g those which had been discovered), and in which the
circumstances of the concealed marriage and the birth of the claimant
were acknowledged, it was useless for him to deny the justice of the
demand, and he recognised his nephew without demur. But the excitement
of the interview was too great for his failing strength, and he was
found dead in bed next morning. Thus all the hopes of the real heir
were dashed to the ground, for it was not to be expected that the
next-of-kin, who knew nothing of the supposed Provis, or of Sir Hugh's
marriage, would yield up the estates to an utter stranger, without a
severe struggle and a desperate litigation. He, therefore, refrained
from putting forth his pretensions, and travelled the country with his
wife and children, obtaining a precarious living by delivering
lectures; and he took no steps to enforce his rights until 1851, when,
after negotiations with several legal firms, he at length found the
means of pursuing his claims before the tribunals of his country.

In support of the plaintiff's case a number of documents, family
relics, portraits, rings, seals, &c, were put in evidence. At the time
when the marriage was said to have taken place there was no public
registration in Ireland, but a Family Bible was produced which bore on
a fly-leaf a certification by the Vicar of Lismore that a marriage had
been solemnized on the 19th of May, 1796, "between Hugh Smyth of
Stapleton, in the county of Gloucester, England, and Jane, daughter of
Count John Samuel Vandenbergh, by Jane, the daughter of Major Gookin
and Hesther, his wife, of Court Macsherry, county of Cork, Ireland."
In the same Bible was an entry of the plaintiffs baptism, signed by
the officiating clergyman. A brooch was produced with the name of Jane
Gookin upon it, and a portrait of the claimant's mother, as well as a
letter addressed by Sir Hugh Smyth to his wife on the eve of her
delivery, in which he introduced a nurse to her. Besides these, there
were two formal documents which purported to be signed by Sir Hugh
Smyth, in which he solemnly declared the plaintiff to be his son. The
first of these declarations was written when the baronet was in
extreme ill-health, in 1822, and was witnessed by his brother John and
three other persons. It was discovered in the possession of a member
of the family of Lydia Reed, the plaintiff's nurse. The second paper,
which was almost the same in its terms, was discovered in the keeping
of an