The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-17 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX _COUNTY COURT,

KINGSGATE-STREET.

A TAILORING LOTHARIO -MRS. JOHNSON V. MISTER
ROBINS.-The plaintiff was a very knowing-looking widow,
not so handsome as the " Widow Wadman," to whom uncle
Toby made his advances, but equally skilled in the art of at-
tack and defence, and having, withal (as the evidence proved)
a heart alive to all new impressions. On the other band, de-
fendant was what Lady Morgan calls a " Sunday beau ;" his
person was adorned with all the supernumeraries that It natic
linendrapers and shopmen deem needful—imprimis, there was
a bunch of gilt metal seals, attached to a silvery-looking guard,
doubtless guiltless of a watch. There was a breast-pin duly
mounted upon a real dickey, or shirt-front, and just behind his
left ear, we thought we detected a morsel of linen struggling
into light, whjch the Board of Health of 1832 would have
speedily consigned to the " buck-basket." Such was the
tailor, and now for his case—a case which he emphatically
stated, on the word of a man (!) emanated altogether from
" the green-ey'd cockney—jealousy."
Mr. Commissioner Desots--What is the amount of your
bill, Mrs. Johnson? Plaintiff—Lent money, Sir. As I'm an
honest woman and a lawful widow, I pledged my spoons to
lend him the sum of one pound one shilling and sixpence, to
pay his club-money with, and then, on the 24th of January, 1
lent him six shillings and scvenpence, and then I lent him, six
shillings to get his boots mended—(Laughter)—and sixpence
for pocket-money—and then, besides all that, I lent hiill three
and sixpence for his douse of call, which makes one pound
nineteen shillings and a penny ; but its far more than what
I've summoned for. Ido assure your Lordship " 1 took him
in and done for him."
COMMISSIONER—No doubt of it; and that, I suppose, is the
reason he left you? Plaintiff (simpering) Oh, no, my Lord,
it was nothing but jealousy.—( Laughter.)
CommtssioNEa—Jealousy Good Heaven! what was there
any courtship between you two? The plaintiff was about
the age of forty-seven, and the defendant appeared to be a
mere shop-board suckling of about twenty-eight years of age.
She, however, with a hap-sided smile, owned the " soft im-
peachttent."
COMMISSIONER-What do you say to all this, Mr. Robins?
Defendant—(sighing like a furnace)-011, Sir, it is true,
too true, that jealousy is the cause of all this here.—
( Laughter.) My feelings is 'urt, Sir; and as I've read
somewhere in some book that somebody lent me, " The
heart as is
CommtssioNEß—Pray stop, Sir ; do you owe this money ?
Defendant—All in good time, Sir, as I was going to say,
" The heart as is
COMMISSIONER-Really, Sir, we cannot be trifled with in
this manner ; do you owe the money ? Defendant—Base is
the slave as pays ; Sir, let me tell yer," The heart as is —"
Plaintiff—Oh, Sir, this is only his " goings on." There
Sir, that very hat in his band I bought, and I took up a talley
bill to get it.—( Laughter. )
Defendant—Aye, and that there shawl you've got on your
ugly shoulders I bought, didn't I ? Plaintiff—Never mind—
you've got another woman, and so I'll make you pay me.
Defendant—lf you was anything but a " vvidder" you'd
be ashamed to look me in the face—but you arc ashamed
of nuthink.—( Laughter.)
Plaintiff—Nuthink, as you call it ; why you're worse than
nothing—you're the first tailor ever k knocv'd, and you shall
bo the last—(searcely anything could he heard amid the up-
roarious laughter which this colloquy brought forth.)
Mr. Commissioner Dußois at length, with the concurrence
of the jury, awarded a verdict for the full amount claimed—
viz., 1/. 19s.
" There my fine fraction," said the widow to the tailor as
she left the Court, " I told von I should do for you." The
tailor looked more sorrowful than did Sancho Panza when he
lost his ass's furniture ; or, in the words of a lackadaisical
modern melody—
" Not a sigh did he breathe, not a word did he say,
But he took up 1-is hat, and he waik'd away."

During the last year a considerable increase has
taken place in the number of fires in London. In the re-
ceding }•ear the number was 481, and in the year 1836 the
number was 564, and attended with the loss of 14 lives. Mnny
of these fires were very destructive, particularly two of them,
that in the Burlington Arcade, and the other at Fenning's-
w•harf. London-bridgce The latter, it is said, was the largest
that had occurred in the metropolis since the confisgration at
Rltelifre in 1794. It is, however, to be hoped, from the esta-
blishment of one uniform body of firemen, under die super in-
tendenee of Mr. Braidwood, who are in readiness night and
day, that fires so extensive and destructive will not, under ge-
neral circumstances occur again ; as it is the wish of the Lou-
don Engine Establishment to avail themselves to the utmcst
extent of the suggestions of practical men for improving their
present machinery, and of introducing ant thing new that pos.
s”sses superior advantages. Ree, ntly a number of important
improvements have been made in the cr7ines, accoutrements,
and discipline of the men, with a view of rendering them quite
efficient, both in the preservation of life and the protection of
property. Additional sets of scaling ladders of improved con-
struction have been provided, and the men have been very ex-
pert in the use of them. These ladders, with the improvements
made by Mr. Merryweather, 63, Long-nere, engine maker,
f ,rm the simplest and best fire escape yet known, and have
h-en extensively adopted by most of the metropolitan parishes,
insurance companies, :.nd the Society for the Protection of Life
from Fire. The greatest novelty. however, is the introduction
of a -mol:o proof dress of Lieut.- Col. Paulin, who has fully es-
tal,liOled the eflicifncv of this dress by actual experiment. It
vas submitted to the Committee of Managers of the Lonloh
Fire-engine Establishment, when Mr. Braidwood tested it
%vitt) the same successful results as M. Paulin &,tained.

Tile Heir to the Austrian Throne is now in his
seventh year. his father, the Archduke Franz Carl, the pre-
stnt Emperor's brother, is heir apparent ; his mother, the
Arelithe Ness Sophie, a l'rinccss of Bavaria, is the most dis.
tioguished perseo in the younger branches cf the Imperial
House. It is said that the present Emperor, conscious cf his
ph) s'c:l and mentel deficiencies, would. willingly have abdi-
cate I in favour of his brother, if it had cot been foreseen that
the Hungarian Nobles would have seized that change in the
succession as a pretext for insurrection. The Princess Sophie
has, with singularjudgrnent, caused her son to be exclusively
educated in the Bohemian language, with the exception of-the
lessons he receives front a French tutor ; nay, within the last
twelvernoaths, she has herself beean the ard,tons task of learn-
ing Bohemian. Shortly before the death of the late Empe-
ror, the young Prince Franz wrote a letter to his grandfather
in Bohemia, having his little hand (which in all probability
one day bear the sceptre of these realms) guided by his Bohe-
mian nurse ; but what astonished the Court more than all the
rest was, that the old monarch, whose good nature was equal to
Us statecraft, mustered up Bonernian enough at the close of
his days to write an answer in the same language to his grand-
son. The education thus given to an heir to the throne af-
fords some faint grounds for the hope that a monarch will one
div ruie in Austria not wholly unacquainted with the manners
and language of the most valuable parts of his dominions.—
British and Fore..qn Review.
The numerous frien,ls and admirers of the late Wil-
liam Cobbett, Esq., for Oldmae, having determined to cele-
brate annually the anniversary of his death by a public dinner,
rss reh'ed T..esday evening to the number o upwa ds of 120, at
the Dr. Johnson Hotel, 80lt-court, Fleet-street, for that pur-
pose. John Fielden, Esq., M. P., was in the Chair. lie was
supported on his right by Mr. Williams, M.P., the Rev. Dr.
Wade, Ald. Scales, and Mr. Wilkinson (foreman of the jury
who acquitted Mr. Cobbett in 1831); and on his left by Mr.
Rogers, Mr. Wells, and other gentlemen. After the cloth
was drawn and grace said, the toast of " The People" was
given. The Chairman then took a hasty review of the ponti-
fical conduct and writings of Mr. Cobbett, from the period of
his quitting France for America, previous to the breaking out
of the French revolution in 1793, down to the year 1335 ; and
after adverting to his prophetic warnings of the evils arising
from a paper currency, his zeal 'for the interests of the labour-
ing classes,-and his defence of the rights of the poor, he con-
cluded by proposing the memory of Mr.; Cobbett, which was
drunk in solemn silence. " The Jury who acquitted Mr. Cob-
bat in 1831," Universal Suffrage, Annual Parliaments, Vote
by Ballot, Payment of Members, and no Property Qualifica-
tion, &c. &c., were subsequently given and spoken to by
Messrs. Williams, M. P, Wells, Scales, Rogers, Dr. Wade,
and others.

On Tuesday morning last the family of Mr. Fallon,
of Bay's-bill school was thrown into a state of considerable ex-
citement and alarm. Between the hours of six and seven,
Master Viner, a pupil in the establishment, proceeded to the
bed-room of Master Watson, to inquire for his Greek gram-
mar ; supposing him to be asleep, he called to him several
times, and then took him by the arm to shake bite, when he
found him cold. He communicated the circumstance to Mr.
Fallon, and the assistance of Mr. Murky was immediately
procured, when it was found that life was extinct. The sto-
mach pump was resorted to, and a quantity of laudanum was
removed. From the evidence given on the inquest it appears
he had taken nearly an ounce and a half of laudanum. The
deceased, who was between 15 and 16 years of age, had lat-
terly manifested great depression of spirits, arising from the
absence of a mother in India, whom he loved with a strength
of affection rarely squalled. Mr. James Fallon, proprietor of
the school deposed at the inquest as follows :--" I have for
some months particularly noticed a very great degree of melan-
choly about him, and a great want of that energy and spirit he
used to have. He was-decidedly low in his spirits at times,
which caused me to alter my conduct and that of my assistants,
towards him, and to take particular notice of him.. He had
never told me the exact cause of his depression, but I have
collected it from circumstances which I know, and have heard
of. His mother was married about 18 or 19 months ago,
(August 13, 1835,) and afterwards left this country for Ben-
gal. I observed in him a much greater depression of spirits,
more particularly since his mother has left the country, so much
so as to the difference in which in which he did his school busi-
ness, and, knowing the cause of it, I never contradicted him,
or spoke an angry word to him, intending to give up the charge
when his mother came home. I never punished him, and had
no occasion to do so, unless it was on account of his school
business.! fHe has never to me expressed himself as to his mo-
ther's marriage ; he has once or twice. as I believe, come to
me for the purpose of telling me what his grievances were, hut
never did so, but said something frivolous. On one of these oc-
casions he had hid himself; be was at times in that despondine-
way as to forget himself. On one occasion he brought me a cal-
culation which was begun at the wrong end. I believe his
mind was affected when he thought on the subject of his mother's
marriage. When he was out at play he was like the other
boys ; Et times he would sit and brood, not playing with the
boys, he appeared so cowed ; at times he would not return a
blow when he received one from the smallest boys, and would
suffer himself to be joked and laughed at without resenting it,
which he would never du before."—A verdict of " Temporary
insanity " was returned.—Cheltenham Free Press.