88 SfiTE OF THE TIMES. 
the 20th of September, 1792, the very day on 
which poor Heywood wrote the above admirable 
letter, was styled the first day of the French 
Kepublic. The state ' of the times, therefore, 
tended to mark the crime imputed to him with 
a yet deeper dye. 
JS T or could the sufferer be ignorant of some 
then recent cases, short of murder, in which, 
amidst extenuating circumstances, and conse- 
quent appeals to mercy, the law had been 
allowed to run its course, and the capital sen- 
tence to pass into full effect. Who that, at that 
time, bore in mind the instance of the unhappy 
Dr Dodd, and remembered that all entreaties, 
and even Dr. Johnson's powerful and affecting 
appeal in his behalf, had been made in vain,* 
could rest with confidence on the strength of 
the intercession of any man ? 
Now, however, some intimations from high 
quarters began to inspire greater hope in Hey- 
wood and his friends. 
His amiable sister Nessy, anxious to see him, 
and to be of use, resolved to accept the invitation 
given by a friend of her family, Mr. A. Graham, 
and to make her way up to London, where he 
resided. This gentleman had been a purser in 
the navy, and was afterwards a valuable police 
magistrate in London. On the 3d of October, 
1792, we find Nessy arrived at Liverpool from 
the Isle of Man^ and writing thus to her mother 
and family : 
* The original draft of a petition, in Dr. Johnson's hand- 
writing, is among the Manuscripts in the British Museum. 
The document is short, pithy, and persuasive. 
