Star.
London, England, 1827-09-05 00:00:00

ORIGIN OF BENEFITS.

Mrs. BARRY is recorded as the first performer, male
or female, who ever had, what is now understood by
the term, a benefit. This privilege was procured for
her through the influence of James 11. and . she alone
possessed it until just before the commencement of the
eighteenth century. The poverty of
.the divided thee.
trical companies then induced the managers to employ
this expedient for paying their actors and actresses more
directly out of the pockets of the public, and it not un-
frequently happened (at least the performers made the
accusation) that the patentees appropriated to themselves
all the proceeds, under the pretext of house expenses,
and left the performers to their remedy.
EPIGRAM BY LEWIS.

. _.

The following, in the hand-writing of the celebrated
Lewis, the comedian, is in the possession of an auto-
graph collector ; it was evidently the authorship'of the
performer :
" Biu Smith said, when I last played Auer,
That winter I should not get over ;
With reason too, unleu I blunder—
I sbaU get over, or get under."
SIR R. BLACK MORWS FROTH.
Sir Richard Blacktnore at his table
• Endeavoned all that be was able
T. please his guests by bounteous fare;
His conversation they could spare.
Ose day his boy—the joke's not stale—
Drawing a cork of bottled ale
Under his knightly master's nose,
Sprinkled the liquor o'er his clothes.
Sir Richard said, " That boy is quick,
He's quite a wit, but that's a trick.
•He serves me almost every week."
Cried Otway, " We've not Ur to seek,
Why yen to part, with him are loth,
Since he provides you with your, freth I
You scarcely treat him as is fit.
Boy! here's a shilling for your wit;
You'd done a service to the State
To give by far less froth of late."
MADAME MARA.

Madame MARA—MLOIICe singing a song of labo-
rious and brilliant execution, when some person in the
gallery imitated the squalling of a cat, and put her
quite out. She was in a fury, and threatened never to
appear again. The two following were written on the
occasion :

ON staaa's sumacs.
No wonder that Mara declares
She will quit for the joke of a clown,
She may certainly gips herself awe,
Who glen them so oft to the town
ve MARA, ON Hit agues maim' neutalm.
Lament not, Mara, that a ruffian throng
With brutal outrage paid thy magic song;
They whose low minds could triumph in thy path,
Knew not the merit'of thy matchless strain.
Such were the rout, as ancient bard. relate,
Who hurl'd the hapless Orpheus to his fate,
He whom melodious song could brutes subdue,
In vain implor'd a fiercer human crew?

Dr. WILLIAM HUNTS,' used to relate the following
'anecdote:—During the American war, he was consulted by the
daughter of a Peer, who confessed herself pregnant, and requested
his assistance. He advised bet to retire for a time to the house of
some confidential friend. She said that was impossible, as her
father should not suffer her to be absent from him a single day.
Some of the servants were, therefore, let into the secret, and
the Doctor made his arrangement with the Treasurer of the
Foondlitig Hospital. for this reception of the child, for which
he was to pay 1001. The Lady was debited to weigh well if she
could bear pain without alarming the family by her cries; she
said " yes," and she kept her word. At the usual period, she
was delivered, not of one child only, but of twins. The Doctor,
bearing the two childreu,wasccmducted by a French servant through
the kitchen, and left to ascend the area steps into the street. Luckily
the Lady's maid recollected that the door of the area might per-
haps be locked, and she followed the Doctor just in time to
prevent his being detained at the gate.' lie deposited the children
at the Pow:ldling Hospital, and paid for each 1001. The father of
the children was a Colonel in the army, who went with his regi-
ment io America; and died there. The Mother afterwards mar-
ried a person of her own rank.

s•._

• ' ASSIZE INTELLIGBI

Caorrn Bias—Before Mr. Buys VANS/lAA

Thafftai Gyde 'was. indicted, chirrged with assaulting
Hannah West, at F'ainiwirsk, in this county, on the 25th
of August, with intent to commit a rape.
Mr. Junius said, it would be necessary, /Vern the
peculiar circumstances in this case, for him to address
a few observations to the Jury, on the disgusting of-
'fence which was about to become the subject of their
Iconsidetation. The prisoner was a young man, about
12"/ years of age, a married man, and the poor woman
,wlio had to complain of his blond violence (the effects
of which she was suffering from up to this very hour)
was about 50 years of age. About haiLpist five in the
evening of the 25th of August last, she was employed
aids the psips-44,ka wheat rick, rolling thi sheaves
to him, viben,'ill'e workmen having gone to a little
tance, he proceeded to take liberties with her, and at-
tempted to possess himself of her person against her
will. He (Mr. Justice) would not enter into the details
of the case, which the Jury would hear from the unfor.
ionate woman herself ; but he would say this,--that, if
there was any man in Court not divested of ever y feel- -
ing which could dignify the manly halm who could
be hardy enough to come forward and say that he had
been within the hearing of the screams of this poor
woman, which he would prove were beard at the dis-
tance of 200 yards, and had not gone to her assistance,
that man would go diigraced from the Court, worthy
to be excluded from every happiness of social life. It
was a hardship in cases of this kind peculiarly afflicting
to the sex, and certainly most distressing, that they had
not only to undergo the wounded feelings and sufferings
occasioned by the injuries they had received, but were
obliged to come before strangers, and before a male
audience, to disclose the details of the case. The Jury
were to judge between insulted virtue on the one hand,
484 brutality on the other ; and he (NIL Justice) was
.offifident that in this case, the unfortunate prosecnttia
would go out of Court with that commiseration and
respect that was due to her character.
Hannah West was then called, and Mr.Jiranne pros
cured her, by permission of the Court, the accommoda-
tion of a chair. She appeared to be in a very weak and
nervous state. She said she was 54 years of age, and a
single woman. She had been employed, on the 25th
of August last, in building a wheat-rick with the pri-
soner, who is a married man, with five young children,
his wile having been delivered of one on Sunday last.
The witness then proceeded to detail the conduct of the
prisoner on the wheat-rick, which was amply sufficient
to establish the charge. She called out as loud as she
could for an hour and a half, and said the Lord's
Prayer. He continued to abuse her till Mary Picnic
came up the ladder. when the prisoner called out to
Mary Prout, that if she did not go down, he would
kick her down. He ht the witness get up, and she got
off the rick, and told Mary Prom all that had happened.
Cross•examined by the prisoner.—l was leasing in the
field the night before, you did not tell me your father
would not allow it ; I did not say don't say any thing
about it, and you shall have a kiss to-morrow. No one
gave me ss. to get a warrant and make this complaint.
By Mr. Baron VAUGHAN.--The prisoner's wife is
under thirty.
Sarah Prout said, I was working for John Wright.
and left work about half-past six o clock. I know where
Samuel Gyde's rick is, near a lane which I had to pass
through ; as I was going past, I heard the screams of a
person in great distress. I had heard them first two
hundred yards off, for a quarter of an hour before I
came to the rick ; I heard a cry of 4. Oh dear, Oh dear,
what shall I do!" When I got to the rick, I went up
the ladder towards the noise, and saw the prisoner and
Hannah West. (The witness then described the situa•
tion of the parties, corroborating the testimony of the
prosecutrix). Gyde said he would knock me.off the lad.
der; I jumped off, and Hannah West followed me, and
said she had been used very ill; she was very moth
alarmed, her tears ran down in streams.
Hannah Worgan said, I live 186 yards from the
wheat-rick, and remember the evening of &tor dAy, the
26th of August. I heard a cry of some one in distress
about six o'clock, I thought it was some one beating a
boy. I heard it for twenty minutes ; the noise came
from the direction of the rick.

The prisoner, on being called on for his defence,
said, that on the Friday evening preceding the prosecu•
trix was leasing in his Pather's field; he told her his
father would not allow it, and she said if he said nothing
about it, he should have a kiss the neat day. After the
men left the rick, he said to her, " Now, Hannah, ire
have got a little time to have the kiss you promised
'me." He went to take it, and they went down tope.
ther, but nothing at all unprudent took place. She
cried out that her bonnet was crumpled, and that was
all she said till the woman came up the rick, when sht
said, " Now I have got something against you, and I
will make you pay for crumpling my bonnet." Two
men were in Court all Saturday who were by the rick
all the time.

Mr. Baron VAUOHAN haying summed up the evi.
dence, the Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
Mr. Baron VAUOHAN—Prisoner, you have been con-
victed on the clearest and most satisfactory evidence of
a most aggravated misdemeanor. It is most fortunate
for you that you were not indicted for the capital
offence, as I am not sure that you would not have been
convicted ; and if you had, I should have felt it my
duty to leave you for execution, as a terrible example
to the offended laws of your country. I never heard
I anything stated which gave me more pain, than that
there were men within hearing who refused to step for-
ward and rescue the unfortunate woman in her distress.
Such conduct is most disgraceful to them. and must
receive universal execration. The Learned Judge, after
commenting on the aggravated nature of the prisoner's
offence, as a married man with a young family, pro.
noonced the sentence of the Court, that he should be
imprisoned in the Penitentiary for two years, and be
kept to hard labour during the whole of that time.
Williams Clutterbuck, aged 71, was indicted for an
assault, with intent to commit a rape, on Mary Ann
Workman, an infant under 10 years of age.
The unfortunate child seemed to be very deficient in
intellect, and the case against the prisoner was fully
substantiated by a respectable female, who, ai sbe was
coming through the fields to Gloucester, witre azd the
behaviour of the prisoner to the child.

The Jury found the prisoner Guilty.
-Mr: Baron VAUGHAN, after remarking on the cant.
mitt' of the prisoner's .offelseet, as a time of life when he
must soon expect to appearbefois his Maker, sentenced
the prisonerto two Sears imprisonment and bard labour
is the Penitentiary 4 . .
rSarah Racey was indicted for stealing, in the parish
h of St. Philip and St. Jacolkfroin the dwelling-boos of

Job PoweU, on the 9th of August last. a silver watch,
value 405.; three gold seals, value SOs.; a silk shawl,
gown, and lace cap, value Sls.
Mr. CA RRINGTON conducted the prosecution, and in
stating the nature of the case to the Jury, observed, that
according to the late Act, if they should be of opinion
that the property stolen amounted to the value of 51.
the prisoner would be guilty of a capital offence.
Judith Powell said, that on the 9th of August last,
she left the prisoner, who was in her employ, is her
room while she went with her husband's dinner ; when
she returned she found her door locked, and on breaking
it open found her boxes emptied, and the property
named in the indictment was gone.
-

George Champion Wilcox, a police officer at Bath,
stated, that in consequence of an application he received
from the husband of the last witness, he apprehended
the prisoner on the evening of the 9th of August, at
Bath, just as she was about to take her seat on the roof
of a coach for London. On searching her, he found
the shawl and duplicates of the rest of the property that
she had pledged at a pawnbroker's in Bristol.
The property was then produced, and identified by
Mrs. Powell.
Mr. Baron VAUGHAN having summed up, the Jury
found the prisoner guilty of stealing to the amount offit.

Mr. Baron VAUGHAN directed that sentence of death
should be tecorded, and intimated to the prisoner that
she must expect to leave the country for life.
Lligabeth Shotseu was indicted, charged with having
stolen from the person of James Goodwin Davis, on the
of August last, five bills of exchange for 1001. each,
two notes for the payment of it. each, and a blue silk
pocket handkerchief.
-

Mr. Goodwin Davis said, I am a draper residing at
Cheltenham. On the 23d of August last, after dinner,
I went out to take a walk. I had in my pocket at the
time, five bills of exchange for 1001: each ; two of them
bad been drawn for 2001. each, and altered to 1001.
They were payable at Esdaile's. On my return, I found
that they were gone, together with two 11. notes, and
my handkerchief.
Mr. Baron'Veuonme.—Do you generally go out to
walk, Sir, with 6001. or 7001. in your pocket ?
Mr. Davis.—Being unendorsed, my Lord, I thought
they were of no value to any one but myself.

Mr. Edmund Skey, a clerk in Messrs. Lechmere's
bank at Tewkesbury, said. that on the 24:h of August
the prisoner went to the bank with one of the bills in
question: she said she had found it on Shotongar-com-
mos, and did not know what it was till a man told her
to take it to the bank. She gave her teal name.
George Russell, a constable at Cheltenham, said he
apprehended the prisoner two days after. She stated
that she had found the bills on Shotongar common, on
her way from Worcester. She acknowledged she had
been in Cheltenham on the night of the 23d of August.
A man named Philip had married her sister, and in his
house the prosecutor's handkerchief was found.
Sarah Cornthwaite said, she went with the prisoner to
the door of the Worcester Arms, where she said she
was waiting for a friend. She said that a Gentleman
bad given her U. and she took out the handkerchief
and other papers wllich she said she had taken from
his pocket.
The prisoner, in her defence, denied the statement of
the last witness in tote, and said she had never seen the
prosecutor before.
The prosecutor was here recalled, and said.in answer
to a question from Mr. Baron VAUGHAN. that he might
have asked a Gentleman if he had taken his pocket-
book in joke.
Mr. John David Kelly said, be was accidentally in
court, and hearing the statement of the prosecutor, he
begged to say he was in mistake. He had dined with i
the prosecutor that day, and left early about six o'clock.'
The prosecutor the next day came to Iris office. and
asked him if he had taken his pocketbook by way of
a joke ? The witness had not done so, and told him he
never should have thought of doing-such a thing.
Mr. Baron VAUGHAN having summed up, the Jury
found the prisoner Not Guilty.
Mr. Baron VAUGHAN desired the prisoner to let this
be a warning to her : she had had a very narrow escape.
The prosecutor must have his property returned to him,
but he should not allow him his expences.

CIVIL COURT.

PALS' IMPRISOMbiENTe...I3ALL V. J0N13.. CLIME.

This was an action to recover compensation in da-
mages for false imprisonment. The defendant is a
Clergyman, and a Magistrate for this county, and
pleaded✓-first, that he was not guilty ; and, secondly,
that he had tendered a sum of ten pounds, which sum
was a full and adequate compensation for any damage
which might have been sustained.
- -

Mr. CAMIPSZLL stated the case, which was one, he
said, that, looking to the station of the defendant. he
was sorry to be compelled to lay before them. The
plaintiff was a boy of the tender age of 14 years, and
was in the service of a farmer, named Bennett, by
whom, in company with another lad, about four years
older than himself, he was sent to drive the rooks from
off a newly made wheat rick. After performing this
duty they wandered to about half a mile distance, and
happening to stumble upon a hare which bad bean
caught in a wire (laid by some other persons), they took
it, but had hardly so done before they were pounced
upon by two of the Duke of Beaufort's gamekeepers,
and taken to a public house, find there detained for the
night, and the next morning conveyed to the Rev. Mr.
Jones's house. atiVickwar. A charge of poaching was
then preferred against them, and without their being
confronted with their accusers, or being allowed to
bear the informations made against them, they were
convicted by this Reverend defendant, and sentenced
to undergo each six months imprisonment, in default
of paying a fine of 101. each. After they had been
in Horsley gaol about a fortnight, their friends in-
terfered in their behalf, and a professional Gentleman
was employed, who discovered that the commitment
was informal, and consequently illegal. A Habeas
Corpus was consequently moved for, and the boys
baring, after having suffering six weeks' imprison-
ment, been brought before Lord Chief Justice Asa irr,
were discharged, on the ground that the offence being
a joint one, the commitment ought only to have been
for three instead of six months. The imprisonment
having been thus declared to be illegal by no less an
authority than the Lord Chief Justice of the King's
Bench, an action was commenced by his client for false
imprisonment, and in stay of that action, a tender of
101. hid been made ; but, as he should be able to prove
that independently of the injury which the plaintiff had
austained in his character and in his person by this im-
prisomient, he had further incurred an expense, in ob-
taining the Habeas, of upwards of 201. he trusted the

Jury would by their verdict declare him to be entitled
to a far larger sum than that offerer!.
Mr. Austin Jones proved the service of the notice of
action upon the defendant.
Mr. Winday, Governor of the Horsley Jail, reduced
the warrant of commitment under which he had re•
ceived the plaintiff on the 11th of December, and de-
tained him till the 21st of January, when he was moved
by Habeas Corpus, and discharged by the Lord Chief
Justice. The plaintiff was kept on bread and water
during the first month, and afterwards was allowed
oatmeal porridge.for breakfast, and a pound of potatoes
for dinner. He was confined in his cell from sus est to
sun rise; the cells are solitary.
'Cross-examined—The diet and confinement was not
in consequence of any directions given by the defend-
ant, but in pursuance of the general regulations of the
place ;*he knows the Rev. Mr. Jones, and can undertake
to say that be is neatly 80 years old.
Ely Fry examined—l am eighteen years old ; in
December last I was in the service of Mr. Bennett, as
also was the plaintiff; on the 9th of December my mas-
ter gave me a gun, and told me to go and frighten the
rooks from off a wheat rick which he had made in one
of his fields; I asked the plaintiff to go along with me;
we drove away the rooks, and pursued them for about
half a mile, when we found ourselves just within
the boundary of the Duke of Beaufort's park; in looking
about I accidentally.eaw i hare caught in a wire, and
not knowing there wasanytarm, determined on taking
it; the plaintiff cut the wire from the stick and I took
up the hare; as we were going away two gamekeepers
came up and seized hold of me ; the plaintiff ran away,
but MIS fursued and taken ; we were taken to a public
house and kept there that night, and the next morning
taken to the defendant's house at Wickwar, a distance
of ten miles ; when we got to the house, one of the
gamekeepers stood with us outside, while the other went
into the house, and after some time that one came out,
and the other went in ; after we had teen thus kept
nearly an hour, the Rev. Mr. Jones came out and asked
us what-we had to say for ourselves? I said, I did not
know there was any harm, and he replied, " What ! 1
suppose you want me to believe you don't know a hare
from a jackass?" He did not say what we were charged
with ; he ordered us into his parlour, and read a paper,
which be said was a warrant for our commitment; we
were shortly afterwards taken to Horsley Jail.
Cross-examined--We were in jail a fortnight before
we saw Mr. Chivers, the attorney; our friends sent him
to us; he did not come of his own accord; he asked us
if we meant to bring actions, and se said we did; he
did not mention that he had been himself convicted of
an offence under the Game Laws, by the Rev. Mr.
Jones. After we had found the hate, the plaintiff looked
about, and found three other wires, which he cut away
from the sticks to which they were fastened.
David Goodman was next called, for the purpose of
proving who the wires were set by, and that it was not
probable the plaintiff or the other boy had any concern
therein; but his evidence was held to be irrelevant, and
on that ground inadmissible. -
Mr. Chivers—ls attorney in this action, and was also
the attorney by whom the Habeas Corpus was sued out.
The expenses a aogether, including his charges, amount•
ed to 4.41. of which one half was charged by him
against the plaiatiff.
Cross•examined---He was himself once convicted by
the present defendant, and paid the penalty ; he after-
wards brought two actions, one he allowed to drop, and
on the other he recovered one shilling damages: for the
transaction with respect to these boys, he has brought
four actions, two against the Rev. Mr. Jones, and two
against the gamekeepers ; the latter two were tried at
the last Assizes, and verdicts'obtained for the plaintiffs ;1
he cannot say whether he has received 601. or 1001. for
his costs in thole actions.

Re-examined—At offered, after obtAining the ver-
dicts last Assizes, to discontinue the actions against the
Rev. Mr. Jones, if be would pay the taxed costs of the
Habeas, and give tbp boys ,SL each. His mousey
refused the offer.

Mr. Loftus and Mr. Buxton, both professional Gen-
tlemen, gave it as their opin►on thitt the charges con-
tained in Mr. Chivers's bill were fair and reasonable.

Mr. TAUNTON, in reply, said be should take the li-
berty of treating this action not as that of George Ball,
but as that of Mr.Chivers, who he considered had only
in view the tests he might obtain. lie felt on this,
occasion more than co•umon anxiety, as he had to ap.
pear on behalf of .a Clergyman, and a Gentleman of the
advanced age of 80 years, bat who during the whole of
those years never hid a taint cast on his character. With-
out discussing the question of the Game Laws, he would
just remind the Jury that it was the imperative duty of
a Magistrate,whatever his own feelings or opinions might
be, when a person was brought before him, charged with
an act which the law regarded as penal, to proceed
with him accordingly. Now in this case, what bad the
defendant done ? The boys were brought before him,
and a distinct and positive charge preferred, so that he
had no option but to convict. That the boys were guilty,
be did not suppose the Jury would for a moment doubt ;
and if so, what hardship had they sustained? On the
[ contrary, the very informality of which the plaintiff
now complained had been an advantage to him, as it
had been the cause of abridging his confinement, which
ought to.have been for three months, to sis weeks.—
Under these circumstances, he trusted the Jury would

consider the 101. tendered a full compensation. and
therefore find their verdict for his client•

Mr. Justice LITTLEDALL in summing up, told the
Jury, that over and above The amount they might think
a fair compensation for the false imprisonment, they
ought to give such a sum as they considered the obtain-
ing the Habeas Corpus ought reasonably to cost; for
had not that been obtained, the plaintiff would have
been compelled to have remained in prison the full
period of six months, expressed in the commitment.

After consulting for about two minutes, the Jury
found for the plaintiff—Damages Twenty-eight Pounds,
being 181. for the expenses of the Habeas, and 101. for
the false imprisonment.

Wednesday evening last, as a man ntrned John
Weston, wood-turner, who resides in Malkin's pad,
and occupies a room at the Depot Mills, Macclesfield,
was endeavouring to rectify the screw of the main
gearing, the machinery unfortunately caught hold of
his neckcloth and entangled it in the shaft, and he was
thus drawn in a fearful manner, till the engine could
be stopped. Previous to this his arm was dragged
through a pair of mitre wheels and severely fractured,
the flesh being lacerated from the bone. He was found
in a state bordering upon strangulation. Some time
elapsed before the sufferer could be extricated from his
perilous situation; he was then taken home, and surgi-
cal assistance afforded him.