e threat which
caused him to abscond that night.

"In the next place, I agree with the learned counsel that I was out of
doors at one o'clock that morning. But if he will use me as HIS WITNESS
in that matter, then he must not pick and choose and mutilate my
testimony. Nay, let him take the whole truth, and not just so much as
he can square with the indictment. Either believe me, that I was out of
doors praying, or do not believe me that I was out of doors at all.

"Gentlemen, hear the simple truth. You may see in the map, on the south
side of Hernshaw Castle, a grove of large fir-trees. 'T is a reverend
place, most fit for prayer and meditation. Here I have prayed a thousand
times and more before the 15th of October. Hence 'tis called 'The Dame's
Haunt,' as I shall prove, that am the dame 'tis called after.

"Let it not seem incredible to you that I should pray out of doors in my
grove, on a fine, clear, starry night. For aught I know, Protestants may
pray only by the fireside. But, remember, I am a Catholic. We are not so
contracted in our praying. We do not confine it to little comfortable
places. Nay, but for seventeen hundred years and more we have prayed out
of doors as much as in doors. And this our custom is no fit subject for
a shallow sneer. How does the learned sergeant know that, beneath the
vault of heaven at night, studded with those angelic eyes, the stars, is
an unfit place to bend the knee, and raise the soul in prayer? Has he
ever tried it?"

This sudden appeal to a learned and eminent, but by no means devotional
sergeant, so tickled the gentlemen of the bar, that they burst out
laughing with singular unanimity.

This dashed the prisoner, who had not intended to be funny; and she
hesitated, and looked distressed.

_Judge._ Proceed, madam; these remarks of yours are singular, but quite
pertinent, and no fit subject for ridicule. Gentlemen, remember the
public looks to you for an example.

_Prisoner._ "My lord, 'twas my fault for making that personal which
should be general. But women they are so. 'T is our foible. I pray the
good sergeant to excuse me.

"I say, then, generally, that when the sun retires, then earth fades,
but heaven comes out in tenfold glory; and I say the starry firmament at
night is a temple not built with hands, and the bare sight of it subdues
the passions, chastens the heart, and aids the soul in prayer
surprisingly. My lord, as I am a Christian woman, 'tis true that my
h