of his dissolute companions as a housebreaker.

On the 5th of December, 1705, he was arraigned on four different indictments, on two of which he was convicted. While he lay under sentence of death, he seemed very little affected with his situation, absolutely depending on a reprieve, through the interest of his friends.

However, an order came for his execution on the 24th day of the same month, in consequence of which he was carried to Tyburn, where he performed his devotions, and was turned off in the usual manner; but when he had hung near fifteen minutes, the people present cried out, A reprieve!' Hereupon the malefactor was cut down, and, being conveyed to a house in the neighbourhood, he soon recovered, in consequence of bleeding and other proper applica

tions.

When he perfectly recovered his senses, he was asked what were his feelings at the time of execution; to which he repeatedly replied, in substance, as follows: That when he was turned off, he, for some time, was sensible of very great pain, occasioned by the weight of his body, and felt his spirits in a strange commotion, violently pressing upwards; that having forced their way to his head, he, as it were, saw a great blaze, or glaring light, which seemed to go out at his eyes with a flash, and then he lost all sense of pain. That after he was cut down, and began to come to himself, the blood and spirits, forcing themselves into their former channels, put him, by a sort of

pricking or shooting, to such intolerable pain that he could have wished those hanged who had cut him down.' From this circum stance he was called Half. hanged Smith.'

After this narrow escape from the grave, Smith pleaded to his pardon on the 20th of February; yet such was his propensity to evil deeds, that he returned to his former practices, and, being apprehended, was tried at the Old Bai. ley, for house-breaking; but some difficulties arising in the case, the jury brought in a special verdict, in consequence of which the affair was left to the opinion of the twelve judges, who determined in favour of the prisoner.

After this second extraordinary escape, he was a third time indicted; but the prosecutor happening to die before the day of trial, he once more obtained that liberty which his conduct showed he had not deserved.

We have no account what became of this man after this third remarkable incident in his favour; but Christian charity inclines us to hope that he made a proper use of the singular dispensation of Providence evidenced in his own person.

When once the mind has consented to the commission of sin, it is hard to be reclaimed. The memory of the pangs of an ignominious death could not deter this man from following the evil course he had begun. Thus, by giving way to small propensities, we imper ceptibly go on to enormities which lead us to a shameful fate. Let us, therefore, at once resolve never to depart from the path of rectitude.

Was a native of Hanover, where he was born about the year 1667,

and educated in the principles of the Lutheran religion. His father being

huntsman to the Duke of Zell, that prince sent young Lowen into France, to obtain the qualifications of a gentleman, and, on his return from his travels, he was one of the pages under the duke's master of the horse.

Coming over to England when he was between twenty and thirty years of age, the Duke of Shrewsbury patronised and procured him a place. Having thus obtained something like a settlement, he married a young English woman, with whom he lived in an affectionate manner for a considerable time; but in the year 1697, on his going abroad to attend King William at the treaty of Ryswick, he left Mrs. Lowen with her cousin, who was married to Mr. Richard Lloyd, of Turnham Green.

When Lowen returned from Holland, he became, with what justice we cannot say, extremely jealous of his wife, and he pretended to have received incontestable proof of her criminal conversation with Mr. Lloyd, for the murder of whom he was indicted at the Old Bailey, on the 20th of September, 1706, and was tried by a jury composed equally of Englishmen and foreigners.

In the course of the evidence it appeared that, on the evening previous to the day on which the murder was committed, Lowen invited Lloyd and his wife to dine with him on the following day; that Mr. Lloyd, being obliged to go to Acton, did not come very early, at which Lowen expressed a considerable degree of uneasiness; that when he came, Lowen introduced him into the parlour with great apparent civility; that Mr. Lloyd put his sword in a corner of the room, some time after which Lowen in vited him into the garden, to see his plants; after which they came to

gether into the house, appearing to be good friends, and Lowen desired his wife to hasten the dinner; that while she went to obey his directions, Lowen drew Mr. Lloyd's sword a little way out of the scabbard, as if admiring it, and asked who was his cutler; and that while the deceased stood with his hand behind him, Lowen, stamping with his foot, drew the sword quite out of the scabbard, and stabbed Mr. Lloyd through the back; on which his wife (who was present at this horrid transaction) said to him, 'Speak to me, my dear;' but he was unable to do so; and having lifted up his eyes, groaned twice, and then expired.

Mr. Hawley, a justice of peace in the neighbourhood, passing by at the instant, Mrs. Lloyd acquainted him with what had happened; on which he examined the prisoner, who confessed his intention of hav. ing committed the murder sooner, and was only concerned lest he had not killed Mr. Lloyd.

The particulars respecting the murder being proved to the satisfaction of the jury, Lowen was convicted, and received sentence of death in consequence of which he was hanged at Turnham Green, on the 25th of October, 1706.

While he lay under sentence of death, he was attended by Messrs. Idzardi and Ruperti, two divines of his own country, who were assiduous to convince him of the atrociousness of the crime which he had committed; and he became a sincere penitent, confessing with his last breath the crime he had committed in shedding innocent blood.

From this melancholy narrative we may learn the fatal effects of jealousy, which generally judges ill of the party accused, and always renders the jealous person miserable. Mr. Lowen was jealous of his

It likewise came out in evidence that the prisoner had offered to sell the etwee-case to Messrs. Steven. son and Acton, goldsmiths, for eight pounds; but they stopped it on suspicion that it was stolen, and, on inquiry, found to whom it belonged. The prisoner afterwards returning to demand it, they took him into custody, and being carried before a magistrate, and searched, a dagger and two pistols were found on him.

It appeared, from the testimony of other evidence, that when the prisoner quitted the service of Mr. Persuade, he took a lodging in Soho, but was not at home on the night that the facts were committed; and at noon on the following day he left this lodging, and took another in Spitalfields, to which he conveyed a trunk, a box, and a bundle, which were found to contain part of Mr. Persuade's effects.

It likewise appeared that he had sold a fowling-piece and two pistols, which were stolen from Mr. Persuade. On his trial he denied every thing that was alleged against him; asserting that he bought all the goods of a stranger; but, as he adduced nothing like proof in support of this assertion, the jury found him guilty, without the least

hesitation.

While under sentence of death, he steadily denied being guilty of the offences of which he had been convicted, and reflected on the prosecutor, magistrates, witnesses, and jury; persisting in a declaration of his innocence to the last moment of his life: however, the circumstances against him were so unusually strong, that not the least credit could be given to his declaration.

He made repeated attempts to escape out of Newgate, by unscrewing and filing off his irons; but being detected, he was properly se

cured till the time of his execution; and, when asked by the Ordinary of Newgate how he could waste his precious time in such fruitless attempts, he answered, that Life was sweet, and that any other man, as well as himself, would endeavour to save it if he could.'

He suffered in St. James's Street, before Mr. Persuade's house, on the 24th of October, 1707, and was hung in chains near the Gravelpits, at Acton.

Some useful lessons may be learnt from the fate of this malefactor. It seldom happens that a robbery is committed but some of the stolen goods are offered to sale. In this case, if the intended purchaser be honest, detection almost always follows; for in general it is casy to judge, from appearance and other circumstances, whether the effects that a man offers are really his own property, or intrusted to his care by any person who has a right to dispose of them.

The crime of the malefactor before us is heightened by murder being added to robbery; for though in the event no person's life was lost, his intention was as criminal as if the whole neighbourhood had been reduced to ashes, and all the inhabitants had perished in the flames.

The view of Brian must have been to conceal the robbery by the fire. Hence let those who are tempted to do an evil act learn that the commission of a small crime as naturally leads to the perpetration of a greater as the waters of rivers flow into the sea. Let them learn to guard against the first inducement to an evil act; let them resist it with all the resolution in their power, and devoutly pray for that assistance against temptation which may be reasonably expected by those who ask it in the full confidence of faith.

FROM the humble avocation of a chimney-sweeper, this fellow be came a notorious and daring thief. He was remarkably distinguished in his time, on account of the numher and variety of robberies in which he was concerned; and few thieves have been more the subject of public conversation.

Hall's parents were very poor people, living in Bishop's-head Court, Gray's-inn Lane, who put him out to a chimney-sweeper; but he had not been long in this employment before he quitted it, and commenced pick pocket, and was accounted very dexterous in that profession; but,notwithstanding this dexterity, he was frequently detected, and treated in the usual manner, by ducking in the horse-pond: he was likewise often sent to Bridewell, as a punishment for these of

fences.

Notwithstanding frequent punishments of this nature, he commenced shoplifter, and, in the month of January, 1682, he was convicted at the Old Bailey of stealing a pair of shoes; for which he was whipped at the cart's tail: but he had no sooner obtained his liberty, than he commenced housebreaker; and, being convicted of breaking open the house of Jonathan Bretail, he was sentenced to be hanged in the year 1700, but was afterwards pardoned, on condition of transporting himself, within six months, to some of the American plantations.

In consequence hereof he entered on board a ship, from which, however, he soon deserted, and engaged with his old accomplices; and they now took up the trade of robbing country waggons, and stealing portmanteaus from behind coaches. For an offence of this latter kind Hall

was tried and convicted, in the year 1702, and, being first burnt on the cheek, was committed close prisoner to Bridewell for two years.

Hall had no sooner obtained his liberty, than he joined with Stephen Bunce, Dick Low, and others of his dissolute companions, in breaking open the house of a baker, at Hackney; which burglary was at tended with the following circumstances:

Having broke into the house soon after midnight, and the journeyman and apprentice being at work, the robbers tied them neck and heels, and threw them into the kneading trough, and one of the villains stood over them with a drawn sword, while the others went up stairs to rob the house; but the baker being unwilling to tell them where the money was, Hall seized a young child, a granddaughter of the old people, and swore he would thrust her into the oven if they did not make the discovery. Terrified at this circumstance, the old man told him where they might find his money, in consequence of which they robbed him of about seventy pounds.

Although this singular robbery was the subject of much conversation, yet the perpetrators of it were not taken into custody. Soon af. terwards the house of Francis Saunders, a chairman, near St. James's, was broke open; and Saunders being informed that this robbery was committed by Hall and his com panions, he observed these very men, as he was attending at St. James's Gate, about three in the morning; and informing the watchmen, they pursued them; on which Hall and one of his accomplices fired at a watchman, who was