approvingly than any one present listened to the defence; for in the
scorn of the hollow institutions and the mock honesty of social life, so
defyingly manifested by the prisoner, Brandon recognized elements of mind
remarkably congenial to his own; and this sympathy was heightened by the
hardihood of physical nerve and moral intrepidity displayed by the
prisoner,--qualities which among men of a similar mould often form the
strongest motive of esteem, and sometimes (as we read of in the Imperial
Corsican and his chiefs) the only point of attraction! Brandon was,
however, soon recalled to his cold self by a murmur of vague applause
circling throughout the common crowd, among whom the general impulse
always manifests itself first, and to whom the opinions of the prisoner,
though but imperfectly understood, came more immediately home than they
did to the better and richer classes of the audience. Ever alive to the
decorums of form, Brandon instantly ordered silence in the court; and
when it was again restored, and it was fully understood that the
prisoner's defence had closed, the judge proceeded to sum up.

It is worthy of remark that many of the qualities of mind which seem most
unamiable in private life often conduce with a singular felicity to the
ends of public; and thus the stony firmness characteristic of Brandon was
a main cause which made him admirable as a judge,--for men in office err
no less from their feelings than their interests.

Glancing over his notes, the judge inclined himself to the jury, and
began with that silver ringing voice which particularly distinguished
Brandon's eloquence, and carried with it in high stations so majestic and
candid a tone of persuasion. He pointed out, with a clear brevity, the
various points of the evidence; he dwelt for a moment on the attempt to
cast disrepute upon the testimony of MacGrawler, but called a proper
attention to the fact that the attempt had been unsupported by witnesses