babby and what had died. Then it come out
afore Mr. Coroner, my lord, and he ordered the woman into custody, and
then the man was took."

I thought they had had punishment enough for their offence, and gave
them no imprisonment, but ordered them to be released on their own
recognizances, and to come up for judgment if called upon.

Now came _my_ sentence. The clergyman of the parish in which this
terrible crime had been discovered evidently felt that he had been
living in the utmost danger for years. Here these people came to his
church, and for aught he knew prayed for forgiveness under the very
roof where he himself worshipped.

He said I had done a fine thing to encourage sin and immorality, and
what could come of humanity if Judges would not punish?

He denounced me, I afterwards learned, in his pulpit in the severest
terms, although I did not hear that he used the same vituperative
language towards the poor creatures I had so far absolved. Luckily I
was not attending the reverend gentleman's ministration, but he seemed
to think the greatest crime I had committed was disallowing the costs
of the prosecution. That was a direct _incentive to bigamy_, although
in what respect I never learned.

It sometimes suggested to my mind this question,--

What would this minister of the gospel have said to the Divine Master
when the woman caught "in the very act" was before Him, and He said,
in words never to be forgotten till men and women are no more,
"Neither do I condemn thee"?

I thought those who loved a prosecution of this kind--whoever it may
have been--_ought_ to pay for the luxury, and so I condemned _them_ in
the costs.

CHAPTER XL.

DR. LAMSON[A]--A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY--A WILL CASE.

[Footnote A: In this and one or two other cases I am pleased to
acknowledge my thanks to my esteemed friend Mr. Charles W. Mathews,
the distinguished advocate, for refreshing my memory with the
incidents.]

One of the most diabolical cases which came before me while a Judge
was one which, although it occupied several days, can be told in
the course of a few minutes. I mention it, moreover, not so much on
account of its inhuman features as the fact that, in my opinion, Dr.
Lamson led the prosecutors--that is, the Government solicitors--into a
theory which was calculated by that cunning murderer to save him from
a conviction, and it nearly did so.

The story is this:--There was in the year 1873 a family of five