plain facts, and make no attempt to square them with the hypothesis of my client's innocence, or persuade a jury that they are--whatever my own secret opinion--pregnant with too much doubt to warrant a verdict of guilty?" Only one who has been placed in the situation can conceive the faintest idea of what is endured on such occasions by the sensitive and conscientious advocate, who is called upon in desperate emergencies--in moments of intense eagerness and anxiety--the spasms, as it were, of which are _publicly_ exhibited, and before gifted and critical rivals and merciless public censors, to see and _observe_ the delicate but decisive line of right--of duty; to maintain at once the character of the zealous, effective advocate, and the Christian gentleman. If sufficient allowances were made for persons placed in such circumstances of serious embarrassment and responsibility, less uncharitable judgments would be passed on the manner in which advocates exercise their functions than are sometimes seen; judgments formed and pronounced, too, in the closet--by those speaking after the event--calm and undisturbed by anxieties and agitation, which have probably _never been personally experienced_. This topic, however, we shall hereafter treat more at large, in giving to the volumes before us that extended examination which is at present contemplated. They contain a series of trials of undoubted public interest and importance. They have been selected upon the whole judiciously, with a view to the end which the author had proposed to himself; though the propriety of the title which he has chosen--_i. e._ "Modern _State_ Trials"--is not at first sight apparent. The idea conveyed by these words is, trials directly affecting _the state_, political prosecutions in respect of political offences. It is difficult to bring trials for murder, duelling, forgery, abduction, libel, blasphemy, and conspiracy, under this category; and this Mr Townsend felt. Such, nevertheless, constitute a large proportion of the trials contained in these volumes, and are, in our opinion, also those of most popular interest, and worthiest of being dealt with, as it was Mr Townsend's expressed intention to deal with them.