insist upon your privilege, without giving a reason why, and if possible, get me chosen in his room; and I will do you all the service in my power."

Accordingly, when the clerk had called over the names of the jurymen, the plaintiff excepted one of them. The judge on the bench was highly offended with this liberty.

"What do you mean," says he, "by excepting that gentleman?"

"I mean, my lord, to assert my privilege as an Englishman, without giving a reason why."

The judge, who had been highly bribed, in order to conceal it by a show of candour, and having a confidence in the superiority of his party, said—

"Well, sir, as you claim your privilege in one instance, I will grant it. Whom would you wish to have in the room of that man excepted?"

After a short time taken in consideration—

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My lord," says he, "I wish to have an honest man chosen in ;" and looking round the court"my lord, there is that miller in the court, we will have him if you please." Accordingly the miller was chosen.

As soon as the clerk of the court had given them all their oaths, a little dextrous fellow came into the apartment, and slipped ten Caroluses into the hands of eleven jurymen, and gave the miller but five. He observed that they were all bribed as

well as himself, and said to his next neighbour, in

a soft whisper,

"How much have you got?"

"Ten pieces," said he.

But he concealed what he had got himself. The cause was opened by the plaintiff's counsel; and all the scraps of evidence they could pick up were adduced in his favour. The younger brother was provided with a great number of witnesses and pleaders, all plentifully bribed as well as the judge, The evidence deposed that they were in the selfsame county when the brother died, and saw him buried. The counsellors pleaded upon accumulated evidence; and every thing went with a full tide in favour of the younger brother. The judge summed up the evidence with great gravity and deliberation; "And now, gentlemen of the jury," said he "lay your heads together, and bring in a verdict shall deem most just."

as you

They waited for a few minutes, before they determined in favour of the younger brother. The judge said

"Gentlemen, are you agreed; and who shall speak for you?"

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"We are all agreed, my lord," replied one, our foreman shall speak for us.”

"Hold, my lord," replied the miller, "we are not all agreed,"

"Why?" said the judge in a surly manner, "what is the matter with you? what reason have you for disagreeing?"

"I have several reasons, my lord," replied the miller; "the first is, they have given all the gentlemen of the jury ten broad pieces of gold, and me but five, which is not fair. Besides I have many objections to make to the false reasoning of the pleaders, and the contradictory evidence of the witnesses." Upon this the miller began a discourse that discovered such vast penetration of judgment, such extensive knowledge of the law, and expressed with such energetic and manly eloquence that astonished the judge, and the whole court.

As he was going on with his powerful demonstrations, the Judge, in a surprise of soul, stopped him.

"Where did you come from, and who are you?"

"I come from Westminster Hall," replied the miller; "my name is Matthew Hale: I am Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench. I have observed the iniquity of your proceedings of this day; therefore come down from a seat which you are no way worthy to hold. You are one of the corrupt parties in this iniquitous business. I will come up this moment, and try the whole over again,'

Accordingly Sir Matthew went up, with his miller's dress and hat on, began the trial from the commencement, and searched every circumstance of truth and falsehood. He evinced the eldest brother's title to the estate, from the contradictory evidence of the witnesses, and the false reasoning of the pleaders; unravelled all the sophistry to the bottom, and gained a complete victory in favour of truth and justice.

Now, whether or not there is a deviation from strict biographic truth, the spirit of this story is true; it has dramatic truth, truth of character, and truth of relation. This is like that same Sir Matthew Hale, who himself dismissed a jury, because he suspected them to be packed to carry a cause, and was, it was said, told by Cromwell, he was not fit to be a judge; he replied, with his usual meekness, "That is very true."

The romance of biography has yet to be written, not in the spirit of the mere romancist, the wonder-seeker, but in the disposition to make the wonderful and the unusual tributary to instruction; for unless instruction and improvement be the object of the perusal of the life, whether it be in the pages of the novel, or the history, or the biography, the reader becomes merely the tippler of mental alcohol, a drunkard intoxicating himself with the unnatural fire-waters of diseased

morbid excitement the fumes of surprise and sensuality. These have mostly been the great requisites demanded by the multitude of readers, and the biography that can supply them is to such persons a precious morsel, and such biographies there are. There are lives that, like poisonplants, spread a vaporous pestilence, even when the book is not itself seen. They might unfit the mind for realities, by the perpetual presentation of the startling and the wonderful, and these introduced out of all character, as if the author laboured to surprise his readers having before him as an object, not so much to relate the story of a life, as to convulse and startle the reader with unexpected emotion.

Now this is not dramatic biography; for it is not in unison with the character of things. It may be romantic, and perhaps is to the student useful. Not that it is desirable to gaze upon the deformities of humanity, but that some lives remind us of post mortem examinations, in which the physician has in view the analysis of some one peculiar form of disease, and studies its symptoms, --not out of love to the dead, who, nevertheless, he can well afford to pity-but from sympathy with the living.

We may notice some of the peculiarities of this class of writing presently, as it affects psycho