The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-09 00:00:00

BOOTH V. CRESWICK.

The COURT then proceeded with the arguments in this
part heard case, which were not concluded when his
Lordship rose.

ROLLS COURT. Dec. 8.
COCKERELL v. BRIDGEMAN.
This suit was instituted by the plaintiff against Mr.
Hewitt Bridgerna.n M.P., the defendant, to recover the
amount of a bill ofexebange, accepted by the defendant,
and which had been subsequently lost. In February,
1838, Mr. 1). F. Ryan drew a lyill of exchange for
621. 10s: at three months, which, for his accommodation,
was accepted by the defendant. This bill was shortly
afterwards, and before it became payable, indorsed by
Ryan, and paid over to Messrs. Hodgson itnd Burton, by
whom, on the 18th May, 1838, it was presented at the
dwelling-house of the defendant, who was then in Ire-
land, but it Was not paid. 'The bill was subsequently
lost or accidentally destroyed, not having been paid by
the drawer or acceptor. The defen'dant admitted
the acceptances of n bill of `exchange of the same
date and amount for the accommodation of Ryan, and
alleged that he had supplied Ryan with the money to
take it up, and that this would have been done if proper
application had been made for payment, and the bill had
been forthcoming,. but that the plaintiff had given him
notice on the 21st May, he being then in Ireland, that
unless it was immediately paid a bill would be filed
against him ; and on the 28th of the same month filed
the present bill. He therefore contended that under these
Circumstances he was not liable. old that there Was no
evidence that the bill was lost, nor that the plaintiff had
given any valuable consideration for it.

Mr. Pemberton and Mr. Elderton appeared for the
plaintiff, and Mr. James Russell for the defendant.
The Masi.En of the Rokts said the evidence was not
so satisfactory as it ought to be, since neither Ryan nor
the person who presented the bill had been examined,
but he would look it over, and give judgment on Monday
next.

LANGTON V. NORTON AND BIRNIE.
This suit was instituted by the plaintiffs, who were
mortgagees of the ship Ann, against the defendant,
Horton, whom they alleged to be a prim mortgagee, but
who claimed an absolute interest in the ship and stores,
and against the defendant, Birnie, the mortgager, for
an account of the money received by them on the sale
of the ship and stores.

The case for the plaintiff not being concluded when
the Court rose, the cause was ordered to stand over
until Friday.
VICE CHAIN' CIiLORS7 COURT, Dec. S.
(Before the Vr CHANCELLOR: of ENGLAND.)
FLETCHER V. NORTHCOTE.
This case, which occupied his honour during the whole
of the morning, came before the Court upon exceptions
to the Master's Report. The discussions on the several
items gave rise to no question of general interest.
(Before Vice-Chancellor WionAm.)
His HoNoun disposed of several short causes and unop-
posed petitions, containing no feature of general interest.
-WALKER V. JEFFREYS.
In this cause the bill was filed for the specific perform-
ance of a covenant in a lease of mines, to grant a new
lease for 21 years at the expiration of a7lease which had
been granted for 42 years. The defence was that the
mines had no been worked for more than 20 years; that
the object, therefore, for which the, lease was granted
had not been fulfilled, and that no rent had been paid to
the lessor's, who were entitled to a rent for every ton of
coal, coke, and ironstone raised. It was admitted for the
plaintiff that his object was not to work the mines him-
self, but to prevent any working of them by other parties,
which might injure some very large and valuable iron-
works which had been erected
,by the plaintiffs on the
surface.
The case was part heard yesterday, an,. ,1
was not con-
cluded when we went to press.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Dec. 8.
BREACH •OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.
DARBON V. ROSSER.

The proceedings in this case were resumed this morninz
and the moment the doors were thrown open, there was-,
tremendous rush, by which, in a few minutes, every part
of the Court was crowded to suffocation, and several hun-
dreds, who filled the avenues, were unable to obtain ad-
mission.

The first witness called .on behalf of 'the plaintiff this
morning was—
Mrs. Anne Birch—l am the wife of Mr. Edward
Birch. He is an importer of Irish linens in Great Rus-
sell-street, Bloomsbury. I have known the defendant as
a neighbour and a customer for many years.
I don't
know the members of the family. I recollect Mr. Rosser
applying for a list of prices about the 20th,
under-clothing. 21s or 22d
of April. 1840. They were ladies' I
have seen the list since. It was since shown me by
Mr. Binns, the plaintiff's solicitor. A letter was sent
from our house to Mr. Rosser enclosing the list.
Mr. Rosser is a very fine gentlemanly man. I
thought him about sixty.five. His manners were
very courtly. He told me he wanted the list for a
friend or an acquaintance. That she wanted a few things
for the present, and might want more at a future time
for a wedding. He seemed in excellent health., I
thought I saw him yesterday in Court, bat I am not
quite sure.
Mrs. Mary Clarke was called but did not answer.
Mr. George Barrett--I am foreman and general ma-
nager of Stores, the jeweller, in Regent-street. recol-
lect selling a wedding-ring on the 20th of April last, in
a box similar to this now Fianded me.
Mrs. Miry Cozier-1 knew the defendant, Mr. Rosser,
between 40 and 50
years. He has to the best of
my
knowledge carried on the business of a solicitor during
that time in Ityd Lion-square. Ho has acted as a soli-
citor for me. His house is a very good one for any
thing I know. I have only been in his office. .I have
borrowed money in the way of business, :but, repaid it
again.
Mr. Justice VirlctermAß did not see' the object of the
examination.
Mrs. Mary Clarke-1 am manager of Mrs. Day's es-
tablishment, 316, Regent-street. I have been there for
five years. Between thz 27th and 30th of April last
year a gentleman came to speak to me about a bonnet.
is age was about sixty—a very fine old gentleman.—
(Laughter.) He looked at a great many. He came a
day or two afterwards with a young lady, whom I now
know to be Miss Sophia Darbon. She appeared to be a •
very nice young d,out 25. She- seemed in very
good health and spirits. I have seen her once

since, two or three days. ago. She came with
a gentleman. Her appearance was not at all
what it was on the former occasion. She was altoge-
ther changed, and decidedly for the worse. When Miss
Darbon first came, she chose a bonnet, which was sent to
Clarence. terrace, Hampton-common. The gentleman
wrote the address, but I have mislaid the memorandum.
A few days afterwards, about the 3d May, the gentleman
called and paid for the bonnet, which he said was very
much approved of. He said it was for a particular occa-
sion, and should be sent at a particular time. I have
seen him pass the window since, but he did not come in.
I saw him in the Court I think yesterday. I thought he
looked older.
Cross-examined by Mr. TIIESIGER—I don't think he
was changed for the worse. From his manners I should
have thought him about 60. He was particularly polite
and attentive to the lady and to me. Ladies are generally
in good spirits when they go to a milliner's to choose a
bonnet.—(Great laughter.) The gentleman had more to
say than the lady. It was her attorney that came with
her two or three days ago. I recognised the lady in-
stantly. She did not speak to me at all, but seemed to
be in very low spirits. I have no recollection of any
thing that then passed.
Joseph Oughton—l carry on the business of a law
stationer. I know the defendant, and am acquainted
with his hand-writing. I saw him yesterday in the gal-
lery of the Court. Mr. Rosser has always resided in
Red Lion-square as long as I have known him. He has
lived in a respectable way ; it is a very good house, and
well furnished.
A large number of letters which had been referred to
by Mr. Platt in his opening speech, amounting to about
sixty, were then put in. Mr. Platt said there were
about twelve or fifteen others which he wished to have
put in. lie had made the best selection from the corre-
spondence he could, because, if the whole was read, it
would keep them there for the remainder of the week.
Several letters were then put in and read ; in some of
them he requested her not to vex herself about an infirm
old man, and expressing his fears that his unceasing in-
firmities would not allow him to fulfil his engagement.
In others he offered her the use of houses he possessed in
London, Islington, and Edward-square for the use of her
mothers and sisters, and these were wishes repeatedly
expressed that they would come and reside near him.
He also suggested that he should withdraw the stock and
allow her an annuity.
The three letters written by Mr. Kitchen to the
plaintiff were then read ; they were dated the 3d, 9th,
and 15th Oct., 1836, regretting that she had broken off
the intercourse between them ; that he knew he was not
liked by her, and saying it was time to put an end to it
altogether. One of the letters inclosed Si., which the
plaintiff returned ; and he requested her, whenever she
wanted money, to call on him, and always to consider
him her friend.
This closed the case for the plaintiff.
Mr. MERGER (with whom was Mr. Grey) then ad-
dressed the Jury for the defendant. There had been a
studied endeavour to parade the case into an undue
degree of importance. It had been ushered into Court
by paragraphs that had gone the rounds of the news-
papers, and by which public curiosity had been excited.
It had been opened by his Learned Friend in
an elaborate speech of nearly four hours, which had been
followed by a minute and tedious examination, as if his
Learned Friend had been apprehensive that so very im-
portant a case should be too soon decided ; and Mrs.
Darbon yesterday, in the exultation of her heart at the
important part which she was performing in the eyes of
the public, declared that there had not been such a case
for 100 years.—(A laugh.) lie thought the statement
was rather below the truth, for he believed that such a
case, with such parties, and under such circumstances,
was without a parallel. On the one hand they had an
old man, whose term of life had been protracted far
beyond the ordinary space of human existence ; the
vigour of whose mind had evidently been broken
uner the weight of years, and who had displayed
that weakest of all weaknesses of the human
family at a time of life when he might hare
been employed in higher and better thoughts,
and who believed himself capable of feeling and inspiring
a tender and romantic affection. On the other hand, they
had a young woman not unwilling to take advantage of
that weakness, and counterfeiting a passion which it was
quite out of the ordinary course of nature that she
should feel ; and, with the assistance of her mother,
weaving a web round the doting and infatuated old man
from which it was quite impossible for him to
extricate himself, but by a painful and public exposure.
They might smile at the follies exhibited to them in that
case ; but, after a moment's reflection, it must be tinged
with melancholy. It could not be forgotten, that, during
the whole course of a long life, Mr. Rosser had main-
tained a character of the highest respectability, and it was
pitiful indeed to see his declining years stamped
with contempt. It was impossible for them not to feel
for himself and his family, who had suffered most deeply
by his conduct, whose days had been embittered by the
conduct of their father, and one of whom he feared
had been hurried by it to any untimely death ;
the bolt had been shot ridicule had done its
worst. There could be no more painful cir-
cumstances induced—nothing more could be dis-
closed to wound the feelings of those who had re-
garded the old man with reverential lore ; and lie
should therefore feel it his duty to expose as far
as possible the arts to which he had fallen a vic-
tim, and he thought they would be satisfied when
they heard the disclosures he had to make, that it had
been the endeavour of these parties to fetter him in such
a way, that it was impossible for him to break through,
except by means of the sacrifice of that worldly wealth
which it was the principal object of these parties
to obtain. It had not been an unprofitable speculation
already. It appeared that the family had been for three
or four years subsisting on the bounty of the old gentle-
man. That they had received, besides 6661. stock in-
vested in the name of the daughter, at least 60/ per
annum, besides 401. for the wages of a servant, for
extricating himself from the trammels thrown around
him. Never was a trout more delicately tickled. Never
had an angler been more expert than Miss. S. Dar-
bon had shown herself, in allowing her prey to run to
the end of the line with the hook in his jaws, and then gra-
dually drawing it back again until his powers of resistance
were exhausted. He could show from his letters that there
could not be the slightest doubt that from beginning to
end she was instigated by mercenary motives ; it would be
shown that Miss D. had kept copies of the letters, and re-
ceived various presents from time to time. One could
understand now why the mother and daughter should be
so unwilling to put an end to the state of vaccillation
and uncertainty in which the old gentleman continned
during the whole period to which their attention had been
directed. One would have supposed that the mother, at
least, would have been desirous to put an end to such a
state of things, and then she would have imperatively
called on Mr. Rosser to ascertain what his ultimate in-
tentions were. But it was too profitable a matter. She
was unwilling to stop the source which supplied the
golden eggs from day to day, and therefore she encou-
raged the old man, and favourably entertained him.
His Learned Friend had denied it showing the possi-
bility, at some future day, of the matter becoming a sub-
ject of public inquiry. Such a course, he thought,
unprecedented, when a person tenderly and faith-
fully loved a man and poured forth the emotions
of her heart to him by letter. He would show
by the plaintiff's own letters that she had told him
she had kept copies of her letters. He would remind
them of the evidence given by the mother, that the let-
ters had never been copied ; but the fact proved
that these parties were preparing for the evil day
when it might be necessary to make use of these mate-
rials, in order to compel Mr. R. to comply with their de-
mands. That he thought was an index to the whole of
the case. Mr. R. was 79 years old when he lost his wife,
and Mrs. D. would persuade them that he immediately con.
ceived the idea of consoling himself for her loss, by pro-
fessing the warmest attachment for Miss D., but he did
not think that was quite in the natural course of things,
and that he should have, under such affliction, entertained
thoughts of a person young enough to be his grand-
child.—(A laugh.) They had no evidence except that of
Mrs. Darbon as to the conversation between her daughter
and the defendant, when he made his proposal to marry
her; and, if she was to be believed, she had recommended
him to abstain from all thoughts of her daughter.
The. Jury were to infer that an attachment had sprung
np in his mind, and that the young woman never
dreamed of anything of the kind until she had been in-
duce 4 to yield her reluctant oousent, when his term of
widoWttood had expired, to become his wife. Then the rage
of wititing commenced, and he regretted the quantity of
paper that had been spoiled by it ; , but throughout the
year 1837 the old
,gentleman wrote most amorous and
impassioned letters, interspersed with sentiments of reli-
gion, which he regretted to see introduced in such a matter.
He would now call their attention to the letter of the
16th of May, 1838, when this silly affair seems to have
been broken off, and when the plaintiff cunningly en-
deavoured to lead him into a correspondence on
the footing of platonic love. The. Learned Counsel
lithen read letters in which it was stated that
she wouldnever marry any one if stern decree for-
bid their union,
continue to thinalst—(
and that she would always keep single
for his life, at le
maintain the Great laughter)—that she would still
herself engaged to him in thought, and
begging of him forc'r
connection innocently by letter, and
2d June
could the foolish fondeorkrke to agree to that. Now how
and en slnth
man refuse her? Then therewas
a letter of the
which the same sentiments
were repeated
was the world to ther; that
Jitlme she says that he alone
two last letters were
kind; and that she had bedewedistltiem with the copious
showers of tears his others had nosed. On the 16th
June she invites him to hear caused.
,et
birds ; that it • was a hard,
destroying,warbling of the
and
almost insurmountable struggle with her to
of a worldly
disappointment, and that her mind would overnot herbe
Heaven
calmed by moral and religious philosophy. On the
25th of May, 1839, there was another lettere
saying that her love for him partook not
'nature, because he was possessed of the highest virtues of
the human heart. She did not flatter, and surely
would yet smile on them, and bless their union, Of which
she saw some symptoms in his last letter. It was beat,,tiful to love as they did, prayed him to send his beloved•
profile to kiss, and signed herself his very dear love. On
March 11, 1840, she said she would come to see him if she
could only hope to die in his arms. On the 12th she
was pleased to see him looking so well.
at that • .
time of life
to resist such flatteries? She then writes to tell him
How was it-possible for a man arrived nice and so
that she would nurse him in his infirmities and old age.
On the 10th January, 1840, she tells him how very loving
and obedient she would be. That she would endeavour
to imitate the virtues of his late partner, and
that she was studying to deserve the position
in which he said he would place her. On
the 7th of April, 1840, she asks why he perse-
cuted her, and asked him would he refuse, by meeting
with her, to deprive her of all happiness ? In another
she expresses her full confidence to be his wife: Here
was an old man, with age and infirmities, and tortured
with cramps, and the temptation held out to him of hav-
ing a young person, professing to be his nurse, and
comforter, and his solace in his infirmities, and he' asked