CHRONICLE. 



343 



den is disappointed of being a mar- 

 ried woman this time, especially as 

 she has been so extremely anxious 

 to get married to her dearest dear- 

 est Giles, that she has made him, 

 since her elopement, swear several 

 times upon the Bible, that he will 

 never marry any woman but her. 



The learned counsel read the af- 

 fidavits of Mrs. SarahFrances Steele, 

 of Westmoreland-place, stating that 

 miss Nicholson and M r, Giles came 

 to her house on the 21st of last 

 month, and had been seldom out 

 from that time to the period of 

 their being taken into custody. 

 That she understood that they had 

 come to her house for the purpose 

 of being married, and that the 

 banns had been proclaimed in Ma- 

 ry-le-bone church, and also in an- 

 other church, the name or situation 

 of which she did not know. Mrs. 

 Nicholson, the step-mother, had al- 

 so made an affidavit, stating that it 

 would be inconvenient for her any 

 longer to take charge of the infant. 

 There was a relation of the infant's 

 however (an aunt), who, she believ- 

 ed, would be ready to undertake 

 the charge of her. The friends of 

 the young lady had reason to sup- 

 pose that her indiscretion had gone 

 no farther than the act of eloping. 

 The learned counsel, tiierefore, left 

 it with his lordship to determine 

 how the other parties should be 

 disposed of. 



Mr. Bligh appeared for a Mr. 

 Smith, an accessary, against whom 

 an attachment had already issued, 

 and expressed his deep contrition 

 for the part he had taken in the 

 business. 



The lord chancellor said, if Mr. 

 Smith wisiied to throw himself on 

 the court with liiis expression of 

 iOirow, it woukl certainly avail him 



in some degree, and if he had any 

 thing farther to state, he should 

 have an opportunity of doing so on 

 Thursday, when his lordship would 

 dispose of the case so far as he was 

 concerned. As the proclamation of 

 banns, where any of the parties 

 might happen to be a ward of that 

 court, was held by the law to be a 

 matter of very serious importance, 

 his lordship ordered that the per- 

 sons who had been concerned in 

 proclaiming the banns in the church, 

 of Mary-le-bone, and in the other 

 church, if it could be found out, 

 should attend the court on Thurs- 

 day. Til is order he made, not for 

 the purpose of having it held out 

 that their conduct had been impro- 

 per, but because the law was parti- 

 cularly strict in such matters, re- 

 quiring that every diligence should 

 be used for the purpose of ascertain- 

 ing that the parties, as to whom the 

 banns were to be proclaimed, resid- 

 ed within the parish, and laboured 

 under no disability which should 

 prevent the marriage from taking 

 place. Seven days were even 

 allowed by act of parliament 

 for the purpose of making this 

 inquiry. The care of the infant, 

 in the mean time, his lordship or- 

 dered to be entrusted to the rela- 

 tion whom the learned counsel sug- 

 gested. Against Mr. Giles, he or- 

 dered, that the attachment should 

 issue, leaving it to the discretion of 

 the plaintiffs to judge how far it 

 would be proper that it should be 

 carried into execution. If not ab- 

 solutely necessary, he was satisfied 

 they would not feel themselves call- 

 ed on to resort to such an extremi- 

 ty. Mr. Giles, in all probability, 

 was not aware of the situatioii 

 in which he stood, and, if he 

 chose to appear by his counsel, and 



stale 



