air of consequence, in which pride, impudence,
and folly were strangely blended. He aspired at nothing so much as the
character of an able spokesman; and took all opportunities of holding
forth at vestry and quarter sessions, as well as in the administration of
his office in private. He would not, therefore, let slip this occasion
of exciting the admiration of his hearers, and, in an authoritative tone,
thus addressed our adventurer:--

"The laws of this land has provided--I says as how provision is made by
the laws of this here land, in reverence to delinquems and malefactors,
whereby the king's peace is upholden by we magistrates, who represents
his majesty's person, better than in e'er a contagious nation under the
sun; but, howsomever, that there king's peace, and this here magistrate's
authority cannot be adequably and identically upheld, if so be as how
criminals escapes unpunished. Now, friend, you must be confidentious in
your own mind, as you are a notorious criminal, who have trespassed again
the laws on divers occasions and importunities; if I had a mind to
exercise the rigour of the law, according to the authority wherewith I am
wested, you and your companions in iniquity would be sewerely punished by
the statue; but we magistrates has a power to litigate the sewerity of
justice, and so I am contented that you should be mercifully dealt
withal, and even dismissed."

To this harangue the knight replied, with a solemn and deliberate accent,
"If I understand your meaning aright, I am accused of being a notorious
criminal; but nevertheless you are contented to let me escape with
impunity. If I am a notorious criminal, it is the duty of you, as a
magistrate, to bring me to condign punishment; and if you allow a
criminal to escape unpunished, you are not only unworthy of a place in
the commission, but become accessory to his guilt, and, to all intents
and purposes, socius criminis. With respect to your proffered mercy, I
shall decline the favour; nor do I deserve any indulgence at your hands,
for, depend upon it, I shall show no mercy to you in the steps I intend
to take for bringing you to justice. I understand that you have been
long hackneyed in the ways of oppression, and I have seen some living
monuments of your inhumanity--of that hereafter. I myself have been
detained in prison, without cause assigned. I have been treated with
indignity, and insulted by jailors and constables; led through the
stre