The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-09-11 00:00:00

Drbonshire.

Exuren.—Daring RolAbory. —On Monday evening
Mr. Thomas Lanailon, of Ashwav Farm, WAS return-
ing home from Wiustird fair. when he was attacked
by some men, who struck him& violent blow on the
head, knocked him id his horse, and robbed him of
cash and notes to the amount of £l6O. Shortly before
this robbery, Mr. Lang.lou's servant man was set
upon by the same party, uho after beating him
severely, took from his p ickets :Is. No clue has yet
been obtained to the robbers._ -

MK LATE CHANCELLOR MARTIN—The sudden
death. by his own howl, of Chancellor Martin, struck
the city with horror. We do not know which was
greater the sorrow or the surprise. Well placed. in
one of the easiest seats of the Church, with a country
living in one of the most lovely spots in Devonshire,
and worth some i'sol) a year; a quarterly residence
in the Cathedral city of Exeter, replete with every
luxury ; and remunerated with a godd yearly salarly
for every quarter's labour7a all the high dignity of
the Diocesan Chancellorship, and judicial functions
in the Ecclesiastical Courts—with all these honours
and emoluments, with a personal bearing and un-
clouded talent to do justice to them, this reverend
man—so gifted by (online, and so endowed by nature
--bas taken his destiny in own hands. and Las
rushed into the presence of h;ii Maker, unhidden and
uncalled for. The evidence of the coroner's inquest
, shows that the effect of this ruthless dad was the

etiffmecrt.opfulectii,dnei, insanity. Chancellor
of ion
Nlartin had
of ion ablest canonista.
Ile was profoundly versed in the Ecclesiastical
law, and the character of his mind was
eminently judicial. As the judge of a court which
was a legacy of the dark ages, encumbered with
technicalities that were a hindrance awl denial of
Justice, he administered the law with admirable
discretion. We have often admired the able manner
in which he tempered his fuucti ~,, s, in order to save
the character of the court, as much as possible, from
the effects of that popular indignation which its
obsolete system drew down upon it. A less wise and
Piditic man would have roused the public indignation
of the diocese by administering this obsolete law
too rigorously. We recollect an instance which may
be cited as a poof of his sagacity in this respect.
One was a case of "blasphemy," in which a man, to
fling a jibe at his neighbour who was looking at him,
"christened" a gribble, or young apple tree, which
he was plaating as "spite and malice.' The parties
• had had a law suit. The christening was done in the
usual form, "in the name of the met Holy Trinity,"
and with a sprinkle of cider. The man christened
' at, knowing that it was meant for him. ru heti off to
"his lawyer," who advised him that he could put
the other into the Spiritual Court tor " blasphemy
! and :it it they went. The cue crawled through the
rotirt t the usual pace till it came to judgment,
when the Hot. Chancellor showed his great tact in
dealing with the subtleties of canonical hire, by
Iliiiiliii that there was no spiritual offence iii respect
I to the tree having no spirit ; but that there was
blasphemy enough in the act to judify the defendant
bein4 mulcted in his own costs. This, as far as our
ry serve, was the pith of a very elaborate
judgment, in which much subtlety and learning were '
displayed, for the purpose of preventing either of the
parties leaving with a triumph over the other.
IVedern Time..