and said to a companion, "Come, let us go, Jack," and left the house without drinking his beer. The witness remarked the conduct of the prisoner to her husband. On the Monday after the fire, the prisoner was passing the scene of the fire with Rogers, the boy whom he had employed to buy the tobacco; and he said to Rogers, "All the farmers thought he had set the barn on fire, and tried to find him out, because he had set the hay-stack on fire." He said he had been to Bedford, and had seen one Redman, and was afraid Redman would turn against him. Before they parted, he desired him to say nothing of what he had told him, but Rogers told it to his father, and the prisoner was apprehended in consequence.Thomas Thorpe stated, that he worked at Mr. Armstrong's with the prisoner, and that on the 21st of November Mr. Armstrong scolded them whilst at breakfast for not doing their work. After he was gone, the prisoner said," he was a d-d rascal, he could set fire to him at the back of the rick, and burn him down as low as a tobacco dish." He added, "I can trust you with a secret. I went to Polly Child's to light my pipe, and I went to Dines, and it was done." Sharpe asked if he were alone, and he said he was. The prisoner's declaration before the magistrates was read, in which he stated, that having lighted his pipe at Polly Child's, he was smoking at the door, when the witness, Thomas Thorpe, came by. Thorpe asked him to let him smoke a little, and he gave him the pipe, and they walked towards Dines' barn. When they came there, Thorpe said, "I want to do a job for myself;" he then got over into the yard, and he thought he saw him take the to

7. ADMINISTRATION OF THE POOR LAws.-Bedford.—Jonathan Cranfield and William Preston were tried on an indictment charging that a certain woman (to the jurors unknown), on the 12th of June 1831, came into the parish of Cardington, and was then actually chargeable to that parish as casual poor; that the defendants unlawfully conspired to exonerate the said parish from the charges which might ensue to them from such woman remaining in their parish, and to aggrieve the parish of Hawnes, and to charge them with the maintenance of the woman ; that in pursuance of such conspiracy, they carried and conveyed her (being then ill and unfit for removal) from the parish of Cardington to that of Hawnes, without any lawful authority, and there left her; and that she shortly afterwards there died; by means whereof the inhabitants of Hawnes were obliged to expend certain monies in and about burying her.

It appeared, that, in June 1831 Cranfield was one of the overseers, and Preston the constable of Cardington; and that, on the 12th of that month, between seven and eight o'clock in the morning, a poor woman was found lying by the road-side in that parish. A witness, who was going to see her daughter who lived there, was overtaken by the defendants and another person, who were walking in great haste. She asked them where they were going; and Preston replied, to look after a woman in a most miserable state. They all went together some distance, and found the woman lying by

the road-side.

She was naked to the waist, without bonnet or cap; they were lying near her, and one side of her head had had all the hair cut off. She was told to get up, but she said nothing, and Preston gave her part of a loaf, which she put by her side. Cranfield said to her, "If you will get up, I'll give you white money," and gave her 6d. She was then raised, and Preston and the third man (Smith) took each hold of an arm, and led her along between them. At that time she was nearly unable to stand, and quite unable to walk without assistance. They led her thus out of the parish of Cardington into that of Hawnes, a distance of about two furlongs altogether. It was sworn, that, when they got to the boundary stone, they pulled her along-she wishing not to go. When they had led her into Hawnes, about 120 or 150 yards, several people came up, and one of the defendants said, "they had brought her out of their parish into Hawnes, and now let them do the same." She was asked if she would go on, but she replied that she would not: indeed, she then appeared to be in a dying state. The defendants were asked, " why they did not give her a gown or something to cover her nakedness?" And one of them replied, "Where were they to get it from?" The man told them, from Bedford, or any where else. Another told them, that, seeing her state, they ought to have carried her, and one of them replied, "What! and get covered with lice, I suppose?" She was ultimately taken to the Hawnes poor-house, and died in the evening of the same day. An inquest was held on the body on the following morning, and she was buried

at the expense of the parish of Hawnes; the whole charge to them being 71. 12s.

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The defendants called two witnesses, who swore that the woman "not ill, but only weak from the inclemency of the weather " (in June). They swore also, that she walked very well till she got into Hawnes, and that she was asked several times by the defendants where she was going, and that she answered, "to Shefford," and was all the time perfectly sensible, The jury found both the prisoners Guilty, and they were sentenced to be imprisoned for one calendar month, and to pay a fine of 50l. each to the King.

EARTHQUAKES.-On the 8th of March, at half-past seven o'clock in the evening, a violent earthquake was felt in the Calabrias; the centre of which appeared to be in that part of the second Calabria Ultra, where Calanzaro, the chief town, is situate. The shock lasted about eleven seconds, and took place in a direction S.E. and N.W. Many of the communes of the district of Crotone, several of Catanzaro, but very few in CalabriaCitra were damaged. In the west of the Calabrias the earthquake only more or less shook the houses. The only commune utterly destroyed, was that of Cutro, in the first of the above-named districts. It was reduced to a heap of ruins. The number of the dead was said to exceed sixty. Forty persons perished at Policastro; thirty-four at Roccabernarda; nine at Roccadineto; seven at Santa Severina; six at Iscandale; five at St. Mauro; two at Castelle. At Isola and Cirò two children were killed. Crucoli and Melissa, although in the same district, were exempt from all calamity, and but small

damage was done in other neigh bouring villages. There was a great number of wounded in all the other communes. In the district of Catanzaro, the commune that suffered most was Soveria, where eight persons were buried under the ruins. The principal shock was followed by others which, although not violent, were from time to time perceptible till the 16th of March, and caused many of the houses to fall, which had been injured by the first shock.

The earthquake was felt in Central Italy, on the 13th and 14th. It was particularly violent at Reggio, where it took place about half past four in the morning of the 13th. The smartest shock lasted from ten to twelve seconds, preceded and followed at very small intervals by minor ones. The motion was partly in a direction upwards, proved by large balls of marble being hurled from the summit of the façades of several churches, where they had been placed as ornaments; but an undulatory motion was most frequent, and principally between west and east, although sometimes between south and north. The bells of the public clocks, and the bells of private houses rang. When the shock was most violent, it seemed as if one heard the cracking and rending asunder of the roofs and walls. More than 500 chimnies were thrown down; according to other accounts, they exceeded 2,000. A large breach was made in the walls enclosing the city, owing to a part of them having fallen. The vaulted roofs of many churches were cleft by wide fissures. The low tower of St. Peter's, together with the bells, fell in. Almost all houses suffered considerably, and the barracks of VOL. LXXIV.

the soldiers were so much injured that it became unsafe to occupy them. Of seven persons on whom the ruins fell, some were severely wounded, but none killed. A great number of the inhabitants took refuge in the open fields; others passed the night en bivouac.

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All the neighbouring villages shared the fate of the city. At every step were houses half destroyed, walls moved from the pendicular, façades and the internal vaulted roofs of churches rent or prostrate. At Modena many houses were violently shaken; and though the mischief done there was not so great as at Reggio, many of the inhabitants spent several nights in the open air. Small volcanic cones appeared on several parts of the plain, where also some springs of hot water suddenly rose to the surface of the earth. The Ducal Palace was strongly shaken. The destruction amongst the Reggian hills was severe. In the single parish of Sampolo the damage was calculated at 700l. Churches and houses were every where to be seen in a ruined state at Bibiano, Cavirago, and Quattro Castelli. Scarcely less calamitous were the effects of the earthquake in the cities of Carpi and Correggio. About 200 chimnies fell in the former, and the cathedral was much injured. In the latter the vast fabric of the college and many other edifices, were rendered so unsafe, that the greater part of the inhabitants abandoned them. sides the severe shock of the 13th, there were others on the same and following days. On the morning of the 14th, at twenty minutes to seven, the earth heaved for about a moment, but with great vehemence; the motion upwards being accompanied by a noise as of the

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rushing of a mighty wind. Two hours afterwards it again trembled with a violent undulatory motion; and a little before four o'clock on the following morning, the shaking was also very distinct.

9. MURDER.- LANCASTER. William Heaton was convicted of the murder of John Ratcliffe. The evidence was the following.

James Andrews stated that, on the morning of the 29th of October last, about six o'clock, he saw Ratcliffe lying dead near Burtonwood. One hand was in his waistcoat pocket, and the other under him. His hat was off. There was a quantity of blood, and some brains, under the right ear. There were some cuts in the ground near the head, which seemed to have been made by a blunt instrument, like a potatoe fork. There were wounds on both sides of the head, but no marks of any struggle having taken place.

James Ratcliffe; a son of the deceased. I remember my father coming to our house on Friday evening, the 28th of October. He went away about half-past eight o'clock. My grandmother gave him threepence to buy two plates, and he usually carried a knife and tobacco-box in his pocket. He was quite sober. I saw the prisoner on that night. He lives at Burtonwood with his sister, Martha Law son. He came into our house just as the clock struck ten that night, and asked my uncle William if he had seen his (prisoner's) brother John. He sat down by the fire, and asked for a pipe. He smoked part of it and said, "I had like to have been in a skirmish last night." I said "Who with ?" and he made no answer. I said, "You have either gotten a black eye now, or there is a scab on one side of your

nose." He said, "No, it's dirt," and he rubbed his face. He stuck to it that it was dirt, and for satisfaction sake I took a candle and held it up to his face. I then saw three marks of clotted blood. I said, "Why it's blood," and he grew very red. He said, "Oh, I fell over Charles Hindley's wheelbarrow, and scarred my hand among the cinders." He showed me his hand, and I observed it was all covered over with blood. I observed no marks of a scar. After this he sat till about twenty minutes after 10, and then went away. He wore a white straw hat.

Cross-examined.-I am seventeen years of age. I was tried about twelve months ago for stealing potatoes, and found guilty. The prisoner often came to our house, and on the night I have described he came in just in his usual manner. I should never have observed the blood, if he had not called my attention to his face by talking of the skirmish. He made no objection at all to my holding the candle to his face. He could easily have pushed it aside if he had liked. There had been a coursing match that day, and his brother had been to it. There was nothing particular that made me notice the white hat. I had seen him in a white hat before, and also in a glazed hat.

Isaac Lawson, the son of prisoner's sister.-I was at Betty Bates's, in Hindley-row, at Burton-wood, on the night of the 28th of October last. It was about a quarter past seven. Prisoner came to the door, and called me out. He asked me to swap hats with him. I did so, and gave him my oil-case hat, and took his white straw one. He gave me no reason. Soon after I