Star.
London, England, 1802-03-01 00:00:00

Till KING V. FLITCH[[.

A confiderable portion of the day was occupied
on the trial of a very young man of refpeltable
conneftions, and on the eve of marriage, for a
mifderneanor, the nature of which we omit flat-
ing. The Jury, after deliberating for feveral hours,
returned a verdia of Not Go.b.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, FEB. ail.
WALICk2 V. STEVENSON.
This trial laßed thirteen hours, and excited a
confiderable degree of attention.
Tbis cafe came now before a Jury for the third
time: it was &ft tried in the Cout t of King's BeEph
before Lord K TON, and the verdit was for al
plaintiff ; the fecond time was in the Common
Pleas, before Lord Etooa, and the verdia was for
the defendant. Ateach trial Tome new evidence
'was produced. •
This was an ejelment on the title brought for
certain freehold property in the city of London
(of the value of to,000l.) by the plaintiff who is
the heir at law, againit the defendant, who is devi-
fee, and refiduary legateeof the late Mrs. Mary Ro-
binfon, who died in the year 1786, at Romford, in
Effei, being then 76 years of age, and leaving a
Will (under which the defendant claims), bearing
date above a twelve month before her deceafe. The
defendant's Care being merely to prove die will,
and that the teftatris wau of a found mind at the
time of making it, was firft entered into.
The Rev. Mr. Straw, a diainting minifter, in
the town of Rumford, and Mr. Haywood, who
was landlord of the hook occupied by Mrs. Robi n-
fon in the town of Romford, proved, that the was
a very llama, keen, fenfible woman, and by no
means impaired in her faculties at the time the
will hears date ; that the had mentioned feveral j
times to them, that the did not intend to leave her
property to her relations. On this fubjea the had
made ufe of a remarkable expteffion. One of her
&Rant relations was talking to her at table of an
old lady, who was lately dead, and probably gone
to h—l. •• Why to b.-1," cried Mrs, Robinson ?
Becaufc," replied her relation, -" the has ldt all
her property away from her relations, and given
it to ftrangers." " If the is to be d—d for that,"
laid Mr& Robinfon, “ I luppore I WI be d--d
too, for, I allure you, Madam, I do not intend to
heave you a farthing." As to the will itself; the
fignature was proved to be her hand writing. The
hNnd-writiag was elks proved by Mr. Gearc and.
Mr. Reynolds, two ot. the Andres to the will
( rince dead). It was proved, that they were men
of very refpedable charade/ in the profeffion of
Attornies, and above the fufpicion of being con.
e..rned in a pets fraud. As there was one furriv-

ing witnefs to the will (Timothy Cooperfon), the ,
defendant was obliged to produce him to prove the
execution of the will, although it was well known
it was on his teftimony, and on the account he was
to give of that tranfaclion, the plaintiff fupported
his cafe, while the defendant's refted principally on
difcrediting him with the Jury.
T. Cooperfon (the Curving witnefs to the will)
raid, that he lived, in the year 178 s, at the time of
this tranfaiflion, with Stevenfon's father, as a (hop-
man. He was nephew to the wife of Stevenfon,
fen. but was forbid to call her aunt, and lived in
the haute on the tooting of a fervant, remembers
that Geale, who Was Attorney to the Stevenfon s,
came into the fhop of Stevenfon, fen. and, in com-
pany with Mr. Reynolds, at that time his clerk,
told the witnefs that he mull go down into the
country with them to witnefs fame paper. Mrs.
Stevenfon, fen. alto defired him to go; this was
about three o'clock iu the afternoon. He accord-
ingly accompanied Mr. Geale and Mr. Reynolds in
a poll chaife to the town of Romford, where they
flopped a confiderable time at the inn; that from
thence, when it was late in the evening, they went
to the houfe of Mrs. Robinfon, and were (hewn in
to the parlour, where they met the defendant, who
afterwards went up (lairs to the room where Mrs.
Robinfon was fitting, anclafter flaying a confider.
able time there, returned, and brought up Mr. Geale
and Mr. Reynolds ; afterwards the witnefs was
fent for. The witnefs lays, that on entering the
room he law Mrs. Robinfon (whom he had never
leen before) feated in a chair, with a table before
her and papers on it ; that the appeared in a (late
of the utmoll flupidity or intoxication; that the
began to lign her name, but, not being well able to
finifh it, the pen was taken out of her hand by Mr.
Genie, and again put into it ; that at length the
&tithed the name, and the witnelles figned ; but,
that, in his opinion, the was by no means in a Rate
to execute any paper; that there were no words
palled by which the witnefs knew this paper to be a
will ; that the defendant was prefent at the emu
tion of the will, and, to the bell of his recollec-
tion, the maid fervant of Mrs. Robinfon was pre.
fent, who then went by her maiden name, Betty
Bodkin, but who is now Mrs. Stevenfon, wife to
the defendant. This paper was figned at fo late
an hour as eleven o'clock at night. The witnelles
then returned in a poll-chaife to town, where they
arrived about two o'clock in the morning. On
his return home, he had Tome converfation with
his aunt, who told him, "that paper you figned
is that old lady's will, and young Stestnfon will be
the-better for it." Some thou time after the exe-
cution of this will, the witnefs difobliged the Ste-
venfons by marrying a fervant maid, who, they
Paid, was of a bad charaaer; but whom, the wit- I
nefs lays, he married out of a very refpedable
houfe in Cheapfide, and whole real fault, in the
eyes of his relations, was, that the was poor. In'
confeqr:nce of this difagreement, he left his uncle's
houfe, and was in different fervices. At lag he
worked on the quays in the- capacity of a ticket.
porter for about fix years, when, by the feverity
of the labour, he broke fame blood-vefTels, and was
difableiffrom following that employment. He*
then worked for different orange.merchants during
the feafon, while there was any thing to be done.
When the feafon was over, he fupported himfelf
and his wife by felling matches when the weather
wax bad, and whey the weather was fine he carried
a fhew-box about the neighbouring country towns
and fairs; that he was once reduced to fuch a (late
of poverty, as to be obliged to afk his coufin, the'
prefent defendant, for a letter to the Lava, re•l
commending him for Come temporary relief. This
the defendant gave him with Come difficulty, and
with much apparent indifference. Upon the wit.
nefs's wife calling upon the defendant to thank
him for his letter, he pufhed her out of the door,
and Paid, they got more than they deferved. In
the year a 800, as the witnefs was going to a fair,
with a Chow-box on his back, and accompanied by
his wife, he was met, near the turnpike at Ramp-
(lead, by the prefent plaintiff, who afked him his
name ? When he told, he was afked, was not he
a witnefs to this will ? He replied in the affirma-
tive, and gave the fame account of the execution
of it that he does at prefent. The plaintiff then
took him immediately to his attorney. leaving his
(how.box and his wife at the turnpike-houfe.
witnefs admits, that the place of porter, which
be now has ( with the wages of twelve (billings a
week), was obtained by the recommendation of
the plaintiff.
The cafe, both of the plaintiff and defendant,
depended on the credit the Jury gave to the tefti-
mony of this witnefs, as the principal queftion for
the Jury was, Whether, at the execution of the
will, Mrs. Robinfon was or was not in that
Rate of (lupor or intoxication defcribed by this
witnefs ?

Serjeant SHIPPARD Rated the cafe on the
part of the plaintiff; he contended, that not the
flighteft degree of difcredit could be thrown on
Caperton on account of his poverty; that the
defendant had not been able to adduce a angle
circumftance againft his moral charafter ; and
that he had feveral witneffes, to whom Cooperfon
had been a fervant, that would prove hies to be an
indnftrions and very honeft man, worthy of confi-
dence and credit ; that every circumftance attend•
ing the execution of the will confirmed the account
given by Cooperfon he fhotdd prove that Mrs.
Robinfon, although otherwife a fenfible woman,
had the failing of frequently drinking to intoxica-
tion-; that the manner fhe figned her name, at
which the firft made one or two nnfuccefsful at-
tempts, was a.proof that the was not then in the
poffeffion of her faculties ; that the defendant be-
ing himfelf prefent at' the execution of the will,
employed his own attorney to draw it np ; and
getting that attorney, his clerk, and his father's
fhopman, to be the witneffes to it, and to come
from London for that purpofe, was a throng
ground of fufpicion that fome foul tranfaetion was
going forward. In addition to thofe futpicions
cimtmliances, the then maid-fervant of Mrs. Ro-
binfon is now the wife of the defendant ; and that
maid-fervant had, after her miftrefs had been
dead, and laid ant for tome hours, told the!apothe-
cary that the was in a fine fleep, and begged that
he would not go in to difturb her. , On the very

rime day the will was fent up to London to be
regiflered.
On all there circumilances Serjeant SHEPPARD
argued with ability, and fubmitted it t• the Jury,
that this old lady's fignatnre was obtained in a
moment of intoxication ; and that will fo obtained
probably had remained in the cuflody of the de-
fendant ever !ince, without the knowledge of Mrs.
Robinibn.

The witnefs for the plaintiff confirmc.l this (late-
ment as to the good characlcr of Cooperfon ; and
as to Mrs. Robinfon being addi6ted to drinking.
Mr. Andrews, the apothecary, alio fworc, that he
was refufed admittance w Mrs. Rob:nfon's room,
in the manner Rated, after flue was dead.
_

On the part of the defendant, the Connfel, in
reply, attacked the credibility of Cooperfon, and
pointed out feveral differences in his tellimony in
this trial from what he (wore on the other two.—
He dwelt on the quarrel between him and the
Stevenfons, on his concealing this account as long
as Geale and Reynolds, (the other witneffes) were
alive, and on the improbability of his account of
his firft meeting the plaintiff in the year 1800.—
He raid this was an attempt to fet afide a paper
authenticated by three witneffes on the teftimony
of one ; and that the charader of the other wit-
neffes to the will was proved to be fo refpedable
that the Jury could not prcfume them parties in
fo grofs a fraud as this was reprefented to be. He
alto dwelt much on the plaintiff's father, (who was
heir at law on the deceafe of Mr. Robinfon), and
on the plaintiff himfelf not making any inquiries
about the manner in which this will was executed,
or commencing any proceedings from the year
1786 to the year 1800.
Lord ALVANLILY, after having very fally Rated
to the Jury the evidence on both fides, fubmitted
it to them to determine whether this will was or
was not obtained by the defendant from Mrs.
Robinfon, when the was in fuch a !late of flupid
intoxication as Cooperfon had defcribed her to be
in ? The credit they gave to Cooperfon mull de-
termine their verdid.—The Jury found for the de-
fendant.

GALL'S THLOAY OF Sit/LLS.—We have tr-
. traded the following, faid to be an explanation of
the theory of Dr. GALL, from a French Paper, for
the amufement of our Readers :
" The doctrines of the celebrated German Dr.
GALL are not only curious, on account of the ce-
lebrity given to them by the prohibition againft
their bang publicly taught in Vienna, but they are
likewife remarkable for their refults. As the brain
is moulded by the hull, Dr. GALL, who thinks
he has found in the conformation of the brain an
explanation of the different moral and intellectual
faculties of man, efiablilhes the convexity of the
hull as the rule from which he is to form his
judgment ' • and contends, that the more convex
the skull, the greater the capacity of the indivi-
dual, which he fupports by the examples of tLe
hulls of many celebrated men. This convexity
is generally remarkable in every great man ; but
handfome men, whofe heads are more round and
gracefully formed, have feldom much genius.
He likewife believes himfelf able to determine the
place of each of our mental faculties in the brain ;
the faculty of obfervation, for inflance, lays kill
behind the forehead. This part is very convex in
children, who, as is well known, are remarkable
for this faculty. This convexity diminifhes infen-
fibly, and even becomes a concave, unlefs in great
obfervers ; and Dr. GALL concludes, that liberty
and cuftom may induce great changes in this fa-
culty in man. He is in poieffion of the hulls of
many celebrated perfons, particularly thofe of
Blumaner, Al zinger, and Wurmfer. In the brain
of the latter he pretends to have difcovered the
organ of courage, which has its place about an
inch above the ear. The hulls of animals furnifh
him with important difcoveries. He has found
hi the hulls of Pinging birds, in thofe of cele-
brated Muficians, and, above all, in that of
Mozart, the organ of male. Finally, the wily
brain of the fox and the cat, as well as thofe of
men whom be had known remarkable for craft,
point out to him the organ of cunning.

ECCLESIASTICAL PROMOTION.

The Rev. Mofes Dodd, A.M. late of Hertford College, 021
ford, is appointed Matter of the Free School at Chichefter,
with the Prebend of Higley, in that Cathedral, annexed; he
was alfo lately appointed Minißev of St. Peter's Chapel, at
Fanfworth, Hants, in the Prefentation of John Harris, Efq. of
that place.

BIRTH.
At Limerkk, the lady of Str John Murray, But. of the 46th
regiment-of foot, of a daughter.

MARRIED.

Mr. T. Corcoran, of Clonard, to Mik Grady of Longwood.
' On the Bth init. John Waller, Efq. of Loft liouk, to Mifs
Mary Lifter, daughter of Edward Lifter, Efq. of Corurn Abbey,
Yorkthirei
Lately, at Colchetter, John Evans, Efq. of Norwood, in the
county of Surrey, to Mils Wright, only daughter of the late
James Wright, Efq. of Woodham Mortimer, hem.
John Finn, Efq. to Mils Bayley, of William-arca, Dublin•