counsel; "but what locality?"

You might just as well have put him under a mangle, as to try to get
evidence out of him like that.

"Look," says the Judge, "attend to me; if you go on like that, you will
not be allowed your expenses."

"What took place?" asks his counsel; "can't you tell us, man?"

"Why the thief cotch--"

"I object," says Mr. Nimble; "you mustn't call him a thief; it is for the
jury, my lord, to determine that."

"That is so," says my lord; "you mustn't call him a thief, Mr. Bumpkin."

"Beg pardon, your lord; but ur stole my watch."

"No--no," says Mr. Newboy; "took your watch."

"An if ur took un, ur stole un, I allows," says Bumpkin; "for I never gin
it to un."

There was so much laughter that for some time nothing further was said;
but every audience knows better than to check the source of merriment by
a continued uproar; so it waited for another supply.

"You must confine yourself," says the Judge, "to telling us what took
place."

"I'll spak truth and sheam t' devil," says Bumpkin.

"Now go on," says Newboy.

"The thief stole my watch, and that be t' plain English on 't."

"I shall have to commit you to prison," says the Judge, "if you go on
like that; remember you are upon your oath, and it's a very serious
thing--serious for you and serious for the young man at the bar."

At these touching words, the young man at the bar burst out crying, said
"he was a respectable man, and it was all got up against him;" whereupon
Mr. Nimble said "he must be quiet, and that his lordship and the
gentlemen in the box would take care of him and not allow him to be
trampled on."

"You are liable," said the Judge, "to be prosecuted for perjury if you do
not tell the truth."

"Well, then, your lord, if a man maun goo to prison for losin' his watch,
I'll goo that's all; but that ere man stole un."

Mr. Newboy: "He took it, did he?"

"I object," said Mr. Nimble; "that is a leading question."

"Yes," said the Judge; "I think that is rather leading," Mr. Newboy; "you
may vary the form though, and ask him whether the prisoner stole it."

"Really, my lord," said Mr. Nimble, "that, with very great respect, is as
leading as the other form."

"Not quite, I think, Mr. Nimble. You see in the other form, you make a
positive assertion that he did steal it; in this, you merely ask the
question."

And I saw that this was a very keen and subtle distinction, such as could
only be drawn by a Chancery