Trial of Mary Blandy | Page 2

original letter in the
Record Office, where the papers connected with the memorable
Assizes in question have but recently been lodged.
For the account of the case contained in the Introduction, the Editor has
read practically all the contemporaneous pamphlets--a tedious and
often fruitless task--and has consulted such other sources of
information as are now available. He has, however, thought well
(esteeming the comfort of his readers above his own reputation for
research) to present the product as a plain narrative, unencumbered by
the frequent footnotes which citation of so many authorities would
otherwise require--the rather that any references not furnished by the
bibliography are sufficiently indicated in the text.
Finally, the Editor would express his gratitude to Mr. Horace Bleackley
and Mr. A.M. Broadley for their kindness in affording him access to
their collections of Blandyana, including rarities (to quote an old
title-page) "nowhere to be found but in the Closets of the Curious,"
greatly to the lightening of his labours and the enrichment of the result.

W.R.
8 OXFORD TERRACE, EDINBURGH, April, 1914.

CONTENTS.
Introduction
Table of Dates
The Trial-- TUESDAY, 3RD MARCH, 1752.
The Indictment
Opening Speeches for the Prosecution. Hon. Mr. Bathurst Mr. Serjeant
Hayward
Evidence for the Prosecution. 1. Dr. Addington 2. Dr. Lewis 3. Dr.
Addington (recalled) 4. Benjamin Norton 5. Mrs. Mary Mounteney 6.
Susannah Gunnell 7. Elizabeth Binfield 8. Dr. Addington (recalled) 9.
Alice Emmet 10. Robert Littleton 11. Robert Harmon 12. Richard
Fisher 13. Mrs. Lane 14. Mr. Lane
The Prisoner's Defence
Evidence for the Defence. 1. Ann James 2. Elizabeth Binfield (recalled)
3. Mary Banks 4. Edward Herne 5. Thomas Cawley 6. Thomas
Staverton 7. Mary Davis 8. Robert Stoke
Motion by Mr. Ford to call another witness refused
Hon. Mr. Bathurst's Closing Speech for the Prosecution
Statement by the Prisoner
Mr. Baron Legge's Charge to the Jury
The Verdict

The Sentence

APPENDICES.
I. Proceedings before the Coroner relative to the Death of Mr. Francis
Blandy
II. Copies of Original Letters in the British Museum and Public Record
Office, relating to the Case of Mary Blandy
III. A Letter from a Clergyman to Miss Mary Blandy, now a prisoner in
Oxford Castle, with her Answer thereto; as also Miss Blandy's own
narrative of the crime for which she is condemned to die
IV. Miss Mary Blandy's own account of the affair between her and Mr.
Cranstoun, from the commencement of their acquaintance in the year
1746 to the death of her father in August, 1751, with all the
circumstances leading to that unhappy event
V. Letter from Miss Blandy to a Clergyman in Henley
VI. Contemporary Advertisement of a Love Philtre
VII. Contemporary Account of the Execution of Mary Blandy
VIII. Letter from the War Office to the Paymaster-General, striking
Cranstoun's name off the Half-Pay List
IX. The Confessions of Cranstoun-- 1. Cranstoun's own version of the
facts 2. Captain Cranstoun's account of the Poisoning of the late Mr.
Francis Blandy
X. Extract from a Letter from Dunkirk anent the death of Cranstoun
XI. Letter from John Biddell, the Scots genealogist, to James Maidment,
regarding the descendants of Cranstoun

XII. Bibliography of the Blandy Case
XIII. Description of the satirical print "The Scotch Triumvirate"

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Miss Blandy in her Cell in Oxford Castle Frontispiece _From an
unpublished Sepia Drawing in the Collection of Mr. Horace
Bleackley._
Facsimile of the Intercepted Letter to Cranstoun written by Mary
Blandy _From the original MS. in the Public Record Office._
Miss Blandy _From a Mezzotint by T. Ryley, after L. Wilson, in the
Collection of Mr. A.M. Broadley._
Miss Mary Blandy in Oxford Castle Gaol _From an Engraving in the
British Museum._
Captain Cranstoun and Miss Blandy _From an Engraving in the British
Museum._
Miss Mary Blandy _From an Engraving by B. Cole, after a Drawing for
which she sat in Oxford Castle._
Miss Molly Blandy, taken from the life in Oxford Castle _From an
Engraving in the Collection of Mr. A.M. Broadley._
Miss Mary Blandy, with scene of her Execution _From an Engraving
by B. Cole, after an original Painting._
Captain William Henry Cranstoun, with his pompous funeral
procession in Flanders _From an Engraving by B. Cole._
The Scotch Triumvirate _From a satirical Print in the Collection of Mr.
Horace Bleackley._

MARY BLANDY.

INTRODUCTION.
In the earlier half of the eighteenth century there lived in the pleasant
town of Henley-upon-Thames, in Oxfordshire, one Francis Blandy,
gentleman, attorney-at-law. His wife, née Mary Stevens, sister to Mr.
Serjeant Stevens of Culham Court, Henley, and of Doctors' Commons,
a lady described as "an emblem of chastity and virtue; graceful in
person, in mind elevated," had, it was thought, transmitted these
amiable qualities to the only child of the marriage, a daughter Mary,
baptised in the parish church of Henley on 15th July, 1720. Mr.