did you ever in all your life read so
charming a letter? Be assured it is exactly characteristic of
the benevolent writer. What would I give to be transported
(though only for a moment) to your elbow, that I might see you
read it? What will you feel, when you know assuredly that you
may with certainty believe its contents? Well may Mr. Graham
call us happy! for never felicity could equal ours! Don't
expect connected sentences from me at present, for this joy
makes me almost delirious. Adieu! love to all--I need not say
be happy and blessed as I am at this dear hour, my beloved
mother.--Your most affectionate,

N. H.'

On the 24th October, the king's warrant was despatched from the
Admiralty, granting a full and free pardon to Heywood and Morrison, a
respite for Muspratt, which was followed by a pardon; and for carrying
the sentence of Ellison, Burkitt, and Millward into execution, which was
done on the 29th, on board his Majesty's ship _Brunswick_, in Portsmouth
harbour. On this melancholy occasion, Captain Hamond reports that 'the
criminals behaved with great penitence and decorum, acknowledged the
justice of their sentence for the crime of which they had been found
guilty, and exhorted their fellow-sailors to take warning by their
untimely fate, and whatever might be their hardships, never to forget
their obedience to their officers, as a duty they owed to their king and
country.' The captain adds, 'A party from each ship in the harbour, and
at Spithead, attended the execution, and from the reports I have
received, the example seems to have made a great impression upon the
minds of all the ships' companies present.'

The same warrant that carried with it affliction to the friends of these
unfortunate men, was the harbinger of joy to the family and friends of
young Heywood. The happy intelligence was communicated to his
affectionate Nessy on the 26th, who instantly despatched the joyful
tidings to her anxious mother in the following characteristic note:--

_Friday, 26th October, four o'clock._

'Oh, blessed hour!--little did I think, my beloved friends,
when I closed my letter this morning, that before night I
should be out of my senses with joy!--this moment, this
ecstatic moment, brought the enclosed.[32] I cannot speak my
happiness; let it be sufficient to say, that in a very few
hours our angel Peter will be FREE! Mr. G