Mr. Holyoake. Why do you think them blasphemous?
Witness. Because they revile the majesty of heaven, and are calculated to subvert peace, law, and order; and are punishable by human law, because they attack human authority.
Mr. Holyoake. Who has instructed you to define blasphemy thus?
Witness. I have not been instructed, it is my own opinion.
Mr. Holyoake. At Cheltenham, during my examination before the magistrates, you did not appear to have these notions. Will you swear you have not concocted that answer for this occasion?
Witness. I did not expect such a question would be put; I did not expect to be catechised.
Mr. Holyoake. Who advised you to attend as a witness? Witness. The magistrates sent for me.
Mr. Holyoake. Did you not know before the day of my commitment something of this matter?
Witness. There was some 'chaff' in the office about it; that's all I heard of it; a policeman was sent from the magistrates for me to give the names of witnesses who were to appear. Don't know why the policeman came to me; don't know his name; no clergyman has spoken to me, that I recollect, upon the subject of this prosecution; not sure of it; several persons have spoken to me, cannot say they were clergymen; I do not know the parties who got up the prosecution, or sent the policeman to me; the report was furnished to the paper I work on by another person; I saw the reporter's notes, but not the editor's observations till the galleys were pulled. Mr. Justice Erskine. What do you mean by galleys pulled? Witness. Brass slides, my lord.
Mr. Justice Erskine. You mean, I suppose, till all the types were up?