The Sun.
London, England, 1817-12-19 00:00:00

in the whole conduct of his life, there had been
any thing which could ,earrant such an imputation.
ALt,in hr spurned the imrtation of blasphemy or
in !Iginn ; and It. should shew that his character
was the very opposite. The Secretary of State
had risen night after night in the House of Lords,
denouncing him and his publications, and holding
hint up to the public odium and prejudice. This_
was a conduct hp could not en 3 templ:cre without
indigna!ino. He had indeed frequently differed
from those with whom he associated ; and his in-
dependoice of mind had produced hint many ene-
miv.s.; but he never did any man an injury ; and it
there was any injury in the present book, it hap-
pened from mistake, and not evil intention. No
mao had a greater respect for the Constituted
Authorities of the Country. If he differed front
persons in ;-rower, nut-niters of the most respectable
people differed also from them. Ile should sit
down and acknowledr.e himself guilty, if the
Attorney-General could point out any of his f6rmer
publications that contained any thing libellous
or impious. The greater part of these.had been
wri,tco by hirn,elr.; and .when a man was always
in the habit of-•uriting, he must s'ime way or
other have disclosed his real sentiments, if such
"were of an evil and impious n.uture. But although
be had often written in a hurry to procure bread
for his fatuity for a week, he never uttered a dis-
loyal or an impiOns thought. The defendant next
proceeded to notice the mode in which Juries
were struck by the Master of the Crown-Office.

Mr. Justice ABBOTT asked him what relation
this t.,,pie had with the tutestion which the Jury
pow had to try. He conceived it • was an unne-
cessary trespass on the time of the Court.
The defendant replied, that he conceive,! what
he was about to state as very material. He then
renewed his complaint which he had made before
recpceting the manner in which the Master of the
Crown (Mice had struck a Jury to try hint.
The Judge again said he could not see how this
topic was relevent to the defence on the question
before the Court.

Due of the Jury expressed his opinion that the
defendaut might assign a reason for ►vhat he was
about to state ; and then the Judge said he would
allow him to do so.

Mr. Hone then went on with the narrative of
what he had already stated, some time ago in the
Court of King's Bench, respecting the mode in
which the Jury was struck, and he contended that
it was most unjust and unconstitutional for any
oriTeer of the Crown to possess such a power. He
assured the Jury that lie had not the least objec-
tion to any of the gentlemen who then sat to try
hint; and that he considered himself as safe in their
hands as with any other men : but be felt it ne-
cessary to state the facts lie witnessed, in order to
stiew the efforts that had been made by persons
acting under the Crown to procure convictions.
He again impressed on them the necessity ofjodging
only as to what his intention was. If he had no
other consideration but for himself, lie should feel
very little affected by the result of this trial, if it
should go against hint ; he might probably pass
his time patiently with his hooks in one of Mr.
Jones's small rooms ; and indeed he had already
experienced many Civilities and accommodations
front Mr. Jones ; but then, he had 'a large family
who loOked to him solely for support. He had
passed all his life among books ; from a book-
readerhe became a hook-seller; he,was not brought
;
up to any handicraft employment and the selling
of hooks became his sole employment ; but it pro-
b.iibly was his misfortune, that be was more fond of
reading books than a bookseller ought to have been.
He had read a great many old books which were
publisheii before as well as after the time of
Eliaarret-h; many of these abounded with parodies.
There were many parodies which did not ridicule
the parodied ; and such was the description
of parody now charged against hint. He then
held in- his hand a work published last August by
Mr.- Blackwood, a most respectable bookseller iii
Edinburgh. In this work, entitled the Edinburgh
INlitgaztie, there was a parody which he would
read. 'lt purported to be the translation of an
ancient work contained in a library at Paris ; it
was a written imitation of a chapter of Ezekiel ;
awl its object %vas to ridicule certain rival book-
sellers and writers at Edinborgh ; and gave 'an
allegorical description of the new magazine. He
read another parody on a passage iii the Bible,
wherein the Edinburgh, Review was described by
being comrred to a horn. INIr. Black wood,
the publisher of the- work, was a most respectable
maw _ _

INlr. Justice ABBOTT said, his respect for, him
was' not increased by the publication just quoted.
The publication was in itself improper, and this
was only defending one publication by another.
The ATTORNEY GENERAL said, that, in point of
law, no man could be suffered to justify one libel
by reading another ; and be contended, that Mr.
Hone should not be allowed to read other libels
in justification of his own.
Mr. HONE replied, that what he bad read was
• not a libel, °null it was proved to be such by
the verdict of a. Jury; nor was the publication
charged against him a libel ; and if be had
thought it to be such, ha would not have been
there that day ; for he had been .at large on
his own reciignizance, and lie might have gone
away, or quitted the country. But he would not
flinch front the prosecution, and he wished to
shekv; in the best manner that he could, that'
publication was not a libel. That was the
point, aid the only point, on which he rested
his defence. The moment he heard that the
publication was disapproved of, lie stopped
the sale of it. •It was published on'the 14th, and
was suppressed by him on the 22d of February;
and be trusted the Jury would feel that there was
too much good sense in the world, to suppose that
theipublic.could be affected by. a publication of
this kind. The defendant next•quoted a.little pa-
rody, written by Doctor Lettsom, recommending
temperance ; and it was written in. imitation, of
Scripture. He next quoted a parody, written by
Martin Luther, to whom the whole Protestant
world: was indebted for the reformation of our
Religinn froth all corruptions and abuses ; and
this man wtnte a parody. Martin Luther was a
Spparodist as Well as William Hone. He ridiculed
'lris adversariel'by a parody on one of the Psalms,
Blessed 'is the man wlio walketh not in the,&c."