in justice to Mr. Beresford and himself, to the effect that
Mr. Beresford had not compromised the matter—
nothing on earth would have moved him to compromise
it; and that he had come there, from a bed of sickness,
claiming inquiry and ready to meet the charge. Mr.
James said, that no compromise, direct or indirect, had
been entered into. Lord Campbell said, that but for
these assurances there might have been a suspicion in
the public mind that some corrupt compromise had been
made; but that suspicion had now been repelled. He
was also bound to say that Mr. Beresford had repelled
the charge made against him, and had brought the case
on for trial; and now it must be considered that there
was no evidence to support the charge.

A young man named Pettingdale was brought up on
the 11th, at Bow-street, for Stealing Great Coats from
Gentlemen's Houses. There were several witnesses in
attendance, mostly servant girls, who all swore to the
identity of the prisoner by his red nose. He declined
saying anything in his defence, but denied an officer's
statement that he had been the associate of well-known
thieves for the last ten months, for he only came out of
Coldbath-fields House of Correction on the 2nd of July
last. He treated the whole affair very lightly, but was
committed to the Westminster Sessions for trial. He
had, it appears, possessed himself of about thirty great
coats from houses in Gower-street, Montague-street,
Fitzroy-square, and other places, not one of which has
been recovered.

A coroner's inquest has been held respecting the
Mysterious Death, of Mr. Longbottom, at Hunslet, near
Leeds. (See Household Narrative for last month,
p. 9.) His widow was examined. She stated that on
the day preceding the occurrence she went to Leeds
with her husband, and after returning home, had supper
with him, and then both retired to rest. She fell asleep
soon after getting into bed, and from that moment until
the following Thursday, when her consciousness
returned, her memory was a perfect blank; she
remembered nothing about being awakened, or about going
out of the window; nor had she observed anything
unusual in the conduct of her husband to warrant the
belief that he was labouring under the influence of
insanity. Several other witnesses were examined, but
their evidence did not throw any additional light upon
this still most mysterious occurrence. The jury, under
the direction of the coroner, returned a verdict to the
effect that the deceased had drowned himself, there
being no sufficient evidence to satisfy them as to the
state of his mind at the time.

A trial, which has created a great sensation in Dublin,
has just terminated. Miss Margaret Cantwell, a Roman
Catholic schoolmistress, was accused of Stealing a Bit
of Velvet Riband from the shop of Cannock and Co.
She was acquitted; and at once brought an action for
false imprisonment against the prosecutor. The case
excited immense interest, and was tried in the Court of
Queen's Bench, before the Chief Justice and a mixed
jury. Damages were laid at £5000. Mr. Whiteside,
for the defence, brought forward a new witness of the
theft—a boy, who swore that he saw Miss Cantwell
take the riband from her basket and drop it between
two rolls of oilcloth. Cross-examination discredited this
testimony; and the jury, after deliberating for two
hours and a half, found a verdict for the plaintiff on the
count of false imprisonment, and gave £300 damages
with 6d. costs. On the second count—malicious
prosecution—they could not agree, and were discharged.

At the Worship-street Police Court, on the 18th,
William Edwards, a bird fancier, was charged with a
most aggravated Assault upon his Wife, an emaciated
and sickly looking woman. She stated that the defendant,
who resided at Hoxton, had been married to her two
years. She had borne him one child, yet living, but his
treatment since their unfortunate acquaintance had been
most cruel and unfeeling. For the last month she had
absented herself from his dwelling, and supported
nature as best she could; but last night, having failed
in procuring relief from the parish, she was compelled
to seek her husband at his father's, and there begged
him to give her some bread. With the foulest language
he refused, and threatening to rip her up and murder
her, struck her heavily to the ground with his clenched
fist. On rising he renewed the attack, beating her
about the neck; "indeed," she said, "I am bruised all
over; my head is covered with lumps from the blows he
gave me, and my body with bruises from kicks; besides
this when he got me on the ground he attempted to
strangle me with his hands round my throat." The
woman's features were swelled and blackened, while
the impress of the fingers was distinctly visible on her
throat. In defence the brute endeavoured to justify
the outrage by declaring that his wife pledged the
things, and on such occasions it was that he struck her.
The magistrate said it was no wonder that she had
recourse to that step, to procure the bread that her
unmanly husband withheld from her. It was manifest that
the defendant's cruelty towards her was systematic.
For the present brutal outrage he should send him to
the House of Correction with hard labour for six months.

The action Lumley versus Gye, at the instance of the
late lessee of her Majesty's Theatre, against the lessee of
the Royal Italian Opera, was tried on the 20th, 21st,
and 22nd inst., in the Court of Queen's Bench. The
case is well known to the public. Mr. Lumley claimed
damages against Mr. Gye for having induced
Mademoiselle Wagner to break an engagement she had entered
into to sing at her Majesty's Theatre, for a certain
number of nights. After a great quantity of evidence
had been taken on both sides, Lord Campbell, in charging
the jury stated, that the case resolved itself into three
questions: first, whether the agreement between the
plaintiff and Mademoiselle Wagner remained in force
at the time when it was alleged that the defendant had
induced her to break it; secondly, whether the defendant
induced her to break that contract; and thirdly, whether
the defendant then knew that the agreement between
her and the plaintiff was in existence as a binding agreement.
The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff on
the first and second points, but for the defendant on the
third, which was equivalent to a verdict for the defendant
on the plea of not guilty.

Another Abortive Attack on a Gaming-house has
been made by the Police. On the 23rd several persons
were brought up at the Marlborough-street Police
Court charged with being found in a common gaming-
house known as the Strangers' Club in St. James's-
street. They described themselves as Henry Nathaniel
Kempt, gentleman. Lane's Hotel; Richard Hole,
gentleman, British Hotel; William Norris,5, Arundel-
street; Charles Seymour, Evans's Hotel; James
Townsend, 11, Sherrard-street; Charles Sowden, 23,
Porter-street; William Hemmings, 18, Upper St.
Martin's-lane; John Ford 13, Sherrard-street; and
Charles Stewart, doorkeeper. Mr. O'Brien, Police
superintendent, produced an order from Sir R. Mayne
to enter the house. About 12 o'clock the previous
night he went to the house with several police
constables, but before he reached the house some person,
who appeared as if on the watch, pulled the bell.
Witness and constables were admitted into the house
by the doorkeeper, and made their way unopposed
through two doors, but on reaching a third door they
found it was strongly secured. Witness gave orders
for the door to be forced, and after five or six minutes
it was opened. Witness proceeded upstairs into a room
fitted up as a billiard-room, and there found the
defendants. The inspector searched the persons of the
defendants, but nothing beyond considerable sums of
money were found. The house, which was strongly
secured, was searched, but no gaming implements were
discovered. Mr. Clarkson, who attended for the
defence, made no remark. Mr. Bingham ordered the
defendants to be discharged.

NARRATIVE OF ACCIDENT AND
DISASTER.

An inquest has been held on the bodies of some of the
persons drowned in the dreadful Shipwreck of the
Tayleur, (see Household Narrative for last month, p. 9),
and the following verdict has been pronounced:—"That
the parties were drowned by the sinking of the said ship
off Lambay Island, and that this deplorable accident
occurred in consequence of the highly culpable neglect