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jailer, with an over-officious zeal to shew himself assiduous, produced a written paper, which he stated to be the declaration or confession of Edwards, when taken before the judge, his late master, on the day after his apprehension; adding, that the court might perhaps wish to hear it. To this, the members assenting, one of them accordingly read to the following effect; “That Edwards confessed having repeatedly robbed his master’s desk of money, in which practice he had been solely aided, abetted, and encouraged by Vaux! That Vaux had contrived ah instrument in order to pick the lock of the writing-desk; and that on one occasion, Vaux happening to come without his instrument, had made use of a fork, one prong of which he bent for the purpose! That another time he had made use of a large nail! and that the nail now produced, which had been found on Mr. Bent’s premises, was the identical nail so used! [This nail Cubitt exhibited to the court; it was a common nail with a brass head, about four inches long, and the point appeared to have been turned by driving it in a stone or brick wall.] That Edwards and Vaux had jointly taken by these means at various times about sixty pounds, which had been equally shared between them.” This improbable account, one would suppose, could have excited no other sensation than that of laughter; for, could it be seriously entertained for a moment, that with such instruments
