of that judicial body, the finding of the true bill, the
return of the said bill in Court, the bringing up of the prisoner for
arraignment, and the fixing of the case to be taken first on Thursday in
deference to the wishes of Mr. Nimble. I pass by all those preliminary
proceedings which I have before attempted to describe, and which, if I
might employ a racing simile, might be compared to the saddling of Mr.
Bumpkin in the paddock, where, unquestionably, he was first favourite for
the coming race, to be ridden by that excellent jockey, Alibi; and come
at once to the great and memorable trial of Regina on the prosecution of
Thomas Bumpkin against Simon Simpleman for highway robbery with violence.

As the prisoner entered the dock there was a look of unaffected innocence
in his appearance that seemed to make an impression on the learned Judge,
Mr. Justice Technical, a recently appointed Chancery barrister. I may be
allowed to mention that his Lordship had never had any experience in
Criminal Courts whatever: so he brought to the discharge of his important
duty a thoroughly unprejudiced and impartial mind. He did not suspect
that a man was guilty because he was charged: and the respectable and
harmless manner of the accused was not interpreted by his Lordship as a
piece of consummate acting, as it would be by some Judges who have seen
much of the world as it is exhibited in Criminal Courts.

Many ladies of rank were ushered in by the Sheriff, all looking as
smiling and happy as if they were about to witness the performance of
some celebrated actress for the first time; they had fans and
opera-glasses, and as they took their places in the boxes allotted to
rank and fashion, there was quite a pleasant sensation produced in Court,
and they attracted more notice for the time being than the prisoners
themselves.

Now these ladies were not there to witness the first piece, the mere
trial of Simpleman for highway robbery, although the sentence might
include the necessary brutality of flogging. The afterpiece was what
they had come to see--namely, a fearful tragedy, in which two men at
least were sure of being sentenced to death. This is the nearest
approach to shedding human blood which ladies can now witness in this
country; for I do not regard pigeon slaughtering, brutal and bloodthirsty
as it is, as comparable to the sentencing of a fellow-creature to be
strangled. And no one can blame ladies of rank if they slake the