Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 18th century
For this he was outlawed, and, whilst the offended majesty of the law
was thus seeking to vindicate itself, he was making a progress of the
northern counties under various disguises, sometimes appearing as a
quack doctor, or a clergyman, then in connection with a gaming-table,
and occasionally playing the _rôle_ of a rider (as commercial
travellers were then called) for some manufacturing firm. Although
frequently meeting with people who knew him, he was never molested
by them, until he was recognised at Newcastle (whilst being examined
in the justice-room there, regarding a theft he had committed) by a
gentleman from London as being ‘wanted’ for the robbery at Drury Lane
Theatre, and he was promptly despatched to Bow Street once more. On
his arrival, he was committed to Newgate as an outlaw, and, miserable
and dejected, his spirits sank within him. His friends, however (for
even he had friends) made up a purse of a hundred guineas for his
defence. His trial took place in November, 1789, when he conducted his
own defence, as usual, with extraordinary ability, arguing the various
points of law with the judge with surprising acuteness and elegant
language, till, eventually, being aided by the absence of a material
witness, he made such an impression upon the court that a verdict of
acquittal was recorded.
All these escapes, however, seem to have had no deterrent effect upon
him, and he again set off for Ireland, where he joined an accomplice
named Hubert, who was speedily apprehended, in the act of picking a
pocket, and sentenced to seven years transportation. Dublin after this
was far too hot for Barrington, so he adroitly made his escape to
England, where, after rambling about the country for some time, he
re-appeared in London. But he had not been in the metropolis very long
before he was apprehended, as his indictment says, for ‘stealing on
the 1st of September, 1780, in the parish of Enfield, in the county of
Middlesex, a gold watch, chain, seals, and a metal key, the property of
Henry Hare Townsend.’ The case was very clear, but Barrington defended
himself very ingeniously, and with a certain amount of oratory, of
which the following is a sample:
‘I am well convinced of the noble nature of a British Court of Justice;
the dignified and benign principles of its judges, and the liberal and
candid spirit of its jurors.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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