able men in opposition, and the leaders of the popular party in
those days. They had not an idea of assuming that the jury put
it upon another and much better ground. The stanza I allude to
is this:--

"'For Sir Philip well knows,
That his _innuendos_
Will serve him no longer,
In verse or in prose;
For twelve honest men have decided the cause,
Who are judges of fact, though not judges of laws.'

"It was the admission of the whole of that party; they put it
right; they put it upon the meaning of the _innuendos_; upon
_that_ the jury acquitted the defendant; and they never put up a
pretence of any other power, except when talking to the jury
themselves."

In Howell's _State Trials_ (xxi. 1038.) is a note on this passage. This
note (stated to be from the _Speeches of Hon. Thomas Erskine_) is as
follows:--

"It appears by a pamphlet printed in 1754, that Lord Mansfield
is mistaken. The verse runs thus:--

"'Sir Philip well knows,
That his innuendos
Will serve him no longer in verse or in prose:
For twelve honest men have determined the cause,
_Who are judges alike of the facts and the laws._'"{148}