Star.
London, England, 1807-12-28 00:00:00

. asit:t:
- .
enquiry which a Rigitt Reverend Prelate fo
iiiik
Much honour to hinifilf, wao .ttOstii '4lZlr
lefpea to the edneatibet dithetsdhAtrro litidr.l
potation th., , Laid,. though disTlittry 'be en,'
owed (chock the . khooluliotikie 'pot part-41 it,
nd the Plaintiff is only theirllcitant. : Now they t
hadr,
een called opiii to (hew thesiAstle to this very houfe.l
but to that they dernthrid. Thefactatittid, however,
that they were in poffegan of Illactis:The 4:6014 Se>
quifitinn of whittle the* luseits wathing,aobutt am&
then they fay that fo long back.at thqyean 1595, ,it.
appeared by, an item in
,opeof the old books of the
Corporation, that 11. 6i. Wiled keen Ma is rent,
and at installer tithe that':' st. had - been' paid, from
wheneet'it was segued; that • the tent had been more
tat formet periods; but it was a, well-known fah, that'
it Will a caftan with, the Chamberlain of Corpora-
tions to snake entrieinf font' or fire, years together;
and theft foini'eklculated at 611. Bd. pit year for four
or'fix yeats came exaftly to the entries made iti the
books ; but if this were not the.cafe they might have
given eat:266ft= there books to thew what the fad;
was. The( had acknowledged this 6s. Bd. under
their own hand's, in receipts for thirty years, to be
twit Rent. Betides, when the land tax was eflablifbed
%.
m the reign of William and Mary, all lands appro- I
priated to charitable purpofes were exempted, and
the fchoel houfe in quefliJn hid never been a freffed
np to the prefent day. Upon an application for a
new trial, Lord Ellenborough advited that Mr. Chit'.
holm fliould give up the poffeftsons an& bring his
anion of ejeftmenr upon his own title ; but te pre-
ferred the prefent mode of proceeding. He contended,
therefore, that the houfe had always been occupied
from time immemorial, by the mailer of the fchool,
and when there was no Manit then it remained
'empty. - It mull necelfarily be taken from ufage that
he was to occupy the fchool houfe ; but if the corpo.
ration west to have the power of removing him from
the facial, it grit altogether be deßroyed,becaufe it
was a well knowli• fa. that the Bithop would riot
licence any other per ors to' the filiool.
It appeared that 151.1 Year wits the turn that had
been always paid to former mailers, though they had
only paid the Plaintiff-it. aid had even tried to take
away that;- for this the Plaintiff was entitled to an
account againfl them. They had alto dared,to attack
the charafter of this gentleman.
Mr.ToaaLawona, for the defendants, interrupted
Mr. Scott, laying, he did not mean to telt his cafe on
any imputation of inattention or mifcoodult.
Mr. bcort refunted
_and (aid, that although his
learned friend had now abandoned thole charges, (till
he telt it his duty to do away every impreffion of the
kind which the anfwer of the defendants could make.
His client had filled that !Alice now upwards of 30
years, with the greaten reputation to himfelf ; and
from all who knew him, there -Was not a more re.
fpeaable Gentleniaa in the coun'ty ; and had their
anfwer been pit.% upon oath, intleact of under their
corporatelleil, he would hive felChimfelf bound,
in vindication pf his Owneharaaer, to, have preferred
a bill of indialitent for perjury. They Paid, that be-
caufe he bad got the reaory of Alhmore, in that'
neighbourhood, he had negleeted 'this (chord; but
he was prepared to prove the contrail. He was
accufed of caufing difcontent in the town. This was
a grave charge againft a reverend Gentleman like
i this, whore utmolt anxiety was to exculpate himfelf
from rich accufations: ,„ and as he might be obliged
to move elfewhere, he was molt anxious to relieve
himfelf from this calumny. The learned Counfel
bete called to the recolleaion of the Court the cafe
'of the celebrated Richard Johnfon of Nottingham,
whom the Corporalion fought to turn out, he being
infirm, and fubjeft at times to fits of derangement;
upon which he dared them to give him a charafter,
that he might leek his bread infotne other place.
The requeft was complied with, and this paper was
produced againft thefe outwitted gentlemen at the
trial. The (tory was told by Mr. Wakefield, in the
hinory of his own life ; and it was laid that Sir An-
t thong Abney, who was Counfel for the Corporation,
after much perfonal refleaion and unblufhing rude-
nefs, raid to the venerable fcholar, " Mr. Johnfon,
that has happened to you, which Felix' imputed to
St. Paul, 4 Mud, learning bath made thee mad.' To
which johnfon good humonredly and farcaflically
replied, that whatever might be the cafe with re-
(pea to himfelf, he was perfuaded that the excel.
lent Judge upon the bench; and the honourable
Court would agree with him in opinion, that the
Gentleman who made the remark, would never be
mad from the fame cattle." The refult was, that
Johnfon was eflabliflied in his fchool. If, there-
fore, the Corporation were to be the tole judges of
the condua of the fchoolmaner upon every little
divifion or quarrel, the fchool mull be deOroyed.
They bad been endeavouring to i..jure the fchool
fence iBor, and had effefted ir. It was not owing
to his• mirconduning the fchool, that the Corpora-
tion walled to exercire their authority in turning him
out ; they were aauated by other motives. The
truth was, as he was inarueled, that upon the death
of a phylician of great eminence in the Weft of Eng.
land (Dr. Pulteney) no lets than thirteen fins of
JEkulapitts ftarted as candidates for thie devoted
town, till at length, upon petition after petition from
the groaning church-yards of Dot fetntire, they .were
reduced to two. One of there two was the near re-
lation of an apothecar'y in the town, who was alfo a
banker, and the leading man in this Corporation.
He gave himfelf out as the' Oxford Dolor, and, of
courfe, more fkilful and orthodox than the other,
-who watt only an Edinburgh Dolor. The Cor-
,poration made fuch a point of pulhing this Oxford
.Dolor, that it was a high crime and mifdemeaniz
for any perfon within the teach of their influence
to be even teen (peaking to the Edinburgh Phyfician ;
however the plaintiff being a man of liberal educa.
tion and independent mind, would not employ the
Corporation Phyfician, but employed the other—this
was the role caufe of this Turret; and the bell of all
was, that the laft aft of this tregfeOntedy ended with
a molt dreadful cataftropfie to theCorporation' name-
ly, a complete deteetion that this felf‘dobbed Oxford
Dolor was never more than er_ days at any College
in that. Univerfity in his whole life ; and that the only
' degree he had was a purchafed diploma from Aber-
deen, the fame that Dr. Brodum and other Doaors
of that can prallife with upon the credulity of the
public. The learned Gentleman concluded in ani-
mated fpeecb by obferving, that his client was not fo
anxious to retain the poireffion of the fchool houfe, as,
he IMO. 10 let this caufe go to a Ittaling, in order that
his charafter and condua might be fully inveftigated;