The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-27 00:00:00

had you ever any criminal connexion with her ?
Never.
Mr. Bovill- —Did you ever take any liberties
with her per-don ?—I never did.
I‘ll'.
toward', h you ever conduct yourself
in
nr
the i
smallestnanyinde degree.l7cateor improper manner?
31r.'Bovill— Did you ever address to her any
conversation or observation of an amorous descrip-
tion P—l never did. In October, 1855, she arrived
with one of her servants, and she was received in
the hall by my mother-in-law and myself, in the
presence of a number of other persons. The hall is
also a billiard-room. On that occasion I gave her a
kiss. I will tell you why. In the September pre-
vious my wife and I were anxious that our children
should go to the seaside for change of air, but we
were too busy to absent ourselves, and Mrs. Ro-
binson kindly volunteered to accompany them.
She did so, and on her return to Moor-park I
saluted her us I have stated. Except on that occa-
sion I have never kissed her. I never put my arm
round hrer waist, or embraced her, or tempted or
caressed her. I never did anything to excite her
pas aons in any way. I never had any conversa-
i tkon with her about obviating consequences. There
I was no understanding between us to her using ini-
tials. I have seen the statements in the diaries.
They are utterly and absolutely false—a tissue of
romance from beginning to end, as far as they
implicate me in anything improper. She never
cut a lock of my hair off. I may have walked
with her on a summer's evening, but in the month
of October I never walked with her after tea-time,
seven o'clock. The dinner hour was half-past one.
Walking in the park at all hours was part of the
general system of treating the patients. I never,
except on the occasion I have mentioned, offered to
kiss her. The scene in the fly, described in the
journal, is utterly false. Of all the walks about the
establishment the bower walk is the most open.
The bower itself is commanded by two public
roads and two lodges. There are three doors to my
study. One is from the public dining-room, and
another is opposite the pantry door. The servants
occasionally use it as a passage room, but they
would not come through if they knew I was sitting ,
there.

Cross-examined by Mr. Karslake, in the absence
of Mr. Chambers—The servants would generally
knock before entering. There is a summer house
on what is called the island, but it is really a shrub-
bery or wilderness. Persons sitting in it are not
visible at some distance from it. The bower walk
is on the island. There is a bower on the island
proper, but it is in ruins and has never been used.
I have very likely bcenin the summer house on the
so-called island with Mrs. Robinson. I have been
there with nearly every one in the house. The
bower walk is also on the so-called island. There
are extensive moorlands of fern and heath at some
distance from the house. The grounds and shrub-
beries beyond it extend for a couple of miles. The
intimacy between my family and the Robinsons
sprang up rapidly. We saw them nearly daily. We
could hardly be more intimate as friends. Mrs.
Robinson and I frequently talked together on scien-
tific subjects, on books, on phrenology, and other
topics. I wrote her letters when she was absent from
Edinburgh ; sometimes long letters. I very often
communicated to her matters of interest in my
family. In 1853, on returning from the continent,
my wife, and Lady Drysdale and I stayed a day and
a night at Reading with them. I wrote to Mrs.
Robinson when I was abroad. It was in June, 1855,
1 had the conversation with her about her being
unwell. Some of her children were with her. I only
had one strictly professional conversation with her.
She was never under treatment in my establish-
ment. She was there about a fortnight, and that
was the longest visit she ever paid. Her husband
had previously requested me to speak to her about
her health. The fee which he sent me was 10
guineas. It was partly for my advice and partly
as remuneration for the visit. I once presented Mrs.
Robinson with a locket, as a gift from my wife,
containing the children's hair. She and my wife
had exchanged lockets. That was at Edinburgh.
My wife made her presents of that sort on one or
two occasions. Mrs. Robinson did not generally
occupy the same room. I never remember having
been in her room in a morning. I have been in her
room in an evening. It was early one evening in
1855. I might have dropped into her room in the
evening on more than one occasion, but I can't re-
collect having doze so. On that occasion I met
Mr. Thom there. It was her sitting-room, not her
bedroom. I was never in her bedroom at any time
in the evening. I don't remember ever having been
in her bedroom in a morning. I only visited pa-
tients in their bedrooms when they were too un-
well to come down to breakfast. The date of Mrs.
Robinson's visit in 1856 was August or September.
I may have corresponded with her after that visit.
I last saw her in Dec., 1856. 1- take in the news-
papers at my establishment. I did not know for
certain until July, 1857, that a suit was going on
in the Ecclesiastical Court against Mrs. Robinson.
I heard of it from my gardener. I saw a report of
some proceedings in the November of that year. It
was about two lines, I believe, in the Times, stating
that a divorce had been obtained. I had no corn.
munication with Mrs. Robinson or with anybody
about her in 1857. My gardener, John Birming-
ham, told me his sister had been up as a witness.
My attention has been called to the diary since the
commencement of these proceedings.
Re-examined—The report I saw was in the Times
of 4th Dec., 1857. It merely stated that the suit
was promoted by Mr. Robinson against Mrs. Robin -
son by reason of adultery ; that Dr. Addams was
about to open the case for the husband, when the
Admiralty advocate, for the wife, said he would
effer no opposition, and that the ourt pronounced
sentence of divorce.
To the Chief Justice—l was not communicated
with on behalf of Mrs. Robinson when that suit
was commenced. When the suit was instituted in
this court I was not sought in any way by her.
Mr. Bovill said Dr. Lane could not have been
examined in the suit in the Ecclesiastical Court.
The Chief Justice—He could have been examined
ex proprio mottr, but if the wife had chosen to re-
sist the suit she might have made him a witness.
Dr. Lane then withdrew, and
Mr. Bovill addressed the Court on behalf of Mrs.
Robinson. Dr. Lane had now been acquitted of
the charge of adultery, and, notwithstanding that
acquittal, it must be contended on the other side

that Mr. Robinson was entitled to a divorce on the
ground of his wife's adultery was Dr. Lane. The
Court might not think that an impossibility, but it
would certainly he an extraordinary result.
Sir C. Cresswell—That is merely a technical
matter.

The Chief Justice—The wife might not resist the
decree. It might then be pronounced, although the
anomaly you point out would still exist.
Mr. Bovill said he thought the case for the peti-
tioner might now be taken to stand entirely upon
the entries in the diary. The attempt to adduce
evidence independent of those entries had entirely
failed. One witness alone (Warren) had given evi-
dence in support of them, but his testimony had
been entirely discredited. With regard to the
diary, he would first observe that it contained no
explicit statement of Mrs. Robinson's guilt. Some
of the most eminent men in the kingdom had proved
that the disease under which she was labouring was
likely to excite her imagination, and cause her to
imagine what had never taken place. The fact
that she had suffered under that disease for several
years was also proved, and the means taken by her
and her husband to effect a certain purpose tended
to aggravate that disease. It was manifest,...froat-
page to page of the diary, that she was under the
influence of painful feelings with regard to her
husband. As early as March 14, 1852, she wrote :
" Sat down to muse. It was a gray. gloomy evening ; the
city, dimly visible, lay below us—spires, monuments, streets,
the port of Leith, the Frith, and in the front ground small,
unventilated dwellings, and houses of ten stories high. 'Oh,'
thought I, each of these roofs conceals human life with all
its mysterious joys and sorrows, Doubtless many a so-
journer in these dwellings has a private history, thrilling,
exciting, strange. If I them some of them might
make me feel less sad, less lonely. There may be hearts as
much discontented with their lots as mine : few, I think,
more Weary of life.' Then I reflected on my future, what I
should do to live with my uncongenial partner—an unedu-
cated, narrow-minded, harsh-tempered, selfish, proud
mortal. No answer came to my speculations. I walked
home with my boys. At heart I love and value them, and
were it not that my darling Otway would be taken from me
I would leave my husband for ever. Home at half-past five ;
played psalms, wrote Journal, read, smoked cigar; boys
with me till near nine. Felt rather less sad."

Passages of this description occurred throughout
the journal. As early as November, 1850, she
wrote :

" Sat on beach and meditated on my past life,—my
errors of youth, my provocations to my brothers and my
sisters, my headstrong conduct to my governess, my dis-
obedience and want of duty to my parents, my want of
steady principle in life, the mode of my marriage and my
conduct during that marriage, my partial and often violent
conduct to my children, my giddy behaviour as a widow,
my second marriage and all that had followed it ; impatience
under trials, wandering affections, want of self-denial and
resolute persistence in well-doing ; as a parent, as a
daughter, as a sister, as a wife, as a pupil, as a friend, as a
mistress. There was no point to which I could turn for
consolation. 1 could only wish and strive to amend and
repeat Burn's words,—
" ' Thou know'st that thou has made me
" " With passions wild and strong ;
And listening to their witching voice
Has often led me wrong."
Their Lordships would remark that she frequently
appeared to be struck with Shelley-'s writings, and it
was natural to infer that she had also been struck
with events in Shelley's life, and with the fact that
he had imagined things which never existed. They
would also observe that she sometimes addressed
herself to a reader, as if her confessions, like those
of Rousseau, were intended for the perusal of some
one after her death. She wrote on one occasion
Reader, you see my inmost soul, You must not de-