The National Register. — London, England, 1815-02-19 00:00:00

THE NitTrONAL I?6_ in your opinion, that the rumour of the present Miss Piggy . is only the story of thirty years ago revived. In deliberating upon the advantages which might be deri ved from the appearance of this strangely deformed person among us, it at fist occurred to me, that Parson Tozer might be allowed to pull bristles from her nose, to use in sewing up boots and shoes for the faithful ; the wearers of such being esteemed to have as good a passport to the regi ons of bliss, and wholly to stand on the same, ooting as the sealed of Joanna. But to this plan there is more than one objection,—first, the cruelty of it, and the apprehension of the terrible squeaks which the fair suffel er would utter on patting with the honours of her face, when not all the cares and attentions of Mts. Underwood would be able to soothe her pain ; and next, the circumstance that the Rev. Mr. Tozer has left off making shoes, and taken to mending soles ; so that he may not be quite so dextrous now in the use of his war-ends as the corns of the faithful would require. Upon this part of the business, therefore, I am undecided, except perhaps that she might have been sent to Vienna, to conclude the protracted negotiations there, as it must be allowed that she has one of the necessary qualifications for a diplomatist, !lamely, a long head. As to the swinish Lothario, who wants to marry her, and tent a one pound note to a Morning Paper for the insertion of his advertisement to that effect, I am surprised that he should suppose such a beauty mty be so obtained. Undoubt edly, if he means to have her, he must won her in grunts. The old proverb says, that old birds are not caught with chaff; does he think young pigs arc to be caught with paper? NI, Mr. Editor, my opinion is, that she should be put up to be grunted for. But fair play is a jewel ;" so here also I ob ject to the Saints and Pogroms as competitors. They have such a habit of grunting in their places of worship duting the discourses of their preachers, that we plain men who go to church shall have no chance with them. In the elegant amusement usual at country wakes, of grinning through a horse collar fora cocked-bat, men who had practised with vinegar were always debarred entrance. SULPHILUS. LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF KING'S BENCH, SATURDAY, FEB. Is. TIIR KING V. THOMAS BOROUGHS• This was an information filed against the defendant who was for merly Purser of his Majesty's ship Rhin, for having forged certain certificates purporting to be the certificates of Captain M dcolm, Commander of the Rhine, setting forth that the store-room of the Rein had been broken open and robbed of cloathing to the value of 91.P1. and that the defendant was entitled from the Navy Board to an allowance to that amount. This certificate was laid by the De fendant before the Navy Board, but in consequence of some irregularity, enquiry took place,' when it appeared that no such robbery had ever 'alien place, or was the signature to the certificate the hand writing of ,Captain Malcolm in this discovery the present proceeding was instituted. and the facts being substantiated the defendant was found Guilty. lie was afterwards tried and fonnd Guilty on a similar charge. COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, THURSDAY, FFII. 16. (Middlesex Sittings after Term) DITCHBURN V. GOLDSMITH. This was an action between the inhabitants of Gravesend, upon a wager laid by the defendant, who wag a preacher of the doctrines of the late Joanna Sontlicott, of 2001. to 1001. that site would be. deli vered of a male child on or before the 14 of November last. Before Seijesiit Nest could state the plaintiff's ease, Mr. Serjeant Ons rw, Icor tI e Lltfrudant, objected on the grounds of isdeceucy and ludrirronsness that this action ought not to he tried, and cited Da Cgsta v. Jones (Cowp. 729 ), which was a wager upon the sex of Chevalier D'Eoit, in whit!' Lord Mansfield held such wagers void as would " affect the interest or the feelings of a third person; for in stance that such woman has committed adultery, or that an unmar ried woman has had a bastard. In that case tin defendant's counsel objected at the trial, that the plaintiff ought not to recover, because it was a wager upon a question tending to introduce indecent evi dence; to this it was answered that the objection was upon the re cord, and Lord Mansfield being of that opinion, overruled the objec tion ; but afterward., when the case came before the whole Court in arrest of judgement, his. Lordship said lie was sorry that the answer given to the objection Wide at the trial " that it appeared upon the record " had been so hastily given way to by him ; for though the indecency of evidence is no objection to its being received where it is necessary to the decision of a civil or triminal right, yet the wit nesses should have been told that they might refuse to give evidence in a case, where two men, by laying a wager concerning a third per son, would compel his physicians, relations., and servants, to die. close what they knew relative to the &object of the learned serjeant, added, that the subject of the present wager, Joanna Soulbcott, was a single woman. Mr Serjeant Best answered, that Lord Mansfield, in the very case cited, said "a wager whether the next child shall be a boy or a girl hurts no one ;" and he should be able to prove, that the defendant had, in one of his public lectures, declared that Joanna Suutbeott was to be married by proxy, that the child might not be born a bas tard. The Lord Chief Justice (Gibbs) said his difficulty was not whether the pi e.ent action was maintainable, but whether any Judge had on that account refused to try a cause. Mr. Sedeant Onslow and Mr. Comyn, fur the defendant, instanced Lord Limghbarongh, who in an action upon a wager whethet there are more ways than 6 of nicking 7 on the dice, allowing 7 to be the main and If a nick to 7," ordere d the cause to be attack out of the paper; and the whole Court of Common Pleas afterwards refused leave to restore it (I H. B. 41); and Lord Ellenborimgh, who re fused to try au action on a wager on a point of law in which the patties have no interest, and the whole Court of King's Bench after. wards agreed in the propriety of such refusal (x Camp. 408). The Lord Chief Justice stopped further argument by saying that he would suffer the came to proceed with a view of making au end of such cases out of mercy to the parties. Mr. Serjeant Best then stated his cifie and proved by W. Gordon that the bet was made at Gravesend on the .sth of September last, aril by Dr. Reece, that Joanna Southcott was never afterwards de livered of any child. Upon cross examination by Mr. Serjeant On slow, the Doctor said that he had never heard of her having a hus band, and that she passed fur a single woman. The Lord Chief*Justice—Now that the wager involves the ques tion of a single woman having a child, I won't proceed with the cane. _ Mr. Campbell (with Mr. Scrjeant Best) suggested, that the woman herself gave out that she was with child, and prophesied that that child would be a mate, born before the Ist of November. Were she alive, therefore, she would have no right to complain of her feelings being hurt. The Lord Chief Justice.—So I am to try the extent of a woman's chastity and delicacy in an action upon a wager. I chose to wait till the tct abet being a single woman came oat. There is a wide ditti•rence between a wager whether a marrird woman's next child shall be a boy or a girl, and whether a woman ►hall have a child at all. Call the next cause. The counsel then disputed how the present cause slionld be dis posed °robe defendant's counsel pressing for a tionsuit, and the plain till's proposing to withdraw a juror. The Lord Chief Justice declined to interfere, saying—" I refuse to go on"—and nothing was done. SATURDAY. CUNDY V. WALTON. This was an action, brought by Mr. Candy, late proprietor of the Pantheon, to recover back certain furniture taken under au execu tion for rent, on the grounds that no rent was due. The taking of the tnrnitnre in question was proved ; and Mr. Serjeant Best, for the defendant, said, nothing remained for him to do but to prove the rent was owing. This he would do by a letter under the plain. tars (mil hand writing, and that would settle the question.—. The Learned Counsel then put in a letter of Mr. Cundy'a, in which., after informing his landlord that he had got his licence renewed, he conchnles, by saying--" I will wait on you with the rent." The Chiet Justice here interposed, and said this was an acknowp