Saturday 24 Apr 1819 (p. 2, col. 6 - p. 3, col. 2) CITY SESSIONS. The Easter Sessions for the City of Carlisle, came on at the Town Hall on Monday, before William HODGSON, Esq. Mayor, and Thomas LOWRY, D. D. and Thomas BLAMIRE, Esq., senior aldermen. DINAH LAMONBY, a well-known character in this City, was indicted for keeping a disorderly house, &c. The following gentlemen composed the Jury- Mr. D. MATHEWS | Mr. John JOHNSON Mr. T. RANDLESON | Mr. Simon GRAHAM Mr. R. HOLMES | Mr. John CANNELL Mr. Jos. STRONG | Mr. Jer. BROWN Mr. John JORDAN | Mr. Thos. HEWITT Mr. J. LAMBERT | Mr. C. THOMPSON. Mr. JOHN FAWCETT, Solicitor, conducted the prosecution, and addressed the jury to the following effect- Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen of the Jury,-The defendant in this case, Dinah LAMONBY, stands indicted for a nuisance of a most serious nature; that of keeping an openly lewd and disorderly house. She is, gentlemen, a character pretty notorious in this place, and one, whom if justice to herself and to the country had been done, would long e're now have been arraigned at this Bar, to answer, perhaps, to more serious charges. It will, I am convinced, be unnecessary for me to inform you, how dangerous, how dreadfully pernicious to society, are such characters as this defendant; for, if there is one member of society morally worse than another, surely it is the open prostitute; and if there is one offence against good order and good government (short of felony) worse than another-if there be one whose present effects and future consequences are more than ordinarily pernicious, surely it must that of keeping a house of that description for which this defendant now stands indicted. Where, gentlemen, or how can you place a limit to the evil arising from them? How many have, by frequenting these places, been plunged into habits of expensive extravagance, which have only terminated with their existence, and that, perhaps in a shameful and ignominious death! and how many have at these places contracted diseases which have not only ruined their own health and happiness, but which have been handed down, and entailed, as it were, upon their posterity! tainting with the foulest corruption the purple stream which should flow pure in the veins of future generations, and leaving, as it were, disease and deformity, the living monuments of their folly and their wickedness. I would never, Gentlemen, with LAVATER, judge any one entirely from appearance; but, if ever there was a countenance which was an index to the heart, it is that of this defendant-she indeed has a heart able to conceive, a hand willing to execute, and a forehead of brass ready to bear her out in acts of the grossest enormity, and in deeds of blackest darkness. It has been said, that when a female deviates from the path of rectitude and of virtue, and launches into scenes of dissipation and of vice, that she goes to much greater extremes, and is more difficult to reclaim than one of the other sex; and there is, I believe, much truth in the remark; for, as the finely polished blade, whose edge has been rusted or turned, is more difficult to restore to its former polish and brightness than the rougher or stronger instrument; so, when once those fine feelings which are naturally implanted in the female bosom, become blunted or broken, they are infinitely more difficult to heal and to restore to their original tone and vigour, than similar wounds in the masculine heart. This defendant is, however, a practical illustration of the remark-she is an awful instance indeed of female depravity-she is one whose every moral feeling is not only blunted and broken, but completely absorbed and lost in the depths of her iniquities-she is one of whom charity would almost say "she is past reformation," and whom, even mercy herself, forgetting her usual ineffable blandness of character, would at once consign over into the hands of offended justice. This, Gentlemen, you may be ready to think is too much to be said of any one-that the defendant cannot be so depraved and so demoralized as I have represented her to be: the evidence, however, which I shall presently produce before you will, I doubt not, convince you of the contrary. I shall prove to you, that for the last six years, the neighbourhood in which this defendant resides, has been year after year, month after month, week after week, night after night, and even in the open face of day disturbed, and the inhabitants continually annoyed and offended by riots and brawls, and by obscenities almost too gross to be mentioned. Picture to yourselves, Gentlemen, an aged female, dependant entirely upon the labour of her hands for her daily support, after having resided upwards of 30 years in her humble dwelling, which is in every way suited to her occupation, and which affords her the means of acquiring, and of enjoying thus comforts which in her station she requires; the becomes attached to her home and perhaps indulges the idea that she may be permitted to spend the few remaining years of a long protracted life in this place of retirement and of quiet; but in the midst of her anticipations, this defendant becomes her neighbour-from that moment, all her quiet and her domestic comfort cease-from that moment, her regular hours of retirement to rest are exchanged for hours of painful watching lest her house should be broken into and her property injured; and should her wearied frame sink into a short repose, this is too frequently interrupted by the breaking out of some sudden affray, by the sound of the midnight revels, by the loud and continued oaths and imprecations, or by the murder-shrieks which proceed from the defendant's house; and she arises in the morning, not only unable to resume with her wonted vigour her daily occupation, but by these continued interruptions her strength begins to fail, and her health becomes much impaired. This is, gentlemen, no imaginary picture; I shall lay this and similar facts before you in evidence-I shall further prove to you, by those who have repeatedly seen it, that the defendant's house has been frequently full of persons of both sexes of the most abandoned and profligate character, often as many as 20 at one time in the same room: some in a state of senseless intoxication, others in a state but little better, yet ready for the commission of every crime, whilst others are promiscuously drinking ardent spirits, thereby adding, as it were, fuel to their already inflamed passions, and joining in the obscene songs and jests with which those unhallowed walls but too often resound; while, to crown this dreadful scene, the defendant herself presides, and "grining a ghastly smile" of satanic indolence, eyes the degradation of her fellow-creatures, and receives the cursed price of their prostitution and their vices. Nor, gentlemen, are the actors in this dreadful scene confined to the young, to the thoughtless, and to the gay-no,-I regret indeed to state it-not only have married men been too frequently found in this hot-bed of iniquity, but men where amiable and virtuous wives have been weeping at home over their unfortunate offspring, whilst their father was revelling in drunken debauchery, or have been driven to desperation by a jealousy naturally consequent on such base infidelity, in either of which cases, all domestic comfort and harmony is at an end; and thus the baneful effects of this pest and nuisance to society are felt, not only in her immediate neighbourhood, but are spread far and wide, and cannot easily be calculated.-Gentlemen, I will not now wound your feelings by more minutely entering into the nature of that evidence which it will be my painful duty shortly to lay before you; the simple detail by the witnesses themselves, will be sufficient to convince you of the enormity of the defendant's conduct, and your own indignation will be the best comment upon it. It may, however, be necessary for me to state, that I shall not bring before you positive proof of prostitution in this defendant's house, by those who have been themselves the guilty parties; that is of two [sic] infamous a nature, and has been declared by a very high legal authority to be so odious, that it ought not be heard in a Court of Justice. The production of such evidence is not absolutely necessary to establish the case of the prosecutors, and therefore, though it would be easy to do so, I shall not adduce it before you. I shall now proceed to call the witnesses; and should the defendant attempt to rebut their testimony by other evidence, I shall have an opportunity of replying to her defence; that however, will, I trust, be quite unnecessary, and I sit down in the full confidence that you will return that honest verdict, which, though it may lay you open to the future malevolence of the defendant, and to the scoffs and sneers of the profligate and the vicious, will be a convincing proof that whenever characters such as this defendant is, are brought before a Carlisle jury, they will be dealt with according to their deserts; and you have the heartfelt satisfaction that you have at least done something towards stemming that torrent of vice and immorality which is at present so alarmingly on the increase. John MOFFAT was the first witness called. The house which is occupied by Dinah LAMONBY, is now the witness's property. He lived in the upper part of it some time, and about a year ago, frequently heard disturbances in it--- Mr. SAUL, for the Defendant, here took an objection. This bill of indictment was found on Monday the 19th of October last, and the Defendant was charged with acts of disorder on the 17th of that month, "and at other times then before." By referring to HAWKINS's pleas of the Crown (chap. 25, sec. 77.) it would be seen that nothing could be proved prior to the time specified in the indictment, and, of course, subsequent evidence was out of the question. Mr. SAUL submitted, therefore, with great confidence, that no other evidence could be given than what applied to the night of the 17th of October. The Court dissented from the construction thus put upon HAWKINS, and the objection was over-ruled. [to be continued]