The most practical course for an Englishman to adopt in making a Will in Germany is to write the Will with his own hand, avoid mistakes, and observe the provisions of German law as to stating the place where and the date on which it is made, and that the testator has written the Will with his own hand, and to add the usual attestation clause as added to Wills made in England, and have his signature attested by two independent witnesses.

HENRY HAPPOLD.

I'

V. THE TRIAL OF LORD BYRON.

N 1765 Society in London was startled by the news that Mr. Chaworth of Nottinghamshire had been killed by his cousin, Lord Byron, in a tavern in Pall Mall. The commission of such an offence by a nobleman was an amazing event. The last instance of the kind was in the case of Earl Ferrers, who was hanged in 1760 for the murder of his servant. The world had then been shocked by the spectacle of a member of the House of Peers dying on the scaffold, and some had even protested against the carrying out of the sentence. "It was esteemed," says Mr. Millbank in Coningsby, "a great concession to public opinion, so late as the reign of George the Second, that Lord Ferrers should be executed for murder. The King of a new dynasty who wished to be popular with the people insisted on it, and even then he was hanged with a silken cord." And now another nobleman was believed to have committed a similar offence, and the House of Lords was called on to sit in judgment upon one of their colleagues.

The trial of William, fifth Lord Byron, took place on the 16th and 17th of April, 1765. The Earl of Northington, Lord Chancellor, presided over the proceedings as Lord High Steward. The counsel for the prosecution were

Sir Fletcher Norton, Attorney-General, William de Grey, Solicitor-General, Serjeant Glynn, Mr. Cornwall, and Mr. Stowe. The prisoner was brought from the Tower with the axe carried before him, but with the edge turned away from him. According to the law of the time, he was not allowed to be defended by counsel. The facts, as they were put forward by the prosecution, were as follows.

On the 26th of January, 1765, ten gentlemen of rank and fortune in Nottinghamshire met, as they usually did once a week, to dine together at the Star and Garter tavern in Pall Mall. Two of those present were Lord Byron and his cousin, William Chaworth. The dinner was served at a quarter past four o'clock, and the bill and a bottle of claret was brought up at seven. About the time at which the bottle was brought up, the conversation turned upon the subject of game, and as to the best method of preserving it. Mr. John Hewett, who gave evidence, said he introduced the subject of game, "which," he said, "has very often, where I have been, produced agreeable conversation." In the course of the conversation Chaworth said. that he believed there was not a hare in that part of the country but what was preserved by himself or Sir Charles Sedley. Lord Byron disagreed with this assertion, and offered a wager of £100 that he had more game in a manor or manors of his than Chaworth had upon any that belonged to him. Chaworth accepted the wager, and called for pen, ink, and paper, to make a memorandum of it. A little after this, Sir Charles Sedley's manors were again mentioned, and Lord Byron again intervened, exhibiting some degree of heat. "Sir Charles Sedley's manors!" he said, "Where are his manors?" "Why Hucknal and Nuttall," replied Chaworth. "I know no manors of Sir Charles Sedley's!" exclaimed Byron. “Sir Charles Sedley has a manor," insisted Chaworth. "The manor of Nuttall is his, and one of his ancestors bought

it out of my family, and, if your lordship wants any further information about his manors, Sir Charles Sedley lives in Dean Street, and your lordship knows where to find me in Berkeley Row." After this dispute Byron and Chaworth entered into conversation with the rest of the company upon indifferent subjects. Byron was observed to be in good humour, and the company thought that there had been an end of the quarrel, and that no more would be heard of it.

About eight o'clock, an hour after the first quarrel, Chaworth went out of the room, and George Douston went after him to the door. Chaworth asked Douston whether he had observed the dispute between him and Byron. Douston replied that he had in part. Chaworth thereupon asked him if he had been short in what he last said in his discourse with Byron. Douston said "No,” adding that he thought Chaworth had said rather more than what was necessary upon so trifling an occasion, and that he did not believe that either Byron or the rest of the company would think any more about it. Chaworth then went on downstairs, and Douston returned into the room, and, as he opened the door, met Byron coming out. Byron, seeing Chaworth upon the stairs, said to him, "Sir, I want to speak with you." They then went down one pair of stairs and one or other of them called out "Waiter." John Edwards, one of the waiters in the tavern, came at the call, and Byron asked him whether any of those two rooms (pointing to them) were empty? The waiter opened one of the doors and went in, with a small tallow candle-" a common tallow candle," said the waiter, "about eight in the pound"-which he set upon the table. There was a fire in the room, but it was low, and the only light was afforded by the candle.

Byron and Chaworth went together into the room which the waiter had shown them. When they were there, the

former asked the latter whether he was to have recourse to Sir Charles Sedley to account for the business of the game, or to him. Chaworth replied, "To me, my lord, and, if you have anything to say, it would be best to shut the door, lest we should be overheard." Chaworth shut the door, and, on turning from the door, saw Byron just behind him with his sword half-drawn or nearly drawn. At that instant Byron called out, "Draw!" and Chaworth drew as quickly as he could. Chaworth gave the first thrust and entangled his sword in Byron's waistcoat, which made him think he had wounded his opponent. Feeling his sword entangled, Chaworth tried to disarm Byron, whereupon the latter shortened his sword and thrust it into the abdomen of Chaworth, causing it to come out at the back. Chaworth again tried to disarm Byron, and this time with success, Byron exclaiming, "By God, I have as much courage as any man in England."

The bell was rung by one or other of the combatants, and John Gothorp, a waiter, came up. When Gothorp went in, he found Byron with his left hand round Chaworth's waist, and Chaworth with his right hand resting upon Byron's shoulder. Alarmed by this sight, he ran out again, and sent up James Fynmore, the master of the tavern. Fynmore found the two men grasped in each other's arms, each holding his sword. Chaworth handed his weapon to Fynmore, and Fynmore took hold of that of Byron, who made no objection. One of them said to the master of the tavern, "Get some help immediately," and a messenger was despatched for Cæsar Hawkins, the surgeon, who speedily arrived. While they were waiting for Hawkins, the alarm was given upstairs, and, on his friends entering the room, Chaworth told them how the affair had happened. When Hawkins came, he found that the wound was mortal, and ordered his patient to be conveyed home. Chaworth had sent for Mr. Levinz, his uncle, whom he appeared

extremely anxious to see. When that gentleman arrived, he immediately asked his nephew what had brought him into that terrible situation. Chaworth told Levinz the whole transaction, and, on his relating how Byron had drawn or nigh drawn his sword, when he was shutting the door, Levinz asked him, "Was this fair, Billy?" Chaworth, "who," said the Attorney-General, "was one of the most benevolent, as well as one of the bravest of men," gave no answer to that question. Levinz asked some other questions, and the answers amounted in substance to this, that Chaworth did not think, when Byron took him into the room, that he had any design of fighting him, but that afterwards Byron thought that he had got him at an advantage, and that that was the reason of his challenging him. Chaworth lingered for some hours after he received the wound, suffering at times great agony. At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 27th January he died.

Such then was the story put forward by the prosecution. Byron drew up a statement, in which he set forth his version of the incidents of the night. He said that Chaworth had treated him in a slighting and contemptuous manner in the conversation about game. He stated that, when he went out of the room, he found Chaworth standing, as if waiting for some one to come out, and that Chaworth said in a very particular and significant manner, and not as a question either of civility or respect: "Has your lordship any commands for me?" Byron alleged that, when they went into the room, he said to Chaworth, "How am I to take those words you used above? As an intended affront from Sir Charles Sedley or yourself?" and that Chaworth replied, "Your lordship may take them as you please, either as an affront or not, and I imagine this room is as fit a place as any other to decide the affair in." Byron said that Chaworth made two thrusts at him, which he parried, and then they both thrust at the same