wife, utterly independent of him, and his determination was to get it at all events. Ill treatment had been already tried to a certain length in England. But the full scheme was not to be completed here. In order to break her completely to his power, he determined on carying her to the continent. This was news of great terror to the unhappy woman. In leaving England, she was leaving friends and protection. On the continent, she must be alone. She resisted with every form of entreaty, and was at length put into a chaise at Blackheath, more dead than alive. No female attended her in this forcible estrangement from her country, except Dolly Sellers, the most obnoxious and insulting object that could be intruded on her eye. Mr Ryan's point was, to force her to execute a deed, conveying her estate to two trustees, one of them his brother, and the other a Mr Keating, for her use during her life, and after her death to himself and his heirs for ever. Even his friends were startled at it, and censured some of the provi sions as too glaring, and likely to be resisted by her. His answer was, "she will do whatever I desire." Where was the proof of that affection to be found which could account for so strange a surrender of her fortune? In one of the defendant's letters, of May, 1792, to his friend in England, he uses these words :- Mark what follows; the complete power of devising the estate is in my wife, even during Mrs Wilmer's lifetime; lay the statement before counsel, get an assignment prepared, and I'll have it executed. The estate is near eight hundred pounds a-year, and of great importance to my family. I wait to hear from Sellers' father the value of the trees on the estate before I order them to be cut down. If they are on

the entailed estate, every hedge of them shall come down; I'll have an open country about me." In another letter, speaking of a new demand, he said, the old woman, or, as he elegantly called her, the old b, would be forced to comply, as she was very ill, and miserable about her daughter." Was it possible to paint this man stronger than in his own words? This was after extracting 5001. a-year from her, by cruel usage of her daughter, which he jocularly termed a riot in Burlington-street. Mrs Wilmer subsequently died, and her life was doubtless shortened by her daughter's inju ries. In one of his letters he said, "Let particular care be taken to have no hold or stop on my possession. No entailment no revocation. My precious one is precisely the last whom I would trust; so bind her strictly and strongly." His violence was now more than mental; he had ill used her, and left marks of his cruelty on her person. In another letter from the Hague, he talked of valuable connections, and the necessity of exerting himself, as all hopes from Yorkshire were at an end. Yet, in a subsequent letter, he found the old woman's feelings were not yet worn out. That letter stated that a gentleman from Mrs Wilmer came over with an offer of 1000l. to Ryan, to let her daughter return at once to Yorkshire. This however he had determined not to do. His servant was ordered to say he was going to Italy, and he left the usual place of his residence. It was not easy to use the language which the gross and complicated barbarity of this man deserved. The deed was prepared without the knowledge of any friend of the family; it was carried over to Holland by an agent of Ryan's. That person was not to tell the jury that he saw any vie

lence used, any manual force upon Mrs Ryan to sign the deed. Her spirit was crushed, she would then have signed any thing without a mur. mur. A Mr Webber, a stranger, and Dolly Sellers, were the subscribing witnesses. This Dolly Sellers ought to be brought forward in vindication of the defendant, for she was his prime instrument and confidant, his partner at bed and board. In one of those abominable letters, the words were to be found, "Never fear, my deary, she'll not quit this side of the water on any account. She is going on as badly as ever, perpetually attempting to get letters to York, and stopping every English person she meets on the streets; she is really most dangerous, and requires all my attention to prevent mischief." Yes, she was most mischievous; for a discovery of her tyrant's conduct would have been ruin. In another letter, he ordered the deed not to be registered, unless absolutely necessary. This was to keep the transaction from the eyes of those who might do her justice. At the close of 1792, Ryan, hoping to extort money from his wife's relations, or raise it in some other way, came to England, leaving the wretch ed being in the midst of total strangers, and in a foreign country. Ryan took Dolly Sellers with him as his companion; but before he came, he stripped his wife of her entire wardrobe. Mrs Ryan had some jewels, of which she was fond, for she was probably a vain, as she had been a most beautiful woman, till sorrow and sickness had left her the remnant only of beauty. Dolly strutted up to her on the morning of her departure, took the diamond broach out of her handkerchief, and carried it off in the presence of the husband. The heart-broken wife bore it without a murmur in their

presence, but when they were gone, her complaints were loud and violent. Her intercourse with her native country was stopped; her servant had usurped her bed, and was even deli vered of children in her house; her chamber was become her prison, and she was kept locked up in it, while her husband and his companions were en joying themselves below. The last act of Ryan was the crown of the rest. He ordered Mrs West, the woman of the house in which Mrs Ryan was to be left, to allow her only half a pint of the thin country wine, equivalent to our small beer, in the day, and by no means to allow her medicines or medical assistance. Mrs West could not bring herself to comply with these horrid restrictions. Mrs Ryan was unwell; her skin was covered with blotches, from poverty of blood and ill-treatment. Medical aid was necessarily called in, and in the absence of her tormentors her health gradually improved Mrs Wilmer, who was always anxious for her child, now found a plan to get her home; this was talked of, but Ryan resolved not to let her out of his power, as long as he could raise a shilling on her. He brought her to England, and there imprisoned her in the very house where his infamous paramour was pregnant by him. This hateful persecution was continued till the unhappy wife got almost into that situation where external suffering could scarcely touch her any longer.

Lord Ellenborough objected to making Ryan's subsequent tyranny part of the statement, as a similar proceeding had been over-ruled in the case of Lady Strathmore, when the counsel were prohibited from giving any thing in evidence that had occur ed after the violence which was the immediate ground of action.

The Attorney-General yielded to the opinion of the Bench, and said that he had only to say, that Mrs Ryan's mind sunk gradually under this heavy and protracted persecution. She died in 1799, and died insane. The property which Ryan had got into his power, by the compulsory deed, was the right of Mrs Field, the sister of his wife, to whom it was devised in case of Mrs Ryan's dying without heirs. The suit was brought by the husband of Mrs Field, as her next friend, and it remained with the jury to say, whether the inheritance was given over to Ryan with or with out the genuine and sincere consent of the wife, whom his cruelty had bowed down to the grave. The Attorney-General then proceeded to call. his witnesses.

Mrs Barnard, the wife of Mrs Ryan's uncle, had visited her at Sabloniere's hotel, and found her without any other companion than Dolly Sellers, and low spirited to an extreme degree. Mrs R. was a timid, gentle, affectionate woman. She spoke of herself as quite miserable, and implored her aunt's protection. Mrs Barnard corroborated the story of the ten pounds which had been deposited with her by Mrs Ryan, and her having received an insolent note from Ryan, ordering her to give back 501. Mrs R. evidently led a most wretched life, and imputed it entirely to the tyranny of her husband.

A great number of other witnesses were examined, and at considerable length, to the main facts, but their testimony was merely a repetition of the statements which have been already given.

Mr Park laboured, in reply, to prove that there was a chasm in the evidence of the compulsion used, and that the jury would not be justified in giving

a verdict for the plaintiff, unless the compulsion was proved to have been continued up to the moment of signing the deed.

The Attorney-General was rising to reply, when Lord Ellenborough observed, that it was scarcely necessary. The fact of the wife's spirit having been practised on, and broken down, was fully proved. It was not necessary that the chain of compulsion should be unbroken up to the moment of effecting the object for which the force was used; an animal might be so subdued by previous illusage, that it would fly, and tremble, and obey at the movement of a finger, without any blow at the moment. This woman's mind was obviously subdued, and subdued by a long course of cruelty.

The jury instantly found a verdict for the Plaintiff.-1s. Damages40s. Costs.

Harriet Wilson, a poor girl in Marsh-lane, Leeds, some time ago had both her arms torn off by some machinery. By the aid of some kind friends, she was lately conveyed to London, and put under the care of a Mr Morrison, who obtained the silver medal and forty guineas at the last meeting of the Society of Arts, for inventing implements by which persons having lost their hands may usefully assist themselves. By the use of these implements this unfortunate can now feed herself; and, incredible as it may appear, there is a prospect of her writing legibly at no distant period, and of her being otherwise employed, so as to be able to contribute to her own support.

A few days ago, the mutilated bodies of a man and woman were found arm in arm floating in the sea, near Bexhill, whither it is supposed they had been washed from the wreck

of some vessel. They appeared to have been about 14 days in the water. Their remains were interred in Bexhill church-yard.

A respectable paper maker in Devonshire, and hitherto a man of unblemished character, has suddenly absconded, having been detected in forging the exciseman's stamp on the wrappers of his paper. The iron instrument with which he did it, was found in his wife's pocket, and she has in consequence been committed to Exeter gaol.

An opulent tanner at Kingsbride has absconded for a like offence, having been detected in forging the stamp for marking hides. The poor fellow who inadvertently made the implement for him, and who is armourer in the Hants militia, is to be tried for his life at the assizes, which commence at Exeter this day.

On Friday, the 3d current, a stone column, 13 feet high, containing a suitable inscription, was erected on the top of Redding.rig Moor, to the memory of that illustrious Scottish patriot, Sir William Wallace. The above-mentioned spot was selected for the site of the column, on account of a prevalent tradition, importing, that Wallace, in consequence of a misun derstanding with the other commanders, withdrew with his party to that place, from which, seated on a stone, which still remains, he viewed the unfortunate battle of Falkirk.

A great concourse of people, carrying Scots thistles in their hands, and accompanied by a drum, and a pair of Highland bagpipes, proceeded to the place where the stone was to be erected. After its erection, the company, forming a circle around it, drank to the memory of the departed hero with the most enthusiastic rap

ture. The festivity of the day was concluded by dancing a variety of Caledonian reels.

A farmer's wife, who had with care and industry, together with the profit of a few cows and the produce of 20 acres of land, reared a family of ten children, died lately at a small village in the centre of Norfolk. On searching the house after the poor woman's decease, ten bags of gold, each bag containing twenty guineas, were found, to the no small surprise of her ten children, for whom they were no doubt intended.

William Treble, alias Elbert, alias Geo. Henry Thornton, who was condemned to death for forgery at the assizes at Lewes, during the last week put a period to his existence in his cell, in Horsham gaol, on Monday night. He effected his purpose by the means of a stock and a handkerchief, which he placed round his neck, and fixed to the upper iron bar of the window of the cell. It is remarkable, that the day of the night during which he perpetrated the fatal deed the chaplain of the prison waited on him, and finding him very much agitated, told him he would visit him to-mor row. The unhappy man repeated the words "to-morrow," several times, and he said once emphatically-"Ah! to-morrow." He was found on Tuesday morning quite cold. It is therefore supposed that he must have committed the deed very soon after the chaplain left him. He has left several letters behind him, in one of which he assigns as a reason for committing the act-the dread of dying before a gaping crowd. He was a very genteel man, near sixty years of age, and had received a good education; he has left a wife and four children.

3

5th.-GLASGOW.-Sunday after noon, we had a great deal of thunder and lightning, accompanied by excessively heavy rain. About a quarter past four, the lightning struck the top of Lord Nelson's Monument; and we regret to say, that it has most materially injured that elegant structure. On the north side, the column is torn open for more than twenty feet from the top, and several of the stones have been thrown down. On the west side, the effects of the destructive fluid are visible in several places; and on the south side, there is a rent in the column as far down as the head of the pedestal. A number of the stones are hanging in such a threatening posture, that a military guard has very properly been placed around the Monument, to keep at a distance the thoughtless or too daring spectators. Sunday, near two o'clock, while the physicians were going their rounds in the Royal Infirmary, there was a violent thunder-clap, without any perceptible interval between the flash and the stroke, which seemed to shake the Infirmary. All the chimnies were affected, but particularly the western. The lowest of the womens' wards, exhibited a very awful appearance. During four or six seconds, all the flame was suddenly driven into the ward with a rustling noise, together with a dense column of soot and smoke, which instantly filled the ward. Fortunately no person was hurt; but the patients screamed aloud, and such as could rise ran from their beds. Similar appearances, though in different degrees, took place through the whole house, which seems to have been enveloped in a thunder cloud, and which probably may have owed its preservation to the quantity of rain flowing from its roof. This occurrence, and the

injury of Nelson's Monument, suggest the propriety of guarding every building, much exposed, by thunder rods, which, when properly constructed, have never failed to prove a safeguard. The lightning, a little past four o' clock, also struck a house of three stories high in Rottenrow-street. In the upper floor a window was shivered to pieces; in the second floor, a kettle, which was on the fire, had its spout melted off; in the ground floor, several children and their mother were sitting at the fire; the childrens' hair was much singed, and the mother was thrown a considerable distance; a hole, about an inch diameter, was made through the bottom of an oil lamp, which was standing on the chimneypiece; the electric matter then went through a stone wall about nine inches thick, and struck a tin flaggon on the opposite side of the room. It is perhaps worthy of remark, that about fifty years ago, the high steeple of our venerable Cathedral was likewise struck by lightning, and received an alarming fracture near the top.

An eminent architect was brought from a distance by the magistrates, to consult what was necessary to be done to save that fine building from what was conceived impending destruction. His advice, as the only safe method, was, to drive off the shattered parts by firing cannon balls at them. This proposal was not adopted; and the late ingenious Mr Mungo Naismith, then town's mason, who had just finished St Andrew's Church, undertook to repair the frac tured steeple ; which he did, without any accident, in a sufficient manner, and which, till this moment, appears to be as firm as any part of the building.

The following effusion, on hearing that Lord Nelson's Monument at