"We see in needleworks and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work upon a lightsome ground judge, therefore, of the pleasure of the heart by the pleasure of the eye." HOBBES'S THEORY OF LAUGHTER. Soon after I was called to the bar I happened to be in the criminal court at Cambridge, when a prisoner was put upon his trial, on a charge of having stolen from the dwelling-house in which his master, an old officer, lodged, a box containing twelve hundred guineas. He was a nervous and interesting looking man, and, during a service of twenty years, until this accusation, had borne an irreproachable character. The old General was on his road from the north to London. The box was entrusted to his care by a country banker, to be delivered at the Bank in London. The servant, as he was accustomed, accompanied his master in the carriage; they slept at Caxton, in Cambridgeshire. The box was never seen from the time they entered the inn. The prisoner when he was called, said, "I hope your Lordship will have pity on me and protect me; I have not any money to fee counsel; my master knows how faithfully I have served him for many years." I instantly offered such services as I could render. After a long and very affecting trial, he was found guilty. When the verdict was pronounced, his master, much agitated, came forward. "I have," he said, "discharged what I thought to be my wife duty to my king and country. I hope that mercy may be extended; he has served me faithfully for nearly twenty years; the poor man has a and family, who live in my village." He could not proceed. There was scarcely a person in court who was not in tears. I never saw an assembly so deeply affected. The judge said he would deliberate. The prisoner was remanded. The next trial was of a lad, about eighteen years of age, who had stolen some fowls and ducks from a poor old woman who lived at Impington, a village in the neighbourhood. The woman swore to the ducks, which she produced in court. The offender was sentenced to be whipped and imprisoned. I am The old servant, who had been remanded, was now ordered to be brought to the bar. The judge *said, "After having deliberated upon the statement which has been made by your master, under the necessity of saying, that robbery by a servant is a crime which is never pardoned; you must not, therefore, be deceived by supposing that there are any hopes of mercy for you. The sentence of the law, which it is my duty to pronounce, must be carried into effect. The law which you have violated must take its course. The sentence of which law is, that you be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution."There was an awful silence in the court. Every duck in the old woman's basket instantly quacked |