Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/11

 the attention of the Court had become flaccid through fatigue, and rightly conjecturing it could not therefore produce a proper effect, expreſſed a wiſh to have it curtailed. But having conceived theſe obſervations of great importance in the Defendants’ cafe, and giving juſt reaſon to expect an iſſue contrary to the one which took place; and regarding that iſſue as a precedent prejudicial to public intereſt, I cannot ſatisfy my conſcience as an independent Witneſs, and a dependent member of ſocicty, without humbly recommending them to your Lordſhip’s conſideration.

In doing this, I venture to hope your Lordſhip will not deem me too arrogant; ſince it is certainly no diſparagement to the abilities of any ſet of men engaged by other purſuits, not to poſſeſs the ſcientific knowledge ſo particularly relative to, and of ſuch eminent conſequence in the above cauſe; when to obtain it the moſt extenſive practice is barely ſufficient.

The incongruous and unmethodical manner in which queſtions were put by the Defendants’ Counſel, aided by the thwartings of thoſe for the Plaintiffs, and the cauſes before mentioned, having deranged the order, and