has this bald religion of nature ever established?-We see, on the contrary, the nations that have no other light than that of nature to direct them, sunk in barbarism, or slaves to arbitrary governments; whilst, under the Christian dispensation, the great career of the world has been slowly, but clearly advancing,lighter at every step, from the encouraging prophecies of the Gospel, and leading, I trust, in the end, to universal and eternal happiness. Each generation of mankind can see but a few revolving links of this mighty and mysterious chain; but by doing our several duties in our allotted stations, we are sure that we are fulfilling the purposes of our existence.-You, I trust, will fulfil YOURS this day.

MR. ERSKINE'S SPEECH,

IN MARKAM vs. FAWCETT, BEFORE THE DEPUTY SHERIFF OF MIDDLE SEX AND A SPECIAL JURY, UPON AN INQUISITION OF DAMAGES.

Mr. Sheriff, and Gentlemen of the Jury-In representing the unfortunate gentleman who has sustained the injury which has been stated to you by my learned friend, Mr. Holroyd, who opened the pleadings, I feel one great satisfaction-a satisfaction founded, as I conceive, on a sentiment perfectly constitutional. I am about to address myself to men whom I PERSONALLY KNOW; to men, honorable in their lives,-moral,-judicious; and capable of correctly estimating the injuries they are called upon to condemn in their character of jurors. THIS, Gentlemen, is the only country in the world, where there is such a tribunal as the one before which I am now to speak: for, however in other countries such institutions as our own may have been set up of late, it is only by that maturity which it requires ages to give to governments-by that progressive wisdom which has slowly ripened the Constitution of our country, that it is possible there can exist such a body of men as YOU are. It is the great privilege of the subjects of England that they judge one another.-It is to be recollected, that, although we are in this private room, all the sanctions of justice are present. It makes no manner of difference, whether I address you in the presence of the under-sheriff, your respectable chairman, or with the assistance of the highest magistrate of the state.

The defendant has, on this occasion, suffered judgment by default:-other adulterers have done so before him. Some have done so under the idea, that, by suffering judgment against them, they had retired from the public eye-from the awful presence of the judge; and that they came into a corner, where there was not such an assembly of persons to witness their misconduct, and where it was to be canvassed before persons, who might be less qualified to judge the case to be addressed to them..

It is not long, however, since such persons have had an opportunity of judging how much they were mistaken in this respect: the largest damages, in cases of adultery, have been given in this place. By this place, I do not mean the particu lar room in which we are now assembled, but under inquisitions

directed to the Sheriff; and the instances to which I allude, are of modern, and, indeed, recent date.

Gentlemen, after all the experience I have had, I feel myself I confess, considerably embarrassed in what manner to address you. There are some subjects that harass and overwhelm the mind of man.-There are some kinds of distresses one knows not how to deal with.-It is impossible to contemplate the situation of the Plaintiff without being disqualified, in some degree, to represent it to others with effect. It is no less impossible for you, Gentlemen, to receive on a sudden the impressions which have been long in my mind, without feeling overpowered with sensations, which, after all, had better be absent, when men are called upon, in the exercise of duty, to pronounce a legal judgment.

The plaintiff is the third son of his grace the Archbishop of York, a clergyman of the Church of England; presented in the year 1791, to the living of Stokeley, in Yorkshire; and now, by his majesty's favor, Dean of the Cathedral of York.He married, in the year 1789, Miss Sutton, the daughter of Sir Richard Sutton, Bart. of Norwood, in Yorkshire, a lady of great beauty and accomplishments, most virtuously educated, and who, but for the crime of the defendant which assembles you here, would, as she has expressed it herself, have been the happiest of womankind. This gentleman having been presented, in 1791, by his father to this living, where I understand there had been no resident Rector for forty years, set an example to the Church and to the public, which was peculiarly virtuous in a man circumstanced as he was; for, if there can be any person more likely than another to protect himself securely with privileges and indulgences, it might be supposed to be the son of the metropolitan of the province. This gentleman, however, did not avail himself of the advantage of his birth and station: for, although he was a very young man, he devoted himself entirely to the sacred duties of his profession; -at a large expense he repaired the Rectory-house for the reception of his family, as if it had been his own patrimony, whilst, in his extensive improvements, he adopted only those arrangements which were calculated to lay the foundation of an innocent and peaceful life. He had married this lady, and entertained no other thought than that of cheerfully devoting himself to all the duties, public and private, which his situation called upon him to perform.

About this time, or soon afterwards, the defendant became the purchaser of an estate in the neighborhood of Stokeley, and, by such purchase, an inhabitant of that part of the country. and the neighbor of this unfortunate gentleman. It is a

inost affecting circumstance, that the plaintiff and the defendant had been bred together at Westminster School; and in my mind it is still more affecting, when I reflect what it is which has given to that school so much rank, respect, and illustration. It has derived its highest advantages from the reverend father of the unfortunate gentleman whom I represent.-It was the School of Westminster which gave birth to that learning which afterwards presided over it, and advanced its character. However some men may be disposed to speak or write concerning public schools, I take upon me to say, they are among the wisest of our institutions ;-whoever looks at the national character of the English people, and compares it with that of all the other nations upon the earth, will be driven to impute it to that reciprocation of ideas and sentiments which fill and fructify the mind in the early period of youth, and to the affectionate sympathies and friendships which rise up in the human heart before it is deadened or perverted by the interests and corruptions of the world. These youthful attachments are proverbial, and indeed few instances have occurred of any breaches of them; because a man, before he can depart from the obligations they impose, must have forsaken every principle of virtue, and every sentiment of manly honor. When, therefore, the plaintiff found his old school-fellow and companion settled in his neighborhood, he immediately considered him as his brother. Indeed he might well consider him as a brother, since, after having been at Westminster, they were again thrown together in the same College at Oxford; so that the friendship they had formed in their youth, became cemented and consolidated upon their first entrance into the world.-It is no wonder, therefore, that when the defendant came down to settle in the neighborhood of the plaintiff, he should be attracted towards him by the impulse of his former attachment: he recommended him to the Lord Lieutenant of the County, and, being himself a magistrate, he procured him a share in the magistracy.-He introduced him to the respectable circle of his acquaintances; he invited him to his house, and cherished him there as a friend. It is this which renders the business of to-day most affecting as it regards the plaintiff, and wicked in the extreme as it relates to the defendant, because the confidences of friendship conferred the opportunities of seduction. -The plaintiff had no pleasures or affections beyond the sphere of his domestic life; and except on his occasional residences at York, which were but for short periods, and at a very inconsiderable distance from his home, he constantly reposed in the bosom of his family.-I believe it will be impossible for my learned friend to invade his character; on the

contrary, he will be found to have been a pattern of conjugal and parental affection.

Mr. Fawcett being thus settled in the neighborhood, and thus received by Mr. Markam as his friend and companion, it is needless to say he could harbor no suspicion that the defendant was meditating the seduction of his wife :-there was nothing indeed, in his conduct, or in the conduct of the unfortunate lady, that could administer any cause of jealousy to the most guarded or suspicious temper. Yet dreadful to relate, and it is, indeed, the bitterest evil of which the plaintiff has to complain, a criminal intercourse for nearly five years before the discovery of the connexion had most probably taken place.

I will leave you to consider what must have been the feelings of such a husband, upon the fatal discovery that his wife, and such a wife, had conducted herself in a manner that not merely deprived him of her comfort and society, but placed him in a situation too horrible to be described. If a man without children is suddenly cut off by an adulterer from all the comforts and happiness of marriage, the discovery of his condition is happiness itself when compared with that to which the plaintiff is reduced. When children, by a woman, lost for ever to the husband, by the arts of the adulterer, are begotten in the unsuspected days of virtue and happiness, there remains a consolation; mixed indeed, with the most painful reflections, yet a consolation still.-But what is the plaintiff's situation?—He does not know at what time this heavy calamity fell upon him -he is tortured with the most afflicting of all human sensations. When he looks at the children, whom he is by law bound to protect and to provide for, and from whose existence he ought to receive the delightful return which the union of instinct and reason has provided for the continuation of the world, he knows not whether he is lavishing his fondness and affection upon his own children, or upon the seed of a villain sown in the bed of his, honor and his delight. He starts back with horror, when, instead of seeing his own image reflected from their infant features, he thinks he sees the destroyer of his happiness -a midnight robber introduced into his house, under professions of friendship and brotherhood—a plunderer, not in the repositories of his treasure which may be supplied, or lived without, "but there where he had garnered up his hopes, where either he must live or bear no life."

In this situation, the plaintiff brings his case before you, and the defendant attempts no manner of defence: he admits his guilt, he renders it unnecessary for me to go into any proof of it; and the only question, therefore, that remains, is for you to say what shall be the consequences of his crime, and what