ed and vows forsworn, and pictured forth the man
who could thus surrender his fellows to the scaffold as a monster whose
evidence no man could trust, no jury confide in; and when he had
thus heightened the colouring of his description by every power of an
eloquence that made the very building ring, he turned suddenly towards
the informer himself, as, pale, wan, and conscience-stricken,
he cowered beneath the lightning glance from an eye that seemed to
pierce his secret soul within him, and apostrophising his virtues, he
directed every glance upon the miserable wretch that writhed beneath
his sarcasm. This seemed, indeed, the speakers forte. Never did I hear
anything so tremendous as the irony with which he described the credit
due to one who had so often been sworn and forsworn--'who took an oath
of allegiance to his king, and an oath of fealty to his fellows, and
now is here this day with a third oath, by which, in the blood of his
victim, he is to ratify his perjury to both, and secure himself an
honourable independence.' The caustic satire verged once--only once--on
something that produced a laugh, when the orator suddenly stopped:--

'I find, my lord, I have raised a smile. God knows, never did I feel
less merriment. Let me not be condemned. Let not the laugh be mistaken.
Few are those events that are produced by folly and vice that fire the
hearts with indignation, but something in them will 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. But these laughs
are the bitter, rueful laughs of honest indignation, or they are the
laughs of hectic melancholy and despair. But look there, and tell me
where is your laughter now!'

With these words he turned fully round and pointed his finger to
the dock, where the six prisoners side by side leaned their haggard,
deathlike faces upon the rail, and gazed with stupid wonder at the scene
before them. Four of the number did not even know the language, but
seemed by the instinct of their position to feel the nature of the
appeal their advocate was making, and turned their eyes around the court
as if in search of some one look of pity or encouragement that should
bring comfort to their hearts.

The whole thing was too dreadful to bear longer, so I forced my way
through the crowd, and at last reached the steps in front