which exculpates is the special insanity which prompts
to the act alleged. A man with a delusion that another
will kill him, may he acquitted, if, under that delusion
he kills in supposed self-defence; but a man with a delusion
that he has a glass head has no similar excuse for
such an act. Doubtless, abundance of eccentricity had
been proved; but was eccentricity to excuse a man for
striking the queen? The impulse was no excuse if the
prisoner knew right from wrong: if a man knows that
what he does is wrong, and still has an irresistible
impulse to do it, the law will have an irresistible impulse
to punish for the act. There must be proof of a formed
disease of the mind—a disease existing before the act
was committed, and one which makes the person
incapable of knowing that the act he is about to do is wrong.
Unless the jury could say that the prisoner knew not
right from wrong, they could not acquit him on the
ground of insanity. The jury, after consulting for four
hours, returned a verdict of Guilty, and the judge
sentenced the prisoner to transportation for seven years.
He heard the sentence without apparent emotion, and,
bowing to the court, turned round and left the dock
without uttering a word.

The Anniversary of the 12th of July has passed over
in Ireland more quietly than usual. There was,
however, an unfortunate collision on that day in Belfast
between the police and the people. A small party of
police having prevented an Orange procession from
forming, and arrested a lad who was beating a drum,
were followed to their barracks by a crowd who pelted
them all the way with stones. The barracks were then
assaulted, the windows smashed, and the shutters on
the ground-floor nearly forced. The police fired in
self-defence, and several of the rioters were wounded:
one was carried off by his comrades, and another was
conveyed to the hospital, where it was found necessary
to amputate his leg.

Walter Watts, who had been convicted at the
Central Criminal Court, of Stealing a Cheque belonging to
the Globe Insurance Company, was brought up on
the 12th to receive judgment, and was sentenced to be
transported for ten years.

On the following night he Committed Suicide, in
Newgate. Being in bad health, he had been placed in
the ward infirmary, along with several other prisoners;
about three in the morning the prisoner who slept next
him observed that he had left his bed, and suspecting
the truth, went to the water-closet, where he found
that the unfortunate man had hanged himself to the
bar of the window by a piece of rope and his cravat.
The surgeon of the prison was called, but it was found
that he had been dead for some time.

Daniel Donovan, a smith, was tried on the 12th at
the Central Criminal Court, for Throwing his Wife
out of a Window, with intent to murder her. They
were both intoxicated, and having quarrelled, the
husband, after beating the woman savagely, opened
the window and threw her into the yard. From the
injuries she received her life was long in danger. The
charge was proved by the evidence of the woman and
the prisoner's two children, who were present.
Judgment of death was recorded, the judge saying that he
would recommend the prisoner's life to be spared, but
no more. He was re-conveyed to gaol and placed in the
cell allotted to prisoners after trial; about three o'clock
it was discovered that he had Hanged Himself, and was
quite dead.

The Spirit of Litigation, was strongly exhibited in
two trials on the Oxford circuit. At Abingdon, on the
I2th, an action of ejectment was tried, in which the
parties were old men of 75 and 89, and the subject
matter was a piece of land six yards long and four yards
wide. An immense body of evidence—ancient documents,
aged witnesses, &c.—was brought forward on both sides,
and a verdict was given for the plaintift. The expense
of the trial, it was stated, was, at least, a hundred times
the value of the piece of land. The other case was between
two members of the same family, who had gone to law
in consequence of cutting down a few trees on a farm.
The plaintiff himself had only valued the trees at £14,
and after long and intricate proceedings in the Court of
Chancery, that court had sent the question of damages
to be tried by a jury. In summing up the case to the
jury, the judge desired them to assess the damages to
which they thought the plaintiff entitled, if the court
above should say that the verdict ought to be for him.
The jury said they were not aware that he had suffered
any damage. The damages were at length contingently
assessed at one farthing, and the case returns to the
Court of Chancery to proceed accordingly.

A respectable-looking young man named Garret was
charged at the Hammersmith Police Court on the 13th
by Miss Parkinson, a lady residing at Notting hill, with
being in her House for an unlawful Purpose. While
absent from home she had heard from a friend that a
young man was in the habit of coming to her house
and staying till a late hour at night. On this she
came home unexpectedly that morning, bringing a
policeman with her, and finding a man in the house
with the servants she at once gave him into custody.
She had not, however, missed anything. The prisoner,
in a strong north-country dialect, told his story. He
was a farmer's son, just come from Newcastle to prove
his father's will. He had fallen in with Elizabeth, who
was cook to Miss Parkinson, and "made known his
mind to her; " but her brother had objected to the
match, until he was satisfied of his respectability, and
he had gone to the house to arrange meetings between
his solicitor and the brother of Elizabeth for that
purpose. On this occasion he had gone there to take the
ring and name the day, when Elizabeth ran in out of
breath, and said, "Oh, here's Missus come with a
policeman to take you away," and he said, "Never
mind lass; I have neither stolen anything nor eaten
anything, so let them take me." He then explained
the matter as well as he could to the lady, but she would
give him into custody. Miss Parkinson said she
considered the cook had most grossly misconducted herself
in admitting persons to her house against her orders,
and she should dismiss her at once. Defendant: Oh,
please ma'am, let me stop here until you see if you have
lost anything, but don't throw suspicion on the character
of Elizabeth till you find you have. The magistrate
said, that Miss Parkinson had been too hasty, though
the servant was wrong in receiving visitors against her
orders. He therefore dismissed the prisoner, who left
the court in the direction of Notting-hill, no doubt to
receive his Elizabeth, should she be turned out of the
house by her mistress.

A coroner's inquest was held on the 13th, on the body
of a poor bonnet-maker, named Susan Ansell,who lived
in the New Kent Road, and who, it appeared from the
evidence, Died of Starvation, in consequence of insufficiency
of means to procure food. She had been advised
to apply to Newington Workhouse for relief, but declared
that "she would rather die in a ditch."

At the Greenwich Police Office, on the 16th, John
Edward Spooner was charged with Attempting to Drown,
Captain Alexander Sheriff, the Superintendent of the
East Country Dock. Spooner had been employed as a
labourer at the dock; Mr. Sheriff, for particular reasons
directed that he should be so no longer; on the day of
his dismissal, Spooner accosted Mr. Sheriff, who refused
to hold any converse with him; whereupon the prisoner
pushed Mr. Sheriff into the water of the dock. The fall
to the surface was eight feet, the depth of water eighteen;
any one not a swimmer would probably have perished
under such circumstances; but Mr. Sheriff, though
seventy-five years old, managed to keep afloat till he
was rescued. The prisoner was committed for trial.

At the Winchester Assizes, on the 16th, Sophia Winter
was tried for Bigamy. It appeared by the evidence
that the prisoner, who is an interesting looking young
woman, was married in 1837 to William Winter, a
respectable tradesman at Portsea. She lived very happily
with her husband for some years, and had several children
by him; but he received an appointment which
took him abroad. There he remained some years, when
she became acquainted with Alfred Dodswell, the son
of a lieutenant in the navy, residing at Portsmouth.
He became much attached to her, and eventually
persuaded her to marry him, telling her that the first
marriage was not a legal one, as she was a minor when
it was contracted, and under that idea she consented to
marry him. This was in 1848. They lived together up
to May last, when William Winter, the first husband