The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-09 00:00:00

LITERATUBB.

The Romance of the Forum ; or, Narratives,
Scenes, and Anecdotes from Courts of Justice.
By Peter Burke. Second Series. 2 vole.

Hurst and Blackett.
It is not likely that any one who has not perused
a work of this description could form a correct idea
of its great interest and manifold attractions. There
is something more to be met with than dry details
of business and law transactions': we meet with
the deep-laid schemes and occult contrivances that
produced the crimes whose contemplation and
study have been the marvel of mankind. From
generation to generation the records of these deeds
are handed down ; they form the topic of conver-
sation, the theme of controversy, and the subject
of gossip in all the circles of the land. The fashion-
able, the learned, and the vulgar unite to discuss
and argue their various points. It is not astonish-
ing that a compilation of the most remarkable
crimes that have been brought to light during the
last century should be informing and engrossing.
One of the most notable anecdotes is that entitled.
" The Great Douglas Cause," in which the con-
fusion that arose from the uncertainty of the
proofs is made strikingly manifest., Mr.
Douglas was declared to be the son of Lady
Jane Douglas by one party, while others asserted
that he was an impostor. After much laborious
seeking and proving nothing was decisive, and the
matter was finally arranged by Mr. Douglas suc-
ceeding to the title and estates, 'as nothing was
established of sufficient importance to justify his
being branded as an impostor. " Marie Delorme"
is an extravagant sketch. The only possible
reason to be assigned for her conduct is that she
was completely bewildered and perplexed by her
parents' foolish arrangements for her sake. " The
Spectral Treasure" is a very curious tale, of a man
who, to better his condition of a labourer, gave
out that he possessed a treasure. He accused an
innocent man of robbing him, and it was owing to
a chance that this unlucky individual was not sub-
jected to the torture, such cruel means being re-
sorted to in those days by the French courts of
law. " Murders in Inns of Court" are shocking
instances of crime, in which the guilty are dis-
covered by their own unwariness. " Matthieson
the Forger" is one of the most celebrated
characters in this work in the way of cun-
ning and cleverness. He contrived, for some
time, to pass Bank of England notes which
he made himself, so perfectly and precisely similar
that it was impossible to detect the difference. He .
forged the hands of the cashier and the entering
clerk so marvellously that the men themselves could
not know their own writing. It was resolved to
give up the case for want of legal evidence, when it
was said that Matthieson had committed himself
some time before by his avowal of guilt on his
arrest. Not knowing the chance in store for him,
he had imprudently declared his doings. It is stated
that his art was beyond the usual means of reach.
Had he been suffered to flourish long, no man
could have been safe in taking a bank note who had
not the books of the Bank to resort to." According
to the custom of that ti me, Matthieson was hanged at
Tyburn. " A Rescue from Execution" is an interest-
ing account of the fortunate deliverance of two men
who were to have been hung for the supposed theft
of a shilling. " The Accusing Spirit" is a strange
proof of the power of a guilty conscience in a man
named Joseph Brown, who gave himself up to j ustice
more than four years after the murder took place.
"Eccentric Occurrences" furnish some wonderful
events. "A Ghost—a Murderer indeed," in which
the man who saw the ghost of the missing indivi-
dual was afterwards proved to be the one who had
committed the murder himself ; his plan of con-
cealing himself finally was the mode of his dis-
covery. " Adventuresses of Pretended Rank" is
an entertaining narrative of the tricks played by
two artful women. The first, the German Prin-
cess, was executed ; but the details relating to the
false Countess are only ludicrous, and are a pleasing
change to the many fatal scenes here recorded and
chronicled. The conduct of the French General
is so strange and inconsistent that it is not
to be wondered at that the President, at his trial,
concurred in the belief of one of his wives, that the
sun of St. Domingo had turned his brain. A long
account of the "Esher Murder" is at the conclu-
sion of the catalogue of crimes and misdemeanours.
The general reader will find subjects worthy of
attention, the thinker will meet with matters of
n stud and the lovers of the startling and myste-
rious will obtain the desired information in these
volumes. They have had living witnesses to attest
the marvels wrought by their heroes, and their
romance has been enacted on the vantage-ground
of reality.