The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-20 00:00:00

CRINI CON.

(Reported for " Tins &;.40;" lEkclitsively.)
•Iwan it. HOOPER.
Off .Saturdly hut, RonT. SAVAGE, Esq. Assessor, and a
respleptuble- Jury, assembled at the York House, Bath,
for the purpose of assessing the danrs:-,,ts :ih this case,
which was aft• action for erimittat conversation with the

plaintiff's wife. The.trefendant had suffered judgment to
go by' default Damages were laid at 5,0001.
F. WILLIAMS, with whom was Mr. SMITII,
the ease for the plaintiff, a respectable. SolitAtor'ri'diYig in
the city of 13ath. The Learned Couu+tcls after alluding to the
principal facts of the ease) Awelt with-great animation upon
the serions trAnre of the crime of adultery. " For my
part" said Mr. Williaing, " whenever a case of this de-
stription comes into my.hands, lie the situatitslt of the
offender high or low—be the offence fasitionahlt bt net
.fashionable, I will never fail to hold np thit LrilnP to public
odium and execration," lie oink' riot irbritifie 'thy cha-
racter more truly destifeable than that of a shameless adul-
terer, who meanly stale err the. firesi do of his neighbour, drink-
ing big wine, and robbing him of his domestic peace. Per-
haps, however, it would be asserted by the Counsel on the
other side, that Mr. Webb had not treated his wife with KO-
per attention, and that she was an abandOned chabkter, there-
fore her husband could not fairly claith any damage: forthe
loss of the services of such a woman. With respect to the first
msertion; he had evidence the most satisfactory and re-
spectable to show that Mr. and Mrs. Webb, up to the un-
happy ulfitir, had lived together in the utmost hartrfony abd
happiness I and as to the latter; was it ntaftly, was' it gene-
rous, in the man who had rioted m the bosom of his victim,
to turn round and reprbach her with that which bad made
her a Iviretch and an outcast till the grave should cover her ?
'l3nt if she bad been guilty, did that lessen the guilt of the
defendant ? What was the answer of one of the learned
Judges, when such a plea was offered in mitigation ?-
What !" said he, " because my wife is criminal, is it per.;
.son to be allowed to mak! her still Snore so with impunity ?
Does Aer character at all lessen the guilt of her seducer ?
No, it does not; and I hold his conduct equally unpardon-
able in the sight both of God and man." After a few
other general observations, the Learned Counsel proceeded
to, call witnesses.

The principal evidence of the adulterous cdhheetiOri Was
Mt;. Edw.-Webb, Me won tf Mrs. Webb ! a young man of
about bis'testimony it appeared, that on the
Bth or December last he and hk father went to Box, a vil-
lage. near Bath, on some_ necessary business. - The day
proving wet, they returned ttillr: Webb's house-, on Slim-
hill much earlier than. usual: MK Webb, sett. remained
downstairs, whilst his sOn went up stair's, where he heard
the puke of creaking boots, and found his mother in the
drawing-room much agitated, and busily engaged in lock-
ing the bed4oom door. There was wine and fruit upon

the table. The youth suspected what wn.s going on, :but
his mother entreated him net to say any thing to his father,
"ma ha:wottld make such a Hoist about it." The young
Man, however, did go to his father, to inform hint of the
eireumaamie, did in the mean time the defendant, Hooper,
(an entire stranger. to Mr. Webb) and another person of
the name of Smallcombe, who had been enjoying them-
selves in the: drawing-room with Mrs. Webb, retreated to
a bed-room up stairs, where they , locked themselves in.
Mr. Webb, senior, and his son, the former armed with
;s4 cavalry sword, ,and, the latter with a- sword-stick, • then
sallied, up stairs. Mr. Webb, however, threw aside.the
:sword,. and said he would .give the intruder "a
good
_thrashing with a stick." The • doer was then
broken. open, when . Hooper and his • eotnpailion made
their escape, •but not before 'the former had received a
few severe blowwfrom the-injured husband. This was the •
only evidence to establish the fact of adultery ; but
it appeared that Mrs. Webb had been . suspected
of - having been criminally connected with a person.
of the name of Bayntun, . formerly a clerk in the
service of her, husband, and also with two- other profes-
sional ,gentlemen. It was also attempted to be proved that
she had been in the habit of going out in man's clothes, but
there was no evidence to establish this. - It was elicited,

however that the plaintiff, since this unhappy affair, had
sated dad Hooper and Smallcombe had met Mrs. Webb,
mid a servant of the name of sacker (who had been deli-
.

vered of a child), and that Hooper had. then ,connection
with the one, and Smallcombe with the other.
Two or three most respectable witnesses swore that, up
to this affair, Mr. and, Mrs. Webb had lived together in
the utmost conjugal hoppiness•and comfort..
. Mr. Lunr.ow (with whom was Mr. PALMER)a addressed
the Jury in the most energetic and able speech, in mitiga
tion of damages. He.did not profess to cast the slightest
stigma Upon the character of Mr: Webb, whose conduct,
bit 411 occitsiong, had been that of au upright Man' and af-
feetionate-husbanit:, nor did he Mean to defend the crime.
of adultery, which, so' far as he could judge, was as little
prevalent in :Bath as in any other city in the empire ; but

ile did think there ;were circumstances of mitiiation at-
tending
.the present case, which onght. to induce the Jury
to give merely nominal damages. If this had been one of
those occurrences which were, alas ! but too com-
mon in this country, where the seducer enjoying
the confidence of his friend, and the regard of his fa-
mily, basely employed these as the means o debeurhing his
wife, and destroying his friend:B happiness for
,ever,, then,
he would admit that the heaviest damages the jury could.
allow would not be.more than the Offenre demanded, But
when it was not 'proved that the parties were previously
acipiainted-4hen it was not even shown thatflooper
I,nc.w Mrs. Webb to have been a Married. woman, lie did
think that theSe'facts'onght to weigh well with the jury in
aw.ading their verdict. Thin look , at the weak and un-
satisfactory manner in Which his Learned Friend Mr. Wit-
hams had proved his ease. There was ' certainly no ac-
counting for tastes,' but he thought the introduCtiou of the
son, as a witness ' against his mother, displayed very bad
taste indeed, to say the least of it. In sonic eases, proptfr
rteiymiinsion, on account of . the indispensible necessity of
produeing such a witness to prove, the case, it might be
overlooked ; but here, when the facts to which he had de-
posed 'could have been as easily established by the servant, 1
Aim :Racktr,` his attendance might surely have been ills-.
poised with. With-respect to the evidence produced to
show that Mrs. Webh,.up to this unhappy affair, had con-
ducted herself in all respects as a chaste and virtuous
' woman, would it not have' been as well to have called in
:mute - of the neighboars,- instead of resorting to per-
',otat living at Bristol, and - others who had halt
rptritrOttliCiltioll .with the - parties, to show that she
lived happily with her husband'? Could the Jury be-
lieve that a, Womati,'who had conducted herself in a way,
tlvh.tZt,litied /11,,c, LI el y ~ b e ~ e Ai bi ted in a , common brothel,
promiseuously—eould they, he repeated,
Believe that she, upon the Sth of, December last, should
have,heeu the meg. &lite anti virtuous Of wives, and that
her husband. should not have suspected her ''' . Was it
RAY, that ' she thouhl have risen at nine o'clock on the
luatiodritfil.iigt. tal that
adrityteri
~,,tik. so 10%1/into the atm,* f - • '
Mr; Hooper must iiitliftetdi h -
„effkt such a dump in so Alert a
tohlzooifuti:riennuiftsetrieloxoeTtin,,psityshoofd women,have
;, o infamy, as had been proved?
have :Lean a powerful 'MU to
period. r There was a

very excellent and just Latin motto, Nemo repent Unit
hopissinua, no one ever became Eery base all once—it
was done.ltiy Seepi; itifeitfore it vras hot probable that
Mi. 'Webb had descended by one step only. In his opi-
nion, also, the circumstance of the plaintiff throiving aside
the sword, and threatening to give the defendant a good
thrashing, shewed that Ins suspicions had been aroused,
and it was, therefore, fur the Jrry to Aay, under all the
facts, whlt.injte.y hint i'stztined in the loss of such a
woman; it was certainly better to get rid of her at any
price. With respect to the observations of his learned
friend on the crime of adultery, 'he perfectly agreed with
them, and if addressed to
,legislators abort to frame a law
for its preVititiorti their Vvpuld bare beeh itaionable;
but here, were the decision of a jury would neither dimi-
nish the offence, ..nor operate as a punishment upon the
whole of thi omnium stockholders in this concern, he

thought they • ,
were entirely uncalled for. In Conelnsion, he
age of Mrs. Webb was nearly
would only state, that the
40, while that of his client was only 25 (a mere boy) and he
would, therefore, leave the jury to imagine, which of the
parties was likely to Make the fait advancei.
The Jury, after a long Consultation, assessed the damages
at 1004—The Cage excited very great interest, and lasted
for some houra. .•