Star.
London, England, 1817-04-10 00:00:00

LINES, ,*--

OV TIMID ROYAL 1140121ISSRI TES PMI'S' CSAILOTTS AND
tarsee LROPOLD RAVING PATIO:WM Tilt MUCH.ADMIRID
PSIVTIAN MATS.

Peruvian Work, and Faaaaa's skill
" * la•MaMl'aeture famed;
Since Royal CLIAII LOTT leS gracious will
Her Bonn••t Clereemt
lila Maar.; ass, too, with noble air,
A Slmetiwi Hat has deign'd to wear
•. Among the various Manufactures that adorn the British
Empire, and lay claim to univer.al admiration,la the uncommon
and beautiful Peruvian Hat, :manufactured by Miss PRaaaa, of
Stoane.square. Chelsea, and distinguished now by the patronage
of our illus.rioas and amiable Princess Cnsimorrit, and her
much respected ton•urt Prince I.aorot.n.--Msy they ever con•
Omar the patrons of merit ! While industry and Ingenuity meet
with encouragement trom the affluent, Arts and nciencts will
eontsrue to be the ornaments of the British Realm.

ASSIZES.

GAI.WAY.
ERrACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE.
BLAKIL e.
This cause, which had excited the Most unleersal
interest,. CSTSIiSon to be tried, on Tuesday week, at
Galway, before the Honourable Baron Swan, and a!
Special Jury. Every avenue to the Cinert-house was
crowded at an early hour, and, long before die trial,
it was impossible to procure a seat. The plaintiff is I
a Lieutenant in the Navy, not shove SO years of age:
the defendant is, at least, 65, and is the widow of the
Staff Physician, in whose arms General Wotre died
at the siege of Quebec. The plaintiff's case having
been. gone through, Mr. Putuara addressed the Jury
on the part of Mrs. Wilkins, in.pretty nearly the fol-
lowing terms :
May it please your Lordship—The plaintiff's Coun-
sel tell me, Gentlemen, most unexpectedly. that they
have closed his case, and it becomes my duty to state
to you, that of the defendant. The nature of this
action you have already beard. It is one which, in
Sly mind, ought to be yeti seldom brought, and very
Sparingly encouraged. You will agree with me,
'however, that if there exists any excuse for such an
action, it is on the side of the female, because every
female object being more exclusively domestic, such
a disappointment is more severe in its visitation ;
because the very circumstance concentrating their
" feelings renders them naturally more sensitive of a
wowed ; beeau•en.eir best treasure, their reputation,
may have suffered (rem the intercourse ; because
their chances of reparation are less, and their liabia
teal seclusion makes them feel it more; because there
is something in the desertion of their helplessnes,
which almost merges the illegality in the unmanli-
ness of the abandonment. However, it a man seeks
to enforce this engagement, every one feels some in-
delicacy attached to the requisition. I do not en-
quire into the comparative justness of the reasoning,
but; does not every one feel diet there appears some
meanness in forcing a female into an *Uiabce Is it
Ant almost saying—" I will expose to public shame
' the ciedufity on which I practised, or yon must pay
to me in monies numbered, the profits of that heart.
less. speculation—l 'have gambled with your aff:c.
Pions. I have secured your bond, I will eatott the peH
.n.ilty either from your pure ur your reputation 1"
I put a case to you where the circumstances are re-
ciprocal—where age, fortune, situation, are the same,
where there is no disparity of years to make this sep.
positi ludicrous, where there is no disparity of foe.
tune to render it suspicious. Let ut see Whether the
present action can be so palliated. or whither it does
net exhvbit a picture of fraud, avarice, and manuals
and hypocrisy so laughable, that it is almost impel-
Bible to criticise it, and yet so debasing, that human
Pride'almost forbids its sid•cule. It his been left to,
me to defend my unfortunate old client front the
double battery of Love and Law, which,at the age
of 6.5, has so unexpectedly opeavd.on her. Oh, Gen-
tlemen 1 haw vain-glorious is the boast tit beauty 1
how mitap,preltended have been thecharms of youth,
if years and wrinkles Can thus despoil tl.eir conquests,
and depopulate the Navy of its prowess, and beguile
the Bar of its eloquence ! It appears, Gentlemen, to
save been her happy tate to have subdued patticu-
laily the death-dealing prolessions. . lodeett, in the
love episodes of the heathen mythology, Mars and
Venus were considered as inseparable. I know not
Whether any of you have ever seen a very bcirs4ll4l
print represtating the fatal glory tar Quebec, and the
last moments of its immortal conqueror—it so. you
mast have observed the figure of the Staff Physician,
ii whose aims the hero is expiring—that identical
parsonage. my Lord, was the happy swain, who, 40
or 50 years ago, received the reward of his vale*/
and his skill in the virgin hand of my venerable
client I The Doctor lived something more than halt
century. during a great part of sishichldris. Wilkins
was bis companion ; alas I Gentlemen, long as he
lived he lived not hang enough to behold her beauty.
" flea bases, Usti)* atort,fieww. •
tit. bloom's! sod blossomed at toviseis'ir - • • -
_ He was, boaster, so far fasinsted as to bequeath to
' her sbe legacies of his patients when he found he was
pre-doomed to follow them. To this circumstance
very Eli be it from me- to hint that Mrs. W. is in-
debted for any of her attractions. Rich, however,
she undoubtedly was, and rich she would still as un-
doubtedly have eontiuued, had it not been for her
intercourse with the family of the plaintiff. Ido not
impute it as a crime to tlitnt that they happened to
be secessions, but I do impute it as both criminal
and ungrateful, that alter having lived on the gene-
rosity of their friend, after having literally embalmed
bar most prodigal liberality, they should drag her
;tabu:Ades ere the public gaze, vainly 'apposing.
that they could hide their own comemptible evarice
-in the more prominent exposure of her melatilioly
elotege. The father, of the plaintiff. it cannot be
'mailmen to .you, was, for many rears, in the .meat
indigent situation. Perhaps it is not a matter st
concsialment either, that be bound, in Mrs. Wilkini
a goners benefactress. She assisted and rap.
Vetted him, until at last his increasing necessities
redeced him to take refuge in an act of insolvency.
'During their intimacy,, equest allusion was made
to Laos whom Mrs. Wilkins had never seen since be
Alts a child, and who had risen to a Lieutenancy in
the Navy, _snider the patronage of their relative, Sir
B. Bloomfield.. IA a parent's panegyric, the gallant
Ijeutenant was of.stoeme all that even hope could
&we. Young, gob 'books end d4iatc,a%bicd,
.44e-