charge of his post-horses and four-in-hand), Messrs. Mark Cross, William Maley (a solicitor), Joseph Goodwin, George Durham, Edward Dawkes, James Morris the younger, Martin Hughes (who died during the proceedings), and Richard Walter Chetwynd, Viscount Chetwynd, Baron Rathdowne. The indictment charged, in its first count, “that they, the defendants aforesaid, on the 9th day of February, 1841, in the parish of Holcut, in the county of Bedford, did then and there, together with other evil-disposed persons, whose names are unknown to the jurors aforesaid, unlawfully, riotously, and tumultuously assault Edward Orlebar Smith, clerk, one of the Justices of the Peace for the said County, and John M’Hugh, one of the constables of the Peace for the said County, and, then and there, did, in contempt of our said Lady the Queen and her laws, to the great terror, alarm, and disturbance of all the liege subjects of our said Lady the Queen thereabouts inhabiting and residing and being, passing and repassing, to the great damage of the said Edward Orlebar Smith and John M’Hugh, and against the peace of our said Lady the Queen her crown and dignity.” The second count in this formidable document, repeating the names and verbiage, included the same charges against the defendants for riot and assault on the person of the Rev. Joshua Cautley. The third count varied by specifying James Burke as the assailant of the Rev. Edward Orlebar Smith (whom he never touched in any way). The 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th counts merely varied in the names of the parties assaulted, by substituting “Smith” for “M’Hugh,” and “Cautley” for “Smith,” as the persons on whom “with force and arms,” the same defendants “did then and there beat, wound, and ill-treat, and do other wrong, to the great damage of the said E. O. Smith,” &c., &c., “and against the peace of our said Lady the Queen her crown and dignity.” Any one not used to the formal wording of legal documents may well share the astonishment of the Deaf’un when this astounding rigmarole, being furnished to his legal advisers (Mr. Vincent Dowling and Mr. Serjeant Dowling), was read and explained to him. His truthful and indignant denials of all the serious delinquencies laid to his charge in this farrago of legal fictions were most amusing. Perhaps the way in which these were thrown into rhyme, by what old Jacob Tonson, the bookseller, used to call “a competent pen,” will convey some idea of the Deaf’un’s objections and denial of the charges:―― ADDRESS OF DEAF BURKE TO THE GRAND AND COMMON JURIES OF BEDFORD. Pull’d up by _beaks_, before you here I shows, For what offence, I’m blistered if I knows; Fam’d thro’ the universe for feats of fists, Before you stands Deaf Burke, the pugilists. Yes, honest jurymen, with heart of steels, I make with confidence my proud appeals, My case upon its simple merits try―― Let me have justice, and no fears have I.