Star. — 1819-12-27 (London, England)

LAW INTELLIGENCE.  SHERIFFS' COURT, BEDFORD-ROW, DEC. 24. BREACH OF PROMISE OF MARRIAGE. CO4PTON V. WINKWOItTH.  This was ;1.1 actin to recove. co.npensation in damages for a breach of promise of marriage. The action was originally broup,ht in the Court of King's Bench, but tha defendant had suffered judgment to go by default. Mr. Arompuus rose to address the Jury, on the part of the plaintiff. He stated, that in 1817, the defendant loespened to s:a the plaintiff at the house of a mutual friend, and soon after declared to an acquaintance of hers, the attachment he conceived far her, expressing, at she same time, a wish to be introduced. At that time he said he was in hopes of succeeding his uncle, and that, when master of the business, he was determined to make her His wife. The defendant was then in his twentieth year, and the plaintiff eighteen. That such was his determination ; that such, at least, were the promises he held out, would appear from his own letters, written to her at various times. They would prove, that he felt and expressed himself towards her in the way naturally to be expected from a young man paying his addresses to a young woman, of whose virtue and worth he entertained no doubt. He had a whole volume of the defendant's aaorrespondence to produce in proof, if any doubt should remain on th'e minds of the Jury, after hearing witnesses. Ge.. torally speaking, there was nothing more nauseous than letters of an amorous description. Even when ccming from persons of education and literary attainment—from those in the very highest classes of life, the nature of the subject itself gave birth to a romantic extravagance of mind that naturally expressed itself in language, which, to sober judgment, must appear somewhat ludicrous. Some of the de• feocianes letters were, no doubt, in many parts, perhaps, ridiculous. They might excite a smile ; but youthful minds, upon such occasions, communicated their feelings in the best.manner they could, and the very extravagance of the style was, perhaps, a proof of its sincerity. He said this, because there .thight be, among the collection he had to offer to the Jury, some lettets calculated to make them laugh ; but still they could not fail to consider them important when they looked to the seriousness of the consequences that followed. He always wrote, if not in the most polished languaae, at least in terms of the utmost endearment. Ile expressed his determination to make her his wife ; said he had been informed that hi, friends were against the match, cut that if prevented from it, suicide should terminate his ex. istence. In one letter he.mentioned the manner in which he was desirous she should dress, how she should demean herself, and what he thought would be necessary in her conduct to fit her for that situation in which he was about to place her. In another, Ix informed her that his affairs were settled, that he had purchased his uncle's business for £2OOO, had laid in stock to the amount of £lOOO, and that he had other proi:erty besides. In a third letter, he spoke of their approaching union, and described the ring he had purchased for the purpose, which he facetiously called the padlock ! After all this, without any cause assigned, without the slightest pretence of unworthiness or misbehaviour on her part, without a single word of excuse or apology, he suddenly announced his intention of dying a bachelor, and re• nouncing all thoughts of matrimony. This, however, it would appear, was nothing more than hypocritical a• profession. His motives for breaking off were very different, for he very soon after !harried another person, to whom he had been introduced by the plaintiff. He would appeal to the Jury, as fathers, as brothers, whether this was a case that should be allowed to pass unvisited, he would not say by vindictive, but, at least,- by exemplary damages? It might have happened that a youth, without expetience, in the morning of life, and under the influence of ardent passion, beguiled by the fascinations of beauty, or the artifices of cunning, had made professions of an imprudent attachment, ruinous to his prospects in life, and every way unworthy of his family and himself. Under such circumstances, a Jury would, perhaps, hesitate before they would award damages. Such were not thecircumstances here; the defendant could not plead the excuse of extreme youth oa his part, or of cunning and seduction on the other. Here was a young woman, whose heart was wrought upon by professions, long continued, of devoted attachment—whose confidence, and .:hose aflections were gained by that appearance of sincerity which must always accompany repeated promises of marriage; to whom visions of future pleasure had been opened ; who was taught to look up to the man by whom she was rejected as her future guardian, her partner through life—him with whom her pains and pleasures were to be shared. Here was a young woman, filled with these pleasing and. virtuous anticipations, all at once, and without cause, thrown into the frozen region of bitter contempt, to bewail that most painful of all slights, which females forget with most difficulty,—which, in truth, they never cease to remember. Such wai the effect it had upon her mind, that had it not been for the vigilance of her friends, she would have succeeded in terminating by suicide a hated existence. She was obliged to leave the country, and was sent to some distance, to avoid the shame of being pointed at as a person rejected and scorned t,y the man whom all that knew them looked upon as her future husband. But change of place could not change her feelings—could not cure the wound so wantonly and cruelly inflicted. She still Lore about her the pain of rejection, of withered hopes, of remembered love; the sense of unmerited contempt, and the recollection of' perfidious promises. Where could a person in her shoat* seek censolaa tion? Not in the society of f: iced; whom she must llc ashamed to meet—not in the anticipation of a new attachment, for an indignity like this, without cause or excuse, would naturally, in her mind, give every izrofession, however sincere, the colour of a falsehood. naturally suspect that every tram was like im she was• so cruelly deceived. Under lunsrances, he looked to the Jury for large 2l dam-ages. As Etrglishmen, as fathers, ters, he called upon them to say what they -,rd to a young woman upon whom so tad been inflicted without cause or excust. arming was then called. He knew the hand ; . ; .. • I • I I • • f • f '  • L 1111: ;.1  • • tlhe would n hini by whor , these circam: and liberal and brothers, • vrould away • • nun!) pain h; .' I Mr. 'Mann •