Page:A Letter on the Subject of the Cause (1797).djvu/12

 and obſcured the purport of the evidence I was prepared to give; from a deliberate peruſal of the Specification (which in caſes of this nature I thought neceſſary) and hearing Mr. Gurney, the Short-hand writer, declare it impoſſible to obtain correct minutes of the tranſactions, I may, perhaps, be allowed to preſume that your Lordſhip could not digeſt into a comprehenſible form the matter of that evidence; which therefore I will beg leave to recapitulate, compounded with the whole ſubſtance which had occurred to my underſtanding.

To give as little trouble as poſſible, and to preſerve a method which may more readily develope the object, I will recite the Specification, make ſundry remarks upon it by way of outline, then lay before your Lordſhip a particular diſſection of the moſt eſſential parts of the Plaintiffs’ Engines, which from inſpection ſeem to require it; and by referring to the ſaid Specification, and ſome of the evidence on the Trial, I doubt not will leave your Lordſhip in full poſſeſſion of the ſecret views of the author of this very abſtruſe and ambiguous concern. To this I will take the liberty to ſubjoin ſome miſcellaneous obſervations on the neceſſary limitations of Monopolies.