The Defendant pleaded—NOT GUILTY. Counsel for the Prosecution—Mr. MARRYATT and Mr. BORLAND; Solicitor, Mr. HARMER. Counsel for the Defendant—Mr. GURNEY and the COMMON SERJEANT. The Jury being sworn:—Mr. BORLAND opened the indictment, as follows— May it please your Lordship, Gentlemen of the Jury—The Defendant, John Church, stands indicted for a misdemeanour. He has pleaded Not Guilty, and your charge is to enquire whether he be Guilty or Not Guilty. Hearken to the evidence. Mr. MARRYATT then stated the case on the part of the Prosecution, to the effect following:— May it please your Lordship, Gentlemen of the Jury—I am extremely sorry to have occasion to state to you that the offence imputed to the Defendant (which my Learned Friend, Mr. Bolland; simply opened as a misdemeanour) is an assault, with the intent to commit an unnatural crime; and I am sure, on an occasion of this nature, it would be unnecessary for me to bespeak your serious attention to a charge so serious in its consequences to the Defendant. The Prosecutor in this case is a youth, about eighteen or nineteen years of age, the apprentice of a Potter at Vauxhall, whose name is Patrick. He had been apprenticed to him some time, and resided in his family. The Defendant is a preacher—not of the Established Church, but of a Dissenting Chapel, not far distant from Vauxhall, and Mr. Patrick and his family had been in the habit of attending that Chapel and hearing Mr. Church’s discourses. Their apprentice used frequently to accompany them to the Chapel, and by that means he became perfectly acquainted with the person and voice of the Defendant, Church. He knew him extremely well by name and description. In the month of September last, Mr. Church complained to Mr. Patrick that he was in ill health, and attributed that circumstance to the confined situation of his apartments near to the Chapel. Being ill, Mr. Patrick, as a matter of civility and attention to the Preacher of the Chapel which he frequented, invited him to come to Vauxhall, where he had a spare bed, much at Mr. Church’s service. Upon this invitation, Mr. Church came, and he slept there on Monday, the 23d of September, for the first time. I am not quite certain as to the precise night he came; but on the night of the 26th day of September, the transaction occurred which gave rise to the present proceeding. Mr. Patrick had left town on business, but not before Mr. Church came in the first instance; but during Church’s stay he departed for the country. During the master’s absence, it became necessary for Foreman, the apprentice, to sleep in the house. The only spare bed was occupied by Church, the Defendant, and therefore a temporary bed was made up for the apprentice. He had a resting place made up for him in one of the parlours of the house. It happened that on the evening when this transaction took place, the Prosecutor had been staying up to attend a kiln which was at work on Mr. Patrick’s premises.