292 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



knew lord Leicesterand Neri there. 

 Neri acted more as a companion 

 than a servant there. Neri slept in 

 his lordship's chambers, but it was 

 customary for servants to sleep on 

 the s;mie floor with their masters. 

 Lord Leicester was considered an 

 eccentric character in college. He 

 used to shut himself up in his room 

 for a week together, and saw no 

 one ; instead of a purple gown, 

 M'hich noblemen generally wore, he 

 wore a pink one ; he dressed his 

 hair effeminately, and was called 

 miss Leicester, lady Chartley, &c. 

 in derision. Many gentlemen in 

 the college, however, were like 

 ladies. He admitted that notorious 

 reports, accusing lord Leicester of 

 infamous and unnatural crimes, 

 were prevalent in college; he did 

 not believe them. He had heard 

 reports of others also. Lord Lei- 

 cester gave some concerts, at which 

 most of the nobility, and many of 

 the seniors of the college attended. 

 Neri was a musical character; his 

 lordship and he often played duetts 

 together. Neri played on the 

 guitar. 



Hannah Rusignal knew a person 

 of the name of Murray ; he lodged 

 with her one year. Lord Leicester 

 often visited him, and at one time 

 when he was sick, expressed his re- 

 gret at it, and advised him to get 

 good advice. Murray was not 

 musical. 



Rev. H. Boulter was lord Lei- 

 cester's tutor at college : the cause 

 assigned for his brdship's leaving 

 college was, that he was going 

 abroad. 



Col. Rainsford, 1st Guards, de- 

 posed, that there was a mnn of the 

 name of Frith, a private in his regi- 

 ment : that after a short absence 

 from the regiment, he found many 



men with gold watches, and Frith 

 among the rest; when in plain dress 

 also, they wore as good clothes as 

 he did. Lord Leicester gave Frith 

 the watch. He heard that his lord- 

 ship used to walk arm in arm with 

 the privates of his regiment in May 

 and June, 1806. He had heard 

 vile reports of lord Leicester for 

 the last three years. 



Lord John Townshend said, he 

 was uncle to lord Leicester. He 

 was not on terms with him ; their 

 quarrel was not personal ; he disliked 

 his lordship's conduct to his father; 

 he did not know him after his mar- 

 riage, but lady John sometimes vi- 

 sited at his house. 



The evidence was here closed ; 

 and Serjeant Best, at some length, 

 eloquently addressed the jury in 

 favour of th^ plaintiflP. 



Sir James Mansfield commented 

 at some length upon the evidence. 

 He went into a history of the press 

 in this country, from the time of its 

 first establishment to the abolition 

 of the office of licences. The liberty 

 of the press was a term blindly used 

 by many modern writers and speak- 

 ers ; it did not mean the liberty of 

 speaking political treason or private 

 slander, but it merely meant the li- 

 berty of speaking what it chose lia- 

 ble to the correction of the laws of 

 the land. Undoubtedly in the pre- 

 sent case a verdict must be found 

 for the plaintiff, but at the same 

 time the damages were liable to 

 mitigation, from the circumstances 

 of the evidence, according to the 

 judgment of the jury. — Verdict 

 for the Plaintiff', 1 ,0001.— Costs, 

 40s. 



Court of Exchequer. — Seduction, 

 — Strange, v. Gore. — This was an 

 action brought by the plaintiff, who 

 is a watch-maker at Kingston-upon- 



Thames, 



