BREACH OF PROMISE.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 85, 17 January 1885, Page 4

BREACH OF PROMISE.

Thus the London Evening News of November 7th :— ln the Court of Queen's Bench yesterday, before Mr. Justice Hawkins and a common jury, the case of Scott v. Scott came on for hearing. This was an action for breach of promise of marriage by a young Scottish lady against a young Baptist minister. Mr Holland appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr Marshall for the defendant. According to the evidence, in the autumn of 1879 the dej fendant, a young man of 28, was appointed to officiate in the Bnptist Chapel of JHawick, Scotland, and made the acquaintance of the plaintiff, a lady of 31, who, with her father, belonged to the congregation. She had another admirer at the time, but was induced by the delendant to give him up. They went out for walks together, and one day he slipped a letter into her hand andasked her to read it at home, and give him her answer the next evening. The letter was affectionately worded, and contained an offer of marriage, which she accepted. It was then agreed that as the defendantwasgoingto London tostudytheologv under Mr Spurgeon, they should correspond once a week while be was away, and the marriage was to take place when he had finished his studies and been appointed minister to some congregation. For two years, accordingly, they corresponded, until November, 1881— the letters being couched in terms of ardent affection. Some of these from the defendant were read in court, and were full of Scriptural quotations and pious expres? sions of "plighted love," and ended with crosses for kisses, and with "oh, would that these were real, dearest !" In one letter the defendant compared the sweetness of the plaintiff's' voice with bagpipes. Kach letter began : " My own dear darling and loving Mary Jane," and in several there- were allusions to %i the silken cords of matrimony that will one day bind us." In one he addressed the plaintiff thus : "When they see you, like the sun, every bird sings, and when I shall see you, I too, another bird, shall sing and shout 'glory.' " But in November, 1881, there came a Change, and the defendant wrote to the plaintiff in cold and distant terms, and said that his love was gone. Several letters passed between them, in which the defendant again professed his love for the plaintiff,' until in March, 1882, he finally wrote to break off the engagement, when he said that now that love had died in his breast, he could not care for her again. In this same letter he described in glowing terms the neighbourhood of Ulverston, near Morecambe Bay, in Cumberland, to the congregation of which he had been appointed pastor at a salary of £150 a year. He had just finished his term of studentship under Mr Spurgeon. Several letters still passed between the parties, and the plaintiff expressed her unfaltering love for the defendant, who, however, now simply wrote to her as " Dear Miss Scott." The hearing of the case had not been concluded when the court rose on Nov. 6. Following are samples of the cleric's love letters :—: — "24, Ladylow place Wilton, November 3, 1879.— My dear Mary Jane, — According to promise, and with the deepest pleasure, I now write you, and in doing so I desire to state my feelings and intentions. You are aware, from what I have formerly said, that my love for you and my attachment to you is still ardent and fervent; that my affections are firmly set upon you, in fine, that I love you with all my heart, and I herein solemnly promise (having thought over it, as I have said before) that I at present, and when I shall have left you, shall consider myself pledged for life and bound to you, and my intention is that should Providence sac fit to spare me, and likewise you, till such time as I shall be able to prove my love still further, I shall do it by taking you to myself in conjugal relation, and I earnestly desire and pray, and a?k y®u to do likewise, that God will seal and ratify this declaration, that He will guide us in all we do, and bless us in all that pertains to us. Of course, I need not say that I abide by this only if you prove true to me, and of this I really cannot doubt ; but I have the utmost confidence in you. And now having thus written, I commend you md myself to Him who is able to keep us. —Yours in truest love. — Robert Scott." "Nov. 1, ISS2. Dear Mary Jane,— l am sorry that my letter hurt you. I sympathise v ith you, and wish I could bear all, t)ut it is only honest on my part that I tell out the truth. I condemn myself ior not telling it to you 32 months xgo. However, if you wish in the :aco of my declaration viz., dissatisfaction toy ards you, to be my wife, I will keep my word even though my love is gone. The future is now in your hands, though I would advise a discontinuance of the engagement. This is not a hasty conclusion, but the outcome of deliberate and thoughtful consideration. — I am, yours in sympathy, R. Scott." The plaintiff replied to this that she would remain the same to him as before. Upon this there came a long letter from the defendant, dated November 11, renewing his love and wishing all to be as it had been before ; and the correspondence continued until 1883, and in May of that year he wrote—" Dear ! Miss Scott, — I duly received yours of the 20th. You hope your letters are as agree* able to me as they once were. Well, they cannot be. You are quite willing to live with me as you once were. Yes, you may be ; but do you think that I could live with one whom I do not love ? [And he concluded] I am yours, R. Scott."