in any manner from his reverie. And scarcely had the intruder been withdrawn before the Jury returned.
The verdict was as all had foreseen,—"Guilty;" but it was coupled with a strong recommendation to mercy.
The Prisoner was then asked, in the usual form, whether he had to say any thing why sentence of death should not be passed against him.
As these dread words struck upon his ear, slowly the Prisoner rose. He directed first towards the Jury a brief and keen glance, and his eyes then rested full, and with a stern significance, on the face of his Judge.
"My Lord," he began, "I have but one reason to advance against the sentence of the law. If you have interest to prevent or mitigate it, that reason will, I think, suffice to enlist you, on my behalf. I said that the first cause of those offences against the law which bring me to this bar, was the committing me to prison on a charge of which I was wholly innocent! My Lord Judge, you were the man who accused me of that charge, and subjected me to that imprisonment! Look
