The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-02-27 00:00:00

VARIETIES.

JUDICIAL ADVICE TO MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS.—
In the course of a case which was tried at the Old Bailey
a few days since, a medical witness, in giving his evidence,
used the word " tumefaction," upon which Mr. Justice
Coleridge said, " I suppose by tumefaction' you mean
swelling." Witness: "Yes, my lord." Mr. Justice
Coleridge : " Then it would be much better to use plain
English than to speak in a sort of mongrel Latin."
WILL FORGERIES.—Some years ago an attorney of
the name of Hyte lived in the west of England. Barn-
staple we believe, who far exceeded the present forgers in
adroitness and wickedness. On one occasion he was re-
quested by a married man to make a will in favour of his
brother, at which his wife complained to Byte, who told
her he would make all right for het, and trust her liber-
ality. He prepared two wills—one in favour of the bro-
ther, and another bequeathing the property to his wife.
The first was read over to the dying man : but before it
was signed by the testator and witnesses, be rang the
the changes, so that the widow became the sole object of
his bounty. The brother suspected foul play and fraud,
bat could not prove it. Byte afterwards obtained large
sums from the widow, whom he kept in constant dread of
an exposure, which, however, did not take place until she,
on her death-bed, confessed the whole, declaring that she
had never enjoyed an hour's peace since the foul transac-
tion. The last, among many acts of forgery which this
villian committed, was that of the will of a person at
Exeter. A gentleman, possessed of large property, was
likely to die, and Hyte inquired of the wife whether he
had made a will in her favour? She replied, " She was
fearful he had made no will." He said he would prepare
one, and trust to her generosity. He called the next day,
and was told it was too late, for the man had just ex-
pired. He said he had brought a witness with him, and
would manage it. They went to the bed-side and read
the will to the corpse, and having done so, he caught a
live fly, which he put into the mouth of the dead man, and
took his hand and guided it to sign the document, and
the witness declared that he had heard the will read to
the deceased. who signed it while life was in him (allud-
ing to the live fly). The validity of the will, which was
so much at variance with the expressed sentiments of the
testator in the latter period of life, was disputed, but no
positive proof was manifest of the nefarious transaction,
until at length, partly by threats, and more particularly
from the accusation of conscience, the widow and sub-
scribing or attesting witness made a full confessicn, and
being admitted as witnesses for the crown, the scoundrel
Hyte was convicted and executed in the year 1797.
HAYNES BAYLY'S " I'D BE A BUTTERFLY."—A large
party was staying at Lord Ashtown's; and the day before
it broke up, the ladies, on leaving the dining-table, men-
tioned their intention of taking a stroll through his beau-
tiful grounds; and the gentlemen promised to follow them
in ten minutes. Lured by Bacchus, they forgot their
promise to the Graces, and Mr. Haynes Bayly was the
only one who thought fit to move, and he in about half
an hour wandered forth in search of the ladies. They
beheld him at a distance ; but, pretending annoyance at
his not joining them sooner, they fled away in an opposite
direction. The poet, wishing to carry on the joke, did
not seek to overtake them ; they observed this, and lin-
gered, hoping to attract his attention. He saw this ma-
noeuvre, and determined to turn the tables upon them.
He waved his hand carelessly, and pursued his ramble
alone ; then falling into a reverie, he entered a beautiful
summer-house, known by the name of Butterfly Bower,
overlooking the water, and there seated himself. Here,
inspired by a butterfly which had jnst flitted before him,
he wrote the well-known ballad now alluded to. He then
returned to the house, and found the ladies assembled
round the tea-table; when they smilingly told him they
had enjoyed their walk in the shrubberies excessively, and
that they needed no escort. He was now determined to
go beyond them in praise of his solitary evening w Ik,
and said that he had never enjoyed himself so much in
his life; that he had met a butterfly, with whom he had
wandered in the regions of fancy, which had afforded him
much more pleasure than he would have found in chasing
them ; and that he had put his thoughts in verse. The
ladies immediately gave up all further contention with
the wit, upon his promising to show them the lines he
had just written. He then produced his tablets, and read
the well-known ballad,

" I'd be a btitterfly, born in a bower,"
to the great delight of his fair auditors. It should per-
haps be here remarked, that the poet foretold his own
doom in this ballad ; for it will be seen, by his early death,
that his nerves were too finely strung to bear the unfore-
seen storms of severe disappointment which gathered
round him in after years. On the same evening, he com-
posed the air, to which Mrs. Haynes Bayly put the ac-
companiments and symphonies; and it was sung the fol-
lowing evening to a very large party assembled at Lord
Ashtown's, who encored it again and again.—Bayly's
Songs and Ballads.

ANECDOTES OF EDWARD COLSTON.-At the age of
40 years he became a very eminent East India merchant,
prior to the incorporation of the East India Company,
and had 40 sail of ships of his own, with immense riches
flowing upon him. He still remained uniform in his
charitable disposition, distributing many thousand pounds
to various charities in and about London, besides private
gifts in many parts of the kingdom. In the year 1708 he
instituted a very magnificent school in St. Augustine's-
back, in Bristol„ which cost him £ll,OOO in the building,
and endowed the same with between £1,700, and £l,BOO
per annum for ever. He likewise gave £lO for appren-
ticing every boy, and for 12 years after his death £lO to
put them into business. It has been frequently reported
that his private charities far exceeded those in public. I
have heard that one of his ships trading to the East Indies
had been missing upwards of three years, and was sup-
posed to be destroyed at sea, but at length she arrived,
richly laden. When his principal clerk brought him the
report of her arrival, and of the riches on board, he said,
as she was totally given up for lost, he would by no means
claim any right to her ; therefore he ordered the ship and
merchandise to be sold, and the produce thereof to be
applied towards the relief of the needy, which directions
were immediately carried into execution. Another sin-
gular instance of his tender consciousness for charity was
at the age of 40, when he entertained some thoughts of
changing his condition. He paid his addresses to a lady ;
but being very timorous lest he should be hindered in his
pious and charitable designs, he was determined to make
a christian trial of her temper and disposition, and there-
fore one morning filled his pockets furl of gold and silver,
in order that if any object presented itself in the course of
their tour over London Bridge, be might satisfy his inten-
tions. While they were walking near St. Magnus Church,
a woman in extreme misery, with twins in her lap, sat
begging; and, as he and his intended lady were arm-in-
arm, he beheld the wretched object, put his hand in his
pocket, and took out a handful of gold and silver, casting
it into the poor woman's lap. The lady being greatly
alarmed at such profuse generosity, coloured prodigiously ;
so that when they were gone a little further towards the
bridge-foot, she turned to him and said, " Sir, do you!
know what you did a few minutes ago ? " " Madam,'
replied Mr. Colston, " I never let my right hand know
what my left hand doeth." He then took his leave of her,
and for this reason never married to the day of his death,
dthough he lived to the age of 85.—Bristol Journal.