The venerable judge thus ended what, to judge by his emotion and tears, was really a painful task. The jury, accordingly brought in a verdict of guilty; and Robin Oig M'Combich, _alias_ M'Gregor, was sentenced to death, and executed accordingly. He met his fate with firmness, and acknowledged the justice of his sentence. But he repelled indignantly the observations of those who accused him of attacking an unarmed man. "I give a life for the life I took," he said, "and what can I do more?"
[17] _We_ remember the proverb, "Honour among thieves."
[18] But we cannot so far forget our country as to be indifferent to them.--See a passage in the _Two Drovers_.
A little particle of rain, That from a passing cloud descended, Was heard thus idly to complain:-- "My brief existence now is ended. Outcast alike of earth and sky, Useless to live, unknown to die."
It chanced to fall into the sea, And there an open shell received it; And, after years, how rich was he, Who from its prison-house relieved it: The drop of rain has formed a gem, To deck a monarch's diadem.
"I am but a _Gatherer_ and disposer of other men's stuff."--_Wotton_.
A witty wight, on seeing the following line in our last,
"What is doing to-night?" asked Kemble, of one of the ballet-masters; "Oh pis (O P) toujours, Monsieur," was the reply.
An absent man, whose heart can seldom resist the importunities of beggars, was, a few mornings since, followed by a hungry half-starved dog, when he inadvertently took from his pocket a penny, which he was just about to give to the four-footed wanderer, when he perceived his mistake. It should be mentioned that the above individual had, on nearly the precise spot, on the previous night, assisted one of his fellow creatures in the same manner as that in which he was about to relieve the quadruped. The EDITOR of the MIRROR will be happy to substantiate this fact to such as may be disposed to doubt its authenticity:--"if it be madness, there's method in it."
Seventeen hundred individuals a year, for the last seven years, have been committed for poaching.--_Report Prison Discip. Society_.
Crime is a curse only to the period in which it is successful; but virtue, whether fortunate or otherwise, blesses not only its own age, but remotest posterity, and is as beneficial by its example, as by its immediate effects.