Tales and Legends of the English LakesArmistead, Wilson
General
Tales and Legends of the English Lakes
Armistead, Wilson
Folklore -- England -- Lake District; Legends -- England -- Lake District; Tales -- England -- Lake District
1. With having assumed the name and title of the Honourable Alexander
Augustus Hope, and pretending to be a member of parliament of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and with having, about the month
of October last, under such false and fictitious name and character,
drawn a draft or bill of exchange, in the name of Alexander Hope, upon
John Crumpt, Esq., for the sum of £20, payable to George Wood, of
Keswick, Cumberland, innkeeper, or order, at the end of fourteen days
from the date of the said draft or bill of exchange.
2. With making, uttering, and publishing as true, a certain false,
forged, and counterfeit bill of exchange, with the name of Alexander
Augustus Hope thereunto falsely set and subscribed, drawn upon John
Crumpt, Esq., dated the 1st of October, 1802, and payable to Nathaniel
Montgomery More, or order, ten days after date, for £30 sterling.
3. With having assumed the name of Alexander Hope, and pretending to be
a member of parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the brother of the right Hon. Lord Hopetoun, and a colonel in
the army; and under such false and fictitious name and character, at
various times in the month of October, 1802, having forged and
counterfeited the hand-writing of the said Alexander Hope, in the
superscription of certain letters or packets, in order to avoid the
payment of the duty on postage.
The prisoner pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The three several indictments having been read, Mr. Scarlett opened the
case in an address to the jury; and gave an ample detail of the
prisoner's guilt.
In support of what he had advanced, he called Mr. Quick, who was clerk
in the house at Tiverton, where Hatfield was partner, who swore to his
hand-writing. The Rev. Mr. Nicholson swore that when the prisoner was
asked his name, he said it was a comfortable one--Hope.
The evidence for the prosecution having closed, the prisoner addressed
himself to the jury. He said he felt some degree of satisfaction in
being able to have his sufferings terminated, as they must of course be
by their verdict. For the space of nine months he had been dragged from
prison to prison, and torn from place to place, subject to all the
misrepresentations of calumny.
"Whatever will be my fate," said he, "I am content; it is the award of
justice, impartially and virtuously administered. But I will solemnly
declare that in all my transactions, I never intended to defraud or
injure the persons whose names have appeared in the prosecution. This I
will maintain to the last of my life."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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