her hands, though a considerable number were written.

When Mr. Griffiths found that he had nothing to hope from the intervention of the royal mercy, and consequently that all the views with which he had flattered himself in wedlock were vanished, he began seriously to prepare himself for that state in which persons neither marry, nor are given in marriage.' He very justly attributed his misfortunes to the associating with persons who were his superiors in point of circumstances, and the making an appearance which he was unable to support, in order to secure the object of his wishes. He died, a penitent, at Tyburn, the 1st of August, 1700.

More than one lesson of useful instruction may be learnt from the preceding melancholy narrative. Among the number of our young gentlemen who are sent to the inns of court, many are of considerable fortune, while others have very scanty stipends; for it is the ambition of many parents to place their children in stations in which they cannot support them with the requisite degree of credit till they are enabled to provide for themselves; and it is possible that this may be the source of many calamities. The wish to provide in a proper manner

for our children is as laudable as it is natural; but many a youth owes his ruin to his being placed in a situation above his reasonable views or expectations.

When it happens that a young gentleman whose circumstances are rather contracted is sent to one of our inns of court, instead of frequenting playhouses and taverns with those of more liberal fortune, he should study with the utmost assiduity the reverend sages of the law, by which, in a few years, he may render himself superior to those who, at the present moment, may look down on him with a degree of contempt.

With regard to the unhappy subject of this narrative, we have only to remark that a rigid perseverance in the paths of honour might have finally procured him the consummation of his wishes. On a presumption that he was enamoured of his master's daughter, the ready way to have obtained her would have been to have sought the approbation of her father; and, as he appears to have been much confided in by the old gentleman, there seems to be little doubt but that modest perseverance would have ensured his success besides his guilt was increased in proportion to the confidence that his master reposed in him.

PIRACY is an offence committed on the high seas, by villains who man and arm a vessel for the purpose of robbing fair traders. It is also piracy to rob a vessel lying in shore at anchor, or at a wharf. The river Thames, until the excellent establishment of a marine police, was infested by gangs of freshwater pirates, who were continually rowing about, watching the home

ward-bound vessels; which, whenever an opportunity offered, they boarded, and stole whatever part of their cargo they could hoist into their boats. But, of late years, the shipping there, collected from every part of the habitable globe, have lain in tolerable security against such disgraceful depredations, and the introduction of the dock system has further increased this security.

Captain John Kidd was born in the town of Greenock, in Scotland, and bred to the sea. Having quit

ted his native country, he resided at New York, where he became owner of a small vessel, with which he traded among the pirates, obtained a thorough knowledge of their haunts, and could give a better account of them than any other person what ever. He was neither remarkable for the excess of his courage nor for the want of it. In a word, his ruling passion appeared to be avarice; and to this was owing his connexion with the pirates. While in their company he used to converse and act as they did; yet, at other times, he would make singular professions of honesty, and intimate how easy a matter it would be to extirpate these abandoned people, and prevent their future depredations.

His frequent remarks of this kind engaged the notice of several considerable planters, who, forming a more favorable idea of him than his true character would warrant, procured him the patronage with which he was afterwards honoured. For a series of years great complaints had been made of the piracies committed in the West Indies, which had been greatly encouraged by some of the inhabitants of North America, on account of the advantage they derived from purchasing effects thus fraudulently obtained. This coming to the knowledge of King William III. he, in the year 1695, bestowed the government of New England and New York on the Earl of Bellamont, an Irish nobleman, of distinguished character and abilities, who immediately began to consider of the most effectual method to redress the evils com. plained of, and consulted with Co. lonel Levingston, a gentleman who had great property in New York, on the most feasible steps to ob

viate the evils so long complained of. At this juncture Captain Kidd was arrived from New York in a sloop of his own: him, therefore, the colonel mentioned to Lord Bellamont as a bold and daring man, who was very fit to be employed against the pirates, as he was perfectly well acquainted with the places which they resorted to. This plan met with the fullest approbation of his lordship, who mentioned the affair to his Majesty, and recommended it to the Board of Admiralty: but such were then the hurry and confusion of public affairs, that, though the design was approved, no steps were taken towards carrying it into execution.

Accordingly Colonel Levingston made application to Lord Bellamont, that, as the affair would not well admit of delay, it was worthy of being undertaken by some private persons of rank and distinction, and carried into execution at their own expense, notwithstanding public encouragement was denied it. His lordship approved of this project, but it was attended with considerable difficulty: at length, however, the Lord-Chancellor Somers, the Duke of Shrewsbury, the Earl of Romney, the Earl of Oxford, and some other persons, with Colonel Levingston, and Captain Kidd, agreed to raise 6000l. for the expense of the voyage; and the colonel and captain were to have a fifth of the profits of the whole undertaking.

Matters being thus fat adjusted, a commission, in the usual form, was granted to Captain Kidd, to take and seize pirates, and bring them to justice; but there was no special clause or proviso to restrain his conduct or regulate the mode of his proceeding. Kidd was known to Lord Bellamont, and another gentleman presented him to Lord

Romney. With regard to the other parties concerned, he was wholly unacquainted with them; and, so ill was this affair conducted, that he had no private instructions how to act, but received his sailing or ders from Lord Bellamont, the purport of which was, that he should act agreeably to the letter of his commission.

Accordingly a vessel was purchased and manned, and received the name of the Adventure Galley; and in this Captain Kidd sailed for New York towards the close of the year 1695, and in his passage made prize of a French ship. From New York he sailed to the Madeira Islands, thence to Bonavista and St. Jago, and from this last place to Madagascar. He now began to cruise at the entrance of the Red Sea; but, not being successful in those latitudes, he sailed to Calicut, and there took a ship of one hundred and fifty tons' burden, which he carried to Madagascar, and disposed of there. Having sold this prize he again put to sea, and, at the expiration of five weeks, took the Quedah Merchant, a ship of above four hundred tous' burden, the master of which was an English. man, named Wright, who had two Dutch mates on board, and a French gunner; but the crew consisted of Moors, natives of Africa, and were about ninety in number. He carried the ship to St. Mary's, near Madagascar, where he burnt the Adventure Galley, belonging to his owners, and divided the lading of the Quedah Merchant with his crew, taking forty shares to himself.

They then went on board the last mentioned ship, and sailed for the West Indies. It is uncertain whether the inhabitants of the West India Islands knew that Kidd was a pirate, but he was refused refreshments at Anguilla and St. Thomas's,

and therefore sailed to Mona, between Porto Rico and Hispaniola, where, through the management of an Englishman, named Bolton, he obtained a supply of provisions from Curaçoa. He now bought a sloop of Bolton, in which he stowed great part of his ill-gotten effects, and left the Quedah Merchant, with eighteen of the ship's company, in Bolton's care. While at St. Mary's, ninety men of Kidd's crew left him, and went on board the Mocha Merchant, an East India ship, which had just then commenced pirate.

Kidd now sailed in the sloop, and touched at several places, where he disposed of a great part of his cargo, and then steered for Boston, in New England. In the interim Bolton sold the Quedah Merchant to the Spaniards, and immediately sailed as a passenger in a ship for Boston, where he arrived a considerable time before Kidd, and gave information of what had happened to Lord Bellamont. Kidd, there fore, on his arrival, was seized by order of his lordship, when all he had to urge in his defence was, that he thought the Quedah Merchant was a lawful prize, as she was manned with Moors, though there was no kind of proof that this vessel had committed any act of piracy.

Upon this the Earl of Bellamont immediately dispatched an account to England of the circumstances that had arisen, and requested that a ship might be sent for Kidd, who had committed several other notorios acts of pifacy. The ship Rochester was accordingly sent to bring him to England; but this vessel, happening to be disabled, was obliged to return: a circumstance which greatly increased a public clamour which had for a time subsisted respecting this affur, and which, no doubt, took its rise from party prejudice. It was carried to

such a height, that the members of parliament for several places were instructed to move the House for an inquiry into the affair; and accordingly it was moved, in the House of Commons, that 'The letters-patent granted to the Earl of Bellamont and others, respecting the goods taken from pirates, were dishonourable to the king, against the law of nations, contrary to the laws and statutes of this realm, an invasion of property, and destructive to commerce.' Though a negative was put on this motion, yet the enemies of Lord Somers and the Earl of Oxford continued to charge those noblemen with giving countenance to pirates; and it was even insinuated that the Earl of Bellamont was not less culpable than the actual offenders. Another motion was accordingly made in the House of Commons, to address his majesty that Kidd might not be tried till the next session of parliament; and that the Earl of Bellamont might be directed to send home all examinations and other papers relative to the affair.' This motion was carried, and the King complied with the request which was made.

As soon as Kidd arrived in England, he was sent for, and examined at the bar of the House of Commons, with a view to fix part of his guilt on the parties who had been concerned in sending him on the expedition; but nothing arose to criminate any of those distin. guished persons. Kidd, who was in some degree intoxicated, made a very contemptible appearance at the bar of the House; on which a member, who had been one of the

most earnest to have him examined, violently exclaimed, This fellow! I thought he had been only a knave, but unfortunately he happens to be a fool likewise.' Kidd was at length tried at the old Bailey, and was convicted on the clearest evidence; but neither at that time nor afterwards charged any of his employers with being privy to his infamous proceedings.

He suffered, with one of his companions (Darby Mullins), at Execution Dock, on the 23d of May, 1701. After Kidd had been tied up to the gallows, the rope broke, and he fell to the ground; but being immediately tied up again, the ordinary, who had before exhorted him, desired to speak with him once more; and, on this second application, entreated him to make the most careful use of the few further moments thus providentially allotted him for the final prepara. tion of his soul to meet its important change. These exhortationsappear. ed to have the wished-for effect; and he was left, professing his charity to all the world, and his hopes of salvation through the merits of his Redeemer.

Thus ended the life of Captain Kidd, a man who, if he had entertained a proper regard to the wel. fare of the public, or even to his own advantage, might have become an useful member of society, instead of a disgrace to it. The opportunities he had obtained of acquiring a complete knowledge of the haunts of the pirates rendered him one of the most proper men in the world to have extirpated this nest of villains; but his own avarice defeated the generous views of some of the