172 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



manner in which, by the effect of 

 parody, ridicule was attempted to 

 be thrown upon each of them. A 

 burst of buighler now issued from 

 the crowd below the bar ; upon 

 Avhich Mr. Justice Abbot, address- 

 ing the Under-SherifF, desired 

 that he would place persons who 

 would bring before the Court 

 those who should insult the feel- 

 ings of the more grave and sober 

 part of the auditois. 



The Attorney-General proceeded 

 to say, that if there were any tiling 

 in what he had read, which could 

 raise a smile in any man's face, 

 it was evidence enough that the 

 publication was a libel. After 

 some further remarks, witnesses 

 were called in to prove the pur- 

 chase of a copy of the work in 

 question from Hone's shop, and 

 to identify his place of residence. 

 This was the whole of the prose- 

 cution. 



Mr. Hone, wh« acted as his 

 own counsel, then rose to speak ; 

 and though impractsied in the art 

 of addressing a public audience, 

 the impression which he made was 

 very considerable. He began with 

 some observations on an arrest 

 which had been made upon him 

 in the month of May, and in 

 which he found cause of complaint 

 against Lord EUenborough for 

 excess of rigour. He then pro- 

 ceeded to remark upon the man- 

 ner in which special juries were 

 struck by the crown officers ; and 

 in fine he came to the particvUar 

 object of his trial, which was the 

 charge made against him by the 

 Attorney-General for publishing 

 parodies. There were, he said, 

 two kinds of parodies ; one in 

 which a man might convey ludi- 

 crous or ridiculous ideas relative 



to some other subject ; the other, 

 where it was meant to ridicule 

 the thing parodied. The latter 

 was not the case in that which he 

 employed, and therefore he had 

 not brought religion into con- 

 tempt. 



He then introduced a nimiber 

 of (juotations from different works, 

 which exemplified the different 

 kinds of parodies,- but in this 

 sketch it would be superfluous to 

 enter into particulars, especially 

 where it cannot be doubted that 

 all modern examples of prosecu- 

 tions on this ground have been 

 entirely founded on political rea- 

 sons. 



The Attorney-General in his 

 reply thought it necessary to men- 

 tion, that Mr. Hone having been 

 formerly arrested and imprisoned, 

 he (the Attorney-General) know- 

 ing that the tiial could not come 

 on till the present time, had 

 caused him to be discharged on 

 his own recognizance, to appear 

 on a future day. He then made 

 some severe remarks upon Hone, 

 and addressing the jury, entreated 

 them to consider the libel coolly 

 and dispassionately, and compar- 

 ing it with what it was designed 

 to ridicule, determine whether 

 it were not a wicked, impious, 

 and profane publication. 



Mr. Justice Abbot, in his charge, 

 said, that the question here was 

 not what had been done in former 

 times, but what the defendant 

 had done in the present. He was 

 fully convinced that the produc- 

 tion was liighly scandalous and 

 irreligious, and therefore libel- 

 lous ; but if the jury were of a 

 different opinion, their verdict 

 would of course be an acquittal. 

 The jury then withdrew, and 



returned 



