is a _prima facie_ case made out against
Eleanor Owen, that there are grounds for suspicion which she ought
fairly to be called upon to answer and explain away if she can, then
it is your duty not to hesitate, but to bring in a true bill for
murder. And I must tell you, gentlemen, that so far as my reading of
the depositions has guided me, this is not a case in which the crime
admits of being reduced to any lesser charge. There are none of the
elements present which may, and often do, justify a jury in reducing
the charge of murder to that of manslaughter. There is no question, so
far as I have been able to discover, of sudden provocation, of
accident, or anything of that sort. Whoever committed this crime must,
if you believe the evidence, have done so knowingly, designedly, and
with premeditation, and therefore your finding, if you find against
the prisoner must be one of wilful murder. Gentlemen, I leave you to
your deliberations.'

With these words his Lordship dismissed the grand jury; and the
barristers, in their wigs and gowns, some of them with briefs and a
good many with none, came streaming into the well of the court,
filling up the seats specially reserved for them, and overflowing into
those occupied by their colleagues of the 'lower branch.' It seems
rather hard on the Bar that some mysterious rule of etiquette, which
they themselves probably do not understand, should forbid them to
enter the assize court till this particular stage in the proceedings.
Or can it be that this rule had its origin in the wisdom of their
remote predecessors, devising artful means to escape the infliction
of a tedious charge without appearing disrespectful to the Bench?

A lull followed. The judge, accustomed to have the eyes of men upon
him, calmly betook himself to letter-writing. The high-sheriff, not
so accustomed, fidgeted in his seat, looked round and counted the
javelin-men in court, wondered how long the grand jury would be, and
remembered, let us hope with remorse, the time when he was a grand
juryman himself and wasted the time of the county by unnecessary
questions to the witnesses. The fact is that the grand jury is played
out. Everything for which they originally existed is now done by
somebody else. Every case that comes before them now has already been
investigated once by the committing magistrates. Their duty is simply
to accuse the prisoner, nothing more; and it would be quite sufficient
if they would just rea