CHRONICLE. 



34 i 



ing all deserters from the fleet, whe- 

 ther they return to their duty or 

 not; and another, pardoning all de- 

 serters from the land forces, provid- 

 ed they surrender in two months 

 from the 25th. The lords of the 

 admiralty, ordered an extra allow- 

 ance of 4 lbs. of beef, 3 lbs. of flour, 

 and a pound of raisins to every 8 

 men in his majesty's ships in port, 

 with one pint of wine, or half a 

 pint of rum each man. Eleven 

 crown debtors were this day dis- 

 charged from prison, in addition to 

 above 100 liberated by the society 

 for the relief of persons imprisoned 

 for small debts. The donations to 

 this laudable society for the above 

 charitable purpose have been most 

 liberal. The city of London set 

 the example by subscribing 1,000/. 



NOVEMBER. 



6. Court of Chancery.— Ward 



of Court V. Giles Mr. Richards 



moved for an attachment against 

 Mr. John Giles, for carrying off 

 miss Augusta Nicholson, a ward of 

 that court ; and also for having a 

 fit and proper person appointed by 

 the court, to whom the care and 

 custody of the infant should be in- 

 trusted. The circumstances of the 

 elopement it may be proper to 

 detail. 



Miss Augusta Nicholson, the 

 daughter of colonel Nicholson, a 

 ward of chancery, with a fortune of 

 14,000/ eloped with Mr. Giles, the 

 comedian, from Tunbridge Wells. 

 The family reside at Worcester ; 

 the colonel is, we understand, at 

 the Isle of Wight ; the youg lady's 

 mother is dead ; the colonel is mar- 

 ried lo a second wife. Miss Ni- 

 cholson has become entitled lo a 



fortune of 14,000/. when of age, in 

 consequence of the death of eight 

 relatives since 1803. During the 

 colonel's absence from home, miss 

 Nicholson and her mother-in-law 

 visited Tunbridge Wells, at which 

 fashionable place the parties first 

 became acquainted. Mr. G.'s first 

 introduction to the lady was by 

 an offer to carry some books for 

 her from the library. On the fol- 

 lowing evening she went to the 

 theatre, accompanied by her mo- 

 ther-in-law, and sat on the front 

 seat of the stage-box, and while 

 Ml'. Giles was performing close to 

 the box, miss Nicholson contrived 

 to drop a letter to him unobserved, 

 which he picked up unperceived by 

 her mother-in-law. In that letter 

 she acknowledged her attachment 

 to him, and gave him encourage- 

 ment to pay his addresses to her, 

 and said that she would marry him. 

 From that time a mutual inter- 

 course and correspondence took 

 place, in which the warmest affec- 

 tion was expressed. This proceed- 

 ing was communicated to miss N.'s 

 mother-in-law, who, to prevent the 

 intercourse pioceedingfurther, con- 

 fined her to the house. This re- 

 gulation, however, had not the de- 

 sired effect, for Mr. Giles contriv-. 

 ed a plan of exchanging letters 

 through the key-hole of the street- 

 door ; miss N. had a bed-room to 

 herself, and got up every morning 

 before five o'clock, and conversed 

 with her lover out of the window. 

 The correspondence continued 

 about five weeks previous to the 

 elopement. The elopement was 

 effected by the following circum- 

 stances: — 



Mr. Giles, destitute of the most 

 needful article, money, for carry- 

 ing on such an exploit, made Mr. 



Smith 



