The Sun.
London, England, 1840-07-08 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS.

4,818 ...
Ditto Allocated!. 91";/. sh. all pd 47
5,400 5 per cent. Edinb. Joint Steck W.qter.2.s/. sh. all pd 36
Carron Iroi. Company ...2501. sh. all pd 44
2,0005 h 15 per cent. Shotts Iron Foundery 50/ sh 4S/. pd 51
10,060 3 per cent. Edinburgh & Leith Glass.2o/.sh. 161. pd 8
4,500 10 per cent. Edinburgh Coal Gas ...... —251. sh. all pd SO
4,450 10 per cent. Glasgow Gas 2iil. sh all pd 55
751 71 per cent, Leith Coal Gas 9O/. ch. all pd 51
1,200 Edinburgh sod Dalkeith Raitway 50/. sh 59
2VOO 5 ner cent. Equitable Loan eompanv ",5/.sh.od 9.. SI

THE PRESENT AGE.—This is not an age of
principles. Men have keen and microscopic eyes to see a point
here, and a point there, but the eagle-glance which sweeps over
a whole and takes it in at once—this is sadly lacking. They
make capital use of their finger and thumb, pick up a pin
cleverly, can take a pinch of snuff with an air; but it is not
common to see a man who can manage a handful of anything.
. . . After all, few tru,sms are truer than the paradox or
Aristotle, that to mankind in general the parts a•e greater
the \‘hule. Vutil we try t • take in the particulars one
after another, we do not discover how much is contained in the
universe.— Quarter/1i Review.

EXTRAOKDIN ARY MATRIMO.
NIAL ADVENTURE OF A PRF, I ENDED LORD.

On Monday last, At tDurham Sess:ons, Robert
Taylor, one of the most impudent impostors that we
ever remember to have read of, was tried for poygainy.
Tee offeesder is a mere youth between 19 and 20 year.,
of age, but his numerous matrimonial adventores and
devices to obtain money mark him as a person of sin-
' gular cumeing and dexterity. His plan seems to have
been in all cases to practise first on the cupidity of
liis own sex, by holding out a pecuniary reward to
any one who would procure him a suitable alliance, and
then, by representing himself to be of Aristocratic
birth and heir to extensive possessions, to dazzle and
win over the victiri and her friends. To aid his
views he represented himself as a son of Lord Kenedy,
of Ashby Hell, Leicestershire. He was furnished with
numerous documents framed to corroborate his misre-
presentations. These, which he carried in a tin case, were
found on his person when he was apprehended. Amongst
hem was a parchment, on which was written in a flue
clerkly hand, whet putpoited to be " The last will
and testament of Lord Kenedy," &c. By this docu-
ment 'favor appeared to he the heir to 1,015,000/.
Three pct. Cent. Consols, besides immense wealth in
coal mires, salt factories, woollen factories, querries,
machinery, house plate, jewellery, and even ships.
" John Nichnlson, Thomas Johnson, and Mrs. Robin-
son" appeared to have been constisuted " gu:.rdians of
the said Robert Taylor." These documents hors date
22d Sept., 1829, and exhibited the signatures, first
or the supposed testator, Kenedy," and then of the
attesting witness, " S imuci Robin. on, clerk to J tines
Lee and John Turecr," and " Wiliiam Cowley, bar-
rister." Ile had also an indenture certifyine' the cor-
rectness of the will, and descri')ing his person by certain
marks on his right arm, &c. He had sundry other
pspers irg,eniously enough contrived for the purpose of
ailing his deception, but, as he is a youth of coarse and
vulgar manners, the success which attended his impostures
can only be accounted for by the blind avarice ofhis dupes.
Up t o the present time, six ofhis marriages, in several parts
of the north of England, have come to the knowledge of
the police, and there is reason to believe that the number
is much larger. It is supposed that he married one or
two young women in this county. Like many who
have pursued a career of base and unprincipled decep-
tion this scoundrel affected great sanctity, and connect-
ed himself, at different times, with both the Wesleyan
and Primitive Methodists. One of his principal dupes was
:1 Mr. Fryer, a preacher, in the last-named connexion,
who, Taylor having promised a reward of 101. to
any one who would procure him a young and religious
wife, offered him the choice of his two sisters-in-law. ,
Taylor chose the younger, a girl about eighteen years
of age, and was married to her. This preacher, not
only failed to obtain the expected reward, but was
swindled out of twelve pounds, which he lent to the
roguish adventurer. This, however, proved the last
of his exploits, for, hying made several fruitless at-
tempts
to run away from this wife as he had done
'from the others, he was at length compelled to take
her with him, and on his way through the county of
Durham he was apprehended.
The budget of papers found in the prisoner's pos-
session contained a multitude of curiosities besides
those above alluded to, which our space will not allow
us to p ,rticularize. It appeared from one of them,
an indenture of apprenticeship (he seems to have trea-
sured all written documents most carefully), that he
had, at the age of 13, been apprenticed to a sweep and
collier in Staffordshire, till he should bo 21 years old.
The indenture described him as a poor child from
Fatfield, in the county of Durham.

THE TRIAL.
On Monday last, when the prisoner was placed at
the bar, the Court was excessively crowded, and all
eyes were fixed upon the young Lothario who had so
readily succeeded in procuring half-a-dozen wives.
Instead of a handsome, seductive gallant, there stood
before the Court a shabby-looking individual, with a
face not merely ordinary, but repulsive. He was evi-
dently much amused at the sensation which his appear-
ance produced, and joined in the smiles of the bystanders.
He was perfectly unabashed, and conducted himself
throughout the trial with the utmost ease and uncon-
cern. The first case taken was that of the prisoner's
intermarriage ith Mary Ann Davidson, the sister-in-law
of Mr. Fryer, the Primitive Methodist preacher; John
Wood, a waggoner, •f Birmingham, was called to prove
the first marriage of which the authorities have any
knowledge. It appeared that this witness met the
prisoner in Birmingham, in 1838. The prisoner told
Wood he was heir to 60,0004 a-year, under the will
of his father Lord Kenedy. In proof of this assertion,
he produced papers. He said he had a great wish
to be married to a respectable young lady—( Laughter)
and, if Wood could introduce him to such an one,
he would make him a handsome present. VF oo:1 in-
troduced him to Miss Sarah Ann Skidmore, and to her
father, who was a shopkeeper. The documents were
shown to the young lady and her parents, the license ant
wedding-ring were procured that very day, and the couple
were married the next morning.—(Loud laughter.)
Shortly after, the prisoner returned to London to settle
his affairs.—(Laughter.) He subsequently returned
and lived with his wife, but had not been married more
than six or seven weeks, when he deserted her alto-
gether.

- As the prisoner was undefended, the Court asked
him,:if he had any questions to put to the witness.
Prisoner—l'll ax him one or two.—(Laughter.)
axed you if you knew a decent girl as wanted a husband,
and you said you did ; you knew as how one Sarah
Ann Skidmore wished to be married, and I told you I'd
advertised and offered a reward of 10/.—(Laughter.)
You took roe to Benjamin Skidmore. Now, are you
sure as how he saw the dockprents ?—Maughter.)
Witness—Yes, quite sure ; you showed him a docu-
ment stating that you would have 60,0001. a-year when
you came of age.

Prisoner's mother (from the middle of the Court)—
Robert, tell them thou's under age, and thy marriage
can't stand good.—(Laughter.)
The prisoner gave a lordly wave of the hand, ac-
companied by a significant gesture, intimating to his
maternal parent to leave the management of the case
to his superior skill. Then, turning to the witness, he
said, " Are you sure that you yourself saw the will ?"
Witness—Yes.

Prisoner—No, it was not the will ; it was only the
cer-ticket of my guardians, to show who I was, and
what property was coming to me.—(Laughter.)
Here Mr. GRANGER, the counsel for the prosecu-
tion, drew forth the tin case, which was a pitman's
candlebox, bearing the following inscription, " Robert
Taylor, otherwise Lord Kenedy." From this case the
Learned Counsel drew the " dockyments. The " will"
was rich alike in its bequests and its odours. It was
a foul and filthy affair to look upon and to
approach ; but while it offended, it also amused. Dis-
regarding the usual long and dry prefaces in which law-
yers are accustomed to indulge, it rushed at once into
the marrow of the subject. Mr. Granger tickled the
cars of the Court with a line or two. Thus :—" I give
and bequeath to Robert Taylor, son of Elizabeth
Taylor, single woman, 1,015,0001. Three per Cent.
Consols, and no more."—(Great laughter.) The will
proceeded to bestow upon him four coal-pits, a woollen
factov, two or three ships, and sundry other trifles,
as before-mentioned.

Mary Davidson, a neat modest-looking girl, detailed
the circumstance which led to her marriage with the
prisoner. The latter, she said, was introduced to her
at the house of her father, on the 4tb of April last, by
Benjamin Fryer, her brother-in-law, who was a preacher
among the Primitive Methodists. The latter said he
had known the prisoner some time, and he recom-
mended him as a pious young man, whom he had
brought to the house on purpose to marry her. They
were married, by license, the very next morning. They
lived together three weeks, during which time the pri-
soner hat, made several attempts to get away, and many
times, in the night, lie had tried to slide the ring off her
finger. While they were together he lived upon money
which he borrowed from her brother-in-law, to whom he
owed 22?.

The Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
The prisoner was next indicted for having, in Oc-
tober last, married Mary Ann Wilson, daughter of
George Wilson, a tobacconist, of Newcastle. Miss
Wilson first saw the prisoner in October last, at a
Methodist chapel, in Newcastle. On the same day she
met him at a class-meeting. On the 16th October
she ?vas introduced to him by a friend, when he
premised to call upon her at three o'clock that after-
noon. He did so, and, as soon as he sat down,
he pullet] out a tin case—(Laughter)—which was
marked " Robert Taylor, otherwise Lord henedy."
He said he was entitled to 60,0001. a year, and other
hereditaments —(Laughter.) The following day he
made her an offer of marriage, and she acceptd him.
Her father lent hint 41. a iiconse was bought, and they
were married the day but one after she had accepted
him, and three days after her introduction to him.
Eighteen days after this he deserted her, and she heard
no more of him till he was in custody.
By the prisoner—He spoke of putting in the banns.
She did not say " she would rather be married off
hand.'
Prisoner—Oh, yes, Mary, you Laughter.) I
consented to take you immediately if the money was
raised, and you raised it.

The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
Mr. GRANGER, said the police officer who took the
prisoner had received several letters, stating him to
have contracted other marriages than those which had
been the subject of inquiry this day.
The Court having spent some time in deliberation,
the CHAIRMAN said—You have for some time been
going about the country in a most unprincipled way,
marrying weak and unsuspecting girls, and bringing misery
upon them and their friends. We have seriously consi
dcred whether it is not imperative upon us to visit you
with the severest penalty which the law a lows. We
have determined, however, to stop short of this ;:but you
must be punished with great severity fur your wicked
conduct. For the first offence of which you have been
convicted, you are sentenced to be imprioned one year,
to bard Lboor ; and for c,,od, to be impris,nel
eighteen months to hard labour, making, altogether, two
years and a half.