without delay, and ordered Michael to accompany him at an early hour in the morning. In the mean while the murderers were at hand. Black Will and his comrade, already mentioned, were lodged by Green in a barn belonging to Sir Anthony Ager, at Preston, near Feversham: thither Alice Arden went in person, to direct them in the scheme; and she took care that they should be well supplied with meat and drink, irresistible modes of attaching such miscreants to her service. No sooner had Arden determined to go to Shorland, than Black Will received his instructions. In the way between Feversham and the ferry which passes over to the Isle of Shepey, there was a certain enclosure overgrown with broom. They judged that this spot, so well adapted for concealment, and the early hour, would ensure their success; and Black Will was ordered to secret himself in the broom by dawn of day.

Why then,

Arden too was stirring betimes, and set out for Shorland, attended by his servant. When they had almost arrived at the enclosure, Michael, haunted by a troubled conscience, and still fearing lest he should be murdered with his master, feigned on a sudden that he had lost his purse. Why, thou silly knave,' said his master, couldst thou not take better care of thy purse than to lose it? What was in it?' Three pounds,' replied he. go thy way back again, like a careless fellow as thou art, and seek it: at this early hour, when few are abroad, thou may'st be sure to find it, and then come and overtake me at the ferry.' Arden passed through the field of broom without the least molestation, and reached Shorland in safety, whence he returned unhurt in the evening. Whether some of Lord Warden's merr accompanied him back to Feversham, or that he avoided the broomy enclosure through some apprehension, owing to the late hour, certain it is, that the conspirators beheld him in the evening with surprise. The fact was this; Black Will, sallying forth early in the morning, missed his way; and though he afterwards lay the whole day among the broom, yet no second opportunity

occurred.

But now, the annual fair of St Valentine being at hand, the conspirators thought they could easily accomplish their diabolical intentions during the confusion attendant upon such an occasion. Mosby entertained a design of insulting Arden during the fair, that he might fight with him, and shelter his deliberate assassination under the appearance of a quarrel and single combat; for, with a strange, barbarous semblance of honour, he declared, that he could not find it in his heart to murder a gentleman in the manner that Alice Arden desired. Accordingly, he endeavoured to provoke the injured man to fight with him; but in this he failed. Arden prudently refused upon this occasion, as he had already done many times before. The conspirators, baffled in every attempt, assembled in the evening of the same day, in a house belonging to the sister of Mosby, to whom Michael was to be espoused. Thither came Green and the two ruffians, Mosby and Alice Arden, with Michael, and a female servant in the interest of this abandoned woman, and there they consulted together upon this work of blood. Mosby, perhaps, somewhat less abandoned than the rest, or, it may be, relenting, would not consent to the scheme of murder which was proposed. Adhering to his former sentiments, he declared that it was cowardly, and left the house in a rage. But he had not been gone many minutes, before Alice Arden dispatched a messenger after him, requesting him, as he prized her love, to return, and lend his assistance in the accomplishment of the matter that was in hand. Mosby returned; and as soon as he entered the room, she fell

upon her knees before him, and besought him most importunely to go through with the affair: if he loved her, he could not refuse her: besides, as she had often told him before, he need not be under any apprehension of a discovery; for there were none who would care for the death of this man, or make any great enquiry after those who should destroy him.

At length her importunity prevailed over the reluctance of Mosby; and the plan, already concerted, was put in execution in the following manner. Black Will was immediately introduced into Arden's house, and concealed in a closet at the end of his parlour. But, previous to this, they had sent out of the house all the servants, except those who were privy to this dreadful secret. It was now between six and seven in the evening, and Mosby went in his silk night-gown, and placed himself at the door. While he stood there upon the watch, Arden came up, and in the true spirit of Christian forgiveness, addressed in a friendly manner the person, who, upon some slight pretence, had sought to quarrel and fight with him in the morning. "Mosby, is it supper time?" "I think," replied the other, "it is not yet ready." "Then let us go in the meanwhile," said Arden, "and play a game at the tables, either chess or draughts." The traitor followed him in, and they went immediately into the parlour. As they passed through the hall, they saw Alice Arden passing to and fro in sullen anxiety; and though her husband, as he walked by her, spoke to her in an affectionate manner, she scarcely vouchsafed to return him any answer. When their victim was thus ensnared, one of them ran to chain the wicket door of the entry, and every thing was now finally arranged.

Arrived in the parlour, Mosby sat down upon the bench with his eyes towards the place where Black Will was secreted. By this means Arden's back was turned towards the closet; and Michael stood behind his master with a candle in his hand, which he held so as completely to cast a shade upon the ruffian, that he might steal forth from his ambush unperceived. They took the tables, and began to play, whilst Arden's life was the stake of the game. In the course of it, Mosby soon took occasion to use an expression, which they had agreed should be the signal of onset. After his antago nist had made a certain move, he exclaimed, "Now I may take you, Sir, if

I please.' Take me?' said Ardan, how? Which way will you take me?'

The mystery was quickly explained; Black Will rushed forth, and cast a towel about his neck to strangle him. He resisted; but they prevailed, and he was slain. The hireling murderer dragged his corpse into an adjoining counting-house, where he audaciously stripped him of his purse and rings, as though he had robbed him on the road; and then demanded his reward. Alice Arden paid him the ten pounds. Green furnished him with a horse, and he immediately rode away. After his departure, this monster in a female form went to the dead body, and with the wantonness of a tigress mangling its defenceless prostrate prey, stabbed it in the breast several times with a knife, whilst it lay prostrate at her feet! The rest were busily employed in preparing for the reception of some visitors who were expected to supper. They hastened to clean the parlour: with a cloth they wiped the floor where it was stained with blood; and decently strewed again the rushes, (the parlours in those days being strewed with rushes) that were disordered with struggling, and might have betrayed them. The guests, two citizens of London, soon made their appearance, and were received with hospitality. When they came in, the experienced hypocrite said, I wonder where my husband is; however, we will not wait for him. Come, and sit down, for he will certainly

not be long. Then they sent for the sister of Mosby, who came, and joined the party. They sat down to table; they ate and drank in apparent innocence and security.

Supper being ended, Alice Arden desired her daughter to play on the virginals, (a musical instrument which acted something in the manner of a spinnet) and the company rose to dance. She was herself foremost in gaiety, and appeared to protract the time until her husband should return, at intervals pretending to be concerned at his absence. I wonder where he could have staid so long; well, he will come presently I am sure; pray let us in the meantime play a game at the tables. The guests excused themselves; they pleaded the time of night; said they must return to their inn, or the doors would be shut upon them; and with this apology they took their leave. When they were gone, the servants that were not privy to the murder were sent abroad into the town; some in search of their master, and some upon other errands, whilst the doors were made fast again for fear of a surprise. Then they took the dead body, and carried it out, under favour of the darkness, to lay it beneath the garden wall, in a field next the church-yard, through which they had a path from the house to the church. The elements seemed now to conspire against the murderers, and the snow began now to fall thick around them. When they reached the garden-gate, a new obstacle occurred; they had forgotten the key: one of them ran back for it; and when it was at length found, they opened the gate, and carried the corpse into the field. During the whole of this delay the snow continued to fall. At about ten paces from the garden-gate they laid the lifeless Arden on his back, clothed in his night-gown; after which they returned the same way through the garden into the house.

The doors were once more opened, and the servants came in that had been sent abroad. As it grew late, the licentious dissembler affected increasing uneasiness. She sent again to inquire for him among the principal persons of the town with whom he was acquainted; but they replied, that they could give no information concerning him. Then she began to lament aloud:Never, never surely had any woman such neighbours as I have ;' and the excellent actress bursting into tears, which she ought rather to have shed for her own crimes. The neighbours came in, and found her in an agony of grief for the unaccountable absence of her husband. A general alarm ensued; and the mayor, with his attendants, went in search of Arden. They traversed the fair in every direction, and at length came to the field where they discerned a stiffened corpse stretched out upon the snow. They presently recognized Arden, whom they found without the smallest symptom of life; and examining diligently the nature of his wounds, observed some rushes sticking in his slippers, which had remained there ever since his struggle with the murderers. Footsteps also caught their attention, clearly visible in the snow between the place where he lay and the garden door.

Upon this discovery the mayor commanded every one to stay in his place, whilst some were ordered to go round, and pass through the house and garden to the spot. These, all the way as they advanced, plainly distinguished footsteps still before them in the snow; from which it was most evident that the body had been brought from the house, and that the bearers, after placing it upon the ground, had returned by the same path. Then the mayor and his company entered the house, and suspecting Alice Arden, from the character that she universally bore, examined and taxed her with the murder; but she, with looks and expressions of defiance and anger, told them, that she was no such person, and that they suspected her without a cause. The servants

were next examined; and they, less hardened in guilt, confessed the whole affair. The evidence of her accomplices, some hair and blood found near the house in the path of the garden, the fatal knife and bloody cloth discovered in a tub by the side of a well, where they had inadvertently been thrown ; all these pleading, as it were trumpet-tongued' against her, rendered farther resistance unavailing. The hour of dissimulation was over; she joined with the rest in an open avowal of the crime; and, particularly at the sight of her husband's blood, passionately confessed her guilt, and implored the mercy of heaven.

Mosby was instantly apprehended; and all these were arraigned at the sessions held soon after at Feversham; when their trial full disclosed the dreadful circumstances that have been related. They were all condemned, and suffered death in various places, that their infamy might be spread abroad; the adultress at Canterbury, her servants at Feversham, and Mosby and his sister in London. But what afterwards excited universal regret, was the fate of the unfortunate Bradshaw, involved in the affair, owing to the ambiguous expression of the letter which he delivered to Alice Arden. In vain did he protest his ignorance of the matter, and relate his case; the words were extremely ambiguous: it was evident that through him Black Will had been procured; and as they were in possession of no more than his own assertions, he was condemned to die. The only witness that could have exculpated him, was Green; but he had fled, and the place of his retreat was at that time unknown, although justice overtook him at last. After some months had elapsed, he was apprehended in Cornwall, and executed in Kent; but at his death he fully vindicated the character of Bradshaw. Black Will, continuing his depredations, suffered in Holland, whither he had made his escape; and never was the life of a common malefactor more completely forfeited to society: his comrade and the painter were the only persons concerned in this tragedy, that made their escape, and were never heard of more.

THE TRANCE OF MRS. GODFREY.

This lady had been a long time ill in consequence of the recent death of her brother, but one Sunday, fancying herself better than she had been for some time, and able to go to chapel, as she was dressing for that purpose, she suddenly fell down to all appearance dead. The screams of her women brought Colonel Godfrey into the room, who directed that his lady should be immediately put to bed, and that two persons should constantly continue with her, till indubitable symptoms appeared of her decease, notwithstanding the opinion of the physicians, that the breath of life was irrevocably departed; and in opposition to the solicitations of his friends to have the body interred, he continued resolute in his determination to the contrary till the Sunday following; when exactly at the same hour on which the change had happened, signs appeared of returning sensibility. So punctual was nature in her operations upon this singular occasion, that Mrs. Godfrey awoke from her trance just as the chapel bell was once more ringing; which so perfectly eradicated from her memory every trace of insensibility, that she blamed her attendants for not awaking her in time to go to church, as she had proposed to do. Colonel Godfrey, whose tenderness for his lady was unremitted, gave orders that she should by no means be made acquainted with what had happened, so that she remained ignorant of the transaction to the day of her

death.

HORRIBLE CRUELTY OF GREME, THE OUTLAW OF GALLOWAY.

THE dreadful scenes of lawless outrage, of which the Scottish and English borders were the unhappy theatre in ancient times, have been often the theme of the historian. These deadly feuds (which often arose from the slightest causes) raged from the time of Stephen to the union of the two crowns in the person of king James. The people of the English borders, in common with those of Scotland, were in those days nothing less than clans of lawless banditti who were engaged in predatory excursions. The tract which they occupied extended about fifty miles in length and six in breadth, and was called the debateable land,' both nations laying claim to it, though in fact it belonged to neither, as their utmost efforts were ineffectual for the subjection of its inhabitants, whose dexterity in the art of thieving was such, that they could twist a cow's horn, or mark a horse, so that its owner could not know either again. In this state of things, as may be supposed, the occupations of peaceful life were little attended to. Agriculture was suffered to languish, and every art but the art of war, was esteemed mean and dishonorable. The events of the two last centuries have materially altered the aspect of human life. Since the union of Scotland and England, those scenes of contention and barbarism, which rendered existence and property equally precarious, have been gradually disappearing, and the social and enchanting harmony of rural life now prevail, where before that happy event scarcely a sound was heard but the warder's tread, the pibroch's maddening clange,' or the agonized screams of the widow and the fatherless, whose kind protector lay weltering in his blood, while the flames were devouring their little cottage.

However it was not with the English borderers alone that the Scotch clans were always at war. Deadly quarrels often arose among themselves, which were not quelled during a lapse of centuries; and the noise of these contentions often reached the ear of royalty itself. It was only on occasions of general warfare between the monarchs of the contending nations of England and

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