Abused wives - Legal status, laws, etc. - Great Britain

The trial of Isaac Prescott , Esq. a captain in the Royal Navy, Late Commander of his Majesty's Ship the Seaford. for wanton, tyrannical, unprovoked, and savage cruelty, towards Jane Prescott, his wife, Daughter of the Reverend Mr. Walter, Chaplain of his Majesty's Dock-Yard, at Portsmouth, who gave with her 2000 l. as a Marriage Portion. Setting forth the whole of the evidence upon that remarkable trial, in the Consistory Court at Doctors Commons. (- It appears, by this Trial, that Captain Prescott is so very ingenious in the art of tormenting, and has contrived so many new and extraordinary modes of punishment for a woman, that he appears fully qualified to preside at a Spanish inquisition. Mrs. Browning, in her bay, was thought an adept in every species of cruelty, but our hero has refined upon her principles; and disdaining to inflict common punishments, has invented a system of his own. His unparalleled transactions are equally numerous and astonishing.) Entered at Stationers Hall.