The Sun.
London, England, 1827-10-19 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 19, 1827.

LAW INTELLIGENCE

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, OCT. IS.

OLI.VEIRA V. TAYLOR.

This was an action on a bill of exchange for
-),0081., accepted by the defendant for a person of
the name of Wildman, and by Wildman given to the
plaintiff, to secure certain sums sent by the plaintiff
to him.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL understood the de-
fence would be, that the' transactions were usurious,
but he had no doubt the defence would fail.—The
bill was put in, proved, and read.
Mr. PoLLocx, for the defenCe, stated that the
plaintiff had been in the habit_of lending to 'Wildman
large sums of money, and taking bills in seeurity.
The way in which the transactions were. usurious
was this. First, interest for the sums lent was taken
at the beginning of the year,, instead of at the end;
as, suppose 1000/. were the sum. lent, only 9501, of
this.was paid, .50/. being at once deducted. Second,
Mr. Oliveira was in the habit of taking interest for
stuns which he really had not advanced; as, suppose
Wildman wished to borrow • money, he mentioned
the sum he wanted, and then proceeded to find out
security, which it sometimes took a -considerable
time to obtain. The money was not advanced till
the security was provided, but. interest was charged
firm the time the loan had been applied for.

Lord TEN TERpIiN said that it mattered nothing'
whether the interest was taken at the' beginning or
end of the year. As to the second objection, there
was nothing in iit; since Mr. OliVeira always kept
the money ready to be advanceil when the security
should be provided, and could make no use of it
himself in the meantime.—Wrdiet for the plaintiff,
2;008/.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, OCT. 18.

HARWOOD V. GREEN.
(Concluded from our Paper of yesterday:)

Mr. Sergeant TAnDY made a most powerful reply, con-
tending that the statement of the defendant was most un-
justifiable ; that it had been, and would still be, most
prejudicial and destructive to the fortune and expectations
of the plaintiff; and that therefore it became the duty of
the Jury to award most ample damages.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE summed up. The question
for the juiy was most important. The communication,
—the subject of the libel, could not be looked upon by the
Court as a privileged communication, because a Lieutenant
had no right to make any such communication, true or
false, to Lloyd's, or to any other quarter, but to his
Majesty's War Office. With respect to the first
charge in the alleged libel, the Court's opinion
was, that the defendant had distinctly proved it, namely,
that according to the chart the plaintiff had not kept the
proper course. Again, if the defendant's witnesses were
to be believed, the plaintiff had not anchored at the time
it was his duty to have done, namely, when the ship
was in 10 fathoms water; that the plaintiff had left the ship
too for a considerable time in a most perilous state was
decidedly made out. On the whole, it appeared to
his Lordship, that the allegations were completely made
out, but it was for the jury to say whether or not they
were of the same opinion ; if they were, their verdict must
be for the defendant,' and if they were not, for the plaintiff,
but the damages must be the smallest possible.
The Jury retired at twenty minutes: to four, and at
five o'clock returned with a verdict for the plaintiff—
Damages, 50/.

SUICIDE. A

Yesterday evening an Inquest wavheld by,
STIRLING, Esq., Coroner, at •MiddlesX4lriApitali
touching the death of Maria bl/4southcote;vila Wtterest-
ing' young woman, 21 years of age, who terininated
.her vivolence by taking a quantity of oxalic acid,
under the following melancholy circumstances
Mr. William Campbell, Portman-square, surgeon,
on Tuesday, about two o'clocl7 in the afternoon, saw
the deccase4 lying down at the door of a house in
Adam-street, labouring under symptoms of having
taken poison. She was taken into witness's
house. After having administered such medicines
as were calculated to afford relief, she was removed
by her friends to Castle-street, where he attended
her. She confessed-to Lim that she had purcha-
sed two ounces of oxalic acid, and had taken about
one. The remainder was found in her reticule.—
Understood from her that she was enceinte, and in
consequence of that a dispute had originated between
her and her relations, which led to the fatal act.

James White, Edgeware-road, about eleven
o'clock on Tuesday morning, saw the deceased in a
dejected state in Cumberland-street, crying. As he
was going home to his dinner, about twenty minutes
before two o'clock, he saw her. again in Seymour-
place, still crying. He passed on, and having had
his dinner, on MS return was attracted by a crowd
at Mr. Campbell's door. Upon going to the spot,
he. saw it was the same young woman he had seen
before; she was taken into Mr. Campbell's shop,
where medicines were administered, but she seemed
then in a dying state.

A Juror—Pray, Mr. Campbell, how far do you
suppose the deceased was advanced in pregnancy ?
Mr. Campbell—As far as I can judge, about six
months; the paper containing the remainder of the
oxalic acid was distirictly marked " poison."
Juror—How cameyou to know where she lived
Mr. Campbell—She informed me, in a short con-
vemation she held with. me ; and when .she appeared
a little better, I sent for a coach to take her home.

James Kelly, of 76, Castle-street, deposed, that
the deceased had lived as house-maid for the last
two years with Mr. Husband's family, at No. 25,
Newman-street. She quitted her place on Friday
last, as he understood, with a view to better herself:o
She had no father or mother, and came to his house
until she could procure another situation. Witness's
wife was the deceased's sister : they.were not aware
Of her situation until after breakfast on Tuesday
morning, when witness's Wife taxed her with it;
she confessed the filet, and named a young man who
worked for Mr. Husband. Some high words en-
sued, and deceased shortly afterwards quitted the
house. About four o'clock in the afternoon of the
sane day he received information of the state in
which the deceased had been found,; and witness's
wife wentlimmediately to her. She was brought to
witness's house; and from thence was removed to
the Hospital.
Juror,--Did the deceased quit the house in the
height of passion, without taking her clothes ? Wit-
ness—Yes, she did.

, The Jury, having viewed the body of the unfor-
tunate young woman, after a short deliberation re-
turned a verdict of "'Temporary mental derange-
ment."

APPREHENSION OF ANOTHER GANG OF
by the Mint authorities, Limbrick, Edwards, L , and
loyd
Conixas..—ln consequence of private information received
Kirby, officers of Hatton-garden, and a constable named
Reynolds, proceeded
house, situatein Reynold 's court, between White-street
on. Wednesday evening to a retired
and Moor-lane, Moorfields. Considerable difficulty was
in the first place experienced in finding the back en-
most secretly situated in the back yard of
trance, it being
an adjoining house. The necessary arrangements being
ultimately made, Limbrick and Lloyd entered by the front
door, which was on the latch ; round a table, before &very
clear fire, they saw six persons, three men and three fe-
males; who immediately jumped from their seats in the
highest confusion, and the sound of money falling on the
floor was distinctly heard. Edwards and the other officers
had by this time found the back entrance, by which they
now gained access, and joined Limbrick, and the whole
party were immediately secured, handcuffed, and quietly
conveyed to the, lock-up room at Hatton-garden office...—
They were afterwards placed before Mr. Sergeant Sellon
&nd remanded,

LITERATURE.

THE PLEA OF THE MIDSUMMER FAIRIES, &c.
By THOS. HOOD, AUTHOR OF " WHIMS AHD ODDITIES."

London, 1827.

The major part of these poems are penned in
the most afflicting spirit of Cockneyism. We
have all the pastoral and colloqUial affectation of
Mr.
.Leigh Hunt, without one-tenth part •of
his fancy ; the mythological conceits of Barry
Cornwall, without his redeeming tenderness ; and
the quaint phraseology of Elia without his subtle
htit enlightened cast of thought. Mr. Hood has
acted the resurrection-man towards Oberon,
Titania, Robin Goodfellow, " and the rest,?'
not reflecting for an instant that though in Shak-
speare's when they formed part and parcel
ofti
intait7ional belief, they were in strict accord-
ance with probability, and consequently required
no great stretch of the imagination to clothe them
in bodily substance ; yet, that in the nineteenth
centurythe age, of enclosures, joint-stock com-
F panies, and universal education—they are mere
tasteless puerilities. Even so far back as 1630,
the witty Bishop Corbett wrote a poem, lament-
ing the general scepticism respecting fairy-land ;
what thew shall be said of the judgment or goOd
taste of a gentleman, who nearly two centuries
later comes forward with a laboured account of
a covey of sylphs, which he had put up on the
banks of the Lea, near the. Horse and Groom,
Amwell ? But besides this defect, Mr. Hood is
the very last man whoM we should suspect of
being on intimate terms with the fairies. We
cannot conceive the author of Young Ben

a nice yoang man,
A carpenter by trade,
Who fell in love with Sally Brown,
•
As was a lady's maid,
on social terms with the delicate and poetic Ariel;
Puck, or Pease-blossom. We can allow him to be
acquainted with Snug the joiner, Bottom the
weaver, Flute the bellows-mender, or Snout the
tinker, but our credulity will carry us no further.
Mr. Hood's fairies, in contradistinction to those of
Shakspeare, have a strong spice of the Cockney
about them. Though naturalized on the banks
of the Lea, we could swear to their having been
born within the sound of Bow bells ; indeed, we
think we have seen Puck, or the model from
which he was drawn--officiating as Boots Junior,'
at the Cat and Bagpipes, in Shoe-lane. But to
proceed to our analysis. The poet describes
himself as taking a solitary vvalk by the Lea, near
Amwell, thinking of Tithe, the faller of decay,
when suddenly he pops upon Queen Titania
and her Court, all in lull-dress. Her Majesty
remarks what a fine night it is ; and straightway
desires " a goblin" to summon all her " lieges" to
enjoy it. The goblin, thus admonished, makes a
.rumpet out of a rose's cheek, which same cheek
Immediately

utters forth •a shrill, small skid(
Like a frayed bird in the grey owlet's beak ;
whereupon the " loyal fays" come thronging in
likg cock " chafers." The Queen then tells them
of an unpleasant dream she had had (night-mare
probably, proceeding from. indigestion) about a
" cursed bird when

some fresh bruit
Startled, niettell-ahterp.
We have before observed that Mr. Hood's
fairies have a Cockney cut about them, and the
half line in italics; proves the justice of our re-
mark, as it is manifestly drawn.from the counter
or at any rate, from Mr. Pubster, the city
grocer,* whose friend, Torn Hicks, had eaten
" such a sight of oysters that they stuck all
cheap in him." This " her, Majesty
adds proceeded from _ _

The horridest shape that ever raised my awe;
to wit, a noisy old gentleman, named Time,
whose

.foggy breath

Blurrel out the landscape like aight of smoke.
(Has not Mr. Hood mistaken a steam-boat for
Time ?) Be this as it may, just as her Majesty
is describing the: horridest shape," in the shape
walks, thus verifying the adage—" talk of the
devil," &c., and startling

All close aheap those small affrighted things.
The Queen immediately addresses him, (and con-
sidering her size) in a tolerably long speech, in
which she implores him to save her and her's—
for it seems the old gentleman was going to mow
them all down—during which oration
Pack was seated on a spider's thread
That hung between two branches of a briar,
And 'gan to swing and gambol heels o'er head.
We are pretty sure, that we have seen this said
Puck—or an urchin very like him, acting as
Jack Pudding, at Bartholomew Fair ; he was a
little disguised in liquor, at the time, neverthe-
less we can almost swear to his identity.: To
resume, the Queen finding remonstrance useless,
catches hold of Time by the knee-pan, which
the poet tells us is remarkably " gristly," and
implores him to

Think his murder worthy of debating,.
He, however, only answers by a speech of pre-
cisely the same length as her Majesty's ; upon
which she proceeds to reckon up the good deeds
of herself and fairies, as thus :
we tend upon buds birth, and blossoming,
And count the leafy tributes that they owe,

As, so much io the earth—so much to fling
In showers to the brook—so much to go
In whirlwinds to the clouds that made them grow.
iTedhgiseLast passage convinces us that Mr. Hood's
fairies are all C,ocknies ; for it is nothing more
nor less than the rhymed transcript of a citizen's
as Counsel
—so muacsh titiousrl;;. 'lotiicteridl
to wo work
for ont the
tpoelygre.rsT—oisnoSmtuubcbhs
to Mr.. Robert Noggins, &c." It fails, how-
deavnetns:ldi oeuelgalrietsl:eil Queen,ni
iti.
.
gation of damages, that
The pastoral cowslips are my little pets.
In spite of " her pets" he still remains listening
eTdimefeen,
with as much impatience to her and her fairies'
common " Pleas" as if he were Chief Justice
thereof'. Finding this to be the case, she per-
petrates another speech, in which she says,
If ever thy sweet son sat on thy thighs, ~
(a very poetic place for a son to sit on),
For love's dear sake let us thy pity win.
It grieves us to add that Time still holds out,
observing, evidently under an irritation of the
gastric juice, that
I would consume effectually all youth
Atoneg
her INI great
tm meal.
This frightens ajesty, and she immediately
gives place to a fairy woodsman, who
made good
yityhpavoeliebee,cioir csieosmireedsuctho
His haunch against his axe, and thus spoke up,
just as we have heard Aldermen do at a Com-
mons
i) e
aspeak
ti i) Council,”
a
poetic matter. All this time Puck keeps amus-
bowuhtenthtehCe
ii Vide Madam) d'Arblay'* Camilla.