The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-02-15 00:00:00

THEATRICAL INTELLIGENCE. COVENT-GARDEN. Capt. CAULTIELD again performed Hamlet here, • ast n►ght, with increased success. Some critics .tve d►scovered that his voice is not very strong; but as it is admitted to be so very distind, that his lowest tones are audible in the most remote part of the Theatre, we shall not quarrel with him because he is not a STENTOR. In the scene with the Players, where the King calls for lights, and stops the per formance, he was very great, and received un bounded applause. The arduous scene with the Omen a►so displayed a great deal of nature and fine ading. The House was fully and fashionably at tended. The PR►NCE and Duke of YORK were in the PRINCE'S box, and proved, by their incessant plaudits, how very much they were delighted with his performance. Lady LOU►SA MANNERS, and Lady lits:ixvwoori graced the splendid circle. FREEMASONS' TAVERN. The African Club gave their first dinner tif this season here, yesterday. Lord MACARTNEY filled the chair, and exerted himself with success in pro moting the convivial pleasure of the day. The com pany consisted of Lord KEITH, Sir A lA' IL ED CLERK, Sir .JANE] CRAWFORD, the Hon. H. FLEMING, Ge nerai M , KENziE, Hon. Maim- Cuv 'As, and about twenty other Gentlemen. The dinner, which was excellent, was served at :ix o'clock. The wines were cf the best quality. A large party, consisting of General Antim, Mr. SHUM, &c. &c. also dined e the same place. The Sommer Lorlir, Sir I.tor4Et DARREL in the chair, also sat down to dinner at five o'clock. After dinner, songs, catches and glees, were sung by Mess. Dics UM, LEET, NEII, 8:C. Yesterday morning his Royal Highness the Duke CUMBERLANDof breakfasted with their MAIES -7 ICS and his Royal Sisters. In. the evening their MAJEsTits had a Concert 2ad Card'arty. To-morrow evening their MAJESTIES and the PRINCESSES Till honour the Concert of Antient Music with thir presence, for the third time this 'season. Our fashionable readers will be happy to learn, that the Dowager Countess of SPENCER is much re covered from her severe indisposition. The EA of CAMDEN gave a grand dinner on Sunday, at his house in Arlington-street. Among the company were, the Earl and Countess of SPENCER, Earl and Countess of EUSTON, Lord and Lady BOYLE, Lady A N ,. BINGHAM, Mr. CROSBY, Mr. BAsxEs, &C. The Marquis of 8,. ANDFORD'S music on Sunday was not a Public Concert, as announced in a Morn ing Paper of yesterday ; it was confined to a family party, none being present but the Earl and Countess of GALLOWAY, the Marchioness's sisters, and a rew others. - - - The Marchioness of SALIrlit!!!Y has issued above Eve hundred tickets of invitation, for her routes, -which are announced for Monday the `list, and Monday the '2Bth instant, in Arlington -street, ex clusive of those issued for her Concert on Sunday next. Sir JOHN HORT has been :lightly indisposed svith cold, since his arrival from Ireland, at his house in Arlington-street. On Saturday 'last, the infant daughter of Mr. Mocote, eldest Son to the Archbishop of C A SiER AURY, expired at his Lordship's palace, in the arms of its mother, in the chapel, shortly after the cere mony of baptism. Miss LINWOOD'S celebrated Collthion was re moved, on Saturday, from Hanover-square to the Custom-house, London, to be immediately shile2ed for Calais, and from thence to Paris, where it will be immediately exhibited. We underztami she is to pay twelve per cent. to the Government of France, out of the money taken at the door, during the ex hibition. The master of the work-house in Mount -street, Grosvenor-square, received a severe fall in Raker street, on Saturday night, by which accident he had the misfortune to break his arm. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of YORK will leave town to-morrow for Oatlands, where she will remain for a few days. The Countess of DARNLLY iS !lightly indisposed at her house in Berkeley-square, to the regret of her Ladyship's numerous friends. Lady E. SEYMOUR, and the Countess of LIN coLN, arrived in town on Friday, at their house in Portland-place. Colonel MARK Woon, M.P. has taken the late Lady BAY LE Y's house, in Pall-mall. CHARLES HANBUR" TRACY, Esq. arrived on :Saturday, at his house in Portland-place, from his seat in Wales. Lord JoHN EDWARD FITZROY, youngest son of his Giace the Duke of GRAFTON, is admitted of Trinity College. The Rev. JAMES At. Le, - ur, B.A. of Catherine hall, is eleaccl a Fellow of that society. Mrs. EsrEs has made a very advalmageous en vagement with the Managers of the Edinburgh Theatre. She receives fifty guineas a night, and a dear benefit. • great number of letters of Lady MAZY WORT LEY IViOHTAGuE have been lately recovered from an obscurity in which they had been concealed. They are recognised by her family, and other judges, as unquestionably genuine. Tile infant son of the Marquis of BLTE was on Thursday christened by the name of Dept.): v. The ceremony was performed by the Lord Bishop of WINCHESTER. Mr. JOHN KEMBLE left Madrid on the 2Sth ult. on his return to London. Mr. KLMBLE intends be ing in town about the Ist of March. The treasure of the Dome Church of Cologn has been delivered to the French Ambassadot at Frank- tort. The principal character in Mr. CotmaN's new Comedy, is an IriAman, for JOHNSTONE, whose excellence in theatrical representations of his coun trymen is unrivalled. A morning print mentions, that a Qui Tam anion is instisuted against the Inviiible Girl. Mr. U AR ROW and Mr. Roumi are retained for the Defen dant. We know not whether the latter gentleman will condua himself a la Garrow, but we are sure that Mr. GA MEOW NVill treat the informer a la GIBRALTER, JAL 17. (Extras of a Letter.) To-morrow being her Majesty's birth-day, there will be a grand review of all the troops in the garri son, and a superb entertainment given afterwards by his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, on the occasion. The Spanish General ('astane/, and his suite, are invited, and all the Field and Staff Offi cers in the garrison, with the Officers of the Navy now here. The wind is still westerly, so that no ship has been able to sail for England this month past. The gas'rison is all in good health, notwithstand ing the uncommon severity of the weather lately. Nothing but heavy rains and violent gales of vrind for these five weeks. The following are the names of some of the ves sels which were drove on shore at the bottom of the Bay, in the last storm : the English brig Killerry ; the English brig Nile; the English polacre Fortune; the English polacre :Vary; the American ship Anna Maria • the American schooner Dolphin; the Impe rial po lacre Bona Ventura ; the Spanish polacre Duke Nombre de Maria; the French brig la Bien Aimee Adelaide; the French brig POnzieme; the French ketch l' AB& ; the town vessels, the Pearl and For tuna. Eight of the above are still on shore. The garrison is all perfealy quiet and regular. SUICIDE. On Sunday the 7th instant, ARTM:R BARRY SHEARS, Est. an Irish Gentleman, arrived with his wife, an English Lady, at the Bull-Inn, Burford, from ChelteAam, where they had passed all the last year in a pleasant circle of acquaintances. About ten o'clock ti Lady retired to her bed-room, when Mr. SHEARS immediately locked the door, and dis charged a large pistol at his head, lodging the con tents a quantity of grape shot, in the brain. He languished till the following afternoon, and the i ex pired, in great agony. Mr. Thier,r,s had consider able property in Ireland, but dwinz to some irre gularity in his remittances, was reduced to some temporary pecuniary embarrassments, which pro duced a desponding state of mind, and drove him to the fatal a4l. Mr. S. served formerly in the navy, and since held a commission in the South Cork Mi litia. He has been married little better tlr, , n year, and what is very extraordinary, seemed so easy in his mind as to amuse himself with adjusting his wife's hea&dress a few minutes previous to his committing the rash a& He was a gentleman of light, but very Inoffensive manners. He was first cousin to the unfortunate brothers of that name, who were executed at Dublin for high treason, dur ing the late rebellion in Ireland. A great change has taken piace in the French National institute. 7he Class of Morality and Po litics, is entirely at an end. Hence many distin guished charaaers in France arc excluded from a place in this Philosophic Society ; such as LAREVELLIKR, ME:IiCIER, VOLNEY, GARAT, GRE GOIRE, GVINGUENE, LAKANAI., RCLIDEREII, The Literary and Philosophical Society of. New castle have, very much to their credit, passed a resolution, to institute a Leaureship on Natural Philosophy. Such an Institution, liberally sup ported, might be very advantageous to the rising generation, if established in most of the capital Towns throughout the British Empite. Classical knowledge is taught to boys, rather than natural and scientific truth. The former may qualify them to be Critics, and is a proper ornamental knowledge for people of fortune ; but Natural Philosophy af fords useful praaical truths, calculated for the ge neral body of the people, and the interest of the State. According to the report Pf Mr. Asmacws, the Surgeon attending 'Town -end, the Bow-street Pa trols, who was wounded about a fore , ight ago by the robber in St. Giles's, we find, that notwith standing the alarming symptoms, of the escape of blood from the woundexi lungs by the mouth, and that of air from the wound so as to inflate the skin on the trunk of the body, he is already out of danger. His Excellency the French Ambassador gave his second grand dinner on Saturday, at his house in ' Portland-placC. It was one of the most sumptuous and most costly of this season. The dinner and de sert were served up in a most superb set o f porce lain, richly gilt and ornamented. It was made for the service of the Ambassador at the new Porcelain Manufactory, in France, and arrived at his Excellen cy's house on Friday last. It is, perhaps, the rich,!st and most costly that evet- appeared, the manfaeturer's charge amounting to 2,7001. Colonel DESPARD is preparing a petition to the fountain of mercy. At present he and his six con demned associates who were not recommended to mercy, are chained together in a string, the chain strongly fastened to the cell in which they are con fined. No one sees or speaks to them but through a grating, Many of their friends went to the pri son yesterday to take farewel ; and the anguish of their wives and female relations was very distressing to behold. It is expelled that the KING in Coun cil will, to-morrow, at St. James's, finally decide •their fate. On Saturday a few disorderly persons assembled at Lambeth, where EmtLyN, one of the chief witnesses, lives, and burnt him in effigy. EM eivx applied to the Policc.office, Union-hall, for protellion.—,iforn,ng POI/. On Sunday it was stated, that the LORD MAYOR, and the rest of the City Members, had waited upon the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Tor the purpose of communicating circumstances which materially concerned the health of the Metropolis. We are happy in having it in our power to state, from authority, what is precisely the tact to which the statement alludes : The Right Hon the LORD MAYOR, Sir JOHN ANDERSON, BROOK WATSON, Esq. Sheriff WELSH, and Mr. Ki a av, waited upon Lord Pct.,l am, on Saturday last, to lay before him the state of the prison of N,..vgate, which, for a length of time, has been overburthened with prisoners beyond example. Newgate at present contains no fewer than 800 per sons ; some of the prisoners have lately died, and about i J now remain sick. It was submitted to his Lordship, that it was proper that a proportion of the prisoners should be removed. In consequence of this representation, Lord PELHAM agreed that 80 should be removed this day, and 70 to-morrow, to NV4aolwicli ; and, after the Old Bailey Sessions, 100 more. Proper cloathing has been provided fur their removal, and a physician is to inspect them, that none may be sent away but such as are in per fect health." ~ • • LAID INTELLIGENCE. RINGS' BENCH, WESTMINSTER. FLO . RI) ART 14 Suliagi after Turns, &fore Lord Et.t.znaoaoton. TURNER (qui tam) V. BROWNE. This was an aaion brought by the Plaintiff, the proprieter of a coal-shed in Tottenham-court-road, against the Defendant a 'wholesale coal-merchant, to recover the penalty of 1001. given by statute 3. Geo. IL for an unjus.: and fraudulent delivery of a quan tity of coals, purporting to be five chaldrons with the ingrain. It apEe e zed the Plaintiff had for a consi derable period been the habit of dealing with the Defendant, but it was with as much astonishment as }egrets he observed, that so fir from gaining a profit upon the re-sale of the commodity, he was a loser. He could account fc.r this in no other way, than by supposing that the measure was deficient. Upon the five chaldrons in question being sent in, the Plaintiff 's neighbours remarked, that the sacks did not appear to be near fulL This communication induced the Plaintiff to have the coals re-measured. The deficiency was of such a magnitude as to be no ways reconcileable with the honesty of the Defendant. There ought to have been 189 bushels, instead of which there were only 178 ; the Plaintiff therefore found lie had been de frauded of eleven bushels. Mr. G ARROW conduCted the cause, and was not sparing of those forcible, but just remarks which the dishonest and fraudulent conduct of the Defendant so well merited. He observed, that no venial mis take in the adme:;surement could account for such a deficiency. Mr. ERSKINE endeavoured to infer, that although the delivtity was unjust, it was not fraudulent, on the part of the Defendant. Lord ELLENBOROUGH addressed the Jury, and desired them, in-order to avoid any future question of law that might be raised, to say distinaly by their Verdi& whether the delivery was fraudulent or not. The Jury returned a verdict for the Plaintiff; and the Foreman said, they were unanimously of opi nion, the Defendant had acted fraudulently.—Da mages 1001. Lord ELLENBOROUGII." I do not, in a penal action, like to say any thing to Juries that May be calculated to inflame their minds ; but 1 am glad you have found the verdia as you have returned it; and I hope it will have some effea on these people, who, by their infamous conduit, aggravate the mi series of the starving poor!' This observation was succeeded by an expression of popular feeling, very unusual in a Court of Jus tice. The auditors were so sensible of the propri ety of it, that they gave vent to a general burst of applause. MCI. I. ET T against rovrox. This was an thion to recover damages for a de famatory libel. The Plaintiff W;ts a straw-manu faaurer at Hammersmith, and the Defendent was a writing-master at the same place. The Plaintiff was in treaty with a Mr. Salter, for house in Angel-court, Hammersmith, and had provisionally agreed to give 321. a year for it. In , the mean time the Defendant sent a letter to Mr. Sal ter, something to this effeft : " I have only this mo ment heard who is to be the new tenant of Angel court. I presume you are not acquainted with the particulars of the newspaper reports concerning him, otherwise you would not admit into your house an acknowledged felon, a debauchee, and a seducer, not to mention the probability of his converting your in t us . into what may be deemed a brothel." This libel was followed by another, which, as it was not proved, we will forbear mentioning. The feet of it was, 'that Mr. Salter was indifferent as to letting the house, and he only agreed to do so upon an ads anced rent of a year for seven years. The libel having been duly proved, Mr. likSK IN E addressed the Jury for the Defen dant. He stated, that the Defendant had not been aatiated by malice, but had merely reported what he had heard from common fame. He admitted the Defendant had acted indiscreetly, in applying the term Felon to the Plaintiff : it was a charge he certainly could not support. With regard to his be ing a debauchee and seducer, it was but too well founded. Mr. Erskine was proceeding to detail a story of the Plaintiff's havin'r,, debauched a young girl who was put apprentice to him, when Lord ELL LN so aouou interrupted him, and expressed his opi nion, that it was a species of evidence which could not be received. The malice of the Defendant might be repelled by producing The newspaper from winch he had inferred his information was derived. Mr. ERSK IN E had nu such Paper to produce. He therefore continued his observations, solely with the vie's' to the mitigation of damages. The Jury enquired whether the Plaintiff was in the house, tor the occupation of which he had treat ed with Mr. Salter ? The answer was in the affir mative, stating only that the rent was advanced from 32 to 351. a year. The Jury, therefore, considering this advance as the utmost extent of the injury sustained, returned a verdi& for the Plaintiff. Damages '2ll. COURT OF COMMON I'LEAS, FEB. 14. Siting: Frio:, before Lord AL VANI.C.% LADEN, Esq. agdrut MORDACIFT, tSQ. This was an aaion brought against the Defendant to recover damages sustained by the Plaintiff, by means of the Defendant's coachman driving his cha riot on the wrong side of the road, which occasioned the Plaintiff to drive against it, break his chaisz to pieces, and kill his horse. The Plaintiff's case was, that on the 23cl August last he was driving from London through Mitcham, when he espied the I)- fondant's chariot chariot at about one hundred yards dis tance, on the side of the road on which the Plaintiff was driving, and which was his proper side. 1 he Plaintiff's servant, who was with him in the chaise, and a Capt. Head, and Capt. Tun, who were in company with, and just behind the Plaintiff, swore, that the servant first, and afterwards Mr. Emden called to the Defendant's coachman, and beckoned for him with their hands to get on his proper side of the .road, which he not doing in time to give the Plaintiff room to pass by the chariot and a tree which stood on the other side, the Plaintiff was ob liged to run against the hind wheel of the chariot, by which means the chaise was totally destroyed, and the horse, breaking away from the chaise, with the splinter-bar at his heels, run against the sign-post of an inn in the town, which occasioned his death. On the part of the Defendant it was given in evi dence, that the chariot was returning empty from Sutton, and the coachman driving at a inuderar pace of. about four or fire miles that the , rl.tintiT and his companions, in the miter ctiasse, were driving at a very fufious rate, and, just before the Plaintiff's chaise met in conta.f with the chariot, it was very near running over an inhabitant of Mit cham, who was only saved by a friend's pulling him out of the road ; that the Defendant's coachman was in the very act of turning out of the Plaintiff's way when the wheels met, and several of the Dc. fendant's witnesses positively swore, that there was plenty of room for the Plaintiff to have passed be tween the chariot and the tree, if it had not been for his tr.en carelessness. This cause took up the attention of the Court dur ing the whole of the day; and a number of witnes ses were examined on the part of the Defendant ; but as the question was merely as to the locality of the spot where the chariot stood when the chake came in contael with its hind *heel, in 6rder to as certain the fad whether the Defendant's coachman did all in his power, from the fast drivin . F, of the Plaintiff, to get out of the way, a detail of the evi dence can be no way interesting to our readers. Verdi& for the Defendant LONDON SESSIONS. Yesterday the London Sessions coinmenced, at Guildhall, before t he LORD MAYOR, RECORDER, Aldermen SKINNER, Sir R. C. GL y NN, SHAW, Sir W. LEIGHTON and CLARK, and the Sheriffs. CURIOUS ASSAULT. Thoma 4 Rolituen, a journeyman printer, was tried upon two indiElments, which charged him with xi walking two handsome young ladies, in a most ex traordinary manner, by brutolly biting th.:ir cheeks. Elizabeth Bell gave in evidence, that about two months since, passing through Fieet.etreet, the pri soner came behind her, and catching her head in his arms, without any words, violently bit her cheek. The other lady gave a similar account of his, biting her face in the same voracious manner. Both shew ed the marks of his teeth, and said they had him taken before the Alderman at Guildhall. who was shocked at the recital, and ordered im:i6kments to be preferred against him at the expence of the City of London. The Jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced t.) One rear's Impritonment in Nezrz;aa.. —The prisoner. was a genteel-looking young man, and very well dressed. CRUELTY. Ann Brown was indicted for assaulting and cruelly ill-treating Ann Harris, her apprentice. Mr. KKOWLES opened the case, with his usual abilities. He stated that this indictment was brought forward by the Churchwardens .and Overseers of Bishopsgate parish; and that a more diabJlical charge had never been exhibited against any indivi duaL He observed, that the child, who had been the victim of the prisoner's cruelty, had died n few days after. the had been taken from her, and that; fortunately fur the prisoner, the Coroner's Jury had brought in their verdict, Died ly the visi:oreion of Gad, o'r she would certainly have been ind.cted for mur der. William Brown, the husband of the prisoi24 had been included in thel indictment ; but as he had subsequently died hi prison, Mr. KNOWLLi ad mitted no part of the evidence which related tb him should be suffered to operate to the disadvantage of the prisoner. Mr. GueNtv, who followed Mr. K now Ltis for the prosecution, then called Rose Bedford ; she said, that on the Ist ofJuly last, she went to live in -Skin ner-street, in the same house with the prisoner, and worked at the same business, Whic.h was that of a pinhead maker : that she knew the deceased Anne Harris, who was a little girl of eleven years old ; that she had often heard the cries of the child, and witnessed the cruelties of the prNoner, and had sometimes interfered, and enquired the cause of her chastisement, when she was informed by the mis tress, that the deceased had not earned fourteen pence per day —a task which the witness said was imposible for a child of her age to perform, espe cially with such bad implements as she was obliged to use. She said that four-pence or six-pence was as much as she could have been expected to have earned. Among other acts of cruelty which she had seen, the witness declared, that the prisoner had beaten the child's head against a !arge lead weight used in the machine. Hannah Blewitt, a girl of ten years old, deposed, that she, Ann Grace, and the deceased Ann Harris, were all apprenticed to the pt ismer on Shrove- Tuesday last, from the parish of St. Giles. That they were with the prisoner a few weeks before the premium given by the parish was paid ; soon after which she beean to use the deceased very cruelly ; imposing tasks.which it was utterly impossible tor her to perform, and for not performing which, she inflicted the greateet cruelties upon her ; sueh as beating her on the head with an iron file, till the blood streamed from the wound, aed sticking pins into various parts of her flesh ; that at orie time the prisoner compelled the deceased to stand on one leg, on the lic,b of dee fire-place, with her head up the chimney, ',wilding a brick in her hand, extended at arm's-length, with a log of wood suspended to her other leg by a rope, for the space of two hour Ann Grace confirmed the evidence of the last witness, and said, that since the prisoner had been in custody, she and her fellow-apprentice had been under the care of the parish-officers. Catherine Mffsaacs said, that she lodged and worked with the Prisoner, in Oaolier last ; that ci"' had frequently witnessed-her cruel treatment of the deceased ; that the had seen the Prisoner beat her on the head with a hammer, and scratch her face with pins, until the blood strentned ; and that to her knowledge, the deceiled had been deprived of food fur the space of thine' hours. This Witness further stated, that upon her tennensttnting with the Pei. sour upon her enormous cruelties, she uttered the most horrid threats against the Children, and made use of the most shocking language. Witness length gave notice of these transaßions to Mr. Barnield, who went And took the child away. Mr. Barufield said: that having information et this cruelty, he went, with one of the gentlemen now in office, to the prisoner's house, where they were shucked at the appearance of the children; the deceased, Ann Harris, seemed in a dying state, and they ordered one of their beadles to take hey to their work-house, where she died in a few days. Being carried, before her death, in a woman's arms, before the Lord Mayor, she charged the prisoner with cruelty. A school-master, from St. Giles's, said, the deceased was a fine, healthy child when bound apprentice. The prisoner, in her defence, pleaded her TO- _ _ r~NI