ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE. [From the Times.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 361, 17 January 1849, Page 4

ROMANCE OF REAL LIFE. [From the Times.]

A romance of real life in its incidents and catastrophe, far beyond the wonders of an average novel, has just been closed in the Court of Queen's Bench by a verdict which appears to have been as gratifying to every listener as it must needs have "been to the parties immediately concerned. There was no very great conflict of evidence in the matter, as the case turned entirely upon a selection between one of two probable stories, and we shall be best enabled to present the reader with an intelligible digest of the three days' trial by assuming, as the jury did, that the tale of the plaintiffs was strictly true, and by relating it in the shape of such a continuous whole as may be constructed from the minutes of the proceedings. In the year 1763 there was born at Badwell Ash, in the county of Suffolk, Theophilus, the son of John and Elizabeth Turner, who were people in humble rank of life, the husband being gardener to the Rev. Dr. (3rd, Fornham St. Martin, in the same parts. As the"boy gave promise of quicker senses than ordinary, he was sent to a village school where writing happened to be taught with peculiar excellence, and subsequently, by the kindness of Dr. Ord, to some seminary at Bury St. Edmund's — very probably, as his classical proficiency is now mentioned, to the admirable grammar shoo] of that ancient town. It seems that the boy looked to the sea as his future profession, since Dr. Ord used familiarly to call him " Jack the Sailor ;" but upon some quarrel between himself and his patron he left Suffolk, and obtained, through the continued kindness of his friend, a situation in some school near London. This was in his youth, and from that moment' almost up to the present day none of the Suffolk people ever heard or saw any more of their lost countryman, Theophilus Turner. In the year 1842, on the last day of January, there died at No. 13, Huntley-street, Brunswick-square, a gentleman of the name of John Turner, insane and intestate, leaving behind him property exceeding the value of £60,000. He had been an eccentric old gentleman, and up to a year or two before his death had been not only in possession of his faculties, but of faculties considerably above the common run of such endowments. He had been a clerk, first, in the Ordnance-office, and subsequently in the Sun Fire-office, in which establishment he conducted himself so serviceably that in 1825 he was permitted to retire upon a pension of £200 per annum, as the reward of nearly 40 years' work. He had gained prizes not only in the lottery of life, but also in that Jess manageable lottery with which the Government of those days encouraged the speculative propensities of the people, and a fortunate ticket was always understood to have blest him with something like a comfortable independence. His habits andrappearance were as singular as those of wealthy single gentlemen are invariably expected to be. He wore pantaloons and powder, entered only periodically into society, and had only once changed his landlady during, a space of 35 years. Though not commonly talkative respecting his extraction, yet he now an then dropped hints which were not forgotten, and he showed some predeliction for the county of Suffolk, by making an, excursion thither twice every year for the sake of shooting, and receiving .from the same quarter occasional- presents of game, which were left for him at .the old eastern counties' house, the' White Horse, in Fetter-lane, and fetched from there with, his own hands. At length, as we have saii, in 1842, John Tur-

ner departed this life, after a goodly lease of it, and, in default of any next of kin, Mr, Maule, the Solicitor to the Treasury, impounded his whole property in behalf of the Crown. Now comes the romance of the story. Few readers of discreet age and average observations can have failed to remark that the memory of a relative lost when young, and' supposed to be revelling in riches in some mysterious quarter of the globe, is invariably cherished by every branch, sprig, and bud of the whole family, with a reverence and tenacity, compared to which the affection of a Roman for his household gods, or of a Chinese for his ancestral sacrifices, vanishes absolutely into nothing. Two whole generations bad passed away, and yet the name and fortunes of the missing Theophilus were still a favourite topic with the Turners, of Livermere, and expeditions were actually made to the great metropolis to discover that relative, who was presumed by all to be infallibly surviving in unboundedwealth and™ grandeur. One woman, with the constancy of her sex, actually devoted her life fq the search, and was known in London. as-:the lady in search., of her long-lost kinsman. Even- before Mr. Turner's death some glimmerings of gratula-~ tion were directed towards him, but, when th& amount and disposal of his property became known, no further hesitation was felt,.a^d the kinship and good folks of the deceased 1 / gentleman were boldly claimed by, the" thirteeji surviving Turners of the Suffolk stock".* The result has rewarded- their fidelity and justified, their claims, for our report of yesterday will 1 have informed the public that the jury were thoroughly satisfied by the evidence, of the witnesses and the eloquence of Sir Frederick Thesiger of the identity of Theophilus the schooolboy and John the gentleman ; and that the Crown has now to refund; the £60,400 at stake for the benefit and) disposal of the plaintiffs at large. Considering that the proof required involved nothing less than the identification of a gentleman who died six years back in London with a lad who left Suffolk 70 years ago, it must be admitted that Sir Frederick spun his threads of evidence into a yarn of wonderful neatness and likelihood. It was proved by the concurring testimony of witnesses altogether unconnected with the family, that the deceased had spoken of himself as the son of a gardener, as born in Suffolk, as once a teacher in a school," and as having had a sister named Sarah. He was also proved, by the evidence of a surviving schoolfellow^ to have been af school at Bury, and a coincidence more really curious than such analogies usually are was exposed in the fact, thst he used to call a lad to whom he had taken a fancy by that identical soubriquet of "Jack the Sailor" which had once been his own. His handwriting was peculiarly good, and answered to the notorious excellence of the- school in which he acquired it. The most knotty point was the convertibility to be proved of the names John and Theophilus. But, after starting with the probable supposition that a lad who had cut his kinsfolk adrift to seek his fortune in the world would rid -himself* o£ so distinctive a mark as a quadrisyllable Christ tian name, the learned counsel proceeded to show that Mr. Turner was actually addressed by certain intimate friends as _" The," or " Theo," and that in one of his books was written " Theophilus Turner" in full projioTtions. One incident is really too carious #= complication of chances to be omitted. ThC mas Turner Dersley, a son of a sister of Theophilus, was a potboy at Leicester, and was seat up to town some few years back to see after some horses which had been stolen from his employer. After catching ofte of the thieves, he dined with his companion at the inn where Mr. Turner used to call for bis parcels — an errand on. which the old gentleman actually presented himself at that identical minute. Dersley heard the parcel enquired for as due from Suffolk, and remarked that he himself came from that neighbourhood. Mr. Turner took him up_at that moment, ascertained the connexion between them, and gave the lad three half-crowns, which he joyfully pocketed, but said nothing about the discovery, thinking that by keeping his secret he, would monopolize "this whole forthcoming advantage. .Such are the particulars and catastrophe of this siagular-narra-tive ; and if the result carries no cither moral with it, it may be at least remembered as x exhibiting what little favour in this country is shown to the claims of the Crown, over, its humblest subjects.