him, and one of the company endeavoured to detain
him, from whom he broke, by cutting the maid on the head, but was
afterwards taken in a court.

There was some difference in their depositions; one did not see Savage
give the wound, another saw it given when Sinclair held his point
towards the ground; and the woman of the town asserted, that she did not
see Sinclair's sword at all: this difference, however, was very far from
amounting to inconsistency; but it was sufficient to show that the hurry
of the dispute was such, that it was not easy to discover the truth with
relation to particular circumstances, and that, therefore, some
deductions were to be made from the credibility of the testimonies.

Sinclair had declared several times before his death, that he received
his wound from Savage; nor did Savage at his trial deny the fact, but
endeavoured partly to extenuate it, by urging the suddenness of the
whole action, and the impossibility of any ill design, or premeditated
malice; and partly to justify it by the necessity of self-defence, and
the hazard of his own life, if he had lost that opportunity of giving
the thrust: he observed, that neither reason nor law obliged a man to
wait for the blow which was threatened, and which, if he should suffer
it, he might never be able to return; that it was always allowable to
prevent an assault, and to preserve life by taking away that of the
adversary by whom it was endangered.

With regard to the violence with which he endeavoured to escape, he
declared, that it was not his design to fly from justice, or decline a
trial, but to avoid the expenses and severities of a prison; and that he
intended to have appeared at the bar without compulsion.

This defence, which took up more than an hour, was heard by the
multitude that thronged the court with the most attentive and respectful
silence; those who thought he ought not to be acquitted, owned that
applause could not be refused him; and those who before pitied his
misfortunes, now reverenced his abilities.

The witnesses which appeared against him were proved to be persons of
characters which did not entitle them to much credit; a common strumpet,
a woman by whom strumpets were entertained, and a man by whom they were
supported: and the character of Savage was, by several persons of
distinction, asserted to be that of a modest inoffensive man, not
inclined to broils or to insolence, and who had, to that time, been only
known