that the jury should put this trumpery
affair altogether out of their minds; on the double ground that, in
the first place, the prisoner at the bar did not poison the dog;
and that, had he done so, it would have had nothing whatever to do
with the present affair.

"Why, gentlemen," he said, "it is an insult to your understanding
to ask you to credit that this young fellow--whose character, which
I shall presently prove to you, by unimpeachable evidence, is of
the highest kind--has, for four years, cherished such malice
against his employer, for dismissing him mistakenly, that he has
become the consort of thieves and burglars, has stained his hands
in crime, and rendered himself liable to transportation, for the
purpose merely of spiting that gentleman. Such a contention would
be absolutely absurd. I must beg you to dismiss it altogether from
your mind, and approach it from a different standpoint, altogether.
Divested of this extraneous business, the matter is a most simple
one.

"The prisoner left his mother's cottage, at seven o'clock in the
evening, to go over for an hour or two to his friend Mr.
Shrewsbury, the schoolmaster of Tipping. He took with him a few
tools, as he had promised to put some shelves in his friend's
house. On the way he heard some talking down a lane, which he knew
led to only a field. Thinking it strange, he went to see who it was
and, some distance down, he found a horse and cart standing and,
listening to the conversation of two men who were sitting under the
hedge, he heard enough to inform him that a burglary was intended
upon the house of Mr. Ellison. He was about to make off to give the
alarm, when he was suddenly attacked by some men who had come up
behind, and was felled to the ground. While lying insensible, he
was bound hand and foot and left in a ditch; where he remained till
the burglars returned from completing the work on hand. They then
threw him into the cart, and put him down some twenty miles away.
Being greatly exhausted by loss of blood, it was late in the
afternoon before he arrived at Lewes, when he was at once arrested.

"This, gentlemen, is the prisoner's story, as related to the chief
constable when he was taken to the lockup. Nothing can be simpler
or more probable; and in some points, at least, I shall be able to
confirm it by independent testimony. Mr. Shrewsbury will tell you
that the prisoner had arranged to come over to see him, and bring
his tools. He will al