ened, the general
credit of the whole, and gave it the advantage which belongs to an
artless and unartificial tale. Some saying his cap was a little flat, as
it might be owing to its being drawn over his face; one saying that it
was brown; another I think, that it was of a fawn colour; and one who
spoke with the utmost certainty in other particulars, that it was nearly
the colour of his pepper and salt great coat; but in all the other
substantial particulars, they concur in their accounts most exactly; and
these minute variances exclude the idea of any uniform contrivance and
design in the variation; for where it is an artificial and prepared
story, the parties agree in the minutest facts, as well as the most
important; and indeed, gentlemen, so abundant, so uniform, and so
powerful is the evidence as to one point, viz. the identity of Berenger,
that it strikes me, that if these witnesses are not to be fully believed
as to this point, then almost every man who has been convicted at the
Old Bailey upon so much weaker proof of his being the person who
committed the particular crime with which he is charged, (and which has
been the case in almost _every instance_ I have known), may be
considered as victims unjustly sacrificed in a course of trial, to the
rash credulity of their judges and juries. If the evidence produced is
not sufficient to establish this point, I am at a loss to say by what
description and quantity of testimony, such a point can be
satisfactorily made out in a course of trial.

When the learned counsel addressed himself to prove an alibi, I could
not foresee how it would be satisfactorily accomplished; I cannot say I
believed he would accomplish it, but I believed it would be attempted by
better evidence than that which has been adduced; you recollect the
prior testimony of the Davidsons; the servants had gone out at two,
instead of four; Mr. De Berenger, according to the evidence he has
adduced, is found three miles and a half off; where he had dined, is not
shewn, he is in a hurry to get back; according to the next set of alibi
witnesses, he is found at Mr. Donithorne's between eight and nine,
having been found there in the morning, to measure the garden, at not a
very convenient time, with the snow upon the ground; and who are the
people who speak to this? a man who has been in the habit, which some
of us are, of examining the countenances and demeanor of men brought
forward to speak to guilty untruth