" Town " was on Thursday greatly disappointed. The action
brought by Miss E. M. Finney, bearing the theatrical name of Fortescue, against Lord Garmoyle, eldest son of Earl Cairns, for breach of promise, came on in the Queen's Bench Division, but was abruptly terminated. Mr. Russell made a short address, stating that Lord Garmoyle, a cadet at Sandhurst, had proposed to Miss Finney, daughter of a coal-merchant of that name, then playing in Patience, at the Savoy Theatre, on a salary of 26 a week, and was accepted. Lord and Lady Cairns with some reluctance sanctioned the engagement, which, however, was subsequently broken off by Lord Garmoyle, avowedly under pressure from his family,—an excuse which, though final on the Continent, is not accepted here. The Attorney-General there- upon rose, and after stating, on behalf of Lord Garmoyle, that there was nothing in Miss Finney's "conduct unbecoming a high- minded English gentlewoman," consented to a verdict for 210,000 damages, which was agreed to. Concession is usually wise in such cases, and Lord Garmoyle had literally no defence ; but the amonnt of damages may prove a dangerous precedent. The Solicitors' Journal says the sum is three times larger than the largest ever awarded in a similar ease; and it seems to have been assessed rather with a view to Lord Cairns' fortune, than to the defendant's. Suppo,e a lad of the Rothschild family, still in College, unfairly broke an engagement, would the Courts award a million or two to the young lady?
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