=1776.= _January 17._ Robert and Daniel Perreau executed at Tyburn. They were twin brothers, natives of St. Kitts. Robert was an apothecary “in high practice” in Golden Square, then a fashionable quarter. Daniel lived “a genteel life” with his mistress, Mrs. Rudd. Robert Perreau sought a loan of Drummonds, the bankers, on bonds, afterwards found to be forged. The evidence made it probable that the actual forgery was by Mrs. Rudd, but that all three were acting in concert. The brothers were both found guilty on their trials, but a strong feeling existed that the sentence on Robert was harsh. A petition to commute the sentence to one of transportation was presented on behalf of seventy-eight “capital Bankers and Merchants” of the City. The king was, however, obdurate, and after the acquittal of Mrs. Rudd let the law take its course. The execution was witnessed by 30,000 persons. The brothers, born together, were not divided in death. They fell from the cart with their four hands clasped together. Mr. Bleackley has told the story at length in “Some Distinguished Victims of the Scaffold,” 1905. =1777.= _June 27._ Execution of Dr. Dodd. William Dodd, born in 1729, was the popular preacher of his day. He came, a young man of 21, from Cambridge to London in 1750. He hesitated between adopting literature as a profession and the Church, but took orders in 1751. He still dabbled in literature, and is said to have been the author of a work, “The Sisters,” which gave no very favourable idea of the purity of his mind. In 1758 he became chaplain of the Magdalen Hospital, and fine ladies came to hear his sermons “in the French style.” In 1763 he was made one of the king’s chaplains, an appointment he lost when, in 1774, Mrs. Dodd wrote to the wife of the Lord Chancellor, offering a bribe for the living of St. George, Hanover Square. Dodd got into debt: he had to sell a proprietary chapel in which he had sunk money: it is said that he even “descended so low as to become the editor of a newspaper.” He fell still lower: in his need he forged the signature of his patron, Lord Chesterfield, to a bond for £4,200. The forgery was discovered, and warrants were issued against Dodd and his broker. Dodd made partial restitution, offered security for the remainder, and the affair might have been settled had not the Lord Mayor, who had issued the warrants, refused to let the case be hushed up. Dodd was tried on February 22, 1766. The evidence was irresistible. Only a legal point stood in the way of sentence. This point was decided adversely to Dodd, and on May 26 sentence of death was passed. “They will never hang me,” said Dodd, and indeed everything possible was done to save him. “The exertions made to save him were perhaps beyond example in any country. The newspapers were filled with letters and paragraphs in his favour. Individuals of all ranks and degrees exerted themselves in his behalf: parish officers went from house to house to procure subscriptions to a