The Sun.
London, England, 1801-05-28 00:00:00

child, which was a girl, and all danger was over,
and then he renounced all, connection with her for
ever. .And he immediately brought his' A.:.tion.
The precise time when Mr. Sturt made this'Alico-
vety could not be proved, for two reasons.-4irSl,
l';‘ Because Mr. Sttirt. could not, himself,-: be ex.
amined, and-no otherperson knew the fail other-
wise than as he had disclosed it, and as appeared ivy'
the letters theMselves :"Secondly, ig Because the
letters bore no date 'of either month or year, being
only dated with. the day of the week ;" but prov-
ing them to be of the hand-writing of the Defend.
ant, and their connetion with, and. dependanceton
each other, would shewtdthey had been received by
Lady Mary Ann Sturt ; it would be evidence, from
which the Jury could not do otherwise than infer
that there had. boen a criminal correspondence' be-
tween the Defendant and the Plaintiff's Wife.— .1
The. Jury would , therefore be bound to give . the
Plaintiff a Verdi& The next consideration would
be the damages ; and considering who the Defend.
ant was, that he had a beautiful and accomplished
wife, by whom he had five children ; and consider-
ing who the Plaintiff's wife was; that they -were
all conneded together in family interest, and that
the Rights of HoTitality had been invaded, and
these indeed, were reasons why no suspicions had
been entertained of this illicit amour sooner, be
thought very 'large and exemplary-damages ought to
be given in this case..
• The correspondence between the Noble. Marquis
andlady Mary Ann Sturt, as Mr. ERSK gE stated,
was then read consisted of a great many let.
eel's from the Noble Defendant to this Lady, con.
taming the warmest and most ardentexpresaions of
love, and indeed, in some instances, bordering ''on
the phrenzy of that passion ; complaining_ of het, in,
constancy, and vowing the eternity of his own, &c..
and in one of these he said that he talked -in 'his
sleep, and alarmed_ his wife,- the- Marchioness of
Blandford, for whom, hoWever, and for whose fa-
mily,- he expressed great solicitude. lii one- o f
these letters he called ..Lady Mary:Ann. Sturt his
dear beloved wife, and said the child of which she
had been delivered was his child---the pledge of
their love, &c. _ _ _

The Cause was concluded with perfeet candour on
both sides, for the hand-writings of the parties
were admitted, &c. •

, On the part of the Defence, the ATTORNEY GE..
NERAL made an able Speeds, in the course of
which he insisted it appeared by the correspondence
that the Plaintiff must- have known-of the dishonour
of his wife,
.and had connived at it, that therefore
he: must come under the class of Cases by which it
is decided a Plaintiff cannot recover in this Aftion ;
that hp was indeed the Pander of his. wife's lust,
and like Thedphilus Cibber, ought, to have only the
smallest denomination of coin known to this Realm,
if a verdia at all, but that he was really not entitled
to a verdia, for that he constantly negleded his
Wife, going to bed at his house at eight o'clock at
night, and leaving his I.4ady with the Marquis, to
whose visits he never objefted, nor was it ever
dreamt of in the fiunily that he ever would objeft ;
and that the commencement of this A4ion was
quite a surprize on all those who knew Most of the
concerns of this family. That this Gentleman had
been under pecuniary engagements to the Marquis,
and often confessed his obligations to that Noble-
man; who had sent him some excellent Madeira
wine, which the Plaintiff was very partial to,- and
had invited the Noble Marquis to help him to think
it, which was the most constant of his employ-
ments. That he took a course which never fails to
inflame the passions of any *woman, and Which
makes some of them frantic—he lived with, kept I,
in open and adulterous concubinage, and had chit_ •
dren by, a woman of the name' of Krumpholtz, a
player , upon the harp. That by these pralices
he had really lost his cause of aetion ; and that
he himself was so sensible of this, that in a Let-
ter which he wrote to a confidential friend, he
had said of the Marquis, that his company was in-
different, he, being employed in composing some
very sorry music at the Plaintiff's house---" the
Death of the Wren," &c. ;' but that.he made it up
sonic how or other i that he gave Mrs. Sturt sonic
trinkets, by which she was- very finely dressed, &c.
but which he thought would better suit the Mar-
chioness, but that she was no favourite, &c. Sec.--
From all this, the ATTORNEY GENERAL contended
that the Plaintiff had lost his right of Aft*, &c.
To-support this, several Witnesses' were called,
but they did, not prove this case to the extent of the
opening ;, they proved, that the Plaintiff lived. in a
state of concubinage with this Player upon the
Harp, but not that his wife, Lady. Mary Ann,
knew it, that being matter of inference 'only :
they proved the Letter which acknowledged the
trinkets, wine,:&C. but there was no dire evidence
that the Plaintiff knew of the correspondence be,
tween Lady
,Mary Ann and , the , Noble Marquis,
&c. &c.
Mr. Eitsitztiz made an able feply, by which he
admitted that the Plaintiff, having lived in a state
of concubinage, was an immoral aft; but contended
there was no-case that had gone the length Oat such
condua, took away the• right of his. Anion ; for the
immorality of the Plaintiff did not give to the De.
fendant a right to commit adultery. With the Plain.
tiff's wife.
Such is the substance of the Case ; More we can.:
not • give without -much greater space,,than can he
allotted to it at•present. . • .
Lord KENYON said, «he partook of the feeling of
the Learned Gentleman who itad ptefaced his first
Address to the-Jury,• by saying he had been con.
cerned in, the trial of so many of these Cases, that
• very little he knew could be said upon them, and
her.felt sorrow for the continuance of the praftice.
With the assistance, -of Juries, his Lordship said,
he had done almost all. be , could to suppress this
evil; but both Juries arid himself had hitherto found
themselves in the same condition as the strong man
. who, after he had cut the serpent's head off, found
that-pthers grew up ;: for although some Cases might
have been supposed to operate to deter persons from
Committing. this offence, yet others grew up, and
they really multiplied upon us
,grievously. Whe-
ther they would be put an end to at: last, by 'hold-
ing up to contempt, if contempt was dreaded by