One of them dictated the hymn in a firm tone of voice; and in this religious service they continued on their way to the platform, and for some time after they had arrived at the fatal spot. They then joined the ordinary with great fervency in the prayers appointed to be read on such occasions; and after that gentleman had taken his final leave of them, ejaculations to the throne of mercy rose from every part of the crowded platform.

Joseph Crowther, addressing himself to the spectators, said, "Farewell, lads;" another whose name we could not ascertain, said, “I am prepared for the Lord;" and John Hill, advancing a step or two on the platform, said, "Friends, all take warning by my fate; for three years I followed the Lord, but about a year since I began to fall away, and fell by little and little, and at last I am come to this; persevere in the ways of goodness, and O! take warning by my fate." The executioner then proceeded to the discharge of his duty, and the falling of the platform soon after, forced an involuntary shriek from the vast concourse of spectators assembled to witness this tremendous sacrifice to the injured laws of the country.

The bodies, having remained suspended for the usual time, were removed, and while the place of execution was yet warm, the remaining seven, namely, John Swallow, John Batley, Joseph Fisher, William Hartley, James Haigh, James Hey, and Job Hey, were led, at half-past one o'clock, from their cell to the fatal stage; their behaviour, like that of their deceased confederates, was contrite and becoming. James Haigh expressed deep contrition for his offences. John Swallow said he had been led away by wicked and unprincipled men, and hoped his fate would be a warning to all, and teach them to live a life of sobriety and uprightness. They all united in prayer with an earnestness that is seldom witnessed in the service of devotion, except in the immediate prospect of death. A few moments closed their mortal existence, and placed them at the bar differing from all earthly tribunals in this infinitely important particular-here, owing to the imperfectness of human institutions, repentance, though sincere, cannot procure forgiveness; there, we have the authority of God himself for saying, the cries of the contrite and broken-hearted shall not be despised. Charity hopeth all things."

The criminal records of Yorkshire do not, perhaps, afford an instance of so many victims having been offered, in one day, to the injured laws of the country. The scene was inexpressibly awful,

and the large body of soldiers, both horse and foot, who guarded the approach to the castle, and were planted in front of the fatal tree, gave to the scene a peculiar degree of terror, and exhibited the appearance of a military execution. The spectators, particularly in the morning, were unusually numerous, and their behaviour on both occasions, was strictly decorous and becoming.

SUMMARY OF ALL THE PRISONERS.

The following is the result of the special Commission opened at York, on Saturday the 2nd of January, and which finished on Tuesday, January 12th, 1813. The calendar contained the names of sixty-six persons, charged with offences connected with disturbances in the West-Riding of this county. Of this number, eighteen had been capitally convicted, of whom three were executed on Friday the 8th, and fourteen on Saturday the 16th of January, and one reprieved. Six had been convicted of simple felony, and sentenced to be transported for seven years. had been acquitted; seventeen, against whom bills of indictment had been found for capital offences, had been discharged on bail; fifteen discharged by proclamation; and one indicted for a misdemeanor, discharged on finding sureties to try his traverse at the next assizes.

Seven

George Mellor, William Thorpe, and Thomas Smith, were convicted of murder, and executed on Friday, the 8th of January.

John Swallow, John Batley, Joseph Fisher, Job Hey, John Hill, William Hartley, James Hey, Joseph Crowther, and Nathan Hoyle, were convicted of burglary and robbery in a dwelling-house, received sentence of death, and were executed on Saturday the 16th of January.

James Haigh, Jonathan Dean, John Ogden, Thomas Brooke, and John Walker, capitally convicted of riotously assembling together, and with beginning to demolish a mill of Mr. Cartwright's, received sentence of death, and were executed on Saturday the 16th of January.

John Baines the elder, John Baines the younger, Charles Milnes, William Blakeborough, George Duckworth, and John Eaden were convicted of administering oaths, and sentenced to seven years' transportation.

John Schofield, the younger, charged with maliciously shooting; Craven Cookson and Zachary Baines, charged with administering illegal oaths: John Hirst for being concerned in the attack on Rawfolds mill; Joseph Brooke, David Moorhouse, and John Smith, for burglary, were acquitted.

John Lumb, convicted of burglary, was reprieved, and afterwards the sentence was commuted to transportation for life.

The following were discharged on bail, it being understood that they should never be called upon to appear so long as they should be of good behaviour:

James Varley, Joseph Thornton, George Brook (of Wooldale,)

George Beaumont, Abraham Armitage, Samuel Haigh, Benjamin Hinchliffe, John Taylor, Robert Fritton, Charles Thornton, James Brook, John Brook, George Brook, (of Dalton), George Lodge, and Joshua Schofield.

James Starkey discharged on bail to enter and try his traverse at the next assizes.

The following informers against whom no bills were preferred, were discharged by proclamation:

Joshua Haigh, Samuel Harling, John Shore, William Whitehead, Cornelius Hobson, Benjamin Sisswick, Thomas Green, William Hanson, Mark Hill, George Rigge, Charles Cockroft, John Walker, (of Salford), James Dyson, Benjamin Walker, and Joseph Carter

"But who that chief? His name on every shore

Is famed and feared-they ask and know no more."

BYRON.

Although the condition of the working population of this district was a little more tolerable in the year 1813 than it had been during the black year of the first Luddite risings, employment still remained scarce, provisions very dear, and taxation very heavy. Such being the case it is hardly to be wondered at that the mcbs of half-starved wretches often invaded the markets in large towns and compelled the dealers to sell their produce at prices that were within their reach. One of the most serious riots of this kind took place about the time the authorities were beginning to break into the Luddite organisation. The dealers in Leeds market were demanding the astounding price of nine pounds per quarter for wheat, and a serious riot consequently occurred. Headed by a virago who assumed the title of Ludy Ludd," the desperate populace furiously assailed the dealers in the market. Not contented with dictating the price at which wheat should be sold, they seized upon a considerable quantity and threw it about the streets. They then repaired to the works of a miller at Holbeck who had made himself obnoxious to them by what they considered to be unfair efforts to keep up the price and did considerable damage to his premises. The labouring classes of this district were indeed at this time in a most depressed and unhappy condition: they could with difficulty procure the necessaries of life, and the spirit of outrage need not therefore be wondered at, however we may condemn it.

"

The record of the Luddite riots is a black and warning page in the social history of England. It is a melancholy picture of ignorance, of useless crime, and of cruel vengeance; but we should be wanting in fairness if we did not take into consideration the social condition of the wretches who were, in many cases, goaded by

starvation to commit deeds they would have shrunk from in their calmer moments. The wholesale execution of the leaders seemed to crush the movement to a great extent in the West-Riding, but although it never afterwards made much headway, leaders being wanting and many of the better class of workmen holding aloof from them, still the movement was not finally crushed. The old spirit woke up upon occasions, and had not the lot of the labouring population become gradually better, Luddism would not have died out so soon. Agents of the organisations of the various towns in this locality, and also at Nottingham and other places, still flitted about and meetings were still held occasionally. The idea of a general rising to redress the grievances of the working classes continued to be advanced by the Nottingham centre, and arms were collected with that object over a wide area, but the organisation proved again and again a rope of sand, and many, led away by the promise of the assistance of great bodies of working men from other localities which never came, found themselves deceived and utterly ruined.

Perhaps the most formidable of these abortive risings took place about three years after Mellor and his companions had been hanged at York. The great war had ended at last, and the restless ruler of the French nation was safely chained on the barren rock of St. Helena. The nation was doubtless covered with glory, but France did not thank us for thrusting upon her her old imbecile line of kings. Byron, apostrophising the Duke of Wellington in one of his satirical poems, says,

'I should be delighted to learn who,

Save you and yours, have gained by Waterloo."

Doubtless there was some gain to the aristocratic class who had combatted so fiercely against the Corsican parvenu, but to the working population the result was loss, and loss only. The Corn Bill, which prevented foreign grain from coming to England so long as the price of wheat averaged under eighty shillings per quarter, had been passed amidst the execration of the starving populace, the House of Commons being protected from their fury by the bayonets of the soldiers during the discussions. The population of the manufacturing districts was also angry and restless. To drive this discontent to some tangible shape, Lord Liverpool sent among these ignorant, turbulent, but sincere men, spies, who were paid to urge them on to rebellion so that they might be dealt with by the sword and bayonet of the military.

Of the Nottingham Captain," Brandreth, who led the rising of 1817, very little positive seems to be known, but he was a man of great energy. This rising seems to have taken place on Sunday, the eight of June, 1817, on the borders of Derbyshire. On the morning of that day the parlour of the White Horse at Pentridge was taken possession of by a mob of about two score stalwart men. Near the window was seated the " Captain," a stern-looking man, in a brown great coat and grey trousers, who had a map spread out