The Sun.
London, England, 1846-08-01 00:00:00

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54
AUG UST 1, 1846.

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the jury were sobbing, and there were but few dry eyes iu
court.

The foreman of the jury with great difficulty pronounced
the word " Guilty." The jury and the prosecutor united in
recommending the prisoner most strongly to mercy.
Mr. Roanas, in a most feeling manner, passed sentence
upon the unfortunate girl, and ordered her to be imprisoned
one month, but without hard labour, and told her sh 4 would
not be placed among the bad characters in the prison.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT.—Derby, July 29.
CIVIL SlDE.—(Before Mr. Justice PATTESON and a Spe-
cial Jury.)
ROSINA SARAH TOPLIS V. RICHARD ROWLAND ALLEN.

This was an action fur breach of promise of marriage. The
defendant pleaded, Ist, that he did not promise; 2d, that at
the time he made the promise, he was an infant, under the
age of twenty-one years; 3d, the statute of limitations—
that he did not promise within six years; and, 4th, that the
contract was put an end to by mutual consent and agree-
ment. The plaintiff now assigned that the promise whilst
he was an infant under the age of twenty-one years was not
the promise in the declaration mentioned, and that he pro-
mised after he was of full age.
Mr. Whitehurst, Q C., and Mr. Waddington. conducted
the plaintiff's case; Mr. llumfrey, Q.C., and Mr. Macaulay
represented the defendant.
Mr. WiirrsaiunsT opened the case. The plaintiff was the
daughter of a widow lady, whose husband had been a wine
merchant in the town of Nottingham, and was well con-
nected, being related to Mr. Tootle, the banker, and to the
Rev. ..ir. Melville, who were well known in the county of
Derby. After the decease of her husband, Mrs. Toplis, r ith
her four children, went to reside with his uncle, Mr. Toplis,
who subsequently removed to a house at West-hill, in
Heanor, where they had continued to dwell down to the
present time. The defendant Allen was a person of bumble
birth, but of great ability, as his letters would show, and in
1835 and 1836 was an apprentice or assistant to Mr. Boden,
a medical gentleman at Manor, who professionally attended
Mrs. Toplis and her family. About this time Mrs. Toplis had
an illness, for which Mr. Boden attended her, and hence
his assistant, Mr. Allen, became acquainted with Mrs. Toplis
and the family, by attending occasionally for Mr. Boden,
and this ripened into intimacy, and he became a frequent
visitor at the house. He bore at that time a high character
for sobriety, steadiness, and honour, and became attaches:
to this young lady, who was then about 18 years of age.
About this time the young lady went on a visit to Mr. Scul-
-1 horpe, a highly respectable solicitor at Nottingham.
During this visit he wrote to her a very fervent letter, pro-
fessing his attachment. This she answered as a young
lady well brought up would answer such a letter,
telling him to avoid such compliments for the future as
were therein lavished. On the return of the young lady to
West-hill, the engagement was arranged with the con-
sent of all parties, and he visited afterwards at the
house as one engaged to be married t 3 her, and was received
by the mother and family almost as one of its members. In
1837 he went to Edinburgh to pursue his professional studies,
and it was agreed that they should write to each other every
month. He passed two years in Edinburgh, and then came
back to Heanor, where his friends resided. The intimate
association was now renewed between them, and he professed
and exhibited, if possible, still more affectionate regard than
before. He shortly afterwards went to London to walk the
hospitals, and during his stay there letters of the same
nature passed between them. After this stay in London,
and his there passing his examinations, and. becoming ad.
milted, he contemplated establishing himself somewhere,
and a Mr. Cooper, of Belper, being about to resign and die •
pose of his practice, he became the purchaser of it. He
went there, and lived in lodgings, until he finally settled
with Mr. Cooper, and then took a house of his own. It
would be shown that he there succeeded beyond his most
sanguine expectations. He became surgeon to the union,
and to a number of medical clubs, and wrote to the plaintiff
from time to time to tell her so, and also that his general
practice was increasing. His visits and letters however be-
coming less frequent, the young lady wrote to remonstrate
with him; to which letter his reply was, that he was so
much occupied with his increasing business. Still, however,
the most passionate letters were written, and this went on
till the year 1842, when the young lady was much annoyed
on receiving information of his having been seen at Heanor,
driving up and down in a gig a young woman, the daughter
of an innkeeper. He wrote to her an excuse for his conduct,
viz., that the young woman was a patient of his, and he
thought that a ride would do her good. He still, however,
wrote to the plaintiff in the affectionate terms of one con-
templating a marriage. The plaintiff could no longer shut
her ears to what every one was talking about all around
her. Her health became broken, and she had a most
serious 'and alarming illness. Her brother, who was
in London himself, walking the hospitals, on hearing
of his sister's illness, and that the defendant had
not been near her for more than seven weeks,
though almost a boy, thought it right to writeio him, inti-
mating, in most becoming language, that he considered his
sister's illness occasioned by his conduct towards her, and
that he was trifling with her affection,. To this the defend-
ant wrote him an answer, to the effect that marl ying was
out of the question, that he was doomed to a life of celibacy,
that he could not succeed at Belper, that he had staked his
all upon the throw of a die, and failed; that he was over
head and ears in embarrassment ; that what little property
was in his family was mortgaged, and he had to pay the in-
ttrest upon the mortgage, and it must be sold; and, in short,
that he was quite ruined, and his .family gone down to the
dogs, and he must go to sea as a surgeon in a ship, as a friend
of his wished him to do at once. He had ever loved Retina
too well to link her to a fate of such a nature as a marriage
with him in his present broken condition. The youth replied
reproachfully, but temperately, saying that he was grieved, but
partially satisfied, and adding, towards the close, that his
conduct appeared to him to have been most base and unmanly.
After the correspondence with the brother he paid a visit to
Mrs. Toplis, detailing all the story about his poverty, and,
in short, peremptorily breaking off the engagement. The
young lady was out at this time for a drive, which it was
supposed would, after her illness, be of benefit, but returned
during the conversation, wben the mother said, Here she
comes, poor thing, and you may tell her yourself, for I have
not the heart to tell her." He then had an interview with
the young lady alone, who being heard by her sister to be
much distressed and sobbing, that young lady listened,
and would detail what passed. It amounted, however, to
a rupture of the engagement. The plaintiff besought
that he would not go to sea, which he ultimately pro-
mised, and he also promised that he would visit her
again.. This he never intended to do, and had never done.
The effect produced upon her was a very serious illness,
extending over a long time. If he had broken his engage-
ment at an earlier period when she was still in the bloom of
her youth, there might be something to be said ; but here he
had deluded this poor girl for no less than six or seven years,
making offers to two or three other women, whilst he was
professing the most devoted attachment to her; and at last,
in 1844, marrying one of them because she happened to have
some money. The Learned Counsel here read portions of
some of the very numerous letters, observing that his friend
could have all of them if he pleased, or any that he chose.
The first letter read was of the 11th October, 1836. In this
he spoke of his ardent hopes that "you will one day repay
me by being mine ;" "if steadiness and perseverance, my
Rosina ;" "do not write a guarded and circumspect answer,"
&c. This she answered on the 21st—" My dear friend ;"
favourably, but warning him against any more such flowery
compliments—" very sincerely, Rosina Sarah Toplis." In
November, 1837, he wrote from Edinburgh a very good letter,
descriptive of his journey, &c., with " deprived of your
sweet society ;" "thoughtsrevert to home and West-hill," &c.
He had attained the age of 21 before he went to Edinburgh.
On the 20th November, 1837, she replied to the last, "My
dear Richard," &c., and a great number of letters on his
part, of a very ardent nature, and on hers sufficiently so,
were interchanged during the stay in Edinburgh. After his
return to Heanor, she went again on a visit to Nottingham,
when he wrote to her a letter dated September 6, 1840, con-
taining "Our mutual happiness," " My own," &c, " It was
the wild and ardent dream of my youth, and it is the en-
during;" "would that, &c., and then a week would make
you my own," &c. Then came some others, and after he went
to London, one on December 31, 1840 :—" For that one ob-
ject;'' "your dear company;" " it will conduce so much to
our eventual happiness ;" "dearest and best beloved ;" "I
can never forget the sweet sympathising ;" " Dearest Rosina,
my life is quite a cheerless existence without you;" " my re-
ward," &c. He was at this time about to go up for his ex-
amination. The 3d February, 1841, " Rest assured," &c.
The Bth March, "I remain, my dearest love, as ever; that I
am still without the possession of all that's dear to Inc."
In July, 1841, she went on a visit to her aunt's at Shef-
field, after which he renewed his promises, and mentions
" bright scenes of happiness with you, love," four lines
of poetry, and " some not far distant day." In Oc-
tober, 1841, he wrote an excuse about driving the lady
in the gig at Ileanor, and said that his resolution was
that his next visit should be to the plaintiff alone. On the
18th of October, she wrote to him a somewhat severely re-
proachful but not unmerited letter—" Very much hurt ; had
heard it from some one else; should have thought that he
had trifled with her feelings long enough, and now remain,
my own dear Richard, yours truly," &e. In letter of 4th of
March, 1842, he thanks her for some little present, and ex-
cused his diminished number and length of letters, and
nun;bar of visits; he had "hardly time to eat; illness all
around him ; election of surgeons for the union, and he was
a candidate." Next letter—" progressing in his business"—
"been appointed to union contrary to his highest expecta-
tions, though,only resident for two years"—" to adorn the
cottage that some day ere long will be the residence of my
Rosina," &c. The next letter, however, shortly afterwards,
was ominous—" The early advent of that perio_l depended
not so much on him as on some one else who had not yet
figured on the stage," but concluded, "your faithful and
affectionate ;" and it was at this time that he was proposing
marriage to another person. On the 25th of March she
writes, referring to the passage just stated, expressing her
surprise, saying she knew of no one who could have a right,
or to whose interest it could be to interfere, and beseeching
him to tell her everything and be as candid as she was, and
adds that it was'now three months since she had seen him,
and they were only seven miles apart, and she heard a good
deal that was very unpleasant to her to hear. His reply
still spoke of " the ardent and continued desire of her
ardently and devotedly attached," &c. Shortly after this the
mask began to be removed, by the representations about
failure, ruin, and going to the dogs, and then to sea, and then
the farce about the examining of the books. On the 25th
of November he wrote, not to her, but to her mother, "Dear
Madam, will you be kind enough to let me know how our
dear Rosina is ?" On the 6th of December the brother
wrote to him " Dear Richard," upon hearing from home of
the illness of his sister, speaking of the opportunity:itafforded
him to be explicit, and telling him that these disappointments
must occasion these repeated illnesses. Oa the '2oth of De-
cember the defendant replied, " Dear, Robert, I am not at
all surprised to hear from you"—with great propriety of
delicacy—"l have risked my all upon the hazard of the cast,
and I have lost—utterly ruined, &c„ and going to sea.
There is no other censure to be cast upon me beyond
the blame of being unsuccessful and unfortunate. I
have ever loved Rosina . too well to link her to a
destiny of misfortune," &c. The brother's letter of the
19th of January, 1843, "Sir," speaks of his sister's severe
illness, which he believed his conduct towards her had
mainly caused, says that he had managed to make her
miserable, and continued very naturally in reproachful
tenour and terms throughout. On the 18th of February,
1843, he wrote to this poor girl the decisive epistle which
commenced with " My dear Rosina,—lt is useless any longer
to hope against hope. I have ever loved you fondly and
faithfully. I hoped to have overpowered my embarrass-
ments,
but they have overpowered me instead. I am
surrounded by them, which are yearly, monthly, and
hourly increasing, &c. from this earthly state —oh
the last three years such another—a home on the
waters. No other alternative but to resign. I have

PRICE SD.

injured you, and hope for your forgiveness," &c. And
now, gentlemen (said Mr. Whitehurst), you may picture to
yourselfthe state of this young lady on receipt of this most
cruel epistle, breaking off; as it was intended to do, alto-
gether, the engagement which bad subsisted for seven years
with a man upon whom, during that time, her warmest
affections had been bestowed. Her answer stated, " I
cannot resign you on such grounds as you give me • nor
shall I ever—certainly not for poverty. During these ;even
or eight years, forgive me for now saving I have had other
opportunities, and have never listened to any one. You say
that you have injured me : you have, but I forgive you,
and cannot resign you." He after this came over, and the
final interviews, first with the mother, and then with the
daughter, took place as above described. Her letter of the
7th of March further stated—" Do not, I implore you, go to
sea, if you have any regard for my life. lam not ambitious;
a small income will do, and I am not above contributing to
it. If Belper will not do you can try some other place," &c.
To this there was no answer, and he should show them that
at this time he was making an offer to another young lady,
with a considerable fortune—with a fortune of 6,00C1. or
7,000/. ; but the clergyman who bad become the husband of
that lady's sister had heard of his engagement with Miss
i Toplis, and objected to him on that and other grounds, and
so he was in that quarter refused. A year and a half after-
wards, at Midsummer, 1844, he wrote a letter beginning
" To Miss Toplis," stating that he was destined never to
alter his condition of a dreary life of celibacy, and that
the correspondence which was now of ancient date, should
be mutually returned for the sake of etiquette, and that
such was the " general rule," &c. No answer being re-
turned to this he wrote again to the young lady in August,
beginning" Dear Madam," and saying that he supposed she
had not received his last, and reiterating what ha had said
before. These letters, the mother, from regard to the feel-
ings of her child, opened and withheld from her. In the
month of October a packet of letters was put into the hands
of Mrs. Toplis, while she was at the tea-table with friends
present, and she placed it under the cushion of the sofa for
the time, and afterwards opened it, and found it to contain
her daughter's letters to the defendant. She then wrote a
note to bins, dated the 26th of October, 1844, acknowledging
the receipt of them, mildly reproaching him, and apprising
him that they had been forwarded to her legal adviser, to
take such measures in respect of them as he might recom-
mend, and when be might deem the most fit time. This
was probably intended to offer him a locus pcenitentix. Ile
however, wrote across it in large letters,
"To what strange uses may we not come, Horatio 1"
and in such state returned it to her by post. The Learned
Counsel then stated that the young lady was not rich, but
possessed charms and attractions which, during the long
course of years of the plaintiff's basely trifling vyith her, as
he had chosen to do, would have procured her a settlement in
life, honourable to herself and her family; and no amount
of damages that they could award could restore her, though
she was of a happy and contented disposition, to that state
of mind which: she had previously enjoyed.
The Learned Counsel then called the mother of the plain-
tiff and several other witnesses, who gave evidence corrobo-
rating the statements he had made in his address to the jury.
Mr. HUDIFREY then proceeded to address the jury on be-
half of the defendant. This unfortunate engagement had
begun between boy and girl, when his client was about
eighteen years old (query nearly 20), and when the mother
ought not, he must be allowed to say, to have permitted it,
against the wish of the defendant's mother, and in the teeth
of the. remonstrances of his master or employer;
and it had been kept alive at a subsequent period
from the unwillingness of the defendant to break it
off until he could no longer disguise from himself the
madness of proceeding with it further, and the cruelty to-
wards this young lady herself of carrying it on to a con-
summation which must have been calamitous, and productive
of misery to both. The defendant's mother was the daughter
of a labouring man, and she herself kept a huckster's shop.
His two brothers worked in the lace frames; and his mother
and Sisters were probably nearly dependent upon him. What
was his condition to marry a lady by birth and education,
when there was no money on her side? How was he to
support her, and probably a family? He must repeat that
the girl's mother ought not to have allowed him, circum-
stanced as he was,. his mother and master objecting, to be-
come upon terms so familiar with her daughter. Well, he
did try to break it off—thinking it utterly hopeless, as in
truth it was ; anti he must say that it would have been
better for both if her mother had listened to the voice of
reason in 1842, when the conviction of impracticability had
forced itself upon his mind, and he first avowed it. He did
not question that this young lady had suffered distress and
pain at the disappointment, but he had been, at one time, as
much attached to her as she had been to him. His course
had been dictated by imperative necessity, founded upon ex-
perience and trial. It bad been said that his sister lived
with him, and if he could support her he could support a
wife. One moment's reflection would show them the utter
fallacy of that proposition. Besides, it was plain that his
sister performed all the menial offices of the household, as-
sisted only by a boy, engaged also in the apothecary's shop,
and about the horses that the defendant's business required
him to keep. Could he have placed his wife in such a posi-
tion? He told them he was embarrassed, and it was per-
fectly true that he was so. The payment of the interest of
the'mortgage did devolve upon him.' The letter to the bro-
ther surely put an end to it ; and, if not that even, his re-
turning the letters and asking for his own, a year and a half
after that, must have done so. The brother had said that he
was not surprised, and partially satisfied, with his letter ;
and showed no doubt to have existed at all in his mind at
that time as to the truth of his statement respecting his cir-
cumstances. The defendant's endorsement on the letfer of
his mother, which he returned to her, which had excited
some mirth, was, he thought, vary reasonable.
" To what strange uses may w e come, Horatio ?"
occurred very naturally to him when he learned from that
lady that her daughter's love letters to hint and his to her,
written in the ardour of affection, were to be sent to that
most unromantic of mankind, an attorney—letters written
in the confidence of affection, for the perusal of Mr. Moss
and his clerks. His Learned Friend had said that now that
the young lady was twenty-eight years old, all her charms
and attractions had of course gone, and.she would never get
a husband. He hoped that his Learned Friend would not
he mobbed as he went out of Court, because he knew that
ladies never attained to the acknowledged age of twenty-
eight. His Learned Friend cried out, " How very unlikely,
gentlemen, she was to get a husband now." He didn't see that
at all. He admitted that this young lady must have the
verdict, but he confidently submitted to them that under all
the circumstances of this case, where a mother had so en-
couraged a lad of 18, an apprentice only, to commence and
get involved in this unfortunate engagement, from which he
had never after been able to get himself released, the damage
should be very moderate indeed. The compensation sought
was for what the plaintiff had lost by his not marrying her;
if he had married her he would not have had the other lady's
money, unless he had married them both. What right could
this younglady possibly have to dip her hand into thepocket
of the young lady who had innocently and unconsciously of
all this become the wife of the defendant? In conclusion,
he begged of them to remember that this was a poor country
apothecary, making about 2001. per annum, out of which he
had to find drugs for the poor, to keep, at least, one if not
two horses, a house over his head, a shop' forming part of it,
and a boy.
Mr. Justice PATTESON summed up,
The jury deliberated for a very few minutes, and then re-
turned a verdict for the plaintiff—Damages, 2001.