The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-06-29 00:00:00

THE BRITISH PRESS.

his table, on terms of friendship and the greatest confidence. Who,
would imagine that a gross and obscene libel, which has
been circulated in the plaintiff's neighbourhood, and sent to his
family, was written by the defendant, who is now brought before
you ? %Viten I conic to mad the libel itself, it will require no
comment—ft needs no language to aggravate the malignity ofita
tendency. There are persons in this world, the tendency of
whose dispositions is towards all that Is malicious, slanderous, and
obscene ; but the manifestation of such a disposition on the part
of persons who are admitted to our bosom confidence and hospitable
hoards, is the hot, thing that any of us would expect. Neverthe-
less. there are persona who, having gained our confidence, and hav-
ing become acquainted with our domestic concerns, take delight In
holding up nor characters and conduct to the ridicule and contempt
of the world, who nre Ignorant of us.• For example, I don't know
what we have to do with the private concerns of any man who
chooses, at an advanced peiirld of life, to marry a lady some twenty
or five and twenty years younger than himself. It may he a thing
that you or I would nut do; but does it give any man who is ad-
mitted to our tables and our confidence a right to ptibtisti an ob-
scene and ttiagusting libel concerning ace, if we choose to to act ?
don't ask you whether it can he justified, because my friend the,
Common Sergeant, who is engaged for the defendant, will not alp
tempt a justification; but does it admit of a palliative—does it
allow of an excuse? i say no: it cannot. It has been said, by
one of the wisest philosophers Engl ind ever could boast, that " a
young man marries for a mistress, p middle.aged man for a com-
panion, and an old man for a nurse ;" and therefore a man may
marry at any age lie will. I don't mean to deny that if my client,
an aged gentleman about sixty, chooses to marry a lady about
half his age, it may be allowed to his friends to joke upon
the subject Such things are of daily occurrence, but they
constitute no crime; and If the parties' live comfortably and
happily together, no man has a right to indulge in vicious CON.
templations concerning their connubial.intercourse—no man has a
right to set forth in his village doggrels those things which are not
only repugnant to c,namon decency, but are discreditable to the
feelings of &gentleman and a man. And yet you will find, to-day,
that the defendant, who has been the affected friend, the confiden-
tial medical advissr. and the bosom visitor of my client, has cast
the obligations oh hospitality aside, and has wounded the peace of
the man who reposed confidence and friendship in him. My client,
the plaintiff, Gentlemen, has been married two or three times. He
is a gentlemaw by birth, he is a man holding a respectable situation
in lite, and above all, lie is of irreproachable character. I defy the
defendant to ofiir any thing against him. Since his recent
marriage with his present rife, the defendant and his brother,
who live within a few doors of him, in a place called 't %Vebb's
Country Terrace," in the Kent-road, have thought fit to
to nil ro him and his wife indecent anonymous letters. What
think you of such letters 'being written to a gentleman and
his wife? Of course you could net suspect your friends of such
conduct. Nobody mind. Sonic time after these anonymous let-
ters came, the verses I now hold in my hand were sent, which,
when I read them to you, may possibly excite laughter, but I hope.
your indignation will not be totally absorbed in the ridicule they
convey. Some suspicions had fallen on the defendant and his
brother, and although the matters that had occurred before were tse
contemptible to novice publicly, yet when these verses were traced
to persons of some authority in their sphere, the subject became toe,
serious to pave unnoticed, and application was made to the present
Attendant to know if he was the author. Of course he declared It.
was impossible to suspect him, and of course lie utterly denied any.
connexion with suer, disgraceful conduct. Some time afterwards,
however, it was discovered that a young lady, a teacher in a school
where the plaintifra wife had also been a teacher, received in the
defendant's hand-writing, under a cover addressed by him to WI, a
copy of the v:rses on which the present action is founded. That
at least slick's be was the author, but afterwards they came out is
print, were diffusely circulated, and without a printer's name. The
plaintiff finding matters had-proceeded to'thit,exiremity, deemed it
necessary to employ some person to discover the author. He found
dot the printer by good foruse, and thyoug6 rite printer be traced
the manuscript to the defendant in this cause. I shall prove to
rod that after haring composed these lines, and. got them copied,
he sent his own shop.bny with them to the printzr, and had no less
than two hundred copies of them printed. I will now read the
verses to you, Gentlemen, anti though theymay occasion a tempo-
rary laugh, I am sure you will not suffer your settee of justice to
be overcome by the smile that may be excited. They begin with
this heeding—