ermine upon the robes of justice, and the golden scales, and the
unshrinking balance, and the unsparing and certain sword, he went on
thus:--

"And now, my friends, if I rightly understand the responsibility and
obligations of the station thus kindly conferred upon me, I am required
to arraign the pedler, Jared Bunce, before you, on behalf of the
country, which country, as the clerk reads it, you undoubtedly are; and
here let me remark, my friends, the excellent and nice distinction which
this phrase makes between the man and the soil, between the noble
intellect and the high soul, and the mere dirt and dust upon which we
daily tread. This very phrase, my friends, is a fine embodiment of that
democratic principle upon which the glorious constitution is erected.
But, as I was saying, my friends, I am required to arraign before you
this same pedler, Jared Bunce, on sundry charges of misdemeanor, and
swindling, and fraud--in short, as I understand it, for endeavoring,
without having the fear of God and good breeding in his eyes, to pass
himself off upon the good people of this county as an honest man. Is
this the charge, my friends?"

"Ay, ay, lawyer, that's the how, that's the very thing itself. Put it to
the skunk, let him deny that if he can--let him deny that his name is
Jared Bunce--that he hails from Connecticut--that he is a shark, and a
pirate, and a pestilence. Let him deny that he is a cheat--that he goes
about with his notions and other rogueries--that he doesn't manufacture
maple-seeds, and hickory nutmegs, and ground coffee made out of rotten
rye. Answer to that, Jared Bunce, you white-livered lizard."

Thus did one of his accusers take up the thread of the discourse as
concluded in part by the chairman. Another and another followed with