The most eloquent speech, at length, of Mr. Phillips, in the Court of Common Pleas, Dublin, in the case of Guthrie v. Sterne, for adultery : with the author's last corrections : not a single word omitted.

  • Phillips, Charles, 1787?-1859.
Date:
1816
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The most eloquent speech, at length, of Mr. Phillips, in the Court of Common Pleas, Dublin, in the case of Guthrie v. Sterne, for adultery : with the author's last corrections : not a single word omitted. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    eminence, he became a member of the profession by which I am sur¬ rounded, Possessing, as he did, a moderate independence, and look¬ ing forward to the most flattering prospects, it was natural for him to select amongst the other sex, some friend who should adorn his fortunes, and deceive his toils. He found such a friend, or thought he found her, in the person of Mi s Warren, the only daughter of an eminent Solicitor. Young, beautiful, and accomplished, she was “adorned with all that earth or heaven could bestow to make her amiable/’ Virtue never found a fairer temple; beauty never veiled a purer sanctuary : the graces of her mind retained the ad¬ miration which her beauty had attracted, and the eye, which her charms fired, became subdued and chastened in the modesty of their association. She was in the dawn of life, with all its fragrance round her, and yet so pure, that even the blush, which sought to _hide her lustre, but disclosed the vestal deity that burned beneath it. No wonder an adoring husband anticipated all the joys this world could give him; no wonder the parental eye, which beamed upon their union, sarw, in the perspective, an old age of happiness, and a posterity of honour. Methinks I see them at the sacred altar, joining those hands which Heaven commanded none should separate, repaid for many a pang of anxious nurture by the sweet smile of filial piety; and, in the holy rapture of the rite, blessing the Power that blessed their children, and gave them hope their names should live hereafter. It was Virtue’s vision ! None but fiends could envy it. Year after year confirmed the anticipation ; four lovelv children blessed their union. Nor was their love the. summer passion of prosperity; misfortune proved, afflictions chastened it: before the mandate of that mysterious power which will at times despoil the paths of innocence, to decorate the chariot of triumphant villainy, my Client had to bow in silent resignation. He owed his adversity to the benevolence of his spirit; he “ went security for friends;” those friends deceived him; and he was ob~ liged to seek, in other lands, that safe asylum which his own de¬ nied him. He was glad to accept an ofter of professional husiness in Scotland during his temporary embarrassment. With a conju¬ gal devotion, Mrs. Guthrie accompanied him; and in her smile the soil of a stranger was a home, the sorrows of adversity were dear to him. During their residence in Scotland, a period of' about a year, you will find they lived as they had done in Ireland, and as they .continued to do until this calamitous occurrence, in a state of un« interrupted happiness. You shall hear, most satisfactorily, that .their domestic life was unsullied and undisturbed,. Happy at home, happy in a husband’s love, happy in her parents’ fondness, ha.ppy in the children she had nursed, Mrs. Guthrie carried into .every circle,—and there was no circle in which her society was not courted,—that cheerfulness which never was a companion of guilt, or a stranger to innocence. My Client saw her the. pride of his family, the favourite of his friends;—at once the organ and ornament of his happiness. His ambition awoke, his industry re¬ doubled ; and that fortune which, though for a season it may