the evening, Mr. Bonar, jun. arrived from Faversham, where he was on duty as Colonel of the Kent local militia. In spite of the efforts of Mr. Angerstein, jun. and some other gentlemen, he rushed up stairs, exclaiming, Let me see my father! indeed I must see him.' It was impossible to detain him: he burst into the bed-chamber, and immediately locked the door after him. Apprehensions were entertained for his safety, and the door was broken open, when he was seen kneeling with clasped hands over the body of his father. His friends bore him away, and hurried him, tottering and fainting, into an adjoining chamber.'

The officers were now busy in investigating the scene of murder. There was no appearance of any one having broken into the house, nor was there any attempt at robbery; for the bureau remained locked, and the watches of the deceased were found in their usual places.Of the perpetrator or perpetrators of the murder nothing had transpired for some time but suspicion and surmise; and no motive could be assigned for the assassination of two persons, who were not only inoffensive, but universally beloved for their kindness and benevolence. It was at first supposed the instrument of murder, the poker, did not belong to the house; but this was subsequently proved to be the case, and the error originated from the circumstance of its having been recently repaired, by order of a servant who had just left Mr. Bonar's service.

The mystery soon began to develop itself. It was observed that, though the room was covered with blood, there were no bloody footsteps in the hall, nor in the anteroom; and, though the hall-door was found open, there was no ap

pearance of the assasins having passed through it. A pair of Nicholson's shoes were found in a closet, stained with blood, and on applying them, as well as another pair, to the bloody footsteps in the bedroom, they were found exactly to correspond. His night-cap was aso discovered to have marks of blood on it; but the sanguinary marks could be traced no farther, as he had artfully confounded his own linen with the bloody sheeting which he had taken from his master's bed.

The suspicion thus excited gradually received confirmation from the unfeeling conduct of Nicholson himself, which tended, more than the above circumstances, to fix upon him the charge of murder. In place of following the officers to the house of his late master, he contrived to get from their sight in Brydges Street, and proceeded through town drinking with his acquaintances wherever he met them.

In the mean time his room was searched, and, there being no sign of his returning, a warrant was issued for his apprehension.

Forrester, one of the city officers, was sent in pursuit of him, and, after diligent inquiry, he was traced to Whitechapel, where he found him on horseback, drinking at the inndoor of the Three Nuns with an old acquaintance. Forrester laid hold of the bridle of the horse, and, after a smart scuffle, in which Nicholson received some slight bruises, he was secured, and conveyed to Giltspur Street Compter. He was then in a state of intoxication approaching to insanity. Some gentlemen questioned him; but no admission of guilt could be drawn from him. He was carried before the lord mayor, and examined; but such was drunken state that no rational answer could be extracted,

The next day, Tuesday, he was again brought to the Mansion-house; he denied all knowledge of the perpetrators of the murder, and when reprimanded for removing the sheets, as well as calling upon Dale before he called at the Police Office, he pleaded ignorance.

It appeared, from the account he gave of himself, that he was a native of Ireland, and had been discharged from the thirteenth dragoons in consequence of a broken wrist. He subsequently lived three years with the city remembrancer, and had been only three weeks in the employ of his late master, Mr. Bonar. Among the servants at Camden Place he was looked upon as a man of harmless disposition and good nature, with no discernible failing but one, drunkenness, to which he was greatly addicted, being seldom sober when he could procure any spirits.

All questions which were deemed necessary having been put to him, he was sent, in custody of Adkins and another officer, to Chiselhurst, to give evidence before the coroner's jury, who were to sit that evening on the bodies of the deceased.

The evidence being gone through before the coroner, Mr. Martyr, he was reading over the depositions of the several witnesses for their assent and signature, when an alarm was given that Nicholson had attempted his own life. He had been in custody of two officers, and requested leave to go into the yard, which was refused; but he was permitted to enter a water-closet in the passage leading to the servants' hall; while here he cut his throat with a razor, which, it appeared, he had concealed in the front of his breeches. The gash was so deep, and it bled so profusely, that it was supposed he could not live many minutes. The head seemed almost severed

from the body, and a large hand might have been inserted in the wound. Fortunately two surgeons of Bromley were in attendance, onc of whom, Mr. Holt, immediately rushed forward, and, with great presence of mind, seized with both his hands the gushing arteries, which he stopped from bleeding until the application of more regular means.

An express was instantly dispatched for Mr. Astley Cooper, who arrived in three hours, and, having dressed the wound, declared Nicholson out of danger. To prevent a hemorrhage, every precaution was taken; his head was placed in a fixed position, and two attendants constantly held his hands. Being a Roman Catholic, a priest was sent for; but he made no declaration, and, in the few words he spoke, persisted in declaring his innocence.

The coroner's jury, after a long and patient investigation, returned a verdict of wilful murder against Philip Nicholson.'

The sensation which the murder produced throughout the country was amazing. Nicholson's attempt at suicide seemed to confirm the suspicion of his guilt; and every one was anxious to see the monster who was charged with so foul a crime.

On Monday, June the 7th, he was visited by several of the nobility, among whom were Lord Castlereagh, Lord Camden, and Lord Robert Seymour. During their presence he showed repeated symptoms of annoyance and agitation; this circumstance, together with an attempt to make him look more cleanly, caused his wound to bleed afresh. This happened about seven o'clock in the evening; and, as the he morrhage was of an alarming nature, a dispatch was sent off for Mr. Astley Cooper, who arrived about eleven o'clock. Mr. Bramston, the priest, with Mr. Bonar, came about

the same time; and great apprehensions were entertained for the life of the unfortunate wretch.

At six o'clock next morning he requested Mr. Bramston to send for Mr. Bonar immediately. When this gentleman entered, Nicholson burst into tears, and, begging pardon of Mr. Bonar, expressed his wish to make a full confession. A neighbouring magistrate, and other gentlemen, having been sent for, Nicholson, in their presence, made and afterwards signed a voluntary confession that the murder was committed by him, but it did not appear that he had any motive whatever for the perpetration of the dreadful deed.

In consequence of assertions contained in this confession, search was made for the linen, when it was found in a laurel bush. The stockings were very bloody, and the shirt was rent almost to rags about the neck and front, in consequence of the opposition made by Mr. Bonar.

Nicholson, who, before his confession, looked gloomy, fierce, and malicious, afterwards became perfectly calm, and had even an air of satisfaction. He repented his attempt at suicide; and, as much apprehension was entertained for his recovery, every thing that could disturb him was studiously kept out of sight.

When Nicholson was considered out of danger, he was removed to the House of Correction, Coldbath Fields, where he remained until the 17th of August, when he was carried to Maidstone to take his trial; and on the 20th, at eight o'clock, he was placed at the bar. His looks were gloomy and sad; but, on the whole, he appeared firm and collected. He pleaded Not Guilty,' in consequence, he said, of the persuasions of several persons.

The case was fully made out by

the witnesses, independently of the confession; and, when called on for his defence, he merely inquired if the truth of his declaration was at all doubted. The son of the city remembrancer appeared to give testimony to his character, which he described as humane and gentle, there being never any complaint made against him for the three years he lived with his father, except for frequent intoxication.

The judge having charged the jury, they immediately returned a verdict of Guilty;' after which he was asked, in the usual form, if he had any thing to say, when he replied, Nothing.'

Mr. Justice Heath then proceeded to pass sentence nearly in the following terms: Prisoner, after a minute trial, you have been convicted by a jury of your country of traitorously murdering your master; whom, instead of attacking, it was your duty to protect, at the peril of your life. What was your motive for so atrocious a crime does not appear: it does not seem to have been revenge; you were not intoxicated, nor offended at your master, against whom it was impossible to feel resentment, for his whole life was a series of kindness and beneficences, for which he is now gone to receive his reward. You, Nicholson, must soon appear before a tribunal more awful than this, and I solemnly recommend you to employ the short interval which remains to you in making your peace with Heaven. Nothing that I can say can aggravate the sense of your guilt in the minds of this assembly: I shall, therefore, proceed to discharge my duty in passing upon you the sentence of the law, which is, that you be taken hence to the place from whence you came, and on Monday next be drawn on a sledge to the place of

I acknowledge, with the deepest contrition, the justice of the sentence unto death which has been just passed upon me. My crimes are, indeed, most heavy; I feel their weight, but I do not despair; nay, I humbly hope for mercy, through the infinite mercy of my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who bled and died for me. In order to have a well-grounded hope in him, my allmerciful Redeemer, I know that it is my bounden duty not only to grieve from my heart for my dire offences, but also to do my utmost to make satisfaction for them. Yet, alas! what satisfaction can I make to the afflicted family of my master and mistress, whom, without any provocation, I so barbarously murdered? I can make uone beyond the declaration of my guilt and horror of soul that I could perpetrate deeds so shocking to human nature, and so agonizing to the feelings of that worthy family. I implore their forgiveness, for God's sake; and, fully sensible of their great goodness, I do hope that, for his sake, they will forgive me.-I freely give up my life as a just forfeit to my country, whose laws I have scandalously outraged. Departing this tribunal, I shall soon appear before another tribunal, where an eternal sentence will be passed upon me. With this dread

sentence full in my view, I do most solemnly declare, and I desire this declaration to be taken as my dying words, that I alone was the base and cruel murderer of my master and mistress; that I had no accomplice; that no one knew or possibly could suspect that I intended to perpetrate those barbarities; that I myself had no intention of committing those horrid deeds, save for a short time, so short as scarcely to be computed, before I actually committed them; that booty was not the motive of my fatal cruelties; I am sure the idea of plunder never presented itself to my mind: I can attribute those unnatural murders to no other cause than, at the time of their commission, a temporary fury from excessive drinking; and, before that time, to the habitual forgetfulness, for many years, of the great God and his judgments; and the too natural consequence of such forgetfulness, the habitual yielding to the worst passions of corrupted nature; so that the evil that I was tempted to do, that I did: the Lord in his mercy has, nevertheless, spared until now my life-that life which I, in an agony of horror and despair, once most wickedly attempted to destroy: he has most graciously allowed me time for repentance; an humble and contrite heart must be his gift; that gift I hope he has granted to my most ardent supplications: in that hope, and bearing in mind his promise that an humble and contrite heart he will not despise, I, freely offering up to him my sufferings, and my life itself, look forward, through his most precious blood, to the pardon of all my crimes, my manifold and most enormous crimes, and most humbly trust that the same mercy which he showed to the penitent thief who was crucified with him he will show to me: thus

meekly confiding in thee, O Jesus! into thy hands I commend my spirit. Amen.

'PHILIP NICHOLSON.'

• This 20th August, 1813.'

The signature was in Nicholson's own handwriting: the rest appeared written by another band.

After sentence of death was passed, Nicholson was placed in the condemned cell, which in the Maidstone gaol is under ground, and the approach to it is dark and dreary, down many steps. In this cell Mr. Bonar had an interview with the prisoner, at half past five on Monday morning. On his approaching the cell, he found Nicholson on his knees at prayer.

At about twelve o'clock, the preparations for the removal of Nicholson being nearly completed, Mr. Bonar, accompanied by his brother, and Mr. Bramston, the Catholic clergyman, had another interview with the unfortunate man, soon after which the hurdle or sledge, which was in the shape of a shallow box, about six feet by three, was drawn up to the gaol door; at each end was a seat just capable of holding two persons. Nicholson, double ironed, was first placed in it, with his back to the horses; he was also pinioned with ropes, and round his shoulders was coiled the fatal cord; by his side sat the executioner; opposite to the prisoner the Rev. Mr. Bramston took his seat, and by his side sat one of the Maidstone gaolers with a loaded blunderbuss. Every thing being in readiness, the procession advanced at a very slow pace towards Pennenden Heath, which is distant from Maidstone nearly a mile and a half, on which was erected a temporary new drop, which had a platform raised seven feet from the ground, and was large enough to contain about a dozen persons. A little before two o'clock

the hurdle arrived, and stopped immediately under the gallows, when Mr. Bramston and Nicholson knelt down on it, and remained for some time in prayer. Some time previous to this Mr. Bonar arrived on the ground in a post-chaise, and took his stand within twelve yards of the fatal spot, with the front windows full on the gallows, and which he kept open during the whole time; but each of the side windows was closed by blinds. So anxious was Mr. Bonar to get from the unfortunate wretch his very dying words, as to whether he had either motive or accomplice, that a person was deputed to ascend the platform after the cord was round the prisoner's neck, and to ask him the following questions:

Q. Now that you have not many moments to live, is all that you have stated, namely, that you had no motive that you can tell of, nor had you any accomplice, true ?' A. All that I have stated is true.'

"Then there is no creature living on earth who had any thing to do with the murder but yourself?"— No, no one.'

You had no accomplices ?''None.'

Had you any antipathy to either your master or mistress, before you committed the horrid murder ?— Clasping his hands together as well as his heavy irons would permit him, As God is in Heaven it was a momentary thought, as I have repeatedly declared before.'

The above were the last words of this unhappy man; in a few minutes after they were uttered, the bottom of the platform, which, we have before stated, was constructed like one of the new drops, was let fall, and Nicholson was launched into eternity. He died unusually hard, being greatly convulsed.