Star.
London, England, 1820-04-15 00:00:00

LITERARY GAINS.

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In a late biographical account of Cowper, written
with great spirit and elegance by Mr. M‘Diarmid of
Dumfries, we find the following passage ;
" In our days, so little are Authors in-danger of
starving from the ignorance and selfishness of book-
Sellers, or the neglect of their contemporaries, that
if to true talent they add only as ordinary portion
of prudence and industry, there is scarcely any class
of men that has less to fear from the caprices of for-
tune. The announcement of a. work from the pen
of 'at least a dozen of our living Authors, excites
nearly' as much interest as the news of a great battle;
and for every poem of a few hundred stanzas, Lois
don or Edinburgh sends back what the Lottery
agents call a golden shower, to refresh, with all the
luxuries of life, the retirement of a Scott, a Camp-
bell, a Moore, or a Crabbe; or, peradventure, to
furnish the noble minstrel with a large letter of credit
on some Greek or Italian banker. But for this happy
revolution in the-republic of letters, the literati of
the present age are in a great measure indebted to
those who have gone before them. The growth of
taste, like the progress of liberal opinions with which
it is inseparably connected, is uniformly slow and
gradual; aqd had not Paradise Lose sold for the
paltry sum of ten or twenty pounds, and the' Task'
and some otber works been presented as a gift to the
publishers,' Rook!): The Lady of the Lake,'
or even a single canto of Child Harold,' never could
have been purchased at the extraordinary-price of
three thousand guineas. Genius, in fact, must pre-
cede taste; and, consequently, the early writers, who
dealt in a commodity of which not one man in ten
thousand understood the value, were sure to find.
themselves in the predicament of those who let down
buckets into empty wells, and spend their days in
drawing no water. But ;his evil has at last worked
out its own cure. By indulging, in despite of 'pa-
verty and privation, the natural- bent of their minds,
men of genius have at length enlarged the circle of
Readers; and having created a demand for the beau-
ties of literature, have placed it within the reach of
their successors, to amass fortunes by their skill and
address in supplying it. In a word, the labours of
the fathers of literature in a country, may be com-
pared to capital sunk in some great national under-
taking, which, although ruinous to the first projec-
tors,
is destined to enrich and enlighten posterity, by
scattering over the community all the blessings of
extended and extending civilization."
CONVERSION OF WOOD, &c. INTO SUGAR.
Dr. Vogel,. Member of the Royal Academy of
Sciences, has submitted to a careful examination, in
the laboratory of the Academy of Munich, the sur-
prising discovery of M. Bracennot, of Nancy, of
the effects of concentrated sulphuric acid on wood'
and linen. He has now fully confirmed this
dis-
covery, so as to lay before the Academy an essay on
the subject, and shew the products resulting from
the original experiments, with equal success, to other'
similar vegetable substances—suck as old paper,
both printed and written upon, and cut straw. By
I diluting the sulphuric acid with a due addition of
water, saw-dust, cut linen, paper, ecc. were converted
into gum and saccharine matter. It must excite
great interest in. all reflecting minds, to see an indis-
soluble, tasteless substance, like the filaments of
wood, converted, by chemical re-action, into two
new bodies, and Chemistry thus exercise a power,.
which, but lately, appeared to belong to nature alone,
and in particular to vegetation ; for this artificial
formation of sugar and gum, now discovered, must
not be confounded with the extraction of-these two
substances from bodies in which they already existed,
a process knorn from dine immemorial. What
has now, _been diwavered, is .a &cm:fort:Wiwi,
a metantopphosie, of which the most inget.ious ch;:-

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mist had previously no idea ; and ii affords a now
proof of the boundless extent of the domain -of-
practical che:aistry. A paper upon Di. Vogers re.
petition and investigation of M. Braconnot's exile.
riments, and those added by himself, is promised
in one of the next numbers of the Journal of Arts
and Manufactures, published by the Bavarian Poly-
, technic Society.

LAI37 INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF ItigG'Sl3ENcir, APRIL 14.
cLamti O. STODDART AND •YHERS.

This action was. brought by Mr. Cleary, the con-
veyancer, against Dr. Stoddart, and ethers, connected
with the New limes, for the publication of an alleged
libel. The declaration charged the defendants with
publishing in the above Paper, of the 20th of Novem-
ber, 1818, a letter, imputing, that the plaintiff had
been guilty of unnatural practices ; and that he was
supported and-maintained by the same. The letter
was addressed to Sir Francis Burdett, and signed,
" Henry Hunt."
Mr. BROUGHAM stated the case to the Tury, and
represented the libel to be one which exceeded the
sting of any-publication he lrac.l seen in the course of
'his experience. He adverted to the time when Ma-
..
Jor Cartwright stood forward a Candidate for %Vest-
' minster. Mr. Cleary on that occasion, came in con-
tact with Hunt. Doring tlfe contest, a letter was
read on the hustings by Cleary. It was from Cob-
hat, and no individual doubted it was written by
that person. Ilunt, however, denied the fact, and
addressed a letter to Sir Francis Burdett on the sub-
ject. In that letter, after • some comments on the
'conduct of Sir Francis Burdett, he alluded to Mr.
Cleary, charged him with forging the letter, rind,
secondly, with a crime before which forgery sunk to
nothing. Hb was charged with practices so vice and
unnatural. that Mr. Brougham could not enlarge
upon the subject. Ile was to be told it was Hunt's
libel and not Dr. Btoddart's, but that, in la'w, would
be no answer to the action.

James Mallison, from the Stamp Office, produced
the New Times of the 20th of November, 1818.
- Hunt's letter was then put in and read. It was
datedthe 22d of April. It alluded to Cobbctt's let-
ter, accused Mr. Cleary of forgery, and applied to
him the name of kept man mistress.
Mr. SEERLETT requested a paragraph in the New
Times might be read, in which Dr. Stoddart stated,
that the letter was not written by him, but Hunt.
The CHIEF JUSTICE held the reading of the same
to be irregular.
Mr. John Wright deposed, that he had known Mr.
Cleary some time. • He knew there was such a per-
son as Henry Hunt. He had known him called. in
a Paper, " Henry the Ninth !" The letter which Mr.
'Cleary was accused of forging, was nritten by Cob-
bett. Cleary. and Hunt had been in the habit of
writing-letters to each other. He had never heard
Mr. Cleary was living with a mistress.
Mr. SCARLET' rose to address the Jury, and first
complained of delay on the part of the plaintiff in
-bringing the action.
Mr. BROUSHAN then called Major Cartwright to
prove the delay was occasioned by the bad state of
Mr. Cleary's health.
Major Cartwright said, Mr. Cleary was in a deli-
cate state of health. In 1818, his health was so bad
that witness invited him to his house at Tunbridge.
His illness was a paralytic stroke.
Mr. SCARLETT then continued his address to the
Jury. The alleged libel was not written by Dr.
Stoddart ; it was Mr. Hunt's libel, and the plaintiff.
had omitted bringing his action against Hunt, for
the purpose of pressing for heavy damages against
the defendants, As well might the Grecian heroes,
Agamemnon and Achilles; complain to old Homer
(if the parties were living), for words uttered by
Thersites. Hunt was the person of whom the plain-
tiff ought to complain. Mr. Scarlett then contended,
that the meaning the plaintiff had affixed to the
words was not a right interpretation. The words,
" kept man mistress,' implied that the plaintiff was
admired by the Ladies, and in the habit of receiving
pecuniary favours. Mr. Scarlett read a .passage from
an old Play, written by Beaumont and Fletcher, en-
titled, Cuitom ofthe Country, and proved by the lan-
guage, which was too broad and indelicate to quote
here, that man mistress meant a man kept by a Lady.
Dr. Stoddart did not know Mr. Cleary, and certainly
never had supposed the letter conveyed the imputa-
tion stated in the declaration.

The CnIEF JUSTICZ said, the question was, whether
the paragraph imputed to Mr. Cleary unnatural
practices, or whether it meant to charge him with
being the visitor of females, and receiving presents
from them in return ? He reminded thealiry that
a celebrated Novelist had made Ton'--Jvaes visit Lady
Bellaston, and receive pecuniary favours from her.l
If the Jury believed the paragraph imputed similar
conduct to Mr. Cleary, they ought to find a verdict
for the plaintiff.
The Jury retired from the box at four o'clock, and
at six o'clock sent a letter stating they could not
agree. The letter was read by the Judge's Associate,
who communicated the contents to the parties. One
party was willing to withdraw a Juror, the other
would not. About eight o'clock the Jury came into
Court, and found a Verdict for the Plaintiff.-- Da-
mages One Hundred Pounds.

COURT OP COMMON PLEAS, APRIL 14.
OAKES V. YATIMAN.

This was an action to recover from the defendant
f:700, beint, the expense incurred in the negociation
and completion or a loan of 1:11,000, in which the
defendant acted as plaintiff's attorney. The loan was
charged to have been originally given on the advice
and instruction of the defendant, for .:an .annuity,
which was secured upon certain' estates in Lincola
Fens ; bUt it turned out, that although the title was
good, and although a favouiable represcinat?mi of
the nature of the estates was made by the defendant,
yet they were not sufficient to pay the annuity stipu-
lated. It appeared that the 'defendant himself acted
on information which hereecived from 11Ir:Wiggins
• '1
the surveyor, and that the.plaintilrlately recovered,
from Wiggins, in an action at law, A:6000, on ac-
count of the losses incurred by his incorrect state-
ment. On the present occasion, the plaintiff 'failed
to she/ that the defendant_acted in any otlier,clia-
racter than. as a mere attorney, .not. as a general
agent, and therefore he was not.held
plaintiff was nonsuitcd..

CRESTER, APRIL ls.

At the Sitting of the -Court, Mr. dolma (the Re-
;column) stated, that he had an application to make
to their Lordships, upon a 'subject connected with
the trial which had taken place on the Bth instant.—
He held in his hand a certificate from one of the Ma-
gistrates of the County of Down, stating that Ross,
the Constable, Who had been called upon the tiial,
was the person who, bad apprehended Jacob *lnnis,
He had also the netEssary certificate from tile-Secre-
tary for Foreign Affilirs, Lord Castlereagh, and he
(Mr. Jones) wished to have the signature of their
Lordships, to enable Ross to receive the reward.
The CHIEF' J•.;srtcE thought that the Court had
nothing to do with the matter. It was' casting upon,
them a duty which they were not called upon to perA
form. The certificates must be laid before Lord
Sidmouth, who would apportion the reward as he
might think fit.
Mr. LLOYD (the Agent for the prosecution) thought
it possible that Lord Sidmouth might consider part
of the reward due to other persons.
Mr. Jr:WEL—Ross was the person ty whom M.Ln.
nis was actually apprehended.
Mr. LLOYD.—Ycs ; but the Proclamation (I have
it in my pocket) says--" appiehending, or ::;u3ing
to be apprehended."
It was decided that the certificates must be laid
before Lord Sidruouth.
•SECOND INDICT:M.4:NT AI:AINST PARSON nARRISON.

The tar, count of the i-dictment states, that the
defendant, being an ill-dispth,ed person, and unlaw-
fully devising to disturb the public peace, and excite
v:rder and di:affection, .and to move and' incite the
liege subjects of thelate King to insurrection and Tl-
hellion, .to subvert the Gorenstnent and Constitution,
and to excite hatred to the late King, did, on the sth
of December, in the Gath year of the reign of George
111.. at Stockport, unlawfully, maliciously, and sedi-
tiously, in the presence and hearing of one John Ro-
binson, and doters others, opeally say, speak, and
publist these soanclalons, malicious, and seditious
words following ; that is to say—" Kings, Pzinces,
Dukes, Lords, lommons, Parliament, Archhishoiss,
Bishops, Prelates, petters, I ligh Cunqables, Consta-
bles, Sheriff's, Deputy Con, tables, and Bailiffs, art-
corrupt ; and the time is very near when they will
be upset." The people should rise en masse to sup-
press. such a tyrannical Government as the. one in
this country. It will not be long, but very sic.:,,
that it shall be overturned; and many a bloody bat-
tle may be fought, and many ;a one incarcerated in
prilon, before n is accomplished; but) et, it shall Le
accomplished"—ln contempt of our said Lord the
King, and his laws, to the evil example of all others,
and against the peace of our said Lord the King, his
Crown, and dignity.—The second and third counts
were the same as the first, with the emission of some
portions of the offending matter.

The fortitude which Mthinis exhibited chi his trial
has altogether forsaken him, and he now arpears
profoundly penitent. The following lstter has been-
forwarded, at his request, to a young woman at
Stockport, with whom he was acquainted. The spat-
ling is left as in the original :

" roa MART JONES, 310: fI, eaws.eninrr, STOCK/017.
" Apra 11, 1620.
" DEAR Faixtros—This comes to take my last farewell of you
and I hope yon will look on my at dying words of advice,
This is the last—yes, the last of alt. My friends, you all know
well that my principles has been the envie of my Lath. Yee all
know that I have denied the fUture rewards and punishments.
due to sin-aaYes, strove to riniki: as many infidels its 1 could.
You have been eye-witnesses to my tearless principles; you
know that I feared neither Gon nor man. My dear friends, I
am happy to think lam heat. I nape it will be a b!essir.n heith
to you and tr.t„—let the Words I am going to tell yea straek
your heart and soul with delight, and,when you hear it, believe
it is true, I will tell you no falsity now. After I was *entente
to death I came out of the Court laughing, thinking I would be
soon quietthinkinn that both soul and body would be soon
dead. All that grieved me was to think that a innocent man
should safer for my transgressions. My dear friends, I come
into my sell, and in a little after a man come income, and be-
gun to speak to tne about my soul. 1 laughed at him; he asked
to pray by me, but I told him I wanted no' priestcraft about
me. Ile reasoned very fairly, and said he was no priest, and
got me to consent to kneel down. He prayed, and pointed cut.
Quart to me, home I have oft times denied in such a manner,
1 that I began to have a doubt of my own principles. After he
went out of my sell, I kneeled down by my bedside, and asked
GOD for pardon if I was'wreeg, and begged for the troth. lay
dear friends, I said no more, for I was speeclikes. I fell down
on my bait to the ground, and it ever Cuaure grail revealed unto
man, he was revealed unto me. I see the necessity of (,Stater.
see (saw) the future rewards and punishments. I see as it were
Hell gaping for me, and all this time I did not speak a word.—
I was seized with such a horror, to think 1 had been so far de-
luded, that I lay on the ground for I dare say a hour, in such a
state of madness, that it was most shocking to see the tears rue
down my hardened Cheek. I shod and groped, and seen all my
sins before inc. So my dear friends rejoice that Gon has been.
so kind to me, to reveal himself to such a wretch at the last
hours. My dear friends, trine no longer-clook to me—look to
yourselves--disbelieve no mote. Pray to GOD sincorelyfor the
truth—pray for me, and think it a blessing that I am going to
everlasting happipess. If you think of coming for.my body
again Statananday, I could wish you to bring me some old close
to be executed in—l could wish you to have my close to keep in -
rernernbiance of me, and when you see them think on me—don't
grieve for me, rejoice fur my release, and think of meeting ins
in everlasting bliss. You will have one thing to do for me, and
don't fail, and that is, pay Andrew Maaroe the sum of thirty
shillings. You may pay them as you ciatse. He will tzhe it
a shilling a time. Now my friends I will be happy. I scud my
love to Hary Gallamore and to the other two meat, and to ail
my friends both small and great, and ask pardon of those I have
led astray by my false doctrine—So a due—aline remember nie.
"JACOB M•INNIS."
The same hot/demeanour supported M'lnnis throdgbout the
greater part of Monday. which he evinced on his trial; bin is
the evening of that day, a
\change sudlea end satisfactory took
place: he was found iiy•nar. Hudson lying on the floor of his
cell, in a paroxysm of extr.me mental agony, calling out 1, r
mercy, and imploring the forgiveness of tat Auttinvery. Wrh
some difficulty he was soothed, and a Gentlenwn was sent ice,
who adrainistered much spi.itual comfort to the unfortuazte Ri Ic_
—lle has sioce had atninterview with Mr. Birch—it was pf tar
most gratifying and cenzniatory description. We understand
that M.lnnisktecP.re-d, it w.. 5 hls deternifaatian to have des.tros:ai
Mr. Lloyd,. rather than Birch; but fate bad onlereti it c4..ser—
wise. Mr. Lloyd is a Solicitor, in anocittort, and Clerk to tee
11 igistrates—the Gentleman to wham the County and the Kira....
dont are under so many obttgations forudishit
his promptitude
u
nndietud:quininstap..
..
pressing disturbances, and Isruntiag to r

ELASrornocs Imiri..—Yesterday evening, a Tipstar sr ti.e
King's iterch entered tjle house of Mr. I)avison, publisher, rf
Duke-strett, West-Smithfield, and arrested him upon a :fudge."
fiat, for'publishing a bLaspherisons libel, contained in a monthly
publication. The Nile ei Conveyed his pri-osier to Gi:tspur-sve.l
Compter. S.rertl of Mr. Davison' friends applied, wiling the.
Evering to be 3,1;.,-itted to see hint, bet were refused atimisslyn.
The praser-..tion is at the instance of the Society for the -;:-.1,--
pression et
HIGH.WATfiIIat LONDON DILI DGR TO-WtsitltOW.
Morning, 16 min. an et 16.-Afterftoon 37 min. after 1..
LONDON; Printed Poci.intblished by Lsort..livr, Maur's-
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