The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND during Thirty
Years Peace. By Charles Knight. No. IV.

After an interval of nearly twelve months, Mr.
Knight resumes his valuable historieal labours. The
work, he tells us, will be completed in one volume
of 1 000 pages. The present volume contains the
history of the year 1817—of the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act, of the atrocious spy system of
Sidmouth, and of the numerous State trials of that
year, which will be ever memorable for the death of
the Princess Charlotte and the acquittal of Hone.
The trials of Hone are thus graphically described by
Mr. Knight :
" On the morning of the 18th of December there is a
considerable crowd round the avenues of Guildhall. An
obicure bookseller, a man of no substance a respecta-
bility in worldly eyes, is to be tried for libel. He vends
his wares in a little shop is the Old Bailey, where there
are, strangely mingled, twopenny political pamphlets,
and old harmless folios that the poor publisher keeps
for his especial reading as he sits in his dingy back
parlour. The door-keepers and officers of the court
scarcely know what is going to happen ; for the table
within the bar has not the usual covering of crimson
bags, but ever and anon a dingy boys arrives with an
armful of books of all ages and sizes, and the whole table
is strewed with dusty and tattered volumes that the
ushers are quite sure have no law within their mouldy
covers. A middle-aged man,—a bland and smiling
man,—with a half sad half merry twinkle in his eye,—
a seedy man, to use an expressive word, whose black coat
is wondrous brown and threadbare,—takes his place at
the table, and begins to turn over the books which were
his heralds. Sir Samuel Shepherd, the Attorney
General, takes his seat; and looks compassionately, as
was his nature to do, at the pale man in threadbare
black. Mr. Justice Abbott arrives in due time; a
special jury is sworn; the pleadings are opened;
the Attorney General states the case against
William Hone, for printing and publishing an
impious and profane libel upon the Catechism,
the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Command-
ments, thereby bringing into contempt the Christian re-
ligion. "It may be said," argued the Attorney-General,
" that the Defendant's object was not to produce this
effect. I believe that he meant it, in one sense, as a
political squib ; but his responsibility is not the less."
As the Attorney-General proceeded to read passages
from the parody upon the Catechism, the crowd in
court laughed ; the bench was indignant; and the At-
torney-General said, the laugh was the fullest proof of
the baneful effect of the defendant's publication. And
so the trial went on in the smoothest way, and the case
for the prosecution was closed. Then the pale man in
black rose, and with a faltering voice set forth the diffi-
culty he had in addressing the Court, and how his
poverty prevented him obtaining counsel. And now he
began to warm in the recital of what he thought his
wrongs ; his commitments ; his hurried calls to plead ;
the expense of copies of the informations against him ;
—and as Mr. Justice Abbott, with perfect gentleness,
but with his cold formality, interrupted him, the timid
man, whom all thought would have mumbled forth a
hasty defence, grew bolder and bolder, and in a short
time had possession of his audience as if he were ' some
well-graced actor' who was there to receive the tribute
of popular admiration. ' They were not to inquire
whether he were a member of the Established Church
or a Dissenter; it was enough that he professed himself
to be a Christian ; and he would be bold to say, that he
made that profession with a reverence for the doctrines
of Christianity which could not be exceeded by any
person in that court. He had his books about him, and
it was from them that he must draw his defence. They
had been the solace of his life. He was too much at-
tached to his books to part with them. As to parodies,
they were as old at least as the invention of printing ;
and he never heard of a prosecution for a parody, either
religious or any other. There were two kinds of paro-
dies ; one in which a man might convey ludicrous or
ridiculous ideas relative to some other subject ; the other
where it was meant to ridicule the thing parodied. The
latter was not the case here, and therefore he had not
brought religion into contempt.' This was the gist of
William Hone's defence. To show fully how this argu-
ment was worked,—with what readiness, what coolness,
what courage,—would be to transcribe the trials of three
days ; on the first of which th 3 defendant spoke six
hours, on the second seven hours, and on the last eight
hours. It was in vain that the Attorney General urged
that to bring forward any previous parody was the same
thing as if a person charged with obscenity should pro-
duce obscene volumes in his defence. It was in vain that
Mr. Justice Abbott repeated his wish that the defendant
would not read such things. On he went, till inter-
ruption was held to be in vain. It was worse than vain;
it was unjust. Truly did. Hone reply to Mr. Justice
Abbott, My Lord, your Lordship's observation is in
the very spirit of what Pope Leo the Tenth said to
Martin Luther,—' For God's sake don't say a word
about the indulgences and the monasteries, and I'll
give you a living ;'—thus precluding him from men-
tioning the very thing in dispute. I must go on with
these parodies, or 1 cannot go on with my defence.'
Undauntedly he went on, from the current literature
of the time, such as grave lawyers read in their few
hours of recreation, to the forgotten volumes of old
theology and polemical controversy, that the said grave
lawyers of modern days are accustomed to regard as
useless lumber. The editor of Blackwood's Magazine
was a parodist,—he parodied a chapter of Ezekiel;
Martin Luther was a parodist—he parodied the first
Psalm; Bishop Latimer was a parodist, and so was Dr.
Boys, Dean of Canterbury; the author of Rolliad'
was a parodist; and so was Mr. Canning. Passage after
passage did Hone read from author atter author. He
thought it was pretty clear that Martin Luther did not
mean to ridicule the Psalms; that Dr. Boys did not
mean to ridicule the Lord's Prayer; that Mr. Canning
did not mean to ridicule the Scriptures. Why, then,
should it be presumed, that he had such an intention?
As soon as he found that his parodies had been deemed
offensive, he had suppressed them, and that he had done
long before his prosecution. It was in vain that the
Attorney General replied that Martin Luther was a
libeller, and Dr. Boys was a libeller. The judge
charged the jury in vain. William Hone was acquitted,
,fter a quarter of an hour's deliberation."
" But Guildhall saw another sight.' With the next
morning's fog, the fiery Lord Chief Justice rose from his
bed, and with lowering brow took his place in that
judgment-seat which he deemed had been too mercifully
filled on the previous day. The mild firmness of the
poor publisher, and his gentlemanly sense of the
absence of harshness in the conduct of his first
trial, had won for him something like respect: and
when on one occasion Mr. Justice Abbott asked him to
forbear reading a particular parody, and the defendant
said, Your Lordship and I understand each other, and
we have gone on so good-humouredly hitherto, that I
will not break in upon our harmony,' it became clear
that the puisne judge was not the man to enforce a ver-
dict of guilty on the second trial. Again Mr. Hone
entered the court with his load of books, on Friday, the
19th of December. He was this day indicted for pub-
lishing an impious and profane libel, called The Litany,
or General Supplication.' Again the Attorney-General
affirmed that whatever might be the object of the de-
fendant, the publication had the effect of scoffing at the
public service of the Church. Again the defendant
essayed to read from his books, which course he con-
tended was essentially necessary for his defence. Then
began a contest which is perhaps unparalleled in an
English court of justice. Upon Mr. Fox's Libel Bill,
upon er officio informations, upon his right to copies of
the indictment without extravagant charges, the de-
fendant battled his judge,—imperfect in his law, no
doubt, but with a firmness and moderation that rode over
every attempt to put him down. Parody after parody
was again produced, and especially those parodies of the
Litany which the Cavaliers employed so frequently as
vehicles of satire upon the Roundheads and Puritans.
The Lord Chief Justice at length gathered up his
exhausted strength for his charge ; and concluded in a
strain that left but little hope for the defendant : He
would deliver the jury his solemn opinion, as he was
required by Act of Parliament to do ; and under the
authority of that Act, and still mere in obedience to his
conscience and his God, he pronounced this to be a most
impious and profane libel. Believing and hoping that
they, the jury, were Christians, he had not any doubt
but that they would be of the same opinion.' The jury,
in an hour and a half, returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
" It might have been expected that these prosecutions
would have here ended. But the chance of a convic-
tion from a third jury, upon a third indictment, was to
be risked. On the 20th of December, Lord Ellen-
borough again took his seat on the bench, and the ex-
hausted defendant came late into court, pale and agi-
tated. The Attorney-General remarked upon his ap-
pearance, and offered to postpone the proceedings. The
courageous man made his election to go on. This third
indictment was for pulilishing a parody on the Creed of
St. Athanasius, called The Sinecurist's Creed.' After

the Attorney-General had finished his address, Mr.
Hdne asked for five minutes' delay, to arrange the few
thoughts he had beon commiting to paper. The Judge
refused the small concession ; but said he would postpone
the proceedings to another day, if the defendant would
request the Court so to do. The scene which ensued
was thoroughly dramatic. `No ! I make no such re-
quest. My Lord, lam very glad to see your Lordship
here to-day, because I feel I sustained an injury from
your Lordship yesterday—an injury which I did not
expect to sustain. . . . If his Lordship should
think proper, on this trial to-day, to deliver his opinion,
I hope that opinion will be coolly and dispassionately
expressed by his Lordship. . . My Lord, I think it
necessary to make a stand here. I cannot say what
your Lordship may consider to be necessary interrup-
tion, but your Lordship interrupted me a great many
times yesterday, and then said you would interrupt me
no more, and yet your Lordship did interrupt me after-
wards ten times as much. • . Gentlemen, it is you
who are trying me to-day. His Lordship is no judge of
lee. You are my judges, and you only are my judges.
His Lordship sits there to receive your verdict. . .
i will not say what his Lordship did yesterday ; but I
crust his Lordship to-day will give his opinion coolly i
and dispassionately, without using either expression or
gesture which could be construed as conveying an en-
treaty
to the jury to think as he did. I hope the jury
will not be beseeched into a verdict of guilty.' The
' The frame of adorns
Chief Justice,
Lard Sidmouth terms the
trumph of the weak
notvearndthesouplowoefrftiurle7 was etohmeplete.
bio-
grapher of Lor
was rowed into energies
fits that have swayed the world.
long to the master-spirits .
quailed before the indomitable courage
wcoouulrdagseeeomf aonrcl;tntowbheo.
wnillosuls'c'hasroenadeintg as was never
enterprise and persevering exer-
life, was incapable of e
who, in the ordinary business of
nooks and corners of his anti-
hat even his old. political
hunterq
pu
pa
or ni aennai
t2f
Rtme re ; a"' gentle
to regard as aand innocuous
Yettion ;thwishol/2calsiveadminalithe
read ;" who
himself to his old poetry and his old
in C few years gave up his politics altogether, and, de-
votingdivinity,l
passed a quarter of a century after this conflict in peace
1 Iva all mankind, and died the AllikeditOr of a religious