xistence, or were
falsehoods based upon some small germ of truth; and yet I heard them
detailed with a semblance of reality, and a degree of coherence as to
time and place, that smote me with very terror, since, though I might
deny, I could not disprove them.

To stamp me as an impostor, and my claim as a cheat, appeared to be the
entire line of the defence. Indeed, he avowed openly that with all the
evidence so painstakingly elicited by the opposite counsel, he should
not trouble the jury with one remark. "When I tell you," said he, "who
this claimant really is, and how his claim originated, you will forgive
me that I have not embarrassed you with details quite irrelevant to this
action, since of Walter Carew or of any descendant of his there is no
question here! I will produce before you on that table, I will leave
him to all the ingenuity of my learned friend to cross-examine, one who
shall account to you how the first impulse to this daring imposture was
conceived. You will be astounded. It will be, I am aware, a tremendous
tax upon your credulity to compass it; but I will show to your entire
conviction that the man who aspires to the rank of an Irish gentleman,
a vast estate, and an illustrious name, is a foreigner of unknown origin
who began life as an emissary of the French revolutionary party. When
secret treachery superseded the guillotine, he served as a spy; this
trade failing, he fell into the straits and difficulties of the most
abject poverty; the materials of that period of his history are, of
course, difficult to come at. They who walk in such paths, walk darkly
and secretly; but we may be able to display some, at least, of his
actions at this time,--one of them, at all events, will exhibit the
character of the individual, and at the same time put you in possession
of an incident which, in all likelihood, originated this extraordinary
action.

"There may be some now present in this court sufficiently familiar with
London to remember a certain character well known in the precincts of
Charing Cross by the nickname of Gentleman Jack. To those not acquainted
with this individual I may mention that he swept a crossing in that
locality, and had, by a degree of pretension in his appearance, aided by
a natural smartness in repartee, attracted notice from many of the idle
loungers of fashion who daily passed and repassed there. I am not able
to say if his gifts were in any respect above the common. Indeed, I hav