The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-03-18 00:00:00

r' / 7 . a • • • _ - • - - Lehr► INTELLIGENCE. LINCOLN% DIN IIkLL. M %se* n • Foram Paraders of the Case of Noon v. KIRIT, rrfortrd is ear Parer e Trudy. Mr. Richards and Mr. Wetherell %hewed cause on the part of the Plaintiff, why the injimetion which Lid been grareed in this cause should not he dis solved. The material fads of the case were shortly these: the Plaintiff, Hogg, was a proprietor of a nav periodical puls:icatien, called " Tht Marna, or Extraordinary filagazine," which (not (busing his own name to appear) he agreed with , the Defendant and permitted him to become the pub lklier and vender of the same. Soon after the pub licatiou of the first Number, some differences occur red between the Plaintiff and the Defendant, when it was agreed, that the Defendant Kirby should cease to become the publisher and vender, as soon as certain bilk which he had accepted for the Plaintiff Hogg were given up and paid. This ageement was fulfilled by Hogg, upon which the pendant Kirby, in conjunetion with the Defen dant Scott, immediately advertised and published a Periodical Work in all material respeas similar to the Plaintiff's, called a The Original Wonderful falusteun," representing the =me to be the com mencement of a icy :trier of the work of which he had formerly been the publisher and vender, and aCtually transcribing many articles from the Maga sine of the Plaintiff Hogg,. Upon this, the Plaintiff tiled this Bill against the Defendants. and obtained the usual injwidion to re grain the publication, until the answer was put in. The Defendant Kirby in his answer, denied that he had any intention of imitating or infringing upon the Plaintiff's Work, and submitted that under the statute of Queen Anne, the Plaintiff could establish no property in the war k. Mr. Recll AIMS and MT.WITHILRELL.--Tnis case may he reduced to three Points. Ist. That the Plaintiff clearly has that species of property in this w Irk, which is protetted by the Statute. 2ndly. In this case a propery is established, at all events ag mast the Defendants, by the agreements between Ca: parties; and 3dly. By the terms of the trial committed to the Defendant. It is admitted that the Defendant was merely the agent of the Plain tiff to publish and vend, without any risque, any re sponsibility, or any exertion of skill, or attention in ti.e work ; and it can hardly be denied that, in every material feature, there is the greatest resemblance. The tide-page and frontispiece are neatly the same, bet these material features in the identity of the work, are now to be represented as fire traturd, in which occupancy can confer no tide ; but there are cases at law, which establish property in a Daily Newspaper, and this Court would certainly inter fere to prevent the assumption of the same name by a su6sNytent paper, by which the other was pre viously known. LOINDCHA•CIILIIIt.—N I recollce a case of a man who kept a shoemaker's shop in the Strand, of some repute, and whose name was :tfylvrt, which w a s r item ever the door. An interloper came and npessed a shop direaly opposite, thinking to steal iris neighbour's customers, by a very simple altera a.4l its the name. which he :axed to his shop in this suanner i ,_ My, Sea Vrorommier." Mr. RICH Supposing a work, like the Court Calendar, though I cannot have a monopoly rn the name, yet if a man takes the same title, and - I prove him guilty of deceit. and that he has aken the most valuable part of my work, theo surely I have an aa;on against hips; or if a man calls cloth with a vit.:kW-4r stamp, or gives the name of a %crow. -lakes, there also an :onion will lie, but these ** tesestions ate immaterial here, for as nn cranpensa tian ia way of damages could be recoveryrecoverei at law, that ekatly establishes our right to resort to a Court of Eaftity, which always interferes in matter of agreenrent, for the breach of which a Court cf Law cannot afford competent satisfaction. By the agreement between the parties in this case, the Plaintiff is clearly admitted the Proprietor, and this include every thing which belongs to the en joyment and possession of that property ; as was the case of Barrett and Blagrave, where the De fendant had covenanted with the Plaintiff, the pro prietor of Vauxhall, that he would not open any house which should be prejudicial to that place of entertainment. But leaving the question of pr petty out of the.case, this was at least frlci comntsrom to the Defendant, which must preclude the possibility of his availing himself of a breach of that confi dence. Suppose a man sells the good-will of a Newspaper • can he immediately afterwards go and re-establish the same paper ?" LORD CHANCELLOR. — " No; but you may estab lish another. I agree that it is a very different thing attempting to publish the same." Mr. WLTH sasia..—e Mr. Justice Yates says, in' . his argument upon the great question of literary property, that if it is . nut matter of property at law, yet that it may be made stvii by agreement. But suppose the case of _mechanical inventions; though a man has no patent, yet, as against the immediate pet son be employs to execute his invention, he has a mow- poly ex mortar. Blackstoue says, that con trall eiws trlerty ; and, were it admitted that the Plaintiff could nut here assign a property to a third ?crson, tron.frrabiLity is no criterion of property." Let us consider it on the ground of a frost reposed in the Defendant. It here becomes the case of a landlord. and tenant, attorney and client, and all the others where these mutual relations subsist. In the case of Thompos v. Stash*, in Ambler, con cerning Loin Cnr.sCERFIELD'S lATTLRS, that case went upon a breach of trust. Lord Bathurst's de cree wAs not ratitaicrirm, but went merely on the ground of thefidei communists, and he Wit; of opinion Mat the receiver of a letter Was a trustee to do a ne gative ad, viz. not to publish. In the caw of Mr. Pope's Letters, indeed, Lord Hardwicke said, that the receiver of a letter may have a joiut property; and if, where the rights are co-equal, this Court would interfere, it is a much stronger case than the present. suppose the case of an unpubli.4ied MS., the Court would prevent the publication or a copy stol.'n, or snrreptitiously obtained, and the copy right does not commence till the aftaal puhlicnt4m; 1: is meet property in orrnii,i till then. Or if an artist is pernitted to study in the gallery of a no- Woman, v:;:) has a large collc&ion of pieturec, and u is to take copies, whica he atternprrd to punlish, vei•rthl not the Court there interfere? Perhaps it roity he said, that the question is nct racti to inter rere bare, and the case of Hill And Blanchard may e cited, which occurred under the charter to the . J Card-ntaltaes Comp:" and was an attempt in the ' Defendant to assume the stamp of the Great Mts. gul's head, which was the charaCteristic mark of the Plaintiff's cards ; hut Lord Hardwicke refuted to interfere there, on the ground that the chatter had expired in operation, though, to be sure, he put the case of two inns with the same sign. Hete the Defendant attempts to establish himself upon the ruins of a breach of trust, the rule concerning which forbids a trustee to become locupletior injurtti altering. But if :'irse violations of faith are not to be restrained, we have in.leed got back to the pasto ral ages of the Court of Chancery. Sic voi apes. If it is to be sail that the situation of trustee has ceased, it may be answered, that he cannot avail himself of what he has acquired when trustee, he must be bound retrospeCtively, he cannot dissolve his liability by putting an end to the relation by which lie was bound.' • Mr. R omit. y and Mr. JOIIKSTONZ, for Defen dants, contended that the cases which had been quoted did not apply: that this was not the case of an original unpublished work, but one which was a mere transcript of others, without one original article, and that the only question to be decided was, It there any 1 terary property here? Literary pro perty certainly does not consist in the actual origi ginality of idea, but in the different arrangement and evression of ideas from any used before: but here there is neither piracy nor plagiarism. This is a mere commercial adventure, a trade which has no analogy to literary property ; and the Defendant has not published the same thing, but merely upon the same subject. - The names of the authors are all different, though it must be admitted that these names are merely fiaitious. Loan CIIANCLLLOII.—"I have some doubt whe ther a man who thus starts with the imposition of a he, should be permitted to come into a Court of Equity at all." Mr. Ro:titax. But independent of all these questions, and the arguments about trusts, the case is different here • for the Plainti ff has himself put an end to all m utual relation, by taking away the situation of Publisher from the Defendant. The common equity of the Court is not to grant injunc tions on breach of agreement ; and the ground upon which an in . iiinaion was granted in 'Thomson and Stanhope was, that the actual property was in Lord Chesterfield. The Defendant has positively sworn that he did not intend to imitate the Plaintiff's work, and his answer must be taken as decisive in this stage of the cause. Upon the whole, this is not a ease for the Court to interfere ; but the Plaintiff should be sent to establish his right by the verdia of a Jury at law. The LAID CHANCELLOR, after taking time to consider the case, gave his opinion at length. After stating the case and reviewing the arguments urged at the Bare he said, it clearly appeared to him, that it was the Defendant Kirby's intention to con vey to the public an idea that his work was merely a continuation of Hogg's, and thus to impose both upon the public and the Defendant, for the titles were very nearly the same, and he had actually begun his first number with the concluding word of Hogg's preceding number. His Lordship doubted much, whether any literary property could be esta blished here, but that was a proper question far a Jury. Under all the circumstances, considering the manner in which Kirby had first obtained a knowledge of the Plaintiffs work, in the situation of his agent, his Lordship thought the Court should continue the injunction, until a Jury had decided the question of literary property or not ; and that in case they decided against the present Plaintiff, then the injunetion must be dissolved. His Lordship ordered accordingly. MAIDSTONE, (KENT:, MANCH 15. The Judges arrived in town last night, and open ed their C,oeumissior.. This morning they proceeded to businTss. _ Mr. Baron I-Icy:ust sat in the Nisi Priv: side; but the learned Judge and Counsel were hardly seated, when they found they must again speedily dislodge. The Court had been newly painted, and was scarcely dry. The smell of the paint was most intolerable, and the effinvium very soon began to operate. Before the first cause is half over, Mr. Garrow put his hand on his breast. '1 he Serjeants became hoarse, and the Bar all began to spit. The Judge bore it the longest with out complaint, when at leagth he declared it was impossible for him any longer to keep his seat. In this dilemma, Mr. NVatson was deputed to endea vour to find a new room for the Court to sit in ; and on his return he reported, that the only room to be found was the Ball-room at the Star Inn. The Court was immediately adjourned to that place. The Judge was seated at the upper end of the room. The leading Counsel sat at a round table; the rest of the Bar ranged down the room, and the wit ness was elevated in a chair. After the bustle occa sioned by this removal had a little subsided, business went on tolerably well. Eleven causes were tried in the course of the morning, but none of them any ways interesting. The report of the hLtid Aving ceded to Great Britain for a pecuniary consideration, continues to be circulated on the Continent. If any credit were due to this rumour, the circumstance might perhaps be considered as forming some part of the ground of the present discussion between England and France ; but, we confess, we cannot bring ourselves to attach any degree of credit to the statement. linia ha, The following circumstances attending an inter view between Lord 111TWorr it and BONAP AR r are accredited in some of the first political circles, and are asserted to have produced the present war like preparations : It is stated that on their meeting, the FIRST Comsci, broke out into a most violent pasjon, accusing F.agland of perfidy in not sur rendering Malta, and of ingratitude for the Peace which he had granted. Lord WHITWORTH in answer is said to have enumerated the various in stances of had faith on the part of France, since the Treaty of Amiens, particularly with regard to Switzerland. The latter point BONAPARTE called a bagatelle, and then threatened to come over to Eng land himself with three or four hundred thousand men, to enforce his claims. The reply of Lord WH IT WOR TH was both dignified and tirm ; and, on his Lordship's retiring, be immediately sent off a Courier with an account of what had passed. The next morning the FIIIST Cousin. expressed a wish that wlrit had happened might be buried in oblivion: but our Ambassador informed him that his request came too late, as he had already acquainted his Court with the alfair.—Tinter. • r COLLECA of FORT willizmf, IN BENGAL. ?Alit Disputations were pronounced at this College, in the Oriental Languages, on the tith o I February, 181.2. After the distribution of the Prizes and Hono rary Rewards, the Honorable the Acting Visitor • addressed the Students to the following effeEt : " Gentlemen, "The public service having demanded the presence of the Most Noble the Patron and Founder of the College of Fort William, in a distant quarter of the British Empire in India, he has been pleased to ren der it my duty to witness this first distribution of the Prizes and Honorary Rewards, which have been adjudged under the Statutes of the Institution. " The satisfaCtion which I have derived from the discharge of this honorable duty, has been greatly heightened by the additional proof of the benefi cial dials resulting from this Institution, afforded by the public exercises of this day. " Those who are yet but imperfeCtly acquainted with the nature and objects of this Institution, will learn, with equal surprise and satisfaCtion, that Stu dents recently arrived in India, have this day ably maintained a public disputation in the Oriental lan guages. " the establishment of the College of Fort Wil liam has already excited a general attention to thiental languages, literature, and knowledge, which promises to be produCtive of the most salutary effects in the administration of every branch of the affairs of tbro T innorable Company in India. " The numerous and important benefits to be de rive,' from this Institution, cannot however be justly estimated front the experience of the short period of one year which has elapsed since it commenced its operation. But if !ncceeding years shall exhibit advantages pmportionate to those which have been alre sly manifested, this Institution will realize the most sanguine expeCtations which have been enter tained of its success. " I am happy to avail myself of this occasion to express my satisfaction at the uniform zeal and at tention which have been manifested by all the Of ficers and Professors of the College in the discharge of their public duties. I also experience great plea sure in expressing my thanks to those Gentlemen who have condifaed the public Examinations, and who, by affordin ,, the aid of their talents and know ledge, have ren dered an essential service to the In stitittion. " Of the Students now entering on their course of public service, as well as of those who continue at tached to the College, I am happy to observe, that there are many who have not only distinguished themselves by their proficiency in the Oriental lan guages and literature, but whose uniform observ ance of the Statutes and Rules of the Institution, and whose general corredness of conduit, have af forded an honorable and useful example to their Fellosv-Students. I am persuaded that those de serving characters will refla furaher credit on the Institution ; and that they will continue to exert their endeavours for the attainment of a higher de gree of perfeCtion in the different branches of know ledge, of which they have so happily laid the found ations. _ _ _ .... " I entertain a confident hope that all the Students, rho remain attached to the College, will emulate the laudable example furnished by the meritorious cbaraitots whom I have described. The Institution now affords to those Students the means of qualify themselves for the important offices which they are destined to exercise under the British Govern ment in India. By diligently availing themselves of those means, they will proportionally advance their personal interests and reputation ; and they will also enjoy the grateful and animating prosped of becoming eminently useful to their country; by rendering it essential assistance in realizing the im portant advantages to be derived from the exten sive and valuable dominions which it has acquired in India ; and by aiding it in fulfilling the high mrn-al obligations attendant on the possession of its Indian Empire, on the discharge of which the pros perky and permanency of that Empire equally de pend." • George Hilaro Barlow, Erg. Captain HANCOCK is appointed by the Lords of the Admiralty to the Cruiser sloop at Woolwich. Letters from Chatham, of the 14th March, an nounce that the Thunderer, of 74, Ardent, Gtlyk heid, and Leyden, of ti 4 guns each, are ordered to be fated for sea with all dispatch. Friday the Hoer km was got out of dock, in order to be sold; and Saturday the Cerberus was docked, in order to be refitted. The Leopard, Viaorious, and Romney, arc ordered here, to be laid up. The Trusty is ordered to be taken to pieces ; the Guilderland and Alk maar to be sold. The workmen belonging to the dock-yard are ordered to work from five o'clock in the morning, their dinner time, and till half past seven at night, to expedite the ips ordered to be fitted. A balloon, launched from Westminster on the (ith Gf this month, at half past two o'clock, was found lying in the Warren of Mr. T. Gloat, of lialcomb, about three miles from Crawley, at a quarter before tour o'clock the same day, having travelled a distance of 36 miles in one hour and a quarter. The positive refusal of Prince Iluseor.t to accept the Grand Mastership of the Order of Malta, was the cause of the appointment of the Bailli de THO• M AU to that dignity. A great many offers have been made by Officers of the Militia. The skeletons—by which we mean the Adjutant and Non-commissioned Officers of every Regiment, having been most judiciously pre served, the different corps will be very expedi tiously formed and disciplined. A National brig, called Le Volcau, bound from Dunkirk to New Orleans, was stranded near Shore ham, so far back as the 26th of December ; she had on board many cases of muskets, of which several were preserved ; the crew until very late ly did not abandon her ; and until the pre sent preparations for the alternative of war or peace, she escaped all investigation of a minute nature. In consequence of the alarm raised by the activity of Government in the adoption or measures for the security of the country, an enquiry was set on foot with resped to Le Volcan, and some boxes were found, which. being forwarded to the Admi ralty, became yesterday the subjeft of inspeEtion. There were indeed colours, but none other than those which she was warranted in, keeping on board. 1),...701-INSON'S OPINION OF Etirl4N. The following extra of a letter from Dr. John son to a friend in Scotland, dated at Buxton, was found among the papers of a distinguished literary charafter, not long since deceased : Fortune often delights to exalt what nature has negleEted; and that renown which cannot be claimed by intrinsic excellence is often deriied from accident. The Rubicon was ennobled by the passage of Cae sar : and the bubbling up of a stream in the middle of a lime quarry has given celebrity to Buxton. The waters, in which it is agreed no mineral pros perties reside, and which seem to have no better claim to superior beat than what is derived from comparing them with the almost Siberian atmos phere that surrounds them, are said, however, to possess a spirit, which, though too volatile and un known to receive a name from the chemists of graver ages, have in this fanciful sera, when macca • roni philosophers hold flirtation with science, taken the lead of all the other elements ; and those whose nerves have found no relief in change of sky, or va riety, seek for refuge here in fixed air. It is indeed amazing, the avidity with which all ranks of mankind seek after that health which they have voluntarily alienated to disease ' • like Metho dists, who hope for salvation through faith without works, invalids come here, in hopes to find in the well that vigour they lost in the bowl, and to ab sorb in the bath the moisture that evaporated at the ball or masquerade. For this purpose they venture to this dreary spot, which contemplates with envy the Highlands of Scotland; surrounded by barters mountains, beaten by storms almost perpetual, where scarce an inhabitant is to be seen, unless when the sun, whose appearance is justly considered as one of the wonders of the Peak, draws them* out, from a curiosity natural to man, to wonder into what cavern the storm has retired. Yet this is summer, and if the winter holds its natural proportion, the inhabitants of the hall, who are not thirty yards from the well, must pass months without any com munication with it. _ --- Yet the same folly which created disease, for the cure of which so much is suffered, obstructs the operation of the remedy, from which so mach is hoped; animated by the appetite, which even the d.:luent power of common water, assisted by the vibration of diurnal exercise, and the collisive hi larity of reciprocal salutation, would give to a body obstrudted by gluttony and rest, they devour with delicious hunger a farinaceous sponge, with its interstices undulated with butter, which might smile with contempt at the peristaltick exertions of an elephant, and of which the digestion would be no less an evil than the obstruction ; if obstructed, it convulses the stomach with rancid exhalation.; and if by its gravity it finds its way to the bowels, it tumifies them with flatulent paroxysms of wind ; by its detention in both it becomes acrimonious and mephitic ; and while its fume arise and salute the brain with palsy, its caput mortuum descends, and lays the foundation of fistula. Very providentially, however, the evils of break fast are not aggravated by the dinner ; dinner is rather a ceremony here than a repast, and those that are delicate and sick acquire popularity, by dis seminating among the multitude that food which nothing but rude health, both of body and mind, can digest. When it is finished, the Chaplain calls upon the company to be thankful for what they have received ; and the company, remembering they have breakfasted, join in the thanksgiving. The evils of the day are likewise happily allevi ated by the early hours of going to bed ; &Id if sleep forsakes the pillow, even fancy itself cannot charge it to the supper. There are, notwithstanding, upwards of 200 peo ple here, who, by talking continually of how much nature has left undone, and how little art has done for the place, increase the spleen they hope to cure at it; who speak with rapture of the beauties of Matlock, which, though within their reach, they never go to ; and who, hoping by the power of imagination to convert a smoaking cauldron into a cold bath, relax and waste to sensitive agony those fibres which, from the comfortless state of Buxton, and of the best well which nature gives to man to drink of, require the tention of the bow-string and the rigour of steel." EIK 111. On the i rth inst. of a son, the lady of Juhn lanes, Esq. of Cowie, Kincardineshire. MARRIED. A few days since, at St. Saviour's, Southwark, Mr. Thomas White, of the Borough, to Miss Louisa Bechely, of Cuckfield, in the county of Sussex. On Monday William Robertson, Esq. to Mrs. Dunlap, widow of the late Captain Dunlap, of the East India Ser vice. DIED. On Wednesday last, in Devonshire-Place, William Pa terson, Esq. Yestvrday morning, in Paddington -sheet, Mr. Wink worth, bricklayer. On Sund List, Mr. Burgess, many years proprietor of the Yi rkshire St mc-o, at Paddington. A few days a.zo, ° William Morris, Esq. many years IN potyChui ch-Warden oi•the Parish of St. Mary. le-hone. PRICE OF STOCKS. YESTERDAY. Rank Stock 3 per Cent Red. 7111j/116.n 3 per Cent. lOll 3 perCerit. Coos. 01 6 71 bl 51 Consols for April 64; 61 8 6i. 6 4 per Cent Coivi. 8811 H India for Open. 2l t 5 per Cent. Ann. .... 98 99; Bank for Open l7Bl 5 per Cent 1707. 10411 Ornniuin .... 12 j 111 do3e. Rank L. Ann 2oj 11-16 Irish Omnisun • Kink Short Ann. .... 4 9 16 .Eng. Lot. Tick..... 171. Lis. India Sio,:k Ditto Bomb 41 ‘ / lale bp 2uttion. MODERN BOOKS, MANY IN ELMANT 'BUILDINGS, STATIONARY, &c. By Mr. BARNETT, At his spacious Rooms, Qu.:en-street, Golden square,. or. THURSDAY, March 24, 1803, at "twelve, A SMALL COLLECTION of MODERN BOOKS, many of them fine Editions, with beatairol Vates; among which are Gibbon's Roman Empire, 12 vols Hume% Engialid, with Shiollett's Continuation—Grey's Hu- Grvece--Tookc's Diversions of Purley—Lord Chesterfield's Letters—the Dictionaries of Lempriere,-Boyer, Airtiworth, and Misteri—P.okliort% Greek and Hebrew Lexi cons—the Works of Poue, Walpole, Bolingbroke, Dryder., Collins, Cowper, Gray, ?assn, Thomson, RJUS32IIU, Also, a few Lots of Stationary. May be v. !wed prim to the Sale ; and Catalogues had at the Rooms, and at the House Agency pflice, Portland street. Loudual : Yiulttid uy J. (if f.t.as, No lb, Clown-cow., Fleet-street • and pubbsliest al4 re by W. i. CLEMENT, of No. 201, Statut. Advertisements rsrd Letters (post paid) must be addtttoecl to the OR N. 13, Safisburt-square. F' F 1 ; 1 I s - Y.