d to his character. They all spoke of him as a man of _decent
gentlemanly deportment_, who, instead of seeking quarrels, was studious
to avoid them. He had been friendly to Englishmen while abroad, and had
rendered some service to the military at the siege of Newport.

'Mr Justice Rooke summoned up the evidence; after which the jury retired
for about three quarters of an hour, when they returned a verdict of
"manslaughter."

'The prisoner having fled from the laws of his country for twelve years,
the Court was disposed to show no lenity. He was therefore sentenced to
pay a fine of one shilling, and be imprisoned in Newgate twelve months.'

This trial took place in the year 1796, and the facts in evidence give a
strange picture of the times. A duel actually fought in the garden of
an inn, a noble lord close by in a bower therein, and his lady certainly
within _HEARING_ of the shots, and doubtless a spectator of the bloody
spectacle. But this is not the point,--the incomprehensible point,--to
which I have alluded--which is, how Lord Derby and the other gentlemen
of the highest standing could come forward to speak to the character of
_DICK ENGLAND_, if he was the same man who killed the unfortunate brewer
of Kingston?

Here is _ANOTHER_ account of the matter, which warrants the doubt,
although it is fearfully circumstantial, as to the certain identity:--

'Mr William Peter le Rowles, of Kingston, brewer, was habitually fond
of play. On one occasion he was induced--when in a state of
intoxication--to play with Dick England, who claimed, in consequence,
winnings to the amount of two hundred guineas. Mr le Rowles utterly
denied the debt, and was in consequence pursued by England until he
was compelled to a duel, in which Mr le Rowles fell. Lord Dartrey,
afterwards Lord Cremorne, was present at Ascot Heath races on the fatal
occasion, which happened in 1784; and his evidence before the coroner's
inquest produced a verdict of wilful murder against Dick England, who
fled at the time, but returned twelve years afterwards, was tried, and
found guilty of manslaughter only. He was imprisoned for twelve months.
England was strongly suspected of highway robberies; particularly on
one occasion, when his associate, F--, was shot dead by Col. P-- on
his return from the Curragh races to the town of Naas. The Marquis of
Hertford, Lords Derby and Cremorne, Colonels Bishopp and Wollaston, and
Messrs Whitbread, Breton, &c., were evidences