e of the
extreme civility which he exhibited to everybody and upon all
occasions, especially to the prisoner.

People went away with a sense of gratitude for his kindness, and when
he sentenced a batch of prisoners to death he did it in a manner that
might make any one suppose, if he did not know the facts, that they
had been awarded prizes for good conduct.

He was firm, nevertheless--a great thing in judges, if not accompanied
with weakness of mind. I may add that there was a singular precision
in his mode of expression as well as in his ideas.

At a country assize, where he was presiding in the Crown Court, a
man was indicted for murder. He pleaded "Not guilty." The evidence
contained in the depositions was terribly clear, and, of course, the
judge, who had perused them, was aware of it.

The case having been called on for trial, counsel for the prosecution
applied for a postponement on the ground of the absence of a most
material witness for the Crown.

I should mention that in those days counsel were not allowed to speak
for the prisoner, but the judge was always in theory supposed to watch
the case on his behalf. In the absence of a _material_ witness the
prisoner would be acquitted.

The learned Mr. Justice Graham asked the accused if he had any
objection to the case being postponed until the next assizes, on the
ground, as the prosecution had alleged, that their most material
witness could not be produced. His lordship put the case as somewhat
of a misfortune for the prisoner, and made it appear that it would be
postponed, if he desired it, as a favour to _him_.

Notwithstanding the judge's courteous manner of putting it, the
prisoner most strenuously objected to any postponement. It was not
for him to oblige the Crown at the expense of a broken neck, and he
desired above all things to be tried in accordance with law. He stood
there on his "jail delivery."

Graham was firm, but polite, and determined to grant the postponement
asked for. In this he was doubtless right, for the interests of
justice demanded it. But to soften down the prisoner's disappointment
and excuse the necessity of his further imprisonment, his lordship
addressed him in the following terms, and in quite a sympathetic
manner:--

"Prisoner, I am extremely sorry to have to detain you in prison, but
_common humanity_ requires that I should not let you be tried in the
absence of an important witness for the prosecution, although at
th