The National Register. — London, England, 1808-06-19 00:00:00

JUNE 19• lion. When we had 'studied It with the amplest care, we began to discover, that the fault of the artist consisted not so much in his weak execution, as •in his unfortunate subject. Historical painting has been deemed the most noble kind of composition , hut a picture is not noble merely because the subject is historical. It is not the representation of an arlinn that constitutes the glory of a picture ; but the representation of passion : and unless the persons concerned on the canvas be engaged in some business of emotion, the painter will be gene rally disappointed of his expected admiration. It is not enough that the business be important; it must he interesting too. Now we think that no artist, however great might be his genius. could produce an interesting action or passion, on such a subject as this otter of the crown. Lady Jane Gray is thrown into no circumstances of imminent peril, the Lords can be little more agitated than a city knight presenting an address, and the w hole work gives us reason only to regret, that so much neatness of drawing and carefulness of colouring sl:ould have been bestowed upon a subject so totally barren. 89. .4 Portrait:. Kit-cat.--J. NOIITIICOTE, R. A. This picture is in Mr. Northcote's very best style : or rather perhaps we ought to say, that it is in au excellent style, being very dissimilarfrom the style that :Jr. Nortlicote has shewn in must other performances. This is the head of a middle aged gentleman, coloured with very striking effect, and remarkably forcible as well as plcasiug in its general expression and cha racteristic effect. '73. Portrait of the Earl of .dberdeen.—T. LAWRENCE, ft. A. The merits of this portrait appear to us to be of a nature a pod deal resembling those of the last mentioned picture. The Earl of Aberdeen, indeed, is a young man ; but the tone of et,- louring, and general effect of the two pictures have so much re semblance, at least to our apprehension, that we should have imagined both works to be the productions of Mr. Lawrence, which as far as any compliment from us can be valuable, is certainly a very great compliment to Mr. Northcote. LAW REPORT. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JUNE 16. IIiTINGS AT GUILDHALL., BEFORE MR. JUSTICE GROSE, AND THE NATIONAL ItEGISTEIt. 309 duct of the Learned Judge and the Jury. With respect to the Learned Judge; he could say, that if any thing exceeded the vir tues of his heart it was the excellence of his understanding, and the patient assiduity with which he investigated the case of a Prisoner, and the clear and perspicuous detail which he stated to the Jury of every circumstance which ought to have weight is their minds. The Attorney-General, then, with great force, dwelt on the incalculable mischiefs which would result to the administration Of justice, if Judges and Juries were indiscri minatily and Wantonly attacked by persons of the malignant minds of thii Defendants, and if, after the most faithful discharge of their duties, they were to be represented as objects of public scorn and detestation. The publication of the Papers being proved, the libels were read: The record of the acquittal of the two indicted persons were also put in. Mr. Adolphus then addressed the Jury in a very able speech, in is Idyll he argued that although some of the expressions were too hasty and intemperate, yet that the whole was a fair . discus sion of the propriety of the verdicts given in those cases. lie insisted on the right of all persons canvassing the proceedings of a Court of Justice, and cited a variety of instances, in which it had been done without any impeachment of its propriety, and he trusted the Jury would think the objectionable passages were the effusions of an honest mind, feeling on a subject in which it supposed great injustice had been done. Mr. Attorney-General in reply examined the vfirions pas sages minutely, from which he inferred it was evident the au thor wrote with a malignant intention, mid not in the spirit of fair discussion. Mr. Justice e: Grose in summing up, after having detailed the various passa ges in the libels, left the Jury to decide A% ith what intention the author wrote it. The Jury retired fur a few mi nutes, and then returned a verdict of—Gin://g. There was a second case against the Manx- Paper fora libel cm Lord Ellenhorough, but it was po,tponed to Saturday Aveek, iwing to some mistakts in the record, which it is necessary to amend. Uridav being the first day of Trinity Term, the Judges went in procession to Westminster Hall, and the Courts were opened with the accustomed formalities; but nothing of any importance , ' :ook place. A SPECIAL JURY. LIBEL.-TUC KING V. WHITE and JOAN HARRIET HART. This was an information filed by his M:jesty's Attorney Gene ral against the two Defendants, one the Editor, and the other the Publisher of " The Independent Whig," Sunday Newspaper, for three Libels on Mr. Justice Le Blanc, and the Juries who tried Chapman and Bennett, two Slave Captaios lately tried and ac quitted at the Old Bailey, for alleged funnier:, on tw o person, of their respective crews. The information ;dirge(' that the Libel was published by the Defendants with a view to have it believed, that those two persons were unjustly acq.,itted, and in order to Win. , the administration of the ,justice of the country, and the Trial by Jury, into hatred and contempt, and both Judge and Jury were most violently accused. The Attorney-General, who led the prosecution, stated the facts of the two cases for which 13enuett are: Chapman w ere tried. The first was indicted for the murder of a boy of the name of Rickman, and on the trial it appeared most certa'nly, that he had behaved with great harshness to the boy, but by the evidence of all the Medical Persons, it was stated that his death was not occasioned b., that treatment, but by natural disease. The Jury, therefore, acting under their oaths, found him Not Guilty.-1b ith respect to the case of Chapman, he also stood accused of murder ing one of his crew. This case was tried after the former, and if the witnesses who gave evidlitice against him had been believed, they proved a clear case of murderngaitist him. But it 'was proved in evidence, that those persons who gave testimony against him had all been mutinous; that the Surgeon, who was the principal, had condu c t e d hi mse l f so badly that the Captain was tibliged to inflict corporal punishment upon him; and it was also proved, that the witnesses had been heard conspiring together as to the evidence they were to give; and the Surgeon was heard to say to them, " That is right, let us all stick to that story, and out wages will be safe." Under this evidence, the Learhed Judge left it to the Jury to decide, whether they could believe the wit nesses, and they thought tney could not safely adjudge the Pri soner to death upon that sort of evidence, and therefor:. they found him Nut Quill,. The present Defendant, however, did not state a word of tais evidence, and only took the case on one side, and assuming all that the witnesses had proved had been uucuntradicted t he proceeded immediately to impeach the con- NAUTICAL INTELLIGENCE. An Admiralty Messenger, express, arrived at PlYmouth do IVednesday morning, with dispatches for the Port Admiral, in consequence of which the whole of the frigates in that port were ordered to put to sea. La Seine sailed immediately on re ceiving the order; and the Temeraire, of 98 guns, moved into Caw sand Ray, whence she was expected to sail on Thursday. Orders have been sent to the principal out-ports, foram hiring of good coppered ships at 255. per ton per month, and single bot tomed ships at 20s. pur too per month, to be litte d for immediate service. Fifty thous Ind stand of arms, auda large quantity, about 500 tons, of anununit ion, are under orders for Spain. e have the pleasure of announcing the safe arrival of the first honieward-bound West India fleet, consisting of more than 2CO sail. PLY movrir, Jr N 15.—Came in last night. just as the mail coach was setting off for London. the Statira, 38, from oir Fer rol, from which port she brought' in here passenger a Spanish - Nobleman of rank, who was immediately landed with his dis patches. Various rumours are afloat as to the object of his mis sion, hut nothin._ correct or certain has yet tiauspired. Jr is s 16.—This morning. about 400 artillery embarked on bo trd transports in Catwater, said to be destined for some part of the Coast of Spain. On the 15th inst. Mrs. Prince, of John-street, Ogorditreet ts of a daughter. DIED. Last week, at Cockermouth, Cumberland, Mrs. Mart Tiodp. son, at a very ndvanccd age, and whose truly pious character will ever be remembered and revered by a numerous circle of friends and relations. At Llanvon, near Aherystwith, Jeremiah Davies, the Welsh Dwarf, aged 58, measuring only 46, inches in height : his perva on the perfection of svormetry, which is rarely found in a dwarf. Great part of his time was spent in London, where he was well known, and to which place tie intended to Lave Isalked the elsuing week.