lack cap for
laughing."

"And is ju-justice better administered for all that?" cried Purvis.

"To be sure it is. Isn't the laws made to expose villany, and not let
people be imposed upon? Sure it's not to hang Paddy Blake you want,
but to keep others from following his example. And many 's the time
in Ireland when, what between the blunderin' of the Crown lawyers, the
flaws of the indictment, the conscientious scruples of the jury,--you
know what that means,--and the hurry of the judge to be away to
Harrogate or Tunbridge, a villain gets off. But, instead of going out
with an elegant bran-new character, a bit of a joke--a droll word spoken
during the trial--sticks to him all his life after, till it would
be just as well for him to be hanged at once as be laughed at, from
Pill-Lane to the Lakes of Killarney. Don't I remember well when one of
the Regans--Tim, I think it was--was tried for murder at Tralee;
there was a something or other they could n't convict upon. 'T was his
grandfather's age was put down wrong, or the color of his stepmother's
hair, or the nails in his shoes wasn't described right,----whatever it
was, it was a flaw, as they called it; and a flaw in a brief, like one
in a boiler, leaves everybody in hot water. "Not Guilty," says the jury,
'for we can't agree.'

"''Tis a droll verdict,' says O'Grady, for he was the judge. 'What d' ye
mean?'

"'Most of us is for hanging, my Lord; but more of us would let him off.'

"'What will you do, Mr. Attorney?' says the judge. 'Have you any other
evidence to bring forward?' And the Attorney-General stooped down and
began whispering with the bench. 'Very well,' says the judge, at last,
'we 'll discharge him by proclamation.'

"'Wait a minute, my Lord,' says ould Blethers, who got five guineas for
the defence, and had n't yet opened his mouth. 'Before my respected but
injured client leaves that dock, I call to your Lordship, in the name
and on behalf of British justice,--I appeal to you, by the eternal
principles of our glorious Constitution, that he may go forth into the
world with a reputation unstained and a character unblemished.'

"'Not so fast, Mister Blethers,' says old Grady,----'not so fast I 'm
going over Thieve-na-muck Mountain tonight, and, with the blessing of
God, I 'll keep your unblemished friend where he is till morning.' Now
you see the meaning of what I was telling you. 'T is like tying a kettle
to a dog's tail."

It is not quite clear to us