June 11. 1853.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



573 



a "gross and scandalous falsehood," and when 

 asserting the bishop's " abhorrence of popery," 

 need not here be quoted, as " N. & Q." is ' not 

 the most proper channel for the discussion of 

 theological subjects ; but it is alleged that every 

 man of sense and candour was convinced at the 

 time that the charge should be retracted ; and it 

 must be a satisfaction to your correspondent to 

 know, that as Bisliop Butler lived so he died, \\\ 

 full communion with that Church, which he 

 adorned equally by his matchless writings, sanc- 

 •tity of manners, and spotless life.* 



J. H. Maekland. 

 J3ath. 



In reference to the Query by X. Y. Z., as to 

 nvhether Bishop Butler died in the Roman Catholic 

 communion, allow me to refer your correspondent 

 to the contents of the letters from Dr. Forster and 

 Bishop Benson to Seeker, then Bishop of Oxford, 

 concerning the last illness and death of the pre- 

 late in question, deposited at Lambeth amongst 

 the private MSS. of Archbishop Seeker, " as ne- 

 gative arguments against the calumny of his dying 

 a Papist." 



Than the allegations that Butler died with a 

 Koman Catholic book of devotion in his hand, and 

 that the last person in whose company he was seen 

 was a priest of that persuasion, nothing can be 

 more unreasonable, if at least it be meant to de- 

 duce from these unpi'oved statements that the 

 bishop agreed with the one and held communion 

 with the other. Dr. Forster, his chaplain, was 

 •with him at his death, which happened about 

 11 A.M., June 16; and this witness observes (in 

 a letter to tiie Bishop of Oxford, June 18) that 

 " the last four-nnd-twenty hours preceding which 

 \i. e. his death] were divided between short broken 

 slumbers, and intervals of a calm but disordered 

 talk Avhen awake." Again (letter to Ditto, June 

 17), Forster says that Bishop Butler, "when, for a 

 day or two before his death, he had in a great 

 measure lost the use of his faculties, was perpe- 

 tually talking of writing to your lordship, though 

 without seeming to have anything which, at least, 

 he was at all capable of communicating to you." 

 Bishop Benson writes to the Bishop of Oxford 

 (June 12) that Butler's " attention to any one or 

 anything is immediately lost and gone;" and, "my 

 lord is incapable, not only of reading, but attend- 

 ing to anything read or said." And again, " his 

 attention to anything is very little or none." 



There was certainly an interval between this 

 time (June 12) and " the last four-and-twenty 



* Your correspondent may be referred to Memoirs of 

 the Life of Bishop Butler, by a connexion of bis own, 

 tbe Rev. Thomas Bartlett, A.M., published in 1839; 

 and to a review of tbe same work in the Quarterly 

 Review, vol. Ixiv. p. 331. 



hours" preceding his death, during which, writes 

 Bishop Benson (June 17), Butler " said kind and 

 affecting things more than I could bear." Yet, on 

 the whole, I submit that those extracts, if fully 

 weighed and considered with all the attending 

 circumstances, contain enough of even positive 

 evidence to refute conclusively the injurious sus- 

 picions alluded to by X. Y. Z., if such are still 

 current. J. 11. C. 



MITIGATION OF CAPITAL PUNISHMENT TO FOEGEKS. 



(Vol. iv., p. 434., &c.) 



I have asked many questions, and turned over 

 many volumes and files of newspapers, to get at 

 the real facts of the cases of mitigation stated 

 in " N. & Q." Having winnowed the chaff as 

 thoroughly as I could, I send the very few grains 

 I have found. Those only who have searched 

 annual registers, magazines, and journals for the 

 foundation of stories defective in names and dates, 

 will appreciate my difficulties. 



I have not found any printed account of the 

 " Jeannie Deans " case, " N. & Q.," Vol. iv., p. 434. ; 

 Vol. v., p. 444. ; Vol. vi., p. 153. I have inquired 

 of the older members of the Northern Circuit, and 

 they never heard of it. Still a young man may 

 have been convicted of forgery " about thirty-five 

 years ago :" his sister may have presented a well- 

 signed petition to the judges, and the sentence 

 may have been conmiuted without the tradition 

 surviving on the circuit. All however agree, that 

 no man who ever sat on the bench deserved the 

 imputation of" obduracy" less than Baron Graham. 

 I should not have noticed the anecdote but for its 

 mythic accompaniments, which I disposed of in 

 " N. & Q.," Vol. v., p. 444. 



In Vol. vi., p. 496., W. W. cites from Wade's 

 British History : 



"July 22, 1814. Admiral William B y found 



guilty of forging letters to defraud the revenue. He 

 was sentenced to death, which was commuted to banish- 

 ment." 



The case is reported in The Sun, July 25, 1814 ; 

 and the subsequent facts are in The Times, July 

 30, and August 16 and 20. It was tried before 

 Mr. Justice Darapier at the Winchester Summer 

 Assizes. There were five bills against the prisoner 

 for forgery, and one for a fraud. That on which 

 he was convicted, was for defrauding the post- 

 master of Gosport of 3^. 8s. 6d. He took to the 

 post-ofiice a packet of 114 letters, which he said 

 were " ship letters," from the " Mary and Jane." 

 He received the postage, and signed the receipt 

 " W. Johnstone." The letters were fictitious. 

 The case was fully proved, and he received sen- 

 tence of death. He was respited for a fortnight, 

 and afterwards during the pleasure of the Prince 

 liegent. He was struck off the list of retired 



