A CURIOUS LIBEL. 
139 
the pursuer, mean and intend to insult the pursuer, and hurt his 
feelings, by expressing or insinuating, and giving him to under¬ 
stand that he the pursuer was represented and held forth by the 
defender to be a person unfit and unw'orthy to associate with his 
fellow-townsmen, and to be admitted to join with them in their 
demonstrations of loyalty and attachment to our person at a public 
dinner: That the defender’s said statements, representations, insi¬ 
nuations, and inuendoes, expressed to the said G. H. in reference 
to the pursuer, his character and status, were false, malicious, de¬ 
famatory, and injurious, and were utterred, inter alia, for the ma¬ 
lignant purposes of traducing the pursuer’s character, detracting 
from his just and true status in society, and outraging his feelings 
and the feelings of his family and friends; and the writing and 
delivery of the said letter to the pursuer, the expressions therein 
contained, and the import and tendency thereof, did deeply injure 
and insult the pursuer, and grievously hurt and outrage his feelings, 
and distress him in his mind: That although the pursuer applied, 
both personally and through his agent, by a letter, to be herewith 
produced, to the defender for an explanation of his conduct in the 
matter before detailed, or an apology therefor, before raising the 
present action, the defender, unmindful of his duty as one of the 
conservators of the peace, and holding our commission for that 
intent, continued to treat the pursuer with insult, and further 
evinced that his, the defender’s, conduct in the said matter proceeded 
from feelings of malignity towards the pursuer, and a fixed design 
to insult him, inasmuch as the defender declined to give any apo¬ 
logy for or explanation of his said statements made to the said 
inn-keeper, and the writing and sending to the pursuer of the said 
insulting letter, contemptuously refused to make any answer to the 
said applications, and returned the said letter of the pursuer’s agent 
in a blank cover, to be also herewith produced: That the pursuer 
bears, and has always borne, both privately and professionally, a 
fair and upright character and reputation: That he has for six¬ 
teen years past carried on an extensive business as a veterinary 
surgeon in the district in which he resides, and enjoyed the confi¬ 
dence and approbation of his employers, and down to the date 
hereof has, with the exception of the said dinner party, been re¬ 
ceived and without objection associated with at every public and 
private entertainment which he chose to attend : Tliat the pursuer, 
by parentage, status in society, and personal character and conduct, 
is not inferior to any of his fellow-townsmen whose names were on 
the said paper, or who could have attended the said public dinner, 
as will be proved before a jury in the action to follow hereupon : 
That the defender does not reside in-, and so was not one of 
those of whom the said dinner party was stated in the said sub- 
