The Sun.
London, England, 1825-08-06 00:00:00

thathe does not believe the reports true, such a man is sane or
not ?

Witness—Do you take it on yourself to say the adultery is
proved ?
SOLICITOR-GENERAL—I do, on her own admission in those
letters. .

Witness—presuming the crime to be proved, considering
her as the mother dins children, it. would not prove unsound-
ness of mind to restore her. It is no proof of unsoundness. I
may be a mistake-of his. I knew nothing of his state when
those letters were written. I merely speak of the present"; his
affection may be superior to his prudence. I say distinctly
this is no proof of unsoundness. •
__ _

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL—Have you not stated that un-
soundness of mind is always discernible ?

Witness—l really cannot say; show me the passage, and I
will tell you.
_ SOLICITOR-OEKETtAr.--Is it not one of your doctrines ?
Witness-=lam not bound to recollect all my doctrines; I did
not say that unsoundness of mind is always discernible. The
word is inthecillty, and .you will so find it. Imbecility is
to be explained by half a dozen other hypotheses than un-
soundness.

CommisvolVEß—Did Mr. Frank, in the course of your
conversation, originate.any idea ?,
Witness—Yes; he ,conversed with me the other day about
the great inconvenience and exp.:nce he shard & h, put to by
this examination. .He also spoke of local distances ; said there
was good fishing at Newark ; and that he had met with an ac-
cident at-Cambrvige, which prevented him from shooting. Our
.conversation did not merely consist in his answering questions ;
•he.kept up the ball of conversation. When I saw him to-day,
hespoke of your investigation yesterday. He appeared to be in
good spirits. I did not think myself justified in asking him
what had taken place. In conversing he did not speak so fast as
to cause confusion, or so slow as to make it appear that he
wanted memory.
Sir R. BllltilE-Will you mention one or two hypotheses
that will explain his state, besides unsoundness of mind.
Dr. Haslam—lf you will be satisfied with two, I will give
them. One is proffigacy=another is affection.
•In answer to a question.by a Juror.
Neither unsoundness, nor idiotcy, nor imbecility, applies to
the case of Mr. Frank.
Dr. Haslam then retired. . •

Mr. Propert, surgeon, examined—l have seen Mr. Frank,,in
March, and to-day, andyesteiday, and I perceived nothing like
unsoundness of mind.

In his cross-examination, be said that he regarded the con-
duct of Mr. Frank as proofs of a weak mind, but not of insanity.
He had known him for many years, and regarded him as a dis-
sipated but not as an insane man.

COMMISSIONER—How long have you known Mr. Frank,?
Witness—,Between seven and eight years : I have had fre-
quent opportunities of seeing him, and regarded him as a weak
man, and a depraved character, but nothing more.
A:half-past four o'clock, the case was postponed till to-mor-
raw, (this day).

MR. JUDGE AND COL. BERKELEY.

HEREFORD ASSIZES, A uG. 4.

[Before Mr. Justice BtinnotlGH and a Special Jury.]
JUDGE V. BERKELEY AND OTHERS.
At nine o'clock this morning this case, which had attracted
a most crowded audienee, was called on for trial. 'fen special
jurymen answered to their names. As William Symonds, Esq.
took the book to be sworn,
Mr. PHILLIPS, who led the plaintiff's case, rose and said
—Sir, before you take the oath, I beg to put one question to
you.
Mr. CAMPBELL, who was one of the Counsel for the defend-
ant, in the absence .filar: Taunton, said—ll eally I am astonish-
ed at this course: it is quite irregular. You forget that this is
a special jury struck by the parties themselves.
Mr. PHILLIPS—I am sure Mr. Symonds will not desire
to serve if he has expressed any opinion on the case out of
Court.
Mr. Symonds—l don't know what you mean, Sir:!
Mr. PHILLIPS-1 have been told that you have made a
strong declaration of your intention as to the verdict you will
give in this cause.
Mr. Symonds—l never did.
Mr. PHILLIPS.—I assure you I was so instructed, and it is
right you shonld know on what authority I asked the question.
I pledge myself you shall know when the trial is over.
Mr. Symonds.—Really I don't know what to do after what
has been said.
Mr. PHILLIPS.—If you act on your own feeling I shall be
perfectly satisfied.
Mr. Symonds was then sworn ; and John Freeman, Esq. ;
Thomas Serjeant, Esq. ; Samuel Compton, Esq. ; William
Palmer, Esq. ; James Hare, I•lsq.; •Richard Dansey; Esq. ;
Robert Price, Esq. ; Samuel Peploe, Esq.; and Kelehinge
Hoskins, Esq. were also sworn as asseelaleiusasa- A tale. w.s
prayed and Jobil Davenport and Santa Bishop being sworn,.
completed the Jury.
Mr. LOCKHART stated, that in this case Jasper Tomsett
Judge was plaintiff; and William Fitzhardinge Berkeley, Esq.,
Lord Sussex. Lennox, and Robert Carr Hammond, Esq., were
defendants. The declaration alleged a violent assault to have
been committed by the defendants on the plaintiff' on the 14th
of March, to which they. pleaded " Net guilty."
Mr. -Prirr.r.tiss stated the case on behalf of the plaintiff'. He
could assure the jury that it was with feelings of pain and sor-
row that he rose to bring before them the details of the case of
which they had heard an outline, not only on account of the
atrocity of the circumstances, it would be his duty. to disclose, ,
but also on account of the rank of the parties which those cir-
cumstances tended to degrade. The plaintiff; -Mr. Judge, was
a gentleman by birth and education, who had been the editor,
of a paper at Cheltenham, called the Cheltenham Journal, and
though probably inferior in rank and fortune to the defendants,
had supported a character without stain. •Mr. Hammond, one
of the defendants, was a gentleman of fortune and estate ; Lord
Sussex Lennox; another defendant, was son of the late, and
brother of the present Duke of Richmond, and participated in
no small degree in the fortunes of his illustrious family ; and
the third defendant, Mr. William Fitzhardinge Berkeley, who
perhaps was better known as Colonel Berkeley; was the inhe-
ritor of Berkeley Castle, and the proprietor of large estates in
Gloucestershire, worth not less than 20,0001. a-year. Colonel
Berkeley, whom, though first named on the record, he did not
admit to he chiefly to. blame in the atrocious outrage he was now
to describe, took it into his head, and perhaps justly, that he
had been spoken of harshly in the Cheltenham Journal. He did
not think proper to appeal to the laws of his country nor to call on
Mr. Judge to afford him satisfaction, but chose to go to his house,
attended and assisted by the other defendants, and there to per-
petrate the outrage which formed the basis of the present action..
It was with regret that he (Mr. Phillips) stated the part which
Lord Sussex Lennox took in this disgraceful transaction. He
went, on the 14th of March, to the -house where Mr. Judge
lived, with a letter in his hand, and asked if he was at home,
saying he had a letter for him, which was palpably and grossly
untrue. Mr. Judge was from home, and he retired, saying he
would call again to deliver the letter. About three o'clock he
Came again alone, to the door, while Colonel Berkeley was
peeping behind the corner of the street, to observe and profit
by the success of his enterprise. He was desired to walk in,
when instantly the two other defendants rushed into the house
and entered the room where Mr. Judge was sitting. Accord-
ing to the testimony of the servant who followed them, Mr.
Judge said, " Whom have I the honour of addressing?" Col.
Berkeley, who was armed with a heavy whip, gave his name,
and said, ." 1 am come for an explanation respecting the ar-
ticles in Your paper." Aar. judge made answer, " Come with
me to the office, and I will afford you any explanation you can
desire"—an answer which the jury would consider most pro-
per, when they knew that at this time there were ladieS in the
house whom Colonel Berkeley himself was in the habit of
visiting. The defendants replied, " No; we must have it
now; now, now ;" and on this, the maid retired from the
room. She was soon, however, recalled by the sound of
blows, and the cries of her master, and attempted to open the
-door, but one of the gentlemen within kept the door, so that she
could not open it. The defendants beat him till they were
tired, and then opened the door and allowed him to go into the
passage. There would be ample evidence that they all con-
curred in the outrage; and just as the door opened, either Lord
Lennox or Mr. Hammond said to Col. Berkeley, "D
—n it, he
has had enough ; let him go." Mr. Judge came out of the room
streaming with blood from head to foot, and in a condition of
pitiable weakness Which might, one would think, have satisfied
the most unrelenting hatred. But no; these defendants were
no ordinary persons--even yet they were unsated. Would tile
jury believe that, when their victim came out covered with
blood, and attempted to get to his room, he was pulled by a
nobleman, who laid old of the skirts of his coat, and held him
• to receive further punishment ? Would they believe that a
gentleman of fortune, Mr. Hammond, seized him 'by the hair,
and held him to receive Colonel Berkeley's blows ? ' Would they
believe that when a wig, which, on account of some indispo-
sition, he'had worn, came off; Col. Berkeley beat him over the
head thus exposed, till he cut the-ball of his eye, and laid open
hi 4 cheek from the eye to the lip ? Would they believe that,
after all this, Col. Berkeley retired laughing, and saying to his
companions, " Did not I give it him properly ?" with an oath.
All this, incredible as it seemed, would be proved by witnesses
beyond suspicion. ' Mi. Judge retired to his room, took to his
bed, and for a fortnight was incapable of leaving it. He had
gradually become better ; but an experienced oculist would
be produced, who would give his opinion that his eye was not
yet restored, and that it was still doubtful whether, it would
ever perfectly regain its powers. What defence was to be

made—rather what mitigation offered of this barbarous and
unparalleled outrage ? Would it be said that Mr. Judge
ought rather to have indicted these parties than to have sued
them ? Certainly he ought. if he could have done so; but
the persons of Lord Sussex 'Lennox and Mr. Hainmond were
unknown to hint : he felt that they were at least as Culpable.as
Colonel Berkeley ; and therefore be could not indict with suc-
cess. 'He had brought his action • but he could not have fixed
them -even civilly without an :dmission that they were the
guilty parties, which was given on express 'condition that he
would neither institute nor countenance any criminal pro-
ceeding ; therefore this was the only meana left to him of
bringing the defendants to justice. Of what feature of ag-
gravation was this case destitute ? No sudden passion could
have prompted the assault; for that was disproved by the
cold deliberation with which, it was conducted. If the de-
fendants had chosen to learn justice from the champions of
the ring, whose language they did not disdain to imitate,
they might have- learned that the lowest of those barbarians
would disdain to employ three to attack one, or take any
advantages but those of skill and science. But the worst ag-
gravation remained behind—the place chosen as the -scene of
this outrage—the very home of the plaintiff, within his peace-
ful threshold, beneath his sacred roof—in that temple which
our laws and our feelings alike hallowed, and which Lord
Chatham had exulted that the king dared not enter. And by
whom was this,: profanation committed ? By some desperate
outcast ? No; by a gentleman of fortune—a young nobleman
of the realm, and a magistrate, whose duty it would be to
close the prison-door on the peasant who should dare to imi-
tate his example! Tf the Jury had read of such a transac-
tion as ;happening in the wilds of Africa—if they should hear
of the serfs of the soil thus swindling themselves into the
house of an unarmed and defenceless man,'and drawing his
blood—if they should find them recurring in laughter to the
attack, and exulting in the sufferings of their victim; how
would they even then blush for humanity in its degradation
But, savages ,would not thus have acted ; they might take a
sudden and a fatal revenge for real or imagined 'Wrongs ; but
they were incapable of this ambushed cruelty—this compound
of atrocity and fraud, exhibited in the present transaction.
Let the Counsel for the defendants produce any parallel to this
-case—he would not say among the nobles and gentry of 'the
land—but among its rabble; and lie would give up his claim
to damages. Let them shew him a case in which the lowest
of men bad so conspired three to one to beat a defenceless
man ; had seen him streaming with blood, yet bad renewed
the.attack—and had laughed at his'agony; and then lie would
give to those of the aristocracy the benefit of the precedent. As
yet no such instance could be produced ; but if, by their ver-
dict, they treated the matter lightly—if they allowed these
parties to purchase ii,punity with a few' hundred pounds,
which were nothing to their fortunes, they might find parallels
among the people, and could they punish what they had assist-
ed to encourage ? It was rumoured that Colonel Berkeley
meant to palliate his conduct by asserting that he had been
attacked in the plaintiff's Journal. Suppose this true ; the Jury
would still consider—first, whether any provocation could kis,
tify such conduct; and, secondly, whether the provocation was
not itself provoked by the conduct—the public and notorious
conduct—of Colonel Berkeley himself. He denied that there
was any comment ;that the occasion did not justify ; and he.
hoped some lingering feeling of remorse—some respect for the
laws of God and man—would prevent Colonel-Berkeley from
again bringing forward the subjects to which allusion was made.
At all events, the other -defendants were free from the aggra-
vation of such an apology;—they were not attacked—their names
were never mentioned in the paper—they were without excuse
for thus attacking an unarmed stranger, and practically justi-
fying, in the eyes of the rabble, the worst theories of the level-
ler and the Jacobin. They were fortunate that they were ex-
posed only to the moral degradation of this trial; for if death
had ensued, as it might, they would all have been guilty of
murder, and must have answered it at the bar of earth and
Heaven. After some further. remarks on the manner of the
assault, and the rank of the defendants, the Learned Counsel
concluded by calling on the jury by their verdict to vindicate
the rank to which the defendants belonged from any sympathy
in their feelings, or participation in their conduct—to teach the
humblest class that they would, never invoke vainly, and the
highest that they could never outrage safely, the laws made for
all, and to assert and prove the-high and impartial justice of
their tribunal.

The admission of the defendants' attornies was read. They
admitted that LOrd Sussex Lennox and Mr. Hammond were
the parties who accompanied Colonel Berkeley to the house of
Mr. Judge. in consideration of an engagement by Mr. Judge's
attornies, that he would institute no criminal proceedings
againKt them. •

-Mary Curtis called and examined by Mr. JusTicE—l am
a married woman ; 1 follow the occupation of a washer-
woman .1- on Thursday, he 14th of March; •I saw .Col. Berke-
ley, with two gentlemen with him; I hid gene out for the pur-
pose of seeing. Colonel Berkeley ; when I saw them at first they
were alone, at Warwick-house • I saw them. go up Portland,
street ; know Mr. .Judge's house, it is in Northfield-place,
No. 14 ; I saw them all turn the corner to go towards Mr.
Judge's house; 'they were walking arm-in-arm together ; 1 fol-
lowed them • my intention in going out was to see Colonel
Berkeley ;.I went round the 'corner that leads to Northfield-
place; I saw all three in the passage of Mr. Judge's house;
I heard the noise of a horsewhip, and I heard .the cries of a
man, which caused me to go towards the house;. I saw
Colonel Berkeley come out of the house afterwards, with a
horsewhip in his ,hand ; .1 heard him say he had given it to
him cursed well; he was not laughing.. The other two gen-
tlemen were with him ; the same I. bad seen before. 1 saw Mr.
Judge in the passage ; the blood was runing down, his face.—
They went away the same way as they came ; towards the town
they went.

The defendant's Counsel declined asking this witness any
queitions..

Elizabeth Izzard called, sworn, and examined by Mr.
PHILLIPS.—On the 14th of March last, I lived at No. 13, North-
.field-place ; that is Mrs. Morris's house; Mrs. Sargent, a widow
lady, and her daughter live there; have seen, Colonel. Ber-
keley visit those ladies.; I knew his person from having seen
him repeatedly. At about two o'clock on that day, Lord Sussex
Lennox knocked at the. door; he asked if Mr. Judge was at
home ; I said he was not; his Lordship had a letter in his
band at that time; in about half an hour afterwards Lord Len-.
mix called again, with .a letter Otitia hand, and asked if 11Ir.
Judge was at home, lie said he had a letter for him,
and asked me to tell Mr. Judge so. 1 told him Mr. Judge
was at home, and went and told Mr. Judge that there was a
gentleman with a letter who wished to see him. He said,
." Shew him in ; I don't know who it is." In an instant, two
other gentlemen rushed in • one of them was Colonel Berkeley,
with a whip in his hand.
.'They all three went into the' parlour
where Mr. Judge was. I thtm left the room ; before I left it, I
heard Mr. Judge say, " Whom have I the honour of address-
ing ?" Colonel B. said, " My name is Colonel Berkeley. I
am under the necessity. of seeing; you about something in the
paper." Mr.. Judge said, " if'you will come to the office, I will
give you every intimation about it." I then went out of the
room, and I heard the gentlemen say, " No; we will have it
now; now ! now ! now !" repeating it three times. I closed
the door wheO 1 came out. When .I was in the passage, and
immediately after these words, I heard the lash of a whip re-
peatedly ; 1 heard also some of the gentlemen say, " Give it
him well, the rascal ! give it him well; it is what he deserves."
I could distinctly here Mr. Judge's voice, and he said, " For
God's sake, have mercy on me."' I
attempted to get into the
room but could not ; I ran for help next door, to Mr. Davis's,
but fcould not get assistance; his wife was alarmed at the
noise and had feinted. When Mr..Tudge came out of the room.
it was after the door was opened by seine one inside; he was
covered with blood, and the blood was running down his clothes.
He attempted to go up stairs, but the tall thin gentleman (Lord
Sussex Lennox) caught hold of the skirts of .his coat, and
pulled him down. The other gentleman with Colonel Berkeley
caught hold of his wig, and pulled it off; Colonel Berkeley
then struck him with the whip repeatedly over the face and
eyes. Afterwards I saw the premises • there was blood on the
sofa in the parlour, as also blood on the ground where he had
been standing in the passage ; and likewise a mark on the wall
of a bloody thong of a whip, about a foot in length. Medical
assistance was called in ; and Mr. Judge was confined about 14
days. Miss Morris saw these things, and also tried the door.
—This witness was cross-examined by Mr. Taunton, bat no.
thing important was elicited from her.
Miss Sarah Morris was called, and proved she was residing
in the house where Mr. Judge lodged at the time of the alleged
assault, and fully confirmed the testimony of the last witness.
She was not cross-examined.
Mr. Brown, assistant to Mr. Morley, a surgeon, of Chelten-
ham, proved the violent effects which the assault had produced;
and from the inflammation of his eye, it was necessary to apply
twelve leeches.
Mr. Maley, surgeon, confirmed the last witness's statement,
and proved that there was 'a long cut from Mr. Judge's eye to
the corner of his mouth. The lip was cut through, and there
was an injury inflicted in the cornea of the eye, which the plain-
tiff might never recover.
Other Surgeons were called who proved the most severe lace-
rations on. the plaintiff's head and face; and Mr. Ware, the
son of the oculist in London, proved that the cornea of the eye
was Considerably injured ; but he might recover it.
Mr. Warth, a saddler, residing in Cheltenham, said—On
the 14th of March, two gentlemen called on me to purchase a
whip. They examined several, but said they did not find one
heavy enough. They asked for a jockey's whip, which is a
heavy one. Captain Hathmond was one, and I believe Lord
Sussex Lennox was the other. They looked out two of the
heaviest, and said if they could not get a heavier one in the
town, they would take one of them.
Mr. PHILLIPS—That is the case for the plaintiff.
Mr. TAUNTON then,,in a most ingenious speech, stated that

tie did not mean to contend in this case that no assault had
been committed. Unquestionably, there had been. But, lie
urged, 'that the feelings of the defendant, Colonel Berkeley,
had been roused to such an excess by repeated and reiterated
attacks, not only on his own character, but on those of his
mother, and other members Of his .family, that it was utterly
impossible, with the feelings'of a man, that he could abstain
from inflicting that castigation which was so justly called for:
The Learned Counsel then proceeded to comment on the atro-
city and malignity of the following .publications in the Chelten-
ham Journal, which were afterwards read in evidence. Let
any one look at the malevolence here depicted :
" Cheltenham, Jan. 3.—Colonel Berkeley was for many
years universally recognized and received as the eldest legiti-
mate son of the late Earl of Berkeley, by the title of Lord
Dursley. The famous Berkeley Inquiry, in the year 1811,
however, reduced him from the patrician to the plebeian rank
of society. His mother, the present Countess of Berkeley,
was a Miss Tudor, alias Cole, the daughter of a butcher in
Gloucester. The 4 Inquiry' disclosed some curious particulars
of the late Earl and his Lady."
Heavens I Were all these passages in the private history of
families to be thus ransacked, raked up, and published " as
fashionable chit-chat," to gratify the most depraved appetite
for scandal ? Did the Jury mark the cruel 'and contemptnous
" alias" applied to the Countess of Berkeley—an epithet Com-
monly heard as associated with criminals at the bar of justice ?
Was that man to be blamed who suffered the great instinct of
'human nature to overcome his sense of positive law, and to in-
duce him to take vengeance for such an insult on a venerable
mother ? And in the same paper was an attack on Colonel Ber-
keley himself; and here it was to be regretted, that the name
of a laxly, already too much the subject of public calumny, must
be introduced once more. With the merits of her case the Jury
had nothing to do; with them Mr. Judge had nothing on.
earth to do ; and the motive which induced him to introduce it
would appear in the sequel. , The article was headed"-:hiss
FoOte," and a grosser string of falsehoods was never penned.
It contained the following attack on. Colonel Berkeley : •
"Miss Foote, at a very early age, became acquainted with
Colonel Berkeley, and was his victim. It is really difficult .to
know what expression to use when speaking of such gentle-
men as the Colonel. Fame is not a word to be coupled with
their names. They are famous who, in the field of battle, the
senate, or the seclusion of their own study, benefit their native
land y the exertion of their bravery or their talents. Those
are the votaries of fame—not the heartless seducer, the shame-
less adulterer—the man who saves A few hundreds at a trial by
spewing the letters of his partner in guilt; nor the faithless lover
who, having triumphed over the prudence of a-beatitiful and ami-
able
girl, refuses her the reparation which he had promised, and !
accuses her of a diminution of affection when she says, " Perform
your promise; marry me; let me not bring another miserable
being into the world ; marry me, and let my second child be legi-
timate." Col. B.'s answers are invariably full of equivocation;
they come from the head, not from the heart; and while we per-
use them we cannot but suspect that they were written with a
presentiment that the writer might one day find it his interest
to print them. " The Examiner" of last Sunday says, that
Colonel Berkeley should have been the very last person to plead
family as an obstacle to marrying' Miss Foote, asheis himself
the offsprina• of a connexion previous to wedlock. Indeed ! is,
it even so ? It seems, then, that Miss Foote, even after she was
seduced by Col. Berkeley, was in all respects the equal of Col.
Berkeley7s mother! We have said that .we cannot call him fa-
mous—infamous is a strong word; notorious will answer our
Furpose. Her notorious persecutor seems to assert that Miss
oote had no longer a claim upon him, because she had listen-
ed
to the honourable addresses of other men. Now it is ob-
vious from her letters, that when other proposals were made to
her, she still clung anxiously to his promises, and the chief
cause of.complaint which Mr. Hayne has against her is, that,
while she was professing regard for him, she was evidently im-
ploring Col. Berkeley to fulfil his promises with all the un-
diminished ardour of a first love, and was dreading a final.sepa-
ration from the father of her children. If she was playing a
double game, who caused her to do so ? Who placed her in a
miserable and humiliating situation, from which she was anxi;.
ous to extricate herself by every means in her power ? Did Miss
Foote make large demands on Colonel Berkeley:during her en-
gagement with him ? No! she had no settlement ; and his
presents did ,not exceed 1001. in value. flad-she the advantage
of his society and protection during that period? No ! she was
neglected during many months of every year. Was she ever
accused of being faithless to her seducer, or was her conduet in
any ways reprehensible ? No ! no woman could be more re-
spected than Miss Foote. Mr. Fawcett'lletters speak volumes
in her favour, and there is not, I believe, an Individual in. Covent
Garden Theatre who would not gladly bear testimony to the
Mildness, modesty, anti propriety of her manners. Was Col.
Berkeley as faithful to Miss Foote, and was his conduct•as
blameless and irreprehensible ? Let trials at Gloucester, and''
triumphs at Cheltenham, answer the question ?"
Could any thing be more atrocious? Of the facts of Miss
Foote's case, Mr. Judge could know nothing • yet thus he chose
boldly to colour it. Here also, in. The Cheltenham Journal,
of the 10th of January, was another slanderous libel :
" Colonel Berkeley and Mr. Claggett.--4n the course of the
publication which arose out of the late trial, Foote a. Hayne, a
gentleman of the name of Claggett, thinking himself reflected
'upon by Colonel Berkeley, required an explanation of that
gentleman ; the Colonel in consequence has
.written to Mr.
C. stating that he meant nothing disgraceful to him, and thus
the matter has dropped. IVe have given the letters in another
part of our paper. '.—There was another atrocious libel in.
the same paper :—" It was common some time singe in the
fashionable circles of the metropolis (in allusion to a certain
non-fighting reginient of :Hussars) if a Man showed a white
feather to remark,' the 10:11 don't fight.' 4 The Colonel don't
fight,' is now the bye-word of contempt amongst the leaders of
the-ton." Then (said Mr. TAUNTON), canoe this, in the pa-
paper of February 28th
" The Berkeley Hunt Affair.—ln giving a description of
this very ludicrously " got up" affair, to those who may
feel an interest in such matters, we would- wish to abstain
froth all personal! remarks towards ale great Lion of the
night, Colonel Berkeley, or those of his visitors who ho-
noured him with their support, by attending the Berkeley
Hunt Ball, at the theatre on Thursday evening; ' but we
feel ourselves called on, in the performance of our duties
to that public by whom we are so highly patronized (du-
ties indeed !), to give those particulars connected with " the
affair"- which transpired with that strict regard to truth,
by which we hope our journal will always be diStinguish-
ed. Every possible exertion had been made for a long
time previous by the friends of Colonel Berkeley to give all the
eclat and effect to this annual affair, in order to attempt proving
to the world that recent circumstances which have occurred, in-
stead of lessening the great Lion in the estimation of his Chel-
tenham supporters, had only tended to raise his character still
higher in their opinion, and to justly entitle him to their unqua-
lified admiration. About 4 o'clock on Thursday afternoon, sym.
ptoms of his approach manifested themselves by the appear-
ance of 200 or 300 dirty fellows, hallooing and shouting through
the High-street, evidently well .primed for the occasion, who,
we have no doubt, would have shouted just as loud, and with
as much sincerity of feeling, if they had been engaged on the
same terms to announce the aPprdach of Jack or any
other respectable personages.—(A laugh.)—ln the cavalcade,
amongst which there were certainly some respectable indivi-
duals, we observed two fistic champions, Messrs. Cannon and
White-headed Bob (as he is called by " the Fancy,") and Mr.
Pea-green Hayne (as he was dubbed by Colonel Berkeley.)—
In the Colonel's carriage, which was in the rear of the pro.
cession, we observed a party
.of ladies. We certainly congra.
tulated the Colonel on his improved taste, who, instead, as
was his custom on former occasions of this nature, of compli-
menting the good folks of Cheltenhani, by driving his -bull
dog only in his carriage, gallantly escorted those ladies,
-whose character an''s respectable demeanour add lustre to
their rank. Notwithstanding the waving of sundry dirty
pocket handkerchiefs, the throwing up of half a dozen
greasy caps into the air, and the shouts of a few -score of
idle apprentices, Berkeley must not imagine that by such ma-
nifestations of approbation he may consider himself secure
in the estimation of the respectable portion of the inhabi-
tants of this town; who Icioked upon the burlesqued pageant
merely as an attempt to gain his lost popularity, and to recover
that respect to which at onetime, perhaps, he was justly entitled,
Although there were observed many respectable families at the
ball in the evening, still there was something wanting to give
that pleasing satisfaction to those who attended it which had
been experienced on former occasions. Whether that ennui,
which was so evidently felt by the thin list of fashionables
throughout the evening, was occasioned by the reflection that
by their presence they were applauding the conduct of an adul-
terer, we will not pretend to say; but we are convinced when they
give this subject one moment'sconsideration, they will feel as mo-
thers that they have been supporting the pretensions of a man, in
.whose society the virtue of their daughters would be placed 'in
time most imminent danger. We have it Iron-1111e very best au,
thority, that many families or the highest rank and respecta-
bility in the neighbourhood, who had received tickets for that
evening, declined the invitation—for what reason is best known
to themselves. We are confident, that from the decreased
number of fashionable visitants on the occasion to what it had
heretofore been, that it will clearly point out to Colonel Ber-
keley, that, whatever may be the opinion of the profligate, the
giddy, and the dependent, what are the predominant feelings
of the better thinking and more discerning part of the com-
munity. We are assured by a correspondent, " that upwamds
of 100 ladies of the leading fashionables at this place, refused to
accept of tickets for the Berkeley Hunt ball, and though several
heads of families were urged by personal applications with
an importunity not very delicate, they peremptorily refused
the invitation." We understand the number of persons who
attended " the affair" did not amount to 140, • two-thirds of
whom were gentlemen. " Oh, what a falling of was there;''