last. That it
has not been reported in the morning papers is doubtless to be
attributed to the most reckless bribery on the part of the
plaintiff. He has, no doubt, sought to hush up his infamy; the
defendant has no such contemptible cowardice. Hence a special
reporter was engaged for PUNCH. The trial is given here, firstly,
for the beautiful illustration it affords of the philosophy of the
English law of _crim. con._; and secondly on a principle--for
PUNCH has principles--laid down by the defendant in his course of
public life, to show himself to the world the man he really is. In
pursuit of this moral and philosophical object, should the
waywardness of his genius ever induce PUNCH to cut a throat, pick
a pocket, or, as a Middlesex magistrate (for PUNCH has been upon
the bench many a year), to offer for sale a tempting lot of
liberty to any competent captive,--should PUNCH rob as a vulgar
Old Bailey delinquent, or genteelly swindle as an Aldermanic
share-holder,--in each and every of these cases there will, _on
discovery_, be the fullest report of the same in PUNCH'S own
paper, PUNCH being deeply impressed with the belief that an
exhibition of the weaknesses of a great man is highly beneficial
to public philosophy and public morals. PUNCH now retires in
favour of his "own" reporter.]

As early as six o'clock in the morning, the neighbourhood of the court
presented a most lively and bustling aspect. Carriages continued to arrive
from the west-end; and we recognised scores of ladies whose names are
familiar to the readers of the _Court Journal_ and _Morning Post_. Several
noblemen, amateurs of the subject, arrived on horseback. By eight o'clock
the four sides of Red Lion-square were, if we may be allowed the metaphor,
a mass of living heads. We owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Davis, the
respected and conscientious officer for the Sheriff of Middlesex; that
gentleman, in the kindest spirit of hospitality, allowing us six inches of
his door-step when the crowd was at its greatest pressure. Several inmates
of Mr. Davis's delightful mansion had a charming view of the scene from
the top windows, where we observed bars of the most picturesque and _moyen
age_ description. At ten minutes to nine, Mr. Charles Phillips, counsel
for the plaintiff, arrived in Lamb's Conduit-passage, and was loudly
cheered. On the appearance of Mr. Adolphus, counsel f