Regent's Park,
and at Kennington, in Surrey.

A great sensation was once produced by the abduction of a Miss Turner
from Miss Daulby's School, on the West Derby-road, by Mr. E. Gibbon
Wakefield. This is the white house that stands retired a field distant
from the road, on the right hand side, about a quarter of a mile beyond
the Zoological Gardens.

The abduction took place in March, 1826. It caused immense excitement
throughout England. Miss Turner was the daughter of Mr. Turner, of
Shrigley Park, Cheshire. By means of a forged letter addressed to Miss
Daulby, intimating that Miss Turner's mother was dangerously ill, the
young lady was permitted to leave the school for the purpose of going
home. In the carriage in waiting was Mr. E. Gibbon Wakefield, a widower
with one child (a perfect stranger to Miss Turner). It is believed he
had been put up to this disgraceful act of villainy by a Miss Davies,
with whom he was acquainted in Paris, and who was a member of a small
coterie of friends, meeting for social purposes at each other's houses.
This Miss Davies afterwards became the wife of Mr. E. G. Wakefield's
father. She was tried with her two stepsons for the conspiracy. The
object in taking Miss Turner away was the large fortune in expectancy
from her father as his sole child and heiress. Miss Turner was taken
from Liverpool to Manchester, next to Kendal, and on to Carlisle, and
thence across the borders and there married to Mr. Wakefield; he having
represented to her that by marrying him, he could save her father from
impending ruin. From Scotland, they went to London, thence to Calais,
where Miss Turner was found by her relatives and taken away.

The Wakefields were tried at Lancaster. Edward was found guilty of
abduction and sentenced to transportation. He went to Australia in
pursuance of his sentence, and after some years became the Government
commissioner. The marriage with Miss Turner was not consummated. Miss
Turner stated that she had received the utmost politeness and attention
from Mr. Wakefield, and had been treated by him with deference and
respect throughout. Had it not been for Mr. Wakefield's forbearance, it
was thought that his sentence would have been different. Edward Gibbon
Wakefield was said to have been a natural son of Lord Sandwich. He wrote
some exceedingly clever works upon colonial matters, and on emigration.

CHAPTER IX.

In the fields at the top of Brownlow-hill