 and that he hoped thus to obtain it on more advantageous terms. If this
could have been shown to be the case he would have escaped a criminal
prosecution, and been sent to a hospital as for a moral ailment. The view,
however, was one which could not be reasonably sustained, in spite of all the
ingenuity and eloquence of one of the most celebrated advocates of the country.
The case was only too clear, for the prisoner was almost at the point of death,
and it was astonishing that he had not been tried and convicted long previously.
His coughing was incessant during the whole trial, and it was all that the two
jailers in charge of him could do to keep him on his legs until it was over.
    The summing up of the judge was admirable. He dwelt upon every point that
could be construed in favour of the prisoner, but as he proceeded it became
clear that the evidence was too convincing to admit of doubt, and there was but
one opinion in the court as to the impending verdict when the jury retired from
the box. They were absent for about ten minutes, and on their return the foreman
pronounced the prisoner guilty. There was a faint murmur of applause, but it was
instantly repressed. The judge then proceeded to pronounce sentence in words
which I can never forget, and which I copied out into a notebook next day from
the report that was published in the leading newspaper. I must condense it
somewhat, and nothing which I could say would give more than a faint idea of the
solemn, not to say majestic, severity with which it was delivered. The sentence
was as follows:
    »Prisoner at the bar, you have been accused of the great crime of labouring
under pulmonary consumption, and after an impartial trial before a jury of your
countrymen, you have been found guilty. Against the justice of the verdict I can
say nothing; the evidence against you was conclusive, and it only remains for me
to pass such a sentence upon you as shall satisfy the ends of the law. That
sentence must be a very severe one. It pains me much to see one who is yet so
young, and whose prospects in life were otherwise so excellent, brought to this
distressing condition by a constitution which I can only regard as radically
vicious; but yours is no case for compassion; this is not your first offence;
you have led a career of crime, and have only profited by the leniency shown you
upon past occasions to offend yet more seriously against the laws and
institutions of your country. You were convicted of aggravated bronchitis last
