but, perhaps, had the woman been young and
handsome, the minister might have administered consolation.

"I find that Sleek here made a long speech about religion, which he
charged Rant with insulting; he regretted that a false humanity had
repealed some of those stringent but wholesome laws that had been
enacted for the preservation of holy things, and was truly sorry that
this sacrilegious old wretch could not be brought to the stake. He did
not envy his learned, friend the sneering contempt for religion that ran
through his whole argument.

"Rant bowed and smiled, and replied that, in his opinion, the only stake
the poor woman ought to be brought to was a beefsteak; for he always
wished to see the law administered with mercy.

"Sleek was not surprised at hearing such a carnal argument brought to
the defence of such a crime, and concluded by pressing for the severest
punishment the law could inflict against this most iniquitous criminal,
who--and he dared even Rant himself to deny the fact--came before that
court as an old offender; he therefore pressed for a conviction against
a person who had acted so flagrantly _contra bonos mores_.

"Rant said, she could not or ought not to be convicted. This Bible was
not individual property; it was that of a parish that contained better
than eighteen thousand inhabitants. Now, if any individual were to
establish his right of property in the Bible, and she herself was a
proprietress as well as any of them, the amount would be far beneath any
current coin of the realm, consequently there existed no legal symbol of
property for the value of which a conviction could be had.

"As I perceive, however," added Mr. Coke, "that the abstract of the
arguments in this important case runs to about five hundred pages, I
shall therefore recapitulate Judge Nodwell's charge, which has been
considered a very brilliant specimen of legal acumen and judicial
eloquence.

"'This, gentlemen of the jury,' said his lordship,' is a case of
apparently some difficulty, and I cannot help admiring the singular
talent and high principles displayed by the learned counsel on both
sides, who so ably argued it. Of one thing I am certain, that no
consciousness of religious ignorance, no privation of religious
knowledge, could ever induce my learned friend Sleek to commit such a
theft. Rather than do so, I am sure he would be conscientious enough
to pass through the world without any religion at all. As it is, w