the Care of which he was intrufted as Mate, and to murder the Mafter, and turn Pyrate. And fo bent was he on this Wickedness, that although the poor Man, who had been particularly civil to him, on perceiving their Defige, efcaped from them, and ran up into the Foretop, from whence he pleaded bard with them all, and with the Mate efpecially, to fave his Life, promifing in that cafe not to hurt any of them for the Robbery; yet was he nothing moved with his Prayers and Intreaties, and fearing left the others fhould, was impatient till he was pul led down and butchered. But he did not long enjoy the Fruits of his Villainy, being foon appre hended abroad, and fent over to fuffer condign Punishment, as he did accordingly at ExecutionDock.

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At the fame Time and Place, two other Wretches who had barbaroufly murdered their Captain, while fleeping in his Cabbin, were likewife brought to Juftice, and that very providentially; for a young Lad who waited on the Captain, having expoftu lated with them on account of their Inhumanity, they were going to ferve him in the fame Manner. but the Boy, taking to his Heels, ran to the Ship Side, and leaped overboard, and fwam for his Life: Hereupon, one of them darted a tharp Knife at him, but happily miffed him., The Miscreants well knowing if he got fafe to any other Ship, they should be apprehended, and punished for their VilJany, purfued him in the Boat; but fo good Ufe did the Lad make of the Start he had of them, and fo well was he affifted by Heaven, that he elcaped from them; and acquainting the Mafters of fome other English Veffels, that lay at fome Distance from thence, with this Tragedy, they were foon fecured, and fent home to be made Examples..

Two other Wretches of the fame Stamp, Brothers both by Birth and in Iniquity, not content M 2 with

with Murder alone, must make their Diverfion of what is moft abhorrent to Human Nature, and fport with Mifery; accordingly, meeting with the Poftboy near Lincoln, they stopped him, forced him to blow his Horn, and then, telling him it was his Death Peal, cut both his Threat, and that of his Horle: After which, not being fatisfied with this Barbarity, they affaulted a young Man, about nineteen, and robbed and murdered him in the fame Manner. They then thought themselves fecure, there not being any Witnefs, as they thought, to this Tragedy; notwithstanding which, they were foon after apprehended, the Murders fixed upon them, and defervedly executed.

As to Sailors however, their being guilty of A&ts of Barbarity, is not fo much to be wondered at ; the Education of fuch as are bred to the Sea, the Boifteroufnefs of the Element whereon they are corverfant, the little Time and Opportunity they have for the Improvement of their Faculties by reading, or religious Worship, al concurring to inspire them with a Roughness peculiar to that Set of Men, which is but too apt to degenerate into a favage Caft of Mind; and as to fuch as generally infeft the Roads, and rob upon the Highway, their own Safety, joined with their vicious Inclinations, muft be a great Inducement to them, to murder those whom they rob; and if they are at all of a cowardly Temper, and apprehenfive of being difcovered, they certainly will do fo: But when fuch as have had the Advantage of a better Instruction, and a more civilized Converfation, fo far diveft themselves of all Humanity, as to fhed the Blood of a FellowCreature deliberately, it must trike every one with the utmoft Aftonishment and Horror; and yet how many furprizing Inftances have we had of fuch Barbarity of late Years? So greatly are Mankind degenerated from their original Purity, and so very Trail are they when left to themselves!

Of

Of this we had a melancholy and shocking Example in Gil Smith; an unfortunate Wretch, who having been bred an Apothecary, may be reafonably supposed to have had a tolerable Education, and to have been well inftructed in his Duty; notwithstanding which, fo far did he give Way to the Temptations of the Devil, and his own wicked Heart, that without any Remorfe, and in cold Blood, on no other Account but to procure himfelf a Sum of Money to fupply his Extravagance, and fpend upon his Lufts, he decoyed his poor Wife, an agreeable and deferving young Woman, into St. George's Fields, late at Night, and there barbarously. butchered her; fondly prefuming, that becaufe there was no Witness thereto, he fhould efcape Punishment. But he found himself miferably deceived, for he was apprehended foon after, and the Murder fixed upon him to a Demonftration by fe. veral concurring Circumftances; fo that, notwith ftanding he obftinately perfifted in denying his Guilt, and avouching his Innocence to the laff, the Jury were fully convinced, and he juftly condemned and executed; dying unpitied, unlamen:ed, and univerfally abhorred by every one.

Thus we may find evidently, however fecret the Murderer may be in perpetrating that horrid Of fence, the All-feeing Eye of Heaven, which watch es all our Steps and Motions, will infallibly trace him out, and bring him to Justice: And of this we had another remarkable Inftance, much about the fame Time, in the Perfon of the Footman, George Price, an unhappy Wretch, who being alfo guil ty of the fame abominable and deteflable Fact, was likewife discovered, and brought to condign Punishment, though he had taken all imaginable Pre cautions to fecure himself. In order to this, having told that unfortunate Victim his poor Wife, that he had provided her an excellent Place in the Country, he decoyed her out of Town with him in a Chaife,

as far as Hounslow Heath, taking Care not to arrive there till it was dark; then driving a little out of the Road, pulls her down, and faltens a Rope about her Neck, and round the Chaife, and fo putting the Horfe on, dragged her in that Manner. about a Hundred Yards, and afterwards inhumanly, cut her Throat, and there left her.

He then fancied himself fafe from any Fear of Discovery, but to his great Sorrow and Terror, foon, found otherwife: The poor Woman, who had a fecret foreboding of Mischief, having told fome of her Acquaintance, that she was to go into the Coun try with her Husband to a Service, and having never been feen afterwards, till fhe was found mangled upon the Heath: In short, it fully appearing by many concurring Circumftances, that he was the Murderer, he was defervedly condemned, but escaped Hanging, by dying in Newgate, a little before the Day of Execution.

What was remarkable in this Affair, was, that before his Death, he not only confiffed his Guilt, as to this Particular, but also that he had poisoned two Children he had by his Wife; and this he had done with a View to his marrying another Woman, who lived in the fame Family with him, after ha ving dispatched that poor Creature, had not the Juf tice of Heaven overtaken him. But this was not all; there was likewife great Reason to believe, that his Wife had been privy to, and confenting to the Death of the Children, with Defign to fave Charges, the having been fo far prevailed on by her wicked Husband, as to take forcing Medicines, when pregnant, in order to procure an Abortion befides, it was almoft impoffible the Children fhould be poifoned, and fhe not know it. This be ing the Cafe, it was no Wonder the Hand of Pro. vidence fhould purfue her, and fhould not only first permit that very Husband, to please whom he had

con

confented to fuch execrable Crimes, to be the In ftrument of its Vengeance upon her, but then bring him alfo to condign Punishment on that very Account.

But, though we think the Interpofition of Hea ven very visible on this Occafion, we cannot help. being of Opinion (however others may differ from us) that it was rather more evident in the Cafe of the ever-memorable Captain Porteous. This unhappy Man, whom we cannot help believing guilty, not only of one, but of many barbarous and premeditated Murders, and who was accordingly condemned for the fame by the Laws of his Country, was nevertheless fo ftrongly fupported, and the Affair fo favourably reprefeited by fome very great Perfons, (who were undoubtedly unwilling to Jofe fo ufeful a Tool of Power) that the late excellent Queen, who was then left Guardian of the Realm, in the Abfence of her Royal Confort, and who, no doubt, would have been the laft Perfon fiving to patronize or protect a deliberate Murderer, was prevailed on to grant him a Reprieve for fix Weeks. This being prefumed to be in order to his being pardoned, an Affociation was formed to prevent the Effects thereof and the Populace taking upon themselves the Administration of Juftice, drew him out of Prison, and hanged him in the very Place where he had committed the aforefaid Murders.

Now, our Reafon for imagining the Hand of Providence concerned in the Execution of this Man, is, because the Royal Ear having been prepoffeffed in his Favour, no other Way remained of doing Juftice upon him; and notwithstanding at leaft forty or fifty Perfons were engaged in purting him to Death, and feveral Hundreds, if not Thoufands, were prefent thereat; nay, notwithstanding a confiderable Reward, no less than Two Hundred M 4

Pounds,