hurried by the officers of justice up the steps of the cube-form structure of wood, painted of a blood-red, on which stood the dreadful apparatus of death. To reach the top of the platform, to be fast bound to a board, to be placed horizontally under the axe, and deprived of life by its unerring blow, was, in the case of this miserable offender, the work literally of a moment. It was indeed an awfully sudden transit from time to eternity. He could only cry out, "_Adieu, mes amis_," and he was gone. The severed head, passing through a red-coloured bag fixed under, fell to the ground--the blood spouted forth from the neck like water from a fountain--the body, lifted up without delay, was flung down through a trap-door in the platform. Never did capital punishment more quickly take effect on a human being; and whilst the executioner was coolly taking out the axe from the groove of the machine, and placing it, covered as it was with gore, in a box, the remains of the culprit, deposited in a shell, were hoisted into a wagon, and conveyed to the prison. In twenty minutes all was over, and the _Grande Place_ nearly cleared of its thousands, on whom the dreadful scene seemed to have made, as usual, the slightest possible impression--_Stevenson's Tour in France, Switzerland, &c._ [2] The circumstances of the case were as follows:--Jean Baptiste Michel, aged 36, a blacksmith, accompanied by a female named Marie Anne Debeyst, aged 22, was proceeding from Brussels to Vilvorde, one day in the month of March, 1824. In the Alleverte, they overtook a servant girl, who was imprudent enough to mention to them that her master had entrusted her with a sum of money. Near Vilvorde, Michel and his paramour, having formed their plan of assassination and robbery, rejoined the poor girl, whom they had momentarily left, and violently demanded the bag containing the gold and silver. The unfortunate young creature resisted their attacks as long as she could, but was soon felled to the ground by Michel, who with a thick stick fractured her skull, whilst Debeyst trod upon the prostrate victim of their horrid crime. These wretches were shortly afterwards arrested and committed to prison. On the 5th of April, 1825, they were condemned to death by the Court of Assize at Brussels, but implored of the royal clemency a commutation of punishment. This was granted to the woman, whose sentence was changed to perpetual imprisonment. Michel's petition was rejected. * * * * * THE HEIR PRESUMPTIVE.