218 NOTES OF THE MONTH. 



height, through the mid air, with appalling rapidity. Not at all dis- 

 concerted by the celerity of his descent, he pursued the " even tenor of 

 his way" until he arrived at the ninth window from the ground, where 

 he observed an acquaintance, to whom he remarked, en passant, 

 " Law ! Saundy, sic a fa' as I shall ha !" 



WOLVES IN SHEEP'S CLOTHING. In addition to the claims of 

 Lord Melbourne to the favour of the public which we have enume- 

 rated in our first article, another has since come to our knowledge, 

 which all friends of that excellent nobleman must be happy to learn. 

 Every one must remember the vindictive fervour with which the pro- 

 secutors of Mr. Cohen, editor of the Brighton Guardian, pursued that 

 gentleman for the publication of a paragraph respecting incendiarism, 

 which the subtleties of the law converted into a libel. The worthies 

 concerned in that precious affair met a few days since to pass a vote of 

 thanks to Jone Mabbott, who was particularly busy in raking up the 

 odds and ends of power and chicanery to procure a conviction. A fact 

 transpired at the meeting which requires but to be known to cover 

 all who took part in so infamous a proceeding with the contempt of 

 every thinking person in the kingdom. The government and ma- 

 gistracy of Sussex conspired to ruin Mr. Cohen the county dispen- 

 sers of justice hunted their victim down, and the creatures at the 

 Home Office paid the expenses of the chase. Did this odious fact 

 rest upon any authority less certain than that of the principal per- 

 formers in the enterprise, we know not how we should credit it. It 

 was not enough that the Sussex Shallows combined to crush an in- 

 dividual guilty of the atrocity of not regarding them as demi-gods, 

 but Lord Melbourne should tender them the resources of the 

 Treasury to stimulate their charitable indignation, and keep their be- 

 nignant ire from flagging through a regard of costs in the event of a 

 failure. The great unpaid could not entertain the notion of seeking 

 redress for their supposed wrongs without being sustained by the 

 pecuniary liberality of a ministry whose quondam watchword to 

 catch the acclamations of a confiding public was " an unshackled 

 press." Lord Althorp's indignation knew no bounds when it was 

 proposed to curtail the unearned pensions of backstair scycophants 

 and accommodating court dames. While these gentry are to be paid 

 and editors to be prosecuted, need we ask why the taxes of the 

 country are maintained at the same rate as if the world were in arms 

 against us. Every thing that Lord Melbourne has done, or attempt- 

 ed to do since he first entered office, has been characterised by the 

 antithesis of wisdom, or in common parlance by downright folly. If 

 the government thought fit to prosecute Mr. Cohen, why not instruct 

 the Attorney-general to proceed in the regular fashion, without drag- 

 ging him through the tortuous process the Sussex magistracy were 

 pleased to pursue ? The feelings of the public were but too mani- 

 festly hostile to the unjustifiable and malignant spirit apparent in the 

 persecution of the press. The government had but little popularity 

 to part with in the affair of the Brighton Guardian, and thought fit 

 to bring about a conviction through the under-hand and despicable 

 means of secretly coalescing with the enemies of that journal to ruin 



