A BREACH OF PROMISE CASE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4425, 26 May 1875, Page 3

A BREACH OF PROMISE CASE.

(From the Glasgow Herald.)

Fine old truism it is, and is still true, that a man, especially a man of middle age, ought to think twice, and if possible three times, before fixin" upon any woman for a wife. First thoughts in such-matters often enough only bring such men to the stool of repentance. Even second thoughts, if. not carefully weighed in the scales of judgment, not unfrequently yield a large crop of vexation. To "think twice" is no doubt a good classical phrase, both in form and substance ; yet, the idea of thinking " three times " before entering upon any enterprise , such as matrimony, particularly in middle life, has a greater degree of mystery and • profoundly, not to speak of _the support it has from antiquity and the " Philosophy of Triplication." " Once for a fool, twice for a peasant, thrice for a wise man," is an ancient oracle. Good had it been for Mr. Thomas Sheridan, Dublin ironmonger, had he been acquainted with , these things. He would have escaped being made a spectacle of in a Dublin court,' and he would not have been compelled, to pay £2OO to Miss Eliza Shiel, whom, without due thought, he promised to marry, and couldn't, or at least didn't.' Eliza is the daughter of a widow in Dublin, and Mr. Sheridan had known thes girl from her infancy. So far as. years went, he might have been her father. It pqcured to him.in his raw haste that he should'like to become her husband. He proposed ; rEliza hesitated ; but after a walk ; in the Zoological Gardens with him she consented, on the condition that she should not be asked to reside in Church-street. Thomas, of course,, granted her wish ; and something was said about talcing a house at £i<i inDrumcondra.-' This was in the month off May. In July, however, in spite of the hot weather, he became very cool in his attentions to Eliza. Indeed, so assuringly cool did he become, that he asked Eliza's sister to walk with him, ignoring Eliza. September was fixed for the wedding, but by the end of July the matrimonometer registered so paltry a degree of heat, that untrue Thomas had resolved to break the engagement. Some idea of the temperature of Thomas's affections maybe formed from the only love-letter which passed between them. On the 23rdMay,he wrote:—"My dear Miss Shiel, I send the parasol. Will you accept it ? though it is not a very nice one. It can be changed at Todd and Bums.—Yours sincerely, Thomas Sheridan." Cool this—as an ironmonger ! It was on the 31st July that Sheridan called at Eliza's abode. He looked "very weak and pale," and wine and whisky were set out,"but poor Thomas had no appetite. He Bimply asked to see Eliza alone. They went into the back parlor ;' brief and startling was the interview ; the wretched girl came out immediately almost fainting, and Baying, "Mamma, Sheridan has given me up I" As a hen stands up for her chickens, so did Widow Shiel stand up for the deserted Eliza. To her imperative demand as to what he meant, the craven Thomas replied, ','l come to ask you, will you allow Eliza to release me from' this, engagement ?" As may be. guessed, the widowed mother answered, " Certainly not !" Counsel for Sheridan asked Mrs. Shiel whether she had heard her daughter say that Bhe would " Look out for the grave Bhe would like to bo buried Before'she got married to frosty old Sheridan ?"

To which, of course, the widow answered with an emphatic negative, causing much laughter among the spectators of the comedy. John Shiel, Eliza's brother, was examined, and described how Sheridan visited him to make a whining apology for breaking off the match. John called him a " low scoundrel.'' , He did'nt want the ironmonger to marry his sister,'because he considered him a " miserable, miserly creature." That was the case for the plaintiff. For the defence, counsel declared that Eliza had been unwillingly forced into the action " by her bullying brother . and' scheming mother," and that there had been."a regular trap" laid for poor Thomas, who had been previously engaged to Miss Polly, then engaged to Miss Eliza, and almost engaged to Miss Agnes. He had, in fact, been the friend of the family—all except the mother-in-law that was to be, whoso strength of character is such that she had even frightened Canon Macmahon, the parish priest, who had visited Mrs. Shiel for the purpose, apparently, of trying to make peace, Sheridan's counsel was quite sure that

amongst the ladies there, was. not one—maid, wife; ■ or widow—that- would- not-prefer'two young fellows of twenty-five to one old man of .fifty. .-(Laughter).-The. plaintiff had.probably thought-, in the wordß of the old song— What can a young lassie, "What can a young lassie, What can a young lassie, Do wi' an old man ? And her conclusion was probably the same as that in the song— My old Auntie Kitty Upon me takes pity; I'll do my endeavor to follow her plan. I'll rack him and pack him **■ Until I heartbreak him, And then his old brass will buy me a new pan. (Laughter.) The allusion to the " old brass " was prophetically intended by Burns for Mr. Sheridan, the bell-founder in Church-street. (Laughter.) He was a bell-founder in Churchstreet, and he tried to be a belle-finder in Synnott Place. First, he found the belle Miss Polly Shiel, who, however, objected ;to be rung; then he found the belle Miss Eliza, whom he was always, and is at the present, most anxious to ring, but who, by a strange inconsistency, is determined that she will wring him instead." (Laughter.) Thomas Sheridan himself made but a poor figure in court. He described Miss Shiel's manner as " very grand and hoity-toity ;" an opinion founded on the fact that the widow,~being in Sheridan's house, had, we suppose, been displeased with the furniture, and advised that it should be sold, with the exception of some handsome articles which would do for the hall. This rather annoyed Thomas, who of course did not sell his sticks. After that important event, Thomas declared that the manner of the family changed towards him ; that the girls used to titter when he went to the house; that Eliza, becoming colder, showed unwillingness to walk with him, "till her mother ordered her to go up and put on her clothes and go out." In fact, she didn't appear to like him at all. So said Thomas, who further stated that when he visited Eliza for the purpose of giving her the opportunity of with- : drawing from an engagement which he feared i would not make her happy, she only said, "Ask mamma, ask mamma," and left the room. He even went the length of declaring that he was anxious for the marriage, denying having told anybody that it had been broken off because Eliza would have no fortune. But, uafortunately, the jury couldn't believe Thomas, and a-n arded Eliza £2OO, as a small sum which might help to heal her wounded affections. It is to be sincerely hoped that Eliza may be happy yet ; and we may fairly predict that Thomas Sheridan, the bell-founder, will think three times before attempting to ring any other of the Dublin belles.