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

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 27, 1858.

spice and hate me. Do. you also pause to pity ? No ;- for
when you read these pages all will be over with one who was
too flexible for virtue—too virtuous to make a proud, suc-
cessful villain. Good night. May you be more happy I"
In February, 1852, she wrote :
"All makes me feel how short my time is here, and com-
bines to make me irresolute and miserable ; self-reproach
comes in, and yet I know not how I can make myself any-
wise different. My heart clings to those that cannot help
me, and rejects those whom I ought to love. God help me!
How useless and hapless is my life ; how much am I dis-
contented with myself, and yet I persist in evil. Youth is
well nigh gone ; I shudder at old age, which I must face !"
And again :
"It is, however, doubtless an effort to emancipate our-
selves from the self-love, which not only reigns dominant
in youth, but is also encouraged by the adulation and the
efforts of those about us, and to become the reasonable,
moderate, self-possessed beings that we aught to be. To
me, with ardent feelings, with love of approbation beyond
the common, with an ill-balanced mind, and the early mis-
fortune of a bad education, this is unusually difficult. God
and my fellow-men judge me mercifully! Rested after
writing in journal till dusk."
The learned counsel also read some of the passages
relating to Mr. Thom, and contended that they con-
tained almost as strong proof of criminality as
those relating to Dr. Lane.
The Chief Justice observed that it was hardly
fair to Mr. Thom to say that he was referred to in
the same terms as Dr. Lane.
Mr. BOVILL submitted that the accounts of the
interviews with Mr. Thom were so much exag-
gerated that they might be regarded as purely
imaginative. The entries with regard to Dr. Lane
and Mr. Thom were of the same description—they
were not records of fact, but expressions of feeling.
On the 30th of May, 1852, there was this entry:—
" Fine, cool, shadowy weather. Mrs. L. came to me
about eleven ; she would not go to church ; Mr. L. was
writing. She was very kind, and as the little group (joined
by her pet spaniel) visited my bed, I felt how charming was
their happy, affectionate spirit, and longed to love and enjoy
life as they did. Rose twelve, joined them in garden, and
answered their humorous condolences on my not being well;
chatted on selfishness, indulgences, and habits. Went to
flowery mound, which they admired. Boys played ; we
sat and talked of great characters, Mr. Combe, Coleridge,
pliancy of character, decided opinions, legal caution, mental
reservation, and both sides of any question. Mr. L. was
not in the buoyant spirits of the day before, but he was very
gentle and charming. We went round by road after a little
scramble, and round into steep meadow above house. Here
we paused to admire the lovely view. I went in with Mr.
L., and he read me a ;passage from ' Shelley's Letters?'
where a passage had struck me to the effect, 'that spirit
cannot create, it can only conceive ; imagination can
only create.' All these speculations are ingenious, but
to me, as a phrenologist, there are clearer and more
satisfactory ways of explaining all these things. Did not
say so, and we separated to dress. Mrs. L. came in later
with boys. Dinner good, beef, pigeon-pie, vegetables,
dumpling, coffee, eau-de-vie. The only drawback was Atty's
bad conduct, and he annoyed us all day. At last we all
went out. Then through grounds to swing, where we stayed
a good while. I had a long turn, and Mr. L. sent me very
high ; Mrs. L. looking on. Then the nurses came in sight,
and B. joined us ; his papa took him up a long while, and
at length he went away. We then strolled through the
meadow, and to West Woods. It was very lovely, We
seated ourselves in the shelter of a high bank, and watched
the scene in silence ; F., the spaniel, was on my lap, and
Mr. L next me. It was the very scene I had often longed
for and pictured to myself, but now it was realised ; were
there not drawback ? A group of bare-legged children
played near us ; several persons passed ; we sat there an
hour, and at length, passing through the woods, turned
into the south plantation. I walked on with Mr. L., but
without his arm, and a slight bitterness seemed to come
over his spirit. I sat to rest in our own meadow, and he
leaned against the rails opposite me. Mrs. L. came up with
children, and we all soon went in. I made tea and enjoyed
it. Mr. L. sat by me at tea and we talked for an hour on
politics, hereditary descent, funds, paupers, emigration, &c.
Afterwards, at nine o'clock, dismissing all boys to bed, as it
was Sunday, we sat out in garden. Mrs. L. had cold, and •
went in at ten. We talked of Lord Byron, of riding, of
courage, of balloons, and of coolness. He smoked and
chatted, and I laughed much. Mrs. L. was low. We then
remained out more than an hour alone, talking of man's
spirit, his life, the grave, immortality, God, the universe,
man's reason, and his short fleeting nature. I expressed my
gradually acquired calmness of mind, though I differed from
all my friends, and had lost the hope of all illusions of the
Christian's creed, and I said that the grandeur of truth
made up to me for relinquished hopes. I expressed my love
of reflection and deep study of these things, though I knew
exactly where men must stop. He spoke sadly, said he
longed to pray, longed to believe • doubted much if there
were a future for man and alluded with deep feeling to the
death of his poor Greek friend and fellow-student, who
had spoken with hope and intelligence a few days before
his death, and was now gone for ever. He seemed en-
tranced by the beauty of the scene. The moon rose above
every cloud, and silverstars came out one by one in theblus
of heaven. Silence, unbroken except by the landrail, pre-
vailed round us ; darkness, or rather dusk, came on beauti-
fully. He wished to be out all night. In the calm and
magical moonlight;' but soon after eleven I felt that Mrs.
L. would think us unkind to leave her, and we went to the
fire. She was still low, and I tried to cheer her."
The entry of October 7, 1854, one of those upon
which the petitioner relied, was written not on the
day when the facts were supposed:to have occurred,
but on the following day, after a night of sleepless-
ness and dreaming. The entry itself, too, referred
to dreams more than once. "He exclaimed, 'lf
you say that again I'll kiss you.' You may be-
lieve I made no opposition, for had I not dreamed
of him and of this full many a time before ?" Even
setting aside Dr. Lane's contradiction, the journal
itself was not evidence upon which the Court could
dissolve a marriage. All these supposed crimina-
lities were said to have occurred in places open to
the public, where no sane person would have
thought of committing them ; that alone was a pre-
sumption against their truth. In cases of this kind
the burden of proof was upon the husband; and,
as there was no evidence but the diary, which was
contradicted by Dr. Lane upon his oath, that proof
had failed. Several months' notice had been given
of the examination of Dr. Lane, yet not a single
question could be asked him by Mr. Karslake tend-
ing to impeach his credit. The explanation of the
journal was that Mrs. Robinson's mind was quite
unable to distinguish between the real and the"
unreal. If what she described had occurred, was
it credible that she should day by day have written
with her own hand a record of her infamy ?
The. Chief Justice remarked that the intimacies
with Dr. Lane were not described as of frequent
occurrence. The journal pointed to a constant
desire on her part rarely gratified by him.
Mr. Bovill said, if there had been any sort of
improper familiarity some witness might have been
called to prove it ; but there was not a syllable of
evidence to that effect. There were entries from
which it appeared that she was contemplating a
novel, and " I often," she said, " have the plot and
groundwork in my mind during sleep, with names,
scenes, and all perfect."
The Chief Justice—l hope that " contemplating
a novel" is no sign of a diseased mind. (Laughter.)
Mr. Bovill—By no means, but the novel she
contemplated was connected with events in which
she imagined she had taken part. Never before
had it been sought to have a lady found guilty of
adultery upon such evidence as this. Not only had
it been shown by the medical testimony that her
state of mind was such that no reliance could be
placed on her statements ; but, even taking those
statements to be true, they did not amount to an
admission of guilt. It was almost incredible that
any woman should deliberately write a memorial
of her own infamy. On these grounds he sub-
mitted that the case had failed against,Mrs. Robin-
son as well as against Dr. Lane.
Mr. Montagu Chambers, in reply, submitted that
Mrs. Robinson having substantially admitted her-
self to be guilty of adultery, the Court could not,
in accordance with any known principle of law,
refuse the relief for which Mr. Robinson prayed.
He denied that in the Ecclesiastical Courts it was
held that adultery could not be proved without
some corroborative evidence. There was, however,
a canon which prevented the Court from acting on
an uncorroborated confession, whatever might be
its own moral conviction. The case he had now
made out was a case of confession, supported not
only.by probabilities; but by certainties. The very
journal showed that Mrs. Robinson was a sane
woman, capable of discussing even the most abstruse
and difficult questions. It was the journal of a
very romantic, but nevertheless, of a clever woman.
The foundation of the defence was that Mrs.
Robinson was labouring under an uterine disease,
but that foundation was one of sand. No evi-
dence was given as to her present state of health
or as to the time when her disease was supposed
to have terminated. They did not even know pre-
cisely what was the disease with which she was
afflicted. Dr. Kidd's evidence on that point by no
means went to the extent that Mrs. Robinson at
the time when he was in attendance upon her was
suffering under the malady which was said by him
and the other medical witnesses to give rise to
sexual hallucinations. He only drew the inference
that she had been suffering under that malady after
reading the passages in. the journal. But at the
time when Dr. Kidd was attending her there were
no entries in the journals which could be called hal-
lucinations. The journal itself from first to last
contained no indications whatever of delusion.
Conversations and other ordinary events were nar-
rated in a detailed and truthful manner. In no

point had his learned friends been able to contra..
diet that journal, except by the evidence of Dr.
Lane with regard to the material passages. Dr.
Lane himself impliedly confirmed its accuracy in
all but those points. Mrs. Robinson was in the
position of a longing woman who had fallen in
love with a handsome man, and who induced him,
in a hapless moment, to yield to her solicitations.
Not an error had been pointed out in the diary as
to any matter of fact, although there were innume-
rable matters mentioned which might have been
proved to be false. Exaggerated and highly-
coloured as the language was, it was, nevertheless,
perfectly true. How was it that Dr. Lane was the
only person with whom she accused herself of cri-

ininal intercouse? If this was all delusion Dr.-Lane
was not the only man who would have been accused.
Dr. Lane, as her journal stated, was for a long time,
to his honour be it said, cold and reserved, and re-
jected her advances; but his demeanour in public
was no contradiction of the charge of adultery.
Unless Dr. Lane was a perfect Joseph he must

have fallen under the circumstances of tenytation
in which he was placed. If-he had really come
forward now to vindicate an innocent woman, what
a pity that he did not think of doing so when
Mr. Robinson commenced the suit in the Ecclesias-
tical Court. Having heard that he was implicated,
why did he remain silent ? If she had been inno-
cent, she too would have surely communicated with
him. Dr. Lane's denial that he had committed
adultery was the only statement that it was pos-
sible for him to make when called upon to vindi-
cate the lady accused. He was in a most difficult
position ; called upon both by his own wife and by
Mrs. Robinson to declare his innocence, the very
kindliness of nature to which Mrs. Robinson so
often alluded would induce him not to hesitate.
The case was one of frightful importance to Mr.
Robinson. He left it in their lordships' hands as
an ordinary case of a man much tempted, who had
not been able to resist temptation.
The Court took time to consider their decision.

BUSINESS OF THE COURT.
The Chief Justice said the Court had determined
that the issues in divorce causes which were set
down for trial by jury should be tried before the
Judge Ordinary, or some other member of the
Court. The issues would then be brought into the
full Court, which would decide upon the cases.
The Court then rose. No day wis fixed for its
sitting. To-morrow (this day) the Judge Ordinary
will proceed with the case of "Marchmont v.
Marchmont."

-unless there was an -acknowledged engagement
between the parties plaintiff could not remain in
her service. To that defendant replied he in-
tended honourably towards the plaintiff, and on
that understanding plaintiff was permitted to remain
in her service. It was usual for plaintiff to go with
witness when she left home. She did not, however,
go with witness when she left Cannon Hall in Nov.,
1856. She remained behind, but for the reason that
her services were not required. She once spoke to
Wemyss upon the subject of the marriage. She be-
lieved it was about the time she left the plaintiff
behind her at the hall. Witness said she hoped he
would be happy in his marriage, but added that it
was a bad time to choose for marrying when his
mother was ill. She had got a letter from Wemyss
in Nov., 1856, informing her that the plaintiff de-
sired to leave her service in January. The time of
marriage was not mentioned in the letter ; but it
was said he or she, she forgot which, had made ar-
rangements accordingly. Plaintiff left her service
in March, 1857. Witness never spoke to Wemyss
after plaintiff went to Sheffield. She had received
only one letter from Wemyss. Before leavinc, in
March plaintiff had showed her a letter in defen-
dant's handwriting.
Cross-examined by Mr. Overend—She knew the
defendant's mother was very ill at the time she
spoke of. The mother was a widow woman, and
defendant boarded with her. Defendant paid the
wages of the female servants. If one of the ser-
vants was about to leave defendant need not neces-
sarily have been informed of the circumstances un-
less it might be in connection with the payment of
travelling expenses. It was about the 16th Feb.
plaintiff went to Sheffield, and she distinctly told
witness it was on account of her mother's marriage
that she desired to go to Sheffield. She remained
about a week or ten days. Her statement account-
ing for the distribution of her time was very inco-
herent ; but she owned subsequently that she had
deceived witness.

. Mrs. Sarah Corbut, mother of the plaintiff, exa-
mined by Mr. Macaulay—She had written to
Wemyss on the subject of his engagement with her
daughter. He, however, had first written to her.
The first letter received from him was about the end
of Jan., 1857. She had never seen the defendant at
all. She did not reside in the neighbourhood ofCan Ron
Hall. Her daughter came home about the end of
last year, having between that time and the period
of her leaving the hall lived with friends. She
found her daughter very much altered in appear-
•ancc. She had been obliged to have medical treat-
ment, and she appeared to witness to suffer both in
body and mind. Her daughter had, however,
within the last few days obtained a situation.
Cross-examined by Mr. Norval—Was quite sure
her daughter did not have any other situation
since leaving the hall. She resided with her sister,
who is a milliner in Quebec-street; but she.was too
unwell to be able to do much.

This closed the plaintiff's case, with the' excep-
tion of the putting in of the defendant's letters,
which was deferred until to-morrow (this day).
The court then adjourned at a quarter past five.