The Sun.
London, England, 1828-02-11 00:00:00

SUICIDE OF MR. NEELE.

On Saturday an inquest was held at the Grey-
hound, Henrietta-street, Brunswick-square, on the
body of Mr. Henry Neele, a solicitor, and a gentle,
man who, has distinguished himself in the literary
world, by several productions familiar to the public;
the one, however, by which he is best known, is a
work called the ‘! Romance of History," equally
distinguished by its accuracy, its liveliness, and its
good taste.
The first witness examined was Mr. Harding, a
surgeon, of Henrietta,street„who ststed, that on
Thursday morning, at an early hour, he'was called
upon to attend the deceased, and found him at his
resilience, No. 6, Hunter-street; he was lying on
the bed' in his bed-room quite dead,
,and with his
throat cut from ear to ear. The witness added,
that tthe deceased lived with his mother, three sisters,
and a brother, in Hunter-street. II: was a solici-
tor, and a man of great literary attainments. On
Wednesday last witness was in his company, and
lie then appear6d singular in his conduct, and altered
in his Manner.. -

Mr. Richard Enoch Chapman, a barrister, arid
uncle of the deceased, who resides in Took's-court,
Chancery-lane, said' he was in Hertfordshire on
Wednesday morning last, attending a funeral, when
the deceased sent for him, and taking him apart in
a private room, said that he was a ruined man. He
then produced some documents relating to a com-
mission of bankruptcy, and said, that having been
called upon to pay a certain sum due to the bank-
rupt's estate, he found that he should be ruined, in
consequence of being unable to meet the demand.
The deceased's father was one of the assignees to
the bankrupt's estate, and he died about four years
ago. Upon receiving the information from the de-
ceased to the effect above stated, witness waited
upon the surviving assignee, and found that the
deceased's statement was untrue, that he laboured
under a delusion, and that the whole of the accounts
of the bankrupt's estate had been settled to the sa-
tisfaction of the. creditors,_ and that there was a
balance of 5301. left. On Thursday morning he.
was sent.for to the deceased's residence, and found
him lying on his bed with his throat cut from car to
ear-, On Wednesday Witness first discovered an
aberration of the deceased's intellect, and consider-
ing he was insane, begged his friends not to leave
him alone.

The Jury asked Mr. Chapman if he knew wha
had caused the deceased's insanity

Mr. Chapman said, that the deceased was a mai
of great attainments, and he believed that his lite•
vary pursuits had disordered his intellect.
Jury--4-lad the assignees any claim upon the de
ceased under the commission of bankruptcy

Mr. Chapman said that the assignees hatl no
claim upon him.
Miss Neele, one of the deceased's sisters, said,
that on .Thursday morning she went up to call her
brother, and found him lying on the bed in the state
described. Deceased was in the habit of reading
prayers to the family every night; but on Wednes-
day night he was in such a state of agitation, that he-
could not perform that duty. He was quite sober.
Mr. STIRLING, the Coroner, in summing up the
case to the Jury, observed, that the deceaSed had
evidently affected his nerves by a too' intent exercise
of his imaginative powers, and thereby produced
temporary aberration of mind,ending in a lamentable
catastrophe, upon which they were now called to
express their opinion. The verdict, from any evi-
dence he had heard, could not be a matter of either
difficulty trr doubt.
The Jury, after a brief consultation, returned a'
verdict of—" Insanity."
Mr. Neele was of middle age, short in stature,
and amiable and inoffensive in manner. No man
apparently, enjoyed life with greater zest : when
happy in the company of his friends and acquaint-
ance, he seemed, too, one of those formed to glide',
through the world unaffected by any of those cir-
cumstances which agitate the mind, or unsettle the
pursuits of men who boast of a more Eery tempera-
ment. That he was embarrassed in his cireum-
;stances did not appear upon the inquest, nor do we.
believe from the recent success of some of the efforts
of his imagination, that he could have laboured under
any depression of mind on that account. We can
only, therefore, suppose that he laboured, on this
melancholy occasion, under the effect of that influ-
ence of the brain which is frequently produced by a
too intense reflection, and which, in much greater
and more distinguished men, has led to the same
melancholy termination.

THEATRICAL CHIT CHAD—Lord BYRON'S
celebrated poem of " Don Juan," which all have thought
su exceedingly dramatic, Chas at length been dratnatized,
and is about to be presented to the public by the managers
of two theatres--Drury-lane and the Adelphi ; at the former
house, Mr. WALLA ca- represents the chivalrous heart-
breaker, but who is his representative at the other establish-
ment we have not heard. Report speaks highly of Mr.
RonwaLL's music to the Adelphi drama, which adaptation
completely got the start of "Old Drury," on this occasion,
and appears on Monday next. The author of the piece at
Drury-lane is Mr..lllnamt.—London -Weekly Review.

A curious scene took place on Friday at the
Workhouse of St. Paul's Covent-garden. It seems the'
places of the Master of the Workhouse and Parish School-
master are vacant, and as such have been advertised to be
filled up, but no day named for the election. This was
purposely omitted by some of the Old Usurping Selest
Vestry, who hoped for such omission to steal a march on
the parishioners, and secure the privilege of election to
themselves. For this purpose nine of them Assembled at
the Parish Workhouse on Friday, and were just going to
work, when lo! other nine of the Parishioners hearing of
the business in hand broke in upon the;,r worships' privacy,
and soon put them to the rout. A public meeting of the
Parishioners is, we learn, to be called for the purpose, for
which these " Hole and Corner" men assembled ; but in
the mean time it may be proper to inform all persons elect-
ed under such circumstances as were here contemplated,
that even if their election were valid, which it is not, it
would still be in the power of the Parishioners in Public
Vestry to cut down their salaries to any amount. This
was done the other day in the case of the Vestry Clerk,
and the same operation may be performed on all Parish
officers, whose stipends are defrayed from the parish funds.
—The News.

On Monday the Albion, 74, Capt. J. A.
aninamak-, C. 8., which ship arrived on the 21st ult.
from Navarin, came into the harbour, amidst the cheers o
the inhabitants, who assembled on. every point of the land
she passed, and the crews of all the ships. It appears to
have been the intention of the gallant Commander-in-
Chief, in fiaing the stations of the ships in the battle, to
give the .4/blows " a Warm berth;" but, from 'the falling
off of the wind, occasioned by the other ships firing before
upon which service al
the Albion could take up her appointed position; she was
obliged to let go her anchor, and commence the battie with
two Turkish frigates, one of which,,frOin their yeiative pe-
culiar situations, it Was not possible to avoid 'Proving a
means of annoyance, and-which not even the treble shotted
guns of the Albion could remove. The ne?q resource of
suenndt
ea
du
_nt undaunted
.attroi British i sbl :raldlianngt rtyh
the
enemy,e re fo r e resorted to7-and
their ship,
it, was the only instance of the kind that the battle pre-
party of the A/bion's crew instantly volunteered, under
the First Lieutenant,- DRAKE; and not many minutes
scimitars," were di ived from the deck of
elapsed ere the " fierce looking" Turks, with their "three-
edged
like chaff before an impetuous wind, and solght refuge
either below, in the sea, or as couchant suppliants for
mercy to the British lions of the sea. The Turks had set
fire to their ship, which blew up, soon after the- Albion's'
crew deserted her. We have been led into this slight ds=
scription, because it was the only instance of
personal con-
test which occurred, and which leads us to notics the extra-,
ordinary quantity of ammunition which the Albion ex-
pended in the battle, viz. 5 tons, 18 cwt. 0 qr. 11 lbs.. 11
oz. of powder ; and 45 tons, 14 cwt. 21 lbs. of to
making a total of 51 tons, 12 cwt. 1 qr. '7lb. 11 (IT. ir)
powder and shot, fired from the great giiiii,_. beisides,6,ooo
musket ball cartridges, and 400 pistol cartridgesi which is
probably the largest quantity of ammunition ever fired, by a
single ship in one action. The number. of shot she fired;
and, from her being in " the thick of it," scarcely one but
must have hive taken effect, wail 2,928 froth !Ong guns,
and 1,065 from carronades, weighing 99,224 lbs. Nonce,
where every ship did equally well, all surprise, from such a
return, at the annihilation of the Turkish fleet must cease.
—Hampshire Telegraph: • .