The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-01 00:00:00

AUGUST 1, 1850,
;4.1

Vasphetned in a most frightful manner—in such a um-
hp ri
so ogfraorf:dtdhai this
gt
hh
tannr hi‘et changea
riann. i n
nor that no one could doubt that he wet in a state of
complete mental aberration. Thera could be no better
great precautions for her proper education; but subse-
quently, so lost was he to all proper feeling', that
Irt:islcBtlmsduhte:t
breasdpetcatti,negn
ho taught her to curse and swear, and encouraged
her in the most incredible obscenity, and in the use of
language to which none but the most depraved could
lisle,. So long as he had women servants they remon-
strated az,:dnst course of education for the child,
nut he only laughed end enjoyed it, saying, " She was
a chip of the old block." A crowd havrig begun to
tare at them one day at Buxton, she said she would give
them a salute, and turned up her clothes and, looking back
to the multitude, slapped fur hand on a portion of her
body that delicate women were no: in the habit of ex-
posing. Once she filled the hollow of a board for playing
trao.b.ll with hot water, and spurted up bejaveen the
legs of a servant girl andC severely scalded her, and the
old man laughed heartily, and said, " Well done, you
young —." Such were the tricks she played, ana the
language she used was such that women were not al-
' lowed in court while her expressions were &tailed.
They created many a laugh in court; but still many of
them were of a most shocking kind, and atteh.as the most
precocious depravity could not, without education for
the purpose.conceive. He became so violent to his ser-
vants that none could stop with hies. Once, when one
of them in his awkwardness let a salt-cellar fall near
him, he flung a carving-knife at hint, and it strutlethe
the'door behind the man. The witaeisi who detailed
this admitted that the 'salt-cellar fell near his gouty
toe, and that the man was at the other side ,of the
door when the knife struck it. One brought a bottle of
port instead of Madeira once; and he flung Witt his
bead. Lie used to compel ono ceen:to.do his work by
presenting a blunderbuss at him Whenever anything, was
;done that did tA-please him. Ile offered to fight his
Dim beillfrif he would not go tip to his neck in pool
of wateri and because hsdid.not hErdischargad him and
then caused .bisn-to be summoned fay desert* his ser-
Ode and imprisened-faz-twentreWti Aare Ae-is„.*
nearl rule, when they in any way displeased 'him; he used
to fling bottles, glasses, crockeryware, knives, or any ar-
ticles that were nearest to him. Even when they did
not offend him he often wantonly attacked them. One
day he came into tho kitchen,. found a servant toasting
bread, and bending down with her back to him, 'and he
stole up to her, and stuck a fork with all his strength
into her posteriors, and then ran our, and she did not
recover for a month. When he' drove out in his car-
riage he took his gun with him, and once threatened
to shoot the man who was driving for taking the
wrong road, and she man jumped off and ran
away from him. One servant, to whom he was violent
and threatening, once or twice locked him up for an
hour or two till he promised to be better, and then let
him out, and they then had some drink. Another
one took up a saucepan of boiling water and threatened
to throw it on him, and he fled from the kitchen and
kent down a glass of wine to make friends. He had 40
servants in a few months, as none would stop with him
for more than a few days. At length no woman ser-
vant would remain at all, nor would he keep any, or
allow them to cook his food, assigning the filthiest rea-
sons for it, and then he was obliged to employ his farm
servants to do all the domestic duties, clean the house,
milk the cows, prepare his breakfast and dinner, make
his bed and that of the child, and even to undress and
put her to bed at night, and dress her again in the
morning. He took it in his head that meat was never
so good as when it was full of maggots, and he used to
keep it till it got into that state. and even once bought
4 cwt. of putrid meat, though he had only in his family
one servant, besides himself and granddaughter. He
once broke off a sale of four sheep to a butcher on ac-
count of a difference as to one quarter of a pound. He
drank himself, and was liberal of drink to others,
and not only to men, but to animals. And once,
when a butcher came to kill a pig, after making
the butcher drink as much as he could, he mixed
the remainder of a bottle of gin in the wash fur the'
pig, and made the pig drunk before it was killed. His
pockets were generally full of notes land gold; and he
once gave a servant a pocketful of notes to bet at a cock-
fight, and the next day charged him with robbing him.
One sign of madness was a great concentration of intel-
ligence on some points; and so no man was more shrewd
in his dealings with tradesmen, and nothing pleased him
more than defrauding any one of money. If his labourers
allowed him to fall into arrears of wages, they found it
difficult to get them. A tradesman went one day to ask
for a debt, and he threatened told a bulldog loose at him
till the man ran away. He bought ducks 3f a woman, and
gave her a bad balferown; and, when she came back to
complain, he so cursed, anti swore, and threatened, that
she fled in terror from him. He fancied that a connexion
of his, a Mr. Burrows, who lived in Derby, and was a
most inoffensive gentleman, had entered into a plot to
annoy him; and wrote a letter stating this to his sister,
Mrs. James, on the 25th of May, 1818, as his reason fir
leaving Derby fur ever. lie fancied he had communica-
tions with the devil, and used sometimes to order his
bedroom door to be kept shut, in order to keep the devil
out; and sometimes his windows to be left open, in order
be, at liberty to go our. Fie
f the devil, saying
we that
ha
at the
devil aae
toistinartmo.•
he knew he should go to bell, but would not wait
long there. In 1817 he went to the Derby races in
his carriage, a men driving it who had a whiap of straw
around his hat, himself and his grandchild covered with
rags, and his footman in a similar manner. Everybody
noticed him, and there was a cry of " Mad Bainbrigge."
He wished to run a favourite chestnut mare, which had
been just taken off grass and had not been trained. He
had no jockey for it, and he engaged a man from the
crowd, who rode in his shirt. The man asked for orders;
the answer was, " Oh, never mind;" but the horse could
not run a yard, atad of course lost, and when the man
asked for payment, ho refused to pay him, as he had not
ridden according to his orders, which orders were,
" Get first—keep first." Shouts of laughter from the
crowd followed, in the midst of which he got into his
carriage and made off. The witness who came to speak
to this fact said the horse was well trained, and came in
third out of five that ran. He had a stallion which used
to break out of a paddock in which it was kept, and
get to mares when people did not want him to do so;
he therefore put him into a stable with a large loose
box. The horse got lame, and so indignant was he,
that he sat in judgment on him, sentenced him to
seven years' transportation, and then committed it to
imprisonment and solitary confinement. The horse
was accordingly kept in partial darkness, with
no straw to lie on, and only as much hay and
water as would keep life in him, and at the end of four
months, when he was almost starved to death and had
dung up to his belly, and the servants told the master be
was all but dead, she answer was, " Well, he is lust
alive:--keep him so; he has not served out his time.'r In
May, 1818, he left Derby to reside at his house at
Woodseat. This, too, was overrun with vermin, large
and small, and when a servant complained that the rats
l s
were so numerous that the place was like a rabbit-
warren,te was
library,
he said he would by no means have them
killed; they were his
nheasrteld
seanodn
trhaebbsiheve of The
h ho
eu s
tsgame, and he preferrcd them to
i
nwahimehostconfotarlionrend
condition; the windows were broken, and the pigeons
some most valuable books, and on being remonstrated
with about it, he said it was a good place for the pigeons.
The kitchen -garden was so neglected that it was impos-
sible to get at the fruit without cutting one's way
through a tangled maze of weeds. He used to drink
excessively; but liquor made him not drunk, but road
and furious. He used to have a bottle of brandy with a
glass laid every night by his bedside. So things con-
tinued till the Saturday befare his death, June 13, 1818.
On that day he went to Draycott, and drank a great
deal—at least a quart of brandy—saying it would be
good for his gout. do got home to Woodseat on Sunday
night. Oa the Monday he got up, but about midday was
put to bed in his clothes, and in those clothes he lingered
from Monday till the Saturday, when he died. On the
Monday there was but one servant in the house—a man
named Hoe. He sent for a Dr. Hawthorn, of Uttoxeter,
who was a friend of the Arnolds. They were of course
anxious to know in what state he was, and if possible to
fiffset a reconciliation; but so great was his hatred of
them, that if ho knew any of them were about his house
it would drive him wild; and, therefore, though Arnold
came to the house, he never once went into his room.
Arnold secured an interview with Hawthorn. Mr.
Blair was sent for, and on Wednesday, the 17th of June,
he prepared a codicil, altering altogether the pro-
visions of the will of 1815. This document
substituted for his nephew, Mr. T. P. Bain-
brigge, ' the proper representative of -the Bain-
brigge family, the sons of his daughter. Mrs. Arnold,
and got rid of the annuity
to Mrr. James. This codicil
was attested by Roe, one John Allen, a labourer about
the house, and a Mr. Alsop, an apothecary, who
was in distressed circumstances, and the mere creature
of Mr. Blair. On the next day Blair brought a formal
will; and got the old dying man to execute it, and got
it attested by Allen, who knew little or nothing of the
testator, and a Sirs. Hawkins
u also, who was the wife of a
farmer, and also knew nothing of him, and by Dr. Fox.
It Would be proved that at the time he executed the will
he was totally insensible, and incapable of knowing what
he was doing.- The wife of Allen, d being in a consump-
tion, was examined a' a witness
deisns uhnereersaam"Tisnsiotnakfonr
perpetuating testimony, a
Aunder the full 11" WI
tnow edge, as
under that commission,
she expressly stated, that she was a dying woman, she
from the Monday till his
said that the testator was,
and unconscious of, hat
death, totally insensible tn ,
°el expressl refused twowap
was passing around him; a
to ace yla.
replying
to
plications from his daughters
them by a murmur of refusal, accompanied with a deep
her 1 usband, William Arnold,groaning; and that was
about the house by stealth, and was not seen by the de-
ceased. One circumsta
nee connected with the last will
was almost conclusive. No one. hut BI • air and the tes-
tator knew of any former wills.. It was, therefore, im-
portant fur Blair and
his associates to draw up
the formal will without referring to previous wills. Ac-
cordingly Blair hastened
the to Uttoxeter, and set his clerks
to work, and blanks furmost important provisions
were left, filled up till
which were not after the testa-
tor's death. That will was in most respects conformable
to the codicil. It contained the same provisions as the
former will, with respectt?.th
eArnolds having nothing
to do with balding any
of lands. It increased Mrs.
Arnold's tuinuity to iIOOL year year daring her husbaud'o

life, and 3001. afterwards, and, should Marianne end her
isstiefail, Id. his estates to his daughter's (Mrs. Arnold's)
six sons in succession, with 1,3001. each to the
younger
children; and in case all should die without issue, then
to his own right heirs forever. It conta,iced the satneprovi-
sions as to Mrs. Blair and the education of Martanne.
It also contained a provision that during the minority of
his granddaughter Mr. Blair should have his choice of
any of his three mansions and the sole and exclusive
right of sporting, shooting, and fishing over all his
estates. There were three trustees, Hawthorn, Wove!,
and Blair; Blair, being a solicitor, knew that he would
have virtually the exclusive maneg'ement of the pro-
perty, and knew further that if, on the death of the
granddaughter, the will of 1815 came into operation,
the 13ainbritiges could at once manage their own ainirs,
whereas in the event of Mrs. Arnold's ehildren coming
into possession he would have the whole ma-
nagement of the property during a long succes-
sion of minorities. The new will, therefore, was very
advantageous to him, and consequently the great object
seas to get rid of Mr. Thomas P. Bainbrigge and Mrs.
James, and to substitute the Arnold& The moment the
breath was out of his body his coffers were ransacked by
the three trustees, in a manner which produced a strong
impression on the son of Dr. Fox, who was then a young
man, and would. be called before the Court. Dr. Fox
unfortunately was dead. and had not been examined un-
der a commission, Mr. Blair taking care that the commis-
sioners should not come to examine him till it was too
late to do so. Another suspicious circumstance. connected
with thiS will was that the parties who concocted it,
though they professed to be religious men, did not send
for a clergyman to console the dyint, man, and smooth
his path from earth to heaien, though they knew he had
lived a life of sensual enjoyment, and had for years.neg-
lected his religious duties. Neither had they sent for
any of his relatives, though they all lived in the neigh-
bourhood. His brother John lived within five miles, his
sister, Mrs. James, at Bath, and the widow of his brother
Philip within eight miles of him. No notice of his illness
was sent to them, and when his two nephews, General and
Colonel Bainbrigge, called on the Tuesday to see him they
were not admitted to see him; and his brother John, on ,
calling on the Saturday, was refused admission also, and
was obliged to force his way into the room, and found
him dying. Immediately after his death Mr. Blair
wrote to Mrs. James and Mr. Peter Bainbrigge, in-
forming them of that event, and of the disposal of the
property away from the family, and not alluding to the
former wills. After the funeral the family asked to see
the will. Mr. Blair at first said he had it not with him
but would send to Uttoxeter for it. It was soon forth-
coming, and they sat down to read it, the members of
the family sitting round in a circle, and Mr. Blair sit-
ting in the middle of the room with the will before him
in such a position that no one could overlook him. Ge-
neral Bainbrigge, whether through restlessness or curi-
osity, stood up, and placed himself near Mr. Blair. Mr.
Blair shifted too. The General shifted again, and,
peeping over Mr. Blair's shoulder, saw a large gap at
the bottom of the second page in blank, and in the other
pages large spaces and chasms, pencil writings in the
margin, and pencil interlineations in several places. He
caught his cousin Joseph Mulkey Bainbrigge's eye,
who thereupon came into his position, but saw nothing
wrong. Perhaps at that moment Mr. Blair had
got over the material parts, and on the re•
maining pages there were no blanks, pencil-marks, or
interlineations. Unfortunately, at that tirne General
Bainbrigge was on bad terms with his uncle Joseph,
who was the heir to the testator; he had no interest in
the matter, and he was going to join his regiment, and
thought no more of it. Tho General, after many years
had elapsed, on return from foreign service, went to
Doctor's-commons, found the blanks filled in, and the
pencilsmarks and interlineations removed, and he would
swear that, that will was not the will he saw in Mr.
131 sir's hands;‘ and one strong confirmation of his recol-
lection was, that all the will was in the handwriting of
Mr. Blair's clerk, with the exception of a space at the
bottom of the second page, which contained two provi-
sions, giving Mr. Blair his choice of ono of the man-
sions, and the exclusive right of sporting. So perfect
and shipshape was the will which the General saw at
Doctors'-commons, and so different fcom that which he
saw in Blair's hands, that he believed that several fresh
sheets must have been substituted for those which he
had seen; and, in confirmation of this. it was to be
remarked that the "T. B." on some of the sheets were
written in a very different hand from that which made
the tremulous signature on others. In a short time
after the testator's death Mr. Blair, who professed
great regard and friendship for the heir-at-law,
adopted an ingenious plan for preventing the will being
disputed. There was a family mansion at Derby which
Mr. J. Bainbrigge, the heir at-law, wished to secure in
the family. Mr. Blair knew this. There was a debt of
-1,5001. or 1,6001. due from the testator to his brother
Joseph, which the latter did not like to enforce, lest he
might offend him, and it became consequently barred by
lapse of time. Blair saw that this was a good opportunity
of getting the heir-at-law to confirm the wil', and entered
into a correspondeace with him for this purp 'se, getting
him to confirm the will on the terms of the trnstees
selling him the mansion for the amount of the debt, and
setting off the debt against the price. Blair, in that cor-
respondence, artfully warned him that this purchase
would afterwards prevent him from disputing the will,
but told him at the same time that it would be useless
to attempt to upset the last will on the ground of in-
sanity, unless he could prove that he wos insult) and
incapable of making a will for the preceding thirty years
of his life, as he (Mr. Blair) had got wills in his pos-
session, prepared by himself and others, leaving the
property away from the family. Mr. Joseph Bain-
brigge fell into the trap, and executed a deed of
confirmation of the will, the trustees agreeing
to convey the house to him. This conveyance they
had not yet made, and in connexion with this there was a
remarkable interlineation its the will. There was n pro-
vision in the will to enable the trustees to sell some
estates for the purpose of paying debts. The provision,
as it stood in the text of the will, did not include this
house, and, singularly enough, the words, " and my
estates in Derbyshire" were interlined, and the "'l'. B."
against this interlineation in the margin was written in
a very different hand from all the other " T. B.'s" in the
will. Subsequently a bill was filed for a speeitio per-
formance of ttie agreement to convey. Marie nne, at the
age of sixteen, ran off to Gretna Green with the son of
Alsop, the apothecary, was married, had two children,
and filed a bill against Mr. Blair in order to establish the
will. A suit was instituted by Mr. Blair to perpetuate
testimony. Marianne and children passed off the scone,
and her line became extinct. Blair became bankrupt,
and new trustees were substituted; and finally the Court
of Chancery directed this ejectment to be brought, in
order to try the validity of this will.
As it would be impossible to give all the evidence in
detail within a reasonable compass, we state the effect of
those portions of it that were not controverted, and lay
the rest before the reader.
The execution of the will and codicil of 1815 was
proved by the survivor of the three attesting witnesses,
who seemed not to have known much previously of the
testator.

Mr. Thomas Frost,'now a merchant in Liverpool, for-
merly a pupil to a Mr. Hadley, a surgPon, of Derby,
proved that on the Bth of August, 1815, ho saw Mr.
Ihinbrigge fall heavily from his horse on his head, on
the race-course at Derby. He immediately ran to him,
and bled him. He was under treatment from the Bth to
the 26th of August, and then went t) his country seat.
When he left he was in full possession of his mental
faculties.

Mr. D. Fox, the son of Dr. Fox, surgeon at Derby,
had known the testator from 1815. Observed a gradual
change in his dress, manners, and equipage. Mot him
at dinner several times at his (the testator's) house, and
at his father's (Dr. Fox's) house, ald thought he was of
unsound mind.

;Mr. A. Fox, another son of Dr. Fox, was assistant in
1818 to his father. Knew the testator when he lived in
Derby. Thought him not capable of making a will at
any time during his stay in Osmanston-street. Went
with. his father on the Wednesday afternoon to see the
testator., He was in a state of great exhaustion. Did
not utter a single propoition of any kind whatever, ex-
cept when he wanted something to be brought to him.
Ho gradually got worse. On Thursday he was worse.
Sat up part of that night with him. He was a dying
man, in a state of collapse. He never uttered a single
idea, but in a nervous sleepy way would say, if he
wanted a sheer or anything. " move it." Saw him re-
peatedly on Friday. He got worse and worse, and was
treated as Relying man in a state of exhaustion. . From
Wednesday till his death there were periods when there
was a sort of sense. On Thursday it was quite out of
the creation that he could understand a long will. Saw
Mr. Blair there on Thursday. Was not in and out of
the room when Mr. Blair was with him. Mr. Blair and
Mr. Alsop began to search the place for money the mo-
ment he was dead.
Dr, Munro, Dr. Connolly, and Dr. Forbes Winslow
were examined to show want of cleanliness, carelessness
of dress, profane swearing, in a person of advanced
years, were symptomatic of declining intellect.
Adam Roe, a labourer, who was the only servant in
the testator's house when he became mortally ill, and
who spoke to his eccentricities, gave the following ac-
count of his last days and the will scene. The testator
drank a good deal of brandy on the Sunday end Mon:
day; be went to bed in the afternoon of Monday,
and witness took off his shoes that thy and
his coat the next, and left on his other clothes
till ho died. Went on the Tuesday for Mr. Hawthorn,
and brought him. Saw him and Arnold often together.
It was on the Thursday, he thought he was sent lor Mr.
Blair, about nine or ten in the morning. Had a letter
for him from 1)r. Hawthorn. Afterwards saw Alsop
there; Alsop, Hawthorne, and Arnold met Mr. Blair at
the back door, and they talked together. Saw Mr. Blair
writing in a room leading to the squire's. The g s nire
was then insensible. When Mr. Blair asked a question
he only gave a sort of groan. Mr. Blair brought him
paper and read it over and asked him if it was right?
The answer was only a groan. Mr. Blair brought in
another part of the paper and asked the same question,
and there was another groan and no other answer.
Witness was at the bed-side attending the squire, and
would have beard any other answer if it had been
given. This was repeated three times. The three
papers seemed to be like written papers. The answer
the third time was a groan too. Then Mr. Blair
took a pen and dipped it in the inkstand. There were
then present Mrs. Rawlins, a farmer's wife, who lived
near to John Allen, a wheelwright. When Mx. 131 Air

. 4

C--fPR IC E SD.

dipped the pen in the inkstand, he put it in the
squire's hand, and he put his hand under the
squire's arm, and the quiro wrote something. Alien
signed the paper. Witness put his mark to it. This
was the first paper that was signed. Thought Dr. FOX
came on Wednesday. Mrs. Arnold came to the house
many times after the squire took to his bed, but not with
his knowledge. She did not go into his room. Mr.
Arnold asked witness Ims-era' times to be allowed to go
in. He went to the door once. He darst not aglow him
to go in. Ile peeped at the squire in b: d. Saw Mrs.
Arnold in conversation with Mr. Blair, Mr. Hawthorn,
and Mr. Alsop on one occasion, and with one or more
of them fr:quently. Two of :he squire's nephews came
and were retused admission; his brother, Captain John
Bainbrigge, came on the Friday or the Saturday. The
little girl denied his coming up stairs; he forced his
wsy, and went to his brother's bed-room, who took no
notice of hilt:. The captain cried over him, and asked
him whether he would not speak to his brother Johb.
The squire did not know him, and took no notice at all
of him. The captain remained three-quarters of an
hour. None of his relations were sent for during his
last illness. They did not want his relations -to come.
lie died about half-past two in the afiernoon of Satur-
day. As soon as he was deal Mr. Blair, Mr. hawthorn,
and Mr. Alsop began to work right and left. and began.
tumbling. •On the squire's death Mr. Arnold was placed
in authority. _ _

Cross-examined—Always considered him a madman
—a dangerous madman. He was insensible from Mon-
day; incapable of making his will or doing any busi-
ness. Was not able to speak after Thursday; then
ceased to. speak. •Up to that time was continually
cursing. Saw Mr. Blair dip the pen in the ink, put the
pen in Mr. Bainbrigge's hand and guide it. Supported
it while he wrote. alr. Blair held Mr. Bainbrigge's hand
below the wrist. Mr. Bainbrigge was at that time in-
sensible and speechless.
Mary Roe, the wife of the above, was examined under
a commission from the Court of Chancery, for the pur-
pose of perpetuating testimony, and having since died
her deposition was now read. She stated that on the
testator being taken ill she was sent for to attend him,
and that he lay in- a dying and apparently unconscious
'state from the Monday till the_ Saturday. During• all
that time she never heard him speak coherently, and he
was incapable of holding any conversation, and when
spoken to answered only by groaning. That he was
crouched up in his bed, and was continually groaning
as if in great pain, and remained from the Monday till
his death in a state of insensibility, or apparent in-
sensibility, to all that was passing, and during all that
time ho was incapable of making a will or transacticg
any worldly business.
It was proved by Colonel Bainbrigge that when he
and his brother called on the Tuesday, the little girl
Marianne and a woman met them, and the woman said
the old gentleman was two ill to be seen.
Major-General Sir Thomas Bainbrigge—Am Com-
mander of the Belfast Division, son of the late Colonel
Philip Bainbrigge. He was the youngest brother of
the testator, and was killed in action in Holland. Saw
uncle Thomas in 1815, in the spring. Dined with him.
In June left that part of the country. In 1818 was in
the country again, and heard of uncle's illness. Went
to see him with my brother. Was not admitted. On
the Thursday before his death sent up my own card and
wrote my brother's name upon it. Saw a female servant
and the little girl Marianne, and the answer I received
was that Mr. Bainbrigge was too ill to see anybody.
Was again there on the Monday. Went over again with
my mother, my wife, my sister Mrs. H. Dale, and my
brother, Mr. Peter Le Hunt. We were admitted into
the house. Mr. Arnold was the master of the house.
Immediately after the funeral we made application to
Mr. Blair to see the will. Mr. Blair, Mr. Arnold, my
uncle Joseph, my cousin Joseph, and myself were
there. He said, " The will is not hero ; it is at Ht.
toxeter." We desired that it should be sent for im-
mediately. He said it should be sent for by a man on
horseback. In about an hour the will was produced. It
was brought by Mr. Blair into the room where we four
were assembled. The table was in the middle of the
room, and we wore all standing up. Mr. Blair had the
will in his hand, and came in, accompanied by Dr. Fox,
and said, " Now, gentlemen, if you will take your seats
I will read the will." We all sat down, and made a
point of sitting so as to see Mr. Blair, who sat a.k the
table with his back to the door. Mr. Blair began to
read the will. After he had read a page I got up and
went to look over him. I came up to his right shoulder,
on which he, who had the will before him on the table,
put forward his shoulder and head, as if to prevent me
from looking at the will. I immediately shifted my
ground, and came round to the left shoulder. He 'did
not attempt to interpose between me and the will then.
I had a full view of it. Ile continued reading. It
appeared to me an incomplete document. 1 raw
a great many pencil marks in the body of the will—
, interlim ations. I saw pencil writings in the margin.
There were several long lines of interlineations in the
body of the will, and gaps and openings, as I conceived to
be tilled up, at some future period. Saw several such
openings. On one page, at the bottom, there was a good
deal nt space. Saw a large opening at the bottom of the
.second page. He read while I was looking over him—
perhaps, two piges. Ile had read one before I got, op.
lle read, ray a page and a half, before I beckoned to icy
cousin Hankey, who is now dead. He came immediately,
and stood behind Mr. Illair's right-hand shoulder. I
remained a little time. Saw another ra.4e or two turned
over, and resumed my sent. All the pages I saw had
some interlineations, arid there were Weeks in every
page. I made no remark. Young Joseph Ilanku
Bainbrigge stood over Mr. Blair all the time he read.
At that time, unfortunately, I was not on speaking
terms with my uncle Joseph, who was the next brother
of the testator. John was next to Joseph. My uncle
Joseph had then several children, and my father was
dead, my mother alive, and had eight children, in nar-
row circumstances. My aunt, Mrs. James, had seine
seven or eight children, and was not in affluent circum-
stances. Afetr the funeral I went to Liverpool, end did
riot return to that part of the country for two or three
years. Went af;erwards to Doctors'-commona to see
the will. It was not in the same state as when I had
seen it in Mr. Blatr's hands. My nephew, the plaintiff,
was, at the time of the funeral, in India, and did not re-
turn till 1823.

'Cross-examined—lt was ten years after the funeral I I
went to see the will. I was on speaking terms with my
cousin Joseph Hankey Bainbrigge. Mr. Blair was I
aware that I was overlotking him. By several blanks
I mean to say that I saw two or three blanks in each
page and a large blank in the second page at the bottom.
Some were shorter, some larger. Some were us long as
a line and a half. Made no observation to Mr. Blair.
I went to see the will, in order to see in what state it
was atter it had been proved. It was in quite a different
state. I could not recognise pencil marks in it. It
seemed to me as if some leaves had been taken out and
others put in. I recognised the traces of pencil marks
in the margin, and could not see any in the body of the
will. They must have been very well rubbed out. I
mentioned the appearance of the will at once to John
Baiabrigge, the brother of the testator, and the brother
of Joseph. It was the subject of our conversation.
John was on specking terms with his brother Joseph.
I mentioned the subject to the members of my family, to
my uncle John as I was riding home, and to my cousin,
Thomas Parker Bainbrigge.
Re-examined (the will was put into his bands)—l be-
lieve firmly that the parts in the second page in another
handwriting were not there when I saw the will after the
funeral. The lines there now occupy the blank space
that was there when I ;air the will.
The case for the defendant was, that the testator was
a man who restrained himself in company, but at home
and in private indulged in those passions and habits
which he .formed at an early age, and at a period when
society was in a very different state to what it is at pre-
sent, when those habits of drinking and swearing were
not confined to any particular class, but. pervaded those
higher classes in which his position entitled him to
move. From the earliest period he bad been slovenly
in dress, and eccentric and violent, and' especially ad-
dicted to wreak his anger on his domestics; but no
man was more shrewd in matters of business. He
was a most active and intelligent magistrate, and
in one respect in advance of most other magis-
trates of his period, generally making all his ma-
gisterial business returnable at petty sessions instead
of hie own house. None of his brother magistrates
perceived any alteration in his mental powers, and
up to the last moment he was as intelligent as' ever.
A gentleman named John Salt, of Ultoxeter, who knew.
bim f0r.40 years, and had often dined with him at his
own house and his (testator's) houses, deposed that his
habits for some time before his death were not only
as cleanly as those of other gentlemen of his station,
but that he was of sound mind and understanding.
Mark Anthony White, Esq., a magistrate of Stafibrd-
shire, deposed to the fact that no one could behave with
greater propriety than the testator, and fulfilled the du-
ties of a magistrate very well within the two last years
of his life, and certainly after the fall. Several tenants
and neighbouring farmers, collectors of taxes, and others,
spoke also to his sanity and good management of his bu-
siness. Mr. Whiston, solicitor in Derby, said he wen
eccentric, but a perfect man of business; that in 1816 he
tranafteted some business with him. Part of it was to
eon vt.y the equity of redemption of a house
in Derby. and he managed it with acuteness
and discrimination. Another witness, a farmer, said
he was a little rough sometimes, but very sensible.
A great mass of correspondence between him and va-
rious parties with whom he had dealings up to a very
short period of his death was read. to show that there
was not the slightest difference in his style before and
after 1815, and that to tne last he was in all his busi
uess transactions as pert', etly shrewd and sane as any
man could be, and certainly the correspondence was
such as no person need be ashamed of. Up to June 12,
1818, a f•av days before his death, he kept a regular
diary of all his proceedings', and there all his payments
were entered, even the visit of friends, and every fact
of which it was important he should have a memoran-
dum. In these diaries entries were found to correspond
with the facts stated by some of the witnesses; but it was
intimated from the other side that the witnesses had pre-
viously_beard of the entries. One fact connected with
these diaries was noticed as very material by biaLord-
ship. There were twelve of these books, and he allowed
the Solicitor-General to take them home on Saturday
night, so that he might, after his devotions
sumo entries
look through them, and find out if possible me
to threw light on the subject of PcltUrYi but