Star.
London, England, 1808-12-06 00:00:00

THEATRE, fIATMARKET. I mowed of a blacismith's daughter, to whom it was
' reported he was married, and the plaintiff, upon con.
The Covent-Garden Company removed over ele versing with one of her friends upon this attachment,
quay last night, where, after the play of the, Moue- slid, it he liked the blacksmith's daughter, he might
*seers, a new farce, called 4i School for 4 whom, was h ive her, she could get a betterman to wipe her shoe:
produced, said to be written by the late Mr. TOBIN, at any time. Subsequt*tly to this, the father, in ern.
author of the Homy Moon and the Curfew; and, unfor- versation with the defendant, told him, that he had
fortunately, the bays that are shooting thus freshly, heard that iv had had a child by the blackyrAh's
spring but to overshadow his grave. The production daughter, wh,a; he very properly said to the tidal..
of last night increases our regret; and the genuine dant, hat he thounht she was the pr :per woman fcr
laughter, which so chaste and yet so comic a drama him to ma, ry, and that he had better, if so, make het
will excite in the tasteful part of every audieace, must an hon2st woman.
sometimes for a moment be crossed by a sigh to fie At that time he denied the fact of his marriage,
memory of the Author.—The characters are as ful- , and renewed the courtship, and went to buy a ring
low : and some loves for her for favours.
Diaper - . Mr. MJNIIZN After this it was discovered, that the defendant
Cleveland a Ms. BRUNTON was actually married before the last promise to •,..e
Wormwood • • Mr. Feline
Frank • - Mr. resss plaintiff.
Jeffery . . Mr. DAVINROIT The case being proved on the part of t',o nl )la.'fr,
Jane (Niece to Diaper) Miss NORTON Mr. G4.IIROW addressed the Jury for the defendant,
Susan - - Mrs. Gins. and endeavoured to shew that she had coquetted and
The whole of the business of this piece turns on the flirted with another man, a cousin, whom site de.
strange infatuation which possesses Diaper, a wealthy dared she liked better. He also relied upon the plain.
tradesman, of being esteemed a dramatic writer of •' •
L tiff's having released the defendant from his promise.
eminence. To establish this character, he has con- Upon the witnesses being called, it appeared that
structed a Tragedy, called 44 Gunpowder Treason ;I,
, the defendant had come first to the plaintiff's father,
or, the Fifth of November," respecting the success of , atmerry meeting at Christmas, 1805, and then the
which, being very anxious, he prey:as upon C leve- i ia. ~..erry
ip plaintiff had sat upon her cousin's knee, and behaved
land, a young man of 'liberal acquirements, to ac.
i with some degree of female levity.
knowledge the new piece coming out to be his—
The ATTORNEY GENERAL, in his reply, sheaved
Cleveland accedes to this, desirous of recommend.
that this happened before the promise of marriage
ing himself as the professed admirer of his niece, made by the defendant.
Jane, an accomplished girl, who is also attached Lord ELLENBOROUGH, in summing up The evi.
to him, but whose hand Diaper is determined to
dance, applauded the conduct of the plaintiff and her
be stow upon no one but 4 a man of genius."— father,
, upon first hearing of the attachment of the
Diaper, on the night of its representation, remains defendant
to his present wife. But the action was
greatly agitated, waiting the event of Ms Gunpowder
chiefly founded upon the second promise of marriages,
Trenton, and, during his anxiety, Jeffery, a servant,
to which there could be no answer.
arrives with the information that his warehouse in the
The Jury gave a verdict for the plaintiff—Da.
Minories is on fire, and property, not insured, burn-
mages 1501.
ing, of the value of ten thousand pounds. The news
does not alarm Diaper, who is so intent upon the fate
of his Tragedy, that he is regardless of the fire.
Wormwood then waifs upon Diaper from the Theatre,
to acquaint him that his Tragedy is damned. Udder
the belief that it was written by Cleveland, he brands
it with every epithet Of disapprobation, and confesses
that by his efforts, and the aid of Diaper': servants,
it had been howled to death. The scene which ensues
affords MENDEN an opportunity to display his comic
powers with the richest effect. In the mean time a
Comedy, performed on the same night, has succeeded
at the other house, and Cleveland is discovered to be
the lucky Dramatist. The good humoured Diaper
forgets his own misfortunes in the happiness ofhis
friend, and the piece concludes with the disgrace of
Wormwood, and the union of the lovers; The auxili-
ary characters of Wormwood, a snarling critic, and
Frank, Jeffery, and Jane, confidential servants, &c.
though not absolutely essential to the main story,
contribute materially to heighten the picture, which
is sketched with considerable spirit, after the model
of the old English farce. The piece was enthusiasti-
cally well received, and bids fair to restore that taste
for genuine Farce-writing, which has been some years
on the decline. -
The characters, if we except the foppish one of
Frank, which is a little caricatured, are all of them as
natural as they are amusing ; and the dialogue, as
far as we are able to judge without reading it, is not
only abundant in wit, but pure in diction. Mr. Mum-
DEN was the Diaper. We have not, for a long while,
seen that excellent comedian in a new and successful I
part that was worthy of his talents ; but disuse has
not incrusted their brightness with a particle of rust.
Messrs. FARLRY, BRUNTON, and JONES, were adequate
representatives of Wormwood, Cleveland, and Frank ;
and Miss NORTON and Mrs. GIBBS were interesting in
the two females, mistress and maid. This Farce,
which would perhaps be more justly denominated a
Comedy in three acts, was presented to the Managers
many years ago; and its great merit, as well as the
success that it has found, might make some persons,
unacquainted with theatrical customs, wonder not a
little that it should never have been acted before.
4, But wonder (says Dr. Join4soN) is the effect of no-
velty upon ignorance ;" and those few persons who
are not ignorant in dramatic affairs, are well aware
that Managers, as well as Princes and Ladies, have
a prerogative of doing what they please, without a
reason.

CLOVER V. DICKSON.

The plaintiff is a respectable attorney, at Ryegate,
and the defendant a gentleman of fortune, living at
Southampton. The present action was for a libel
writtin by the latter, which he promulgated in a let.
ter. dated from Hatchett's Hotel, on the 20th of July,
1807, wherein he made allusions to the character of
the plaintiff, which was founded on mere imagina-
tion. It appeared, that the defendant had sold an
estate to Mr. Kelsey, to whom the plaintiff was soli. ,
citor ; and some unavoidable delays took place as to
the tide, which the defendant wished in his letter to
f (sten on the•plainOff, and used such expressions as
were actually libellous.
Mr. JEKYL, for the defendant, consented that a
verdict should be returned for the plaintiff, which
would afford hint an opportunity of vindicating his
character. Verdict Is. costs 40s. •

DE JERINGEI V. SNEETI.
The plaintiff and defendant had been partners, and
on the 31st of August last Mr. Graham, the auc-
tioneer, called at their counting house, for some ar-
rears of rent due to him, a mutual recrimination took
place between them, as to the payment, when the
pl aim; fic ailed the defendant a lying scoundrel, on which
the latter took up the ink stand, and struck him a
violent blow on the temple, making a wound three
inches long and one broad.
Mr. Whitfield described the wound, and-said the
plaintiff was confined for three weeks from its vio-
lence. The Jury treated the matter lightly, as they
brought in a irerdict for the plaintiff 6d. damage:,
and tid. costs.

COMMON PLEAS.—DECEMBER 5.
ANNUITT.-11AltIE IP. LESLIE.
This was an action to compel the payment of an annuity of 351.
granted' by the Defendant, the Honourable John Leslie, to one
Wilson, an apothecary, who had assigned it to the Plaintiff.
The consideration was 4101. The pay of the Defendant as Cape
tarn In the first regiment of Foot Guards, and whatever salary
might arise from any future military promotion, were assigned
to Chandles, an attorney, in Golden.square, in trust, to secure
the annuity in the first place, and then to pay the surplus to the
Defendant.
The defence was, that the memorial of the transaction had not
been inrolted in Chancery within the time limited by the Act g
that the memorial did not sufficiently express the nature of the
, trust ; that the consideration for the annuity had not been paid
1 by the grantee himself into the hands of the grantor, as alleged in
the Plaintiff's plea. There were nine distinct issues, which, by
the plan of pleading adopted, were reduced to four, principally
by the vague nature of the Plaintiff's replication upon which
however the Defendant, instead of demurring, had rejoined and
formed an issue.
It appeared in proof, that the memorial had been duly entered,
but a question arose, whether the trust, in the deed had been
sufficiently expressed in the memorial, according to the terms of
the Act, it being there only generally stated, that the pay had
been assigned to secure the annuity, without any mention of what
was to be done with the surplus. As the case turned upon this,
it was agreed to take a verdict for the Plaintiff upon three of the
Issues, and verdict for the Defendant en the fourth, that the
matter of law might be argued „before the Court. An objection
I had been taken, that the original mesnorhd, and not a copy,
ought to have been produced ) but this was overruled by the
[ Judge.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF CHANCERY, DECEMBER d.
This day the Loan CHANCELLOR held his first
Seal after the Michaelmas Term, but the cases did
possess any thing of peculiar interest.
On the motion of Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY, his Lord-
ship granted an order for bringing before the Judges, I
at the next Lancaster Assizes, a person imprisoned in
Lancaster jail for contempt of Court, in not paying
the costs of a suit, agreeably to order of Court—for
the purpose of having it determined, whether a per.
son in such a situation was entitled to relief under the
Lords' Act.
His Lordship granted this order, not from any
opinioa that the Pct of Parliament applied, but that
the Judges, before -*horn the person should be ,
brought, might have an opportunity of disposing of
the case, as it might seem to them to merit.
Kis Lordship also, on the motion of Sir SAMUEL
ROMILLY, appointed an appeal from a judgment of
the Master of the Rolls, to stand at the top of the pa-
per, on the ground that the plaintiff in the suit had no
other means of support than what might result from
the suit in question, and therefore that• her very exis-
tence depended on his Lordship's coming to a speedy
decision.

IPLCTIMISN Tr-lON O. SMITH.;
This was an ejectment to try the right to a piece aground
belonging to a parcel of land called " The Spice !stands," situate
near Whitechapel. The ground had been of little value till the
making of the Commercial read, and there had been some dig
pute as to the title; in consequence of which the Defendant
and the other occupiers began to imagine that it was their own,
and refused to give up the possession. The old gentleman,
Richard Re; the Plaintiff, Clearly made out his right, and had
a verdict.
Sir J. Mattsriacn expressed hia regret for the bad advice
given to the poor people who occupied these Spice Islands—this
being the sixth or seventh ejectment brought to try aright which
bad been sufficiently decided upon the first action.

BREAD.—No Court of Aldermen was held this day :
the LORD MAYOR, after inspecting the Returns, or-
dered it to fall 3d per peck.
Review of Mary Smith': " Observations on Seduc-
-- ; Con, and on the Fatal Effects arising from it."—
COURT 01? KING's BENCH, DECEMBER S. I Price 2s. 6d.—The following is the opinion of the
HOWELLS V. CHARLES. •i Reviewer, extracted.from the 0 Cabinet or Monthly
The ATTORNEY GENERAL opened this case, which I Report of Polite Literature," for December, 1308:
was an action by Mary Howells against the defen- " In these Observations, their moral and religious
dant for a breach of promise of marriage. The de- guilt is forcibly painted, and, as brought forward, cr
fendant had an estate of 1001. a year, and was a far- rather compiled by a Penitent female, who has tasted
mer and timber merchantatLandryst, in Monmouth- the bitterness of Prostitution, but has happily been
shire. The plaintiff was the daughter of an honest snatched from the perdition to which it leads, they
farmer in Monmouth, and was courted by the defer- may have a beneficial effect, if properly circulated
dant for some time. In March, 1806, he made a de- among her more unfortunate sisters. Under this im-
libetate proposal of marriage, and 'the plaintiff's fa- pression we strongly recommend the present pamphlet,
Cher said, that if he would make a proper settlement, which may also be read with advantage by every de.
he, the father, would give her 1001. down, and 2001. scription of persons, Male and Female"—Those wbo
at his death. The defendant then called on the I are inclined to give them away may havelhem at
plaintiff's father, and left the title deeds of his estate lone pound four shillings per dozen. It may be had
with him. The defendant afterwards became ena.' of E. Wrtkorr, bookseller; No. 51, Paternew.—

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