Part 15 (2/2)
What views you had, or what was your intention, is best known to yourself. With G.o.d and your conscience be it. At this bar we can judge only from appearances and from the evidence produced to us. But do not deceive yourself; remember you are very shortly to appear before a much more awful tribunal, where no subterfuge can avail, no art, no disguise can screen you from the Searcher of all hearts--”He revealeth the deep and secret things, He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.”
Let me advise you to make the best and wisest use of the little time you are likely to continue in this world. Apply to the throne of grace, and endeavour to make your peace with that Power whose justice and mercy are both infinite.
Nothing now remains but to p.r.o.nounce the sentence of the law upon you, which is--
”That you are to be carried to the place of execution and there hanged by the neck until you are dead; and may G.o.d of His infinite mercy receive your soul.”
The prisoner then addressed herself to the judge in this manner--
”My lord, as your lords.h.i.+p has been so good to show so much candour and impartiality in the course of my trial, I have one favour more to beg, which is, that your lords.h.i.+p would please to allow me a little time till I can settle my affairs, and make my peace with G.o.d.”
To which his lords.h.i.+p replied--”To be sure, you shall have a proper time allowed you.”
On Monday, the 6th of April following, the prisoner was executed at Oxford, according to the sentence p.r.o.nounced against her.
APPENDICES.
APPENDIX I.
Proceedings before the Coroner relative to the Death of Mr. Francis Blandy.
(From No. 2 of Bibliography, Appendix XII.)
_I.--Depositions of Witnesses._
Town of Henley-on-Thames in the County of Oxford. To wit, DEPOSITIONS OF WITNESSES AND EXAMINATIONS taken on oath the 15th day of August 1751, before Richard Miles, Gent. Mayor and Coroner of the said town; and also before the jury impannelled to inquire into the cause of the death of Francis Blandy, Gent. now lying dead.
ANTHONY ADDINGTON of Reading, in the County of Berks.h.i.+re, Doctor of Physick, maketh oath and saith, That Mary Blandy, daughter of Francis Blandy, Gent. deceased, acknowledged to this deponent, that she received of the Hon. William Henry Cranstoun, a powder which was called a powder to clean the stones or pebbles, which were sent to her at the same time as a present; and that Monday, the 5th instant, she mixed part of the said powder in a mess of water gruel; but said, that, she did not know that it was poison, till she found the effects of it on her father; for that the said Mr. Cranstoun had a.s.sured her, that if she gave her father now and then of the said powder in gruel, or any other thin liquor, it would make him kind to her: And that the said Mr. Cranstoun a.s.sured her, that it was innocent, and that he frequently took of it himself; and that this deponent received from Mr. Benjamin Norton, who was apothecary to the said Francis Blandy, some small portion of a powder, which Mr. Norton said was found at the bottom of the above-mentioned mess of gruel given to the said Francis Blandy on the 5th instant, and that this deponent, after examination of the said powder, suspects the same to be poison.
A. ADDINGTON.
Taken on oath, the 15th day of August, 1751, before me RICHARD MILES.
WILLIAM LEWIS, of the University of Oxford, Doctor of Physick, maketh oath and saith, that Mary Blandy, daughter of Francis Blandy, Gent.
deceased, acknowledged to this deponent, that she had frequently given to her said father, the powder which she had received from the Hon.
William Henry Cranstoun called the powder to clean the stones or pebbles, which she had received from him, but that she did not know that the said powder was poison, but that it was intended to make her father kind to her.
W. LEWIS.
Taken on oath, the 15th day of August, 1751, before me RICHARD MILES.
EDWARD NICHOLAS of Henley upon Thames, in the County of Oxford, surgeon, upon his oath saith, that he has examined the body of Francis Blandy, Gent. deceased, and saith, that he found that the fat on the abdomen was near a state of fluidity, and that the muscles and membranes were extremely pale; and that the omentum, was preternaturally yellow, and that part which covered the stomach was brownish; that the external part of the stomach was extremely discoloured with livid spots; the internal part was extremely inflamed, and covered almost entirely with extravasated blood; the intestines were very pale and flabby, and in some parts especially, which were near the stomach, there was much extravasated blood; the liver was likewise sphacelated, in those parts particularly which were contiguous to the stomach; the bile was of a very deep yellow; in the gall bladder was found a stone about the size of a large filbert; the lungs were covered in every point with black spots; the kidneys, spleen and heart were likewise greatly spotted; there was found no water in the pericardium; in short, he never found or beheld a body in which the viscera were so universally inflamed and mortified.
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