bed. Lavender proceeded in his deposition. He arrived at Chislehurst about one o'clock on the day the murder was committed. He went into the bed-room of Mr Bonar, who on examination appeared to him to have received his wounds from some sharp or heavy instrument, and he found a poker in the room, which he thought to be the fatal instrument. This poker the witness produced-it was quite bent, and almost all over stained with blood, particularly from the bend downwards. He also produced a candlestick, which he found in Mr Bonar's room, and which had been trodden upon and stained, apparently by some bloody foot. On Tuesday the 1st of June, he, with Adkins and Forrester, two police officers, took the prisoner in custody to Chislehurst, about four o'clock in the evening. That evening the Coroner's Inquest sat upon the body of Mr Bonar; while the Inquest was sitting, between eleven and twelve at night, the prisoner was found to have eut his throat, but surgical assistance being called in, the wound was sewed up, and he appeared likely to recover. For several days after, witness attended the prisoner. On the 8th of June the wound in the throat bled afresh, and the prisoner expressed an eager desire to see Mr Bonar, the son of the deceased. Mr Bonar accordingly came to him, and in his (witness's) presence the prisoner, without any promise or threat whatever being used to him, made a voluntary confession to Mr Bonar. What prisoner said was reduced to writing, in the form of question and answer, by Mr Astley Cooper, and the writing being read over to the prisoner, he signed it. This writing was afterwards read over to the prisoner, in presence of Mr Wells, the Magistrate, and the prisoner drew a dry pen over the signature. Mr Wells, with witness and others, also signed this document. of the last part of the witness's deposition which referred to him, and delivered in the document alluded to, which he stated to have been distinctly read over to the prisoner before he drew his dry pen over the signature, as before mentioned. On cross-examination by Mr Pooley, Mr Wells stated, that the prisoner did, at the time, appear to be in great pain, and very much disturbed; not, however, disturbed in intellect, but in such a condition as perfectly to understaħd what he was about respecting this do cument. Here the confession was read by Mr Knapp. It stated that the prisoner had no accomplice whatever in the crime he had committed; nor did he himself know of or meditate the crime ten minutes before it was committed. He had been sleeping on a form in the servants' hall, until three o'clock in the morning; when he awoke he took a poker from the grate, and, with a lighted candle, entered his master's bed-room. There he looked about him for a moment, when he gave his mistress two blows of the poker, and left her. He then gave his master two or three blows, who, after saying, "Are you coming to bed, love?" sprung out of bed, and struggled with the prisoner. The struggle continued for about fifteen minutes, in the course of which the deceased had nearly got the better of him (the prisoner); but prisoner at length got him down. Prisoner then went down to wash his hands in the sink of the butler's pantry; and having done so, he opened the hall-door, and the drawing-room windows. As to any motive for the murder, he could state none; indeed he knew not of any. He had heard of his having complained that his mistress took him too often behind the carriage. It was true he did complain somewhat on this head, but he felt no resentment; no, he never even thought Mr Wells corroborated that part much about it. He never even thought thought of the crime he had perpetrated the night before its perpeiration when drinking with the groom, nor had he any idea whatever of it. He was half undressed when sleeping on the form; he stripped off his clothes before he proceeded to his master's room, and put on the sheet from his bed, in order that his master might not know him. He had the sheet on when he gave the first blow. Neither the butler nor the maid-servants knew any thing of his purpose, and there was nothing particular in his visit to Dale. He did not drink any thing but beer the night before he committed the murder. The shirt and stockings he wore in committing the murder, he took off, and hid in the shrubbery, opposite the hall-door, because they were bloody; but the breeches he had on at the time, he kept on for the day. He also took off his waistcoat and the shoes, which he put into the wood-closet. The rush-light he found in the anti-room he took down, merely to shew himself light, and put it into the coal-house. He opened the hall-door and windows also to shew light. Immediately after the perpetration of the murder he went to bed, but he could not sleep. The document concluded as follows: Thinking myself on my death-bed, I make this declaration, because I owe it to truth, and in order to save innocent persons."Signed, &c. S. Lavender being again called, he stated, that he found the prisoner's shirt and stockings in the shrubbery, as described by the prisoner. The shirt and stockings were produced, aud both were stained with blood, the former particularly, which was, torn in several places, owing, it is presumed, to the struggle of Mr Bonar; it exhibited all over a bloody hue. The exhibition was truly shocking. Mr Ryland, the surgeon of Bromley, deposed to his having seen the body of Mr Bonar, en the morning of his murder. He stated, that the deceased had evidently received several wounds; his skull was extensively fractured, the bones of his nose crushed, and all his right teeth broken in. Deponent has no doubt that the murder was committed with the poker produced in Court. The prisoner asked Mr Ryland, whether, throughout his attendance upon him, he had any doubt of his (the prisoner's) confession, to which the witness answered in the negative. The case for the prosecution being here closed, Frederick Tyrell, Esq. was called to the prisoner's character. The witness stated, that the prisoner had lived about three years in the service of his father, the Chief Remembrancer of London, from whose service he proceeded to that of the deceased Mr Bonar, and that, during the above period, the conduct and demeanour of the prisoner was such as to manifest humanity and a good disposition. On cross examination by Mr Gurney, witness stated, that the prisoner had been turned away from his father's service, in consequence of frequent drunkenness; yet he never saw him outrageous when so drunk-that however he was often so drunk that his father's house was deemed unsafe while he was allowed to remain in it. To a question from Mr Pooley, wit ness added, that the house was deemed unsafe from prisoner only, through the same reason that any other man, apt to get drunk and carry lights about it, would have rendered it so. Mr Justice Heath here addressed the Jury, observing, that he thought the circumstantial evidence adduced against the prisoner sufficient, even without referring to his confession. The strength of the circumstantial evidence, the Learned Judge pointed out, particularly in the prisoner's own declaration respecting the night-cap, which could not have been bloodstained, as he said, upon taking down the the sheets; for it appeared that he had not the night-cap on at all; but was full dressed at the time he took down the sheets, which sheets also bore forcibly against the prisoner. The correspondence of the impression of the shoes with the bloody footmarks, which was deposed to by Foy, the Learned Judge urged as a strong fact. But the guilt of the prisoner was, he thought, placed beyond all doubt, by the prisoner's own confession. Upon this and all the circumstances, however, it was the province of the Jury exclusively to determine. After scarcely a moment's consultation, the Jury pronounced the prisoner guilty. and Mr Knapp having announced the verdict to the prisoner in the usual form, The Judge proceeded to pass sentence upon him. He observed to him, that he had been found guilty of barbarously murdering those to whom he owed peculiar allegiance and fidelity-those, whom, so far from attacking, he was bound to protect, if attacked by others, and to defend them even at the peril of his life. In his own confession, he (the prisoner) had borne testimony to the merits of his universally revered master-of him whose whole life had individually been one continued series of piety and be neficence, the reward of which he was now gone to receive from that tribunal, before which he (the prisoner) was himself destined so soon to appear. For that appearance, for that awful fate that awaited him, he exhorted the prisoner to make all the preparation in his power; for, from the atrocity of the crime of which he had been convicted, it was impossible that he could expect any mercy from the laws or justice of that country, which, from his own confession, he had so grossly violated. The Learned Judge concluded with pronouncing sentence in the usual terms, that the prisoner should be executed on Monday next, and his body delivered over for dissection. After the Judge had concluded, the prisoner delivered in a paper, of which the following is a copy : "I acknowledge, with the deepest contrition, the justice of the sentence unto death that has just now been 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 all-merciful Redeemer, I know that it is my bounden duty, not only to grieve from my heart for my 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 none 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 they will forgive me. I freely give up my life as a just forfeit to my country, whose laws I have most scandalously outraged-Departing from this tribunal, soon shall I 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 could possibly 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 and conscious guilt. On the delivery of the evidence of Mary Clark and Penelope Folds, he was particularly affected; but on the production of the bloody sheets, his shirt, and the scarcely to be computed, before I actually committed them-that booty was not the motive of my fatal cruelties. 1 am sure the idea of plunder never presented itself to my mind. I can attribute those unnatural mur-poker, he betrayed the most afflicted ders to no other cause, than, at the emotion. The poker appeared partime of their commission, to a tempo- ticularly to shock him. He seems rary frenzy from excessive drinking, about 26 years of age, with no mark and before that time to the habitual of any thing violent whatever in his forgetfulness, for many years, of the countenance, which is rather remarkgreat God and his judgments; and able for the expression of meekness. the too natural consequence of such In fact, his look wholly baffles the forgetfulness, the habitual yielding calculations of the physiognomist, for to the worst passions of corrupted we scarcely ever observed a face less nature. So that the evil that I was expressive of any thing cruel or ferotempted to do, that I did. The Lord cious. His voice was quite guttural in his mercy has nevertheless spared and indistinct, probably the effect of my life until now-that life which I, the wound in his throat. 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, and most humbly trust that the same mercy which he shewed to the penitent thief who was crucified with him, he will shew to me. Thus meekly confiding in thee, O Jesus! into thy hands I commit my spirit. Amen. "PHILIP NICHOLSON." "This 20th August 1813." The prisoner throughout the trial manifested a settled melancholy.This melancholy has, we understand, habitually marked his conduct since his recovery from the wound in his throat, combined with the most pious resignation to his fate. In Court he very seldom raised his eyes, but seem ed quite bowed down by depression Nicholson is, it appears, a native of Chester, and the son of a private soldier. On the day of execution, Nicholson rose at an early hour in the morning, and seemed to regard his approaching fate with calmness and fortitude. During Sunday, he was twice visited by Mr Bonar, who still entertained a suspicion that the wretched man might have something to communicate. To frequent questions which were put to him, however, he solemnly declared that he had already disclosed all he had to make known. Monday morning, Mr Bonar paid him a last visit, and, in com pliance with his earnest entreaties, told him repeatedly that he freely forgave him for all the injuries he had sustained at his hands. At twelve o'clock, Mr Dudlow, the under Sheriff, returned from Gillingham, and, on reaching the jail, desired that Nicholson might hold himself in readiness. The sledge which had been prepared for his conveyance, was then drawn up to the door, and shortly before one, he was conducted forth, still heavily ironed, and confined in the same manner as during his trial. A halter was pla ced ced around his neck, and which was tied to the front of the sledge. He looked extremely pale, but still preserved a degree of fortitude perfectly consistent with the resignation which he evinced throughout the whole of his unhappy situation. Every thing being in readiness, the melancholy procession advanced at a slow pace towards Pennington Heath, where a temporary platform and gallows had been erected. It was preceded by a considerable number of public officers and constables to clear the The way. sledge went first, and was followed by the carriage, containing the executioner and his assistants, and a chaise, in which was Mr Dudlow and the Catholic priest. These were followed by other police officers, and an immense concourse of spectators, who had been collected from all parts of the country, closed the exhibition. It was nearly two o'clock before the procession reached the Heath, where the multitude assembled exceeded any thing we ever before witnessed on a similar occasion. The unfortunate wretch, now the object of such general attention, seemed to be deeply intent on the dreadful scene, in which he was so prominent a character. He looked around him with confusion and shame marked in his countenance, and seemed anxious to bury, in a speedy dissolution, the recollection of his crimes. Mr Bransom, the Catholic clergyman, now approached him, and joined him in fervent prayer. He ascended the platform with some difficulty, by the assistance of the executioner, who soon made the necessary arrangements of his office, and in a few seconds the wretched man was no more. So anxious was Mr Bonar, who was present at the execution, to get from him his very dying words, as to whether he had either motive or accomplice, that he deputed a person to ascend the platform, after the cord Sept. 1813. 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?"—"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, not 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 was constructed like one of the new drops, was let fall, and Nicholson was launched into eternity. Nicholson ascended the gallows by a ladder, with a firm step, and remained unshaken to the last moment of his existence. He was asked repeatedly during the morning of Monday, how he felt himself? and his answers were, that he had never felt himself so comfortable since the commission of the crime. -He assured all who spoke to him of his hope of salvation, and said, so firmly was his mind made up, and so satisfied was he to die, that if a free pardon were to be laid down to him, he would much rather die than accept of it. The number of persons assembled to witness the execution was immense. The body of Nicholson, after hanging the usual time, was cut down, and conveyed, we understand, to a surgeon at Bromley, for dissection. The following is a copy of Nicholson's will, which he made while in prison: "It |