I am glad it is so—I am glad of this factitious dumbness; for it murmurs dared to become audible, my voice would be too feeble to drown them; but when all is hushed-when nature sleeps

Cum quies mortalibus ægris,

the weakest voice is heard the shepherd's whistle shoots across the listening darkness of the interminable heath, and gives notice. that the wolf is upon his walk; and the same gloom and stillness that tempt the monster to come abroad, facilitate the communication of the warning to beware. Yes, through that silence the voice shall be heard; yes, through that silence, the shepherd shall be put upon his guard; yes, through that silence shall the felon savage be chased into the toil. Yes, my lords, I feel myself cheered and impressed by the composed and dignified attention with which I see you are disposed to hear me on the most important question that has ever been subjected to your consideration; the most important to the dearest rights of the human being; the most deeply interesting and animating that can beat in his heart, or burn upon his tongue-Oh! how recreating is it to feel that occasions may arise in which the soul of man may reassume her pretensions; in which she hears the voice of nature whisper to her, os homini sublime dedi cœlumque tueri; in which even I can look up with calm security to the court, and down with the most profound contempt upon the reptile I mean to tread upon! I say reptile; because, when the proudest man in society becomes so the dupe of his childish malice, as to wish to inflict on the object of his vengeance the poison of his sting; to do a reptile's work, he must shrink into a reptile's dimensions; and so shrunk, the only way to assail him is to tread upon him. the subject;—this writ of habeas corpus has had a return. return states, that Lord Ellenborough, chief justice of England, issued a warrant reciting the foundation of this dismal transaction: that one of the clerks of the crown office had certified to him, that an indictment had been found at Westminster, charging the honorable Robert Johnson, late of Westminster, one of the justices of his majesty's court of common pleas in Ireland, with the publication of certain slanderous libels against the government of that

But to

That

country; against the person of his excellency Lord Hardwicks. lord lieutenant of that country; against the person of Lord Kedesdale, the chancellor of Ireland; and against the person of Mr. Justice Osborne, one of the justices of the court of king's bench in Ireland. One of the clerks of the crown office, it seems, certified all this to his lordship. How many of these there are, or who they are, or which of them so certified, we cannot presume to guess, because the learned and noble lord is silent as to those circumstances. We are only informed that one of them made that important communication to his lordship. It puts me in mind of the information given to one of Fielding's justices: "Did not," says his worship's wife, "the man with the wallet make his fidavy that you was a vagram?" I suppose it was some such petty bag officer who gave Lord Ellenborough to understand that Mr. Justice Johnson was indicted. And being thus given to understand, and be informed, he issued his warrant to a gentleman, no doubt of great respectability, Mr. Williams, his tipstaff, to take the body of Mr. Justice Johnson, and bring him before a magistrate, for the purpose of giving bail to appear within the first eight days of this term, so that there might be a trial within the sittings after; and if, by the blessing of God, he should be convicted, then to appear on the return of the postea, to be dealt with according to law.

Perhaps it may be a question for you to decide, whether that warrant, such as it may be, is not now absolutely spent; and, if not, how a man can contrive to be hereafter in England on a day that is past? And high as the opinion may be in England of Irish understanding, it will be something beyond even Irish exactness to bind him to appear in England not a fortnight hence, but a fortnight ago. I wish, my lords, we had the art of giving time this retrograde motion. If possessed of the secret we might possibly be disposed to improve it from fortnights into years.

There is something not incurious in the juxtaposition of signatures. The warrant is signed by the chief justice of all England. In music, the ear is reconciled to strong transitions of key, by a preparatory resolution of the intervening discords; but here, alas! there is nothing to break the fall: the august title of Ellenborough is followed by the unadorned name of brother Bell, the spor or

of his lordship's warrant. Let me not, however, be suffered to deem lightly of the compeer of the noble and learned lord. Mr. Justice Bell ought to be a lawyer; I remember him, myself long a crier,* and I know his credit with the state; he has had a noli prosequi. I see not, therefore, why it may not fairly be said, "fortunati ambo!" It appears by this return, that Mr. Justice Bell endorses this bill of lading to another consignee, Mr. Medlicot, a most respectable gentleman; he describes himself upon the warrant, and he gives a delightful specimen of the administration of justice, and the calendar of saints in office; he describes himself a justice and a peace officer-that is, a magistrate and a catchpole; so that he may receive information as a justice; if he can write, he may draw them as a clerk; if not, he can execute the warrant as bailiff; and, if it be a capital offence, you may see the culprit, the justice, the clerk, the bailiff, and the hangman, together in the same cart; and, though he may not write, he may “ride and tie!" What a pity that their journey should not be further continued together! That, as they had been "lovely in their lives, so in their deaths they might not be divided!" I find, my lords, I have undesignedly raised a laugh; never did I less feel merriment-let me not be condemned-let not the laugh be mistaken. Never was Mr. Hume more just than when he says, that "in many things the extremes are nearer to one another than the means." Few are those events that are produced by vice and folly, that fire the heart with indignation, that do not also shake the sides with laughter. So when the two famous moralists of old beheld the sad spectacle of life, the one burst into laughter, the other melted into tears; they were each of them right, and equally right.

Si credas utrique

Res sunt humanæ flebile ludibrium.

But these laughs are the bitter ireful laughs of honest indignation -or they are the laughs of hectic melancholy and despair.

*This gentleman was formerly crier to the late baron Hamilton, wheh the baron went circuit as a judge.

DR. DODD BEFORE RECEIVING SENTENCE OF DEATH.

MY LORD,--I now stand before you a dreadful example of human infirmity. I entered upon public life with the expectations common to young men whose education has been liberal, and whose abilities have been flattered: and when I became a clergyman, I considered myself as not impairing the dignity of the order. I was not an idle, nor I hope, a useless minister: I taught the truths of Christianity with the zeal of conviction, and the authority of innocence. My labors were approved-my pulpit became popular; and, I have reason to believe, that of those who heard me, some have been preserved from sin, and some have been reclaimed.--Condescend, my lord, to think, if these considerations aggravate my crime, how much they must embitter my punishment! Being distinguished and elevated by the confidence of mankind, I had too much confidence in myself, and thinking my integrity, what others thought it, established in sincerity, and fortified by religion, I did not consider the danger of vanity, nor suspect the deceitfulness of my own heart. The day of conflict came, in which temptation seized and overwhelmed me! I committed the crime, which I entreat your lordship to believe that my conscience hourly represents to me in its full bulk of mischief and malignity. Many have been overpowered by temptation, who are now among the penitent in heaven! To an act now waiting the decision of vindictive justice, I will not presume to oppose the counterbalance of almost thirty years (a great part of the life of man) passed in exciting and exercising charity-in relieving such distresses as I now feel-in administering those consolations which I now want. I will not otherwise extenuate my offence, than by declaring, what I hope will appear to many, and what many circumstances make probable, that I did not intend finally to defraud: nor will it become me to apportion my own punishment, by alleging that my sufferings have been not much less than my guilt. I have fallen from a reputation, which ought to have made me cautious, and from a fortune which ought to have given me content. I am sunk at once into poverty and scorn: my name

and my crime fill the ballads in the streets; the sport of the thoughtless and the triumph of the wicked! It may seem strange, my lord, that, remembering what I have lately been, I should still wish to continue what I am; but contempt of death, how speciously soever it may mingle with heathen virtues, has nothing in it suitable to Christian penitence. Many motives impel me to beg earnestly for life. I feel the natural horror of a violent death, the universal dread of untimely dissolution. I am desirous to recompense the injury I have done to the clergy, to the world, and to religion; and to efface the scandal of my crime, by the example of my repentance: but, above all, I wish to die with thoughts more composed, and calmer preparation.-The gloom and confusion of a prison, the anxiety of a trial, the horrors of suspense, and the inevitable vicissitudes of passion, leave not the mind in due disposition for the holy exercises of prayer and self-examination. --Let not a little life be denied me, in which I may, by meditation and contrition, prepare myself to stand at the tribunal of Omnipotence, and support the presence of that judge, who shall distribute to all according to their works--who will receive and pardon the repenting sinner, and from whom the merciful shall obtain mercy! For these reasons, my lord, amidst shame and misery, I yet wish to live; and most humbly implore, that I may be recommended by your lordship to the clemency of his majesty.

ROBERT EMMETT BEFORE RECEIVING SENTENCE OF DEATH.

MY LORDS,-You ask me what I have to say, why sentence of death should not be pronounced on me, according to law? I have nothing to say which can alter your pre-determinations, nor that it will become me to say with any view to the mitigation of that sentence, which you are here to pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to say, which interests me more than life, and which you have labored (as was necessarily your office in the present circumstances of this oppressed country) to destroy-I have much to say why my reputation should be res