The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1818-12-09 00:00:00

tore. and to recce'', &Nigel for the loss he had
sustained, brought the present action.
1 The Learned Gentleman then called—

Mr. Geo. White, the brother of the Plaintiff who
deposed that he had sees him compose the two
country...dances of Linty 'Caroline Morrison and
Rob Roy.
Mr. John White, rather to the Plaintitt spoke
of his son as • most ingenious young man. He
had composed SOO coontry•dsnces. Of the two
which formed the ground of this actiom he com-
posed the former in October, 1816, and the latter in
February of the present year. %%line's sold 4,000
'Of the dance celled Lally CarOline Morrison, 2,000
in MS. and •,000 printed. Of the dance of Rob
Roy, he sold 800 in MS.
Mr. Munroe proved that he had, by the Plaintiff's
direction., ceased the too dances to be engraved
and printed for his use,
Mr. Whitaker, the composer, had conspired the
edition of the dances published by Mr. IVhite with
that published. by the Defendant. They were pre.
vilely alike. The Defendant had evidently pirated
them. The'compositions were as original as trifles
of that kind generally were.
Sir G. Smart looked upon the two pieces to be
although there might be a similarity, in a
particular bar, to sonic other air. A single bar
could not be considered perfect—not less than a
phrase, or four bars, could give an idea of a sub.
ject. Therefore, though a single bar might be
similar to .4 bar id another composition, he did not
think that circumstance destroyed originality.
An old man, who printed the dances for the De.
tendon!, was called to prove the slumber he had
struck off. But, as he could neither read nor
write, his evidence was of no service. _

ticsaturr said, he had . host of witnesses to
call with respect to the originality of the airs, if his
Lordship deemed it necessary.
Tne Cnter Juatce said, the Learned Counsel
would, have hu opportunity of railing any other
witneases he ptrused, if the cause in its progreos,
seemed to cull for them.

Mr. GURNEY, for the asfetit!...iVregretted that
be wan not so great en eta pt in the science it
mu.ic, as Ins Learned Frorinl—hut he consoled
himself with the hope, that he would, nevertheless,
be able to ptortire is verdict foi hip client. He
would prove, that if the Defendant had committed
an error, he hail done so uniiiientitnia:ly—sinee
the MS. of the dances was hooded over to him hr
a Gentleman whom he would call, and who would
state, that sieitlwr he nor the person Prom whom he
procured it, were coginsant of any claim set up by
Mr. White. But the question for the Jury to con-
sider would he, whether these were original com-
position.? He would call II 1)04 of witnesses to
prove that they were not—that th.y were compila-
tions from other airs—and, if that were the case,
the Plaintiff could not recover. As well might a
man say, ,4 I have written a tine essay,!' when he
slide onepassage from The .spreiaror, another from
The Gmardiau, mud a third from The Rambkr,
as the Plaintiff in this case lay claim to these
dances, a■ original compositions, if they were only
" shreds sitsl patches" selected from different airs.
He theesyrocreded to call his witnesses.

John Bryn°lds rtsitles at Bath, and is a musical
performer there. Hr had known the dance called
Lady Caroline Morrison, since November 1816,
when it was given to tam in MS. by a Gentle-
man. Hr after Wards performed it in a public
assembly. In June, 1818. he gave a copy to Mr.
Whetstone. He did not know at the time that
the Plaintiff claimed any property in it.
Mr. ScAILITT wished the MS. to be produced.
Mr. CAMPBELL said it had been destroyed.
Witness continurd.—He recollected the dance of
Rob hay in the last winter, which he also commu-
nicated to qtr. Whetstone. He never heard that
Mr. White claimed any property in it.
Cross-estintined. —He knew Mr. White's music.
shop at Bath, and was acquainted with him. He
had lived for ten years in Bath. and played at con-
certs and at the theatre. He did not recollect who
the Gentleman was from whom he' got the MS.
He made a copy from the Gentleman's MS. and re-
turned the original to him. He would not swear
that the MS. was not marked as Whitt's, property.
He had seen MS. copies of Country-dances which
were sold by Mr. IVhite. Whetstone occasionally
published country-dances, and witness Made him a
present of two or three. He was not 13441 my thing
for them—neither was his rather paid. He never
heard that Whetitone had said he would take his
oath berore the Lord Mayor that the dances were
lent to him amongst others. and that he had paid
for them.

Leigh stated, that he was a performer it
the Opera-hotise. Haring looked at the country
dance of Lady Caroline Morrison, it appeared to
him not to be an original coinposition. The eight
first bars were almost precisely the same ai a dance
in TW Forty Thieves. The second part was coon.
piled from The Barber VSeiille and Unit Liattmuti.
On examining the dance of Rob Roy. he was de-
cidedly of opinion that it was not original. The
first part was built on the air of 1. Will you eoifie td
the Bower?" It was the 'former melody, with a
slight variation. It also, in the first part. boi:e a
strong affinity to Asiky's Hornpipe. The second
part of Rob Roy was made up of bars that had
been written a thousand times before: They Were
trite coondion. He also held in his hands varia-
tions from an old piece, the name of which he did
pot know, which had evidently been iniitateci.
Cross-iroasixed.—Witoess had performed at the
Opera ler two pr three hermits. His instrument
*as the violoneellth The Barbet of St+ille tame
out in the last season. The music was by Rossini.
It appeared to him that the music or the country
lance of Ladyearoline Morrison wits in part taken
from The Barber of Siiifle. •HK did mot know the
name of the dance in The Forty Thieves, which
was also borrowed from—nbr could lie icy what key
it was played iii. He pointed out the dance in Dom
Glove:ant, (tom which a part of the dance of Lerdy
Caroline Morrison was selected. A portion of it
alto rrarthbled au When air in 7Ai naieners.
l)oa Giovanni Oda brought odt in the season before
last. The music was arranged, in a rest measure,
by Mr. Ayrton. He knew port of the music of
Dfin Giovanni before it was brodght silt in London.
Ha. believed he knew that part which was made UP!
of i!i the dance of Lady Cara/hie Morrison, but hr
was not Mlle.

Kr•examined—There were eight sequent Don%
in the tecoutl pa or Lady Curtain Mor►i►on, pre-