certain incident under a misapprehension as to the author's intention. In the second place, a hiss always disconcerts, and often utterly unnerves, the actors who are upon the stage when it is delivered, and renders them unfit to do justice to the scenes that follow. In the case of the unhappy play which had been so heartily condemned that night, those witnesses for the prosecution who took part in the play, speak unreservedly as to the paralysing effect of the sounds of disapprobation with which certain scenes in the first Act were received. No author with any respect for himself and for his profession would endeavour to shield himself from the consequence of failure by attempting to deprive an audience of the right to express their disapproval of his play; but he respectfully submitted that it would be fairer to all concerned if those expressions of disapproval were reserved for the final fall of the act drop. The Prisoner concluded by thanking the jury for the exemplary patience with which they had listened to his defence: while he had no desire to make out that his play was anything but a dull, ineffective production, he submitted that the punishment that inevitably accompanied absolute failure was as severe as the offence of which he had been guilty.
The learned Judge briefly summed up the facts of the case, and
The Jury returned an immediate verdict of Guilty, accompanied by a strong recommendation to mercy.
