mitted (being sworn to give evidence, according to custom), deposed, That the body being taken out of the grave thirty days after the party's death, and lying on the grass, and the four defendants present, they were required each of them to touch the dead body. Okerman's wife fell upon her knees, and prayed God to show tokens of her innocence, or to some such purpose-her very words I have forgot. The appellees did touch the dead body, whereupon the brow of the dead, which was before a livid and carrion colour (that was the verbal expression in terminis of the witness), began to have a dew or gentle sweat arise upon it, which increased by degrees till the sweat ran down in drops upon the face, the brow turned and changed to a lively and fresh colour, and the dead opened one of her eyes and shut it again, and this opening the eye was done three several times; she likewise thrust out the ring or marriage finger three several times, and pulled it in again, and the finger dropped blood on the grass.' Nicholas Hyde, chief magistrate, seeming to doubt the evidence, asked the witness, Who saw this besides you?'Witness. I cannot swear what others saw; but, my lord,' said he, I believe the whole company saw it; and if it had been thought a doubt, proof would have been made of it, and many would have attested with me.' 6 Sir "Then the witness, observing some admiration in the auditors, he spake farther: My lord, I am minister of the parish, and have known all the parties, but never had any occasion of displeasure against any of them, nor had to do with them, nor they with me; but as I was minister, the thing was wonderful to me; I have no interest in the matter, but as called upon to testify the truth, and that I have done.' "This witness was a reverend person; as I guessed, was about seventy years of age; his testimony was delivered gravely and temperately, but to the great admiration of the auditory; whereupon, applying himself to the chief justice, he said, "My lord, my brother, here present, is minister of the parish adjacent, and, I am assured, saw all done that I have affirmed." Therefore that person was sworn to give evidence, and deposed in every point, viz. the sweating of the brow, changing of its colour, opening of the eye, and the thrice motion of the finger, and drawing it in again; only the first witness added, that he himself dipped his finger in the blood which came from the dead body, to examine it, and he swore he believed it was blood. I conferred afterwards with Sir Edmund Powell, barrister at law, and others, who all concurred in the observation; and for myself, if I were upon oath, M I can depose, that these depositions, especially the first witness, are truly reported in substance. "The other evidence was given against the prisoners, viz. the grandmother of the plaintiff, and against Ökerman and his wife, that they confessed they lay in the next room to the dead person that night, and that none came into the house till they found her dead the next morning. Therefore, if she did not murder herself, they must be the murderers; to that end further proof was made: "1st. That she lay in a composed manner in bed, the bed-clothes nothing at all disturbed, and her child by her in bed. 66 2dly. Her throat cut from ear to ear, and her neck broken; and if she first cut her throat, she could not break her neck in the bed, nor contra. "3dly. There was no blood in the bed, saving there was a tincture of blood on the bolster where her head lay, but no substance of blood at all. 4thly. From the bed's-head there was a stream of blood on the floor, which ran along till it ponded in the bendings on the floor to a very great quantity; and there was also another stream of blood on the floor, at the bed's-feet, which ponded also in the floor to a very great quantity, but no continuance or communication of either of these two places from one to the other, neither upon the bed, so that she bled in two places severally; and it was deposed, turning up the mats of the bed, there were clots of congealed blood in the straw of the mats underneath. "5thly. The bloody knife was found in the morning, sticking in the floor, a good distance from the bed, but the point of the knife, as it stuck, was to the bed, and the haft from the bed. "6thly. There was a print of a thumb and fore-finger of a left hand. "Sir Nicholas Hyde, chief justice, said to the witness, 'How can you know the print of a left hand from the print of a right hand, in such a case?'-Witness. It is hard to describe; but if it please that honourable judge to put his left hand upon your left hand, you cannot possibly put your right hand in the same posture." Which being done, and appearing so, the defendants had time to make their defence, but gave no evidence to any purpose. The jury departing from the bar, and returning, acquitted Okerman, and found the other three guilty, who being severally demanded what they could say, why judgement should not be pronounced, said no more than I did not do it! I did not do it!' "Judgement was given, and the grandmother and the husband executed, but the aunt had the privilege to be spared execution, being with child. 66 "I enquired if they confessed any thing at their execution, but they did not, as I am told." JACOBITE FANATICISM. WHEN Israel first provok'd the living Lord, Lansdown MSS. 852. SONG. BY SAMUEL DANIEL,-1590. LOVE is a sickness full of woes, A plant that most with cutting grows, More we enjoy it, more it dies; Love is a torment of the mind, More we enjoy it, more it dies; SIEVWRIGHT'S "PRINCIPLES, POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS.” It is difficult to say to which of the writers the following correspondence does most honour. The active friendship and public spirit of "the Scots Whig and Presbyterian," cannot be more deserving of approbation, than the condescension and generosity with which his application, in behalf of a humble and deserving individual of the episcopal persuasion, was received by the head of the English church. Letter from Mr. John Garden to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury; dated Brechin, April 24th, 1767. May it please your Grace, I am a layman, content with the fruit of my labour, and have nothing to ask for myself. I am a Scots Whig and Presbyterian; not quite so rigid, indeed, but I would conform to the Church of England, were it by law established, but I shall never wish to see it so here. Our country is too barren and poor; and from the experience I have had of the clergy here, I shall never wish to see them possessed of power, the constant concomitant of great riches; so apt they are to domineer, or to side with those who are disposed to do so, when they can see their own interest in it. This, I am sensible, is no plausible introduction in addressing one of your station; but plain truth tells best, and is always more prevalent (prevailing) than fiction. I have lately read a book, published this year at Edinburgh, titled "Principles, Political and Religious," by Mr. Norman Sievwright, minister of the authorized episcopal congregation here, to be sold at A. Donaldson's shop, London. am pleased with the performance; the more so, as an essay, of its nature, from one of his profession in this conntry, would have been looked upon as quite exotic some years ago. The design is certainly laudable, to open the eyes of, and introduce loyalty among a blind, deluded, and disaffected people; a design, wherein the interest and happiness of Great Britain are not a little concerned; and, of consequence, worthy of your grace's attention, whom kind providence has placed at the head of the church of England. I am absolutely unconnected with the author, either by blood or alliance; but I know him to be a good man and a loyal subject, and the character I give will be confirmed by every honest man that knows him; and though altogether unknown to your grace, and even void of the improper and presumptuous ambition of being so, I have, without Mr. Siev wright's knowledge or participation, from the mere motive of Most obedient and most humble servant, Letter by the Archbishop of Canterbury to John Garden, in answer to the preceding; dated Lambeth, May 25th, 1767. Sir, I beg your pardon, that I have suffered your letter, in this busy time, to lie so long unanswered: and I hope the plain speaking of an English Episcopal Whig will be as acceptable |