ourselves, as we had so often done before, to the shelter of a wood, where our sufferings were most deplorable— wet to the skin, the extremities of our garments like solid boards of ice, and scarcely a shoe among us worthy the name. We found a hollow from which a tree had been dug, and laid a quantity of twigs in it, so as to form a dry bed. A horse-cloth, which we obtained from "the Cat," was then spread loosely over, propped by a stick in the centre, and fastened down by pegs, and dead leaves strewed round the edge. Here we lay as in a kind of tent, in much comparative comfort. In the sequel, Mansell, the youngest of our party, was despatched, disguised as a girl, to Bruges, to an acquaintance of Mrs Derikre, who had already assisted her in favouring the escape of English prisoners. Through the agency of this person, Mansell was enabled to embark for England with a smuggler in an open boat fifteen feet in length, with the intention of returning to the coast and taking off his comrades by night.

'In the beginning of April, we three who remained found, by means of the same friend, a place of secure concealment in Bruges, under the care of a man named Neirinks. The furniture of our room consisted of a table, four chairs, and a bedstead filled with clean straw. This, compared with the sticks and the dirty wet hole in the wood, was a luxury only to be appreciated by those who have experienced similar vicissitudes. Through Neirinks we bargained with the same smuggler who had taken Mansell to England, to convey us across the Channel, for which service he was to receive L.80.

'Disguised as Flemish fishermen, we reached the coast in company of the smuggler, and took up our residence in his miserable hut, among the sand-hills, near the mouth of the Scheldt, opposite Flushing. Here we

remained till the evening of the 8th of May, when, all preparations being safely made, we went on board a boat that was brought to the beach. The little craft gliding silently in-shore with muffled oars, we rushed into it, and in an instant were all safely afloat. Each seized an

oar, and vigorously applying his utmost strength, we were soon beyond the range of shot.

'It would be in vain to attempt a faithful description of our feelings at this moment. The lapse of a few minutes had wrought such a change of circumstances that, amid a confusion of ideas, we could scarcely divest ourselves of the apprehensions which constant habit had ingrafted on our minds. Nor could we relinquish the oar, but continued at this laborious but now delightful occupation all through the night.

'When day dawned, the breeze freshened from the eastward, and as the sun arose, the wide expanse of ocean opened around us, and in the distant rear we beheld, with feelings of gratitude and triumph, the afflicted land of bondage whence we had escaped. We made rapid progress to the north-west. About noon, the wind still increasing, and the sea rising, we deemed it prudent to close-reef the sail. While thus scudding delightfully before the billows, which occasionally broke as if to overwhelm our little boat, only fifteen feet in length, every eye was fixed steadily ahead, anxious to be the first to discern land. It was not, however, till towards three P.M. that the white cliffs of England met our view. Full of joy as our situation already was, the first sight of our native shore after so long absence, coupled with the memory of perils overcome, afforded a compensation for all past sufferings. On falling in with a fishing-smack off the Goodwin Sands, the master welcomed us on board, and taking our boat in tow, ran for Ramsgate. Entering the harbour at five o'clock, I landed with such emotions of joy and gratitude, as it would be altogether impossible to describe. I had reached my native country after a captivity of nearly six years.'

So ended the narrative of Captain Boys, who, subsequently to his adventurous escape, had resumed his naval duties, and distinguished himself as a gallant officer. He called my attention to the following paragraph in the Times newspaper, by which it will be seen that the kindhearted woman who had favoured his escape had many

years survived the adventures in which the captain had been engaged:

'Deceased, on the 20th inst. at Ostend, in her eightyfourth year, Madame Derikre, who during the war assisted at different times fifteen British officers in their escape from France; for which service she was incarcerated four years, and eventually liberated from the prison of Ghent by the Cossacks in 1814. During her latter years, she was comfortably provided for by one of the above party.

TARDY, THE POISONER.

ACCORDING to the annals of courts of justice, it appears that two classes of offenders are brought to trial for their misdeeds—namely, those who commit crime from necessity, or some unfortunate combination of circumstances; and those who are naturally or habitually so depraved in disposition, that no moral restraint has the power of preventing their commission of the most dreadful atrocities. To this latter class belonged Alexander Tardy, one of the most consummate villains whom the world ever produced, and whose career in crime may be read as a warning by those who have the power of suppressing vicious propensities in youth, while they are susceptible of modification.

Tardy was a native of the island of St Domingo, and accompanied his father, who was of French extraction, to the United States, where he sought refuge after the revolution of that island. It does not appear that he received anything like a good education, and it is mentioned that in youth he displayed an untamed, restless disposition. He was put to a mercantile business in Philadelphia, but in this he ultimately failed, and went to serve as steward on board a vessel. From this employment he was discharged in 1813, under the dark suspicion of having poisoned the captain. He now went to Boston,

and got a knowledge of the business of a dentist from a German practitioner. After this, he committed a number of thefts, and having fled, while on board a vessel bound for Charleston, he poisoned some of the passengers, and had the audacity to charge the crime on the cook, a black man, who was tried and executed, although protesting his innocence to the last. On his return to Philadelphia, he practised the same horrid crime, by infusing arsenic in the food of the passengers; but this time he did not altogether escape punishment, being seized and condemned to seven years' hard labour in one of the penitentiaries. From this state of confinement he was at length liberated, and for some years lived in the commission of almost every species of offence. He possessed the most unbounded confidence in his resources, and viewed mankind with the utmost contempt. He never hesitated for a moment to perpetrate a crime, even where there was a danger of being detected. In his creed, he seems to have proscribed the whole human race. Perjury, poison, and poniards, were his instruments, and he wielded all with equal dexterity; but his chief engine of destruction was poison, which he never scrupled to use, and that in the most dexterous manner. In personal appearance, Tardy was a plain, neat man, of a dark complexion, and with a grave countenance, which, it is said, was never disturbed either by a smile or a laugh. He spoke several languages with fluency, which was an accomplishment that gave him only greater scope for the performance of his designs.

Finding that his character was too well known in the United States, he formed the plan of doing something in the way of slavedealer or pirate in the West Indies, and with such a view made his appearance, in 1827, at Havannah, in the island of Cuba. Here, while in the course of maturing his plans, he pretended to practise as a dentist and physician, in order to lull suspicion as to his real character. After spending some time in Havannah, he settled upon a plan which, if executed with discretion and energy, promised, as he thought, to yield a

rich reward for his ingenuity. This was nothing less than murdering the whole crew and passengers of a vessel, and then making the ship his own, with all its valuable cargo. Such a diabolical scheme, however, could not be executed without accomplices, and these he found in the persons of Felix, Pepe, and Courro, three Spaniards of loose character, who had been accustomed to scenes of dissipation and crime. The vessel which was pitched upon by this band of wretches was the American brig Crawford, commanded by Captain Brightman, at the time loading with molasses, coffee, and sugar, and about to sail for New York. This selection, it seems, was not without a sufficient reason. The Crawford was a new vessel, and a slight indisposition of the captain led Tardy to expect that he might, in his professional character of doctor, gain his confidence, which would greatly facilitate the execution of his scheme. The mode of operation was now arranged. It was agreed that Courro should go on board in the capacity of Tardy's servant, and that Felix and Pepe should go as cabin - passengers, passing for merchants going to New York to buy a vessel to be employed in the African trade; and to render this story probable, a box was procured, filled with iron and lead, which was to be represented as containing seventeen thousand dollars in gold. In the meanwhile, by means of a discharged clerk of the custom-house, a set of false papers was procured, to exhibit after the vessel had been mastered.

After some delay in loading and taking on board a number of passengers, the good brig Crawford cleared out for sea on the 28th of May 1827. When it set sail, it was manned by the following crew:-Edmund Dobson, mate; Joseph Dolliver, Asa Bicknell, Oliver Potter, and Nathaniel Deane, seamen ; and Stephen Gibbs, a coloured man, who acted as cook. Besides Brightman, the captain, there were also on board, as passengers, Tardy, Felix, Pepe, and Courro; likewise Ferdinand Ginoulhiac, who was also a Spaniard, but not belonging to Tardy's band; an American, and an Irish carpenter, whose names were not known; and Mr Norman Robinson, who was part