"This is a case of no ordinary interest, and I approach it with a deep
sense of its importance, conscious of my inability to do justice to the
subject, and lamenting that it has not been entrusted to abler hands.
It is a case involving the commercial and the sporting character of
a gentleman against whom the breath of calumny has never yet been
drawn--of a gentleman who in all the relations of life, whether as a
husband, a fox-hunter, a shooter, or a grocer, has invariably preserved
that character and reputation, so valuable in commercial life, so
necessary in the sporting world, and so indispensable to a man moving in
general society. Were I to look round London town in search of a bright
specimen of a man combining the upright, sterling integrity of the
honourable British merchant of former days with the ardour of the
English fox-hunter of modern times, I would select my most respectable
client, Mr. Jorrocks. He is a man for youth to imitate and revere!
Conceive, then, the horror of a man of his delicate sensibility--of his
nervous dread of depreciation--being compelled to appear here this
day to vindicate his character, nay more, his honour, from one of the
foulest attempts at conspiracy that was ever directed against any
individual. I say that a grosser attack was never made upon the
character of any grocer, and I look confidently to the reversion of this
unjust, unprecedented conviction, and to the triumphant victory of my
most respectable and public-spirited client. It is not for the sake of
the few paltry shillings that he appeals to this court--it is not for
the sake of calling in question the power of the constituted authorities
of this county--but it is for the vindication and preservation of a
character dear to all men, but doubly dear to a grocer, and which once
lost can never be regained. Look, I say, upon my client as he sits below
the witness-box, and say, if in that countenance there appears any
indication of a lawless or rebellious spirit; look, I say, if the milk
of human kindness is not strikingly portrayed in every feature, and