The Sun.
London, England, 1826-08-05 00:00:00

COVENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

colisT v. RAms.
His Lordship had again seen Master Cross in this case,
and from him had got to know what had passed in his
office. The statement that had been collected from the
affidavits the Court begged to hand down to the Bar,
with a view to know whether they agreed to it on both
sides, and if they did, the Court would dispose of it on
Monday.

1)1 IIItAUVOIA V. MODS&
His Lordship said I. should also disposa of this on
Monday, and should then state, too, several other things
that were floating in his mind, and which he intended to
give judgment in, in the course of next week.

ENCYCLOPEDIA METROPOLITANA v. LONDON EN-
CYCLOPEDIA.
. MAW'4AN AND OTIIIRS V. TIWO AND MIMS.
Mr. Solicitor-General opened this motion on behalf of
the plaintiffs, yesterday, for an injunction to restrain the
defendants, Messrs. Tegg and others, from continuing to
publish the London Encyclopedia, on the ground that it
was a piracy of the plaintiffs' work, the Encyclopedia Me.
tropolitana. The Counsel in support of the application
argued the case at considerable length. The copyright of
the plaintiffs' work was bought by Mr. Rest Fenner, and
after his bankruptcy, it descended to Messrs. Mawman end
Baldwin, as the assignees of the estate and effects of Mr.
Fenner. At first, the editor of the London Encyclopedia
was the editor of the Encyclopedia Metropolitana ; and
this non-identical identical editorKas the Solicitor-General
styled him) had clearly pirated the latter work, from a
comparison of articles in the two works.
Mr. Horne was the leading Counsel for the defence.
He partly opened his case before the rising of the Court
yesterday, and resumed it to-day. The two points he
made were, that a tick in the plaintiffs, in the Ency-
clopedia Metropolitana, had not been made out, and
next, that even if a title had been mad* out, there had
been such delay in applying to the Court for protection,
that the Court ought not now to interfere. Having said
as much on these points as he intended, he should not
go over the ground again, but should apply himself to
what the other side had confined themselves; namely,
that • from comparison of parts of the work, it would
appear the plaintiffs' book had been pirated.—They
had assumed the copyright, which they had no right
to do. In Mr. Horne's opinion, an Encyclopedia
was to be considered now as very little more than an en-
larged Dictionary, going through the circle of science,
for the benefit of the public. The editor of the Ency-
Nopedia Metropolitan, had no more right to say his
book, or his articles, were original, than the Editor of the
London Encyclopedia had to say so of his: The plain-
tiffs had not stated any one article in their work which
they alleged to be original; on the contrary, the value—
the entire value of an Encyclopedia, consisted in bring-
ing down to the day of its publication every thing
that had been previously published. If an Encyclo-
pedia did not do- this, it would be a fraud on
the world. 'Whoever looked into the Encyclopedia
Metropolitan, would find, that the wish of the plaintiffs
was, that the public should so understand the value and
nature of an Encyclopedia. The plaintiffs had complain-
ed of the same illustrations of articles having been used in
the defendant's work that had been used in theirs. They
had introduced their work to the public by a very
learned preface, as no doubt became such a learned
body as the two and twenty plaintiffs ; the defendant's
book had been ushered into the world in a much humbler
way, without touching on the plaintiffs' preface at all, and
leaving it to the good sense of readers to distinguish be-
tween the works. The plaintiffs' first article was upon
Mechanism, whereas the defendants' was on the letter 4,
and therefore to say, the -twt works were the eame,
was absurd. The defendants' book purported to be,
and was, in fact, an Altridge'd Diettottaiw, the first pin of
which was produced to the world during the present year,
whereas the plaintiffs' book was first published in 1818. There
had hardly been air instance cited of comparison but what had
been confessedly bad language, bad selection, and what
ought not to have been used. And the learned Solicitor-
General,,
who always rioted and exuberated on language,
on words, on distinctions, on tropes, and so on, had not this occa-
sion at all spared Mr. Curtis, the former owner and editor of the
plaintiff's work. He had handled him just like a giant torturing
&fly ; and then he proposed to introduce something, for the re-
ception of which he wished in prepare the Court, and all
who heard him. \I hen all was silent, and with breathless
anxiety to hear what was to come, a little gentleman popped his
head up to the table before the learned speaker, whispered some-
thing into his ear for a moment, and then came out from the
Solicitor-General, that a gentleman there was, who, though he
did not always lire above ground, yet some times made his ap-
pearance on the surface of terra firma. lie did not mean Mr.
Curtis, but a printer's devil !—(Alucli laughter.)-11 did appear
to Mr. Horne that there never had been a book sent forth to the
world—a literary work—a publication professing acehracYs--con-
taining more blunders, worse selections, less of , originality, and
greater nonsense ; and the clear object of the other side was, to
father on the printer's devil the whole of these blunders and this
nonsense. Errors were liable to all men; but if such
charity was to be shown to the plaintiffs, surely the defendants were
entitled to a little of the saran liberality; that they also were to be
at liberty to attribute their mistakes to their printer's devil, and
if this were so, what had the Court to do with the printer's
devil ? The fact was, that the language in the -Racy-
elopedia Metropolitaxa was, what ought is be scouted out
of Court, ought to be rejected by the world, lsughed at by
men of information, and would have to be considered unworthy
of the protection of the Court. If the present were a case re-
specting a publication on morals, and if there was any thing
found in the work against good morals, the Court would not in-
terfere, and on the same principle tke defendants hoped the Court
would not protect a book, the alleged piracy of which could only
be stated from language and selections decidedly bad, improper,
and inaccurate. The Reverend Mr. Richardson had made
an affidavit on behalf of the plaintiffs. This gentleman
edits the plaintiffs' work, and is also a sehoohnaster. Mr.
Horne thought he must have made the selection of words stated iii
his affidavit, during the vacation, because it seemed a Hereu •
lean labour, and he never could have had time to have done it,
at the same time of discharging his scholastic duties. The
Learned' Counsel then read the affidavit, which stated a great
many words to be found in the plaintiffs' work not to be
found in Dr. Johnson's Dictionary. Mr. Horne did notconaider
that they were trying Johnson's Dictionary, nor did any one say
the words alluded to by Mr. Richardson were in Johnson's. In-
deed if that learned Doctor had been now alive, not even Mr.
Richardson could have persuaded bins, (in Mr. Horn's notion) to
to have used those words, unless the Doctor had intended
to have taken us back to the days of barbarism
and confusion, front which it was his object to re-
deem us, because mars horrible expressions had never been heard
of since the confusion that took place at the Tower of Babel.
The gentleman on the other side had laid great stress on the ex-
tent of property that had been. embarked by the plaintiffs in the
publication of their work.

His Loanant;eonsidireti the magnitude of property, to be moat
material to be attended to. _ .

Mr. Hon.ma was quite "wart of it, but what he meant was,
that the other side had unfairly used the argument, because the
twenty-two plaintiffs had only laid out 35,0001., which was
not by any means to be compared with the importance
of the defendants' property embarked, for the principal defend-
ant bad laid out hie ull, nearly f►v'e thousand pounds, iu
establishing his Work, And, therefore, ruder all the circumstances
of the ease; the Learned Gentleman hoped the Court would not
interpose to stop the sale of the defentlannf work, at any rate he-
fort a trial at law.

matter of title of very great im-
portanits °&wel:.l:vsilt7:;-ea thoughtpe theettote nit of the ease, then, were a
great many things so settled in this Court, that they could not be
affected by general reasoning. Mere Could be no doubt
that, upon a bill being filed, an injunction might be loosed
for, but whether it was to be granted instanter, or not,
until after a trial, that trial to be conducted under
certain regulations, Was another thing. His Lordship was of
opinion, that where a great number of things were proved to be

copies by the mere circumstance 'of blunders, which MA strong'
evidence, before a jury, that might raise a question whither
things that were not blunders were not also copies. When
Mr. Horne talked about Dr. Johnson, if he had known him s
well as his Lordship did, he rather thought that the day after
the Doctor had published his Dictionary, he would not have ven-
tured to hare told him that he would publish it. Air. Horne:
would have been more afraid of a look of that learned Doctor,'
than he now was of the whole of this body of plaintiffs.
Mr. SHADWELT, Mr. Cmwo, and Mr.. SPINCE, were also on.
the, same side with Mr. Holum. They. admitted that many
thing-e, alleged to be copied from.the plaintiffs' work, had been in
truth so copied.
His Loansitte then said, that this reduced it purely to a ques-
tion of law, whether or not the defendants were so entitled to
make true copies.
The SOLICITOR.-GINCRAL said, they had sworn only to the
copies of the examples, and not to the ety-tuology of the words
st all.

Mr. CHINO said, the plaintiff had been much more nice than
wise. He would read the motto of his client's book, with a view
to the minds of the gentlemen on the other side.—" A
reashould sit down to a book, especially of the miscel-
laneous kind, as a well-behaved visitor does to a banquet.—
The master of the feast exerts himself to satisfy his guests;
but if, after all his care sad pains, something should
appear on the table that does not suit this or that person's
taste, they politely pass it over without notice, and commend
other dishes, that they may.not distress a kind host."
His LORDSHIP wished to know whether the motto went on to
say, what the visitor was to do, if there was nothing on the
table? Whether he was to go into the next house and pick up
whatever he could find there?

Mr. CHING said no ; he should turn his back on such * tom-
quet. But if the Gentlemen on the other side chose to search
they would find many good things in the London Encyclopaylia
that were not to be foUnd in the other work. Mr. Ching contended
that the publisher of an Encyclopedia, or a Scientific Dictionary,
was to be considered at perfect liberty to pilfer, openly and freely,
from other works, otherwke we should never have had the learned
treatisealumded down to us, which in these latter days we have.
His Loansme was rather inclined to think that this argument
could only go to books, the copyright in which was out and gone.
The Gentlemen proceeded at greater length, but the case was
not disposed of when we left the Court.

VICE-CHANCELLOR'S COURT.—(Txis DAT.)
Moon V. JONI&

This was a petition praying the interference of the Court under
the following circumstances.
A commission of bankruptcy had been taken out against the
defendant in 1823, respecting the validity of which, the Vice-
Chancellor had directed an issue to be tried by a jury. When the
trial came on, two material witnesses fur the plaintiff absented
' themselves, whereupon the Judge ordered the trial to be put off ou
payment of costs, inconsequence ofadiscovery subtequently made by
the plaintiff that these two witnesses had been suborned by the bank-
rupt, a rule nisi was obtained in the Court of King's Bench, to sus-
pend the order for the payment of costs by the plaintiff, but the Court
refused to make the rule absolute until the Master, (to whom the
matter was referred for investigation) should. make his report,
which has not been done yet. The object of this petition WitSi
that the Court might order the trial as to the validity of the com-
mission to proceed, without the payment of costs on behalf of the
Mr. MONTAGUE, who appeared for the petitioner, complained
of the length of an affidavit made by the bankrupt, which was so
voluminous that an dice copy of it would cost 201., so that his
client declined to take out a copy.
The VICE-Cualicimunt caul, that if the parties thought proper
to proceed on the petition, he would take the affidavits home to
read. The question was, what effect the rule Nisi has on the trial.
Mr. Was tram) said that it was inconsistent with the praetiee,
that the trial should go on until the Muter should teaks his report.
The Vick:-CniNerr.Loot was of opinion, that the trial could nut
proceed at present, and that it was the plaintiff's duty to apply to
the Court of King's Bauch to have the rule made absolute.