£68 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



Hannah, and Charlotte ; the first 

 about <20, the second about IC, 

 and the last not nioie than ir> 

 years old. The jury would scarce- 

 ly believe that the two last had 

 become the victims of the seduc- 

 tive arts of the defendant and his 

 friend Captain Seymour, of the 

 guards : these two i^cntlemen had 

 united their exertions in the most 

 rold-blooded, and deliberate, and 

 perseverlna; attempts to gratify 

 unbridled licenlioiisjiess ; lan- 

 guage was unequal to the expres- 

 sion of the baseness of the design, 

 the crnelty of ilie execution, and 

 t'le misery that had resulted from 

 it. The two younger daughters 

 of the plaintiff, Hannah and Char- 

 lotte, had been walking in Hyde- 

 park, when they were accosted bv 

 tie defendarit and Captain Sev- 

 inour, who in vain endeavoured 

 to learn where tliey lived ; tlie 

 gentlemen consequenily followed 

 them home, watched every oppor- 

 tnnity of speaking to the voung 

 females in the absence of their 

 mother, their elder sistci', or other 

 advisers, writing the most pas- 

 sionate and pressing letters, ])ro- 

 fessing that eternity of attachment 

 wliich lasts only to the moment 

 of gratification, and making those 

 most flattering promises which are 

 intended only to deludeand betray. 

 Having at length succeeded in 

 overcoming the scruples of INIiss 

 Hannah Gibberson (for it was to 

 her that the defendant p.iid his as- 

 siduous addresses, while Captain 

 Seymour devoted himself to Char- 

 lotte), he prevailed upon her to 

 quit licr home, that she might 

 proceed Avith him to Bath : and 

 her sister consented to the same 

 imprudent step with her admirer. 

 In pursuance of the plot of these 

 geutlciiieUj ho^ve^ er, they did not 



find it convenient to leave Lon- 

 don on the day of the elopement, 

 but promised until the next to 

 lodge the youngladirsat the house 

 of a friend. 'J he Jury would not 

 be astonished to bear, that that 

 house was the bagnio, called the 

 Key, in Chandos-street, where 

 the guilty design of the defend- 

 ant was perpetrated. Witiiin a 

 day or two afterwards, Mr. Charl- 

 ton excused himself on the ground 

 of pressing business, wiiicb called 

 him immediately into Worcester- 

 shire ; and he and Captain Sey- 

 mour, p\itting these two injured 

 and urqnotected females into a 

 loilging in Seymotu'-place, there 

 abandoned them, making them 

 answerable to the woman of the 

 house, where they were literally 

 confined for some months, being 

 unable to i)ay for the acconnnoda- 

 tion affoided. The Icarneil coim- 

 sel then read some of the corres- 

 pondence of the defendant. He 

 made many severe remarks upon 

 their contents, and particularly 

 those parts which recommended, 

 in coarse terms, that Miss Gibber- 

 son shouhl throw lierself into the 

 arms of some other man. He 

 left the case to the jtiry to decide 

 upon the question of damages. 



Thomas Coleraine was the first 

 witness. He was steward to the 

 defendant, and with obvious re- 

 luctance provetl the hand-writing 

 of his master to the letters above 

 given. He said, that he had ma- 

 n.aged the estate of Mr. Charlton 

 for five or six years, ever since 

 that gentleman was of age. The 

 estate at Ludford was w'orth about 

 2,000l. a year, and there were 200 

 acres of park attached to the 

 dwelling. Lucien Buonaparte had 

 been in treaty to rent it. 



Mrs. Mary Cooke said that she 



lived 



