r Aubrey constantly
before his eyes, together with--his wife, his children, his sister. What
was to become of _them_? It was long before the real nature and extent
of his danger became known among his friends and neighbors. When,
however, they were made aware of it, an extraordinary interest and
sympathy were excited throughout almost the whole county. Whenever his
attorney, Mr. Parkinson, appeared in public, he was besieged by most
anxious inquiries concerning his distinguished client, whose manly
modesty and fortitude, under the pressure of his sudden and almost
unprecedented difficulty and peril, endeared him more than ever to all
who had an opportunity of appreciating his position. With what intense
and absorbing interest were the ensuing assizes looked for!---- At
length they arrived.

The ancient city of York exhibited, on the commission day of the spring
assizes for the year 18--, the usual scene of animation and excitement.
The High Sheriff, attended by an imposing retinue, went out to meet the
judges, and escorted them, amid the shrill clangor of trumpets, to the
Castle, where the commission was opened with the usual formalities. The
judges were Lord Widdrington, the Lord Chief-Justice of the King's
Bench, and Mr. Justice Grayley, a puisne judge of the same court--both
admirable lawyers. The former was possessed of the more powerful
intellect. He was what may be called a great scientific lawyer,
referring everything to _principle_, as extracted from precedent. Mr.
Justice Grayley was almost unrivalled in his knowledge of the _details_
of the law; his governing maxim being _ita lex scripta_. Here his
knowledge was equally minute and accurate, and most readily applied to
every case brought before him. Never sat there upon the bench a more
painstaking judge--one more anxious to do right equally in great things
as in small. Both were men of rigid integrity: 'tis a glorious thing to
be able to challenge the inquiry--when, for centuries, have other than
men of rigid integrity sat upon the English Bench? Lord Widdrington,
however, in temper was stern, arbitrary, and overbearing, and his
manners were disfigured not a little by coarseness; while his companion
was a man of exemplary amiability, affability, and forbearance. Lord
Widdrington presided at the Civil Court, (in which, of course, would
come on the important cause in which we are interested,) and Mr. Justice
Grayley in the Criminal Court.

Soon after the sitti