But how idle, even to his mind, desirous as he must have been of every
species of defence, were all the vainglorious mouthings of the
pettifogger! He soon discovered that the ambition of Pippin chiefly
consisted in the utterance of his speech. He saw, too, in a little
while, that the nonsense of the lawyer had not even the solitary
merit--if such it be--of being extemporaneous; and in the slow and
monotonous delivery of a long string of stale truisms, not bearing any
analogy to the case in hand, he perceived the dull elaborations of the
closet.
But such was not the estimate of the lawyer himself. He knew what he was
about; and having satisfied himself that the case was utterly hopeless,
he was only solicitous that the people should see that he could still
make a speech. He well knew that his auditory, perfectly assured with
himself of the hopelessness of the defence, would give him the credit of
having made the most of his materials, and this was all he wanted. In
the course of his exhortations, however, he was unfortunate enough to
make an admission for his client which was, of itself, fatal; and his
argument thence became unnecessary.
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