MISS BURNEY BATTLES FOR THE ACCUSED.
“Indeed, sir!” cried I; “that does not appear, to those who know him and—I—know him a little.”
“Do you?” cried he earnestly; “personally, do you know him?”
“Yes; and from that knowledge arose this prepossession I have confessed.”
“Indeed, what you have seen of him have you then so much approved?”
“Yes, very much! I must own the truth!”
“But you have not seen much of him?" “No, not lately. My first knowledge of him was almost immediately upon his coming from India; I had heard nothing of all these accusations; I had never been in the way of hearing them, and knew not even that there were any to be heard. I saw him, therefore, quite without prejudice, for or against him; and indeed, I must own, he soon gave me a strong interest in his favour.”
The surprise with which he heard me must have silenced me on the subject, had it not been accompanied with an attention so earnest as to encourage me still to proceed. It is evident to me that this committee live so much shut Lip with one another, that they conclude all the world of the same opinions with themselves, and universally imagine that the tyrant they think themselves pursuing is a monster in every part of his life, and held in contempt and abhorrence by all mankind. Could I then be sorry, seeing this, to contribute my small mite towards clearing, at least, so very wide a mistake? On the contrary, when I saw he listened, I was most eager to give him all I could to hear.
“I found him,” I continued, “so mild, so gentle, so extremely pleasing in his manners—”
“Gentle!” cried he, with quickness.