And I'll answer for it, it has soured the judge. It
remains to be seen what we witnesses can say for him, to nullify the effect of
what he has said for himself. I hope the attorney has done his best in
collecting the evidence: I understand the expense of the witnesses is undertaken
by some Liberals at Glasgow and in Lancashire, friends of Holt's. But I suppose
your father has told you.«
    The first witness called for the defence was Mr Lyon. The gist of his
statements was, that from the beginning of September last until the day of
election he was in very frequent intercourse with the prisoner; that he had
become intimately acquainted with his character and views of life, and his
conduct with respect to the election, and that these were totally inconsistent
with any other supposition than that his being involved in the riot, and his
fatal encounter with the constable, were due to the calamitous failure of a bold
but good purpose. He stated further that he had been present when an interview
had occurred in his own house between the prisoner and Mr Harold Transome, who
was then canvassing for the representation of North Loamshire. That the object
of the prisoner in seeking this interview had been to inform Mr Transome of
treating given in his name to the workmen in the pits and on the canal at
Sproxton, and to remonstrate against its continuance; the prisoner fearing that
disturbance and mischief might result from what he believed to be the end
towards which this treating was directed - namely, the presence of these men on
the occasions of the nomination and polling. Several times after this interview,
Mr Lyon said, he had heard Felix Holt recur to the subject therein discussed
with expressions of grief and anxiety. He himself was in the habit of visiting
Sproxton in his ministerial capacity: he knew fully what the prisoner had done
there in order to found a night-school, and was certain that the prisoner's
interest in the working men of that district turned entirely on the possibility
of converting them somewhat to habits of soberness and to a due care for the
instruction of their children. Finally, he stated that the prisoner, in
compliance with his request, had been present at Duffield on the day of the
nomination, and had on his return expressed himself with strong indignation
concerning the employment of the Sproxton men on that occasion, and what he
called the wickedness of hiring blind violence.
    The quaint appearance and manner of the little Dissenting minister could not
fail to stimulate the peculiar wit of the bar. He was subjected to a troublesome
cross-examination, which he