SIR PETER LAURIE, in commenting upon the late case of false imprisonment,
where two young men had been unjustifiably handcuffed by the police,
delivered himself of the following exquisite piece of rhetoric:--"He did
not think it possible that such a case of abuse could pass unnoticed as
that he had just heard. The general conduct of the police was, he
believed, good; but the instances of arbitrary conduct and overbearing
demeanour _set to flight all the ancient examples brought forward to
enrich by contrast the serious parts of the glorious genius of
Shakspeare_." We never understood or imagined there was an Anacreon among
the aldermen, a Chaucer in the common council, or a Moliere at the
Mansion-house. We have now discovered the Peter Lauriate of the City--the
poet of the Poultry. Who, in the face of the above sentence, can deny his
right to these titles, if, like ourselves, they are
[Illustration: OPEN TO CONVICTION!]
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