"Peace, fool!" said the prince; "do you not see that this is only the exordium? these are words of course."
The orator had paused for an instant from some error of his machinery; but his clerk setting him in motion again, he went on as follows:—
"But having being deputed to act, I will not shrink from the arduous duty imposed upon me; I will, therefore, state the principal points of the case; prove my facts by witnesses; and then leave the decision to the well known judgment and penetration of the enlightened and intelligent tribunal before me!"
It was here intended the counsel should bow to the court, but, owing to his defective machinery, he only gave a kind of jerk, and then continued:—
"My Lord, and Gentlemen,
"It sometimes falls to the lot of members of my profession to relate astounding circumstances and soul-harrowing facts!—facts that pierce into the inmost souls of their auditors, and rend their tortured spirits by their iron fangs! as the teeth of the tangible harrow
