Ellenborough, who was ill at the time, was so enraged at this verdict,
that be came into Court the next morning, and presided when Mr. Hone was
tried for a second parody. His Lordship did every thing to intimidate,
to interrupt, and to browbeat Mr. Hone, who, however, proved himself
much the bravest as well as the most able man, and after a defence,
similar to that of the day previous, which lasted eight hours, another
jury of the city of London acquitted him. On the day following, the 20th
of December, he was tried before the Chief Justice and another special
jury of the city of London, for a third parody, and after another
defence, which lasted nine hours, he was a third time acquitted. What
enhances the merit of Mr. Hone's courageous defence is, that during the
whole of the time he was labouring under indisposition. There is not
the least doubt but these verdicts of acquittal, added to that of the
acquittal of Dr. Watson, were the cause of Lord Ellenborough's death;
at any rate, his decease was greatly hastened by the irritation arising
from such repeated disappointments; for in all these cases his Lordship
strongly charged the jury for a verdict of guilty, and no agent of the
Government ever worked harder to obtain a verdict than his Lordship did.
Ultimately this great lawyer became an ideot, and I have understood from
pretty good authority, that for some time before his death he was in the
constant habit of repeating the names of _Watson_ and _Hone_, with the
most evident symptoms of horror and dismay, which he continued to do
till the very last, as long, at least, as he was capable of utterance.

Thus ended the year 1817, one of the most eventful of British history.
The prospect was most gloomy: the poor were greatly distressed for want
of employment: provisions were dear, the quartern loaf averaged about
thirteen pence, and there was a general depression of trade. At the
same time, every honest man in the kingdom considered himself as being
injured and insulted by the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and,