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Though bright are the waters of Sing-su

HAY,

And the golden floods, that thitherward stray,

Yet-oh 'tis only the Blest can say

How the waters of Heaven outshine them all!

"Go, wing thy flight from star to star, From world to luminous world, as far

As the universe spreads its flaming wall; Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, And multiply each through endless years, One minute of Heaven is worth them all!"

The glorious Angel, who was keeping
The gates of Light, beheld her weeping,
And, as he nearer drew and listen'd
To her sad song, a tear-drop glisten'd
Within his eyelids, like the spray

From Eden's fountain, when it lies On the blue flow'r, which-Bramins sayBlooms no where but in Paradise! "Nymph of a fair, but erring line!" Gently he said-" One hope is thine. "'Tis written in the Pook of Fate,

The Peri yet may be forgiven Who brings to this Eternal Gate

The Gift that is most dear to Heaven.' Go, seek it, and redeem thy sin ;'Tis sweet to let the Pardon'd in !"

We scarcely regret that our limits do not allow us to pursue the progress of the adventurous Peri; since we should, in reality, pity the reader who could be satisfied with any extracts from this charming poem, the most po pularly attractive of any in the series.

The Wine and Spiril Dealer's and Consumer's Vade-Mecum; containing Instructions for Managing, Flavouring, Colouring, Preserving, and Recover ing Wines and Spirits; with a Collection of approved Receipts for making. British Wines, Compounds, Cordials, Cyder, Perry, and Vinegar; and for recovering Ale and Porter when state or flat; also Directions for Brewing on a small Scale. By R. Westney. A new edition, in 24mo. pp. 162.

4s.

THE very best and most approved recipes, at present in use, will be found in this small volume: the author seems to have spared no pains in collecting them.

THE SPEECH OF CHARLES PHILLIPS, ESQ. IN THE CASE OF BROWN versus BLAKE, FOR ADULTERY; DELIVERED BEFORE LORD NORBURY AND A SPECIAL JURY, ON THE 9TH OF JULY, 1817.

MY LORD AND GENTLEMEN,

ing on the odiousness of his offence, by the

I AM instructed by the plaintiff to lay profligacy of his justification, and, as it

his case before you, and little do I wonder at the great interest which it seems to have excited. It is one of those cases which come home to the "business and the bosoms" of mankind-it is not confined to the individuals concerned-it visits every circle from the highest to the lowest-it alarms the very heart of the community, and commands the whole social family to the spot, where human nature, prostrated at the bar of public justice, calls aloud for pity and protection! On my first address ing a jury upon a subject of this nature, I took the high ground to which I deemed myself entitled-I stood upon the purity of the national character-1 relied upon that chastity which centuries had made proverbial, and almost drowned the cry of individual suffering in the violated reputation of the country. Humbled and abashed, I must resign the topic-indignation at the novelty of the offence has given way to horror at the frequency of its repetition it is now becoming almost fashionable amongst us—we are importing the follies, and naturalizing the vices of the continent -scarcely a term passes in these courts, during which some unabashed adulterer or seducer does not announce himself improv

were, struggling to record by crimes the desolating progress of our barbarous civilization. Gentlemen, if this be suffered to continue what home shall be safe-what hearth shall be sacred-what parent can for a moment calculate on the possession of bis child-what child shall be secure from the orphanage that springs from prostitutionwhat solitary right, whether of life, or liberty, or property in the land shall sure. vive amongst us, if that hallowed couch, which modesty has veiled, and love endeared, and religion consecrated, is to be invaded by a vulgar and promiscuous libertinism! A time there was, when that couch was inviolable in Ireland-when conjugal infidelity was deemed but an inventionwhen marriage was considered a sacrament of the heart, and faith and affection sent a mingled flame together from the altar; are such times to dwindle into a legend of tradition! Are the dearest rights of man, and the holiest ordinances of God, no more to be respected!. Is the marriage vow to become but the prelude to perjury and pros titation! Shall our enjoyments debase themselves into an adulterous participation, and our children propogate an incestuous community! Hear the case which I am fated

to unfold, and then tell me whether a single virtue is yet to linger amongst us with im punity-whether honour, friendship, or hos pitality are to be sacred-whether that endearing confidence, by which the bitterness of this life is sweetened, is to become the instrument of a perfidy beyond conception; and whether the protection of the roof, the fraternity of the board, the obligations of the altar, and the devotion of the heart, are to be so many panders to the hellish abominations they should have purified !Hear the case which must go forth to the world, but which I trust in God your verdiet will accompany, to tell that world, that if there was vice enough amongst us to commit the crime, there is virtue enough to brand it with an indignant punishment,

Of the plaintiff, Mr. Browne, it is quite Impossible but you must have heard muchhis misfortune has given him a sad celebrity: and it does seem a peculiar incident to such misfortune, that the loss of happiness is almost invariably succeeded by the deprivation of character. As the less guilty murderer will hide the corse that may lead to his detection, so does the adulterer, by obscuring the reputation of his victim, seek to diminish the moral responsibility he has incurred. Mr. Browne undoubtedly forms no exception to this system-betrayed by bis friend, and abandoned by his wife, his too generous confidence-bis too tender love, have been slanderously perverted into the sources of his calamity. Because he could not tyrannise over her whom he adored, he was careless; because he could not suspect him in whom he trusted, he was careless; and crime, in the infatuation of its cunning, founds its justification even on the virtues of its victim! I am not deterred by the prejudice thus cruelly excited: I appeal from the gossiping credulity of scandal to the grave decisions of fathers and of husbands; and I implore of you, as you value the blessings of your home, not to Countenance the calumny which solicits a precedent to excuse their spoliation. At the close of the year 1809, the death of my client's father gave him the inheritance of an ample fortune. Of all the joys this prosperity created, there was none but yielded to the extacy of sharing it with her he loved, the daughter of his father's ancient friend, the respectable proprietor of Oran Castle. She was then in the very spring of life, and never did the sun of heaven unfold a lovelier blossom. Her look was beauty, and her breath was fragrance; the eye that saw her canght a lustre from the vision; and all the virtues seemed to lieger round her, like so many spotless spirits enamoured of her loveliness,

"Yes, she was good as she was fair-
None, none on earth above her : -
As pare in thought as angels are —
To see her, was to love her."

What years of tongueless transport might not her happy husband have anticipated! What one addition could her beauties gain to render them all perfect! In the connubial rapture there was only one, and she was blessed with it. A lovely family of infant children gave her the consecrated name of mother, and with it all that heaven can give of interest to this world's worthJessness. Can the mind imagine a more delightful vision than that of such a mother, thus young, thus lovely, thus beloved, blessing a husband's heart, basking in a world's. smile; and while she breathed into her little ones the moral life, shewing them, that robed in all the light of beauty, it was still possible for their virtues to cast it into the shade. Year after year of happiness rolled on, and every year but added to their love a pledge to make it happier than the former. Without ambition but her husband's love, without one object but ber children's happiness, this lovely woman circied in her orbit, all bright, all beauteous in the prosperous hour, and if that hour e'er darkened, only beaming the brighter and the lovelier. What human hand could mar so pure a picture! What punishment could adequately visit its viola. tion !

"Oh happy love, where love like this is found!

Oh heartfelt rapture! bliss beyond compare!"

It was indeed the summer of their lives, and with it came the swarm of summer friends, that revel in the sunshine of the hour, and vanish with its splendour. High and honoured in that crowd, most gay, mest cherished, most professing, stood the defendant Mr. Blake. He was the plaintiff's dearest, fondest friend, to every pleasure called, in every case consulted, his day's companion and his evening's guest, his constant, trusted, bosom confidant: and, under guise of all, oh, human nature! he was his fellest, deadliest, final enemy! Here, on the authority of this brief, do Larraign him, of having wound himself into my client's intimacy; of having encouraged that intimacy into friendship; of having counterfeited a sympathy in his joys and in his sorrows; and, when he seemed too pure even for scepticism to doubt him, of having, under the very sanctity of his roof, perpetrated an adultery the most unprece dented and perfidious! If this be true, can the world's wealth defray the penalty of such turpitude? Mr. Browne, Gentle, men, was a man of fortune, he had no profession, was ignorant of every agricultural pursuit, and, unfortunately adopting the advice of his father-in-law, he cultivated the amusements of the Curragh; I say, unfortunately for his own affairs, and by no means in reference to the pursuit itself. It is not for me to libel an occupation which

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the highest and noblest and most illustrious throughout the empire, countenance by their adoption, which fashion and virtue graces by its attendance, and in which Peers, and Legis Jators, and Princes, are not ashamed to appear conspicuous. But, if the morality that countenances it be doubtful, by what epithet shall we designate that which would make it an apology for the most profligate of offences? Even if Mr. Browne's pursuits were ever so erroneous, was it for his bosom friend to take advantage of them to ruin, him? On this subject it is sufficient for me to remark, that under no circumnstance of prosperity or vicissitude, was their connubial happiness ever even remotely clouded. In fact, the Plain off disregarded even the amusements that deprived him of her society; he took a house for ner in the vicinity of Kildare, furnished it with all that luxury could require, and afforded her the greatest of all luxuries, that of enjoy ing and enhancing his most prodigal affection. From the hour of their marriage, up to the unfortunate discovery, they lived on terms of the utmost tenderness; not a word. except one of love; not an act, except of mutual endearment, passed between them. Now, Gentlemen, if this be proved to you, here I take my stand, and, I say, under no earthly circumstances can a justification of the adulterer be adduced. No matter with what delinquent sophistry he may blaspheme through its palliation, God ordained, nature cemented, happiness consecrated that celes tial union, and it is complicated treason against God and man, and society, to intend its violation. The social compact, through every fibre, trembles at its consequences; not only policy but law, not only law but nature, not only nature but religion, depres cate and denounce its parent and off-pring, youth and age, the dead from their tombs, the child from its cridle, creatures scarce alive, and creatures still unborn-the gr ndsire shivering on the verge of death, the infant quickening in the mother's womb, all, with one assent, re-echo find, and execrate adultery! I say, then where it is once proved that busband and wife live together in a state of happiness, no contingency on which the sun can shine, cau warwant any man in attempting their separa tion. Did they do so? That is imperatively your first consideration. I only hope that all the hearts religion has joined together, may have enjoyed the happiness that they did. Their married state was on? continued honeymoon; and if ever cloud @rose to dim it, before love's sigh it fled, and left its orb the brighter., Prosperous aud wealthy, fortune had no charms for Mr. Browne, but as it blessed the object of his affections. She made success delightful, she gave his wealth its value. The most splendid equipages, the most costly luxuries, the richest retinue, all that vanity could invent to dazzle, all that affection could devise to

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gratify, were hers, and thought too vile for her enjoyment. Great as his fortune was his love outshone it, and it seems as if fortune was jealous of the preference. Proverbially capricious, she withdrew her smile, and left him shorn "almost of every thing except his love, and the fidelity that crowned it,

The hour of adversity is woman's hourin the full blaze of fortune's rich meridian ber modest beam retires from vulgar notice, but when the clouds of woe collect around us and shades and darkness dim the wanderer's path, "that chaste and lovely light shines forth to cheer him, an emblem and an emanation of the heavens! It was then her love, her value, and her power was visible. No, it is not for the cheerfulness with which she bore the change I prize her

it not that without a sigh she surrendered all the baubles of prosperity-but that she pillowed her poor husband's heart, welcomed adversity to make him happy; held up her little children as the wealth that no adversity could take away; and when she found his spirit broken and his soul dejected, with a more than masculine understanding, retrieved in some degree his desperate for. tunes, and saved the little wreck that so. laced their retirement.—What was such a woman worth, I ask you? - If you can stoop to estimate by dress the worth of such a creature-give me even a notary's calcu. lation, and tell me then what she was worth to him to whom she had consecrated the bloom of her youth, the charm of her innocence, the splendour of her beauty, the wealth of fenderness, the power of her genius, the treasure of her fidelity?—she—the mother of his children; the pulse of bis heart; the joy of his prosperity; the solace of his misfortunes-what was she worth to him-Fallen as she is, you may still “estimate her-you may see her value even in her ruin. The gem is sullied-the diamond is shivered, but even in its dust you may see the magnificence of its material. After this, they retired to Rockville, their seat in the county of Galway, where they resided in the most domestic manner, on the remnant of their once splendid establishment. The butterfies that in their pooutide fluttered round them. vanished at the first breath of their adversity, but one early friend still remained faithful and affectionate, and that was the defendant, Mr. Bloke is a young gentleman of about eight and twenty-of splendid fortune-polished in his manners— interesting in his appearance with many qualities to attach a friend, and every qua. lity to fuse'nate a' female, Mosi willingly do 1 pay the tribute which nature claims for him-most bitterly do blament that he has been so ungrateful to so prodigala benefactress. The more Mr. Browne's misfortunes accumulated, the more disinterestly rats tached · did Mr. Blake' appear to him. He shared with him ›his purse-ble assisted him

with his connsel—in an affair of honour, he placed his life and character in bis handshe introduced his innocent sister, just arrived from an English nunnery, into the family of his friend - he encouraged every reciprocity of intercourse between the females, and to crown all, that no possible suspicion might attach to him, he seldom travelled without his domestic chaplain!· Now, if it shall appear that all this was only a screen for his adultery-that he took advantage of his friend's misfortunes to seduce the wife of his bosom-that he affected confidence only to betray it—that he perfected the wretchedness he pretended to console, and that in the midst of poverty, he has left his victim, friendless, hopeless, companionless, a husband without a wife, and a father without a child, Gracious God! is it not -enough to turn mercy herself into an executioner! You convict for murder-here is the hand that murdered innocence! You convict for treason~here is the vilest dialoyalty to friendship! You convict for robbry-here is one who plundered virtue of ber purest pearl, and dissolved it even in the bowl that hospitality held out to him!! They pretend that he is innocent! Oh effrontery, the most unblushing! Oh vilest insult, added to the deadliest injury! Oh base, detestable, and damnable bypocrisy ! Of the final testimony, it is true enough, their cunning has deprived us, but under Providence I will pour upon this baseness such a Hood of light, that I will defy not the most honourable man merely, but the ⚫ most charitable sceptic, to touch the Holy Evangelists, and say, by their sanctity, it has not been committed. Attend upon me Bow, gentlemen, step by step, and with me rejoice that, no matter how cautious may be the conspiracies of guilt, there is a Power above to confound and to discover them.

On the 27th of last January, Mary Hines, one of the domestics, received directions ** from Mrs. Browne, to have breakfast ready very early on the ensuing morning, as the defendant, then on a visit at the house, expressed an inclination to go out to hunt, She was accordingly brushing down the ⚫ stairs at a very early hour, when she observed the handle of her mi-tress's door stir, 1- and fearing the noise had disturbed her, she ran hastily down stairs, to avoid her displeasure. She remained, below about three, quarters of an hour, when her master's bell ringing violently, she hastened to answer it, He asked her in some alarm where her mistress was ?. naturally, enough-astonished at such a question at such an hour, she said she knew not, but would go down and see › whether or not she was in the parlour. Mr. Browne, however, had good reason to he alarmed, for she was so extremely indis posed going to bed at night, that an express stood actually prepared to bring medical aid from Galway, unless she appeared better. Anuamual depression both of mind and body,

preyed upon Mrs. Browne on the preceding evening. She frequently burst into tears, threw her arms around her husband's neck, saying that she was sure another month would separate her for ever from him and her dear children. It was no accidental omen. Tou surely the warning of Providence was upon her. When the maid was going down, Mr. Blake appeared at his door totally undressed, and in a tone of much confusion desired that his servant should be sent up to him. She went down→ as she was about to return from her ineffectual search, she heard her master's voice in the most violent indignation, and almost immediately after Mrs. Browne rushed past her into the parlour, and hastily seizing her writing-desk, desired her instantly to quit the apartment, Gentlemen, I request you will bear every syllable of this scene in your recollection, but most particularly the anxiety about the writing-desk. You will soon find that there was a cogent reason for it. Little was the wonder that Mr. Browne's tone should be that of violence and indignation. He had actually discovered his wife and friend totally undressed, just as they had escaped from the guilty bed side where

they stood in all the shame and horror of their situation! He shouted for her brother, and that miserable brother had the agony of witnessing his guilty sister in the bed-room of her paramour, both almost literally in a state of nudity. Blake! Blake! exclaimed the heart-struck husband, is this the return you have made for my hospitality? Oh, heavens! what a reproach was there! It was not merely, you have dishonoured my bed it was not merely, you have sacrificed my happiness-it was not merely, you have widowed me in my youth, and left me the father of an orphan familyit was not merely you have violated a compact to which all the world swore a tacit veneration-but, you—you have done it, my friend, my guest, under the very roof barbarians reverence; where you enjoyed my table, where you pledged my happiness, where you saw her in all the loveliness of her virtue, and at the very hour when our little helpless children were wrapt in that repose of which you have for ever robbed their miserable parents! I do confess when I paused here in the perusal of these instructions, the very life blood froze within my veins. What, said I, must I not only reveal this guilt! must I not only expose this perfidy! must I not only brand the infidelity of a wife and mother, but must 1, amid the agonies of outraged nature, make the brother the proof of the sister's prostitution! Thank God, gentlemen, I may not be obliged to torture you and him and myself, by such instrumentality. I think the proof is full without it, though it must add another pang to the son of the poor plaintiff, because it must render it almost impossible that his little infants are not the brood of this adul

terous depravity. It will be distinctly proved to you by Honoria Brennan, another of the servants, that one night, so far back as the May previous to the last mentioned occurrence, when she was in the act of arranging the beds, she saw Mr. Blake come up stairs, look cautiously about him, go to Mrs. Browne's bed-room door, and tap at it; that immediately after Mrs. Browne went, with no other covering than her shift, to Mr. Blake's bed-chamber, where the guilty parties locked themselves up together. Terrified and astonished, the maid retired to the servants' apartments, and in about a quarter of an hour after she saw Mrs. Browne in the same habiliments return from the bed-room of Blake into her husband's. Gentlemen, it was by one of those accidents which so often accompany and occasion the developement of guilt, that we have arrived at this evidence. It was very natural that she did not wish to reveal it; very natural that she did not wish either to expose her mistress, or afflict her uncouacious master with the recital; very natural that she did not desire to be the instrument of so frightful a discovery. However, when she found that concealment was out of The question; that this action was actually in progress, and that the guilty delinquent was publicly triumphing in the absence of proof, and through an herd of slanderous dependants, cruelly vilifying the character of his victim; she sent a friend to Mr. Browne, and in his presence and that of two others, solemnly discovered her melan choly information. Gentlemen, I do entreat of you to examine this woman, though she is an uneducated peasant, with all seve rity, because, if she speaks the truth, I think you will agree with me that so horrible a complication of iniquity never disgraced the annals of a court of Justice. He had just risen from the table of his friend-be left his own brother and that friend behind him, and even from the very board of his hospitality, he proceeded to the defilement of his bed! Of mere adultery I had heard before. It was bad enough-a breach of all law, religion, and morality-but-what shall I call this?-that seduced innocence insulted misfortune-betrayed friendshipviolated hospitality-tore up the very foun dations of human nature, and hurled its fragments at the violated altar, as if to bory religion beneath the ruins of society!! Oh it is guilt might put a dæmon to the blush!

Does our proof rest here? No-though the mind must be sceptical that after this could doubt. A guilty correspondence was carried on between the parties, and though its contents were destroyed by Mrs. Browne on the morning of the discovery, still we shall authenticate the fact beyond suspicion. You shall bear it from the very messenger they entrusted-you shall hear it. from him, too, that the wife and the adulterer both

bound him to the strictest secresy, at once establishing their own collusion and their victim's ignorance, proving by the very anxiety for concealment, the impossibility of connivance; so true it is that the convic tion of guilt will often proceed even from the stratagem for its security. Does our proof rest here? No-you shall have it from a gentleman of unimpeachable veracity, that the defendant himself confessed the discovery in the bed-room-“ I will save him, said he, the trouble of proving it she was in her shift, and I was in my shirt-I know very well a jury will award damages against me-ask Browne will he agree to compromise it-he owes me some money, and I will give him the overplus in horses!" Can you imagine any thing more abominable; he seduced from his friend the idol of his soul, and the mother of his children, and when he was writhing under the recent wound, he deliberately offers him brutes in compensation! I will not depreciate this cruelty by any comment s yet the very brute he would barter for that unnatural mother would have lost its life rather than desert its offspring. Now, gentlemen, what rational mind but must spurn the asseveration of innocence after this? Why the anxiety about the writing desk? Why a clandestine correspondence with her husband's friend? Why remain, at two different periods, for a quarter of an hour together, in a gentleman's bed-chamber, with no other habiliment at one time than her bed-dress, at another than her shift? Is this customary with the mar. ried females of this country? Is this to be a precedent for your wives and daughters, sanctioned too by you, their parents and their husbands? Why did he confess that a verdict for damages must go against him, and make the offer of that unfeeling_compro mise? Was it for concealment ?—The transaction was as common as the air he breathed. Was it because he was innocent ?—The very offer was a judgment by default, a distinct, undeniable corroboration of his guilt. Was it that the female's character should not suffer?-Could there be a more trumpettongued proclamation of her criminality? Are our witnessses suborned ?— Let his army of counsel sift and torture them. Can they prove it?-Oh yes, if it be proveable, let them produce her brother, in our hands a damning proof to be sure; but then fright ful, afflicting, unnatural-in theirs the most consolatory and delightful, the vindication of calomniated innocence, and that innocence the innocence of a sister. Such is the leading outline of our evidence, evidence which you will only wonder is so convincing in a case whose very nature presupposes the most canttious secrecy. The law, indeed, gentlemen, duly estimating the difficulty of final proof in this species of action, has recognized the validity of inferential evidence; but on that subject his Lordship must direct you.

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