16. Saturday laft an action for criminal converfation was tried before Lord Kenyon, at Westminster. Mr Erskine, as counfel for the plaintiff,ftated, that his client was an officer who was called abroad on the fervice of his country, at the beginning of the American war, after having been married fix years; and, that the defendant, taking the opportunity of the husband's abfence, had carried off his wife, and lived with her two years in France: the cafe being proved by the witnelles, Lord Kenyon fummed up to the jury in terms that very well vindicate the choice made of him to fill his high ftation. He faid that thefe injuries, though the highest and the fevereft that could be offered or fuffered, were laughed at and gloried in by many of the prefent times; but that Courts of Juftice were not to bow to corrupt fafhions, but to maintain the rights of men, and to fet examples of morality, decency, and virtue; that the plaintiff was nothing to blame, having not relinquifhed the protection of his wife, but had been obliged to leave her unprotected by the call of his country. He asked if there was not common right enough without break ing through private property?" He gave an opinion diametrically oppofite to one of Lord Mansfield, on a fimilar cafe. He recommended to the jury, in eftimating the damages, to take into confideration the rank and ability of the parties, and to treat the matter in the ferious light which the evidence required. The jury found TWO THOUSAND POUNDS damages.

June 3. Mr Sheridan, on the part of the managers for the Houfe of Commons, APP. to VOL. VII, No. 42.

in the trial of Mr Haftings, addreffed the House of Peers, on the affair of the Princeffes of Oude, in an elegant speech of four hours and an half continuance He began with expreffing the moft profound refpect for the dignity of that tri bunal before which he ftood; afferted the candour and difintereftedness of the profecutors; and vindicated the lenity, decorum, and even delicacy of all their proceedings and language against the prifoner, from the unjuft imputations of harfhness and feverity. He next enumerated the difficulties which they met with in the management of the profecu tion, arifing from the conduct of many of the principal witneffes, on whofe evi dence the feveral charges were to be supported, as well as from their general

character and known connection with the prifoner. He then defcribed in pathetic terms, the present miferable, plundered, and depopulated ftate of the country of Oude, converted by the rapacity of Mr Haftings, from a paradife to a defert; and mentioned with noble indignation, that the English name was now an ob ject of horror and abhorrence all over the Eaft: and from these circumstances, he inferred the propriety, nay, the ne ceffity of inflicting fome punishment on a delinquent, who had thus violated the common rights of humanity, as well as injured and difgraced his country. But, he artfully infinuated, that the profecutors demanded no capital punishe ment, not wifhed any thing feverer to be inflicted on the prifoner, than a tempo rary feclufion from the fociety of his coun trymen, whofe name he had tarnished by his crimes, and a deduction from the enormous fpoils which he had accumu lated by rapacity.

After this artful exordium, he proceed ed to review the evidence, and ftate the nature and degree of the proof which it afforded. He mentioned the prifoner's own defence at the bar of the House of Commons, as affording confiderable evidence against himself, and reprobated the fhuffling manner in which he had af terwards laboured to evade its force. He next launched out into a fplendid and particular defcription of the character and circumftances of the Begums of Oude, of the veneration with which the manners of the Eaft directed fuch ladies to be treated, of the filial gratitude and tendernefs due from Sujah Dowlah to his mother, of the horror and anguish which he expreffed at being compelled by the English to violate the ties of na 1

ture, and the obligations of duty by robbing and plundering one fo defervedly dear to him. He next entered particularly into the evidence of that treaty, by which the Company had folemnly engaged to fecure the Begums in the quiet poffeffion of their property, on their paying the fum of 560,000l. and traced the fubfequent tranfactions by which Mr Haftings and his agents, on the moft trifling pretences, and by a feries of the bafeft artifices, and most unjustifiable acts of violence, had engaged the Nabob to countenance them with his name and authority in plundering and ftarving the unfortunate Begums. Mr Sheridan proved his affertions, by reciting the different parts of the evidence in the courfe of his peech; and after speaking for four hours and an half, during the whole of which he fully commanded the attention of his audience, he fat down, and the Court adjourned till Friday.

June 6. Mr Sheridan refumed his fpeech. This day he was chiefly engaged in reading the evidence, to prove the pofitions which he had laid down in his fpeech on the 3d inft. He gave a lively and affecting defcription of the barbarous treatment which the Princeffes of Oude and the women of Zenana had fuffered. A pretext of rebellion had been fabricated against them; difturbances, which had been occasioned by the oppreffion of the English, had been attributed to them; and on this pretence they had been rob. bed of their property, abused by rude and wanton violence, and even denied the neceffaries of life. By the evidence before him, he was enabled to exculpate them entirely from the guilt of fomenting rebellion against the English government and to fhew, that all the injuries which they had fuffered had been occafioned, not by their guilt, but by their wealth, which had tempted Mr Haflings to form a plan for robbing and ruining thofe in nocent women. He took occafion to throw out a number of fevere reflections on the conduct of Mr Middleton, Sir Elijah Impey, and late Col. Hannay, who had concurred with Mr Haftings, and acted as his agents and inftruments in that infamous bufinefs. Mr Sheridan finding himself much exhaufted and unable to proceed, found it neceffary to crave the indulgence of the House for a further day, which was readily granted.

June 10. Mr Sheridan refumed his fun.ming up of the fecond charge-the

subject of the Begums. He spoke for two hours. His object was to prove, that the refumption of the Jaghires, which had been imputed to the Nabob, as an act of his own, had been forced on him by Mr Haftings, through the medium of Mr Middleton. He here la boured to expofe the inconfiftency and implaufibility of those pretences by which Mr Haftings' adherents had endeavoured to juftify their conduct on that occasion. He faid, that in the management of great affairs under Mr Haftings' govern ment, there were three principals and three fubordinates, who lived together in apparent friendship, being connected by the bands of mutual intereft, but were, in truth, governed by fear, jeas loufy, and avarice. The principals were, Mr Haftings, Mr Middleton, and Sir Elijah Impey; the fubordinates, Major Davy, Col. Hannay, and Ally Khan, a confidential fervant of the Begums. This knot of robbers and oppreffors, in a man. ner highly worthy of their characters, had alternately cheated and fufpected one another. He went into a minute detail of their proceedings with regard to the refumption of the Jaghires. He was pro ceeding to read extracts from the cor refpondence between Mr Haftings and Mr Middleton on that occafion, when finding himfelf indifpofed, the reading was committed to Mr Adam. Soon ai. ter, Mr Fox informed the Houfe, that Mr Sheridan was taken so ill as to be unable, at prefent, to do juftice to the canfe. The Court adjourned to the 13th inft. to the great disappointment of a moft numerous and splendid audience.

June 13. Mr Sheridan again made his appearance in the House of Peers, and after making an apology for the additional trouble which his indifpo fition had obliged him to give their Lords hips, proceeded to the fumming up of the evidence, by pointing out thote parts which tended moft directly to cri minate the prisoner. He charged Mr Haftings with fuppreffing part of the cor refpondence, which had paffed between him and the agents and fufferers, in the oppreffive refumption of the Jaghires; particularly a letter from the Nabob, expreffing his unwillingness to engage in that measure. However, by the letters which had passed between Mr Middleton and Mr Haftings, and were produced, he was enabled to prove, that the Nabob had been forced to that measure, and that though he had perfifted in refufing

fied; by far the greater part are labour

ers.

It appears from thefe accounts, that when people complain of the fanguinary nature of our laws, and the frequency of our executions, they have have not fufficiently balanced one circumftance against another. When they think it a shocking circumftance that eighty-feven perfons are executed in one yiear, they fhould also Confider that this is eighty-feven out of two thousand and feven. The number then will not appear to be fo great, and it will still appear lefs, if we confider that of thofe fentenced to die, two thirds are in general pardoned, or their sentence changed to tranfportation.

A few days fince a violent affray happened in the 18th regiment, ftationed in Gibraltar, which unfortunately termina ted in a duel between Major Benjamin Chapman, the commanding officer of the regiment at the time, and Captain de Lancey, an American gentleman belong ing to the fame corps.

When they met at the ground, Capt, de Lancey made a most extraordinary declaration, viz. "That Major Chapman might fire if he thought proper, but for his part he was refolved not to dif. charge his piftol until the muzzle of it touched the Major's breaft." To which the Major replied, "That he expected, when he came there to decide their differences upon the point of honour, that it was to be with a gentleman, and not an affaffin" at the fame inftant, he threw away his pistol, and left the ground with his fecond.

His Majefty was fo much offended with the conduct of Captain de Lancey, that he has commanded his name to be

ftruck out of the army-lift for ever, and has likewife ordered that the Major fhould be reprimanded for accepting a challenge from an inferior officer-we prefume on the principle, that a fubaltern may be placed in the fervice, without any material injury to the public, but a commanding officer cannot.

Mr John Hunter opened his very curious, extenfive, and valuable museum at his houfe in Leicefter fields, for the infpection of a confiderable number of the literati, in which were included feveral members of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, the College of Phyficians, and many foreigners of diftincétion.

To enumerate the feveral curious particulars would require a detached publi cation in itself, and that publication to be written by a perfon of correfponding feience. What principally attracted the notice of the cognofcenti was Mr Hunter's novel and curious fyftem of natural phi lofophy running progreffively from the loweft fcale of vegetable up to animal

nature.

Mr Addifon has a paper upon this fubject in the Spectator, which, as a mora lift, he touches with his ufual feeling and perfpicuity; but it was referved for Mr Hunter's genius and ardent zeal in his profeffion to develope, in this inftance, the wifdom of Providence in its works.

Mr Hunter attended himself, and gave a kind of peripatetic lecture on the feveral articles, which took up between two and three hours, very much to the fatis faction and information of his audience.

The whole of the Museum muft have coft Mr Hunter above 20,000l. befides a very accurate and industrious collection of near thirty years.

Anecdote of Lens, the famous Miniature

Painter.

You must know, Mr Printer, that a brother of mine, who was a jolly Parfon, and loved a beef-fteak as well as any Layman in Britain, walked up to Ivy. lane in order to regale himfelf, with a prime cut at Mafter Burrows', and as he entered the house, a gentleman in a lay habit went out, but whofe general dreis pointed him to be a clergyman: my bro ther, whofe drefs was much the fame, took his place at the table where one perfon only fat, and that perfon was this Miniaturepainter. My brother had no fooner ordered his fteak, than Lens faid, "G--d, I be lieve that fellow who is just gone out is a Parfon: I wish I had thought on it while he was in your feat, for of all fun

whatever,

whatever nothing is fo great to me as roafting a Parfon." Such a declaration made to a ftranger, who appeared to be likewife one of that order, aftonifhed the furrounding company, who, like the Parfon and the Painter, were waiting for their dinners; and rather rouzed in my brother a difpofition to roaft him. Perceiving the eyes of every one fixed to wards them, and a profound filence, he thus began: "You obferved, Sir, (faid he) that had you known the gentleinan juft gone out to have been a Parson, you would have roafted him; now as you have nothing elfe to do till your dinner is fet before you, I am a Parfon at your fervice, and whife my fleak broils, I beg you will roaft me for the gratification of your humour, and the entertainment of all the gentlemen who fit round us;" adding, that he would take the roafting with that decency and temper which it hecame one of his cloth to receive the taunts and focers of fuch men who thought Parfons fair game. This was the first time, perhaps, that Lens was put to the blush. In fhort, Sir, he could not even pit bis meat, much less roast it; however, a profpect of fomething to hide his embarraffinent appeared, and that was fine mackerel, with goofeberryfauce, which were fet before him, but before he could put his knife to it, my brother obferved that he never faw a finer mackerel, adding, that as his fteak was not ready, he would take the liberty of eating a bit of his mackerel. Accordingly he ftripped it up to the back-bone, and helped himself. This manœuvre had a wonderful effect, and produced fuch an unanimous roar of laughter throughout the whole room, that Mr Lens got up, went to the bar, paid for his fish, and left the other moiety to my victorious and reverend brother.

ANECDOTE. The gardens at Pains Hill, near Cobham, in Surrey, in the prefent poffeffion of Mr Hopkins, of which fo much praise has been justly given, brings to our recollection an anecdote of the late owner Mr Hamilton. He advertised for a person who was willing to become the hermit of that retreat, under the following, among many other curious conditions: that he was to dwell in the hermitage for feven years; where he fhould be provided with a Bible, optical glaffes, a mat for his bed, and a haflock for his pillow, an hour glass for his timepiece, water for his beverage from the tream that runs at the back of his cot, and food from the house, which was to

be brought him daily by a fervant, but with whom he was never to exchange one fyllable; he was to wear a camblet robe, never to cut his beard or his nails, to tread on fandals, nor never to ftray into the open parts of the ground, nor beyond their limits: that if he lived there under all thefe reftrictions till the end of the term, he was to receive feven hun dred guineas; but on breach of any one of them, or if be quitted his place any time previous to that term, the whole was to be forfeited, and all his loss of time remedilefs. One person attempted it, but three weeks were the outmost ex tent of his abode.

SCOTLAND.

The following address of the General Aflembly of the Church of Scotl. having been tranfinitted to the Right Honour able Lord Sydney, his Majefty's Princi pal Secretary of State for the home de partment, has been by him prefented to the King: Which Address his Majefty was pleafed to receive very graciously.

May it please your Majesty,

The gracious letter with which your Majefty hath been pleafed to honour this meeting of the General Affembly was received with becoming respect and gratitude.

The diftinguished marks which your Majefty has given of your Royal appro bation of the conduct of former affem. blies, and which you graciously conde fcend to repeat at this time, afford us the moft fincere fatisfaction, and are a moft animating motive to induce us to perfevere in our earneft endeavours for the prefervation and advancement of true religion and virtue, and to embrace every opportunity of teftifying the ardent zeal which we feel for the fupport of your Ma jefty's government and royal perfon.

Upon your Majefty's renewed affur ances to preferve to the Church of Scotland all its legal rights, dignities, and privileges, we reft with that entire con fidence which is due from subjects to a Sovereign who makes the laws the rule of his government; and we blefs the King of Kings, that we live under a Prince who fhews himself the true nurfing father of the Church, by recom mending to us as his earnest wish, and as the most effectual method of fecuring the continuation of his protection, that we would hold forth an example of Chrif tian charity, and every incitement to pursue the paths of Chriftian virtue, and

that