Star.
London, England, 1830-08-12 00:00:00

nates a second, the second a third, the third a fourth . the
ninth a tenth—they are all and severally Smiths."
I am indeed afraid that he is irrecoverably a bachelor, for several
reasons which I small mention. He is, at this time, ". a little,
round, oily man," five feet and a half in his shoes ; much given to
poetry, pedestrianism, whim, whistling, cigars, and sonnets ;
amorous, as the poets say, of umbrageousness in the country,
and umbrellas in the town ; rather bald, and addicted to Burton
ale: and a lover of silence and afternoon siestas--indeed, he is
much given to sleep, which, as he says, is but a return in kind ;
for sleep was given to the man to refresh 'his body and keep his
spirits in peace; indulgences these which have any thing but a
marrying look : so that no unwilling Daphne has lost a willing
Damon in my duodecimo friend. It is too manifest that he prefers
liberty, and lodgings for a single gentlemen, to the " Hall, wedded
love !" of the poet of Paradise—a sort of clergyman " triumphal,"
to which his ear is most unorthodoxically deaf when time is called.
He has even gone so far as to compare good and bad marriages with
two very remarkable results in chemical experimens, by which, in
one instance, charcoal is converted into diamond, and in the other,
diamond is defiagrated into charcoal. The fortunate Benedict mar.
ries charcoal, which, after a patient process, proves a diamond : the
unfortunate husband weds a diamond, which, tried in the fire of
adversity, turns out charcoal. Yet he is not unalive to those soft
impressions which betoken a sensitive nature. He has been twice in
love; thrice to the dome of St. Paul's with the three sisters Simpson,
and once to Richmond by water with a Miss Robinson, in May,
that auspicious month, dedicated to love and lettuces. These are
perhaps the only incidents in his unchequered life which approach
the romantic and the sentimental ; yet he has passed through the
ordeal unsinged at heart, and h still a bachelor. Ho was, at one
time, passionately partial to music and mutton-chops, muffins and
melancholy, predilections much cultivated by an inherent good
taste, and an ardent love of the agreeable ; yet he has taken to him-
self no one to do his mutton and music, no one to soften his me-
lancholy and spread his muffins. It is unaccountable ; the ladies
say so, and I agree with them.
I have mentioned "the things he is inclined to;" I must now
specify " these he has no mind to." His antipathies are tight boots
and bad ale—two of the evils of life (which is at best but of a
mingled yarn) for which he his an aversion almost amounting to the
impatient.
As I have said, he wrote verses, and they wen thought by some
people to be very odd and unaccountable. He lost a Miss --,
who was dear to him, in trinket expenses more especially, through
a point of poetical ethlifette certainly very unpardonable. In some
HOW addressed to that amiable spinster and deep-dyed bar bleu,
itched occasion to use the words one and two, and either from the
ardour of haste, or the inconsiderateness of love, which makes
the wisest of us commit ourselves, or perhaps from the narrovmsn
of his note-paper, he pesos& the passage us
" Nature has made us 2, but Love shall make us 1 ;
I mind, 1 soul, 1 heart," tee.
This reminded the learned lady too irresistibly of a catalogue of
sale--; wartning-pan, 2 stoves, 1 stewpan, 1 smokejack, Ac. and
she dismissed him in high dudgeon.
In more stable qualities Mr. Smith is of a more stable nature :
here, indeed, his true singularity lies. But I pass this part of his
character, and come, lastly, to his waggery, which is perhaps the
hest portion of it. His genius is nothing to his jokes. His friend
Simpson, in allusion, no doubt, to the jelly-like tremulousness of
his outward man when in motion, mays "he is all wag."
Mr. Smith is very deservedly the delight of a pretty wide circle
of admirers, and keeps all in good humour about him. Where he
enters, let the company be never so grave, a preparatory smile
wards round the room; every ear, to use a Lord Castlereagh figure
of speech, stands on the tiptoe of expectation ; and his first remark,
though it be but " How do you do, Jones ?" or, " Hah ! Simpson,
glad to see you!" is received with roan of laughter. Silence sits
pleased ; mouths, city mouths ! gape wide with a sort of greedy
avidity to swallow, at a gulp, any mental morsel he may, in his
condescension, throw down for the entertainment of his friends. If
strangers are present, elbows on either side nudge the unconscious
Perkinses into a proper attitude of attention : if they have never be-
fore heard of Mr. Smith, much wonder seems to sit on the uplifted
eyebrows of those who know him well; and a due degree of infor-
mation as to his attributes is instilled in a whisper. lr on need not
use a battering-ram to beat into the head of A. that B. is a man
of extraordinary genius : tell him that he is so, and he believes
you, because you save him the trouble of thinking for himself, an
act of ratiocination which most men prefer to have performed for
them by deputy : one half the world, indeed, takes its opinion of
the other half on trust, and a very wise reliance it is.
This brief memoir of Mr. John Smith, and mention of his par.
suits, will serve to illustrate the versatility of his genius and the
vastness of his acquirements. And now I leave the reader to ask
" Wise is this Smith t"

LAW REPORTS.
COURT OF CHANCERY, Auo. 11.
CLARIZ V. READ.
Mr. SOLICITOR-GENERAL moved that the bill filed by the plain.
tiff In this suit might be dismissed upon Mr. and Mrs. Dew execut-
ing to Messrs. Clarke a conveyance of the estate which was the
subject of the bill.
This was a proceeding arising out of the cause of "Dew.v.Clarke,"
the particulars of which have been often, and at great length, der
ailed. By the result of the several decisions in the Court of
Chancy, and in the ecclesiastical courts, the will of Mr. Stott,
under which Messrs. Clarke claimed to be entitled to his property,
had been set aside, on the ground of insanity, which was ma-
nifested by the aversion he had always borne to his daughter,
now Mrs. Dew. The consequence of these decisions was, that
Mrs. Dew was declared to be entitled to his personal property. It
had however been discovered that the testator was entitled to a small
real estate, of the value of 3001. or 4001. and the present suit was
filed respecting that estate, and for the purpose of trying the validity
of the will betore a jury, by means of an issue from this court. An
answer had been put in by the trustees of the will, to whom the es.
tate in question was devised for the benefit of the Messrs.
Clarke; and Mrs. Dew, who was also made a defendant, and
who was the heiress-at-law of the testator, with her husband's
concurrence offered to give up the estate in question, and a deed
was executed by her to that effect, and tendered to Mews.
Clarke, which they refused to accept, their object being, that
the question of the testator's sanity should be properly
brought into discussion and tried by such evidence as could not
be adduced either in this court or in the ecclesiastical courts. The
counsel now insisted that this was all that could be required of the
defendants, and that they had a right to retire from the litigation if
they thought fit.
Mr. GARRZ TT was heard on the same side.
Mr. BLIoR opposed the motion, and insisted that the defendants
were entitled to no such option; that they must either submit to
such decree as the bill prayed, or go on to the end of the suit in the
I ordinary course, when the Court would have ascertained what were
the rights of the parties, and declare them accordingly. It was
wholly without precedent and contrary to law and justice that a
bill should be dismissed upon such an offer as that made by the
defendants.
The LORD CnaircELLoß said, the point being one of consider.
able importance, he should inquire into the practice, and in the
mean time ordered the matter to stand over.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
DURl—Vhtrro. 9.
The commission was opened on Saturday by Mr. Justice BAY-
LIT, who this morning proceeded to dispose t the few causes
(eight only) which are entered for trW at nisi prius.
The LORD COMP' JUITICZ of the Common Pleas sat on the
Crown side. and got nearly through the calendar, leaving only three
out of eleven cases which are on the list, for disposal to.morrow.—
There has, however, occurred a crime of a dreadful nature, the
murder of a servant maid, on suspicion of which five men are in
custody.—four Irish labourers, and the inan.servant of the house
where the murder was committed. A Coroner's Inquest has this
day been held on the body, but the result is not yet known in Dur-
ham, as the scene is some miles of. The grand jury it is supposed
will be detained. None of the cases on the Crown side merit any
particular mention. The following occurred at Nisi Prius before
Mr. Justice DATUM.

HART v. YOUNG AND OTHERS.
' Mr. Blovonsx who stated the case to the jury, informed
them that the parties in this cause were neighbouring farmers, re.
siding at Clifton, near Durham, and who WI been upon any other
than neighbourly terms for some years. The cause of their dispute
arose from the doubts which each party had concerning the boun-
daries of the respective farms. Upon the evening of the 6th of
July last, the plaintiff sent out two of his workmen to make some
alterations in the hedges which the farms, and these men were
dice
at their work when the elder ante and interrupted them.
High words ensued, plaintifjoinedi moo, which junction of fames
was deemed sufficient to being whet him the whole array of the
defendant's tamily i the Jotter, joined by two of his •daughters,
came down, vi et emir' with pitchforks, Sails, and other weapons
of the homestead and bun-yard, and a fray ensued, in which some
of the womea were severely handled. Blood was visible on the
field, and figments of combs, locks of hale, torn caps and laws,
adorned the trophies of the sombatants. Some of these were exhi.
bited in court, and a cudgel was ales boss& huh in evidence of
the Amazonian prowess of the fair I
A surgeon aloe proved that the =was ceased some time 1
in consequent* of the Injuries be .cloud.
Mr. J. WILLIAMS, the dam. nOt 11 to the jury, *both*,
from the tivMence before them, they trotild wet think that the pro-
vocation glien.was enough to WAIN My await like that proved t
Mr. Justice BATLEY wandwed op, and leR it for the jury to an-
eider whether the mode in *MI6 the evidence was got zip, wee not
symptoms* of lip attorneys NSW t
Damages SOL