In the following year the King went to Scotland; but, though the _Observer_ published long and elaborate descriptions of His Majesty's visit, the occasion was not deemed worthy of illustration. The opportunity, however, must have been far richer than the visit to Ireland in affording subjects for sketches. It would have been curious to see what a contemporary 'special artist' would have made of Sir Walter Scott; and posterity would have been glad to have had handed down to it the 'varra effigies' of George IV. and Alderman Curtis in the kilt! In 1823 the city of Cadiz, in Spain, was invested by the French, who took possession of the place on Oct. 3rd in that year. The _Observer_, in its issue of Oct. 5th, printed a plan and view of Cadiz, the plan first appearing in the _Morning Chronicle_ of the day before. The view of Cadiz is well engraved, in the manner of that day, by W. Hughes. The plan is also well done, and very complete. Towards the end of 1823 a murder, unparalleled in the history of crime, excited immense public interest, and the _Observer_ at once took up the case, and described and illustrated it with a particularity and minuteness of detail that must have satisfied the most ardent sensationalist. The incidents of this remarkable crime have been long forgotten; but I will give an outline of the story in connexion with the engravings published on the occasion by the _Observer_. Mr. William Weare was an attorney in Lyon's Inn, who added to his legal practice the business of a bill-discounter, and enlivened the dulness of both pursuits by indulging occasionally in the excitement of gambling. He counted amongst his friends one Mr. John Thurtell, a notorious betting-man; and it was to keep an appointment with this friend that he left his chambers in Lyon's Inn on Friday, Oct. 24th, 1823. The two friends had agreed to go on a short shooting excursion to a lonely cottage on the St. Albans road, about fourteen miles from London. Thurtell was respectably connected, but had an evil reputation, he and his brother being then in hiding to avoid a charge of arson. Two other men were concerned in the murder, Hunt, a public singer, of doubtful character, and Probert, a spirit merchant, a fraudulent bankrupt, who lived at the cottage to which Thurtell and his friend were going. In the gambling transactions between Thurtell and Weare the former conceived himself to have been cheated of 300_l._, and in revenge he determined to murder Weare, and by robbing him recoup himself as far as possible for his losses. The crime was coolly premeditated, and Hunt appears to have been an accessory before the fact, having arranged to meet Thurtell on the road, and to assist in despatching the victim. For this purpose the shooting excursion to Probert's cottage was planned, but, owing to a mistake of Hunt's, he did not join Thurtell as agreed, and the latter committed the murder alone.