less disquieted or perturbed--I cannot help it.' Some
uncomfortable thoughts could hardly fail to intrude at times when the
compliments which he received from the highest authorities failed to be
backed by a corresponding recognition from attornies; and at times, I
suspect, his spirits were depressed by over-work, of which he was slow
to acknowledge the possibility. To work, indeed, he turned for one
chief consolation. He refers incidentally to various significant
performances. 'Last night,' he writes from Derby, April 10, 1862, 'I
finished a middle at two; and to-day I finished "Superstition"' (an
article in the 'Cornhill') 'in a six hours' sitting, during which I had
written thirty-two MS. pages straight off. I don't feel at all the worse
for it.' On Nov. 14 following he observes that he is 'in first-rate
health.' He wrote all night from six till three, got up at 7.30, and
walked thirty-one miles; after which he felt 'perfectly fresh and well.'
On Jan. 13, 1863, he has a long drive in steady rain, sits up 'laughing
and talking' till one; writes a review till 4.45, and next day writes
another article in court. On July 17, 1864, he finishes an article upon
Newman at 3 A.M., having written as much as would fill sixteen pages of
the 'Edinburgh Review'--the longest day's work he had ever done, and
feels perfectly well. On March 13, 1865, he gets up at six, writes an
article before breakfast, is in court all day, and has a consultation at
nine. Early rising was, I think, his commonest plan for encountering a
pressure of work; but he had an extraordinary facility for setting to
work at a moment's notice. He had a power of eating and sleeping at any
time, which he found, as he says, highly convenient. He was equally
ready to write before breakfast, or while other people were talking and
speechifying all round him in court, or when sitting up all night. And,
like a strong man, he rejoiced in his strength, perhaps a little too
unreservedly. If he now and then confesses to weariness, it never seemed
to be more than a temporary feeling.

Of the cases in which he was engaged at this period I need only mention
two--the case of Dr. Rowland Williams, of which I shall speak directly
in connection with his published 'defence'; and the case of a man who
was convicted of murder at Warwick in December 1863. The fellow had cut
the throat of a girl who had jilted him. The facts were indisputable,
and the only possible defence was insanity. K