Part 183

A. Between three and four years.

Q. Have you, in the course of those three or four years, had frequent opportunities of seeing the hand-writing of Mr. De Berenger?

A. Daily.

Q. He has been a client of your master, and has been assisted very much by him?

A. Yes.

Q. Have you seen him write, as well as seeing letters purporting to come from him?

A. A great deal.

Q. Be so good as to look at that paper (the Dover letter), and tell his lordship and the jury, whether in your judgment and belief, that is the hand-writing of Mr. De Berenger?

A. Certainly not.

Q. Look at that, and say whether you think it is a feigned hand, but still the hand-writing of De Berenger?

A. It certainly is not.

Q. Of course, a man can only speak to belief and judgment when he does not see a thing written; do you believe, from your knowledge of his hand-writing, that that is his writing, either feigned or real?

A. Not a word of it.

Lord Ellenborough. Look at the letter R in the signature?

A. It is not like it at all.

Mr. Park. I mean the large R.

A. The capital R is nothing like it.

Mr. Park. It is a singular R certainly, it looks as if it had been intended for a P and made into an R.

Lord Ellenborough. It is not at all like that R, is it? [shewing another letter to the witness.]

A. No, I do not think it is any thing like that.

William Smith sworn.

Examined by Mr. Richardson.

Q. You are servant to Mr. De Berenger?

A. Yes.

Q. How long have you been his servant?

A. About three years and a half.

Q. Do you write yourself?

A. Yes.