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the coldest bosom, and that stamp impressions on memory that time can scarcely efface.

After all, it is not easy to say what juridical eloquence ought to be, or to prescribe the limits which it ought not to pass.-Coke, that great oracle of the law, has told us, what it should not be, in these words: "For he that hunteth after affected words, and following the strong scent of great swelling promises, is many times in winding of them in, to shew a little verbal pride, at the dead loss of the matter itself, and so projecit ampullas et susquepedalia verba." All coarse raillery, insipid jests, and what Quintilian calls canina eloquentia, should be avoided as unworthy of the solemnity of a court of justice, and the learning and dignity of a pleader.

An old philosopher has said, if you wish that your lamp should emit light, you must feed it with oil-it is thus with the human mind, it must be fed with learning -the soil may be fertile, but it will still stand in need of cultivation-whoever therefore wishes to shine at the bar, should not be content with a mere acquaintance with the classics, he should be familiar with them. It is remarkable that all those who have distinguished themselves as eloquent speakers in the civil law, were deeply conversant with the Greek and Roman writers.

In the following selection of speeches, specimens, it is presumed, will be found of almost every kind of forensic eloquence, the figurative, demonstrative, judicial, &c.— independently of the effects which they produced in the causes in which they were delivered, and the honor which they reflect on those that spoke them, they will serve to demonstrate the copiousness, energy, and beauty of the English language.

Mr. JUSTICE HARDINGE's Charge to the JURY, in the case of MORGAN WILLIAM, accused of murder.

At the spring assises in 1806, MORGAN WILLIAM was charged with the wilful murder of MARGARET WILLIAM, his servant: the prisoner's son had been committed on the same charge, but the grand jury did not find the bill against him.

In support of the prosecution it appeared by the examination of the evidence, that one evening in October 1806, the prisoner, on returning home to supper, desired the deceased to get him some bread and butter; but that not being satisfied as to the quantity, some words arose; and the deceased having observed that the ghost of his brother had appeared to her, and that she had been informed by other persons that they had seen the same, he got up and laid hold of her, and shook her violently, struck her with his fist on the side, threw her on the ground, and dragged her about, and gave her some blows with his hands and knees, on the thighs and lower parts of her belly. While the deceased was down she requested the witness, who was a servant of the prisoner, to assist her; but MORGAN WILLIAM, the son, desired him not to interfere, for the deceased had caused much mischief in the family. Soon after the woman appeared to be dead, and was lifted into a chair. Whilst she was in the chair, the prisoner appeared to be distracted with grief, called her dear little PEGGY, begged of her to speak to him, and kissed her on the cheek. Some spirits were then put into her mouth, which the witness could not tell whether she swallowed or not, and she was afterwards taken up stairs on the shoulders of MORGAN WILLIAM,

the son.

A boy of fifteen years old stated, that the prisoner desired him to say, that the deceased had died in a fit, if any one asked him.

RICHARD GRIFFITH, Esq. the coroner, deposed, that about ten days after the death, an inquest was demanded, and he had directed the body to be taken up: Upon examination, there appeared many marks of violence on the thighs and lower parts of the belly, evidently made by an obtuse instrument, and which he was convinced could not be the effect of natural corruption, nor the marks of any previous eruptive disease; that being satisfied as to the cause of her death, he did open the body. He admitted, however, that there must be some cause of sudden death, which could only be discovered by a dissection of the parts.

Dr. TURTON, on behalf of the prisoner, said he was a physician sesiding at Swansea, and had sometimes seen cases of sudden death. ieing desired to give his opinion as to the probability of discoloration of the skin appearing after death, he informed the court, that the circulation of the blood is the last effort of existence; that after the body is to outward appearance dead, circulation may be for some time going on, though in an imperceptible degree; that while circulation goes on, the vessels must be necessarily in action, and more or less full of blood; and that during this time, even after the appearance of dissolution, they may be broken by any violence or rough handling, and, discharging their contents, occasion discolorations of the skin. He likewise observed, that there were various internal disorders and inflammations of the organs, which might be exasperated by violent agitations of the passions or feelings, so as to cause sudden death; that even the passions themselves, by an excess of exertion, might produce an immediate death by spasm, rupture of artery, &c, and that these various causes of sudden death can only be discovered by dissection,

Mr. Justice HARDINGE, in a speech of energy and clearness, recapitulated the evidence to the jury; and the latter, after retiring a few minutes, brought in the verdict guilty of manslaughter.

On the following evening, the judge passed sentence on the prisoner in the following impressive Address:

"MORGAN WILLIAM, you are convicted of manslaughter alone, upon a charge of murder, that it was the express opinion of the court that your guilt had incurred, if the facts in the evidence were believed. The jury therefore must either have set up the judgment of the law against ours, or must have misunderstood the law as delivered by me, or have disbelieved the witnesses, or have been misled by the effect of your character as a peaceable and good-natured man. As to their preference of their own law in direct opposition to that of the court, I cannot, and will not believe it; in other words, I must not believe them to have abused their power and violated their duty. If I was misunderstood, it was not for want of all the efforts in my power to impress the rule and principles upon their minds, with all the accuracy and precision which I could stamp upon them. As to the discredit of the witnesses, it happens that not one of them was impeached by yourself. No witnesses, in my judicial experience, ever delivered their testimonies with more delicacy of caution: one of them, unsolicited, marked in his evidence, that when you killed this woman you had no shoes on. The difference in effect was trivial, but in his mind it occurred as a feature of softening the outrage. The evidence of the son of that father, a boy to whom you recommeneed a false account of the death in confidence, apart—and with him alone, is confirmed by the woman who laid out the deceased, and she represents you I told the same fiction to her.

that

"The evidence of the coroner and surgeon, Mr. GRIFFITH, to the cause of the death as occasioned by the vio

lence, must have convinced the jury, when they found you guilty of manslaughter. They must therefore have thought with me, the evidence of Dr. TURTON wasted and thrown away. He enlightened us with certain other causes of death,' (reconcilable to other similar appearances,) but which had no ground for them in the fact. His evidence therefore might have been spared. As to your character, if it were true, (and I will assume its truth,) it would prove that you have deceived your neighbours, and that you deserve a character the reverse of that which has been given you. Had a thousand witnesses called you "peaceable and good-natured," this one transaction of pride and revenge would outweigh them all. The jury may have thought that you did not mean to kill, and therefore could not "be guilty of murder :" in other words, may have thought you intended cruelty and mischief in the extreme to this defenceless womanbut short of death. If the facts here supposed were true, the opinion therefore that it was no murder would have been false, and it was reprobated by one with all the energy which, armed by the law, I could give to the opinion I delivered. But could they believe the fact, that you did not mean to kill? You that said the very moment before you made your first attack, "It was in your hands to kill her?" Perhaps, they believe you were not master of your own reason; but were heated by passion from the moment of your anger up to the very instant of this poor creature's death. Could they believe it? Could they believe you heated, when, after such a feather of provocation, you fell upon a defenceless person; she did not raise her hand against you, you beat her with your fist upon her bosom and thighs, kicked her, and when she was down pressed your knees upon several parts of her body, inflicting blows and contusions upon her waist? Could they believe you were heated, when, upon her affecting appeal to her fellow-servant, you commanded him to de

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