It was so in this case. Coke is said to have blundered in his way
of presenting the evidence, and to have been led away from the point
into an altercation with Essex. Probably it really did not much matter;
but the trial was getting out of its course and inclining in favour of
the prisoner, till Bacon--Mr. Spedding thinks, out of his regular
turn--stepped forward and retrieved matters. This is Mr. Spedding's
account of what Bacon said and did:
"By this time the argument had drifted so far away from the point
that it must have been difficult for a listener to remember what it
was that the prisoners were charged with, or how much of the charge
had been proved. And Coke, who was all this time the sole speaker
on behalf of the Crown, was still following each fresh topic that
rose before him, without the sign of an intention or the intimation
of a wish to return to the main question and reform the broken
ranks of his evidence. Luckily he seems to have been now at a loss
what point to take next, and the pause gave Bacon an opportunity of
rising.
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