Hunt, Henry, 1773-1835; Social reformers -- Great Britain -- Biography
Well, the day at length arrived for my attending the Court of King's
Bench, to stand, for the _first time,_ upon its floor to receive judgment.
Mr. Justice Garrow and Mr. Justice Burrough were my counsel; and the
former made an eloquent appeal to the court, declaring that he would much
rather be placed in my situation than that of the noble lord; and winding
up his speech with a high eulogium upon my character, he said, that if he
lived in my neighbourhood, I should be the first man that he would seek
for as a friend, &c. &c. The present Lord Erskine and the late Sir Vickery
Gibbs were employed to pray for the judgment of the court against me; but
his lordship conducted himself with the greatest moderation and even
kindness towards me, and never uttered one single offensive or unkind
sentence in the whole of his eloquent harangue. But the little, waspish,
black-hearted viper, Gibbs, whose malignant, vicious, and ill-looking
countenance was always the index of his little mind, made a most virulent,
vindictive, and cowardly attack upon me, which was so morose and
unfeeling, and so uncalled for by the circumstances, that, if I had not
been held back by any attorney, I should certainly have inflicted a
summary and a just chastisement upon him upon the spot, by dashing back
his lies, together with his teeth, down his throat. I was, however,
restrained, and sentence was passed by old mumbling Grose, that I should
pay ONE HUNDRED POUNDS to the King, and be committed to the custody of the
Marshal of the court for SIX WEEKS. There sat, squatting upon the bench,
KENYON, Chief Justice, GROSE, LAWRENCE, and LE BLANC; all four of them
gone, long, long ago, to receive their sentence from the Judge of another
and a higher court, the JUDGE of JUDGES; and the _Lord have mercy on them!
say I._ I paid the fine immediately, and two friends, who were in court,
entered into recognizances in five hundred pounds each, and myself in one
thousand pounds, to keep the peace towards this gallant lord for three
years.
I was handed over to a tipstaff, who very civilly conducted me and my
friends in a coach to the King's Bench, which place I had the evening
before been to reconnoitre with my friend Mr. Wm. Butcher, who had come to
town with me, and had voluntarily become one of my bail. My friends
anticipated that I should be committed to the King's Bench, as I had made
up my mind not to offer any apology to Lord Bruce.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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