Mr. Gerrald avowed himself a member of the British Convention, yet the court overruled the objection, and the Lord Justice Clerk actually presided on the trial. Similar objections to some of the jurors were also overruled.

Under such disadvantages, which Mr. Gerrald sensibly felt, he defended himself with great eloquence, and some passages of his speech might be selected as models of oratory. His conclusion was very fine.

Surely," said he, "the experience of all ages should have taught our rulers, that persecutions never can efface principles; and that the thunders of the State will prove impotent when wielded against patriotism, innocence, and firmness. Whether, therefore, I shall be permitted to glide gently down the current of life in the bosom of my native country, among those kindred spirits whose approbation constitutes the greatest comfort of my living; or whether I be doomed to drag out the remainder of my existence amidst thieves and murderers, a wandering exile on the bleak and melancholy shores of New Holland; my mind, equal to either fortune, is prepared to meet the destiny that awaits it. Seu me tranquilla senectus

• Expectat, seu mors atris circumvolat alis, Dives, inops, Romæ, seu fors ita jusserit erul.'

"To be torn a bleeding member from that country which we love, is indeed upon the first view painful in the extreme; but all things cease to be painful, when we are supported by the consciousness that we have done our duty to our fellow creatures; and a wise man rising superior to all local prejudices, if

this

asked for his country, will turn his eyes from dim spot which men call earth, and will point like Anaxagoras to the heavens.'

"Gentlemen, my cause is in your hands. You are Britons-you are freemen. Nothing more is therefore necessary to be said. You have heard the charge; you have heard the evidence; and you know the punishment which follows upon conviction. Weigh well, then, whether the charge itself involves any guilt: whether the evidence produced affixes that guilt; and, above all, whether in case of conviction, the punishment which I am to suffer is not more than proportionate to the offence.

"Before I take my leave of you this night, perhaps for ever, let me remind you, that justice is, in every situation, and in none more than in that of a jury, to be administered in mercy. Upon your strict attention to this grand moral maxim, depends your own final doom and unalterable allotment; and to those who refuse to practise it, the throne of mercy will be inaccessible, and the Saviour of the world will have been born in vain."

Mr. Gerrald was found guilty. Indeed, his very eloquence seems to have done him an injury, and to have been urged in aggravation of his alleged crime. The Lord Justice Clerk, in his charge to the jury, said, "When you see Mr. Gerrald taking a very active part, and making speeches such as you have heard to-day, I look upon him as a very dangerous member of society, for I dare say he has eloquence enough to persuade the people to rise in arms."

Mr. Gerrald. My lord, this is a very improper way of addressing a jury; it is descending to personal

abuse. God forbid that my eloquence should ever be made use of for such a purpose."

WIGS AND GOWNS.

At the Summer Assizes at Lancaster in 1819, Mr. Scarlett having hurried into court without his wig and gown, apologized to the judge, and expressed a hope that the time would shortly come, when these mummeries would be entirely discarded. In accordance with this wish, all the counsel appeared the next day in court without the usual professional badges of wisdom. This change of fashion lasted but for a day; and the wig-maker has still as important a share as ever, in making foolish faces wise, and wise faces foolish. 1