The Mysteries of London, Vol. IV — page 310: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

> ee eC RR rt rrr THE BISSTLRICS OF LONDON. aah) Z ‘ ‘ jac ue ve = = Se —— ae ee 2 — hs , ee em mk eS za hoes ~ DP, oa7: ce me "4 Sea HOE ese i if Aa ff mii a a pe = . —i———— ay | | a SG sae? fa < ~ » Ys - a change. With each drop of blood that cozed from my lacerated back, ebbed away some sentiment of recti- tude—some principle of virtue. My lord, it was the lash that drove me to drinking—that made me reck- less of all consequences—that mado me a liar and a voluptuary, a mean fellow and a paltry rascal—and that hardened my heart so as to render it inacces- sible to every feeling of honour, mercy, or remorse. It was the lash, then, that has made mea murderer ; and I might almost claim to be pitied, rather than to be looked upon with loathing. A cruel Jaw taught me to be cruel: a merciless and barbarian punishment prepared mo to become a ruthless and ferocious assassin. And now, my lord, I am about to reveal a fact which has long ago been suspected, and which, situated as I unhappily am, need not exist in doubt or uncertainty any more. My life must bo forfeited for theo crime which has been proved against mo this day; and it will unburthen my soul of a heavy secret to confess another crime, which I perpetrated upwards of a year ago. Your lordship doubtless remembers that a young noble- man—an officer in the regiment to which I belonged t<was shot at arcview in Hyde Park. My lord, I ¥: No 91*,—MMyrstrriviny or LONpoN. i I VAR RAR sft i | t | i ae A + o 46% OW Uf Sse at ‘ oF \ \ 4 a ty ; rag ‘ L} was the assassin: the man accused me wrongfalig —persecuted me unrelenting]y—and lied most foully against me,—and I was avenged,” As Leonard uttered theso last words in a firm tone and with marked emphasis, a thrill of horror passed through the crowded court; and the dead silence which had been ohserved while he was speak- ing, was succeeded by a subdued murmuring as of many voices commenting on what he had said. Erect, and with an evident determination to meet his doom courageously, the unhappy young man stood in the dock—his eye quailing not, his limbs trombling not; and, heinous as his offences were, he was not altogether without commiseration on the part of many present. The judge put on the black cap; and the sentence of death—that bar- barian sentence—was pronounced in due form, the culprit receiving an intimation that he need enter- tain no hope of meroy. The hint was unnecessary: he had made up his mind to suffer ;—and as firmly as he walked out of the dock back into the prison, so resolutely did he step from that same prison ter days afterwards on to the scaffold erected ot th- debtors’ door, A tremendous crowd was assembicd (C(O) (C DOO SS (SO)