As soon as I could get away from the excited crowd, I
hastened home. A friend had started for Wortley as soon as I was out of
prison, to inform my wife and children that I was safe and at liberty,
and he was there when I arrived. It fortunately happened that my family
heard of my imprisonment and of my liberation at the same time, and from
the same lips, so that the shock they received was not so severe as it
might have been. But they were terribly tried. It would be vain to
attempt to describe their feelings when they saw me enter the house. I
did my best to comfort them, and assured them that I should take no
hurt.
I was bound over to appear to take my trial at the Winter Assizes on a
charge of sedition and conspiracy, and I set to work to prepare for the
event. A good kind friend residing at Barnard Castle, George Brown,
Esq., who had helped me in my contests with my theological opponents,
helped me in this new trial. He had studied the law all his life, and
was a most faithful and trustworthy adviser. He directed me what steps
to take, and all his instructions proved wise and good.
My friends set on foot a subscription, to procure for me the ablest
defence, and raised, in the course of a few weeks, from two to three
hundred pounds.
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