Star.
London, England, 1809-08-16 00:00:00

THE EDITOR OF TILE STAR.

Looking over a very old book of manuscripts, I met
with the following monkish Production, which for some
time puzzled me ; at last I discovered it tote the ori-
ginal of that old ballad which BANNISTP.R, the come-
dian, introduces as Jobion, with so much visible effect,
in the farce of "The Devil to Pay." If you think it
will atTerd any amusement to your antiquarian read
•rs, it is much at your service. •
Eton. -

~S.-~.

When good King Stephen rad this land,
A good and picas King,
lie bought three pecks of barley !lea!,
To nuke him a pudding.
And when thia pudding it was dale,
I k filed it full of plumbs,
And in it put great luitips.of fat,
As big as my two thumbs.
Which of this pudding most should eat, . • •
The King and Quenn did vie ;.
And what tiloy could not eat at noon,.
The Queen at night did fry
Anglieanum quando btephanus Rex Kept!: gerelst%
Rex pins, atque bonne, modios tres Was enieba:,
Ut %diet fishnet quod cum jam conficiebat,
F.a grandee lardi massas flu faros fen:bit)
. Follies utroque also majoris, injiciebat,
Inter quay prudens densissima prom serebat ;
nam plus ederet, litex et Regina viebat,
*Quosiquk fait reliquum, inlunant Regina friebat*.
• From this point of economy, It is probable that this •A•l5 tb.
say at Prince whs bid the memorable dispute with his tailor, re-
1.
V. to the Trice of his small-clothes.—Vide 04d Ballad," Tak
auld croak about you."

SaRRET-ASSiZI:S.

CROYDON, AUGUST Is,
MURDERS.

.7,:rref C--per and Mary CoVer, his mother, aged
71, were indicted for the wilful murder of Joseph
follis, at Compton, in this county, on the Ith of
May last. The first count of the indictment stated
1.. e murder to have been committed by fracturing•the
elull, and the second by cutting the throat

Mr. Gcneev and the COMNTON.SEnsEAN r prosceu-
ted the case, which was of rather a singular nature,
and depended. on circumstances which were proved
by a number of different witnesses, and the investi-
gation lasted nearly the whole day. The deceased
was a man possessing more property than is usual
with persons in hie class of life. He lived in a sniall.
cottage adjoining to the prisoners ; indeed it had
been formerly but one cottage, and had lately been
divided into two tenements, 'the one occupied by the
deceased, and the other by the two prisoners. -There
was a door of comiunnication between the two tene-
ments ; but it was proved, that whatever passed in
one house, could be distinctly heard in the other,
and, as one of the witnesses stated, the clock could'
be heard to tick. The deceased, Hollis, was an old
man near 70, but was hale and hearty—he was of
very penurious habits, and had saved money, which
he was fond of displaying. One of the witnesses de-
scribed him as always carrying three canvas bags, in
one of which he kept notes, in another gold and sil-
ver, and in a third copper money ; and if he wanted
to pay only a sixeenee, he would tip all the geld and
slyer into his hand ; and the witness added. he had
seen him with 1('(il. is his possession. The whole
Cottage in which he lived was his property, and the'
prienner Cooper was his tenant for the paft rilich he
occupied. Nobody lived in Cooper's part but him-
self and his mother, and Hollis, the deceased, lived
alone ; a Ivornan of the name of Wisdom coming tc
hint daily to perform his little household arrange-
ments. On Wednesday the third. of May, the day
preceding Geilciford'faire he desi..-ed. a person of the
mane of Goddard to go with him to the fair, as he
CCP ted to hay same sheep : Goddard told him he
could not go with him, but adrised him to be early:,
Oe this he declared has intention of breakfasting and
setting off the nest morning, by four o'clock ; and
having declared this to Mary Wisdom, hr laid here
she need not come to him thti roes day, as he should)
be at the fiir ; ,sine thercfuce did not on the Thure- I
day rmiki- her daily' vi,it, but on tl'e rridAy, aboutl
ter, she sent liar daughter, a g;rl about 13.. The
child found the door uefestened, and on Opening it she
saw Hollis l;:rg deed on the fitor, with a gtent deal
of blood ahoat is;se. :;he ran out, and- S2VA' Moore, I,
tlse constable, crossing the Common, and he immea.
dietely returned with her. A surgeon was sent foreand
soon several people came. The body was lying on
the floor with the legs crossed, and the head lying on
the arm, evidently eomposed to that attitude by the
murderer after the deed. A cup of coffee, half drank,
was on the table, a piece of toast before the fire, ano-
ther piece, partly eaten, lying on the hearth, the but-
ter tenon broke, and the pat of butter on the Foor near
the feet of the deceased. Tice chair in which he had
been sitting was overturned, .and his hat lying near,
from whence it appeared he had been attacked while
he was sitting at his breakfast. The body sints most
shockingly mangled—the skull was fractured instato
pieces—the jaw broken, a finger broken, the arms
bruised, and the throat cut so as to almost sever the
head from the body. Under the body was found a
clasp knife, almost covered with blood, and a poker,
fitted the bruises made in the chimney-piece;
arid as !'e'n those circumstances it appeared that
some struggle must have taken place, which the pri7
wine] s 11111 S. have heard in their cottage if it had been.
done by tiny stranger, they were apprehended oft the
Friday eveideg, and their house searched, but no
evalence of their guilt was found. The trunk of the -
deceased bad been rummaeed, and as only two shil-
lings were found on his pereon, it was presumed that,
the murderer had carried off his money. The Ma-
leistrates, on examination, finding nothing bet swill.
cion against the prisoners, dischaeged them, but en
subsequent inquiries, they were again apprehended,
and the foll,iwin,; circumstances were given in evi-
dence :—.oel,out a fortnight before the murder, the
deceased and the prisoner dames Coven, had been
‘innveli:;sss, upon which the cli2mased declared, as'
Cooper had not paid his rent, he would have hint out
of to.' coteig,s, and he actually applied to a person to
dist:ear. upon him. In this quarrel, a.>. Cooper went
in he said to his mother, it that once within a
fora::lit he d be upsides him"—his mother
uecla;med, " Goo habid I" His answer was, rc if
she dad hold her tsingiie he would serve licr sol
too :" to %%hid, she replied, " Well, it is no pre at
matter, for nobody likes the old fellow." In
ibe murder was perpetrated within that time. tact,
Mary WA:ideas proved; that on Wednesday crering

she told Dame Cooper that Master Horns was going
to the fair the next day, and that she should not come
again untilithe Friday, and she also mentioned that he
was going at tour in the morning. When the knife
was found insthe room under the body, the prisoner,
Mary Cooper, exchtimeds di That is Old Hollis's
knife ;" upon which a Mr. Sinallpiece; in the room,
observed, t, you cannot: have seen enough of the
knife to know it ;" and indeed it was then so covered
with blood that no person could have recognized it,
in its then state. Mary Wisdom proved it as nctiPlol
Es's knife, and that his knife was found in the corner
of the room, probably knocked out of his hand in the
scuffle.

A person of the name of James Wigman said, that
he verily believed the bloody
.knife to be, the pri-
soners ; that he had borrowed Cooper's 'knife a few
days before, when they were at work together, to cut
some' tallies ; and he verily believed that the bloody
knife produced was the same• knife which the Pri-
suncr.then lent him.

The poker was then produced, and Mary n isdom
said, she never knew Master Hollis to have any poker.,
Another woman, named Elizabeth Hart, said; she
dined twice a week at Cooper's, and she believed it
to be the same poker which she had seen at Cooper's,
especially as since the murder she had missed Coo 7
per's poker.
Colingbourne, an of6cer from town, searched the'
house again on the 11th of May, on which occasion
he found a frock, which had then.been lately washed,
and about the sleeves Were stains of blood. This the
old woman said was pVolaably occasioned by her son's
having cut his leg, but the son afterwards denied that
any blood was upon it. Upon these circumstances
the prisoetts were fully committed, and then it was
that the old woman made a confession to several wit-
nesses ;' but as it was not made in the presence of her,
son, it could not be received in evidence as far as it
sweet to affect him. She described it to have been
done between three and four o'clock in the moraine;
that the person who did it (her son) was fully bent
upon it. She was asked by the witness (Elizabeth
Hart) wily she did not make it knoWn She said,',
she could not do it ; that he went in a smock frock,'
without shirt or breeches ; and that it made a consi-
&table noise, particularly whAn the old man fell
against the wainscot. She addad, that there was no'
o,:casion to murder thelld man, for they could have'
riot ;motile host .-*. any hour of the ciii:y or night, but
the person was fully bent upon doing it. The old
woman, however, alWays added, that she was never.
out of her room, and only looked out at the window.
Several contf.ilcusry statements of the prisoners
being given in evidence; they were called upon fOr
their defence. The Man said he was innocent, and
the old woman, that she bad no hand in the murder,
The Learned Judge observed to the Jury, that this
was a case regiorhg their most serious attention,
that they might arrive at a safe conclusion, from all
the circumstances which they had heard detailed.—
They would first consider, whether the murder was
perpetrated by the prisorer alone (if at all by' him)
or with any other, and whether that,other was the
old woman ; for although she might know of the
murder, and afterwards endeavour to screen the
murderer, yet that would make her only an accessary
after the tact, and not a principal. His Lordship
tl;en minutely pointed out the evidence, and its bear-
hip as to this psiut. It appeared, he observed, by
her *own confes,ion, ss-e was looking out at the win-'
dow. If she did that with a view of apprizing the
murderer of the approach of any one, she was as much'
a principal as though she had actually inflicted a
wound. on the deceased. He advised the Jury, there-
fore, seriously to consider what was the just inference
from the 'circumstances proved.
The Jury withdrew for some time, and at seven
o'cbteli returned a verdict of Guilty against the son,
mad Not Guilty for the mother.

Ilfoublt was indicted for the wilful murder
of William Turner, by shooting him en the King's
highway, near Farnham, in this county, on the 18th
of. May last.' •
TWA was a most aggravated case. The prisoner
was a soldier, in the 52d regiment, from which he de.
serted from Winchester, accompanied by two females,,
of the names 8f EL Roper and Mary Fisher. • As he
v.•as on the road, he declared to them that he must
have some man's cloaths, to prevent his being taken
as a deserter, and he would shoot some one to get
them. As they went along they were joined by the
deteaced, and after some conversation about a bed,
be told them they should have some straw in his
brother's barn, at Farnham. The deceased was
walking a few yards before with Elizabeth Roper,
when t)lf prisoner fired at him with his musket, and
the ball entered his 'back ; he had, however, strength
en')ugh to run to' Farnam, when he reached the
house of a Mr. Bott, a surgeon ; he lived two days,
and then expired. A piety of soldiers were sent out
in pursuit of the prisone.., and he was apprehended.
The deceased saw him; and identified his arson he•
fore. he died. After he had shot the deceased, one of
the girls fainted, and he and the other took her into
an adjoining clover field. Here he declared he was sure
that tl:c ball must have entered the.man's body, and
he could not have run above thirty yards, and lie
wished lie had gime back to have had his money and
cloaths.—The Jury found him Guilty.
The Learned Judge, immediately after the convic-
.t um *of
,the above murderers, sentenced them to be
hanged On' Wednesday (this morning,) and their
' bodies• to be dissected and anatomised.

'fbe Assizes here finished, which concludes the
Hume Cutuit.

One .of the, coaches called the Mercury, between
S disbury and
.Blandford, during the thunder-storm
im Thursday night, had three of its horses struck with
the lightning ; they instantly fell, and two expired.
A sailor in the. boot, we regret to add, was struck
dead ; the lightning also entered the coach, burning
a handkerchief a gentleman'held to his eyes, without'
injuring his person, and setting fire to the straw at•
the bottom of the coach. A tree in the Clost of Sa-
rum, in the field adjoining to the Bishop's garden, was
struck by the lightning, the hark-peeled off in a re-1
I markable way, and scattered to the distance of 701
feet, and.fourfat sheep at the foot of the tree were
struck dead by the lightning. We have not yet heard:
of any. other fatal accident by the lightning. The'
i windows in the green-house,. Ste. of the Rev. Mr
i Ocil.g, at Knpyle, were iirokert.to• pieces by the hail. ,

.

.. !'OLIC!.

J 1.4..••.•••••.•.••••
GUILDHALL.---R.. fleeter, a drover, of Croydon, in
Surrey, was charged br..J. Healy, another drover,
and R. Charlock,inis man, with obtaining a bullock
from Heely, under false pretences. • The prosecutor
stated that the bullock had bees delivered to the pri-
soner by Charlock„ at his desire, as. he the prisoner
assured.him it had been bought by Mr. Turner, of
Croydon, for whom the prisoner drove-cattle, and
paid by him to Mr. Boswell, the prosecutor's em:.
ployer. This was confirmed by tharlock, Mr. Tur-
uer denied ever having benglit the bullock; and the
prisoner even having received any hullock for Mr:
Turner on the day mentioned, which was so 'long
back as the 23d of last January. Owing to the ab.
sence.of Mr. Bossiell;the prosecutor's employer, the
prisoner was idmitted to bail.
—Thomas was charged by his emploger, Mr. P.
Rider, to4acconist, ef West .Smithfield, with stealing
a considerable quantity.Of tobacco. Mr. R. stated,
that during the last twelve.moaths he had been rob-
bed of upwards of Illoolba. of tobacco. His first sus-
picion Of the prisoner was excited by a:neighbour tel-
ling him that the prisoner was in the habit of spending
from five to ten shillings every. night. On this Mr.
R. -watched and saw hint, while amusing the appren-
tice about politics and Bonaparte, pocket a consider-
able quantity of tobacco, an officer was at hand, who
brought him back to the shop, and the tobacco was
found on him. He was fully committed.
Ma R csonoucat-sramr:--Yesterday Soame was
charged with obtaining a service in the family of
Vincent Cope, Esq. in the New Road, by means of
a false reference. It 'appeared that the defendant had
got into the family from an office for the hire of ser-.
vants, and he stated himself to have lived two .years.
in the family of a Mrs. Malcolm, in Hackney Road.
A letter of inquiry was sent, and an uneiceptionable
character received by Mr. Cope. It happened, how-
ever, within threkweeks, that the defendant's Conduct
was very suspicious, and on inquiry it turned out that
a washer-.c;oman, who offciated at Mrs. Malcolm's,
had taken in the letter, and conveyed it to one Job,
a porter, who answered it,' he being one of the So-
' ciety for Providing Situations. The defendant was
committed, but Job has absconded.

• A respectable dressed woman was taken into cus-
tody on Monday, at. Mitcham Fair, for passing forged
one and two pound notes, of the Leeds Bank. The
prisoner had circulated several of these notes about
London, and she had succeeded in several instances
at this fair.

Tuesday se'nnight was apprehended at anise, en
the chafgc of robbing the waggon of Wm. Tweddell,
Carlisle and Newcastle carrier, of a bale of bed-
hanging furniture, W. Oliver, hawker, a person who
has been selling goods by auction in,Beruick market
for softie time past. On searching his house in Ber-
wick, four pieecs of bed-hanging furniture, contain-
ing 104 yards, were found, and when apprehended.
four pieces of the same furniture were in .his Asses=
sion, containing 101 yardi. He has a great quantity
of goods, all of-which want the manufacturet'eloark.
He is committed to Morpeth gaol. •

IF EXCHANGE.

1:0 Pence per oz.
I.r4llawn, 60

Genoa, 53
Venice, Si: Uv. Picenle
ineffective Ent I. stn.
Naples,' 42
I.isbon, GB ; t
_.l
Oporto, G 9 ..
. : .
Dubliti, 101.
i Cork, . 11. ,
N..... Dollars, o+. Od.
iit:l 36 gibraltar 361.

nurru;.

Thursday et Illithfirld, in Staroulshire, the Right Hon•
Laly Eagot, of a daughter.
At Dunbar Barracks; the Lady of Captain Walter Brown, of
the Edinburgh Mil;tia, of a daughter.
At London, the Lady of Sir John Murray of Stanhope, Dart.
of a son.
Saturday, the 12th instant, at llumertan, the Lady of Dr.
Senate, of a sun.