"Before this is placed in your hands, the writer will have quitted a life which begins to be troublesome, and will have laid himself down, with a full and clear notion of what he is about, to take, after the fatigues of existence, the sleep of annihilation. Yon will, therefore, be pleased to regard this as the declaration of a dying man, if that can give any additional character of solemnity, or veracity, to words which are written with plain sincerity, and a straightforward regard to truth. "My motive for making this declaration at all is, that I am inclined to believe, that some link in the chain may be wanting, of the defence of my excellent young friend, Sir Charles Tyrrell, who is to be tried before you to-morrow. Though there can be no earthly doubt of his acquittal, yet it is but fair and right, that he should start afresh in life, without any suspicion attaching to him of having committed an act, which, in him, would have been criminal under any circumstances, and which our somewhat indiscriminate law regards as criminal but too frequently. "Without troubling you with my own particular notions on the subject, I will merely proceed to say, that Sir Charles Tyrrell had neither any share in, not any cognizance of, the death of his father, as I, myself, with my own hand, without any aid, and, as I imagined at the time, without any witnesses, performed that act, of which he is now accused. It may be necessary, or, at all events, satisfactory, for you to know all the circumstances, which were as follows:-- "On the morning that the event occurred a serious dispute took place between the young man and his father, whose whole temper and demeanour were such, that it is only extraordinary that he was suffered to live to the age of thirty; nearly miraculous, that there was no man found sensible and courageous enough to cut short a life, that was a torment to himself and everybody else, till he was approaching the usual term of human existence. The dispute which was, as I understand, regarding a proposed separation between Lady Tyrrell and her husband, appeared so much more violent than ordinary, that the servants called upon me to interfere. Being an extremely good-tempered man myself, I had gone through life without ever quarrelling with Sir Francis Tyrrell. He had left me a very large portion of his property. He had, on various occasions, lent me large sums of money; and notwithstanding all these causes for disagreement, we had remained very good friends till that morning, when I saw, for the first time, a disposition to quarrel with myself, as well as everything else that came in his way.