waxen candles, and glittering with mirrors set in golden frames, it was called after the evil place, and assuredly I had not been ten minutes under the roof, till I cordially agreed that a more fitting designation for it could not be invented! To make a long story short, it was one of the most notorious gambling resorts in the city, and brief as was the space during which I tarried in the accursed region, I saw more ruin wrought than I had witnessed in all my preceding existence. Never can I forget the look of anxiety with which an elderly military gentleman, with a sair-worn coat, placed two guineas upon the table. Three seconds decided his fate, and my ears are yet ringing with the tones of his frenzie voice as he exclaimed "my dying wife will lack food this night!" the 1st of April-Wildgoose, the Dominie, and myself, Peter Powhead to wit, were sitting enjoying a sober crack over a few dozen of oysters, and a potation, I fear a trifle more potent than spring water. In the middle of our confabulation a spruce-looking comrade of Peregrine's ran into the room, and, with an air of concern, informed him that the great national lottery had been drawn that forenoon. "I grieve to add" said the messenger of gloomy tidings-" that all your tickets have turned out blanks!" ་་ Wildgoose started up as if he had been shot, and muttering between his clenched teeth:Ruined! hopelessly, for ever ruined!" clutched a bottle of brandy which stood upon the table, and emptied about one third of its contents at one gulp. He then grasped his hat, and rushed away, before any of us could stop him, or even utter a word of advice or condo Here then, the cat was let out of the bag! The grand fortune of the unhappy youth had consisted in estates situated among the clouds. Upon the uncertain whirl of the wheel of for tune depended whether he could wed as a man of substance, or be cast forth as a withered weed upon, the cold and shoreless sea of poverty and contempt. It grieved me not a little to see that young Wildgoose seemed completely at hame in this den of thieves and idiots,-and though he dil-lence. na' risk his siller on that occasion, I beheld sufficient to convince me that he tried his hand oftener than he should at the sinfu' practices of the place. You may be sure that as a douce, kirk-ganging man, who had the lad's interest sincerely at heart, I read him a serious lecture upon the danger of such courses, reminding him that even if he gained, his winnings would never prosper with him, seeing, as the auld proverb says, that WHAT IS GOT ABOON THE DEIL'S BACK IS SPENT BELOW THE DEIL'S BELLY!" During the lecture my gentleman looked mim as a maiden in her teens, when her hand is asked for the first time by a lover, but I had my ain doubts how far a practical application would be made thereof by the hearer. As I have got a character to lose, I must keep my thumb upon the balance of the shrines of Mahoun, to which I made a pilgrimage with that daft, and unsettled callant. Suffice it to say, that I explored mysteries of iniquity which it had never entered my heart to conceive. Often when I read or hear tell of earth quakes making havoc of foreign lands, and mountains belching fire to the destruction of life to all around-do I wonder that London, hotching, as it ever is, sin, does not meet with a similar doom. In about two hours Peregrine returned, still flurried, it is true, but by no means so hopeless-looking as when he left. In answer to our questions and insinuations, he assured us with a laugh, which sounded, methought, somewhat forced, that his risk in the lottery had been a mere trifle, and that he had been overtaken with a sudden fit of sickness. Just as he was speaking, a stout, grim-like man, wearing a drab greatcoat, entered without ceremony the box which we occupied, and touching Wildgoose upon the shoulder informed him that he was his prisoner on a charge of robbery, * * * * As both Mr. Paumie and myself felt a deep interest in the accused, we made a point of attending his examination at Bow-street policeoffice the next morning, and verily the case looked black as midnight against him. The prosecutor, who it appears, was the To proceed, then, with my narration. The agent who had sold Peregrine the lottery time drew on apace for the wedding of Pere- tickets, deposed that he had been attending grine and Nancy, and already had the banns the gambling-house I have described above, on been proclaimed, and the marriage cake baked. the preceding evening. When engaged in A day was fixed for the solemnity-the ser- the game, Wildgoose entered, apparently the vices of a prelatic curate engaged, and a post-worse for liquor, and with violent language chaise hired in which the happy couple were accused him of having been the ruin of him to take their nuptial jaunt to Windsor. I (the prisoner). After some farther altercation mind weel that was the place where the honey- the servants of the establishment succeeded moon was to be spent, mair by token that I in ejecting the young man, and nothing more charged the bridegroom to be, to bring me occurred till the complainant was leaving the back a good supply of the famous soap manu-house. On reaching the street he saw the facture 1 in that locality, judging it would be got a bargain at head quarters. Two nights before the appointed solemnity -it was of all days in the year gowks-day, or accused and one or two other men standing session of his senses, he discovered that a pocket-book, containing notes to the amount of three thousand pounds, had been taken from his person;-and his suspicions at once fixing upon Wildgoose, he procured a warrant and had that person apprehended. The officer testified to having searched Peregrine in the watch-house, and produced the articles which he had found upon him. Amongst these was the identical pocket-book taken from Harris (the prosecutor) containing the precise sum alleged to have been stolen. So crushingly conclusive was this evidence, that we all came to the sad conclusion at which the magistrate arrived, viz., that the charge was completely substantiated. Peregrine did not speak a single word in his own defence, and after some forms had been gone through, he was fully committed to stand his trial for the crime of assault and robbery. As the Sessions were just about to commence, little time was lost in bringing the puir misguided lad before a jury. His indictment had been prepared, and in the course of a week it was expected that he would have to appear at the bar, or in the dock, as the ignorant English folk term the stance for criminals' when answering for their misdeeds. Several times did the Dominie accompany me to Newgate, to condole and advise with the accused. Mr. Paumie being, on the strength of his precentorship, (Clerkship, the Southerons would denominate the office,) a pillar of the Kirk, decmed it his duty to admonish him as to the propriety of making a clean breast, when called upon to plead before the judges of the land. He told him that, if guilty, repentance and confession vere duties incumbent upon him, and would have a tendency to better his condition, both in this world and the world to come. To all these counsels, Peregrine, though he listened to them with sobriety and respect, would make no direct response. Never did he deny the fact with which he was charged, but as little could he be prevailed upon to own that he had committed the crime which had placed his craig in such pestilent peril. He thanked Mr. Paumie for his attention, and simply observed that the truth would come out in due time. There was one thing which tended to convince me that Wildgoose was really guilty of the sair backsliding laid to his door, and that was the manner in which he universally spoke touching his prosecutor, Haman Harris. Whenever the name of that personage was mentioned In his hearing, he would break out into a perfect extacy of rage and indignation. He accused him of having been the instrument of seducing him into the crooked by-ways of dissipation and extravagance, and then swore that he could dance upon nothing with contentment and pleasure, provided always that Haman was his partner in the hempen jig. On one occasion I thought that he was about to make an admission of his delinquency. Ilis puir sweet-heart, Nancy Glover, was ad mitted to see her betrothed two day's before the trial, and the scene was the most touching I ever witnessed before or since. The unhappy couple could do little mair than sob and greet in each other's arms, and the maiden, when, the time for her departure arrived, fell into a deadly swoon, and was carried out as insensible to the cold world and its countless sorrows as if she had been the tenant of her quiet coffin! When Mr. Paumie and Mrs. Stingo had removed the heart-broken lassie, Peregrine turned to me, and exclaimed, as if bewildered with surpassing sorrow, "I am now done with life, Mr. Powhead, and may as well tell you the whole outs-and-ins of the matter. It is quite true that" Ilere he was suddenly interrupted by one of his companions in bonds occupying the same ward, who, slapping him on the back, cried out with a sneer, "Have you forgotten already what we were talking about this morning? Keep up your heart man!-never say die! It is an ill bird which fouls its ain nest!" This quotation of one of my vernacular proverbs, caused me to eye the speaker more attentively, when I discovered in him a waif and stray of society whom I had known in Dreepdaily many years before, but who for a long season had been hidden from the range of my observation. His name was Paul Plenderleith, and his history, if written, I doubt not would be as full of out-of-the-way ups and downs, as that of Rob Roy, or George Bu chanan, the King's Fool, Paul had received a fair stock of education and served an apprenticeship to a lawyer in Ayr, but never could settle down to the law, or indeed to any regular occupation. In his time he had been a play-actor, an editor of a newspaper, a quack doctor, a travelling preacher of Mrs. Buchan's persuasion, a huxter of dead bodies to students of anatomy, and a writer of half-penny ballads which he used to sing himself through the streets. In fact, to borrow the words of glorious auld John Dryden, Paul Plenderleith was "A man so varied that he seemed to be Not one, but all mankind's epitome!" This universal genius did not recognize me, for which I was thankful not a little, having no ambition to be esteemed one of his intimates, especially in the royal establishment of which he was now an inmate. One thing was abundantly obvious,that Paul had managed to obtain no small influence and ascendancy over poor Peregrine. No sooner did the latter hear the sound of his voice than he stopped short in the midst of what, I am convinced, was going to be a full and frank confession of guilt, and would not utter a single additional word on the subject of his troubles. As I was leaving the ward I heard Plender leith saying in a sneering tone, “You were just purting your foot in it! Why that old swell would have split upon you, as a matter of conscience. I ken weel the nature of these stunkard West Country Whigs!" In thus speaking the vagabond did me an infamous wrong! If Wildgoose had made me his confessor I would sooner have ridden to my grave on a red hot salamander, and shod with the bootikens of Clavers, than have betrayed the confidence bestowed upon me! performed his part with even more than his accustomed zeal and skill. As soon as the Judge had summed up, Scarlett tied up his papers deliberately, and with a face smiling and easy, but carefully turned towards the Jury, he rose and said loud enough to be generally heard, that he was engaged to dinner, and in so clear a case there was no occasion for him to wait what must be the certain event. He then retired deliberately, bowing to the Court. The prosecuting counsel were astonished at the excess of confidence, or as some would have called it, of effrontery; nor was it lost upon the Jury, who began their deliberations. About half an hour after this, I had occasion to leave the Court, to convey a paper to a Barrister, and what do you think I discovered? There behind the door, stood Scarlett, who had taken his departure with so much confidence and fearlessness, trembling with anxiety, his face the colour of his brief, and awaiting the result of the clearest case in the world, with the most breathless suspence!"* On the morning of the trial the Dominie, Quinten Quill and the recorder of this veritable history, proceeded immediately after an early breakfast to the Old Bailey, and through the instrumentality of our legal companion who was weel known to all the door-keepers, succeeded in obtaining a seat where we could see and hear everything to the best advantage. Quinten was acquainted with the prisoner, and took a lively interest in the day's proceedings. Of the chances of that result being favourable, he spoke in very gloomy terms. Here our communing was brought to a close, "Would you believe it," quoth he, "that the by the entrance of the Judge, and the Court foolish fellow has declined to retain a counsel having been duly constituted, orders were to conduct his defence !" Perchance," sug- issued for the appearance of Peregrine Wildgested the Dominie, "he lacked the means-goose, whose case was the first upon the black I wish I had thought about that in time!" list of that day. "You need not reproach yourself on that score," returned Mr. Quill, “because to my certain knowledge he received thirty guineas last night from his late employer, Lutestring, being the balance of his salary. I implored him almost upon my bended knees to give a fee to Scarlett, but in vain. He said that he hal a better use for his tin, than to throw it away for a few dozen words! More preposterous conduct I never heard of. Why, the man richly deserves to be scragged for his unpardonable folly." Quinten spoke with an indignation which plainly demonstrated that the guilt of robbery was comparatively trivial, when weighed against the sin of a man going to trial with money in his purse, and yet lacking the services of a Gamalie!! It was not only a wanton tempting of providence, but a slight shown to the legal profession. 'You seem to have a very high opinion of Scarlett," remarked Mr. Paumie. "I have," said Quinten. "He has a wonderful art in managing a Jury, and leading them to take an interest almost as great as his own, in the fortunes of his client for the time being. Scarlett's weight with the Court and Jury was well described by the senior partner of our house, when he spoke of him as being "equal to a thirteenth Juryman!" "I will give you an illustration," continued Mr. Quill, of the artistic manner in which this great pleader does his work, and the anxiety he feels for the success of the cause he advocates. Last year he had occasion to defend a gentlem in of rank and fortune against a charge of an atrocious description. He had I could not but pity the unhappy stripling, as he made his entry into that crowded hall, filled as it was with glowering busy bodies, who had come there to glean diversion from his shame and anxiety. It has aye struck me that there is something dismally heartless in human beings extracting pleasure from the sufferings of their erring brethren. I never could behold without a scunner of disgust, men and women pretending to common humanity, gazing with gloating een upon a trembling wretch, whose life hung upon the word to be uttered by twelve frail mortals like himself, and scanning every twist and thraw of the pitiful object's haggard face as some circumstance of peculiar aggravation is given in evidence against him! We speak of the Indian savage dancing and singing around the roasted limbs of his tortured captive, but in my humble opinion it is but the toss up of a bawbee between him and the amateurs in criminal trials! The agonies of the mind are at least equal to the agonies of the body, and if the frequenters of our justiciary courts stuck feathers in their ears, and painted their noses with red lead and yeilow ochre, they would present a mair appropriate appearance then when garbed in civilized linen and Christian broadcloth! But my feelings are seducing me from my text, as the unctuous Mr. Blattergowl observes when he has made a digression of three quarters of an hour from the topic he is handling! Qointen must have communicated the above anecdote to the Law Review, as it is to be met with in the pages of that journal,—Ep. A. A. ML, The trial proceeded, and verily, to all human wits fully about him, and to be saved as far as appearance, it seemed as if the fate of the ac- possible from personal fatigue, it is when the cused would be decided ere the day was much question of his life or liberty is under discusolder. With an accuracy which made my heart sion. Acting on this rule he is allowed to be sick, the witnesses established the facts nar-seated from the commencement of his trial to rated above, and at length the prosecuting the close thereof, an arrangement in accor counsel sat down with a self-satisfied air, de- dance with common sense and common justice. claring that in so clear a case he would not I trust that the Englishers will have grace trespass upon the time of the Jury, by making given them to borrow a leaf from the book of any comment or observation upon the decisive their North British brethren, and abolish a proofs which he had given of the prisoner's usage which would have cast an additional guilt. "If Peregrine Wildgoose," he re- gloom upon the mirkest of the dark ages! marked, as a concluding flourish-"leaves that dock, except to the condemned cell, then assuredly every convict who has rendered up his life upon the scaffold, is a martyr, and the hangman is the most notorious murderer in Christendom!" By this time the mysterious tenant of Newgate had arrived in Court, and without delay he was ushered into the pulpit from which tes tifiers gave their evidence. A single glance at this personage certiorated me that he was neither more nor less than that Jack of all Just as the Judge was clearing his throat, disreputable trades, Paul Plenderleith, though in order to charge the Jury, the Governor of assuredly he presented a much more respecta Newgate entered the Court in a hurry, and ble appearance than when I saw him last. He craved liberty to communicate a circumstance was dressed in a decent suit of black, with which had just transpired in the jail. Per-white cravat to match, and altogether bad a mission being granted, the official stated that strong flavour of one of the more orthodox exone of the prisoners had been in a state of in- amples of open air preachers! tense excitement and distress since the commencement of Wildgoose's trial, and at this very moment was yelling out without intermission, that if convicted, an innocent man's blood would be shed, as he could clearly demonstrate, if placed in the witness-box. After a world of deliberation, and a wearyfu' hunting-up of precedents, as they called them, in law-books, it was finally decided that the fluttering prison-bird should be brought from his cage, and examined touching what he knew of the case in hand. Up to this time Peregrine had preserved his composure in a wonderful manner, but now his nerve and smeddum appeared to be fast evaporating, like dew on the bosom of a primrose, when exposed to a midsummer sun. Ilis gills got white as pipe-clay, and if a turnkey had not seasonably supported him, he would have sank down upon the floor, helpless as a sack of oatmeal. Beholding his predicament, the Judge, who was eating a bun and reading the newspapers, considerately ordered the prisoner a chair to sit down upon, and a tumbler of wine and water, to invigorate his inward and outward man. And here I cannot help taking up my parable against the barbarous and utterly idiotical practice, which prevails in benighted England, of compelling an accused person to stand upon his feet when undergoing the ordeal of a trial for life or death! It is the boast of our laws that a man is to be accounted innocent till his guilt is proved, and yet, with monstrous contrariety to this maxim, a prisoner is denied the poor solacement of a seat when his case is under investigation! In civilized Scotland matters are ordered in a much more rational and humane matter. It is there wisely considered that if ever an individual requires to have his Being duly sworn and admonished to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, Mr. Plenderleith unfolded an ccclesiastical looking cambric handkerchief, and commenced his narration, or rather I should say his confessions. With many a hollow groan, and multiform exposures of the whites of his eyes, he declared that the prisoner at the bar was as innocent of the of fence laid to his charge as the babe whose pri mary squall had been uttered that blessed morning! "I alone am the guilty wretch!" he exclaimed. "Instigated by the ENEMY I put forth my hand, smote Mr. Haman Harris to the ground, and took from his person the pocket book replete with lucre, which had excited the cupidity of my evil nature!" Paul went on to narrate how that overcome with terror at what he had done, and dreading the consequences of detection he had dropped the stolen property into the pocket of the guiltless lamb now in tribulation for the backsliding of another, and made his escape without being observed by any one. "Since that moment," said the remorseful Plenderleith in conclusion, "I have never known a single moment's peace of mind. My conscience has been as uneasy as the back of a newly flogged deserter cov ered with a blister of Spanish flies! By night and by day a thousand voices are shrieking out murderer in my mind's ear, and should the excellent youth, now sitting in the dock, perish for my fault, I shall go mad with Lor rour and despair!" " This story created a profound impression upon the vast majority of the hearers thereof, more especially as it was delivered with much effect, owing, doubtless, to the speaker's prac tice as a stage-player. Even the grim old Judge appeared to be touched, and such of the Jurymen as possessed snuff-boxes put them under frequent contribution, and sniffled as if they had been suddenly smitten with colds in the upper stories of their tabernacles! Mr. Paumie and myself made a point of being present at the Old Bailey, when Paul Plenderleith was brought up for trial. Contrary to the expectation of all present, he put in a The prosecuting counsel, however, a kiln-plea of Not Guilty, and the case was prodried creature, who looked as if he had been steeped in suspicion from his nativity, was not so easily satisfied. He examined and crossexamined the weeping Paul, (for a perfect spate of tears was now issuing from the optics of that gentleman,) as thoroughly as a careful thrasher sifts a parcel of wheat with his flail. In no material point did the voluntary witness break down, or make a false step. He detailed minutely, circumstances which had been sworn to in Court, just as if he had been present during the trial, even describing the dress worn by Haman Harris, the shape and colour of the pocket-book, and the precise hour at which the assault and robbery had taken place. It is hardly necessary for me to chronicle the upshot. After a few words for form's sake by the Judge, the Jury laid their heads together for six seconds, and returned a verdict of NOT GUILTY, amidst a perfect whirlwind of cheers! Peregrine Wildgoose left the dock as innocent as the laws of his country could make him, and Paul was committed upon the spot, to stand his trial in the course of a couple of days, for the capital felony of which he had accused himself. The patience of my reader would be clean exhausted if I detailed at large, the meeting of Wildgoose and his Nancy after this miraculous turn in their affairs. Suffice to say that "their felicity," as the Dominie expressed it, "was profound as the Atlantic, and altitudinous as the Andes. Relenting fortune smiled upon the pair, and the cushat doos of Venus fanned them with their silverized pinions!" When the first transports of their exultation had sobered down, and the effervescence had subsided from the tankard of their happiness, poor Paul's countenance became overcast with the mists of despondency. As I had conjectured, the fortune upon which he was calculating had been contingent upon the result of the lottery, and, with many grievous sighs, he confessed to his sweetheart that the cypher 0 expressed all his worldly means and estate! Just as the devoted Nancy was beginning to protest that she was willing to share his lot even with the above-mentioned impalpable capital, the young man, who, on the night of the robbery, had proclaimed the drawing of the blanks, craved and obtained an audience. With much self-reproach, he declared that the statement which he then made was nothing but a First of April hoax! Not till the very morning of the trial had the award of destiny been given, and the result was a prize of Ten Thousand Pounds to the now independent and thoroughly happy Wildgoose! ceeded with. The same witnesses were examined who had before given their testimony, but not one of them could swear to the identity of the prisoner, or in the slightest degree couple him with the offence! The counsel for the prosecution threw his wig upon the ground, and danced upon it with even-down rage; the Judge growled like a bear with the gout, whose sorest toe had been trespassed upon-but all in vain! It was impossible to convict the knave upon his own uncorroborated confession, and a jury of his countrymen absolved him from guilt, which shortly before he had acknowledged in that very chamber! As Wildgoose has long been gathered to his fathers, I may mention that he admitted to me, after the preceding passages had occurred, that he really had knocked down Haman Harris, and deprived him of his money. He did so under the excitement of temporary insanity, believing, as indeed was the fact, that his ruin was attributable to that individual. In the most solemn manner, however, he protested that he never would have made use of the ill-gained gear, but had just made up his mind to return it, when apprehended. When in Newgate he communicated his position to Mr. Plenderleith, and that ingenious gentleman had covenanted, for the sum of thirty guineas, to get him out of the perilous predicament. He made Peregrine repeat to him every circumstance connected with the crime, sifting him like a witness, in order that not a fragment might be left untold. Thus primed, he chalked out his line of campaign, and the result thereof, is it not written in the foregoing Chronicle of Dreepdaily? THE SHADOW OF THE CROSS. BY A POOR MAN. How many are the complaints of the poor! What desires they have for wealth or advancement in their social position! How bitter the feeling that they must toil and slave, and even then, their hard earned gains barely affording them and their families a subsistance, whilst their labour and the sweat of their brows, pour treasures into the coffers of the rich. "It might be endured" some cry, "were we alone in the world, but we have our wives and children, our aged parents to care for, how can we clothe and fed them? Should we fall sick, starvation threatens. Oh! we must early train our infants up to toil and suffering, and view their over-tasked, half-clad frames sinking prematurely to the grave." Thus discontent enters their abode, and a discontented poor man is a |