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her keys; and, in obedience to her father's commands, she declined, not only during his life, but after his death, to have any friendship, intimacy, or acquaintance, with her half-brothers and sisters; and whenever any of them intruded into her company, or went to her, as sometimes the respondents and their sister Ann Dickenson did in her sickness, she appeared uneasy and displeased at their company, and often said, she did not desire that one of them should come near her; and ordered her nurse, whenever any of them came, to tell them she was asleep, or could not see them; and so sensible were they of her disregard for them, and of her intention that her fortune should go according to her father's will, that they frequently owned, that she could not bear to sit in the same [253] room with them, and that the appellants were her heirs, and not they.

In the year 1758, Mary Lightburne died intestate and unmarried; upon whose death, the appellants Willoughby and Deborah Barker, Harcourt Lightburne, John Lightburne, Mary Chambers, and Hannah Lightburne, and the said Stafford Lightburne the younger, (who were the children of the testator's brother, the Reverend Stafford Lightburne, and nephews and nieces of William Lightburne,) became entitled, under the will of the said William Lightburne, to the residue of his effects, so devised over by him to the children of his brother the said Stafford Lightburne the elder; and as all the personal estate and effects of which she died possessed, (except some inconsiderable part, which was given to her by the will of her cousin Deborah Davys, and except what remained of her portion of £500,) consisted of the personal estate and effects of her deceased father, the appellant Willoughby Lightburne obtained letters of administration of the goods and chattels of the said William Lightburne deceased, unadministered by the said Mary, with his will annexed, in trust for himself, and his brothers and sisters; and having been advised, that under the particular circumstances of this case, he was also entitled to administration to Mary Lightburne, he controverted the right of the respondents to such administration; but the respondents, as her next of kin, having prevailed in that contest, possessed themselves of great part of the personal estate and effects, of which she died possessed, being chiefly the effects of the said William Lightburne her father.

To prevent further disputes and expence, the appellant Willoughby Lightburne tendered to the respondents £500, the portion which Mary Lightburne was entitled to, under the marriage settlement, or the leases of the house in Church-street and of the lands of Enver, which had been purchased by her father in trust for her, together with the sum of £70, to make up the money paid for such purchases the said portion of £500, but the respondents rejected both these offers. Whereupon the appellant Willoughby several times proposed to refer all matters in difference between the respondents and him to the opinion of counsel, but these proposals were also rejected.

In Hilary term 1759, the respondents, as administratrixes of Mary Lightburne, filed their bill in the Court of Chancery in Ireland, against the appellants, Willoughby and Harcourt Lightburne and Deborah Barker, and also against Daniel Cudmore, in whose house the said Mary had lodged; charging (among other things) that the defendants had got into their possession several deeds, leases, securities, and effects belonging to Mary Lightburne; and praying that the deeds, accounts, leases, and writings concerning the personal estate which the said Mary Lightburne died possessed of, or entitled to, or which were in her power at her death, and came to the custody of the appellants, might be brought into court; and that they might have an account of all her personal estate, and a full discovery of the respective quantities, qualities, and values thereof, [254] and to which of the defendants hands the same respectively came; that the respondents might be decreed an account against such of the appellants as had received the said personal estate, and the profit rents of Enver, and that the appellants might be injoined from receiving such profit rents, and from all proceedings at law against the under tenants for recovery of the same.

In Easter term 1759, such of the appellants as were defendants to this bill, and Mr. Cudmore, put in their answers; and on the 4th of August following, the appellants, Willoughby, Harcourt, and John Lightburne, and Stafford Lightburne the younger, preferred their cross bill against the respondents, stating the several facts abovementioned; and praying, that the respondents might be restrained from receiving any of the debts which were due to the said Mary Lightburne at her death, or which had since accrued due to her representatives; and also from proceeding at law for recovery thereof, against any person or persons indebted to her or her representatives on any account; and also