The Sun.
London, England, 1808-07-14 00:00:00

SOLD N.Eln.

• 7'-o-pnv CSSvn, JULY 12. 1".
Prised by—the Swallow, brigny, and the Elio, Blake'
from Cork.
Sailed—th: Betsey, Otto, fox Baltimore.

LATI7 REPORT.

COIAT OF CONINION PLEAS, lut-y43..

CRLM. CON.

FOWLEV. V. HODGESON.

This was an action brought by the Plaintiff to re-
cover damage.; for the
,ctintinal conversation of the
Defendant whit his wife. • .
_

Mr. Serjeant. ONSLOW, for the Plaintiff, stated,
that his client was en Attorney of the Common'
Pleas otirti residing in Biackfriars:road ; that—he
had been married/to Mrs. Fowler, in 1787 ; that hie>
hadfour children by her ; that he had al a ays con-
dilated himself towards her in the most affectionate
manner, and she bad returned'that. affection until her
connexion with the Defendant, whom. he had em-
ployed as his articled clerk. • He then briefly de-
tailed the circumstances that led to the present
ac-
tion, and called witnesses; who proved the good un-
derstanding and harmony that had existed between_?
' Mr. and Mrs. Fowler fur a period of 20 years.
Anne Aubrey,'a girl of 18 years of age, .who lived
as servant in the house of the Plaintiff during the
course "of last year, stated that her master had some
tine befefe caught a violent cold while out v ith
his corps of Volunteers,.on a very rainy King's
Birol Day, from the effe6ts of which heswas not as
yet recovered. It was his Lyrae:lice logo to Margate
for the benefit of the sea-bathing every stiminer,
from that period, by the advice of his physician,
who had
,also recommended that be should sleep
apart from Mrs. Foot ler. Mrs. Fowler was, about
42 years of age, and the Defendant,, Hodgeson, a
• young man from the country, from 21 to 24. In
August, last year, Mr. Fowler went to -Margate.
The Defendant saw him' on board the Packet at
five o'clock in the morning, and afterwards returned
to Mr. Fowler's house. He had not before been an
inmate of the house, but during her master's ab-
sence he had luncheon and tea regularly with her
mistress, and sometimes continued with her till tea
o'clock/at night, and she generally found the bliails
dow n in the apartment in which they had been sit-
ting. In December last she liappenethteenter. the
back office, where she saw the Defendant and her
mistress in a situation that aff.rded a violent pre
surilptiOn of Mrs FoWler's infidelity to her husband.
The witnes, went down stairs, and burst out a cry-
ing, not having been accustomed to such indecencies.
On Christinas Day, three or toter days afterwards,
her mistress came down to the kitchen in the morn-
ing, halt'naked,' and called the Defi:ndant from the
office-to put in her ear-rings. He cameaceording-
ly,, and the Witness left 'them togeiher,, In
of a conveisation. witty Mrs. Glover, a
charwoman, about these and othq circumstances,
Which was °eel-heard by her' mistress, she received
warning to leave,dier .service—but previous to her
quitting the hou.a, having gone out and left the De-
f endantt and her mistress together, she found on her
retain, 'the counterpaix of her master's bed very
much rumpled. She likewise stated, that during her
master's absence the Defendant and her-mistress had
gone out together, and staid till two o'clock in the
morning, and that after her master's return the De-
fendant, by desire of her mistres4, had his tea pri-
vately in (he orlice.
Maria Wiles, who came into the Plaintiff'S'ser% ice
ell the dismiss 4 of the last witness, stated, that she
accidentally entered the parlour, where slit, saw her
mistress on a sofa chair with her clothes all rumpled,'
and the Defendant standing near her, who, how-
ever, immediately flew to the sideboard, and pre-'
tended to be reading the newspapers, Her mistress
pushed her out by the shoulders, and said, that one
would think she bad been born in a' wood. Having
communicated this and other circumstances to her
master, she and Mrs. Glover, the charwoman, were
directed to watch her mistress and the Defendant.
They overheard a conversation, in which Mrs. Fow-
ler complained of being unwell, and charged the
Defendant with being the cause, to u inch the De-
fendant replied, that it was all c-d,stuff, that she
had derived no complaint from him. They also
talked of the necessity of being on their guard—and
the witness bored a hole in the drawing-roOm door
h asiniblet, through which she observeddnileeent
Ilnerties take place,b6tween the Defendant and her
mistress.

Serjeant BELL, for the Defendant, endeavour-
ed to i:npz.ach the credit of theiwittiesses ; out'sup-
posing the crime-to have been committed, he con-
tended the woman-must hive been the seducer, and
;:tile more than nominal damages ought to be given.
Sir J. MA&SPIELD said, a new doctrine had been
attempted io be set up, as if the Judge and Jury were
tb be constituted censors to punish adultery: ,Witb
that, however,' they- had nothir.g to do—they were
merely to consider the damage done to the Plaintiff,
as in other civil aCtions.. As tothe fact of the adul-
tery, that appeared to be sufficiently proved ; but
there seernedlittle doubt the woman was the seducer.
The Jury retired, and in about a quarter of i!n hour
returned a verdid for the Plahuitf—darnages 1.501.

HEDGE-HOGS.--The following fa& will prove
that these quadrupeds are not so itinoxious as several
of our Historians declare them to be ; and that
charges alledged against their race by gaMekeepers,
warrebers, and others, may have been well-founded :
few nights since a servant of Arr. Ellis, of Cooks-
bridge, Sussex, hearing a noise among some chick-
ens, of a size nearly fit forr-the poulterer, got up to
dis6over the cause, when he found a large female
hedge-bog in the aal of killing *one of the fowls,
and with the body of ano:ller which she bad killed
lying bleeding by her. Mr. Ellis had previously lost
upwards of 83 young ducks,*Which he has now no
doubt fell martyrs to the same depredator, or to
some of her family. it is unnecessary to add,_that
the man executed immediate vengeance on the
prickly thief.
A melancholy accident happened yesterday after-
noon on the Fulham-road : three young children
belonging to a ';widow of the name of Ram accom-
panied their mother on a visit to the house ef-A
tradesman in the road, and whilst the childro- welk,
amusing themselves by romping at the window of
the second-floor back room, one of them, a tinegirl
five years old, fall a distance of 50 feet into the area.
!rite tall was somewhat impeded by some flowers on
-the first-floor landing, but her limbs .wr,re broken,
and she was otherwise so much bruisedaliat no hopes
are entertained of her ree!oOpy.