296 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818 



consented; but although the 

 wedding-ring had been purchased, 

 and the licence obtained, and the 

 half-brother of the plaintiff had 

 consented to give her away, the 

 contract was never fulfilled . This 

 intimacy continued down till May, 

 1817, when the defendant wrote 

 to the plaintiff, announcing that 

 the best mode of terminating the 

 anxious suspense which she had 

 always expressed, was to break 

 off the connexion, and think no 

 more of matrimony ; and he sub- 

 mitted the proposition to her 

 deliberate judgment, declaring 

 his own intention of breaking off 

 the match. The defendant's 

 father was then living, the former 

 being in partnership with the 

 latter as printers, with a very 

 profitable business. In conse- 

 quence of the defendant's deter- 

 mination to break his promise, 

 Mr. Palmer, a professional friend 

 of the plaintiff's family, was con- 

 sulted, and at first "he wrote a 

 friendly letter to the defendant, 

 conjuring him to consider again 

 of his rash determination ; but 

 this letter having no effect, the 

 present action was brought. Since 

 the commencement of legal pro- 

 ceedings, the defendant's father 

 died, leaving him in possession 

 of real and personal property 

 estimated at 20,000/. These 

 were the principal circumstances 

 proved in evidence, the main 

 ground of the case being substan- 

 tiated by a volume of the defend- 

 ant's letters. 



Mr. Sergeant Taddy, with 

 whom was Mr. Comyn, addressed 

 the jury with considerable inge- 

 nuity and eloquence in mitiga- 

 tion of damages. 



Mr. Justice Abbott summed 



up the circumstances of the case 

 with great minuteness and impar- 

 tiality. 



The Jury retired for about an 

 hour, and on their return, found 

 a verdict for the plaintiff — 

 Damages, Four Thousand Pounds. 



ESSEX ASSIZES, CriELMSFOKD, 

 JULY 24. 



Vooght V. Winch. — This case, 

 which was a second trial, lasted 

 22 hours, beginning on Thursday 

 morning, and at about two the 

 subsequent morning the court 

 adjourned until eight, when it 

 was resumed, and continued until 

 three o'clock on Friday. It was 

 a singular case, from the remark- 

 able contradiction of the wit- 

 nesses — the one side to prove the 

 place in question an ancient na- 

 vigable stream, and the others 

 that it was a common passage 

 across for ha)- carts. The form 

 of the action was a charge by 

 the plaintiff, who is the occupier 

 of a mill, called Abbey Mill, at 

 Stratford, against the defendant, 

 for deepening and widening a 

 ditch, called Potter's Ditch, and 

 diverting the water from his mill 

 stream. The defendant, by his 

 evidence, attempted to justify 

 this act by asserting that it was 

 an ancient navigable stream, and 

 that he merely removed the ac- 

 cretions of the mud and obstruc- 

 tions which had been suffered to 

 gi'ow up. As it is not possible, 

 within our limits, to go through 

 all the details of the evidence, and 

 as the substance may be shortly 

 told, it is as follows : — 



The river Lee, in its progress 

 to the Thames, besides the main 

 stream used for navigation, sub- 

 divides 



