olence of presumption which had marked every step of this imposture.

The Court interrupted the counsel at this conjuncture by an observation
which I could not hear, to which the lawyer replied, "It shall be as
your Lordship suggests; though, were I permitted a choice, I should
infinitely prefer to probe this foul wound to its last depth. I would
far rather display this consummate impostor to the world, less as a
punishment to himself than as a warning and a terror to others."

Here my counsel rose, and said that he had conferred with his learned
friends in the case as to the course he ought to pursue. He could
not express the emotions which he felt at the exposures they had just
witnessed; nor did he deem it necessary to say for himself and his
brother-barristers, as well as for the respectable solicitors employed,
that the revelations then made had come upon them entirely by surprise.
Well weighing the responsible position they occupied towards the
plaintiff, whose advocates they were, they still felt, after the
appalling exhibition they had witnessed,--an exposure unparalleled in a
court of justice,--it would be unbefitting their station as gentlemen,
and unworthy of their duty as barristers, any longer to continue this
contest.

A low murmur of approbation ran through the court as the words were
concluded, and the Judge solemnly added, "You have shown a very
wise discretion, sir, and which completely exonerates you from any
foreknowledge of this fraud."

The defendant's counsel then requested that the Court would not permit
the plaintiff to leave.

"We intend to prefer charges of forgery and perjury against him, my
Lord," said he; "and meanwhile I desire that the various documents we
have seen may be impounded."

On an order from the Judge, the plaintiff was now taken into custody;
and after, as it appeared, one or two vain efforts to address the Court,
in which his voice utterly failed him, he was removed.

Mr. M'Clelland could not take his farewell of the case without
expressing his full concurrence in the opinion expressed by the Court
regarding his learned friends opposite, whose ability during the contest
was only to be equalled by the integrity with which they guided their
conduct when defence had become worse than hopeless.

The defence of this remarkable suit will cost Mr. Curtis, it is said,
upwards of seven thousand pounds.

A very few words will now complete this history. Let him who writes them