Rev. Samuel Swayne Beamish himself, nor was any one
present as a witness; but it was added in the special
verdict that the performance of the ceremony was seen
by Catherine Coffey, who, without the privity of the
parties to the marriage, witnessed it from an adjoining
yard, but did not hear what passed. It was further
stated that Isabella Frazer was a member of the Church
of England. It further appeared that the Rev. Samuel
Swayne Beamish, who thus celebrated this marriage,
died intestate on April 8, 1844, and the plaintiff, who
is now a minor, Henry Albert Beamish, was his eldest
son. On these facts the Court unanimously decided
that the marriage was valid.

In a complaint against the proprietor of the Philharmonic
rooms, in Newman-street, for allowing theatrical
representations in a place not duly licenced, the magistrate
has given a judgment, laying down the Law
respecting Theatrical Licences.—The statute 6 and 7 Vic,
which constitutes the Lord Chamberlain a censor of
plays acted for hire, prohibits the "keeping" of any
house, or other "place of public resort" for the public
performance of stage plays without authority by letters
patent or licence (see sec. 2), under a penalty of £20 a
day. By sec. II, any person who shall "for hire" act
or suffer to be acted any play "in any place," not
patented or licensed as a theatre, is made liable to a
penalty of £10 a day, and by sec. 16, every actor shall be
deemed to be acting for hire in every case in which any
money, or other reward "shall be taken" directly or
indirectly for the "admission" of any person into any
theatre, to see any "stage play," and also in every case
in which any stage play shall be acted in any house,
room, or place in which distilled or fermented exciseable
liquors shall be sold. It had been proved that the
defendant suffered a stage play to be acted in his house
by amateurs in an apartment capable of containing 800
persons; that 800 persons were present; that the apartment
usually devoted to concerts was fitted up with a
stage and scenery; and that both directly and indirectly
money was taken for admission to the performance,
directly from two persons at the door, and indirectly by
the distribution of tickets among the performers, who
were to dispose of them as best they could for the benefit
of one of their own body. The appointment of a censor
of plays in the person of the Lord Chamberlain, and
the prohibition of performance for hire except in licensed
places, were intended as a safeguard for the morals of
that numerous class of persons who can gain admission
to a performance by payment, without interfering with
those smaller domestic audiences which are assembled
at an amateur play solely by the favour and at the
expense of a gratuitous entertainer, and the character of
actor "for hire" is made to depend, not on the question
whether the amateur or professional, or the purpose to
which the money received may be applied, but on the
bare fact of the receipt of money, or money's worth,
for admission. Every person who performs in a
theatre into which admission is obtained by payment
of money, is by this statute deemed an actor for hire,
and every person who suffers acting for hire in an
unlicensed place, is liable to a penalty. The defendant had
suffered such acting in his unlicensed place, and
consequently had incurred the penalty; but as his violation
of the law had not been intentional, he was subjected
only to a penalty of one shilling.

The doings of a Female Swindler, calling herself Alice
Gray, have excited curiosity. Some weeks ago she was
brought before the Wolverhampton police court on a
charge of perjury. She had sworn that two boys had
stolen her purse; but being recognised as a woman who
had performed a similar feat at Birmingham, she was
arrested, and several talbotype likenesses of her were
taken from a daguerreotype likeness in her possession,
and sent to several towns. The consequence was the
arrival of letters identifying the women as a systematic
swindler. The earliest trace of her appears at Dublin,
where, in 1849, calling herself Armstrong, she charged
a man with robbing her, but failed; and having been
twice convicted of felony in Ireland, she came to
England. She passed herself off in Yorkshire and Derbyshire
as a clergyman's daughter, and lived in clover by
the cheat until discovered. She presented herself at
Canterbury as a Roman Catholic persecuted by a Baptist
father. At Glasgow, Greenock, Bristol, Bath, London,
she brought charges of robbery of her imaginary trunks
and purses, against various persons; sometimes causing
their conviction, nearly always obtaining money from the
benevolent. In London she robbed a mistress, and afterwards
pretended that her trunk had been stolen. Mr.
Goodman of the Mansion-house, induced by her pitiful
stories, paid her passage to Ireland. In Chester, in
October last, she again brought charges of robbery, and
obtained money to pay her passage to Birmingham.
Her aliases were many: in Dublin, Armstrong; in
Glasgow, Anastasia Carter; in Flintshire, Anastasia
Huggard; in London, Mary Anne O'Brien, and Jane
Turean; at Wolverhampton, Alice Grey. When she
was asked at Wolverhampton whether she had any
question to put to the witnesses, she told the
magistrates to "Go to hell; " and conducted herself with the
utmost effrontery. Her real birth and parentage are
doubtful. It has been stated that she is the daughter of
humble parents at Limerick, named Huggard; that her
father is dead, and her mother, a very honest woman,
has remarried. Alice is really married to a soldier,
Brazil, a private in the 68th regiment. While residing
at home she behaved well. Another story is, that Alice
Grey is Mary Atkinson, daughter of poor parents at
Kendal, the mother still living. There she has
committed various frauds. The Home Secretary has directed
the release of the last victims of her perjury—the two boys
imprisoned at Chester; and Alice herself is now in
Stafford gaol, having been committed for trial at the
assizes.

Among other agrarian outrages in Ireland, there has
been an attempt to Hang a Bailiff. Alicia Brennan,
Mary Hogan, Bridget Hogan, and Elizabeth Dowling,
were brought at Ballylinan, the magistrates in Leinster,
charged by Simon Hatch, a bailiff, with attempting to
hang him. Hatch went to give notice of ejectment.
He was surrounded by the women. In a twinkling the
noose of a rope was slipped around his neck; and it was
chucked so as to tighten it, evidently with the intention
of strangulation. While struggling for his life, Betty
Dowling pulled the legs from under him, upon which
he fell to the ground, and while in that position efforts
were made to tighten the rope about his neck. Mary
Hogan then shouted out, "Bring me a stick till I knock
the old vagabond's brains out; he'll be too long dying
this way, the old blackguard." The next thing he felt
was a succession of blows from the loaded butt-end of a
whip. All the while Mrs. Brennan and Mary Hogan
were chucking the rope that was about his neck, but
which he prevented from suffocating him by keeping
the noose from his throat with his two hands. The
little girl, Biddy Hogan, got frightened at the treatment
he received, and commenced screaming "Murder,
murder," and then unlocked the door, when Hatch, by a
desperate exertion, got on his feet and ran out, making
off from the place with his life, with the halter about
his neck. Mary Hogan followed him, leathering him
with the whip during a portion of his retreat. Their
worships liberated the little girl, and took informations
against Mrs. Brennan, Mary Hogan, and Elizabeth
Dowling. The parties were subsequently admitted to
bail.

The report of the Commissioners on the Conduct of
the Police at the Hyde Park Sunday-trading Meeting
in July last, has been published, together with a letter
thereon from Sir George Grey to Sir Richard Mayne. The
Commissioners find that Superintendent Hughes, without
sufficient grounds, ordered the Police to use their
staves, and failed to control many excesses of the men
under his command. They also prefer distinct charges
of misconduct against seven policemen. Sir George
Grey directs Sir Richard Mayne to reprimand Mr.
Hughes, suspend or dismiss three out of the seven
policemen, as they may think fit; and to prefer indictments
against three others—Sir Richard Mayne is
slightly censured, for having caused such a large number
of persons to be detained in the small defective cells
at Vine-street station; and Sir George Grey concurs
with the Commissioners in declining to blame any one
at the station for refusing to take bail.

A most melancholy Boat Accident has happened at
Lerwick, in Shetland. George Irvine, a small farmer