My trial will be a conspicuous event in the history of the struggle for religious freedom, and in consequence of Lord Coleridge's and Sir James Stephen's utterances, it may be of considerable moment in the history of the Criminal Law.

It is more than possible that I shall be the last prisoner for blasphemy in England.

That alone is a circumstance of distinction, which gives my story a special character, quite apart from my individuality.

As a muddle-headed acquaintance said, intending to be complimentary, Some men are born to greatness, others achieve it, and I had it thrust upon me.
Prosecutions for Blasphemy have not been frequent.

Sir James Stephen was able to record nearly all of them in his "History of the Criminal Law." The last before mine occurred in 1857, when Thomas Pooley, a poor Cornish well-sinker, was sentenced by the late Mr.Justice Coleridge to twenty months' imprisonment for chalking some "blasphemous" words on a gate-post.