real heir to the title and estates attaching to the earldom. He was
bound to add that the demeanour of Mrs. Bloor and her sister Rosa Day
in the witness-box, was such that, if the case were not of such
prodigious importance, and if it had not been contradicted by all
surrounding circumstances, their statement, which they had given with
firmness and without hesitation, would have obtained credence. It was,
however, so utterly inconsistent with all the admitted facts, and with
the rest of the evidence, that he was compelled to arrive at the
painful conclusion that it was a mere fabrication, intended to defeat
the ends of justice. The evidence of Dr. Baker Brown, who had
identified Mrs. Howard as the person whom he had examined, on the 8th
of July, 1864, and who had stated to him that she had never had a
child, was very strong, and was only to be explained upon the
supposition that it was a case of mistaken identity; and that it was
her sister Jane Richardson, who was examined, and not Mrs. Howard. This
supposition, however, was entirely set aside by the Longney witnesses,
who stated that upon the occasion of the birth-day dinner party at
Longney, which had been brought forward to prove an _alibi_, both Mrs.
Howard and her sister Jane Richardson were present. It was evident,
therefore, either that the story could not be true, or that the
witnesses were mistaken as to the day on which that event had
occurred, and under these circumstances the whole evidence in support
of the _alibi_ broke down altogether. Having arrived at this
conclusion with respect to the original case set up by Mrs. Howard, it
was scarcely necessary to allude to the Liverpool story, which was
certainly an extraordinary and a singular one, and had a tendency to
damage the case of those who had set it up, although he did not see
how they could possibly have withheld it from the knowledge of their
lordships. Looking at the fact that Mary Best was proved to have been
delivered of a fair child, and that the child she took out of the
workhouse with her was a dark child, he confessed that much might be
said both in favour of and against the truth of her statement; but it
was, perhaps, as well that it might be entirely disregarded in the
present case; and, at all events, in his opinion, there was nothing in
its being brought forward which was calculated to shake their
lordships' confidence in the character of those who were conducting
the case on behalf of the