Star.
London, England, 1820-03-09 00:00:00

BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.

SIIERIFFS COURT, I..:RWCASTLE, FEBRUARY 23.
WILSON V. ARUNDALE, JEW.
The defendant in this very inteiesting case, havirg
allowed judgment to go by default, thereby admit-
ting the promise of marriage, and that some damages
were requisite, the parties now appeared by COunteh
Serjeant CROSS and Mr. WILLIAMS for the plaintiff ;
Mr. Losn and Mr..Garx for the defendant. Dme
mages laid at 13000.
Serjeant Otos:: detailed the cause of acticn, bt
which it appeared, that Miss Elizabeth Wilson
rived in Newcastle in the latter end of 1814., on a
visit to her uncle, Mr. Macnay, a grocer ; sho
, after her arrival, she became acquainted with the de-
fendant. The family in which Miss Wil. m resided,
were what are called religious people, and the Lhz-
fendant having shewn some desire to become oue of
the Methodist connexion (his family being Quakersi,
was received on intimate terms in the house of ti.e
plaintiff's uncle ;—in about six months after the a:-
rival of the young Lady, her intimacy with the de-
fendant became notorious to all their acquaintance;
it continued in the same way until 1817, when Miss
Wilson became pregnant, and, to conceal her mi-for-
tune from the world, retired to the West of Englane,
where she was safely delivered of a child ; from t!::.s
time forward the warmth of the defendant's love
seemed to abate, as appeared by a letter which W 23
read, dated in Leeds, August 1817, which contai:led
little but wishes for the recovery of her health, and
advice by which that desirable object was to be ac-
complished, and concluded by stating that he; mis-
fortune was but little known in Newcastle, and hopes
that it would soon be forgotten.—Here Serjeant
CROSS appealed to the feelings of the Jury, ac fa-
thers of families, on the cold neglect which he con-
tended shone through this letter, Farticula: ly the
latter part. Two witnesses were then called to prove
the hand-writing of the defendant, and the intimate
terms on which he lived with the plaintiff, which
was generally kown ; one of these, Mr. Grant, a local
preacher of the Methodist sect, was a very intimate
friend of the plaintiff's uncle, and knew the parties
from the time the young Lady first came to New-
castle, in 1814.; he stated that iliss IVihon was the
picture of health when she first arrived in this town,
and that she was now directly the contrary. He
was examined as to Lovelea.sts, which he described
as meetings of the admitted for the purpose of prayer
and psalm-singing, _ and perfectly free from all im-
proper conduct; he proved the hard writing of a letter
from the defendant to the plaintiff while in London,
with the sister of the defendant, which being written
in the style of a Quaker, caused considerable laughter
in the Court. In this epistle, he complains -of her
not having written to him immediately on her era
rival in London, after many expressiong .of a loving
nature, and an anxious desire that she would be careful
of herself in the great place of temptation ; at the
same time, admitting that it was hardly probable
she would be put to so much hazard in this
respect as he had been ! he then informed her of se-
veral places in London, a visit to which he thought
would gratify her curiosity, amongst them the
Jews' Synagogue and the British Museum ; hese, after
many pious ejaculations, he informs her may be sees
stones, brought from afar, which retain the impression
of fishes, &c. which he conceives a strong proof of
that part of _Scripture which treats of the great flood;
and ends the letter with a wish that he could call
himself her husband.—Mr. WILLIAMS assisted in the
examination of the witnesses, who were cross-exa..
mined by Mr. GRRY (Mr. Ldsst being engaged in the
County Court), who elicited little from them in favour
of his client, except that they were totally unac-
quainted with any communication having been made
to the father of the defendant, as to the probable con-
nection between his son and the plaintiff. The case
here closed for the plaintiff; and Mr. Gana rose to,
speak in mitigation of damages, which be did with
great ability and argument ;a5:4 contended that his
Learned Friend had drawn and highly cofoured a pic-
ture for the purpose of carrying with him the feelings
of the Jury, when, in reality, the case was one of the
lightest description he had ever met with of the same
nature; he then drew parallel case to the one amt..
ally before them, in the course of which he shewed that
the defendant was of a superior rank in life, and that
the friends of the plaintiff had never intimated, in the
slightest manner, to the father or friends of the de-
fendant, the connection which would probably take
place between the young persons, and on this grornd
he contended the friends of. the plaintiff were ex-
tremely culpable, and in fact, much more to blame,
in the unfortunate calamity which befel the young
lady at a subsequent period. That, as the defendant
was under age at the time he had promised the mt.•
riage, it was still mere the duty of the plaintiff's
friends to have enquired whether such a marriage
was at all agreeable to the connections of the defend-
ant ; he maintained that such conduct was highly re•
prehensible, and only shewed their overweening desire
for the marriage, which they were willing to go any
lengths-to obtain; that they had it in their power to
have required his client to produce her letters to the.
defendant, which they had thought proper to omit,
the inference from which to be drawn was, that they
would have proved detrimental to-their cause. Ha*,
ing been several times interrupted in the course of his
speech, he was compelled to recapitulate the prink
pal arguments he had used, which he did in an ener,
getic and forcible manner, which seemed to make
considerable impression on he Court.
The evidence was then read over by the Under
Sheriff, and the Jtiry, after a deliberation of about
twenty minutes, returned a verdict of Damages to
the amount of £soo.—Darkam'ammick.

IIRTHS.

On Friday, the 3d instaat, ioßutland-oguare, Dublin, the
Countess of Longford, of a son.
At Gibraltar, the Lady of Major This Fier% of the Royal
Engineers, of a son.

LONDON; Prune& and published by 1.41111. Knes, Plskete-:
Mate, Tenspk-lisr,