 exerting the
same happy talent on this occasion, when his all was at stake; more especially,
as he had so many others who were equally interested with himself, and whose
abilities, in that respect, fell nothing short of his own, to second him in it.
- The gentlemen of the jury had also a near view of the manner in which the
witnesses delivered their testimonies, and had from thence an opportunity of
observing many circumstances and distinguishing characteristics of truth and
falshood, from which a great deal could be gathered, that could not be
adequately conveyed by any printed account, how exact soever; consequently, they
must have been much better judges of the evidence on which they founded their
verdict, than any person, who had not the same opportunity, can possibly be.
    These, Mr. Pickle, were my reflections on what I had occasion to observe
concerning that famous trial; and on my return to England two years after, I
could not help pitying the self-sufficiency of some people, who, at this
distance, pretended to pass their judgment on that verdict with as great
positiveness, as if they had been in the secrets of the cause, or upon the jury
who tried it; and that from no better authority, than the declamations of lord
An--a's emissaries, and some falsified printed accounts, artfully cooked up, on
purpose to mislead and deceive.
    But to return from this digression, lord A--a, the defendant in that cause,
was so conscious of the strength and merits of his injured nephew's case, and
that a verdict would go against him, that he ordered a writ of error to be made
out before the trial was ended; and the verdict was no sooner given, than he
immediately lodged it, though he well knew he had no manner of error to assign.
This expedient was practised merely for vexation and delay, in order to keep Mr.
A-y from the possession of the small estate he had recovered by the verdict;
that, his slender funds being exhausted, he might be deprived of other means to
prosecute his right; and, by the most oppressive contrivances and scandalous
chicanery, it has been kept up to this day, without his being able to assign the
least shadow of any error.
    Lord A--a was not the only antagonist that Mr. A--y had to deal with; all
the different branches of the A--a family, who had been worrying one another at
law ever since the death of the late earl of A--a
