to obtain refreshment. During their
absence, the Attorney-General, Mr. Sterling, Mr. Crystal, and Mr.
Mansfield, might have been seen, with their heads all laid close
together, engaged in anxious consultation--a group gazed at by the eager
eyes of many a spectator, whose beating heart wished their cause
godspeed. The Attorney-General then withdrew for a few moments, also to
seek refreshment; and returning at the same time with the judge, after a
moment's pause rose, bowed to the judge, then to the jury, and opened
the defendant's case. His manner was calm and impressive; his person was
dignified; and his clear, distinct voice fell on the listening ear like
the sound of silver. After a graceful allusion to the distinguished
character of his friend and client, Mr. Aubrey, (to whose eminent
position in the House of Commons he bore his personal testimony,) to the
magnitude of the interests now at stake, and the extraordinary nature of
the claim set up, he proceeded: "On every account, therefore, I feel
sensible, gentlemen, to an unusual and most painful extent, of the very
great responsibility now resting upon my learned friends and myself;
lest any miscarriage of mine should prejudice in any degree the
important interests committed to us, or impair the strength of the case
which I am about to submit to you on the part of Mr. Aubrey; a case
which, I assure you, unless some extraordinary mischance should befall
us, will, I believe, annihilate that which, with so much pains, so much
tact, and so much ability, has just been laid before you by my learned
friend Mr. Subtle; and establish the defendant in the safe possession of
that large property which is the subject of the present most
extraordinary and unexpected litigation. But, gentlemen, before
proceeding so far as that, it is fitting that I should call your
attention to the nature of the case set up on the part of the plaintiff,
and the sort of evidence by which it has been attempted to be supported;
and I am very sanguine of being successful in showing you that the
plaintiff's witnesses are not entitled to the credit to which they lay
claim; and, consequently, that there is no case made out for the
defendant to answer." He then entered into a rigorous analysis of the
plaintiff's evidence, contrasting each conflicting portion with the
other, with singular cogency; and commenting with powerful severity upon
the demeanor and character of many of the witnesses. On proceeding, a