388 MY LIFE 



You must be a miserable wretch to be obliged to live 

 with a convicted felon. Do not think or let him think I 

 have done with him. 



"John Hampden." 



For this I brought him up before a police magistrate, and 

 he was bound over to keep the peace for three months, suf- 

 fering a week's imprisonment before he could find the neces- 

 sary sureties. But as soon as the three months were up, he 

 began again with more abuse than ever, distributing tracts 

 and writing to small local papers all over England. I now 

 began to receive letters from friends, and also from perfect 

 strangers, asking me if I knew what was said about me 

 everywhere. I will now give a summary of the steps I was 

 obliged to take with the results, or rather absence of results, 

 that followed. 



In 1871, Mr. Walsh prosecuted Hampden for libel. He 

 was convicted at the Old Bailey, and bound over to keep the 

 peace for one year. 



In January, 1871, I brought an action for libel in order to 

 give Hampden the opportunity of justifying, if he could, his 

 language towards me. He did not defend the action, but 

 suffered judgment to go by default, and the jury gave me a 

 verdict with £600 damages. But whatever property he had 

 had been transferred to his son-in-law (a solicitor), so I could 

 not get a penny, and had to pay the costs of the suit, which, 

 though undefended, were heavy. 



In October, 1872, I prosecuted him at the Old Bailey for 

 further libels. He was respited on publicly apologizing in 

 several newspapers. 



On January 13, 1873, he was brought up again for fresh 

 libels, and was again respited on publishing a fuller apology 

 and complete recantation of all his charges, as follows: — 



" Public Apology. — I, the undersigned John Hampden, 

 do hereby absolutely withdraw all libellous statements pub- 

 lished by me, which have reflected on the character of Mr. 

 Alfred Russel Wallace, and apologize for having published 



