254 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



1st. Whether at the date of the 

 Heeds under reduction, viz. on the 

 7th of October, 1808, James, 

 Earl of Fife, deceased, was totally 

 blind, or was so blind as to be 

 scarcely able to distinguish be- 

 tween light and darkness ? And 

 whether the said Earl was at that 

 time capable of reading any wri- 

 ting, written instrument, or print- 

 ed book ? And if, at that time, 

 he could discover whether a paper 

 was written upon or not; 



Find, That James Earl of Fife, 

 at the date of the deeds under re- 

 duction, viz. on the 7th of October 

 1808, was not totally bli ad, though 

 he could scarcely distinguish be- 

 tween light and darkness. The said 

 Earl was at that time incapable of 

 readinganywriting,writteninstru- 

 ment, or printed book. He could 

 not at that time discover whether 

 a paper was written on or not. 



2d. Whether the said deeds were 

 read over to the said Earl previous 

 to the said Earl's name being put 

 thereto ; and if so, in presence of 

 whom ? And if read over to the 

 said Earl, as aforesaid, whether 

 they were all or any of them read 

 to him at one and the same time, 

 or at different times ? And if at 

 different times, whether they were 

 deposited and kept in the room in 

 which they were read, during the 

 whole period which elapsed from 

 the commencement of the reading 

 till the name of the said Earl was 

 l)ut to them as aforesaid, or where 

 they were deposited ? 



Find, That the said deeds were 

 read over previous to the said 

 Earl's name being put thereto, in 

 presence of Stewart Soutar, and 

 Alexander Forteith Williamson, 

 or one or other of them. Jt is 

 not proven whether they were all 



read to him at one and the same 

 time, or at different times. There 

 is no proof whether they were de- 

 posited and kept in the room in 

 which they were read, during the 

 whole period which elapsed from 

 the commencement of the reading 

 till the name of the said Earl was 

 put to them, as aforesaid, or 

 where they were deposited. 



3d. Whether the said Earl's 

 name was put to the said deeds, 

 or any of them, by having his 

 hand directed to the places of sign- 

 ing, or led in making the sub- 

 scription ? Or if the said Earl 

 was assisted ; and if so, in what 

 manner he was assisted in making 

 his subscription? 



Find, That the said Earl put 

 his name to the said deeds, by 

 feeling for the finger or fingers of 

 another person on the spot for 

 signature, and was no otherwise 

 assisted than as above described. 



4th. Whether the said Earl put, 

 or attempted to put, his name to 

 the said deeds, or any of them, at 

 one and the same time ; or whe- 

 ther any period of time interven- 

 ed ? And if there was any in- 

 terval or intervals of time between 

 the said acts, whether the said 

 deeds, and all of them, were ift 

 the possession or custody of the 

 said Earl, or were in the pos- 

 session or custody of any other 

 person during such intervals of 

 time? 



Find, That the said Earl put his 

 name to the said deeds at one and 

 the same time. 



Bth. Whether the said Earl put 

 his name to the deeds under re- 

 duction, in presence of the two 

 instrumentary witnesses, or either 

 of them ? or did acknowledge his 

 subscription to them, or either of 



them ? 



