About the beginning of the year 731, the duke declined fo faft, eing in his quarters at Lerida, hat he had not the ufe of his limbs as to move without affiftance; ut as he was free from pain did ot lofe all his gaiety. He contiued in this ill ftate of health for wo months, when he gained a ttle ftrength, and found benefit rom a certain mineral water, in he mountains of Catalonia; but e was too much spent to recover. He relapfed the May following at Cerragona, whither he removed with his regiment, and going to he above-mentioned waters, he ell into one of thofe fainting fits, O which he had been for fome time abject, in a small village, and was tterly deftitute of all the neceffaes of life, till fome charitable fahers of a Bernardine convent of red him what affiftance their house fforded.

The duke accepted their kind ropofal; upon which they removed him to their convent, and ministered all the relief in their ower. Under this hofpitable roof, fter languishing a week, the duke f Wharton died, without one iend or acquaintance to close his yes. His funeral was performed the fame manner in which the athers inter thofe of their own aternity,

account of the late trial of Neale Molloy, Efquire, and his wife, at Dublin, for the fup. pofed ill ufage of their daughter.

WO indictments were preferred against the prifoners. The abftance of the firit was, that they

had affaulted and wounded Sarah Molloy their daughter, on, before, and after, the 30th of December, in the 26th year of the late king, with an intent to deftroy her; and had imprisoned her, and kept her with out the neceffaries of life during ten years; and of the other indictment, that they had abandoned and expofed her, bound with cords, on the 20th of January, in the 2d year of his prefent majefty, with an intent that she should perish,

In fupport of these indictments, the counfel for the profecutors examined many witneffes, whofe names and teftimony are in fubftance as follows.

Eleanor Campbell depofed, Thas about feven and twenty years ago he was employed to nurse a female child of Mrs. Malloy's, who had a mole under her right breaft, and a mark resembling a trout on the outfide of her right thigh; that the was hired for this fervice nine months before Mrs. Molloy was brought to bed; that the nurfed the child two years, the greatest part of the time at her own house that the child being then removed to Carduff, fhe vifited there; and that when she was feven years old, the faw her at her mother's in Chancery-lane, it being four years and eight months after the had laft feen her; and that, obferving the mother to use her with great cruel, ty, fhe requested to have her home, and offered to maintain the child at her own expence; after which fhe was never permitted to fee her : That hearing a young perfon had been found in Rofs-lane, and fent to the Dublin hofpital for incurables, fhe went thither, and found that this perfon was the fame Sally

Molloy,

Molloy whom she had nurfed; and defcribed her marks, which, upon search, were found. The girl who had been sent to the hospital was then brought into court, and placed in a chair on a table, and this witnefs fwore, directly and pofitively, that she was the fame Sally Molloy whom the had nursed, and feen ill treated by her mother. She was then asked, whether the thought this perfon to be 25 years old? the anfwered, Yes, and more. Being asked whether she did not believe this person to be an ideot from her birth? fhe answered, No.

A young lady, faid by the defendants to be their daughter, was then produced; and the witnefs being afked, whether she had ever seen her before, answered, She had not. -This young lady was then removed out of court, but ordered to remain within call.

Arabella Mara depofed, That fhe lived with the defendants fix weeks as a fervant, in 1752; that they had one fon and one daughter; that he had been in the house three or four days when fhe first faw the daughter, who then came down into the kitchen, and catching up fome turnipparings, eat them ravenously; that the next time fhe faw her was fome days afterwards, and then fhe was locked in her mother's clofet, and begged, for God's fake, to have fomething to eat, thrust to her under the door; that he was then greatly emaciated for want of food, and her hands and face overgrown with hair; that fhe afterwards heard her crying for food, and put fome under the door of the clofet to her; that her mother going with the witnefs to get fome fugar, the child followed, and taking up

a little of the fugar in her fingers, her mother took the fugar-mallet and knocked her on the head; that the blow gave her a wound, which bled, and left a fcar; and that she difcovered the fcar, fo left, upon the head of the girl in the hospital; which, by that token, as well as by the features of her face, the knew to be Sally Molloy; and believed her to be fix or seven and twenty years old. She was asked if Sally Molloy was able to converfe? the anfwered, She was: fhe was then asked if the girl in the hospital had fpoken to her, and fhe anfwered No. She then, by order of the court, addreffed herself to the poor object on the table, who took no notice of what she said, nor of any thing that paffed: yet this witnefs fwore pofitively, again and again, that she was the fame Sally Molloy whom fhe had feen at her father's.

William Walsh depofed, That he was a flater; that being fent for in October 1752, to examine the roof of Mr. Molloy's houfe, he fent up his labourer, Patrick Hog, on the outfide of the house, by a ladder; that Hog having staid above fome time to catch fparrows, came at laft down haftily in a great fright, and faid he had feen a fairy in the clofet; that the witness then went up the ladder himself, as high as the closet window, which he found open, and looked in; that he there faw the young lady at the distance of about two yards, who had the appearance of a skeleton, and had asked the labourer to give her ane of the young fparrows he had caught on the top of the house, and the maid bid him not, for that fhe would eat it alive, feathers and all that the girl from the hospital,

:

then

then before him, was the fame perfon, and that he recollected her features perfectly. Being asked, whether the perfon he faw in the closet was covered with hair, he anfwered, That the had down, or fhort hair upon her cheeks. Being afked, whether the girl before him had any fuch hair, he said he could not tell without a glafs; a glass was was then given him, and he was compelled to acknowledge that the girl had no fuch hair, and that he believed the never had; yet he again peremptorily fwore, that the was the fame perfon he had feen in Mrs. Molloy's clofet; and being urged with the inconfiftency, contradicted what he had afferted juft before, and faid, He believed the girl might have had hair on her cheeks.

gown, and that her neck and hands, as far as he could fee, were covered with whitish down, or hair.Being ordered to look on the girl in the chair, and asked whether the is the fame he faw fed at Mr. Molloy's, he answered, "To the best of my belief she is."

Christopher Eaton depofed, That he was a carpenter; that in July 1750, he was at work in Mr. Molloy's houfe with one Strong, another carpenter, and Slack, a painter; that the girl, then before him, came into the dining-room, and asked, " for the mercy of God, that if any of them had a bit in their pockets, they would give it her, for that he was famished :" that fhe made an appearance fo fhocking, that he doubted whether fhe was a living creature or an apparition; that he asked her who fhe was, and fhe replied, I am Mr. Molloy's daughter, but my mother has taken an averfion to me:" that the painter then took bread and meat out of his pocket, and the girl fnatched at it, and tore and gnawed it eagerly; that she begged her mother might not be told, becaufe fhe would ufe her ill, and entreated they would continue to give her victuals while they ftaid; that she was in a fhort

James Gardiner depofed, That in 1751 and 1752, he was fervant to counsellor Gregory, who lived next door to Mr. Molloy; and that he heard Sally Molloy, his daughter, calling out of the window, "For the tender mercy of God, fome food!" That he asked her how it might be conveyed, and the defired it might be given to the fervants, who would leave it at the neceffary-houfe; for that, when her mother would let her go down thither, the fhould get it; that he did fupply her by this method, and the thanked him, begging more kitchen-ftuff, fkins of potatoes, or any thing; that by her appearance fhe was in a ftarving condition, and he believes the girl on the table to be the fame perfon: he alfo pofitively fwore, that when he afked this girl questions in the hofpital, fhe answered him but being directed to repeat the experiment in court, the poor creature took not the leaft notice.

This witnefs alfo depofed, That his mafter, Mr. Gregory, Mrs. Gregory, and Mr. Smyth, came once into the garden, and heard the girl cry out for victuals; that this was in 1752, and that he then made affidavit of the fact before Mr. ferjeant Malone: upon which the counfel for the crown obferved, that this charge took its rife long before the girl, then in court, appeared in the hofpital; and that, whether the girl in the hospital is

E 3

Sally

Sally Molloy, or not, is not material, if the affault and ill treatment are proved; for the defendants are equally guilty, whether the perfon injured was, or was not, afterwards taken to an hofpital.

Mary Nary depofed, That in 1751 and 1752, fhe kept Mr. Gregory's houfe at Dublin, when the family wa in the country; that the often faw and converfed with Sally Molloy from Mrs. Molloy's clofet window, and that fhe appeared to be ftarving for want of food; that he begged carneftly for fomething to eat, and that the witnefs fupplied her with victuals by means of a firing and a pole; that the witness asked her if he could fay the Lord's prayer, and the girl, though then 16 years old, feemed not to know the meaning of the queftion. This witnefs pofitively fwore, that the girl on the table was Mifs Molloy.

Doctor King (a phyfician) depofed, That he was called upon, in 1752, to enquire into the ftate and condition of Mifs Sally Molloy, and that he went with his father, and Mr. ferjeant Malone, to Mr. Molloy's houfe, where he faw the young lady; that she was decently clad, but very thin and pale, and could not perfectly repeat the Lord's prayer; but that fhe had no down on her face he alfo depofed, that, in his opinion, the girl on the table was a different perfon.

:

Mr. Woodroffe (a furgeon) depofed, That he believed the girl on the table to have been an ideot from her birth.

The counfel for the defendants

allowed, that this ideot was found in Rofs-lane.

Margaret Gillroy depofed, That fhe lived with Mr. Molloy three months, ten years ago; that he had one fon and one daughter; that fhe did not fee the daughter till fhe had been in the house a week, and then she saw her at the closet window from the yard, and heard her complaints; that she was in a poor condition, and covered with hair; that she saw her ftruck by her mother with a bunch of keys, which broke her head; and that the believed the girl on the table to be the fame person.

Here the counsel for the crown refted their evidence.

T'he defendants then called many witneffes, of credit, to disprove the charge, whofe names and teftimony are as follow.

Margaret Smyth, (fifter of the late Dr. Sheridan) depofed, That fhe had known the girl on the table fourteen years; that he was the daughter of one Clarke, an apothecary, at Balliborough; that the was then in her 15th year, and had been an ideot from her infancy; that her father had been dead about three years, and that she was fent up to Dublin in a creel*.

Thomas Crosby, Efq. depofed to the fame effect; and that he recommended the girl to the hospital.

John Cormick, a fhopkeeper, depofed, that he knew the girl to be Clarke's daughter, and to have had fits.

Luke Reily depofed to the fame effect, and that the girl received a wound in her head from a fall.

Hnry

Henry Hunter depofed to the fame effect.

Jocelyne Philips depofed, That he was churchwarden of St. James's parish, and in that station first saw the girl on the table, who was left in the care of one Eleanor Bradshaw by Dr. Tifdall, and that he paid for her fubfiftence 19 weeks.

Dr. Dunkin depofed, That the young lady produced by the defendants, as their daughter, had been always reputed and maintained as fuch, having known the family twenty years, and feen her, during that time, very frequently; but that she was fickly, and therefore did not come fo often into company as he would otherwife have done.

The reverend Mr. Rofs deposed to the fame effect; and that Mifs Molly was well treated.

Dr. Charles Coghlan depofed to the fame effect; and that he attended Mifs Molloy for a fcald head; for which it became neceffary to diet her, and give her phyfick.

Mrs. Anne Darcy depofed, That the knew Mifs Molloy, and had known her from her birth; that the young lady produced by the defendants, as their daughter, was fhe; that in 1752 fhe had a fcald head, but was well treated. Mrs. Bridget Macaulay depofed to the fame effect.

Mrs. Sarah Archbold alfo depofed to the fame effect; and that, in 1752, Mifs Molloy, the perfon produced by the defendants as their daughter, had a fore head, and fore toes, with an offenfive discharge, but had no mark under her breast, or on her thigh.

The defendants offered their daughter to be examined by the

counfel for the crown, but they declined it; they also offered to prove, that the child had been well ufed, by the evidence of fervants who had lived in their family; but the court thought it unneceffary.

Mr. Juftice Robinson then opened to the jury the fubftance of the indictments, as before fet forth; and fummed up the evidence; concluding with his directions and obfervations upon it, to the effect following:

1. Although it is of abfolute neceffity for the welfare and education of children, that human laws fhould leave the power of reasonable correction to parents, in whom nature originally placed it; yet abuses of that power, by exceffes in the means or manner, are offences punishable by law. Upon this principle, cruel chastisements, with weapons unfit for correction, are affaults; and the desertion of children, and expofing them to perish, or confining them without fuftenance, to ftarve, are unnatural crimes of a very deep dye; fo that, without doubt, the facts, as charged in the indictments, are offences indictable at common law.

2. In cafe, gentlemen, that you believe, that the poor ideot girl of the hofpital, produced upon the table, is not the defendants daughter, Sarah Molloy, there is then no proof of any ill treatment, fince the year 1752; and confequently, the greater part of the charges of the indictments, of courfe falls to the ground.

Upon this fuppofition alfo, the whole evidence of Eleanor Campbell, Arabella Mara, and Mary Nary, must be utterly rejected, and laid out of the cafe; for having fworn fo pofitively and deliberately