mercurial ointment, in order to destroy the animalcula; that it threw Mr. Scawen into a salivation; soon after which he put himself entirely under the care of Mr. Sanxy, and he (the witness) did little more than make up the proper medicines.

Mr. Sanxy was a full hour giving his evidence. He began with describing Mr. Scawen's situation when he saw him on the 4th of May, declared what food and medicines he prescribed for him, and said, that on the 14th of June he complained to him of a brassy taste in his mouth. Mr. Sanxy felt his pulse, and, on examining his mouth, discovered the symptoms of an approaching salivation. He saw him again on the 18th, when he again complained of the brassy taste, and was actually in a state of high salivation. Mr. Sanxy suspecting unfair treatment; questioned him as to the person who gave him his medicines, and was told by him, that he received them always from the hands of the prisoner. As the symptoms grew more and more violent, Mr. Sanxy prescribed the decoction of the baik, in order to prevent a mortification; and when he next saw Mr. Scawen, the latter complained, that the doses of the decoction which he swallowed, sometimes had and sometimes had not, the brassy taste. In a short time an ulcer appeared to be formed in his mouth, and the gums mortified. Mr. Sanxy then called in the assistance of Mr. Young, of St. Bartholomew's Hospital; and upon their visiting Mr. Scawen, Mr. Sanxy questioned him respect ing the brassy taste, and asked if he should know it again; upon his

replying in the affirmative, Mr. Sanxy made a weak solution of corrosive sublimate, and touched Mr. Scawen's tongue with it, when he immediately said, "that was the taste." Mr. Sanxy then informed him of his opinion, that he had been poisoned, which Mr. Scawen would by no means believe, but ascribed his dreadful illness to a quack medicine for the rheumatism which he had taken; at length, however, he agreed to be moved to Mr. Sanxy's house, where he took more bark, but did not again complain of the brassy tate. Mr. Scawen made a fresh will at Mr. Sanxy's,' and died there in a very few days. Mr. Sanxy was cross-examined by the counsel for the prisoner, who desired to know, whether he thought the second salivation might not be caused by the mercury (which occasioned the first, not being entirely out of the body. He replied in a very decisive manner, that it could not, and enlarged upon the effects of mercurial preparations, laying it down as a doctrine which he had always subscribed to, that after a salivation, no mercury remained in the system; and a second salivation, and a second brassy taste, must owe their origin to a second exhibition of mercury.

Baron Smithe asked Mr. Sanxy what appearances there were on opening the body of the deceased? the latter replied, " he did not open the body as there was not the least occasion for it." Upon which one of the prisoner's counsel observed, that, as Mr. Sanxy had positively declared the deceased was poisoned, he apprehended it would have been right for him to have gained every possible inform

Edward Wheelock, an old servant of Mr. Scawen, was examined, and deposed, that his master made him take some of the rheumatic medicine with him. Upon his being asked whether he found any brassy taste in it, he said, he thought it had no taste at all, or, if any, it was most like water gruel.

It was proved that all the food Mr. Scawen took was boiled in silver; and that the quack medicine was bought of Mr. Harris in St. Paul's church-yard.

Mr. Dodd, the compounder of the medicine in question, declared it had no mercurial ingredient.

Dr. Higgins, in a very sensible and clear manner, gave an account of his having analyzed a bottle of the tincture for the rheumatism, when it did not appear to have any mercury in its composition.

Mr. Godfrey gave a similar evidence.

Dr. Saunders spoke to the effects of corrosive sublimate, and the subtlety of its nature.

These three gentlemen, upon their cross examination, dissented from Mr. Sanxy's doctrine of the certainty of its being evacuated out of the system by salivation.

As soon as the evidence in sup

port of the prosecution was closed, the prisoner was asked what she had to say in her defence; she replied, that her spirits were so agitated she was not able to speak what she wished the court to hear; she begged therefore to be indulged with haying her defence read by the clerk; this request was granted. It consisted of several pages of paper, closely written, and took up near twenty minutes in the recital. 1 began with informing the court and jury, that at the early age of fourteen she was seduced from her parents by one of her own sex, and brought to Mr. Scawen; that through a variety of artifices she was prevailed on to continue in his house; and that the circumstance broke her father's heart: she confessed that Mr. Scawen had spared no expence in perfecting her education, and that he had shewn se many instances of friendship and kindness to her, that she tenderly loved him, and had, by a conduct of many years, convinced him of her affection and gratitude. Dur ing his illness, which was almost without intermission for the last six years of his life, she acted as his nurse, had watched him with the most wary care, and the most constant attention, having sacrificed night after night to wait upon him and give him his, food and medicines. She declared she had been treated by the whole family as Mrs. Scawen, and was received in the neighbourhood in the same character; that she really and sincerely loved the deceased; and, taking every circumstance into consideration, she hoped no person would harbour a thought so injurious to her as to suppose her a

monster

monster capable of such an inhuman act as the murder of her best benefactor.

Mr. Bromfield, surgeon of St. George's Hospital, was the first witness sworn in behalf of the pri soner; he was examined merely with regard to the power of corrosive sublimate, and the possibility of a second salivation ensuing without a fresh exhibition of mercurials. He spoke on the subject with that precision and freedom which are generally the characteristics of skill and experience. He declared he had, in the course of his practice, met with a variety of cases where a salivation had returned, after every effort had been made to evacuate the mercury from the system. That mercury had often laid dormant and imperceptible in the habit for several weeks: and when ever its action was re-produced (which it might be by many casual circumstances incident to the human frame) the brassy taste was always a concomitant symptom.

Mr. Howard, surgeon of the Middlesex Hospital, confirmed Mr. Bromfield's evidence, by declaring he had frequently experienced the saine, and that mercury was of so subtle a nature, it was not possible for any man to say for what length of time it might lie dormant before it re-appeared.

Dr. Brocklesby asserted, in like manner, that a second salivation might happen without a fresh exhibition of mercury. With regard to the brassy taste, he affirmed, that he lately made a solution of a very small particle of corrosive sublimate, and wet his tongue with it; that it immediately gave him a brassy taste; that he dined heartily

after it, and in the evening the brassy taste returned. He instanced Dr. Mead's works on poisons, as a corroboration of his opinion.

Mr. Bromfield, Dr. Brocklesby, and Mr. Howard, severally mentioned cases in point to support what they urged in opposition to Mr. Sanxy's evidence.

Mr. Ingram declared himself entirely of opinion with the three preceding witnesses.

Mr. Parry, the surgeon, deposed that Mr. Scawen had in his last illness consulted him about his complaints; that he mentioned to him several quack medicines which he had taken, in every one of which there were mercurial ingredients; and that he strongly cautioned him against mercurials. He said he bought a bottle of the rheumatic tincture before there was any report of Mr. Scawen's being poisoned, and, upon tasting it, he found that it had some mercury in it, as it made him exceedingly sick; and he well knew the taste of corrosive sublimate. That since the report, he had purchased a bottle, had ana lysed it, when he discovered mercury disguised with gum guaiacum, He complained of being unhandsomely treated in Bow-street, be cause, before he was sworn, he had vaguely said, the rheumatie tincture had mercury enough in it to kill a horse; an expression which he used merely figuratively, without meaning to infer more from it, than that it was a very violent medicine. He instanced two cases in which a salivation had returned, and the patients had died, without having taken any fresh mercury; the one of a person, who after a salivation, and an appearance of a perfect re

covery, caught cold in a shower of rain, had a second salivation in consequence, and died within a few days; the other, of a lady who died, as Mr. Scawen did, of a second salivation, which caused a mortification in her mouth.

The Rev. Mr. Lodge said he had known Mr. Scawen's family for some time; that the prisoner always treated the deceased with unexampled tenderness; and that there was a mutual affection between them,

A gentleman, who had been intimate with the late Mr. Scawen for the two last years of his life, was sworn, and deposed, that he had repeatedly heard the deceased speak of the prisoner in very recommendatory terms; and that he had once bought a bottle of Maredant's drops for him.

Miss Smith declared she had been acquainted with Mr. Scawen and the prisoner; that she went to see him a few weeks before his death, and, while she was in the room, saw him take a dose of the rheumatic tincture, which made him very sick; that the prisoner then expressed great uneasiness at his illness, and advised him not to take any more quack medicines, as they made him rather worse than better. This witness declared she did not believe that the prisoner poisoned Mr. Scawen, as she would be the last person in the world whom she should think capable of committing such a crime.

The witnesses on behalf of the prisoner having been all heard, the judge summed up the evidence, and gave his charge to the jury, who, after being out of court about a quarter of an hour, return

ed, and found the prisoner, Not Guilty.

The trial lasted from about seven in the morning till between three and four in the afternoon. The counsel for the crown were Mr. Lucas and Mr. Cooper. For the prisoner Serjeant Glyn, Mr. Cox, and Mr. Peckham.

Some Account of the Proceedings against Captain David Roach, some years since joint-candidate with Mr. Wilkes, for the county of Middlesex, on a charge of having murdered Captain John Ferguson, at the Cape of Good Hope, on the 4th of September,

1773.

ON

N Wednesday the 28th of June, 1775, Captain Roach was taken on board the Thames East-Indiaman, just arrived in the Downs from Bombay; and, the Friday following, in consequence of a warrant granted by William Addington, Esq. and backed by

Russel, Esq. of Greenwich, was brought to London, where he was twice examined, the same day, by the magistrates in Bow-strect; hut we need not dwell upon what passed upon that occasion, as the whole appeared again upon his trial; for which, as the properest place, we shall accordingly reserve it. We shall only observe, that Mr. Chamberlain, Solicitor of the Treasury, attended in order to prosecute Captain Roach, at the suit of the crown; and that the magistrates at Bow-street thought proper to commit him to Tothil-fields Bridewell, upon a statute made in

the