the Eden of domestic life, poisoning all that was pure, polluting all that was lovely, defying God, destroying man; a demon in the disguise of virtue, a herald of hell in the paradise of innocence. His name, Gentlemen, is WILLIAM PETER BAKER DUNSTANVILLE STERNE: one would think he had epithets enough, without adding to them the title of Adulterer. Of his character I know but little, and I am sorry that I know so much. If I am instructed rightly, he is one of those vain and vapid coxcombs, whose vices tinge the frivolity of their follies with something of a more odious character than ridicule—with just head enough to contrive crime, but not heart enough to feel for its consequences; one of those fashionable insects, that folly has painted, and fortune plumed, for the annoyance of our atmosphere; dangerous alike in their torpidity and their animation; infesting where they fly, and poisoning where they repose. It was through the introduction of Mr. Fallon, the son of a most respectable lady, then resident in Templestreet, and a near relative of Mr. Guthrie, that the Defendant and this unfortunate woman first became acquainted: to such an introduction the shadow of a suspicion could not possibly attach. Occupied himself in his professional pursuits, my elient had little leisure for the amusement of society: however, to the protection of Mrs. Fallon, her son, and daughters, moving in the first circles, unstained by any possible imputation, he without hesitation intrusted all that was dear to him. No suspicion could be awakened as to any man to

whom such a female as Mrs. Fallon permitted an intimacy with her daughters; while at her house then, and at the parties which it originated, the defendant and Mrs. Guthrie had frequent opportunities of meeting. Who could have suspected, that, under the very roof of virtue, in the presence of a venerable and respected matron, and of that innocent family, whom she had reared up in the sunshine of her example, the most abandoned profligate could have plotted his iniquities! Who would not rather suppose, that, in the rebuke of such a presence, guilt would have torn away the garland from its brow, and blushed itself into virtue. But the depravity of this man was of no common dye: the asylum of innocence was selected only as the sanctuary of his crimes; and the pure and the spotless chosen as his associates, because they would be more unsuspected subsidiaries to his wickedness. Nor were his manner and his language less suited than his society to the concealment of his objects. If you believed himself, the sight of suffering affected his nerves; the bare mention of immorality smote upon his conscience; an intercourse with the continental courts had refined his mind into a painful sensibility to the barbarisms of Ireland! and yet an internal tenderness towards his native land so irresistibly impelled him to improve it by his residence, that he was a hapless victim to the excess of his feelings! the exquisiteness of his polish!—and the excellence of his patriotism! His English estates, he said, amounted to about 10,000l. a-year; and

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he retained in Ireland only a trifling 3000l. more, as a kind of trust for the necessities of its inhabitants!-In short, according to his own description, he was in religion a saint, and in morals a stoic!— a sort of wandering philanthropist! making, like the Sterne who, he confessed, had the honour of his name and his connexion, a Sentimental Journey in search of objects over whom his heart might weep, and his sensibility expand itself!

How happy it is, that, of the philosophic profligate only retaining the vices and the name, his

rashness has led to the arrest of crimes, which he had all his turpitude to commit, without any of his talents to embellish.

It was by arts such as I have alluded to--by pretending the most strict morality, the most sensitive honour, the most high and undeviating principles of virtue,―that the defendant banished every suspicion of his designs. As far as appearances went, he was exactly what he described himself. His pretensions to morals he supported by the most reserved and respectful behaviour: his hand was lavish in the distribution of his charities; and a splendid equipage, a numerous retinue, a system of the most profuse and prodigal expenditure, left no doubt as to the reality of his fortune. Thus circumstanced, he found an easy admittance to the house of Mrs. Fallon, and there he had many opportunities of seeing Mrs. Guthrie; for, between his family and that of so respectable a relative as Mrs. Fallon, my client had much anxiety to increase the connexion. They visited together some of the public

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amusements; they partook of some of the fêtes in the neighbourhood of the metropolis; but upon every occasion, Mrs. Guthrie was accompanied by her own mother, and by the respectable females of Mrs. Fallon's family. I say, upon every occasion : and I challenge them to produce one single instance of those innocent excursions, upon which the slanders of an interested calumny have been let loose, in which this unfortunate lady was not matronized by her female relatives, and those some of the most spotless characters in society. Between Mr. Guthrie and the defendant, the acquaintance was but slight. Upon one occasion alone they dined together; it was at the house of the plaintiff's father-in-law; and, that you may have some illustration of the defendant's character, I shall briefly instance his conduct at this dinner. On being introduced to Mr. Warren, he apologized for any deficiency of etiquette in his visits, declaring that he had been seriously occupied in arranging the affairs of his lamented father, who, though tenant for life, had contracted debts to an enormous amount. He had already paid upwards of 10,000l. which honour and not law compelled him to discharge; as, sweet soul! he could not bear that any one should suffer 'unjustly by his family! His subsequent conduct was quite consistent with this hypocritical preamble: at dinner, he sat at a distance from Mrs. Guthrie ; expatiated to her husband upon matters of morality; entering into a high-flown panegyric on the virtues of domestic life, and the comforts of con

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numbial happiness. In short, had there been any idea of jealousy, his manner would have banished it; and the mind must have been worse than sceptical, which would refuse its credence to his surface morality. Gracious God! when the heart once admits guilt as its associate, how every natural emotion flies before it! Surely, surely, here was a scene to reclaim, if it were possible, this remorseless defendant,--admitted to her father's table, under the shield of hospitality, he saw a young and lovely female, surrounded by her parents, her husband, and her children; the those parents' age; the idol of that husband's love; the anchor of those children's helplessness; the sacred orb of their domestic circle; giving their smile its light, and their bliss its being; robbed of whose beams the little lucid world of their home must become chill, uncheered, and colourless for ever. He saw them happy, he saw them united; blessed with peace, and purity, and profusion; throbbing with sympathy and throned in love; depicting the innocence of infancy, and the joys of manhood, before the venerable eye of age, as if to soften the farewell of one world by the pure and pictured anticipation of a better. Yet, even there, hid in the very sun-beam of that happiness, the demon of its destined desolation lurked. Just Heaven! of what materials was that heart composed, which could meditate cooly on the murder of such enjoyments; which innocence could not soften, nor peace propitiate, nor hospitality appease; but which, in the very beam and