Star.
London, England, 1821-08-02 00:00:00

towards Mr. Coveney, he treated the company witift
a supper at the 0. P and P. S. and upon that occa-1
ion he was, of course, as a good friend and a good'
customer, introduced to Mr. Coveney's wife. The
l
intimacy increased between the parties. Mrs. CoVe-
ney visited Mrs. Yorston, and Mrs. Yorston called
upon Mrs. Coveney : in the meantime the latter
lady bore her husband two. children, and, up to the
birth of the second (a boy), nothing disturbed the
placidity of the matrimonial scene. But the happy
calm was not fated to last ; and the Jury would
now soon reach the point at which it had been inter-
rupted. Mr. Coveney was invited by Mr. Yorston
to spend some time with him at Margate : he ac-
cepted the invitation, stayed a week or a fortnight,
and returned. It was then Mrs. Civeney's.turn to go
out of town; and she expressed a wish to visit her mo-
ther, at a place called Whitstable,,neir Canterbury,
where one of her children was at nurse. This Kentish
journey was an important point in the cause.—
Mrs. Coveney, after a fortnight's absence, returned
to her family ; and, during that short period, her
feelings and manners app eared to. have undergone a
total change. She was uneasy in mind ; indifferett,
and repulsive (peculiarly so), to her husband ; and
careless of her domestic arrangements: Mr. Coven.ti,
more in sorrow than in anger, remonstrated. The,
Lady then complained of ill health : she hated ih'e
confinement of London, and the drudgery of a chop-
house: another trip to Canterbury would restore her.'
The plaintiff, anxious for her happiness, consented :
his wife went from his house; but it would be shewn
that, instead of going to Canterbury, she went twice
to the play, and that Mr. Yorston passed two nights
in her company. Mrs. Coveney came again to town ;
but it did not appear that her journey had mended
'either her health or her temper. Mr. Yorstoh, mean-
time, had become the plaintiff's bosom friend. Mr.
Coveney believed that he was anxious (as be pro-
fessed himself) to assist him in every way ; and lie
confided to this pitying friend the secret of his con-
jugal distresses. Mr. Yorston regretted. Mrs. Cove-
ney mentioned a separation, and the proposal was
discussed. Mr. Coveney was wretched at the thought ;
but Mr. Yorston thought the measure advisable.
Pending these disputes, ruin, the invariable con-
comitant of a wife's misconduct, approached with
rapid strides towards the unfortunate plaintiff. His
children were abandoned, his business was neglected,
his mind was harassed, and his character was blasted,;
the trade of his house declined from day to day,
and, from day to day, he had more and more need,
not only of the friendship, but of the pecuniary aid
of Mr. Yorston. The Jury would ask, how did such
a course terminate? How could it terminate but in
the plaintiff's utter destruction ? Mr. Coveney was
arrested and thrown into prison •, and the kind Mr.
Yorston, in the absence of his friend, consoled the wifel
for the misfortunes of her husband. Mr. Coveney,
after several months imprisonment, obtained his li-
berty ; and, with the assistance of his friend, Mr.
Yorston (who still professed intent to serve him) got
into a new chop-house in Salisbury-court, Fleet-street.
This was a new beginning, but it was a beginning
under the old circumstances. Mrs. Coveney had
been unable to make the house in Russell-court an-
swer ; and now she could not make the house in
Fleet-street answer. Riot and mismanagement pro-
duced the same result in the second case by which
they had been attended in the first; and the plaintiff
was speedily (for the second •time) consigned to a
prison. And now—the drama having lasted long
enough—now came the denouement. Mr. Yorston,
no longer finding any attraction in Mrs. Coveney,
ceased to furnish even the means of existence to her
husband or her family. She was left, with That hus-
band and her children, literally to perish, without
clothing, food, or shelter; and at length, in an agony
of contrition, confessing all that had passed, she re-
vealed to the horror-struck plaintiff the secret of kis
ruin. Now this was the case, Mr. Scarlett continued,
which would be proved before the Court. There
was an attempt, he knew, to shew that, since the dis-
closure of her guilt, the plaintiff had cohabited with
his wife; but the allegation was false, and the at-
tempt to prove it would be overthrown. Placed in
a situation of wretched poverty, and unwilling to
abandon his wife—much less his children—to perdi-
tion, it became difficult for the plaintiff to afford
them, apart from himself, even a small provision;
but he had contrived even to accomplish that point;]
he had done justice to his character by separating
himself from the woman ; lie had done justice to his
feelings in not abandoning her to want, to peril, and
to public infamy. With one more observation, and
with only one more, Mr. Scarlett would trouble the
Gentlemen whom he was addressing. The plaintiff
stood before a Jury of his country ; he complained
of an injury the most -afflicting, the most cruel, to
which man from man could be subjected ; he ascribed
his whole ruin, in fortune and' in happiness, to the
villainous machinations of the treacherous defend-
ant ; and against that defendant he now claimed—
as far as it could be given—compensation.
Edward Coveney, examined by Mr. HOLT, said,
I am brother to the plaintiff; I was present at his
marriage with Miss Johnson in the year 1811 ; they
were married at St. George's, Southwark. Miss John-
son was 22 years of age, my brother 32. I visited
them after their marriage. They had two children.
They always appeared to me to live very comfortably
together. Mrs. Coveney (as far as I can judge) is a
creditable-looking woman.
. Cross-examined by Me SOLICITOR-GZNERAL...—I am
shopman to a linen-draper in Piccadilly ; my brother,
after his marriage, kept the O.P. Tavern, in Russell-
court. He has since taken the benefit of the Insol-
vent Act.
Miss Felicitas Johnson, examined by Mr. SCAR-
LET?, said, lam sister to Mrs. Coveney. I remem-
ber the plaintiff and his wife going to keep the O.P.
Tavern. Before his marriage Mr. Coveney carried
on the wine trade in Warwick-court, Holborn* The
O.P. was a house much frequented by actors ; most
of the London performers came there. I knew Mr.
Yorston, the defendant. J think I first saw him about
a month after my brother came to the .O.P. It was
at a supper party. Mr. Kean, Mr. Oxberry, and a
Mr. Burch were present: they sullied in a room up
stairs. Mr. Yorston, after that, came very often.—
He was very friendly to my sister and brother. They
visited at his house. My sister went to see Mrs..
Yorston, and Mrs. Yorston came to see my sister. I
remember my brother going to Margate, at Mr.
Yorston's invitation: they stayed about a fortnight..
Before that time I had noticed that her behaviour