[ Sporting Magazine ]
The Sporting Magazine (1792 - 1870) is considered the first general sporting magazine, though in its later decades it gave considerable emphasis to fox hunting. But it published all manner of sporting-related material, from news stories to poetry to calendars of upcoming sporting events. The subtitle of this magazine was "Monthly Calendar of the Transactions of the Turf, the Chace, and every other Diversion interesting to the Man of Pleasure, Enterprize and Spirit." [more at Wikipedia]
The following item appeared in the March 1798 issue:
York Assizes. Tuesday, March 20.
THIS day came on a cause which produced very great curiosity, in which the Rev. Dr. Scott, was plaintiff, and Thomas White, Esq. a Captain in the Ayrshire Fencible Cavalry, was defendant. The declaration stated, that the plaintiff is a Clerk in Holy Orders, a Doctor in Divinity, and Rector of Simonburn, in the county of Northumberland, a benefice of very considerable annual value, and that he maintained a respectable character in the world; that the defendant nevertheless had falsely and maliciously uttered, in the presence of many of his Majesty's subjects, the false, scandalous, and malicious expression of and concerning him, viz. that "Dr. Scott is a man of bad character, he baptized a Monkey, and gave the sacrament to a Newfoundland dog." – Damages laid at Ten Thousand Pounds.
Mr. Serjeant Cockell opened the cause with his usual ability and eloquence: he forcibly represented the extent and malignity of the slander; the injury done to the Doctor's character, and stated the facts proved by the witnesses.
The Rev. John Kirk, Vicar of Scarborough, was present in the church on the 24th of September last, when Dr. Scott preached. He saw Captain White and a troop of his soldiers present. The Captain, at the commencement of the sermon, left the Church. The witness then heard a trumpet sound, upon which the corps immediately quitted the Church. Captain White called on him the next morning to apologize, and declared that he meant no insult to him, or disrespect to the congregation, and that his sole motive for acting as he had done was a personal dislike to the Doctor, and that he could not bear the idea of sitting in the Church to hear a man of so bad a character preach, who had baptized a monkey, and given the sacrament to a Newfoundland dog. On this gentleman's cross examination, he said, that the Captain sat directly opposite the pulpit, in a pew belonging to the Corporation, and had often sat there before. He conceived Captain White's apology to be to himself in person, and through him to the Congregation; with which he was satisfied: he never heard of Captain White's having made any disrespectful expressions against religion. The witness further said, that Dr. Scott had called on him the Tuesday following, and asked him the reasons for the defendant's conduct, but had not named his conversation with the Captain.
The account of the trial continues, reporting the testimony of various witnesses but never again mentioning a Newfoundland. Several witness having verified that Capt White was simply repeating a story he had heard elsewhere, and that he had done so only in "confidential conversation" (a couple of dinner parties, actually) and only in response to questions as to why he had withdrawn his soldiers from the church. The jury — having been reminded by Captain White's lawyer that the vicar was a rather wealthy man — returned with a verdict of one shilling damages (roughly equivalent to about $7 US in 2020; the ten thousand pounds the vicar originally asked for would have been around $1.4 million US in 2020, impossibly beyond what an army officer would be able to pay on his own.) (335 - 336)