after all, had better be absent, when men are called upon, in the exercise of duty, to pronounce a legal judgment.

The plaintiff is the third son of his grace the archbishop of York, a clergyman of the church of England, presented in the year 1791 to the living of Stokeley, in Yorkshire; and now by His Majesty's favor, dean of the cathedral of York. He married, in the year 1789, Miss Sutton, the daughter of Sir Richard Sutton, Bart. of Norwood, in Yorkshire, a lady of great beauty and accomplish. ments, most virtuously educated, and who, but for the crime of the defendant which assembles you here, would, as she has expressed it herself, have been the happiest of womankind. This gentleman having been presented in 1791, by his father, to this living, where I understand there had been no 'resident rector for forty years, set an example to the church and to the public, which was peculiarly virtuous in a man circumstanced as he was; for, if there can be any person more likely than another to protect himself securely with privileges and indulgences, it might be supposed to be the son of the metropolitan of the province. This gentleman, however, did not avail himself of the advantage of his birth and station: for, although he was a very young man, he devoted himself entirely to the sacred duties of his profession;-at a large expense he repaired the rectory-house for the reception of his family, as if it had been his own patrimony, whilst, in his extensive improvements, he

adopted only those arrangements which were calculated to lay the foundation of an innocent and peaceful life. He had married this lady, and entertained no other thought than that of cheerfully devoting himself to all the duties, public and private, which his situation called upon him to per form.

About this time, or soon afterwards, the defendant became the purchaser of an estate in the neighborhood of Stokeley, and, by such purchase, an inhabitant of that part of the country, and the neighbor of this unfortunate gentleman. It is a most affecting circumstance, that the plaintiff and the defendant had been bred together at Westminster school; and in my mind it is still more affecting, when I reflect what it is which has given to that school so much rank, respect, and illustration. It has derived its highest advantages from the reverend father of the unfortunate gentleman whom I represent. It was the school of Westminster which gave birth to that learning which afterwards presided over it, and advanced its character. How. ever some men may be disposed to speak or write concerning public schools, I take upon me to say, they are among the wisest of our institutions;whoever looks at the national character of the English people, and compares it with that of all the other nations upon the earth, will be driven to impute it to that reciprocation of ideas and senti ments which fill and fructify the mind in the early period of youth, and to the affectionate sympathies

and friendships which rise up in the human heart before it is deadened or perverted by the interests and corruptions of the world. These youthful attachments are proverbial, and, indeed, few instances have occurred of any breaches of them; be cause a man, before he can depart from the obligations they impose, must have forsaken every prin. ciple of virtue, and every sentiment of manly honor. When, therefore, the plaintiff found his old schoolfellow and companion settled in the neighborhood, he immediately considered him as his brother. Indeed, he might well consider him as a brother, since, after having been at Westminster, they were again thrown together in the same college at Oxford; so that the friendship they had formed in their youth, became cemented and consolidated upon their first entrance into the world. It is no wonder, therefore, that when the defendant came down to settle in the neighborhood of the plaintiff, he should be attracted towards him by the impulse of his former attachment: he re commended him to the lord lieutenant of the county, and, being himself a magistrate, he procured him a share in the magistracy. He introduced him to the respectable circle of his acquaintances: he invited him to his house, and cherished him there as a friend. It is this which renders the business of to-day most affecting, as it regards the plaintiff, and wicked in the extreme, as it relates to the defendant, because the confidences of friendship conferred the opportunities of seduction.--.

The plaintiff had no pleasures or affections beyond the sphere of his domestic life; and except on his occasional residences at York, which were but for short periods, and at a very inconsiderable distance from his home, he constantly reposed in the bosom of his family. I believe it will be impossible for my learned friend to invade his character; on the contrary, he will be found to have been a pattern of conjugal and parental affection...

Mr. Fawcett being thus settled in the neigbor hood, and thus received by Mr. Markham as his friend and companion, it is needless to say he could harbor no suspicion that the defendent was meditating the seduction of his wife:-there was nothing, indeed, in his conduct, or in the conduct of the unfortunate lady, that could administer any cause of jealousy to the most guarded or suspicious temper. Yet, dreadful to relate, and it is, indeed, the bitterest evil of which the plaintiff has to complain, a criminal intercourse for nearly five years, before the discovery of the connexion, had. most probably taken place.

I will leave you to consider what must have been the feelings of such a husband, upon the fatal discovery that his wife, and such a wife, had conducted herself in a manner that not merely deprived him of her comfort and society, but placed him in a situation too horrible to be described. If a man without children is suddenly cut off by an adulterer from all the comforts and happiness of marriage, the discovery of his condition is happi

ness itself, when compared with that to which the plaintiff is reduced. When children, by a woman, lost forever to the husband, by the arts of the adulterer, are begotten in the unsuspected days of virtue and happiness, there remains a consolation; mixed indeed, with the most painful reflections, yet a consolation still. But what is the plaintiff's situation? -He does not know at what time this heavy calamity fell upon him-he is tortured with the most afflicting of all human sensations. When he looks at the children, whom he is by law bound to protect and provide for, and from whose existence he ought to receive the delightful return which the union of instinct and reason has provided for the continuation of the world, he knows not whether he is lavishing his fondness and affection upon his own children, or upon the seed of a villain sown in the bed of his honor and his delight. He starts back with horror, when, instead of seeing his own image reflected from their infant features, he thinks he sees the destroyer of his happiness—a midnight robber introduced into his house, under professions of friendship and brotherhood— a plunderer, not in the repositories of his treasure which may be sup. plied, or lived without, "but there where he had " garnered up his hopes, where either he must live or "bear no life."

In this situation, the plaintiff brings his case before you, and the defendant attempts no man. aer of defence: he admits his guilt, he renders