The String of Pearls (1850), p. 538

Such a prisoner as Mrs. Lovett could command an interview with the Governor of Newgate at any reasonable periods; and that functionary having been apprised of her wish to see him, together with what she had said of the chaplain, repaired to her cell with an ill-concealed smile upon his face, for in his heart he perfectly agreed in Mrs. Lovett's estimation of jail chaplains.
"Well, madam," he said. "What have you to say to me?"
"In the first place, sir, I am here without other clothing then that which I now wear. Is it inconsistent with your regulations for me to have a box of clothes brought me from my home?"
"Oh no—you can have them. I will get an order from the committing magistrate for you to have your clothes brought here. Of course they will be scrupulously examined before they reach you."
"What for?"
"It is our custom, that's all.''
"You are afraid that I should escape?"
"Oh, no—no! No woman ever yet escaped from Newgate, and I don't think any man ever will again."
"Perhaps not. For my part, I. care not how many men escape, so that you take good care Sweeney Todd does not."
"You may make yourself easy upon that score."
"Good—then when I get my clothes here, I will make a full confession of all I know, regarding Todd's crimes."
"And your own?"
"Yes, if you like. And my own. Be it so. But mark me, I will have no pettifogging, prying, canting parsons in the cell. If you bring your chaplain here I am mute."
"Very well, I will say as much. Of course, if you are inclined to make a confession, you can make it to whom you please."
"I should presume so."
With this, the Governor left Mrs. Lovett, and she commenced again her uneasy pacing of the cell. In about two hours, a large box was brought to her with nearly the whole of her clothes from her house in Bell Yard. She selected a dress, with a number of heavy flounces, and put it on, appearing to be much better satisfied than she had been.
"Ah," said I the turnkey, "that's the way with women. Give them dress, and even in Newgate they feel comfortable, bat make 'em go shabby, and you had much better hang them outright."
Another hour passed, and then the Governor, with a magistrate and writing materials, came to the cell of the wretched woman.
"If Mrs. Lovett," he said, "you still think proper to persevere in your intention of making a confession, this gentleman, who is a magistrate, will in his official capacity receive it, and I will witness it: but you do it entirely at your own risk and peril."
"I know it," replied Mrs. Lovett, "and I likewise do it to the risk of the peril of Sweeney Todd."
"You can make what statement you please. How far it will be taken as evidence against another, will depend entirely upon how it is in essentials corroborated by others," said the magistrate.
"I am content. Now, sir, will you listen to me?"
"Most certainly."
The Governor arranged his writing materials, and while the magistrate listened, Mrs. Lovett said in a calm clear voice—
"Believing that I am upon the brink of the grave, I make this statement. Todd first conceived the idea of that mutual guilt which we have both since carried out. He bought the house in Bell Yard, as likewise the one in Fleet Street, and by his own exertions, he excavated an underground connection between the two, mining right under St. Dunstan's church, and through the vaults of that building. When he had completed all his arrangmenets, he came to