grave itself.
It was not merely the gloom that intensified the horrors of the
situation, or the ghastly traditions of the place, or the impending
fate of our callous client; but there was a tier of shelves occupying
the side of the apartment, on which were placed in dismal prominence
the plaster-of-Paris busts of all the malefactors who had been hanged
in Newgate for some hundred years.

No man can look attractive after having been hanged, and the
indentation of the hangman's rope on every one of their necks, with
the mark of the knot under the ear, gave such an impression of
all that can be conceived of devilish horror as would baffle the
conceptions of the most morbid genius.

Whether these things were preserved for phrenological purposes or for
the gratification of the most sanguinary taste, I never knew, but they
impressed me with a disgust of the brutal tendency of the age.

Dr. Bernard, however, seemed to take a different view. Probably he was
scientific. He went up to them, and examined, as it seemed, every
one of these ghastly memorials with an interest which could only be
scientific. It did not seem to have occurred to his brain that _his_
head would probably be the next to adorn that repository of criminal
effigies.

He was in charge of a warder, and looked round with the utmost
composure, as though examining the Caesars in the British Museum, and
was as interested as any fanatical fool of a phrenologist. He shrugged
his shoulders, raised his eyebrows, and repeated his old formula,
"Well, if I am to be hanged, I must be hanged."

_He was acquitted_. My elaborate arguments on the law were not
necessary, for the jury actually refused to believe the evidence as to
the facts!

Such are the chances of trial by jury!

As a relief to this gloomy chapter I must tell you of a distinguished
Judge who had to sentence a dishonest butler for robbing his master of
some silver spoons. He considered it his duty to say a few words to
the prisoner in passing sentence, in order to show the enormity of the
crime of a servant in his position robbing his master, and by way of
warning to others who might be tempted to follow his example.

"You, prisoner," said his lordship, "have been found guilty, by a jury
of your country, of stealing these articles from your employer--mark
that--_your employer_! Now, it aggravates your offence that he is your
employer, because he employs you to look after his property. You _did_
look a