his Body. But he was firmly of Opinion, that, as it is more sinful to rob a poor Man or the Church of God, so it was less sinful to rob those who would have spent the Money taken in Gaiety and Luxury, or those who perhaps had unjustly acquired it by Gaming.

He at first denyed very peremptorily, that he had any hand in the Murther of Philip Potts< no role > ; asserting, that in all his Robberies he never us'd Violence to any Man, except one who lives at Islington, and whom they rob'd by the Men who hang in Chains at Holloway , and that he only gave him a slap on the Head after he had bawl'd out Rogues! Highwaymen! Murther! for a very long time without any one touching him. But afterwards he began to acknowledge that he was acquainted with all the particulars of the Murther, which Circumstances could by no Method have been so precisely known, but by an actual Survey and Cognisance of the Performance.

He said, that he did not know of anything that had ever touch'd his Heart with Concern or Grief, but the Death of one Barton, who was executed a short time ago, for that he himself ought then to have died, that he robb'd the Lord Viscount Lisbon, as he was going from Hamstead , adding, that he found true, what he could not then keep out of his Mind, to wit, that he should quickly follow to an untimely end.

As Jonas Burgess< no role > had declar'd, after he had cut his own Throat, that one of the Pistols which were taken from under his Coat, was design'd for this Prisoner, to dispatch himself withal, he was examin'd about it, but would acknowledge nothing, nor own the barbarous Intent he had of killing those who should oppose the Escape of these 4 Malefactors. He said that Burgess had of late declar'd that his Enemies should never see him go to be hang'd, but if he could not escape, he would die; but the Prisoner said (if true I know not) that he advis'd him to beware of Self-Murther; That as he heard the sad Groans he remember'd how he beg'd him not to say that his Enemies had hindered his getting Pardon; for even, if they had destroy'd his Body, it would be no recompence for himself therefore to destroy his Soul.

2. JOHN SMITH< no role > was Condemn'd for assaulting and murthering Matthew Walden< no role > , with a Pistol, as he was endeavouring to detain and apprehend him for a Riot, an Assault committed on Sarah Thompson< no role > , at the Lynn near the Hermitage ; on the 22 of November last .

This Prisoner, about 40 Years of Age, was bred to the Sea, and served in most of Queen Ann's Wars against the French; and belong'd to a Man of War , he said, in the Squadron of Admiral Byng, in the Mediterranean, and in particular was at the Fight with the Spaniards, near Messina in Cicily , where the Spanish Fleet was dissipated and broken.

He said that his Life had not been the Life of a Robber; but being of late too much on Shore, which was always hateful and uneasy to him, he could not find any way of spending his time, but had been Guilty of Pilfering and Stealing, as much thro' lack of Business and Employ as otherwise to divert his vicious Inclinations, and to terrifie his Mind from Wickedness, he went with his Acquaintance Woolford, to see him Executed; but that sad Sight, he added, was not sufficient to break the viciated Force of his Inclinations; but that he became Acquainted