one after the other, that it is a mere repetition of
the same story over again—of some man who has gone
from public-house to public-house, spending his money
and exhibiting his money, and is marked out by those
who observe him as the fitting object for plunder, when
his senses are obscured, and who is made the subject
of an attack under those circumstances which enable
the parties to escape from the consequences; because
although the story may be perfectly true which the
prosecutor in this case tells—although it may be vividly
felt by him—” yet he is obliged to confess— " As he
spoke the last word, the judge fell forward with his
face upon his book, and then swayed on one side towards
Mr. Sansom, his senior clerk, and his second son, Mr.
Thomas Talfourd, his Marshal, who caught him in their
arms. Dr. Holland and Dr. Knight, two magistrates on
the bench, had rushed to his assistance; and these
gentlemen, with Lord Talbot and others, carried him out,
still wearing his scarlet robes. But medical assistance
was useless; the attack had been so violent that in less
than five minutes he was dead. Mr. Francis Talfourd,
who had just joined the Oxford Circuit, was prevented
by etiquette from being in court during the charge; but
he was immediately called in. Later in the day he left
Stafford to convey the sad news to his mother. Mr.
Justice Wightman was at the time sitting on the Civil
side, and he instantly left the court. In about a quarter
of an hour he returned, overcome by emotion, and
briefly announcing that "his dear friend and brother
Mr. Justice Talfourd was no more," suspended the
sittings of the court.

A Chancery Suit of Fifteen Years duration has at
length come to an end. It was the long-standing case
of the Corporation of London v. Combe, Delafield,
and Company. In 1839, the Corporation attempted to
enforce the payment of the metage of grain brought up
the river Thames by the defendants and conveyed to
their brewery. The defendants resisted, and filed a
cross-bill for the discovery of the muniments, titles, and
books, under which the claim was made. Vice-Chancellor
Knight Bruce made an order for the production
of those documents; and against that order the
Corporation appealed to the House of Lords. This appeal,
pending for a long time, was finally heard on the 14th
inst. The Solicitor-General, on behalf of the Corporation,
said that the parties had made an arrangement by
which the appeal would be abandoned. For a considerable
period, he said, the Corporation had contemplated
a settlement of the rights of metage in a manner
beneficial to the public at large; and though that arrangement
is not yet complete, he might anticipate its results
and not proceed with the appeal. The bill of discovery,
therefore, would no longer be requisite. The appellants
are to pay the costs of the appeal.

At the Chelmsford assizes, three men named Carter,
Walker, and Frost were tried for a Criminal Assault
upon a Woman. On Sunday, the 22nd of January a
young man named Joseph Cant, and his sweetheart,
Harriet Worth, went to evening service; but they
staid out late, partly at the house of a relation, and
partly at a public-house. In the parlour of the latter
were the three prisoners, young men under twenty:
these men waylaid the lovers; twice knocked down Cant,
who then ran off for assistance; seized the helpless girl,
and two of them, the third assisting, committed the crime .
Cant soon returned with some neighbours, and
conveyed the poor girl, half-dead, to her father's cottage.
There was no doubt of the guilt of the prisoners; and
they sentenced Carter to be transported for life, Frost
and Walker for fifteen years.

At the Hertford assizes, on the 4th, Miguel Yzquierdo.
a Spaniard, was tried for the Murder of George Scales at
North Mimms. Scales was out shooting small birds,
when the Spaniard killed him with a stick. He alleged
before the magistrates that Scales had pointed the gun
at him, and he had struck him in his own defence. On
his trial, however, he appeared not to understand
anything, and did not plead. Mr. Ballantine said that he
appeared for the prisoner, at the instance of the Spanish
Ambassador, but could not obtain any information
whatever from him. Baron Alderson directed a jury to be
empanneled to try whether he was mute by the visitation
of God or by malice. The evidence taken induced
the jury to find a verdict that the prisoner was mute by
the visitation of God; and the trial was postponed
until next assizes.

The trial of Moses Hatto for the Murder of Mary Ann
Sturgeon has taken place at the Aylesbury assizes.
The particulars of this murder, which was committed
in November last, are given in the Household Narrative
for that month, p. 243. The case excited the greatest
interest on account of the atrocity and mystery attending
the crime. The evidence given was in substance
the same as that already before the public, with very
few exceptions; and the witnesses were the same. Mr.
Goodwin, the tenant of the farm, deposed to the finding
of marks of blood and a tooth; then, that the house
was on fire; finally, the body lying face downwards,
burnt from the ankles to the waist. The farm-servants
showed that Hatto, the fellow-servant of Mary Ann
Sturgeon, had previously called up Bunce, the bailiff,
saying he thought there was somebody about the place;
that they found a colt out; that Hatto "messed "
himself in a pool of manure-water in the yard, and said he
had fallen into it. The medical testimony showed that
there must have been a struggle and blows, for the head
was fractured; and Mr. Baldwin, a neighbour,
discovered the poker under the grate, newly broken, with
blood and hair on its handle. It was also shown that
a person lying in Hatto's bedroom could distinctly hear
cries for help shouted from the kitchen below, up the
stairs, and in the bedroom. The murder was
unaccompanied by any considerable robbery, only a few
things disappearing a day or two afterwards. For the
defence, the deposition given by Hatto at the inquest
was put in; in substance, a declaration of innocence.
He said that deceased gave him his supper, and he
went to bed; about a quarter to eleven he heard a
rumbling noise against a door; he then lay down; but
the dogs barking shortly afterwards, he had called up
Bunce. When Mr. Goodwin came home, he helped to
put the fire out in the maid-servant's room. Mr. Parry
addressed the jury for Hatto; attempting to throw
doubts on the strength of the evidence. Lord Campbell
summed up, and the jury, after deliberating for
upwards of two hours and a half, found a verdict of
"Guilty." Lord Campbell said he fully concurred in
the verdict, and then passed sentence of death upon
Hatto, holding out no hope of mercy. Hatto bowed,
and thanked the judge for his closing exhortation.
Hatto afterwards made a confession of his guilt,
but it is evidently incomplete, and assigns no adequate
motive for the commission of so atrocious a crime.
The following is the substance of his revelations.
Some short time previous to the 1st of November, the
date of the murder, Mary Anne Sturgeon, the murdered
woman, asked him to lend her a sovereign. This he at
first refused to do, and angry words passed between
them in consequence of his refusal. After consideration,
however, he told her she might have the sovereign,
or two or three sovereigns, if she liked, and they were
again good friends. On Tuesday, the 1st of November,
he was employed almost the whole of the day in the
house, cleaning the plate and other things, and had
much conversation with the deceased. She twitted
him, and vexed him, and when night arrived they were
far from being on friendly terms. In the evening,
Sturgeon went to Bunce's cottage, and when she had
been gone some time, Hatto took off his shoes that he might
not be heard, and proceeded to the door of the cottage,
when he listened and heard the conversation between
deceased and Mrs. Bunce. That conversation vexed
him very much, and he returned to the kitchen of the
farm-house, jumping over the wall, in order that he
might make no noise by the opening and shutting of
the gates. Soon after he arrived back, the woman
came into the kitchen, put him out his supper, and
instead of the customary pint of beer, served him with
only half a pint. He complained of the short allowance,
and a quarrel ensued, in the course of which Sturgeon
twitted him very much. Then the devil came to him,
and he struck her a violent blow across the nose and
mouth with the larding iron. After the blow a scuffle
took place between them;. she struggled hard, got
uppermost, and he thought at one time she would have
mastered him. She ultimately got away from him and