A gentleman, with whom he lived servant, discharged him without paying him his wages; upon which he wrote to his master, saying that if he did not pay him, he would go to Marlborough-street, the next day, and state his Sodomitical practices; upon which, the gentleman went himself to the office, and obtained a warrant, under the pretext of the man having threatened to charge him with Sodomy unless he gave him money:—he found means to convict the poor fellow, who had two witnesses, who would have proved the truth of his assertion; but they were kept out of the way by the master until the trial was over:—one of whom has since been with him in Newgate, and told him his master gave him five pounds to keep out of the way!
A variety of similar convictions have taken place; for these fashionable miscreants must wipe off the imputation, no matter by what means. In fine, it seems to have come to this, that if a young man will not submit to Sodomy and hold his tongue, he must be hanged.
I will now relate some remarkable instances that have come to my knowledge, some of them professionally. About thirty years ago, a handsome young man, named Donelly, an attorney’s clerk, was cursed with the importunities of the son of a noble earl, and from whom he received several sums of money; but his demands became too rapid for this sprig of nobility, who, from incapacity to answer them, was obliged to desist. Donelly, one evening, in Berkeley-square, met the elder brother, then Lord —, and mistaking him (from the great likeness) for his little paramour, addressed him in terms that induced the young nobleman to seize him, and take him before a magistrate:—he was capitally convicted, and ordered for execution. Under all these circumstances, he wrote to the noble Earl, the father, who instituted an inquiry into his son’s conduct; which caused the Earl immediately to apply to his Majesty for a free pardon for Donelly, which the Ordinary of Newgate communicated to him in the chapel, the Sunday previous to his intended execution.
Another case, something similar, occurred about the year 1781. The late Felix Macarty, of no slender notoriety, was attacked by the son of a noble Lord of the County of Surrey, on the staircase leading to the great room at the Royal Academy. Macarty, Irishman-like, did not much approve of any caresses connected with breeches; and was no way solicitous of keeping the affair secret: of course, the transaction made some noise. The prejudice against an Irish adventurer, as Macarty was termed, gave the transaction an interpretation that conveyed an idea that his intention was to extort money from the nobleman: however, a serious investigation took place with the father and neighbouring gentlemen, of whom Sir Francis Vincent of Stoke was one; when the young gentleman confessed the truth of Macarty’s charge, and was thereupon sent abroad;—Macarty had five hundred guineas given him, as a remuneration for what he suffered in his character. I had the particulars of this case from Sir Francis Vincent, who was, at that time, my client.
But I will close the gainful subject of enormous convictions, calculated to screen Sodomites, with a case fabricated only by the premier fiend of hell.
It is somewhat about the same period, that I was with Sir William Aldington, at Bow-street, about some business; when a gentleman of great worth (if such a wretch can be said to have any worth) was brought into the office by a soldier, named Cope, and changed with attacking him, with an intent to commit an unnatural crime. He stated, that the preceding evening, about half past eleven o’clock, he was stationed in the Park, under the wall of Marlborough-gardens; when this gentleman came up to him, and after some conversation, attempted to put his hand in his breeches; he thereupon seized him, pushed him into his box, and kept him there till the relief guard came;—that the gentleman did every thing he could to persuade him to let him go; he offered him his watch, and purse, containing seven or eight guineas, which he refused, and marched him down to the guard-room. This was the charge; now, intelligent reader, mark the defence!
On the magistrate’s asking the gentleman (who, to the disgrace of the profession, was an eminent Conveyancer) what could bring him into the Park at that hour, and in the most inclement evening that was ever felt?—he answered, that he was obliged to go to Buckingham-house to see a lady, from whom he wanted some information respecting the subject of a letter he was writing, and which he could not finish until he had procured it.
Sir William Addington,
“You could not have been admitted into Buckingham-house at that time of night, especially for the purpose of visiting a lady!—have you that letter about! you?”
To which he replied he had only just begun it.