concern; but the fourth, a red-haired and red-bearded man,--Paraman, by
name,--evidently felt the pressure of the case upon himself. He was the
one whom the mate swore to have given him the first blow; and there was
other evidence of his having been stabbed with a knife. The captain of
the ship, the pilot, the cook, and the steward, all gave their evidence;
and the general bearing of it was, that the chief mate had a devilish
temper, and had misused the second mate and crew,--that the four seamen
had attacked him, and that Paraman had stabbed him; while all but the
steward concurred in saying that the second mate had taken no part in the
affray. The steward, however, swore to having seen him strike the chief
mate with a wooden marlinspike, which was broken by the blow. The
magistrate dismissed all but Paraman, whom I am to send to America for
trial. In my opinion the chief mate got pretty nearly what he deserved,
under the code of natural justice. While business was going forward, the
magistrate, Mr. Mansfield, talked about a fancy ball at which he had been
present the evening before, and of other matters grave and gay. It was
very informal; we sat at the table, or stood with our backs to the fire;
policemen came and went; witnesses were sworn on the greasiest copy of
the Gospels I ever saw, polluted by hundreds and thousands of perjured
kisses; and for hours the prisoners were kept standing at the foot of the
table, interested to the full extent of their capacity, while all others
were indifferent. At the close of the case, the police officers and
witnesses applied to me about their expenses.

Yesterday I took a walk with my wife and two children to Bebbington
Church. A beautifully sunny morning. My wife and U. attended church, J.
and I continued our walk. When we were at a little distance from the
church, the bells suddenly chimed out with a most cheerful sound, and
sunny as the morning. It is a pity we have no chimes of bells, to give
the churchward summons, at home. People were standing about the ancient