Here he rested the case on behalf of the crown.
There was a solemn pause, after the speaker had resumed his seat.

His argument, logic, and above all, his good sense and undeniable law, made a very sensible impression; and I had occasion to observe that Noah began to chew tobacco ravenously.

After a decent interval, however, Brigadier Downright--who, it would seem, in spite of his military appellation, was neither more nor less than a practising attorney and counsellor in the city of Bivouac, the commercial capital of the Republic of Leaplow--arose, and claimed a right to be heard in reply.
The court now took it into its head to start the objection, for the first time, that the advocate had not been duly qualified to plead, or to argue, at their bar.

My brother Downright instantly referred their lordships to the law of adoption, and to that provision of the criminal code which permitted the accused to be heard by his next of kin.
"Prisoner at the bar," said the chief-justice, "you hear the statement of counsel.

Is it your desire to commit the management of your defence to your next of kin ?" "To anybody, your honors, if the court please," returned Noah, furiously masticating his beloved weed; "to anybody who will do it well, my honorables, and do it cheap." "And do you adopt, under the provisions of the statute in such cases made and provided, Aaron Downright as one of your next of kin, and if so, in what capacity ?" "I do--I do--my lords and your honors--I do, body and soul--if you please, I adopt the brigadier as my father; and my fellow human being and tried friend, Sir John Goldencalf, here, I adopt him as my mother." The court now formally assenting, the facts were entered of record, and my brother Downright was requested to proceed with the defence.
The counsel for the prisoner, like Dandin, in Racine's comedy of Les Plaideurs, was disposed to pass over the deluge, and to plunge instantly into the core of his subject.