The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-06-05 00:00:00

SERMON TO THE CONDEMNED.

Yesterday morning the customary sermon was preached in the
chapel of Newgate, by the Rev. !Or. Cotton, the Ordinary of the
prison, in consequence of the approaching execution of the four
unhappy men who are ordered for execution on Wednesday next,
the 7th instant, viz. Robert Savage, aged 21 ; Joseph Benfield,
aged 22 ; James Johnson, aged 23, for stealing in a dwelling.
house ; and Joseph Taylor, aged 31. for stealing four horses.
The prisoners having been previously visited by their spiritual
advisers, repaired to the Chapel at the usual hour, with the excep.
lion of Savage. who is confined in the Ittfirtnory in consequence of
a rheumatic affection, but who from the temper of mind he has
unhappily displayed from the moment of his commitment, would
have thought his attendance irksome in the extreme. The other
pries •2rs confined in the gaol having taken their seats, Benfield,
Johnson, and Taylor, were conducted to the condemned pew, ac-
companied by William Jones, a respited convict, under sentence
of death, for a robbery in the house of the Hon. W. H. Stanhope.
The morning hymn having been sang. .the Rev. Ordinary read
the formula of the Church in an impressive manner, and the unfor-
tunate culprits evinced by their demeanour that they were fully
sensible of the awful situation in which they stood. This service
having terminated, the Rev. Gentleman delivered an appropriate
discourse from part of the Ilth verse of the 33c1 chap. of the pro-
phesy br Ezekiel..." As 1 live,saith the Lord,l have no pleasure in
the death of the wicked." The Rev. Gentleman, in energetic, yet
pathetic language. addressed himself to the unhappy men, and the
hundreds of prisoners by whom they were surrounded, and pointed
out that the Almighty's attributes of justice and mercy were in
themselves distinct, but yet might, through the vicarious sacrifice
which had been made, brought into harmonization.

The unhappy young men attended to the discourse in a manner
which well became their awful situation. At the conclusion of the
service they paid their respects to their late, but more fortunate,
companions, and were then re-conducted to their cells, where they
were attended in the after-part of the day by the Ordinary, Mr.
Sheriff Kelly, Mr. Baker, six. B:c., who also attended divine ser-
vice in the morning.
The case of the unfortunate youth, Johnson, is not much known,
owing to its coming on at am early hour on the last day of the May
Sessions. The facts, as disclosed in evidence, are briefly these :
The prisoner was a servant to Mr. Muting, an upholsterer, N 0.33,
Oxford-street, at a salary of 151. a year, exclusive of bed and
board. On the 118th of April last he contrived to cpcn the iron
cheat by false or pick-lock keys, aria took from the cash-box 3761.
in sovereigns, notes, and bills of exchange, no part of which was
recovered. The prisoner was apprehended a few days after at
Kidderminster, but no part of the property had ever been recovered.
The prosecutor said that he took the unfortunate youth into his
employ out of charity, and up to this transaction he had not the
slightest reason to doubt his honesty. It is due to this unhappy
young man to state, that he acknowledges the justice of his sen-
tence, and has devoted the interval between conviction and the ar-
rival of the warrant of death in a strict attention to the duties of
religion.

, PAISLEY, MAY .—The demands of the unemployed
operatives among us continue undiminished, although a very con.
siderable number of strangers have left the town for Ireland and
other parts of the country. The benevoler,t have had ample informs.
tion from time to time, regarding the peculnsr state ofdistress that has
prevailed for some months among the working classes in this town
and neighbourhood • and it has been more than once mentioned in
several of the public journals, that the fund raised in the district
and front outer sources, is nearly exhausted. It gives us howevea
much pleasure to know, that on Saturday last the sum of 410. was
received from our Ihnevolent friends in Edinburgh. Our weekly
expenditure for giving employment at out-field labour to unem-
ployed operatives, and for otherwise supplying the wants of dis-
tressed families, Is very great ; and we are much afraid that if the
streams or benevolence do not continue less or more to flow to us
from distant parts of the country, that we shall be greatly cramped
in our endeavours to relieve cases of extreme distress, till the wished•
for improvement in the state of our commerce and manufacture
takes place. . .

Guildford Races this year take place the week after
Ascot, on which eccosion we find the County Ball will be re-
vived, under the patronag of the Nobilty and Oentty. The The-
atrical Season also communes under the management of Mr.
Barnett. The Theatre. since the last year, has undergone an entire
repair, and some judicious improvements have been made, parti-
cularly in the audience part. The boxes have been much enlarged,
and divided into compartments ! a lobby has been carried round
the lower tier, and commodious private boxes constructed each side
of the stage. lye have heard of other improvements, and we hope
the proprietor will find his account in good houses.
On Sunday last a dog was observed in the orchard of Mr.
Coombs, at Temple Coombe, Somerset, scratching the grout!, and
could not be removed from the spot. The circumstance induced
the persons present to commence a search, when they discovered
a fine infant. Hitherto no clue has been found as to whom the
child belonged.
The New .Monthly Magazine for June contains, among
various other articles, by some of the first writers of the day, an
Essay en the Life and Genius of Sophocles. by Mr. Campbell--
continuation of Dr. Clarke's interesting Account of his late success.
ful attempt to reach the summit of Mont Banc—Sketch of Pr.
Parr, in his latter years, including, with numerous Anecdotes, his
Opinion of Lord Sidtuouth, Lord Castlereagh, Lord Holland,
Lord Liverpool, Sir Francis Burdett, Mr. Canning Dr. Priestley,
Dr. Butler, Sir Charles Oreville, &c.—. The Windsor Beauties,
2—Remarks on the Posthumous Romance of Airs. Radcliire.—
*Ain Tabinet Ball. including some particulars relative to
htooess Wellesley—Sketches and Anecdotes of
M Notes on the last Meath in Lon-

itan Society, in
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