APPENDIX TO CHRONICLE. 



281 



If the party does not appear, the 

 schedule of excommunication is 

 signed ; but, except in this instance, 

 never knew it to have been signed 

 on the same day. Plaintiff' had only 

 to come in and say, here I am. On 

 re-examination he said, that he 

 thought a party, not of the cause, 

 could not be proceeded against by 

 excommunication. 



The reverend William Harrison 

 proved that he read the sentence 

 of excommunication to a congre- 

 gation of 4 to 500 persons. 



Dr, Coneybear proved that he 

 read the sentence of absolution. 



A person was called to prove the 

 loss plaintiff had sustained in con- 

 sequence of the excommunication, 

 but he was not acquainted with 

 any particulars. 



The Solicitor-general said, that 

 this was a most singular cause, 

 whether the situation of the piain- 

 tifi" or of the defendant were con- 

 sidered. The action was brought 

 for damages sustained by a judg- 

 ment stated to have been illegal : 

 but the least imputation of malice 

 in the defendant was denied. The 

 plaintiff was not proved to have 

 sustained any loss; this action was, 

 therefore, brought in order to set- 

 tle a point of practice. Jt had been 

 a source of great uneasiness to the 

 defendant, who, having gone 

 through a blameless life, now at an 

 advanced period of that life found 

 it to be a cup of some bitterness, 

 that he, a judge, should be 

 brought into a court of common 

 law, accompanied with a sugges- 

 tion that he had passed an illegal 

 sentence — a sentence he was bound 

 to give ; but which, though not 

 from its actual power, was most 

 unpopular, and which neither the 

 defendant nor the right hon. gen- 



tleman (sir J. Nicholl) who sat 

 beside his lordship, ever passed 

 without an anxious wish to be saved 

 from the necess.ity. But it had 

 been said, that sir VV. Scott gave 

 the plaintiff" a sum of money, and 

 was, therefore, conscious of injus- 

 tice: such a charge filled him with 

 disgust and abhorrence for the per- 

 son who had made his learned 

 friend the organ of it. But if sir 

 W. Scott were blameable, sir John 

 Nicholl was infinitely more blame- 

 able. Sir W. Scott acted on a 

 new question on the exigency of 

 the moment; but sir J. Nicholl 

 had time for reflection, and had 

 the assistance of able advocates, 

 and of the former judgment, and 

 he confirmed this unjust judgment. 

 The son of the plaintiff was mar- 

 ried under age, and had been guil- 

 ty of the most atrocious cruelty, 

 and of adultery; the wife sought 

 redress; and this was a case in 

 which a judge would be most un- 

 willing that any delay should take 

 place. The father was the natural 

 guardian of the son ; and when 

 the right to alimony or costs was 

 waved by the other party, the 

 judge appointed him guardian : of 

 this appointment he had notice 

 from the proctor on the other side. 

 Mr. Espinasse called on sir W. 

 Scott, and having described the 

 forlorn situation of the plaintiff, 

 sir W. Scott, out of pure benevo- 

 lence, as was admitted by plain- 

 tiff's own letter, gave him 150/. 

 This benevolent act he had cause 

 to lament : it was merely produc- 

 tive of repeated attempts to get 

 more money. It was an indiscre- 

 tion, but a virtuous indiscretion, in 

 sir W. Scott, to give the plaintiff 

 any thing ; but it had been carried 

 too far, and could not be carried far- 



