster out of my sight, you exclaim. But when I inform you, dear — that this same unsightly-looking personage is your faithful Adonis, I am certain all your disgust will turn to pity. Such, then, is my condition at this present moment when I have the pleasure of writing to you, and such it has been for this some time past, which must account for my not having sooner replied to your last kind letter. It would seem, by all the accounts you give, that London society is very brilliant at this epoch; yet (though, perhaps, you will not believe the declaration, and will think it is because the grapes are sour that I say so.) I do not feel the smallest wish to be immersed in the whirlpool of your dissipations. A London life is pleasant enough from twenty to thirty, but not after that period-at least not the kind of life a poor single man is able to leadhunting for dinners, and paying court to every stupid

person who hangs out notice that they give 'good entertainment for man and woman;' which good entertainment, by the way, is very often exceedingly bad, both as to provender for body and mind. If I were as rich as the Duke of and had such a palazzo as he possesses, wherein to receive those I liked, and no others, I could exist very well in London for a few of the summer months; but I never would spend a spring, autumn, or winter there, in those days when you citizens dwell in an atmosphere of fog and east winds, by which your faces are all transformed to a copper-coloured hue, with red noses, living like the inhabitants of the North Pole, by candle-light during the greater part of the fourand-twenty hours. It is marvellous how any person can prefer such a climate to that of this divine country; and it surprises me more particularly that you, as a person of taste and discernment in most matters, should follow the foolish multitude in this wilful love of home. It is a pretty notion in fairy tales, wherein mention is never made or alluded to of the above-mentioned fogs, east winds, and such-like vulgar realities;-but to put the theory into practice is a great mistake. You ask me if I shall never return to England. Never is a great word, and I may be compelled some day; but as long as I am a free agent, and that there is not a law passed to forbid all the variable changes of the British atmosphere, I shall avoid encountering an increase of suffering-which I should infallibly do, were I to expose myself to your northern climate: so I live in hopes that you, and a few others whom I care for, may come here, and thus I may enjoy your society without paying too great a price for that pleasure-which I should do, by exposing my wretched limbs to the cold blasts of England.

"I heard from the Princess of Wales a few days since, and had the honour of receiving a letter written by her own royal hand; but so written, I could only decipher half of its contents, and was satisfied to guess the rest. Mrs. Thompson appears dissatisfied with self and all the world besides, especially with the household; from which, says she, Dere is not one to choose better than de

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oder; dey have all behaved in the most cruellest manner possible to me.' Of course your humble servant is included in the anathema. No mention is made of the present court, by which I judge their reign is drawing to a conclusion. Heaven speed its termination, though mayhap it may be followed by a worse, and that Mrs. Thompson will only fall out of the frying-pan into the fire. I heard, by a sidewind report, that the plan fixed upon by Mr. Thompson for the maintenance of the peace and quiet of the Thompson kingdom, not to mention his own domestic felicity, was to propose to Mrs. Thompson, when the elder Thompson dies, and that he is succeeded by Thompson, junior, to accept a large income, and never to set foot on Thompson ground. I do not think Mrs. T. will submit to these conditions. There is a deal of spirit in the latter, which will revolt at such terms, and we shall see grand doings yet, I promise you. The Great Mogul' trembles in his slippers, I know, and is most anxious to retain Liverpool and Co. in office, because they have sworn to fight against Mrs. Thompson. They are a rascally set, and quite equal to obeying Mr. Thompson's most unreasonable commands. I hear Mrs. Thompson's health is not so good as it used to be.. Willikin revolts frequently, and hates the Count Hector Von Der Ott, so that there are disturbances in 'Paradise,' as Alcandrina denominates the Villa D'Este. I have sometimes wished I could disguise myself, and obtain an entrance into this Eden, to have the fun of seeing how those primeval personages pass their time.

6

"Who is the favourite in the harem of the Sultan just now? Is it, as we outlandish folks hear, my Lady of C--that has had the honour of having the handkerchief thrown to her?

"We have few of our country people here at present, and unless I could pick and choose, so as to have those I prefer, I do not lament the absence of English folks. Lady D-- is one of the few residing with us Neapolitans. She is handsome-more I know not of her, save what rumour has been pleased to invent, viz. that she once had a black child, which being an inconvenient cir

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