Star.
London, England, 1809-12-05 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

COVENT GARDEN THEATRE.
CLIFFORD V. BRANDON.
This afternoon, at half-past three o'clock, the Jury
returned a Verdict, finding an assault and false im-
prisonment proved against the Defendant Brandon-
-IDaMages—FlVE PCUNDS and Costs.
Loud and long continued shouts of 0. P. and Cur-Loan for ever, immediately resounded .throughout
Westminster Hall, and the applause was re-echoed
y the crowd collected in the various avenues.
Serjeant BEST opened the Plaintiff's case in a most
eloquent speech. The Defence was conducted by
Serjeants CocK.LE and SHEPPARD.

The Edinburgh Mail was lately upset, near Ber-
wick, by the breaking of the ailetree. The driver was
the only person hurt.
Tueiday se'nnight, the ground in Candleriggs,
Glasgow, lately occupied in part as a guard market,
and partly at present as a green-house and police-
office, was sold by public auction, at £7. 16s. 6d.
per square yard.
Saturday se'nnight, the guard of the mail coach,
from Lewes to Brighton, apprehended, by a descrip.
tion in a hand bill, a passenger in the coach, on sus-
picion of horse stealing. He was taken before A
Magistrate, and fully committed for trial at the next
Horsham assizes, for hiring a horse and selling the
same afterwards at Worthing ; and for tiring a horse
at Hastings, and not returning it in 14 days.
Saturday se'nnight, as the Gloucester waggon was
passing the New Bridge, at Easham, it was, by some
accident, overturned, whereby one of the horses was
killed on the spot. There was one woman passenger,
who luckily escaped unhurt.
Saturday as Mr. Ward, horse-dealer, was exercising
Four young horses in his sociable-break near St.
James's-street, they took fright, and ra❑ the carriage
against the post at the corner with such violence, that
the hind wheel was shattered to pieces ; they then
caught that at the corner of Arlington-street. Mr.
Ward was thrown from the box, and his leg broken.
Five of his children, in the sociable, were dashed upon
the stones with great violence ; one taken up appa-
rently lifeless, the others most seriously hurt. The
carriage was broken to atoms ; even the iron work
was torn from the wheels.

Sunday evening, as Mr. Shate, of Clipstone-street,
was returning from a visit to a friend, at Beaconfield,
accompanied by Mrs. Shate, and two children, in a
double-seated one-horse chaise, the horse broke from
his harness, and the chaise was upset. Mrs. Shate
and one of the children who was riding with her in
the back seat, were removed to a neighbouring house,
in a senseless state, and both are dangerously hurt.
The other two persons jumped out, in doing which
the other child broke his leg at the ancle, but Mr.
Shate escaped unhurt.
The following Epitaph was once to be seen in the
parish church of Saint Faith, under Saint Paul's :
To the memory of Sir John Mason, who though but three-
score and three years old at his death, pet lived and flourished in
the reignF of four Princes, viz.—Henri the Eighth, Edward the
Sixth, Queen Mary, and Queen Elizabeth ; and was a Privy Ceun-
, senor to them ail, and an eye-witness of the various revolutions
and vicissitudes of those times. Towards his latter end, being on
his death-bed, he called his clerk and steward, and delivered him-
self in these terms : Li)! here I hate lived to see five Princes, and
have been a privy-counsellor to four of them. I have seen the
most remarkable observables in foreign parts, and have been pre-
sent at most state transactions for 36 years together; and I have
learned this after so many years experience; that seriousness is the
greatest wisdom, temperance the best physic, and a good consci-
ence the hest estate; and were I to live again; I would change the
court fo'r a cloyster, my ptivyrCounaellor s beistles for an hermit's
retirement, and the whole life I 'fired in the palace, fur an hour's
enjoyment of GOD in the chapel! All things elstforeake rue, be-
sides ay Gan, my duty, and tuy pawl."

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.

Yesterday these Sessions commenced at H/cks'i:.
Hall, before Mr. MAINWARING and others, the Ma..
gistrates of Middlesex.
Daniel Hyde attod charged with receiving a quantity
of brass, know/11g it to be stolen. 'file prosecutor,
who is a printer, stated, thlt the defendant, who keeps
an old iron shop, came to him, and said he had StiT,P,
brass rules that were used in his tr.tde, and snai.i sell
them cheap.. The plaintiff said he would call upon
him, which he did, and bought them : on examinin
them, he found them to correspond with such as •
had formerly lost; he then had him apprehended, and
on searching the premises, a few. more were found.—
On the part of the defendant, it was proved he had
purchased them for 9d. per pound, and had offered
them to the prosecutor for Is. per potind.—Under
these circumstances, the Jury found him—not guilty.

Mr. Thomas Herbert, a cotton-merchant in the
City, was indicted for assaulting Lieutenant-Colonel
Vickarew, at Knightsbridge, and other places, on to
town, on the 19th of August last.
Mr. CoNsr, for the prosecution, stated, that a more
unwarrantable or more unbecoming case of assault
had not, he believed, been ever brought before a
Court of Justice. He then detailed the tacts as they
were afterwards proved in evidence by the Colonel
himself. The gentleman, who was most grossly and
wantonly insulted, as his instructions led him to be-
lieve, sits a man who had most eminently distin-
guished himself in the service of his Ling and Coun-
try ; he now bore the marks of his gallantry abot-st
his person ; he had received different wound's in the
hour of danger, but above all, he had in the field of
battle received a musket bill in his right knee, which
ball still lies unextracted in the hollow of the bone of
his knee ; thus, whilst he is yet a young man, in the
prime of life, he is totally disabled from either riding
or walking without the aid of a piece of machinery
which now supports the injured limb, and must con-
sequently be, of all others, a man most unlikely to
seek a quarrel with such an athletic man as the de-
fendant at the Bar, or to be a fair object of the irrita:
Lion of any man. On the day stated in the indict-
ment, the prosecutor was, with the assistance of the
machine vhich he now wears, riding from town to-
wards his residence at Chiswick, between eight and
nine in the dusk of the evening. At Knightsbridge,
nearly opposite the Horse-gut:els Barracks, the Co-
lonel being then on the right side of the way, and not
at all interfering with the defendant at the Bar, as
soon as he came somewhat near a gig in which he
and two others were, the defendant, being the driver,
struck the Colonel over the baclewith his whip, and
gave his horse such a cut that the animal capered,
and, in his disabled state, was very nearly the means
of unseating the Colonel; however, he was rno,t
providentially saved, or else, from the state in which
he is, it is most likely he would not have been alive
this day to relate the facts. As s.oon as he recovered
himself he tinned round and demanded the cause of
his being thus insulted and put in danger of his life ?
One of the other persons in the gig said he must be
.mistalen ; it was not they that struck him, it must
have been some other person in another carriage.—
There was no carriage, however, in the road any
where near that spot at the time, but the one, and the
Colonel, after giving his own name and address to
them verbally, demanded a similar return from the
person who struck him.
To this he received no answer, bet the most vio-
lent abuse ; he said—" Gentlemen, you see I have
been disabled, and am net calculated for a personal
contest, but I insist on the Gentleman who struck me
giving me his name and address, and I shall give
mine in writing to him.". Atter this declaration the
defendant challenged him to fight, the Colonel again.
stated his inability to enter into such a contest with
him ; the abusive and insulting language was re-
peated over and over again ; the defendant endea,
voured to drive off in his gig, but the Colonel still
following as fast as the poney could carry hiin, with
a view to obtain the defendant's address, the latter
continued driving on his gig; swearing and using
other offensive expressions, and, as often as lie could
reach him, striking the Colonel again and again, with
his whip, until they came to Dowgate-hill, where he
drove up a yard. The defendant then threatened to
drag the prosecutor off his horse, and the Colonel was
under the necessity of making such an appeal as
must always have the effect of rousing the generous
feelings of Englishmen—he said, " Will no man pre-
sent see what is fair and honourable alone towards a
man who has been deprived of the use of a limb ifie
the service of Isis country ?" Some terse then inter-
fered, and the address having been at last cbtained;
the prosecutor has now appealed for the redress of
such wrongs and insults to that country fur alias he
has often bled, and for whose cause he is at this mo-
ment suffering.
The facts were sworn to by the Colonel.
Mr. CONST then stated that an offer of an apology
for all that followed after the first assault had been
made, but that it was thoUght necessary to prove the
facts in order to obtain the verdict of the Jury.
The Jury immediately pronounced the Defendant
Guilty.
After a few minutes consultation with the rest of
the Bench, the CIigIRMAN stated, that the Court felt
particular satisfaction in observing, that the prosecutor
had adopted the most truly honourable mode of ob-
taining redress by appealing to the laws of his coun-
try, instead of following that course which is too ge-
nerally pursued by many persons, and which they
foolishly call honour. Few men in his situation of
life would have had the courage to act as the Colonel
had done. He then pronounced- the sentence of the
Court, viz. To be imprisoned three months in the
House of Correction, Cold-Bath-fields, and fined £5O.
We understand that Newgate ',vas. afterwards substi-
tuted for the House of Correction.

''Thursday, at noon, Jame: Etkuards, alias Dudley,
and John Steck, alias Stockton, convicted of a burglary
at the last Carlisle Assizes, wen: conveyed in a cart
from the county gaol in that city, to the common
place of etecution, where they were, launched into
eternity, and, after hanging the usual time, thci
bodies were delivered to their wives, each of whom
has young children. Edwards was abow- 35 years
of age, and Stockton about 4.4 i each of the n stout,
good-looking men: They have left behittel them a
considerable property:

• I

I

.......lIIIIiiiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIMiIIi

BER 1.

V. s-t ETTON.

clt were for
assaults committed upon the plaintiii,, arose out of a
rivalship between these parties, who were all stage
coach owners And drivers. The -contest of bitter strife
was between the Old Green Man and New G,-era Man,
is Oxford-street, at which house's these parties set up
their repective sriges. The plaintiff, Tollett, was
owner of an Uxbridge and also of an Iver stage-
coach, which set up at the Old Greed Man ; 'the de-
fendant, Holt, had lately set up an oppoSition stage
to the same place, of which the other defendant.
Stretton, was driver and part owner. A female pas-
senger was about to take a place in one of these
stages, when a controversy arose between the drivers
who should have her, this led to an altercation be-
tween the plaintiff and defendant Holt, which ended
in a blow from the latter, a knock down, and a beat-
ins-, which concluded in the separation of the Fides,
by mulliai friends. The other defendant, Stretton,
siv:a took the plaintiff to task, abused him most
gro%sly, spit in his face, and brat him severely. It
appy:treci, however, that. there Was a sort of general
scuffle between all the rival candidates of the whip;
and, while Stretton engaged the plaintiff, 'after his
rencontre with Holt, the plaintiff's man, 'William
Keen. took the first assailant, Holt, in band, closcd
one of hit eyes, and beat him soundly be gave in,
fbi this he was afterwards requited with a reward• of
a guinea from hit master.
The Jut 7, *after some consideration, found a ver-
dict of 40s. damages. and 40s. costs, for the plaintiff
in both eases:

1101:LCOTT, FSQ. IVINNILL.
This was an action of trespass tried at the last as.
sizes at Chelmsford, for the county of Essex. The
question was. whather an immemorial custom had ex-
isted for the Li.rds of the Manor of West Ham, iu
that county, to grant parcels of the wasteland Within
the manor, with the assent of the homage, at the ma..!
nor courts, by copy of court roll. The custom was
proved in numerous instances, from the einem-rolls,
and by the evidence of the steward from the early
part of tae reign of Queen Elizabeth to the present
time. The Defendant, by way of defence, alledged,
that the waste-land in question, though within the
Manor of West• Ham, was part of the King's Forest
of NV.iltham; and that therefore the custom was bad,
inasmuch as it tended to abridge the King's Forest
Rights. The Jury, being special, after a most im-
partial summing up by the Learned Judge, who
tried the cause, found a verdict for Plaintiff with no-
minal damages. The Defendant being dissatisfied
with the verdict, moved in the early part of the last
term for a new trial, but the Court, alter hearing the
arguments of his Counsel, rejected the application,
without even calling on the plaintiff to shew cause
against it. This determination establishes the custom
and consequently enables the Lords of the Manor,
with the assent of the Homage, to pant such parts
of the waste lands of the said Manor by copy of court
roll as they may think proper. .

_ 2_
..--1111! Nisa v. GRIMM.

This was an indictment for a libel on Mr. Messet-
ter, an Attorney and banker, at Wincanton.
The libel was contained in a letter which was oc-
casioned by transactions between the panics, which
it wi.add be uninteresting and unnecessary to explain.
The libellolts words were, that the prosecutor's con.
duct " would disgrace the most pettyfogging prac-
titioner in the profession," and that be was" a rascal'
and a blackguard,capableof every cowardly and dirty
-tion, without any pretension to the character of a,
Gentleman."

The • prosecutor's case was fully proved, and the
Jury found the Defendant Guilty.

UODGnON QUI TAM v. FLOWERS.

Th:s was a penal action brought by a common in-
firmer, under the statute of the 29th of the King, to
recover if the Defendant the penalty of AE 40, for hir-
ing out his horses and cart, and lending his licence
as a hawker and pedlar, to a third person. But it
appearing that the third person was only the Defen-
dant's servant,, receiving wages from the Defendant,,
and not profits for. himself; the Jury found their ver-
dict for the Defendant.

RIDGE, ESQ. V. CAPEL.
This was an action by which it was sought to re-
cover from the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Capel, a compen-
sation in J.images for the injury done by him, and
about two hundred in his train, in following the chace
a.fos over certain inclosed lands belonging to the
Plaintiff, situated within a few miles of London, he
'wing charged as being the leader of the Hertford
subscription pack of hounds.' • .
The Defendant at first entered a justification on
the record, by which he pleaded his right to act as
he had done, being in pursuit of " one of those de-
structive and hurtful vermin and beasts of prey called
',oyes." his he afterwards departed from, so as to
reduce the-case to a simple question on a writ of in-
:in;ry for damages. The plea, however, was not
Wtthdr.lWlT, so that the Plaintiff was let into the proof
of alt the circumstances of the Defendant's conduct
::; purc:lasing and rearing of foxes, employing his
i.ervants to dig holes for thein, turning out th :se
• •Tach hal been reared by his orders at the proper
; 'o as to leave no doubt of the Defendant
much given tc the pleasures of the chace.
damav charged was confined to the Ist of,
Lst, being Easter Eve, when it was stated by
ot the witnesses that the Defendant had acted as
.lintsman, and his servant as whipper in. There,
~re not, however, above twenty present ott the Plain.

• I's h,,,fSunds on that day ; witness •tvould not
"
,••• etr that the damage exceeded 40s. but he at the
time said. that it the property had been his, he
not weil'hgly have submitted to the. trespass
!CO tl.at sum. •

7.1 r. NT Ait :* r, for the Defendant, spoke in miti-
Afton of 4.l.,rnage!,. •
I.t,rd LeNi:nvorcat addressed the Jitry,' when
for the Pluinti:l.-I.san'af•ts £lO.

coußr OF EXCIif.QCER, DEC. B.
X:NG J. Snows AND PARAV.

-.ras au iniormation against the defendants,
,• e-s, for having in their possession a liquor for
: • 1? porter contrary to law. It appeared by the
::ce, that the mixture in dispute was a useful in-
; n. namely, glale made from 64h catight on opr
. t)Pd AS a solntinite Or isinglass, in re-

the beer: The ism tinder 'the d,rection
of the Letarned Judgelhbanniamt.o) found a verdict
for the defendants:-
COURT OF 'COMMON PLEAS, DECElklßet 1.
•• MAY v.
This was an ,ction to recover the price of a horse
sold by thi Plaintiff to the Defendant. It appea►ed
that at the time of mile the horse had weeping► eyes,
and on that account was not warranted by Bray to
linshe. The Defendant endeavoured to prove a war-
ranty by the evidence of Collins, a stable-keeps r; but
the words attributed by him to Bray did not amount
to a warranty, and were expreSsed by Bray at a time
subsequent to the tale. The hone was sold for forty-
five guineas; andbet nstfl blind shortly after his sale.
It appeared also in evidlice, that Bushe physicked
the horse the evening of the day on which he bought
h.m, which it was said implied a strong suspicion on
the rut of the Defendant that the horse was unsound.
Sir JAMES MANSFIELD left the evidence to the. Jury,
with this observation—.. Gentlemen, I would advise
any of yon, whenever you have de:tlirgs with these
horse-jockies, to take ewe to have witnesses present at
the time of your bargain."—The Jury then returned
a Verdict for the Plaintifir-Forty-five Guinefts.

THE SAME V. HOI.DsWORTH.
This was an action to recover thirty guineas for a
horse sold to a minor, the ward of the Defendant. The
minor WAS a merchant's clerk, and sported his cnrri-
ele and pal?. ! his groom, however, persuaded him
to keep a . third horse, bought from the Plaintiff,
which proved to be spavined, and which was ac-
cordingly returned two days after. The action was
for the price of _this horse. It appearing in evidence
that tl:e defendant's ward was a silly:, thoughtless
young min, and a* infant ; whereupon, Sir JAMEs
MaNsiola.n dieected the Jury to find for the defen-
dant, as it would be unjust, and contrary to law, to
make him responsible for a debt so contracted—" If
(said Sir Jasits) a set of horse-dealers and their crew
were allowed to get round a young man in this w.iy,
they might involve him in spending ten thousand
a-year, if he had it."—Verdict for the defendant.
PEC.2.—INGLEBY V. FOX.

rte plaintiff, who assumes the proud title of " Em-
peror of the Conjhrors," brought , his action to reco-
ver
damages of the defendant, who is the Landlord
of the Minor Theatre, Catharine-street, for a trespass
on the said Theatre, while it was in the use and oc-
cupation of the said Emperor. It appeared, that the
plaintiff hired the premises in question, to exhibit his
wonderful exploits in legerdemain, the hal mony of
musical glasses, and the incomparable efforts of a fe-
male performer on the tight-rope. The price paid for
the use of the Theatre wns selso per annum. It hap.
pened that the defendant wished to remove certain
scenes and other articles, which he did not conceive
to be of use to the plaintiff, on which account he
clandestinely carried then off, contrary to his
allegi-
ance, and the good faith which he owed the Empe-
ror. He was also accused of cutting the ropes of a
ttentilator, in consequence of which his Imperial
Majesty and attendants were nearly suffocated.
After one Witness had been called to prove the
trespass, an accommodation was proposed between
the parties, which being acceded to, the case was re-
ferred to a Gentleman at the Bar.

Alinl-171.1°NtEL
IGENC.E.'
COURT OF KtMI'S BENCH, DECEM
AVMYLTS.-TriLLV.TT T. HOLT, ANTiSAME,
'The cause of these two actions, whi,