SPENCER COWPER AND OTHERS (continued 2)

Hatsell, Baron—What is your name, madam?

Cowper—It is my brother's wife, my lord. I desire Mrs. Toller may give an account of what she knows as to her being melancholy.

Mrs. Toller—My lord, she was once to see me, and she looked very melancholy, and I asked her what was the matter? and she said, something had vexed her that day; and I asked her the cause of it, and she stopped a little while, and then said, she would drown herself out of the way.

Hatsell, Baron—How long ago was this?

Mrs. Toller—About three quarters of a year ago.

John Stout—I desire to know whether she has always said so, or not told another story.

Mrs. Toller—I told you no story; it may be I did not say so much to you, but I said she talked something of drowning. I have been with her when Mr. Cowper's conversation and name has been mentioned, and she said she kept but little company; that sometimes she went to Mrs. Low's, and that she kept none but civil modest company, and that Mr. Cowper was a civil modest gentleman, and that she had nothing to say against him.

Cowper—This is Mrs. Eliz. Toller, my lord.

Elizabeth Toller—My lord, she came to see me some time after Christmas, and seemed not so cheerful as she used to be; said I, what is the matter? Why are you not so merry as you used to be? Why do you not come often to see me? Saith she, I do not think to go abroad so much as I used to do, and said, it would be as much a rarity to see her go abroad, as to see the sun shine by night.

Cowper—Mrs. Grub, what do you know concerning Mrs. Stout's pulling out a letter at her brother, Mr. John Stout's? Give an account of it, and what she said upon that occasion.

Mrs. Grub—I have a daughter that lives at Guernsey, and she sent me a letter, and I prayed Mrs. Sarah Stout to read the letter; and while she was reading it I cried; saith she, why do you cry? said I, because my child is so far off. Said she, if I live till winter is over, I will go over the sea as far as I can from the land.

Hatsell, Baron—What was the occasion of her saying so?

Mrs. Grub—I was washing my master's study, Mrs. Sarah Stout came in, and I had a letter from my daughter at Guernsey, and I prayed Mrs. Sarah Stout to read it, and she read my letter, and I cried, and she asked me, why I cryed? Said I, because my child is so far off: Saith she, if I live to winter, or till winter is over, I will go over sea as far as I can from the land.

Cowper—Now, my lord, to bring this matter of melancholy to the point of time, I will call one witness more, who will speak of a remarkable instance that happened on Saturday before the Monday when she did destroy herself.

Call Mr. Joseph Taylor. Pray will you inform the court and jury of what you observed on Saturday before the Monday on which Mrs. Stout destroyed herself.

Joseph Taylor—I happened to go in at Mr. Firmin's shop, and there she sat the Saturday before this accident happened, the former assizes, and I was saying to her, Madam, I think you look strangely discontented; I never saw you dressed so in my life: Saith she, the dress will serve me as long as I shall have occasion for a dress.

Cowper—In what posture did she appear in the shop?

Joseph Taylor—She appeared to be very melancholy.

Cowper—What part of her dress did you find fault with?

Joseph Taylor—It was her head cloaths.

Cowper—What was the matter with them?

Joseph Taylor—I thought her head was dawbed with some kind of grease or charcoal.

Cowper—What answer did she make?

Joseph Taylor—She said, they would serve her time.

Cowper—As to this piece of evidence, if your lordship pleases, I desire it may be particularly taken notice of; it was her head-dress that she said would serve her time.

Pray, Mr. Taylor, was you at Mr. Barefoot's when I came there on Monday morning?

Joseph Taylor—Yes; I went up stairs with you into your chamber.

Cowper—Pray, what did I say to Mr. Barefoot?

Joseph Taylor—You asked him if they had received a letter from your brother, and he said, No, not that he knew of, but he would call his wife, and he did call his wife, and asked her if she had received a letter, and she said, No; then said you, I will take up this lodging for mine; and accordingly you went up stairs, and I went with you, and staid there about four times as long as I have been here.

Cowper—Are you very sure that I said, I would take up my lodgings there?

Joseph Taylor—Yes, I am very sure of it.

Hatsell, Baron—What time of the day was it?

Joseph Taylor—It was the fore part of the day; while I was there, my lord, Mrs. Sarah Stout's maid came to invite Mr. Cowper to her house to dinner.

Cowper—Did you know anything of my sending to the coffee-house?

Joseph Taylor—You sent to the coffee-house for your things.

Hatsell, Baron—Did Mr. Cowper use to lie at Mrs. Barefoot's?

Joseph Taylor—His brother did, but I do not know whether this gentleman did, but at that time he took up that place for his lodging; and said, it was all one, my brother must pay for it, and therefore I will take it up for myself.

Cowper—Call Mrs. Barefoot and her maid.

[But they not presently appearing,]

Cowper—My lord, in the meantime I will go on to the other part of my evidence, in opening of which I shall be very short.

My lord, my wife lodging at Hertford, occasioned me frequently to come down. Mrs. Stout became acquainted with her; When business was over in the long vacation, I resided pretty much at Hertford, and Mr. Marshall came down to pay me a visit, and this introduced his knowledge of Mrs. Stout. When she was first acquainted with him she received him with a great deal of civility and kindness, which induced him to make his addresses to her, as he did, by way of courtship. It happened one evening that she and one Mrs. Crook, Mr. Marshall and myself, were walking together, and Mr. Marshall and Mrs. Crook going some little way before us, she took this opportunity to speak to me in such terms, I must confess, as surprized me. Says she, Mr. Cowper, I did not think you had been so dull. I was inquisitive to know in what my dulness did consist. Why, says she, do you imagine I intend to marry Mr. Marshall? I said I thought she did, and that if she did not, she was much to blame in what she had done: No, says she, I thought it might serve to divert the censure of the world, and favour our acquaintance. My lord, I have some original letters under her own hand which will make this fully manifest; I will produce the letters after I have called Mr. Marshall. Mr. Marshall.

Mr. Marshall—If your lordship pleases, it was in the long vacation I came down to spend a little of my leisure time at Hertford; the reason of my going thither was, because Mr. Cowper was there at that time. The first night when I came down I found Mrs. Sarah Stout visiting at Mr. Cowper's lodgings and there I first came acquainted with her; and she afterwards gave me frequent opportunities of improving that acquaintance; and by the manner of my reception by her, I had no reason to suspect the use it seems I was designed for. When I came to town, my lord, I was generally told of my courting Mrs. Stout, which I confess was not then in my head; but it being represented to me as a thing easy to be got over, and believing the report of the world as to her fortune, I did afterwards make my application to her; but upon very little trial of that sort, I received a very fair denial, and there ended my suit; Mr. Cowper having been so friendly to me, as to give me notice of some things, that convinced me I ought to be thankful I had no more to do with her.

Hatsell, Baron—When did she cast you off?

Mr. Marshall—I cannot be positive as to the time, my lord, but it was in answer to the only serious letter I ever writ to her; as I remember, I was not over importunate in this affair, for I never was a very violent lover.

Hatsell, Baron—Well, but tell the time as near as you can.

Mr. Marshall—I believe it was a second or third time I came down to Hertford, which is about a year and a half since; and, during the whole of my acquaintance with her, I never till then found her averse to any proposal of mine; but she then telling me her resolution was not to comply with what I desired, I took her at her word, having, partly by my own observation, but more by Mr. Cowper's friendship, been pretty well able to guess at her meaning.

Cowper—Because what you say may stand confirmed beyond contradiction, I desire you to say whether you have any letters from her to yourself?

Mr. Marshall—Yes, I have a letter in my hand which she sent me, upon occasion of some songs I sent her when I came to town, which she had before desired of me; and this is a letter in answer to mine; it is her hand-writing, and directed to me.

Hatsell, Baron—How do you know it is her hand-writing?

Mr. Marshall—I have seen her write, and seen and received several letters from her.

Cowper—Pray shew it Mr. Beale.

Mr. Beale—I believe it to be her hand; I have seen her write, and have a receipt of hers.

Clerk of Arraigns—It is directed to Mr. Thomas Marshall at Lyons-inn, and dated Sept. 26, 1697.

'Sept. 26, 1697.

'Sir,

'Yours came very safe; but I wish you had explained your meaning a little more about the accident you speak of; for have been puzzling my brains ever since; and without I shall set myself to conjuring, I cannot imagine what it should be, for I know of nothing that happened after you went away, nor no discourse about you, only when we were together, the company would sometimes drink your health, or wish you had been there, or the like; so that I fancy it must be something Mr. has invented for diversion; though I must confess we have a sort of people here, that are inspired with the gift of foreknowledge, who will tell one as much for nothing as any astrologer will have a good piece of money for. But to leave jesting, I cannot tell when I shall come to London, unless it be for the night and away, about some business with my brother, that I must be obliged to attend his motions; but when I do, I shall remember my promise, although I do not suppose you are any more in earnest than myself in this matter. I give you thanks for your songs and your good wishes, and rest,

Your loving Duck.'

Cowper—Have you any more letters?

Mr. Marshall—Yes, I have another letter here, but before it is read, I think it will be proper to give the court an account of the occasion of its being writ. I waited on Mrs. Stout one evening at her lodgings in Houndsditch, and at our parting she appointed to meet me the next day; and to excuse her not coming according to that appointment, she sent me this letter.

Clerk of Arraigns—It is directed to Mr. Thomas Marshall; it is without date.

'Mr. Marshall,

I met unexpected with one that came from H——d last night, who detained me so long with relating the most notorious inventions and lyes that are now extant amongst those people, that I could not possible come till it was late; and this day was appointed for business, that I am uncertain when it will be finished; so that I believe I cannot see you whilst I am in town. I have no more at present, but that I am

Your obliged Friend.'

Cowper—Now, my lord, if your lordship please, I proceed to shew you, that I went not so much voluntarily as pressed by her to come to this house, and for that I will produce one letter from her to myself; and, my lord, I must a little inform you of the nature of this letter. It is on the outside directed to Mrs. Jane Ellen, to be left for her at Mr. Hargrave's coffee-house. For her to direct for me at a coffee-house, might make the servants wonder and the post-man might suspect, and for that reason she directed it in that manner. There was Mr. Marshall by whom I received it, and I can prove the hand by Mr. Beale.

Mr. Marshall—My lord, I verily believe I was by, and that Mr. Cowper shewed me this letter immediately on receipt of it, as he had done several others from the same hand.

Clerk of Arraigns—This is directed for Mrs. Jane Ellen. It is dated March the 5th, without any year.

'March the 5th.

Sir,

I am glad you have not quite forgot that there is such a person as I in being; but I am willing to shut my eyes, and not see anything that looks like unkindness in you, and rather content myself with what excuses you are pleased to make, than be inquisitive into what I must not know. I should very readily comply with your proposition of changing the season, if it were in my power to do it, but you know that lies altogether in your own breast; I am sure the winter has been too unpleasant for me to desire the continuance of it; and I wish you were to endure the sharpness of it but for one hour, as I have done for many long nights and days; and then I believe it would move that rocky heart of yours, that can be so thoughtless of me as you are; But if it were designed for that end, to make the summer the more delightful, I wish it may have the effect so far, as to continue it to be so too, that the weather may never overcast again; the which if I could be assured of, it would recompense me for all that I have ever suffered, and make me as easy a creature as I was the first moment I received breath. When you come to H——d pray let your steed guide you, and do not do as you did the last time; and be sure order your affairs to be here as soon as you can, which cannot be sooner than you will be heartily welcome to

Your very sincere Friend.'

'For Mrs. Jane Ellen, at Mr. Hargrave's,

near Temple-bar, London.'

Cowper—Though it is directed to Mrs. Jane Ellen, it begins in the inside 'Sir,' and it is dated the 5th March next before the 13th.

Hatsell, Baron—What March was it?

Mr. Marshall—I kept no account of the time, but I am very positive, by the contents, that Mr. Cowper shewed me this letter and I read it, but by my now remembrance, it should be longer since than March last.

Cowper—It was March last. That which will set Mr. Marshall's memory to rights is this other letter, which I received at the Rainbow, when he was by, and he read it; and it importuning me to a matter of this kind, I did produce it to my brother and him; they both knew of it; and both read it, and that will refresh his memory concerning the date of the other.

Mr. Marshall—My lord, I was in the coffee-house with Mr. Cowper when he received this letter; and he afterwards shewed it to Mr. William Cowper, at the Covent-garden tavern, when I was by.

Clerk of Arraigns—This is dated the 9th of March, and directed to Mrs. Jane Ellen, at Mr. Hargrave's.

'March 9.

Sir,

I writ to you by Sunday's post, which I hope you have received; however, as a confirmation, I will assure you I know of no inconveniency that can attend your cohabiting with me, unless the grand jury should thereupon find a bill against me; but I won't fly for it, for come life, come death, I am resolved never to desert you; therefore according to your appointment I will expect you and till then I shall only tell you, that I am

'Yours,' etc.

'For Mrs. Jane Ellen, at Mr. Hargrave's,

near Temple-bar, London.'

Cowper—If your lordship please, I will further prove this letter by my brother.

William Cowper said that about a year and a half since, when Mrs. Stout was in London, his brother came to his chamber in the Temple, and told him that he had received a letter from Mrs. Stout, saying that she intended to visit him in his chamber that day. His brother told the witness that because of her connection with Marshall, as well as for other reasons, he would not receive her there; and it was arranged that as she intended first to dine with their father at his house in Hatton Garden, where the witness was then living, he should take the opportunity for casually remarking that the prisoner was that day gone to Deptford, as he in fact intended to do. This plan was carried out, with the result that Mrs. Stout left the room fainting. The witness then went on to give an account of how his brother showed him the last letter mentioned, at the Covent Garden Tavern—

Saith he, the occasion of my shewing it, is not to expose a woman's weakness, but I would not willingly lie under too many obligations, nor engage too far; nor on the other hand would I be at an unnecessary expence for a lodging.

It was accordingly arranged that the witness should write to Barefoot to dispose of his lodgings, as Cowper had already related.

I said I would write the next day, being Saturday; but when I should have writ, it was very late, and I was weary, being then tied down to the business of parliament; and partly for that reason, and partly in point of discretion, which I had upon my second thoughts, that it would be better for my brother to be at Mr. Barefoot's, which is near the court, and in the market place, I did neglect writing; and though I thought of it about eleven o'clock, yet, as I said, partly for one reason, and partly for another, I did not write that time.'

Beale was then called to prove the hand-writing of the letters, and the jury declared themselves satisfied.

Hatsell, Baron—I believe you may ask her mother, she will tell you whether it be her daughter's hand.

Mrs. Stout—How should I know! I know she was no such person; her hand may be counterfeited.

Hatsell, Baron—But if it were written in her more sober stile, what would you say then?

Mrs. Stout—I shan't say it to be her hand unless I saw her write it.

Mr. Stout—It is like my sister's hand.

Hatsell, Baron—Do you believe it to be her hand?

Mr. Stout—No, I don't believe it; because it don't suit her character.

Mrs. Barefoot had expected Cowper at her lodgings, and had prepared a bed for him. Cowper came to her house as usual, and sent to the coffee-house for his bag. Mrs. Stout sent her maid over to invite Cowper to dine at their house. Cowper came back to her house about eleven, by the town clock, and did not go out again.

Hanwell, the last witness's maid, made some preparations in Cowper's room before he went to bed, which he did a little before twelve.

Referring to the last-quoted letter of the deceased woman, Cowper says:

'I had rather leave it to be observed, than make the observation myself, what might be the dispute between us at the time the maid speaks of. I think it was not necessary she should be present at the debate; and therefore I might not interrupt her mistress in the orders she gave; but as soon as the maid was gone I made use of these objections; and I told Mrs. Stout by what accident I was obliged to take up my lodgings at Mrs. Barefoot's, and that the family was sitting up for me; that my staying at her house under these circumstances, would in probability provoke the censure of the town and country; and that therefore I could not stay, whatever my inclination might otherwise be; but, my lord, my reasons not prevailing, I was forced to decide the controversy by going to my lodging; so that the maid may swear true, when she says I did not contradict her orders.'

Spurr proved that Cowper came to the Glove and Dolphin Inn as the clock struck eleven, and stayed there about a quarter of an hour. The Glove and Dolphin was a little less than a quarter of a mile from Mrs. Stout's house.

Cowper then pointed out that, according to Sarah Walker's evidence, he left Mrs. Stout's house at a quarter to eleven by the real time; that if, as he should prove, it took half an hour to go from there to the place where Mrs. Stout was drowned, he could not, according to the evidence he had just called, have been there.

Sir W. Ashurst said it took him half an hour and one minute to walk to the place where the deceased was drowned. Sir T. Lane said it took him about three-quarters of an hour, 'and we did not stay at all by the way, except just to look upon the hospital.'

Kingett and Man, two servants at the Glove and Dolphin, confirmed Spurr's evidence as to the time when Cowper arrived there and the time he stayed there; adding that he came there to ask about an account for his horse.

Hatsell, Baron—Pray, wherein hath Sarah Walker said anything that is false?

Cowper—In this: I asked her when she gave evidence, whether she went out to see for her mistress all that night, and whether her mistress did not use to stay out at nights, and whether she herself had not used to say so? If your lordship pleases to remember, she said no. Pray, Mrs. Mince, what have you heard Mrs. Stout's maid say concerning her mistress, particularly as to her staying out all night?

Mrs. Mince—She hath said, that her mistress did not love to keep company with Quakers; and that she paid for her own board and her maid's; and that, when she entertained any body, it was at her own charge. And she hath said, that Mrs. Stout used to ask, who is with you, child? and she would not tell her; and that she did entertain her friends in the summer house now and then with a bottle of wine; and when her mother asked who was there? her mistress would say, bring it in here, I suppose there is none but friends; and after the company was gone, she used to make her mother believe that she went to bed: but she used to go out and take the key with her, and sometimes she would go out at the window, and she said particularly, one time she went out at the garden window, when the garden door was locked, and that she bid her not sit up for her, for she would not come in at any time.

Hatsell, Baron—Did ever Sarah Walker tell you that Mrs. Stout staid out all night?

Mrs. Mince—She hath said, she could not tell what time she came in, for she went to bed.

Cowper offered to prove that Gurrey, at whose house the other prisoners had stayed, had said that if he had gone to visit Mrs. Stout, meaning apparently, if he had gone to visit the mother after the daughter's death, the prosecution would not have taken place. To this he would answer that he never had gone to see her in his life.

Now, for a man officiously to make a new visit in the time of the assizes, one engaged in business as I was, and especially upon so melancholy an occasion; I say for me to go officiously to see a woman I never had the least knowledge of, would have been thought more strange (and justly might have been so) than the omission of that ceremony. For my part, I cannot conceive what Mr. Gurrey could mean, this being the case, by saying, that if I had visited Mrs. Stout, nothing of this could have happened.

Hatsell, Baron—Mr. Cowper, he is not the prosecutor, I think it is no matter what he said.

Sir W. Ashurst, Sir T. Lane, and Mr. Thompson were then called to Cowper's character, and described him as a humane, upright, and capable man.

This concluded the case against Cowper, and the case of Marson was next considered. In reply to a question from the judge, he explained that Stephens was the clerk of the paper in the King's Bench; that Rogers was steward of the King's Bench; and that it was their duty to wait upon the Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench out of town. On Monday they all went to the Lord Chief-Justice's house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, according to their custom, and all set out from there. Marson, being only an attorney in the borough court, could not go further with the others than Kingsland, and returned from there to his business in Southwark, where he attended the Court, as was his duty, and set out again at past four in the afternoon. On arriving at Waltham he met one Mr. Hanks, a clergyman, who was returning from attending the Lord Chief-Justice to Hertford, whom he persuaded to return with him to Hertford, on the plea that he did not know the way. They galloped all the way, and did not arrive at Hertford till eight. There they found the marshal, Stephens, Rogers, Rutkin, and others of the marshal's acquaintance at the coffee-house, from which they went to the Glove and Dolphin, and stayed there till eleven o'clock. Rogers and the witness had a dispute about which of them should lie with Stephens at Gurrey's house, and they all went to Gurrey's to see what could be arranged, and to drink a glass of wine. Eventually Stephens, Rogers, and Marson, all stayed at Gurrey's; while Hanks and Rutkin went back to the marshal's. The party at Gurrey's drank three bottles of wine,

and afterwards, in jocular conversation, I believe Mr. Stephens might ask Mr. Gurrey if he knew of one Mrs. Sarah Stout? And the reason why he asked that question our witness will explain. I believe he might likewise ask what sort of woman she was? and possibly I might say the words, My friend may be in with her, though I remember not I did say anything like it; but I say there is a possibility I might, because I had heard she had denied Marshall's suit, and that might induce me to say, My friend may be in with her, for all that I remember. I confess Mr. Rogers asked me what money I had got that day, meaning at the Borough Court? I answered fifty shillings; saith he, we have been here a-spending our money, I think you ought to treat us, or to that purpose. As to the bundle mentioned I had no such, except a pair of sleeves and a neck-cloth. As to the evidence which goes to words spoken, the witnesses have fruitful inventions; and as they have wrested and improved the instances I have been particular in, so they have the rest, or otherwise forged them out of their own heads.

Hatsell, Baron—Mr. Rogers, what do you say to it?

Rogers—We came down with the marshal of the King's bench, it rained every step of the way, so that my spatter-dashes and shoes were fain to be dried; and it raining so hard, we did not think Mr. Marson would have come that day, and therefore we provided but one bed, though otherwise we should have provided two, and were to give a crown for our night's lodging. We went from the coffee-house to the tavern, as Mr. Marson has said, and from the tavern the next way to our lodging, where there was some merry and open discourse of this gentlewoman; but I never saw her in my life, nor heard of her name before she was mentioned there.

Stephens—We never stirred from one another, but went along with the marshal of the King's bench, to accompany my lord chief-justice out of town, as is usual.

Hatsell, Baron—I thought it had been as usual for him to go but half the way with my lord chief-justice.

Rogers—They generally return back after they have gone half the way, but some of the head officers go throughout.

Stephens—It was the first circuit after the marshal came into his office, and that is the reason the marshal went the whole way.

Hatsell, Baron—Did not you talk of her courting days being over?

Prisoners—Not one word of it; we absolutely deny it.

Stephens—I never saw her.

Jones—Mr. Marson, did you ride in boots?

Marson—Yes.

Jones—How came your shoes to be wet?

Marson—I had none.

Hunt gave an account of how he was at the Old Devil Tavern at Temple Bar, on Sunday night, and Marson and three or four others of Clifford's Inn being there at the same time, discoursing of the marshal's attending the Lord Chief-Justice to Hertford, Marson said he too might be required to go; on which one of the company said, 'If you do go to Hertford, pray enquire after Mr. Marshall's mistress, and bring us an account of her;' and it was this discourse that gave occasion to talk of Mrs. Stout at Gurrey's house, which was done openly and harmlessly. This story was corroborated by one Foster, who had been at the Devil; and Stephens offered to call another witness to the same purpose, but was stopped by the judge.

Hanks was called, and gave the same account of his arrival in Hertford as Marson had already given. He was in Marson's company from the time he met him till he left him at his lodgings, at about eleven o'clock.

Rutkin was called by Marson to give an account of his coming to Hertford.

Rutkin—My lord, I came to wait on the marshal of the King's Bench to Hertford, and when we were come to Hertford we put up our horses at the Bull, and made ourselves a little clean; we went to church, and dined at the Bull, and then we walked in and about the court, and diverted ourselves till about seven o'clock; and between seven and eight o'clock came Mr. Marson and Dr. Hanks to town, and then we agreed to go to the Dolphin and Glove to drink a glass of wine; the marshal went to see an ancient gentleman, and we went to the Dolphin and Glove, and staid there till past ten o'clock, and after the reckoning was paid we went with them to their lodging, with a design to drink a glass of wine; but then I considered I was to lie with the marshal, and for that reason I resolved not to go in, but came away, and went to the Bull Inn, and drank part of a glass of wine and afterwards went to the next door to the Bull Inn, where I lay with the marshal.

Marson called witnesses to character, who swore that they had always had a good opinion of him, that they had never seen him but a civilised man, that he had been well brought up amongst them, and that they had never seen him given to debauchery.

Cowper said that he was concerned to defend the other prisoners as much as himself, and that there was something he wished to say in their behalf.

'The principal witness against them is one Gurrey; and I will prove to you, that since he appeared in this court, and gave his evidence, he went out in a triumphant manner, and boasted that he, by his management, had done more against these gentlemen than all the prosecutor's witnesses could do besides. To add to that I have another piece of evidence that I have just been acquainted with; my lord, it is the widow Davis, Gurrey's wife's sister, that I would call.

Mrs. Davis was asked by her sister to help her lay the sheets for the men in Gurrey's house, and while she was doing so the gentlemen came into the room; it was then about ten, or something later. They had three quarts of wine and some bread and cheese, and then went to bed; and after that Gurrey went to fetch Gape, who lodged at his house, from Hockley's.

Cowper—I only beg leave to observe that Gurrey denied that he went for him.

Hatsell, Baron—Ay; but this signifies very little, whether it be true or false.

Various other witnesses were called, who gave all the prisoners excellent characters in their private and professional capacities.

Jones—My lord, we insist upon it, that Mr. Cowper hath given a different evidence now, from what he did before the coroner; for there he said he never knew any distraction, or love fit, or other occasion she had to put her upon this extravagant action. Now here he comes, and would have the whole scheme turned upon a love-fit. Call John Mason.

Mason, in answer to questions put to him by Mr. Stout and Jones, said that Cowper, before the coroner, had said that he knew no cause for Mrs. Stout's suicide; and that she was a very modest person. He was asked whether he knew any person she was in love with, and he said he knew but of one, and his name was Marshall, and he was always repulsed by her.

Archer was present at the inquest, and heard Cowper say that he knew no occasion of Mrs. Stout's death, nor of any letters.

Cowper—Then I must call over the whole coroner's inquest, to prove the contrary.

Hatsell, Baron—Did they ask him concerning any letters?

Archer—They asked him, If he knew of any thing that might be the occasion of her death?

Hatsell, Baron—I ask you again, if they asked him if he knew of any letters?

Archer—My lord, I do not remember that.

Mr. Stout—I would have called some of the coroner's inquest but I was stopped in it.

Juryman—We have taken minutes of what has passed; If your lordship pleases we will withdraw.

Hatsell, Baron—They must make an end first.

Mrs Larkin was called, and said that Rutkin came to her house between nine and ten, and that the marshal did not come in till an hour afterwards.

Mr. Stout desired to call witnesses to his sister's reputation; and Jones said that the whole town would attest to that.

Hatsell, Baron, then summed up. He said that the jury could not expect that he should sum up fully, but that he would notice the most material facts, and that if he omitted any thing, Jones or Cowper would remind him of it. He then recapitulated Sarah Walker's evidence, very briefly; and then went on:—

The other witnesses that came afterwards, speak concerning the finding of the body in the river, and tell you, in what posture it was. I shall not undertake to give you the particulars of their evidence; but they tell you she lay on her right side, the one arm up even with the surface of the water, and her body under the water; but some of her cloaths were above the water. You have also heard what the doctors and surgeons said on the one side and the other, concerning the swimming and sinking of dead bodies in the water; but I can find no certainty in it; and I leave it to your consideration.

Further, there were no signs of water in the body, and it was said that this was a sign that she was not drowned; but then it was answered that it might show that she had drowned herself, because if she wished to drown herself she would choke herself without swallowing any water.

The doctors and surgeons have talked a great deal to this purpose, and of the water's going into the lungs or the thorax; but unless you have more skill in anatomy than I you would not be much edified by it. I acknowledge I never studied anatomy; but I perceive that the doctors do differ in their notions about these things.... Gentlemen, I was very much puzzled in my thoughts, and was at a loss to find out what inducement there could be to draw in Mr. Cowper, or these three other gentlemen, to commit such a horrid, barbarous, murder. And on the other hand, I could not imagine what there should be to induce this gentlewoman, a person of plentiful fortune, and a very sober good reputation, to destroy herself.'

But if they believed the letters that had been produced to be in her hand, there was evidence to show that although she was a virtuous woman, a distemper might have turned her brains, and discomposed her mind.

As to these three other gentlemen that came to this town at the time of the last assizes, what there is against them, you have heard; they talked at their lodging at a strange rate, concerning this Mrs. Sarah Stout, saying, her business is done, and that there was an end of her courting days, and that a friend of theirs was even with her by this time. What you can make of this, that I must leave to you; but they were very strange expressions; and you are to judge whether they were spoken in jest, as they pretend, or in earnest. There was a cord found in the room, and a bundle seen there, but I know not what to make of it. As to Mrs. Stout, there was no sign of any circle about her neck, which, as they say, must have been if she had been strangled; some spots there were; but it is said, possibly these might have been occasioned by rubbing against some piles or stakes in the river. Truly, gentlemen, these three men, by their talking, have given great cause of suspicion; but whether they, or Mr. Cowper, are guilty or no, that you are to determine. I am sensible I have omitted many things; but I am a little faint, and cannot remember any more of the evidence.

The jury then retired, and in half an hour returned with a verdict of Not Guilty as to all the prisoners.

The acquittal in this case led to an appeal of murder, the most curious survival of the earliest English criminal procedure, which was not finally abolished till 1819. The effect of such a proceeding was that after an acquittal on an indictment for murder, the prosecutor might challenge the accused to an ordeal by battle. Accordingly, in the long vacation following the trial, Mrs. Stout, the mother of the dead woman, sued a writ of appeal out of Chancery, against Cowper, in the name of an infant who was her daughter's heir. The sealing of the writ was delayed, it is said to nearly the last possible day, a year after the alleged murder, for the purpose of keeping the matter in suspense as long as possible; and the consent of the mother of the infant to Mrs. Stout's being named as his guardian for the purpose, was obtained from her by a fraudulent representation that the object of the proceeding was to obtain the deceased woman's property for him. On discovering what its real effect was, she and her friends applied to one Toler, the under-sheriff of Hertfordshire, for the writ, and on his giving it up to them, burnt it. On a rule being obtained for the return of the writ, and it appearing that Toler had delivered it to the infant's mother, he was adjudged guilty of a gross contempt, and heavily fined. Holt, Lord Chief-Justice, said on this occasion that

he wondered that it should be said that an appeal is an odious prosecution. He said he esteemed it a noble remedy, and a badge of the rights and liberties of an Englishman. The court of king's bench, to show their resentment, committed Toler to the prison of the king's bench for his fine, though the clerk in court would have undertaken to pay it. And Holt, chief-justice, said to Toler, that he had not been in prison long enough before, and that he might now, if he pleased, go to Hertford and make his boast that he had got the better of the king's bench.

Afterwards Mrs. Stout petitioned the Lord Keeper for another writ; the infant and his mother presenting a counter-petition disowning their former writ as sued forth without their consent. After an argument before a full court it was decided that the Court had power to grant a new writ, but that it would be unjust to grant one under the present circumstances, because, among other reasons, the appellant and his mother had renounced the writ as soon as they understood its nature, and there was no proof that the appellees had been privy to their action.

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