The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-05-04 00:00:00

SPRING V. OWEN, ESQ.

Mr. GARROW stated, that this was an action to
recover a sum of 2101. for which the Defendant
had adually given his check, and he therefore
could not conceive what possible defence could be
set up. The Plaintiff was a respedable dealer in
pidures, and, as it appeared to him, conducted him-
self in hjs business in a manner the most honour-
able. He had an exhibition-room for the sale of the
pidures of the ancient masters, and in order that
the amateur might not be led, by the impulse of his
caprice or want of judgment, to offer more for a
pidi:re that struck his fancy than it was really WOT tit,
he had adopted the plan of affixing upon each of
his pidures its lowest price. The amateur conse-
quently could not be taken by surprise, if he saw a
pidure that pleased him, he was able to ascertain
at once the value which was set upon it. The De-
fendant was a Gentleman of fortune, and had pur-
chased at the Plaintiff's sale-room two pi Lures, one
the Wise Men's Offering, and the other a View of
a certain Square. The price of these two pidnres
was 2101. ; he had also purchased another painting
of Galatea, which, as the Plaintiff had consented to
take it back, the price was of course to be deduded.
The Defendant had given his draft for the money,
but had refused to pay it, alledging that the pic-
tures he had bought were not worth the money.
Proof was given the Defendant had purchased
the pidures, and had delivered the Plaintiff a check
for the payment of them, which had not been paid.
Mr. ERSKINE said, he was Counsel for Mr. Owen
Williams Owen, who was an amateur of paint-
ings, but as amateurs had not always a correct judg-
ment as to what they liked, they were liable, in the
indulgence of their fancy to be imposed upon. 'I his
had been precisely the case with regard to the De-
fendant. His Learned Friend had extolled the
Plaintiff for his honourable mode of dealing, in af-
fixing a price to his pi lures, but he thought this
by no means a criterion of his honesty, for if a gen-
tleman happened to pass by a broker's, and saw a
pidure of Galatea, with the price of five guineas
marked, he would pass by her with contempt. with-
out taking the least notice of her; but if she was
marked seventy guineas, he would immeJiately buy
her, confident that she must be the offspring of some
great master, and accordingly she was packed up,
and sent to his country-seat, where the purchaser
exhibited her to his friends as a real Titian. This
had been precisely the case with regard to the De-
fendant. Allured by the price set upon Galatea,
he had bought her and hung her up in his dinii.g-
room, extolling her beauties to all his guests, white
they were better employed in attending to the splen-
did courses he set before them. It turned out, how-
ever, that Mrs. Galatea was not worth the canvas
she was painted upon, and of course the Defendant
was desirous of returning her, and receiving his
money back again. No, says the Plaintiff, we pic-
ture-dealers never return any money; you may have
some other piihsre in lieu of her; if you,please you
may have the Wise Men's Offering. Certainly, said
Mr. Erskine, my Client would have been the wise
man, if he had never offered to have any'dealings
with the Plaintiff, who positively refused to take
Galatea back, saying the Defendaht ILO taken the
lady for better and for worse, and he must eith,:r