at the libellous statement that the noble Civic head of London who
honoured it, could possibly have done so, could conceivably have
climbed to such a height upon its back, unless he had been eminently
sober, unfalteringly steady at the time when, clad in his robes in the
calm violet depth of night, he had placed his offering in happy
felicitation as a symbol and a greeting to his beloved City of London.
This should have excited only admiration; but seen through the prying
eyes of a prurient pressman, this touching tribute had been changed by
the vile alchemy of suspicion to an unseemly and ridiculous action of
midnight debauchery which could only have turned the noble Lion to
stone, had it not already been made of bronze.

"My Lord and Gentlemen of the Jury, this Lion stands for liberty, as do
all British Lions. I claim the liberty and full right of my client, if
he deems fit, to be able to decorate any statue of London whenever he
pleases, at any or every possible hour of the night that he chooses,
without the stupid and interfering intervention of a constable, or the
slanderous pen of a Mr. Learned Bore, having the power to make a
lovable and harmless action wear the appearance of a midnight frolic of
bibulous recklessness, which, had it taken place, would have been only
food and gossip for the senseless and shameful, and reflective regret
for the wise.

"My Lord and Gentlemen of the Jury, my client does not wish for big
damages, but he does demand strict justice. That is what he is here
for, my Lord and Gentlemen of the Jury, that is what we are all here
for. If I were given to emotion, which I am glad to confess I am not,
my deepest and innermost emotions would be called forth by the picture
of his Lordship there before us, who holds the scales of Justice in his
hands, who can pierce the outer coverings of dissembling and falsehood
with the eagle eye of truth, who can right this hideous wrong, who can
smooth out the crooked paths of falsehood, making all plain. Let the
false traducer beware, I say, he is veritably between the Lion and the
Eagle. His Lordship in this case is the Eagle (metaphorically, of
course)," hastily added Counsel, upon noticing the extraordinary
likeness of his Lordship to a bird roosting, "and the Lion and the
Eagle shall each of them turn and between them rend the truth and
nothing but the truth from the lying carcase of calumny.

"Having now shown with impartiality, at the same time