COWPER--Was she not within the stakes?
DEW--No, this shoulder kept her out.
COWPER--When you complained they hurt her arm, what answer did
they make you?
DEW--They stooped down and took her arm out from between the
stakes; they could not have got her out else.
COWPER--After she was taken out, did you observe any froth or
foam come from her mouth or nose?
DEW--There was a white froth came from her, and as they wiped
it away, it was on again presently.
COWPER--What was the appearance of her face and upper parts at
that time?
DEW--She was so much disfigured, I believe that scarce any of
her neighbours knew her, the slime of the water being upon her.
COWPER--Did you see her maid Sarah Walker at that time?
DEW--No.
HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Cowper, do you intend to spend so much time
with every witness? I do not see to what purpose many of these
questions are asked.
COWPER--I have done with him: call Young.
HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Cowper, I would not have you straiten
yourself, but only ask those questions that are pertinent.
COWPER--Pray, give an account of what you know of the matter.
YOUNG--On Tuesday morning between five and six o'clock, last
assizes----
COWPER--What officer did you say?
YOUNG--I was constable.
COWPER--Was you employed by the coroner?
YOUNG--Not by him in person. Between five and six o'clock some
of the men that came into my yard to work, told me a woman was
drowned at the mill; I staid a little and went down to see, and
when I came there, I saw a woman, as they had told me, and I
saw part of her coat lie on the top of the water to be seen,
and I looked strictly and nicely within the bridge and saw the
face of a woman, and her left arm was on the outside the
stakes, which I believe kept her from going through; so I
looked upon her very wishfully, and was going back again; and
as I came back I met with R. Dew and two of my neighbours, and
they asked me to go back with them, and said they were going to
take her up; and being constable, I told them I thought it was
not proper to do it, and they said they had orders for it; so I
being constable went back with them, and when I came there I
found her in the same posture as before; we viewed her very
wishfully; her coat that was driven near the stakes was seen,
but none of her coats, or her legs; and after we had looked a
little while upon her, we spake to Dell and Ulse to take her
up, and one of them took hold of her coat till he brought her
above water; and as her arm drew up, I saw a black place, and
she laid sideway, that he could not take her up till they had
let her down again, and so they twisted her out sideway; for
the stakes were so near together that she could not lie upon
her belly, or upon her back; and when they had taken her up,
they laid her down upon a green place, and after she was laid
down, a great quantity of froth (like the froth of new beer)
worked out of her nostrils.
HATSELL, BARON--How much do you call a great quantity?
YOUNG--It rose up in bladders, and run down on the sides of her
face, and so rose again; and seeing her look like a
gentlewoman, we desired one Ulse to search her pockets, to see
if there were any letters, that we might know who she was; so
the woman did, and I believe there was twenty or more of us
that knew her very well when she was alive, and not one of us
knew her then; and the woman searched her pockets, and took out
six guineas, ten shillings, three pence halfpenny, and some
other things; and after that I desired some of my neighbours to
go with me and tell the money; for when it came to be known who
she was, I knew we must give an account on it, and I laid it
upon a block and told it, and they tyed it up in a
handkerchief, and I said I would keep the money, and they
should seal it up to prevent any question about it; and during
all this while of discourse, and sealing up the money, the
froth still worked out of her mouth.
COWPER--Have you measured the depth of the water? What depth is
it there?
YOUNG--I measured the water this morning, and it was so high
that it ran over the floodgate, and the height of it was about
four foot two inches; but sometimes it is pent up to a greater
height than it is to-day.
COWPER--Was it higher to-day than when the body was found?
YOUNG--To the best of my remembrance, it was as high to-day as
it was then.
COWPER--Was any part of the body above water?
YOUNG--No, nor nothing like the body could be seen.
COWPER--Could you see where her legs lay?
YOUNG--No, nor nothing but her upper coats, which were driven
against the stakes.
COWPER--Pray give an account how long she lay there, and when
she was conveyed away?
YOUNG--I stayed a quarter of an hour, and then I went and
sealed up the money at my own house, so that I did not see her
removed.
JONES--Was anybody there besides yourself at this time?
YOUNG--Yes; twenty people at the least.
JONES--Now here is ten of them that have sworn that the body
was above the surface of the water.
HATSELL, BARON--No, her cloaths, they say, were, but the body
was something under the water.
COWPER--Now I will trouble your lordship no more with that
fact, but I will give you an account of the coroner's inquest,
how diligent they were in their proceedings, and produce a copy
of the inquisition itself, that she was found to have drowned
herself.
HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Cowper, that is no evidence if it be
produced in order to contradict what these witnesses have said,
that have been examined for the king; but if you will prove
that they have sworn otherwise before the coroner than they now
do, then you say something, otherwise the coroner's inquest
signifies nothing as to the present question.
COWPER--Call Thomas Wall. I am loth to be troublesome; but, if
you please to favour me, I desire to know of them whether they
do admit there was an inquisition, and that she was found _non
compos mentis_ and did kill herself.
JONES--We do admit it.
JURYMAN--We desire it may be read.
HATSELL, BARON--Why, will not you believe what they agree to on
both sides?
JURYMAN--If they do agree so, I am satisfied.
_Wall_ was one of the coroner's jury, and saw the marks on the body
which he described; Mr. Camlin and the younger Dimsdale were requested
to examine them, which they did, and reported that they were no more
than were usual in such cases. Wall refreshed his memory from his notes,
and said that Sarah Walker had said that it was about eleven when she
had taken the coals up to warm Cowper's bed, but she could not say when
it was that Cowper went out, for she took up some more coals, and then
tarried a little, and then went down and found that Cowper and her
mistress had gone out.
HATSELL, BARON--The woman said the same thing.
COWPER--It is necessary in this particular as to time.
HATSELL, BARON--She told you the clocks did differ.
_Bowden_ and _Shute_ gave evidence as to the finding of the body and as
to its state when found, corroborating the other witnesses.
COWPER--My lord, I am very tender how I take up your lordship's
time, and therefore I will not trouble you with any more
witnesses on this head; but with your lordship's leave I will
proceed to call some physicians of note and eminence, to
confront the learning of the gentlemen on the other side.
_Dr. Sloane_[48] said he had not heard the other witnesses very
distinctly, because of the crowd; but that cases of the present kind
were very uncommon, and that none of them had fallen under his own
knowledge. It was plain that a great quantity of water might be
swallowed without suffocation;
drunkards, who swallow freely a great deal of liquor, and those
who are forced by the civil law to drink a great quantity of
water, which in giving the question (as it is called) is
poured into them by way of torture to make them confess
crimes,[49] have no suffocation or drowning happen to them.
But on the other hand, when any quantity comes into the
windpipe, so it does hinder or intercept the inspiration, or
coming in of the air, which is necessary for the respiration,
or breathing, the person is suffocated. Such a small quantity
will do, as sometimes in prescriptions, when people have been
very weak, or forced to take medicines, I have observed some
spoonfuls in that condition (if it went the wrong way) to have
choaked or suffocated the person.
He took drowning to be when water got into the windpipe or lungs, and
believed that whether a person fell into the water alive or dead, some
quantity would find its way there. He inclined to believe that the
general condition of the body was consistent with the woman having been
drowned.
_Dr. Garth_ gave reasons for disagreeing with the doctors called for the
prosecution in considering that the general state of the body proved
that the woman had not been drowned, pointing out that it was as
unnatural for a human body to float on its side, as for a shilling to
rest on its edge, or for a deal board to float edgewise rather than
otherwise. In spite of what had been said about the seamen, he believed
that dead bodies would generally sink.
HATSELL, BARON--But you do not observe my question; the seamen
said that those that die at sea and are thrown overboard, if
you do not tye a weight to them, they will not sink; what say
you to that?
DR. GARTH--My lord, no doubt in this they are mistaken. The
seamen are a superstitious people, they fancy that whistling at
sea will occasion a tempest. I must confess I have never seen
anybody thrown overboard, but I have tried some experiments on
other dead animals, and they will certainly sink; we have tried
this since we came here hither. Now, my lord, I think we have
reason to suspect the seaman's evidence; for he saith that
three-score pound of iron is allowed to sink the dead bodies,
whereas six or seven pounds would do as well. I cannot think
the commissioners of the navy guilty of so ill husbandry; but
the design of tying weights to their bodies, is to prevent
their floating at all, which otherwise would happen in some few
days; therefore what I say is this, that if these gentlemen had
found a cord, or the print of it, about the neck of this
unfortunate gentlewoman, or any wound that had occasioned her
death, they might then have said something.
_Dr. Morley_ was called, and supported the view that a drowned body need
not necessarily have much water in it, and that it need not float. He
had tried experiments on two dogs the night before; he drowned them
both, and dissecting one found no water in its stomach, while the other
sank to the bottom of the water.
_Dr. Woollaston_ and _Dr. Gelstrop_ both gave evidence to the same
effect as the preceding witnesses.
COWPER--Now, my lord, I would call Mr. William Cowper; and
because of his name, I must acquaint your lordship that he is
not at all acquainted with me, though I should be proud to own
him if he were so; he is a man of great learning, and I
believe, most people admit him to be the best anatomist in
Europe. Mr. Cowper, will you give your opinion of this matter?
_Mr. W. Cowper_[50] accordingly, premising that he would not only
'speak, from reason,' but give an account of experiments, stated that
the symptoms described were consistent with drowning;
this is a truth that no man can deny who is acquainted with any
thing of this nature, that when the head of an animal is under
water, the first time it is obliged to inspire (or draw in air)
the water will necessarily flow into its lungs, as the air
would do if it were out of the water; which quantity of water
(if the dimensions of the windpipe and its branches in the
lungs be considered), will not amount to three inches square,
which is about three ounces of water.
And this quantity of water would be sufficient to cause suffocation, and
after suffocation, swallowing would become impossible. This he said, not
by way of conjecture or hypothesis, but as the result of experiment.
I shall by the bye, tell you how fallacious the first
experiment was, when I proposed to satisfy myself whether a
dead body would float in water. It happened that a spaniel,
that had a great deal of long hair was hanged for this purpose,
which I found to float on the surface of the water; but when I
considered that his hair might buoy him up, I caused another
dog, which had shorter and less hair, to be hanged and put into
the water, which (according to what I had always conceived of
the human body) sunk directly to the bottom. In order to
satisfy myself what quantity of water was necessary to enter
the body of an animal, and cause suffocation in water, I caused
three dogs, when alive, to be suddenly plunged under water till
they were stifled; the result was that about three ounces of
water were found in their lungs, and none in their stomachs.
Dead bodies generally sank; weights were attached to dead
bodies, not so much to make them sink at the time, as to
prevent them floating afterwards.
COWPER--With your lordship's favour, I now think it a proper
time to make this observation. The witnesses that have given
evidence for the king do say they believe she was not drowned;
but they have not pretended to say how she died otherwise.
HATSELL, BARON--That is very true.
_Dr. Crell_ was generally of the same opinion as that expressed by the
last witness, and, in spite of the suggestion of the judge that he
should confine his evidence to matters within his own experience, quoted
the opinion of Ambrose Parey ('who was chief surgeon to Francis the 1st,
employed by him in most of his sieges and battles against emperor
Charles the 5th, and consequently must observe, and could not be
ignorant of such like casualties in such great bodies of men'), as
expressed in his chapter of Renunciations, to the effect that the
certain sign of a man being drowned was an appearance of froth about his
nostrils and mouth. Altogether his firm opinion was that the woman was
drowned.
_Mr. Harriot_, who had been a surgeon in the Fleet; and _Bartlet_, who
had been in several naval engagements, both swore that dead bodies when
thrown overboard sank at first, though they floated again afterwards.
_Mr. Camlin_ was called at the coroner's inquest, and examined the body.
He found certain marks on the head and breast which Mr. Dimsdale said
were only the result of drowning; he had seen more decided marks on the
body of the child that was drowned. He saw no indications that Mrs.
Stout had been strangled.
BOWD--It was much about this time twelvemonth I had some
business in London; and she [Mrs. Stout] sent to me, to know
when I should go to London; and I waited upon her before I
went, and she desired me to do some business for her; and when
I returned, I acquainted her with what I had done; and sitting
together in the hall, I asked her, what is the matter with you?
Said I, there is something more than ordinary; you seem to be
melancholy. Saith she, you are come from London, and you have
heard something or other: said I, I believe you are in love. In
love! said she. Yes, said I, Cupid, that little boy, hath
struck you home: she took me by the hand; Truly, said she, I
must confess it; but I did think I should never be guilty of
such a folly: and I answered again, I admire that should make
you uneasy; if the person be not of that fortune as you are,
you may, if you love him, make him happy and yourself easy.
That cannot be, saith she: the world shall not say I change my
religion for a husband. And some time after I had been in
London, having bought some India goods, she came to my shop and
bought some of me for a gown, and afterwards she came to pay me
for it; and I asked her, How do you like it? have you made it
up? No, said she, and I believe I shall never live to wear it.
COWPER--Pray how long is it since?
BOWD--It was about February or January before her death. I
asked her, why she did not come to my house oftener She said,
she had left off all company, and applied herself to reading;
and company was indifferent to her.
Several other witnesses were then called to prove that they had recently
seen the deceased woman in a state of melancholy, and that she had
admitted that she was in love, though she would not say with whom.
COWPER--Mrs. Cowper, what do you know of Mrs. Stout's
melancholy?
COWPER--My lord, this is my brother's wife.
MRS. COWPER--About spring was twelve month, she came to London,
and I believe it was not less than once or twice a week I saw
her; and I never had an opportunity to be an hour alone with
her at any time, but I perceived something in her melancholy. I
have asked her the reason of it several times, and sometimes
she seemed to dislike her profession, being a Quaker; and
sometimes she would say, that she was uneasy at something that
lay upon her spirits, which she should never outlive; and that
she should never be well while she was in this world. Sometimes
I have endeavoured to persuade her out of it seriously, and
sometimes by raillery, and have said are you sure you shall be
better in another world? And particularly I remember I have
said to her, I believe you have Mr. Marshall in your head:
either have him, or do not trouble yourself about him; make
yourself easy either one way or another; and she hath said no,
in an indifferent way, I cannot make myself easy: Then I have
said, marry him: no, saith she, I cannot. Sometimes with
company she would be diverted, and had frequently a way of
throwing her hands, and shewed great disturbance and
uneasiness. This time twelvemonth, at the summer assizes, I was
here six days, and I saw her every day; and one time, among
other discourse, she told me she had received great disturbance
from one Theophilus, a waterman and a Quaker, who coming down
to old Mrs. Stout, that was then lame, she had gathered about
20 or 30 people together to hear him preach; and she said he
directed his discourse to her, and exasperated her at the rate
that she had thoughts of seeing nobody again, and said, she
took it heinously ill to be so used, and particularly, that he
had told her that her mother's falling outwardly in the flesh
should be a warning that she did not fall inwardly; and such
'canting stuff,' as she called it; and she said, that
Theophilus had so used her, that she was ashamed to show her
head. Another time, the same week, she had a fever, and she
said, she was in great hopes it would end her days, and that
she neglected herself in doing those things that were necessary
for her health, in hopes it would carry her off, and often
wished herself dead. Another time, which I think was the last
time I saw her, it was at my sister's lodgings, and I sent for
her to drink a dish of tea with us, and she came in a great
toss and melancholy: Said I, what is the matter? you are always
in this humour. Saith she, I cannot help it, I shall never be
otherwise. Saith my sister, for God's sake keep such thoughts
out of your head as you have had, do not talk any more of
throwing yourself out of window: Saith she, I may thank God
that ever I saw your face, otherwise I had done it, but I
cannot promise I shall not do it.
HATSELL, BARON--What is your name, madam?
COWPER--It is my brother's wife, my lord. I desire Mrs. Toller
may give an account of what she knows as to her being
melancholy.
MRS. TOLLER--My lord, she was once to see me, and she looked
very melancholy, and I asked her what was the matter? and she
said, something had vexed her that day; and I asked her the
cause of it, and she stopped a little while, and then said, she
would drown herself out of the way.
HATSELL, BARON--How long ago was this?
MRS. TOLLER--About three quarters of a year ago.
JOHN STOUT--I desire to know whether she has always said so, or
not told another story.
MRS. TOLLER--I told you no story; it may be I did not say so
much to you, but I said she talked something of drowning. I
have been with her when Mr. Cowper's conversation and name has
been mentioned, and she said she kept but little company; that
sometimes she went to Mrs. Low's, and that she kept none but
civil modest company, and that Mr. Cowper was a civil modest
gentleman, and that she had nothing to say against him.
COWPER--This is Mrs. Eliz. Toller, my lord.
ELIZABETH TOLLER--My lord, she came to see me some time after
Christmas, and seemed not so cheerful as she used to be; said
I, what is the matter? Why are you not so merry as you used to
be? Why do you not come often to see me? Saith she, I do not
think to go abroad so much as I used to do, and said, it would
be as much a rarity to see her go abroad, as to see the sun
shine by night.
COWPER--Mrs. Grub, what do you know concerning Mrs. Stout's
pulling out a letter at her brother, Mr. John Stout's? Give an
account of it, and what she said upon that occasion.
MRS. GRUB--I have a daughter that lives at Guernsey, and she
sent me a letter, and I prayed Mrs. Sarah Stout to read the
letter; and while she was reading it I cried; saith she, why do
you cry? said I, because my child is so far off. Said she, if I
live till winter is over, I will go over the sea as far as I
can from the land.
HATSELL, BARON--What was the occasion of her saying so?
MRS. GRUB--I was washing my master's study, Mrs. Sarah Stout
came in, and I had a letter from my daughter at Guernsey, and I
prayed Mrs. Sarah Stout to read it, and she read my letter, and
I cried, and she asked me, why I cryed? Said I, because my
child is so far off: Saith she, if I live to winter, or till
winter is over, I will go over sea as far as I can from the
land.
COWPER--Now, my lord, to bring this matter of melancholy to the
point of time, I will call one witness more, who will speak of
a remarkable instance that happened on Saturday before the
Monday when she did destroy herself.
Call Mr. Joseph Taylor. Pray will you inform the court and jury
of what you observed on Saturday before the Monday on which
Mrs. Stout destroyed herself.
JOSEPH TAYLOR--I happened to go in at Mr. Firmin's shop, and
there she sat the Saturday before this accident happened, the
former assizes, and I was saying to her, Madam, I think you
look strangely discontented; I never saw you dressed so in my
life: Saith she, the dress will serve me as long as I shall
have occasion for a dress.
COWPER--In what posture did she appear in the shop?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--She appeared to be very melancholy.
COWPER--What part of her dress did you find fault with?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--It was her head cloaths.
COWPER--What was the matter with them?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--I thought her head was dawbed with some kind of
grease or charcoal.
COWPER--What answer did she make?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--She said, they would serve her time.
COWPER--As to this piece of evidence, if your lordship pleases,
I desire it may be particularly taken notice of; it was her
head-dress that she said would serve her time.
Pray, Mr. Taylor, was you at Mr. Barefoot's when I came there
on Monday morning?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--Yes; I went up stairs with you into your
chamber.
COWPER--Pray, what did I say to Mr. Barefoot?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--You asked him if they had received a letter from
your brother, and he said, No, not that he knew of, but he
would call his wife, and he did call his wife, and asked her if
she had received a letter, and she said, No; then said you, I
will take up this lodging for mine; and accordingly you went up
stairs, and I went with you, and staid there about four times
as long as I have been here.
COWPER--Are you very sure that I said, I would take up my
lodgings there?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--Yes, I am very sure of it.
HATSELL, BARON--What time of the day was it?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--It was the fore part of the day; while I was
there, my lord, Mrs. Sarah Stout's maid came to invite Mr.
Cowper to her house to dinner.
COWPER--Did you know anything of my sending to the
coffee-house?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--You sent to the coffee-house for your things.
HATSELL, BARON--Did Mr. Cowper use to lie at Mrs. Barefoot's?
JOSEPH TAYLOR--His brother did, but I do not know whether this
gentleman did, but at that time he took up that place for his
lodging; and said, it was all one, my brother must pay for it,
and therefore I will take it up for myself.
COWPER--Call Mrs. Barefoot and her maid.
[But they not presently appearing,]
COWPER--My lord, in the meantime I will go on to the other part
of my evidence, in opening of which I shall be very short.
My lord, my wife lodging at Hertford, occasioned me frequently
to come down. Mrs. Stout became acquainted with her; When
business was over in the long vacation, I resided pretty much
at Hertford, and Mr. Marshall came down to pay me a visit, and
this introduced his knowledge of Mrs. Stout. When she was first
acquainted with him she received him with a great deal of
civility and kindness, which induced him to make his addresses
to her, as he did, by way of courtship. It happened one evening
that she and one Mrs. Crook, Mr. Marshall and myself, were
walking together, and Mr. Marshall and Mrs. Crook going some
little way before us, she took this opportunity to speak to me
in such terms, I must confess, as surprized me. Says she, Mr.
Cowper, I did not think you had been so dull. I was inquisitive
to know in what my dulness did consist. Why, says she, do you
imagine I intend to marry Mr. Marshall? I said I thought she
did, and that if she did not, she was much to blame in what she
had done: No, says she, I thought it might serve to divert the
censure of the world, and favour our acquaintance. My lord, I
have some original letters under her own hand which will make
this fully manifest; I will produce the letters after I have
called Mr. Marshall. Mr. Marshall.
MR. MARSHALL--If your lordship pleases, it was in the long
vacation I came down to spend a little of my leisure time at
Hertford; the reason of my going thither was, because Mr.
Cowper was there at that time. The first night when I came down
I found Mrs. Sarah Stout visiting at Mr. Cowper's lodgings and
there I first came acquainted with her; and she afterwards gave
me frequent opportunities of improving that acquaintance; and
by the manner of my reception by her, I had no reason to
suspect the use it seems I was designed for. When I came to
town, my lord, I was generally told of my courting Mrs. Stout,
which I confess was not then in my head; but it being
represented to me as a thing easy to be got over, and believing
the report of the world as to her fortune, I did afterwards
make my application to her; but upon very little trial of that
sort, I received a very fair denial, and there ended my suit;
Mr. Cowper having been so friendly to me, as to give me notice
of some things, that convinced me I ought to be thankful I had
no more to do with her.
HATSELL, BARON--When did she cast you off?
MR. MARSHALL--I cannot be positive as to the time, my lord, but
it was in answer to the only serious letter I ever writ to her;
as I remember, I was not over importunate in this affair, for I
never was a very violent lover.
HATSELL, BARON--Well, but tell the time as near as you can.
MR. MARSHALL--I believe it was a second or third time I came
down to Hertford, which is about a year and a half since; and,
during the whole of my acquaintance with her, I never till
then found her averse to any proposal of mine; but she then
telling me her resolution was not to comply with what I
desired, I took her at her word, having, partly by my own
observation, but more by Mr. Cowper's friendship, been pretty
well able to guess at her meaning.
COWPER--Because what you say may stand confirmed beyond
contradiction, I desire you to say whether you have any letters
from her to yourself?
MR. MARSHALL--Yes, I have a letter in my hand which she sent
me, upon occasion of some songs I sent her when I came to town,
which she had before desired of me; and this is a letter in
answer to mine; it is her hand-writing, and directed to me.
HATSELL, BARON--How do you know it is her hand-writing?
MR. MARSHALL--I have seen her write, and seen and received
several letters from her.
COWPER--Pray shew it Mr. Beale.
MR. BEALE--I believe it to be her hand; I have seen her write,
and have a receipt of hers.
CLERK OF ARRAIGNS--It is directed to Mr. Thomas Marshall at
Lyons-inn, and dated Sept. 26, 1697.
'_Sept. 26, 1697._
'SIR,
'Yours came very safe; but I wish you had explained your
meaning a little more about the accident you speak of;
for have been puzzling my brains ever since; and without
I shall set myself to conjuring, I cannot imagine what
it should be, for I know of nothing that happened after
you went away, nor no discourse about you, only when we
were together, the company would sometimes drink your
health, or wish you had been there, or the like; so that
I fancy it must be something Mr. has invented for
diversion; though I must confess we have a sort of
people here, that are inspired with the gift of
foreknowledge, who will tell one as much for nothing as
any astrologer will have a good piece of money for. But
to leave jesting, I cannot tell when I shall come to
London, unless it be for the night and away, about some
business with my brother, that I must be obliged to
attend his motions; but when I do, I shall remember my
promise, although I do not suppose you are any more in
earnest than myself in this matter. I give you thanks
for your songs and your good wishes, and rest,