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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 069 398 448 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 tlie Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924069398448 
 
FKIUJtl ^IXPENQE. 
 
 
 BY 
 
 A LOUNGER IN THE COURTS. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 CONTENTS: 
 THE LOUNaEE. 
 
 LOED JUSTICE SIE HUaH OAIENS (at the Bar). 
 VIOE-OHANOELLOE SIE WILLIAM PAGE WOOD. 
 THE ATTOENEY-GENEEAL, SIE JOHN EOLT, Q.O., M.R 
 E. P. AMPHLETT,.Q,0. 
 W. T. S. DANIEL, Q.O. 
 G. M. GIFFAED, Q.O. 
 W. M. JAMES, Q.O. . 
 J. W. WILLCOOK, Q.O. 
 
 LONDON : 
 WILLIAM AMBR, LAW BOOKSELLBE & PUBLISHER, 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN GATE, CARET STREET, W.C. 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES 
 
 IN CHANCERY. 
 
 BT 
 
 A LOUNGEE IN THE COUETS. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 [To he continued.'] 
 
DIPBOSE, BATEMAN & Co., Pbintees, 9 & 10, Shbppibld Stbebt, Lihoolk's 
 
 Inn Fields. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I AM one of those wretched out- 
 casts styled bachelors, living upon, 
 my means. Of course, I have had 
 numerous opportunities of forming 
 a matrimonial alliance — ^who has 
 not? But then, I am compara- 
 tively poor, and can boast no 
 longer line of ancestors than I can 
 trace back, with a good many 
 missing links, to that grand old 
 gardener and his wife who are 
 supposed to smile at the claims of 
 long descent. My income;, hke 
 some of the new joint-stock com- 
 panies, is " limited." 
 
 I never had shares but in one 
 company, which purchased from a 
 certain patentee a most invaluable 
 invention for blowing bubbles. But, 
 singularly enough, the public, who 
 Hke such things generally, did not 
 appreciate the company of which 
 I was appointed the Secretary (to 
 
 qualify myself for which post, by 
 the way, I took shares to the ex- 
 tent of £500), with a prospective 
 salary of £300 per annum. I say 
 "prospective" advisedly, because 
 before my first quarter's salary 
 became due, the Company — repre- 
 sented by the promoter (and several 
 Directors on paper) who gave his 
 address as " Creeper Cottage, Shal- 
 low Yale, Diddlesex," was in diffi- 
 culty ; and, at the expiration of six 
 months, if the Company was a 
 reality at aU, I was Its sole em- 
 bodiment ; in which - condition I 
 found myself compelled, in order to 
 avoid a martyrdom of litigation, to 
 pay the rent of the furnished offices 
 which had been taken by the pro- 
 moter in the name of the company, 
 which promoter placed himself 
 somewhere — I can't tell you where 
 — In voluntary exile ; and I have 
 
never since heard of him from that 
 day to the present. But I have 
 no douht he is following some 
 equally lawful caJling as that by 
 T^ch I was induced by him to 
 part with my £500 for the very 
 lucrative appointment which was 
 the consideration for the advance. 
 
 I have told thus much of my 
 personal history; because ever since 
 the termination of my connection 
 with the company, living on — I 
 won't say what floor — ^in Palgrave 
 Place, Temple Bar, I have had an 
 insane yearning to spend a good 
 deal of my time as a lounger in the 
 Courts of Chancery, where I have 
 Hstened, with the avidity of a mono- 
 maniac, to any case in which a 
 promoter has figured; and I can 
 
 fKEFACE. 
 
 assure you, from what I have 
 gathered, those gentlemen seem, 
 during the past iwo'or three years, 
 to have been as busy as an indivi- 
 dual, whom it is not necessary, to 
 particularise, is generally described 
 by sailors to be in a gale of wind. 
 I have not yet met with my pro- 
 moter ; but, perhaps, if I act upon 
 the principle of the man who went 
 every night to see Van Amburgh 
 put his head into the lion's maw, 
 because he was sure he would one 
 day lose it, I may be equally re- 
 warded for my pertinacity. 
 
 But there are certain traits of 
 certain people, of which, like a weU- 
 known character in a popular story, 
 I have made notes; and these I 
 shall proceed to give. 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES 
 
 IN CHANCERY. 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 I. As I cannot tell everything 
 at once, suppose I commence with 
 the Court in which, when I enter, 
 I see a somewhat spare man sitting 
 upon the Bench, whom I know to 
 be one of the Vice-Chancellors, By 
 the side of him is a small table upon 
 which lay his three-cornered hat. I 
 never saw him wear it, and I have a 
 notion that he never does. In fact, 
 I don't think it would be either 
 becoming or comfortable. Before 
 him is a desk, upon which there is 
 a book interleaved with blotting- 
 paper ; but his Honour makes few 
 notes, and when he does, he scarcely 
 leans forward to do so, but holds his 
 quill pen almost at arm's length. 
 
 He sits usually cross-legged, with 
 his hands upon his knees, and is 
 an attentive listener to the coun- 
 sel addressing him, to whom he 
 puts few questions ; for he is able 
 to arrive at the pith and marrow 
 of an argument at once. He will 
 sometimes stop a learned gentle- 
 man whilst reading a portion of a 
 correspondence, or an afG,davit, by 
 telling him that it has been already 
 read. He seems to have a remark- 
 ably retentive memory; and never 
 forgets what he has once heard. 
 The forehead is high, prominent, 
 and overhanging ; and the eyes are 
 deeply set. He makes no display 
 of learning ; but when a case call- 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 ing it forth, occurs, you are ctarmed 
 with the purity of his pronuncia- 
 tion in either the dead or con- 
 tinental languages. His English 
 •©locution is by no means of the 
 highest order : it is rapid and dis- 
 jointed. When delivering judg- 
 ment, you might be led at first to 
 suppose that he had not sufficiently 
 mastered the subject ; but you are 
 quickly undeceived; for, by the 
 time it is concluded, there is no rag 
 of it left. His ideas flow so rapidly, 
 that before he has fairly given ex- 
 pression to one thought, another 
 has presented itself ; and this 
 accounts for the somewhat dis- 
 connected manner in which he 
 expresses himself, and which en- 
 genders in the mind a feeUng of 
 regret that so masterly a decision 
 is not couched in more graceful 
 phraseology. — Sir William Page 
 Wood, Vice-Chancellor. 
 
 II. But now let me glance at 
 the Queen's Counsel, as I take 
 my usual position under the clock. 
 The first rises. He has a peculiar 
 
 waive of the hand, and always 
 looks towards the Judge aslant. 
 He speaks low; so low that I, who 
 am near him, can scarcely hear 
 what he says. . When interrupted, 
 he leans backward and gives the 
 interjector the full length of his 
 tether. There is no energy or ani- 
 mation. His sentences are remark- 
 able for brevity. He has got up 
 his points, he has concentred 'his 
 thoughts, and seems to eschew all 
 elaboration. I have never seen him 
 in the least in earnest; but, never- 
 theless, he commands attention from 
 the Judge and his opponents too. — 
 Mr. Giffard, Q.O. 
 
 III. Another rises. Heis stouter, 
 and his very profile and attitude 
 teU you th9,t he is a man of indo- 
 mitable will. His voice is stern, 
 and not remarkable for melody; 
 but it is deep, and when he throws 
 fervour into his cause; I have felt 
 him to be^owerful in appeal ; and 
 that he could, if the need arose, 
 move the passions to fluctuaticca. " 
 He has a habit when desiring to 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCEKY. 
 
 rivet the attention of tlie Judge 
 upon some point of detail, to rest 
 his arm upon the table before him, 
 lean upon his elbow, bend forward 
 and tap the thumb on the left hand 
 with the forefinger of the right. 
 He is exceedingly pertinacious 
 in argument, and gives you the 
 impression that the man is re- 
 solved to succeed, if possible. He 
 has risen from the ranks. — Mr. 
 Daniel, Q.C. 
 
 IV. I now catch a glimpse of a 
 good-humoured smiling face, with 
 a healthy, fresh-colored hue. It is 
 that of a man inclined to corpu- 
 lency ; a Vice-Chancellor of one of 
 the Duchies. He speaks with ex- 
 cessive rapidity and a little hesita- 
 tion ; and rarely completes a sen- 
 tence. His elocution may be de- 
 scribed as " choppy ; but he is no 
 doubt a clever man." He has 
 scarcely any action except an oc- 
 casional slight elevatipn and de- 
 . pression of the right hand. When 
 addressing the Judge, he looks 
 straight towards him, and seldom 
 
 speaks at great length. In the re- 
 cent cause ceUhre oiCoknso v. Q-lad- 
 sione, his reply was a marvel of 
 succinctness. — Mr. "W. M. James, 
 Q.C. 
 
 V. But I observe a weU-known, 
 pale meditative countenance, and 
 recognize the steel spectacles. The 
 voice, too, is familiar. There is a 
 sweetness about it, and it reminds 
 me of the tones of the late presi- 
 dent of the "Wesleyan Conference, 
 Dr. Osborn, to whom I once' heard 
 a literary friend say he should never 
 tire of listening. His opponent has 
 objected to a cause or motion stand- 
 ing over, and has alleged that the 
 object is delay. He is animated ; 
 he raises his well-formed right 
 hand, which is midway between 
 open and clenched ; he brings it 
 into the palm of his left with vi- 
 gour, and asstires his adversary 
 that the matter will come on quite 
 quickly enough for him, for the re- 
 sult wiU be that he will fail, and 
 have to pay the costs. He is, oc- 
 casionally, a little petulantyt'but 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 9 
 
 native of that isle whicli is " First 
 flower of the earth, and first gem of 
 the sea." He represented an Irish 
 constituency ; he filled a leading po- 
 sition at St. Stephen's, and always 
 commanded the attention of the 
 House. Of him Lord Derby once 
 said that any Grovernment would 
 be glad to have his support as a 
 debater. He was SoHcitor-General 
 when the Conservatives were last 
 in power; and if his health do 
 not fail him, he may look forward 
 to the day when he shall be re- 
 warded with the highest profes- 
 sional honors. He is now one of 
 the Lords Justices of Appeal. — 
 SiK Hugh Caikns, L.J. 
 
 VII. The next Queen's Counsel 
 who secures my attention is a man 
 of short stature and stout build, 
 with a moderate amount of grey 
 whisker and beard, and a shirt- 
 coUar carelessly turned down. He 
 is the very antithesisj of him who 
 sits by his side, for he, to all 
 outward appearance, is about as 
 mindful of his toilet as of the 
 
 mongrel whelp which, at the time 
 he is speaking, is dodging its way 
 among the crowd of omnibuses and 
 cabs that are drawling through 
 Temple Bar. He makes no pre- 
 tensions to eloquence, and his voice 
 and mode of delivery are not 
 altogether pleasing. But, notwith- 
 standing the competition to which 
 he and aU others are subjected, 
 . especially in the Court where he 
 practises, he maintains his position ; 
 and, judging from a somewhat 
 lengthened observation, I should 
 say loses no ground. I understand 
 he is considered by the profession 
 generally to be a subtle and astute 
 lawyer ; that upon difficult points 
 of construction his opinions are 
 highly valued, and his practice at 
 Chambers is consequently very ex- 
 tensive. — Mr. Willcock, Q.C. 
 
 VIII. The last of those "Her 
 Majesty has been pleased to appoint 
 as one of her Counsel learned in 
 the law " whom I shall notice in 
 this branch of the Court of 
 Chancery, is a man whom I 
 
10 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 remember well behind the bar, 
 when he had an excellent practice ; 
 and whilst in that position, I have 
 more than once heard him com- 
 plimented by an able Judge who 
 sat in one of the Appellate Courts. 
 His presence is commanding, his 
 voice good, and no objection can 
 be raised to his elocution. He 
 appears to take great pains to 
 make himself master of any case 
 in which he is engaged; for he 
 has evidently read his papers with 
 
 care and attention, wad transmitted 
 the dates and leading facts in a 
 species of synopsis to paper, to 
 which he frequently refers. Since 
 he has been made a Q.C. his busi- 
 ness has not been extensive ; but 
 time and patience wear away the 
 rock, and he is not the first who 
 has had to wait for that " tide in 
 the affairs of men, which, taken 
 at the ebb, leads on to fortune." — 
 Mr. Amphlett, Q.O. 
 
 (To he .continued.) 
 
LAW BOOKSELLER, 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN GATE, OAEEY STREET, W.O.' 
 
 New Books supplied at a Discount of 20 per cent, for Cash, with Order. 
 
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 EPITOME OF AN ACTION IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE, IN THE 
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3n Cfjanc^rg. 
 
 BT 
 
 A LOUNGER IN THE COURTS. 
 
 Mo. 2. 
 
 CONTENTS: 
 
 THE LODNaEE'S CONFESSION. 
 
 LOED EOMILLY, MASTEE OF THE EOLLS. 
 
 E.,BAGGALLAY, Q.O., M.P. 
 
 G. JESSEL, Q.G. 
 
 0. J. SELWYN, Q.O., M.P. 
 
 T. SOTJTHGATE, Q.O. 
 
 EDMOND BEALES, M.A. 
 
 LONDON: 
 WILLIAM AMEE, LAW BOOKSELLER & PUBLISHER, 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN GATE, CAREY STREET, W.C. 
 
PEF AKD INK SKETCHES 
 
 IN CHANCERY. 
 
 BT 
 
 A LOUNGER IN THE COURTS. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 " A note informs as that these 'Fen and Ink Sketches in Chancery' are tb*^ 
 continued. They are light, hnmorons, and sometimes too satirical for onr otVIi 
 taste ; but clearly they axe the result of long observation, and are, what they profess 
 to be, ' Sketches from life.'" 
 
 LONDON ■- 
 WILLIAM AMER, LAW BOOKSELLER & PUBLISHER, 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN GATE, CAREY STREET, W.C. 
 
DIPEOSE, BATEMAN & Co,, Printebs, 9 & 10, Sheffield Stbebt, Linoom's 
 
 Inn Fields. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To MY ReADEKS 
 
 When I announced, upon the 
 issue of No. 1 of these Pen and 
 Ink Sketches, that they would be 
 continued, I confess that informa- 
 tion was given with a mental reser- 
 vation; the continuation depending 
 solely upon the success of the first 
 effort, i have not employed a City 
 firm of accountants to make a re- 
 turn of the number delivered from 
 the Printers, in order that, like 
 some of the Daily Journals with 
 "thelargest circulationin the world" 
 (see advertisements everywhere), I 
 might publish the statement thus 
 furnished ; but I can truly say that 
 
 1 have sold many more of No. 1 
 than I anticipated I should do, 
 whto I entered upon the hazardous 
 pecuniary speculation of which No. 
 
 2 of "Pen and Ink Sketches" forms 
 the second stage; I, therefore. 
 
 following the example of my bet- 
 ters, tender my thanks to " a dis- 
 cerning public," for the patronage 
 hitherto so largely bestowed, and 
 beseech a continuance of it. 
 
 I should like, however, to get rid 
 of an erroneous impression under 
 which I fear some people labor. 
 Whilst engaged in taking my ob- 
 servations and noting them in my 
 mind for reproduction here, I have 
 once or twice heard a little quiet 
 speculation going forward among 
 that highly useful class, who were 
 so much eulogized by Mr. Justice 
 Lush at the Annual Festival of the 
 Law Clerks' Society, as to who the 
 " Lounger " could possibly be. And 
 one witty young gentleman hinted 
 that I was probably that sleek 
 individual who has upon several oc- 
 casions escaped detection in giving 
 practical proof of his utter indiffer- 
 
Preface, 
 
 ence to the distinction, so difficult 
 of comprehension, which there is 
 between meum and tuum; andlabor- 
 
 ing under the disease now termed ' point to the minds of men — and 
 
 Kleptomania, has unthinkingly ap- 
 propriated to himself other folks' 
 hats, coats, umbrellas (silk !) .&c. I 
 am fiiUy aware of the consequences 
 of perjury ; but I am ready to make 
 an affidavit, at any time, that I 
 am not the individual who is thus 
 ujahappily afflicted with a moral 
 delusion, which, while it enriches 
 himself, makes his fellow creatures 
 considerably poorer. 
 
 If any other form of declaration, 
 statutory or otherwise, be needed in 
 order to carry conviction upon this 
 
 women too, for I don't know why 
 they should not read "Pen and 
 Ink Sketches," — I am prepared to 
 have it administered in the most 
 solemii form of law. Meanwhile . 
 I remain, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 THE LOUNGER. 
 Palgrave Place, 
 Temple Bar. 
 P.S. — Please ring the top bell three times. 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES 
 
 IN CHANCERY. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 I. Man, we are told, is a bundle 
 of habits, and habit second nature; 
 and as I am sauntering in the 
 morning towards my daily haunts, 
 I see a gentleman, not very tall, 
 habited in a suit of black cloth — 
 and so far as I recollect, he has for 
 years worn a dress coat'without the 
 slightest variation in style — crossing 
 Chancery Lane from the corner of 
 Carey Street, where now stands the 
 architecturally beautiful building 
 (one of the most chaste in London) 
 recently erected by the Fnion Bank, 
 which, it is to be hoped, is but "the 
 beginning of the end," and that the 
 precincts, hoary with age, and sated 
 with decay, may yield to the prun- 
 ing and improving hand of time. 
 Already we may see the signs of 
 the coming time in the elegant and 
 commodious Chambers now com- 
 
 pleted at the corner of Cursitor 
 Street, and upon the ruins of Bos- 
 well Court and the purlieus of Cle- 
 ment's Inn is to rise the palatial 
 Hall of Justice. 
 
 The mere mention of Cursitor 
 Street carries one back in thought 
 to plain John Scott, — too poor to 
 study under a Special Pleader ; read- 
 ing half the night, and binding wet 
 rags over his forehead to keep him 
 self awake, and who, when Lord 
 Chancellor Eldon, passing down 
 Cursitor Street one day with his 
 secretary, is reported to have said, 
 "Here was my first perch; and 
 many a time do I recollect coming 
 down this street with sixpence in 
 my hand to buy. sprats for supper." 
 But he, like Lord Mansfield, passed 
 rapidly from no business to Three 
 Thousand a year. I have made a 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCEKY. 
 
 slight digression, I know; but who 
 could help it as recollections crowd? 
 and for it I hope forgiveness wUl he 
 extended towards me. 
 
 I recognise the gentleman to 
 whom I have made reference. He 
 is accompanied by a much younger 
 man than he, whom I believe to be 
 his son. They both, in quiet, affec- 
 tionate conversation, pass beneath 
 an arch on the left-hand side of the 
 Lane. The old man who seems to 
 have established a right by long 
 user is preparing his apple-stall. 
 Though it is yet "early in the 
 morning," heis " blowing his cloud," 
 but quickly hides his pipe in his 
 hat, which he removes as the two 
 gentlemen approach. They both 
 acknowledge the salute; but the 
 elder especially, with his natural 
 gentleness and kindness, the true 
 test of gentlemanliness, bends low, 
 with a genuine poUtesse de coeur. 
 They pass along the ill-paved court- 
 yard, through the iron gateway, up 
 the flight of stone steps, and enter 
 the bmlding. I follow them. A 
 notice on the doorpost informs me 
 that "All letters and parcels for the 
 Master of the Eolls, ring the bell." 
 As I don't come within the defini- 
 tion of a " letter " or a " parcel " 
 (though I write a parcel of— well, 
 no matter), I dispense with the 
 
 beU-ringing. I open a half-glass 1 
 door on my right; I push aside 
 a curtain, and the first object 
 that meets my eye is the clock, 
 which tells me there is yet twenty 
 minutes to spare before ten, the 
 time at which the business of the 
 Court commences : I thus have 
 leisure to make a few notes. The ; 
 Usher, a busy man, rapid in his 
 movements, who, since the recent 
 order of Lord Chancellor West- 
 bury, is not the only Usher who 
 wears a white cravat, is industri- 
 ously distributing quill pens and 
 blotting paper neatly folded, for the 
 use of the Eegistrar and Counsel. 
 With the exception of his move- 
 ments, there is a quiet, patriarchal 
 kind of calm about this Court, as 
 distinguished from the others. And 
 one speciality immediately strikes 
 the eye : it is not redolent with 
 scarlet cloth, but the Registrar's 
 table and seats for Counsel are 
 covered with green. Here, too, the 
 shorthand writers' box is provided 
 with a cushioned seat, and the 
 Usher is cared for in a Hke manner. 
 
 In a niche, over the canopy or 
 sounding-board above the Judge's 
 chair, is a statue of George the 1st, 
 of "blessed memory," as I learn 
 from an inscription cut in the stone 
 pedestal on which the king (who 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 looks somewhat sleepy about tlie 
 eyes) stands. Immediately oppo- 
 site the Judge's chair, is a fine full- 
 length portrait, in oil, by Sir Thomas 
 Lawrence, of Sir WUliam Grant, in 
 his robes of office — the full-bottomed 
 wig, the buckled shoes, the lace 
 ruffles, and the exuberance of gold 
 lace. Who can look upon that finely 
 chiseled countenance and not be 
 struck with the intellectual beauty 
 and purity which beam forth from 
 CTcry feature P I raise my eyes and 
 remark that, in this Court, and in 
 no other in Chancery, there is a 
 gallery. It is straight along the 
 greater part of the front, with two 
 semicircular ends, and is rather 
 pleasing in its style. I never re- 
 member seeing it occupied, except 
 by two ladies on a recent occasion 
 when the caseof theBishop of Natal 
 was 'being argued. I was informed 
 that one of the occupants of the gal- 
 lery was Miss Burdett Coutts, who, 
 it is well known, contributed muni- 
 ficently to the Colonial Bishoprics' 
 Fund ; but as I am not sure that 
 I ever saw Miss Burdett Coutts, 
 whose name is as a household word 
 in connection with so many great 
 and good things, I cannot pledge 
 myself to the accuracy of the state- 
 ment. 
 
 But my musings are disturbed by 
 
 the striking of the clock which has 
 just told Ten. The vibrations of the 
 last stroke have not died away, but 
 the Usher has cried — "Silence! 
 Silence! " I now discover that, lost 
 in my contemplations, I have not 
 observed the Court fill with barris- 
 ters, attorneys, and their clerks. 
 AH rise. There is a soimd of feet 
 traversing a paved antechamber; 
 two gentlemen issue from a door on 
 the left, which is thrown open, on 
 each side of which one places him- 
 self. There is a rustling of silk ; 
 and immediately the Judge enters 
 the Court. He walks slowly to- 
 wards the raised dais, holding up 
 the skirts of his robe on each side 
 of him ; he ascends a fiight of steps 
 with measured tread, and having 
 reached his desk, he places both 
 hands upon it and leans forward 
 towards the Bar, the members of 
 which are still standing; they bow 
 also ; and at scarcely a second past 
 ten the Judge is ready to proceed 
 with the day's business. No doubt, 
 one of the most remarkable traits 
 in the character of this Judge is 
 his extreme punctuaHty ; and his 
 biographer, whoever he may happen 
 to be, would fail to convey an ade- 
 quate idea of the subject of his 
 memoir if punctuality occupied a 
 subordinate place, So rigid an ob' 
 
8 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHAKCEKY. 
 
 server of punctuality is he, that 
 I should imagine he exacts it in 
 others ; and that his secretary, like 
 Washington's, if he excused him- 
 self for late attendance upon the 
 ground of irregulariiy in the move- 
 ments of his watch, would probahly 
 hear Washington's reply: — "Then 
 you must get another watch, or I 
 another secretary. " I have met with 
 people who thought it " shoppy " 
 to he punctual ; but I hold, with 
 Louis XIV., that " punctuality is 
 the politeness of kings." 
 
 If there should be a Judgment at 
 the head of the day's paper, the Re- 
 gistrar announces "Jones v. Bohin- 
 son, for Judgment; " and it would 
 be no great disadvantage, certainly, 
 if some of the Registrars were a 
 little more stentorian than they 
 appear to be. Should the Judg- 
 ment be a written one, as it not un- 
 frequently is in this branch of the 
 Court of Chancery, the Judge sits 
 a little on one side, so as to throw 
 the light from the windows on the 
 west upon the paper or book which 
 he holds in his hand; and I have 
 heard him remark, good humoredly, 
 that he could not read his own writ- 
 ing, which having seen, it "will I 
 hope not be considered an unwar- 
 rantable disclosure to state is some- 
 what minute. At the conclusion 
 
 of the Judgment, the inevitable 
 skirmish amongst the Counsel en- 
 gaged in the case follows, and this 
 has often struck me, as a man inex- 
 perienced in legal tactics, to be a 
 struggle to extract from the Judge 
 some remark which, duly recorded 
 in shorthand, shall render nugatory 
 the decision which- has just been 
 pronounced. If in this view I am 
 at all accurate, it must need a large 
 share of self-command, only to be 
 acquired by long habitude, to escape 
 the many traps which are thus in- 
 geniously laid ; for, frequently, some 
 half-dozen learned gentlemen are 
 speaking at once. Like everything 
 else, this conflict at length comes 
 to an end ; not perhaps, without a 
 violent effort on the part of ihe 
 Judge, to keep his temper ; and the 
 Registrar (unable otherwise to dis- 
 cover it), having privately learned 
 from the Judge what the result of 
 the Babel of Tongues just closed is, 
 reads aloud the title of the first 
 cause in the paper ; and the argu- 
 ment proceeds; of which the Judge 
 takes copious notes, using a long 
 lead pencil, pointed at each end for 
 the purpose. When he has appre- 
 hended the facts and law,, and 
 clearly perceiv.es the bearingof both, 
 you may frequently know by his in- 
 dulgence in a habit which consists 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 in leaning backward in his chair, 
 and twirling his tortoise-shell eye- 
 glass upon the black guard to which 
 it is attached. But he still listens 
 without manifesting the slightest 
 impatience, though the eye tells you 
 the process of reasoning, rather than 
 of hearing, is going on in the in- 
 nermost recesses of the mind; and 
 his patience with a suitor having 
 the proverbial " fool for a client," 
 who in afamblmg labyrinth of state- 
 ment pleads his cause in person, 
 has often struck me as very remark- 
 able. I well remember him at the 
 Bar practising before Vice-Chan- 
 cellor Wigram ; and can call to 
 mind one occasion especially, on 
 which he was arguing a case, and 
 the Vice-Chancellor reminded him 
 that only the day before, in another 
 matter, he argued in an exactly 
 contrary direction ; but he received 
 the observation with a smile ; yielded 
 to the soft impeachment ; and pro- 
 ceeded, undisturbed, to enforce his 
 client's claims. His practice at the 
 Bar was extensive, both as a stuff 
 and silk-gownsman ; and after re- 
 ceiving the usual preparatory pro- 
 fessional honors, he was promoted 
 to his present position on the Bench. 
 Mr. Samuel Smiles has related an 
 anecdote of a Judge who, when 
 asked what contributed most to 
 
 success attheBar, replied : — "Some 
 succeed by great talent, some by 
 high connections, some by miracle, 
 but the majority by commencing 
 without a shilling." The success 
 of the subject of this sketch may 
 fairly be attributed to a combi- 
 nation of the two first elements. — 
 Lord Romilly, Master of the 
 Rolls. 
 
 II. The Queen's Counsel, who 
 sits in the corner, at the end near 
 the fireplace, is the first I shall 
 notice. He often sits with a long 
 quiU pen in his mouth. He wears 
 the wig very low upon his forehead, 
 almost reaching his spectacles. This 
 wig has a singularity about it: it is 
 very high in front ; it slopes rather 
 abruptly backwards, and always 
 gives you the impression that it has 
 been pitched on hastily, perhaps as 
 hastily as it is sometimes taken off; 
 for I have heard that upon the last 
 day of the Sittings preceding the 
 Long Vacation, he has been known 
 to remove it from his head and 
 throw it to the extremity of his 
 Chambers, with an exultant ex- 
 clamation of thankfalness that he 
 is at length able to take a holiday. 
 When he rises to address the Court, 
 you at once detect a peculiarity of 
 some kind in movement andgesture. 
 
10 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCEKY. 
 
 You listen to the argument, and are 
 convinced that the speaker is well 
 up to his work. Should a point of 
 practice come under discussion, you 
 will not be long in discovering that 
 this Counsel is a match for his op- 
 ponent. You now scrutinise the 
 speaker more closely ; you discover 
 that he is somewhat lame, and that 
 he labours iinder the disadvantage 
 of not being able to use his right 
 hand with freedom ; so that he 
 writes with his left, and this he does 
 with amazing facility, the cah- 
 graphy being exceedingly neat. It 
 is not writing a word that is dis- 
 paraging to state that he is not a 
 brilhant genius like a Lyndhurst or 
 a Brougham ; but when it is told 
 that he (as did Lord St. Leonards) 
 has risen from one of the very 
 lowest positions in the office of 
 a member of the legal profession, to 
 become a Queen's Counsel, by over- 
 coming the difficulties which nature 
 and circumstance would seem to 
 have piled Andes high in his way, 
 the conclusion is irresistible, that 
 the man must possess talents of no 
 common order, and an amount of 
 apphcation, attention, and energy 
 sufficient to remove mountains. The 
 saying of Dr. Johnson : — " I never 
 knew a man of merit neglected; 
 and it was generally by his own 
 
 fault if he failed of success," is not 
 universally true as respects the Bar; 
 but, beyond all dispute, sooner or 
 later, the merit of accuracy, methodi | 
 punctuality and despatchmll secure .| 
 its own reward. As I am a great 
 admirer of men who alone and 
 unaided hew their own way with 
 theirownhatehetjl confess I should 
 like to hear "the case of the plain- 
 tiff," rather than " the case o' the 
 plaintiff; " and there are some other 
 expressions of an elliptical charaetef 
 which in my very humble judgment | 
 might be rendered a little more 
 elegant. It is gratifying to note 
 that success with the subject of this 
 sketch does not spoil him, as it too 
 frequently does ; and that though 
 he may have had everlastingly ring- 
 ing in his ears, the words of the son 
 of Sirach : — "Woe unto him that is 
 faint-hearted ;" and has achieved [ 
 a position in the world which ia 
 earlier life, it may be, was beyond 
 the confines of his hopes, he is 
 still affable, kindly, and consider- 
 ate towards all those with whom 
 he is brought into association. — 
 Mr. Southgate, Q.C. 
 
 III. I hardly know what to say 
 in sketching the good - looking J 
 Queen's Counse) who, when not 
 actually speaking, or reading the 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCEKY. 
 
 11 
 
 Times, generally reclines in a care- 
 Jess maimer, resting his elbow on 
 the seat, and stretching his legs to 
 the uttermost, so that the toes of 
 his buttoned boots come in close 
 contact with the knees of the soli- 
 citors and their clerks who are sit- 
 ting below in what is termed the 
 " WeU." If the Counsel opposed 
 to him is driving him hard. upon a 
 point, he throws his head back with 
 a smile of apparent surprise ;'seems 
 to hare an uneasy loUing-place; and 
 elevates the right foot only to dig 
 his heel as far as he can into the 
 cocoa-nut matting with which the 
 floor of the Court is covered. Occa- 
 sionally he wiU amuse himself by 
 twisting off the feathered end of a 
 quill pen. There is a rollicking 
 kind of manner with him in all that 
 he says and does. You are by no 
 means surprised to learn that he 
 is fond of boating and similar exer- 
 cises, for he is a well-formed, well- 
 knit, athletic man, and in the season, 
 notwithstanding his immense prac- 
 tice and Parliamentary duties, he 
 finds time to have a scratch-game 
 at cricket in the grounds attached 
 to his elegant country-house at Rich- 
 mond, in Surrey. Nature must 
 have endowed him with a large 
 share of tact and talent; for when 
 he rises to address the Court, he 
 
 appears to ibe able, without the 
 slightest effort, to deal satisfactorily 
 with all that his opponents have 
 advanced, and to be ready with a 
 complete answer. Should he be 
 interrupted by the Counsel on the 
 opposite side, he states he does not 
 wonder that his learned friend 
 should feel uncomfortable, with so 
 very bad a case as his client's is, 
 for he hasn't a leg to stand upon. 
 I should fancy he seldom expects to 
 be beaten ; and this feeling may be 
 induced by the fact that he 
 frequently wins; but the proverbial 
 " glorious uncertainty " of the law 
 forbids the notion of either 
 unvarying failure or success. The 
 supply of each, Hke that of some 
 water companies, is intermittent 
 and not constant ; but you may be 
 sure that if he fails, the fates are 
 against him. I call to mind a case 
 at the moment, in which a member 
 of the Bar recently figured as a 
 defendant. The subject of this 
 sketch appeared for the plaintiff. 
 Before the case was called on, I 
 overheard the Counsel for the 
 defendant ask what would be the 
 result. "Oh," was the reply, 
 dashed off as though in the wide 
 range of creation nothing admitted 
 of less doubt, " we shall win in a 
 canter!" The decision, however, 
 
12 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 was very adverse to the plaintiff ; 
 and if I recollect aright, the bill 
 was dismissed with costs. I smile 
 at a recollection of this case, and I 
 may as well tell " the reason why." 
 During the delivery of the Judg- 
 ment, his Lordship had said he 
 could not allow any appeal to him 
 ad misericordiam. When the so- 
 licitors were tying up their papers, 
 a clerk — " a young man from the 
 country " — said, " "We should ap- 
 peal, but he says he yon't allow 
 it." The.Counsel to whom this was 
 said smiled, and replied : — " You 
 have not understood his Lordship. " 
 Propably, the clerk had not, read up 
 to comply with the rules of the 
 Incorporated Law Society enforcing 
 preliminary, intermediate and final 
 examinations. Whilst arguing a 
 case, the learned gentleman I am 
 describipg frequently puts both 
 hands into his trousers' pockets 
 only to draw them rapidly forth 
 and fold them behind him, until 
 one is set at liberty, to beat the 
 brief on the table before him with 
 the forefinger. I have frequently 
 had forced upon me the thought 
 that if he had commenced " without 
 a shUHng, " he would have made a 
 greater splash in the Mare Magnum 
 of Life. He is, however, the 
 leader of the Court ; a Conserva- 
 
 tive in politics, and represents 
 in the House of Commons the 
 University of Cambridge. — Mk. 
 Selwyn, aC, M.P. 
 
 IV. With what amazing rapi- 
 dity do the words rush from the 
 mouth of the next learned Counsel 
 whose duty it is to address the 
 Judge ! So swift is the delivery, 
 that if you listen with close atten- 
 tion and scrutiny, you detect that 
 some of the words are dropped, as 
 to portions of them. The power of 
 language, the copious vocabulary 
 of this speaker, must excite the 
 marvel of all who hear him. But 
 unlike most of those whose oratory 
 is wondrous for speed, each sentence 
 is properly constructed, and the 
 whole speech might be printed, 
 with few corrections, from the 
 commencement to the close, if any 
 system of shorthand writing ever 
 was devised that enabled human 
 hand to follow such a tongue. If 
 it be not an impossibility, it must 
 I feel convinced, be a very dose 
 neighbour ; because railway express 
 travelling is a donkey's trot com- 
 pared to it. I remember him well 
 as a stuff-gownsman, when he had 
 one of the largest practices of any. 
 man at the Bar. Soon after he 
 took sDk, if my memory be accurate, 
 
PiBN AND IISK SKETCHES IN CHANCEtlV. 
 
 13 
 
 Mr. L]:,o^ Q.C., who practised in 
 this Court, was appointed Judge of 
 theCounty Court of Gloucestershire. 
 An opening was thus made, into 
 which the subject of this sketch 
 entered ; and the opportunity fur- 
 nished he has not neglected to 
 improve : so that, at this day, he 
 has a very extensive, and, apparently 
 an increasing business. He is of 
 middle height ; somewhat pale, but 
 cast in Herculean mould. He is 
 Mnd, unassuming, and veiy defer- 
 ential in his manner towards the 
 Judge, hut by no means disposed 
 to yield a point if he thinks he can 
 make anything of it. When very 
 earnest, he leans upon his left hand, 
 the palm of which rests on the edge 
 of the table before him, whilst the 
 fingers are bent miderneath. He 
 then stretches forth his right hand, 
 pointing occasionally towards the 
 Judge with his forefinger ; and at 
 other times pressing the forefinger 
 and thumb together, whikt the re- 
 maining fingers a re distended. This 
 is a natural action, and is habitual 
 with many speakers. Like myseU^ 
 he is not getting younger, and 
 Time, though it has not stolen 
 away, but rather added to the 
 intellectual graces of youth, is 
 exerting its power. I perceive he 
 has lately sought the aid of an 
 
 eyeglass, which he uses whilst he 
 reads ; but he is still comparatively 
 young, and there are prizes to be 
 gained, of which, I dare say, he is 
 not less ambitious than others. 
 " Ambition," says Lord Bacon, 
 " makes a man active, earnest, full 
 of alacrity, and stirring ; " and 
 with youth, talents, and energy on 
 his side, it wiU not he surprising if 
 he secure some. He has taken 
 that step which has so often 
 enabled a man to mount high in 
 professional career — he has entered 
 the House of Commons, and is M.P. 
 for Hereford. — Mr. Baggallay, 
 Q.C., M.P. 
 
 V. The last Queen's Counsel I 
 shall notice here is he who sits on 
 the opposite or western side of the 
 Court. It is not very long since 
 T heai'd the Judge, upon his taking 
 silk, lepeat the old formula — " Her 
 .Ma,jepty haAang- K^en pleased to 
 appoint you one of her Oounse! 
 learned iu ' the law, you will be 
 pleased to take your seat withia 
 the Bar accordingly;" and then 
 followed the usual piece of panto- 
 mime, which consists iu the new 
 Queen's Counsel facrag the Judge 
 and bowing ; then turning sideways 
 and bowing to the Queen's Counsel, 
 who, upstanding, bow in return ; 
 
14 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 then toning his hack to the Judge, 
 he bows to the StuEf-Gownsmen or 
 •' Juniors " (many of them several 
 years his senior), who, likewise 
 standing, bow acknowledgments, 
 all striving to look grave, but very 
 few succeeding. To a bystander, 
 unable to fathom mysteries, the 
 notion comes unbidden to the 
 mind, that these professional public 
 courtesies would be more honored 
 in the breach than in the obser- 
 vance. But they may possibly 
 serve some useful end, and as their 
 occasional occurrence relieves the 
 dull ihohotony of Chancery pro- 
 ceedings, nobody, I dare say, is in- 
 clined to protest vehemently against 
 them. It frequently happens that 
 when a man becomes a Q.O. he has 
 to wait some time before he gets 
 into the full swing of practice. Not 
 so, however, with the subject of this 
 notice ; for he at once shot ahead, 
 and has continued to be actively 
 engaged ever since. He is of middle 
 height, slightly corpulent, with a 
 remarkably bright and clear com- 
 plexion; and there is a constant 
 play of lightheafftedness upon his 
 countenance, which is^ almost inva- 
 riably lighted up with a smile. The 
 amount of business that he has 
 already acquired is a practical proof 
 that his talents are appreciated, 
 
 and he seems, already, to have esta- 
 bKshed for himself a firm footing 
 at the RoUs. — Mk. Jessel, Q.C. 
 
 VI. It is Petition-day, and the 
 Court is crowded with members of 
 the Bar whom you see on no other 
 occasion. All the seats appro- 
 priated to Counsel are occupied; 
 and learned gentlemen are in more 
 senses than one treading upon each 
 others' toes, and elbowing one an- 
 other out of the way. The unop- 
 posed petitions are being rapidly 
 disposed of ; and I observe a tall 
 gentleman pushing himself through 
 the crowd. He is carrying a blue 
 bag, apparently heavily laden, in 
 his right hand, whilst in; the other 
 he holds a brief. When he site 
 down^ he almost invariably places 
 his hand across his mouth. Pre- 
 sently, the Registrar reads aloud— 
 " Me The Ramshackledom Improve^, 
 mentOommissimers." The tail Bar- 
 rister rises : his featoes are some- 
 what large ; his wig much disco* 
 loured. It, to all appearance, has 
 been in his chambers for years, a 
 prey to dust and smoke, instead of 
 being carefully stowed away in a 
 japanned case, or in one of those 
 long upright' deal boxes, some half' 
 Aai&a. of whidh you occasioiially see 
 siting across the shoulders of a little 
 
PEN AND rSTK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 15 
 
 man in the Strand, about half-past 
 nine o'clock in the morning, as 
 he. hurries towards Westminster 
 Hall. The stuff-gown of this 
 "junior" by courtesy (though he 
 is somewhat advanced in years, and 
 his hair, bushy eyebrows, and whis- 
 kers are grey) has lost all its pris- 
 tine brightness; and I am not 
 sure that it does not betray a for- 
 getftdness of a somewhat popular 
 maxim about a stitch in time saving 
 nine. "When he addresses the 
 Judge, he fixes his eyes, which, 
 though small, are lively, and not 
 without fire, upon him ; and there 
 is a firmness about the mouth. He 
 is not without action. He points 
 with his forefinger ; and his open 
 right hand is occasionally brought 
 down upon the brief which he holds 
 in his left. At other times the 
 right arm is akimbo ; and he sways 
 his body backward and forward 
 with the commencement and close 
 of his sentences, which |?rma/aa'e 
 wear the aspect of being studied. 
 You learn that the Eamshackledom 
 Improvement Commissioners are a 
 body of men whose improvements 
 consist of demolitions and the 
 laying waste of a large area upon 
 which they intended to rebuild ; but 
 being about as well up in finance as 
 some of their neighbours, they have 
 failed to secure the " needful." His 
 
 words leave his mouth very deliber- 
 ately ; there is a long pause between 
 each ; and the delivery is marked 
 by an absence of all style. He may 
 be a very clever man ; I have had 
 little opportunity of judging, be- 
 cause he seldom appears in Court, 
 though of course it is quite possible 
 that his practice as a Chamber 
 Counsel may be large. Solomon's 
 wisdom may be his possession ; but, 
 assuredly, he is not a Cicero. We 
 are none of us surprised that a 
 Gladstone or a Bright should be 
 popular with the masses, because 
 each possesses the honeyed tongue ; 
 that marvellous gift of oratory, the 
 charms of which few men can resist, 
 as the thread of discourse is con- 
 ducted Kke an endless chain of en- 
 chantment, or interwoven Hke a 
 network of ornament. But that the 
 subject of this sketch should be a 
 popular leader, is one of those social 
 contradictions that occasionally pre- 
 sent themselves, baffling aU at- 
 tempts at solution. He altogether 
 lacks the graces of style, and is not, 
 never was, and never wiU be, an 
 attractive speaker. I have said 
 " never wiU be, " not unmindful of 
 the stories concerning Demosthenes 
 and the pebbles, and Curran the 
 " Orator Mum ;^* but then they 
 commenced early, and not late in 
 life.— *Mr. Edmond Bbales, M.A; 
 
f tgal Marks f itbUs^etr hn mxllmm %\mx, ^ 
 
 LAW BOOKSELLEE, "^ 
 
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JT jxj. yj x!j — in-^rrra iv v ^. 
 
 
 BY 
 
 A LOUNGER IN THE COURTS. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 CONTENTS: 
 
 LETTER BY THE LOUNGER. 
 
 THE LOUNGER IN LORD ROMILLY'S CHAMBERS. 
 
 VICE-CHANCELLOR STUART. 
 
 VICE-CHANCELLOR MALINS (at the Bar). 
 
 J. BACON, a.c. 
 
 E. K. KARSLAKE, a.C., M.P. 
 
 MISS FRAY. 
 
 CONCLUDING LINES. 
 
 LONDON : 
 RICHARD AMER, LAW BOOKSELLER & PUBLISHER, 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN GATE, CAREY STREET, W.C. 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 CONTENTS :— No. 1. 
 
 THE LOUNGBE. 
 
 LOED JUSTICE SIE HUGH 0AIEN8 (at the Bar). 
 
 VICE-CHANOELLOE SIE WILLIAM PAGE WOOD. 
 
 THE ATTOENET-GEKEEAL, SIE JOHN EOLT, Q.G., M.P. 
 
 E. P. AMPHLETT, Q.O. 
 
 W. T. S. DAJSriELL, Q.O. 
 
 G. M. GIFPAED, Q.O. 
 
 W. M. JAMES, Q.O. 
 
 J. W. WILLOOOK, Q.O. 
 
 CONTENTS :— No. 2. 
 
 THE LOUNGEE'S CONFESSION. 
 
 LOED EOMILLT, MASTEE OF THE EOLLS. 
 
 E. BAGGALLAY, Q.C, M.P. 
 
 G. JES8EL, Q.C. 
 
 0. J. SELWYN, Q.C., M.P. 
 
 T. SOUTHGATE, Q.O. 
 
 EDMOND BEALES, M.A. 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES 
 
 IN CHANCERY. 
 
 BY 
 
 A LOUNGER IN THE COURTS. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 1 "A note informs us that these 'Pen and Ink Sketches in Chancery' are to be 
 continued. They are light, hvunprous, and sometimes too satirical for our own taste ; 
 but dearly they are the result of long observation, and are, what they profess to be, 
 'Sketches' from life." — Watchman. 
 
 LONDON: 
 EIOHAED AMEE, LAW IBOOKSELLEE & PUBLISHEE, 
 
 LINCOLN'S INN GATE, CAKEY STREET,' 'W.C. 
 
lONDON : 
 PEINIED BY 0. F. EOVTOKTH, BBEAM'S BOTLDlNa3, OHANOEEy LANE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 To MY Ebadbes — 
 
 I am deeply grateful for the 
 many kind inquiries wMoh have 
 been made concerning me since I 
 last appeared. in print; though my 
 landlady is by no means overflow- 
 ing with thankfulness, seeing that, 
 as she expressed herself : " Them 
 Pen and Ink Sketchits in Chancy 
 a ringin' at the beU 'as nearly 
 drove me mad." 
 
 The delay in bringing out the 
 present number has been thus 
 caused. The severe mental strain 
 necessitated by the compilation of 
 No. 2, laid me on a bed of sick- 
 ness, and my doctor ordered 
 change of air; I suppose because 
 he thought I could not get it, as 
 that is the weU-known principle 
 
 upon which members of the medi- 
 cal profession invariably proceed. 
 But, as I cprrespond about once 
 a year with my grandmother, 
 who lives at Brighton and lets 
 lodgings, it occurred to me that 
 I might invite myself to spend 
 a short time with her, which I 
 accordingly did. And when my 
 doctor found that I was about to 
 do that which he prescribed, he 
 was by no means anxious that I 
 should go, but said, if I did, I 
 must be sure to ride first-class. 
 Well, the profits I have made out 
 of these Sketches, enabled me to 
 do even that. ' 
 
 The " good old times," as they 
 are called, of mail-coaches have 
 departed; and with them, I am 
 afraid, some of the good old Eng- 
 
 a2 
 
IV 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 lish manners. In these days, 
 everybody seems to be perpetu- 
 ally at high pressure. The John 
 Bull of 1867 is hard at work in 
 thought when he is on his travels, 
 and to extract a word from him, 
 as he is whirled along on his jour- 
 ney, is almost as difficult as to 
 draw goat's milk < from bullock's 
 liver. Some people lament the de- 
 parture of the " good old times ;" 
 and, amongst them are a few 
 elderly men, who, in their teens, 
 had just entered upon the jaunty 
 career of postboys when the iron 
 horse drove them ,off the road, 
 and made railway porters of them. 
 Formerly, if we may believe what 
 we hear and read, there was a 
 vast deal more of sociability about 
 your Englishman than you find 
 now. My case, I have no doubt, 
 is only a type of many. I took 
 a first-class ticket by the twelve 
 o'clock train for Brighton, and 
 was the first to enter the carriage. 
 Presently, a youngish gentleman 
 came in, and sat himself beside me. 
 He soon rose, however, and put 
 his head and a third part of his 
 body out of the window, whilst the 
 skirts of his coat brushed off what 
 dust there was upon my spectacles. 
 
 He hailed a passenger coming 
 along the platform, who joined 
 us. He was, no doubt, some -re- 
 tired Indian planter, who, having 
 amassed a fortune, liad come to 
 England to spend it. At all 
 events, t so thought. After a 
 few words of greeting, the Indian 
 planter seemed to have had enough 
 of it ; for he carefully wrapped his 
 rug round his legs, and doggedly 
 squeezed himself into the corner, 
 at the very furthest distance he 
 could get from his friend. The 
 next passenger, I feel sure, had 
 come from somewhere about Corn- 
 hill, perhaps an Insurance Office. 
 He looked as though he had been 
 in a band-box all day, and had just 
 been let out ready-gloved, with a 
 very thin, consumptive, umbrella 
 in hand. With this gentleman 
 I tried once or twice to enter into 
 conversation ; but received only 
 monosyllables in reply. I then 
 tried my friend on my left, and 
 started Fenianism even; but all 
 I got out of him was, as though' 
 'I had said it was not — " It's all 
 humbug y uttered in a kind of 
 "Don't bother me" style; so I 
 gave him up. I then looked at 
 the other two passengers. One 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 was a man with a studious face 
 and forehead. He brought a flat 
 brown jiaper parcel into the car- 
 riage with him, which, the mo- 
 ment he sat down, he proceeded to 
 untie. He then took from it a 
 boot, which he commenced read- 
 ing, and being very near-sighted, 
 his nose almost touched the pages, 
 which he read with avidity to his 
 journey's end. There was only 
 one more passenger, and he sat 
 in the opposite comer. He had 
 evidently enough to do to comb, 
 with his fingers, a pair of long, 
 half-gray, half -sandy " Piccadilly 
 weepers," so that I made no at- 
 tack upon him, nor he upon any- 
 body else. Thus it happened 
 that I journeyed from London 
 to Brighton without exchanging 
 half-a-dozen words with my fel- 
 low beings ; and this, I take it, is 
 only a specimen of journeys made 
 every day in these times of steam- 
 engines and iron rails. What we 
 shall come to after a while it is 
 difficult to conceive ; but as every- 
 body says this is an age of pro- 
 gress, I shan't deny it. 
 
 My grandmother, I am happy 
 to say, received me kindly; I 
 
 verily believe she was delighted 
 to see me, and never failed to in- 
 troduce me to all the other lodg- 
 ing-house keepers with whom she 
 was acquainted — and they seemed 
 to be legion — as her grandson, 
 " a Horther from London." My 
 grandmother's financial specula- 
 tions were by no means bounded 
 by lodgings. She had a fiy of her 
 own, and two horses, both rickety 
 on the legs 5 but one was a clothes- 
 horse, which latter, though " aU 
 the washing" was " put out " (as 
 the advertisements for maids-of- 
 alUwork frequently state) was oc- 
 casionally brought into use. I 
 suppose the washing usually came 
 home in the night, or when I hap- 
 pened to be absent; because, as 
 my grandmother used to get me 
 to make out her lodgers' bills, I am 
 sure a good deal must have come 
 in at som^ time or other, for the 
 number of sheets, towels, table- 
 napkins, &c., &c., the lodgers used, 
 was next to incredible. 
 
 A Jew weeks' stay at Brighton 
 has completely renovated me, and 
 I am enabled to produce the pre- 
 sent number, which, so far as this 
 series is concerned, will be the last. 
 
Tl 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Though I am by no means of a 
 mournful teiaperament, as I hope 
 the Lusigatldo style of these pro- 
 ductions sufficiently testifies, I 
 adopt ,the • motto on an under- 
 taker's blind near King's Cross, 
 which, translated, I find means 
 " I shall rise again." I say, " I 
 
 shall rise again" in a more bulky 
 form hereafter, and till then, 
 
 I remain. 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 THE LOUNGER 
 
 Palsgrave Place, 
 
 . Temple Bar. 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES 
 IN CHANCEEY. 
 
 'ko. 3. 
 
 I. To-day I makeup my mind 
 that I Tvill see wliat is going f or- 
 warii somewhere else. It has not 
 escaped my observation that daily, 
 from eleven a.m. till four p.m., 
 crowds of persons ascend two 
 much- worn stone steps.ahout mid- 
 way in Chancery JJane. They read 
 with attention a printed list of 
 about two hundred causes which is 
 affixed on the left-hand side, and 
 having done so, push open a door, 
 which is ceaselessly on the swing, 
 and pass in. Having become satis- 
 fied that this is some public depart- 
 ment, and not any Englishman's 
 home or castle, I at length sum- 
 mon resolution to enter on a tour 
 of inspection, and proceed to Carry 
 it out. When I am inside, the 
 first thing I see is darkness. By 
 the aid of my hands, rather than of 
 my eyes, I am made conscious that 
 there is a staircase ; I proceed to 
 ascend, and find each side of it 
 lined with expectants, awaiting 
 
 the arrival of somebody else, or of 
 light; if the latter, their stay will 
 be of considerable duration. How- 
 ever, I recollect some lilies about 
 the stars being made for man's 
 counting and the hills for his 
 mounting : and as I beilieve they 
 were written to encourage us to 
 persevere, I resolve to do so, aid 
 at length reach the landing, where 
 locomotion is impeded by_ persons 
 standing about in aU directions. 
 By means of an intense strain on 
 the visual organs, I see there is a 
 clock over my head. It is clearly 
 not affixed for use, and I can only 
 imagine that it may be, in a cer- 
 tain sense, for ornament, to hide 
 some disfigurement in the wall 
 behind it; for all the London 
 Smashem and Over Company's 
 gas lamps brought from Charing 
 Cross Bridge — especially as the 
 Gas Company seems to have cut 
 ofE the connection — ^would not 
 enable you to pierce through the 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 incrustations wHch years Jiave 
 gathered upon the glass and dial. 
 Those who are accustomed to the 
 place, however, are ahle to rush 
 about readily. Some swing away 
 to the right, some to the left, and 
 others skip up stairs, two or three 
 at a time. As I have no particular 
 business anywhere, and am in a 
 species of Chinese puzzle, I resolve 
 to follow a gentleman who enters 
 a waiting-room on the left. In 
 this room at the further end, near 
 the fire-place, there are a great 
 many pigeon-holes, some wholly 
 and others partly filled with 
 papers. At the other end there 
 is a. low partition to keep off the 
 profane and vulgar; and a species 
 of wicket, behind which two gen- 
 tlemen sit at desks, who, it must 
 be owned, are remarkably civil, 
 and ready to furnish every item 
 of legitimate information. My 
 leader having sat down at a table, 
 and with a horrid quill-stump 
 made some memoranda, proceeds 
 to another room, into which I 
 follow him. It is full to reple- 
 tion with persons of all sizes and 
 ages, packed as closely as sticks 
 of asparagus in Covent-Grarden 
 bundles. There are about thirty 
 in number, and the sitting accom- 
 modation consists of two chairs; 
 
 one of which has been seized by 
 a small boy, and the other is 
 monopolized by some half-dozen 
 large red-morocco-covered and 
 golden-lettered books which are 
 to be used in a winding-up case, 
 expected on at the latter end of 
 the day. As I am somewhat sKm 
 and nimble, I squeeze myself into 
 the front rank, and behind an 
 oaken table I see a gentleman 
 with a pleasant countenance sit- 
 ting, holding a list before him, 
 fastened 'together with other 
 papers by a oHp. From this list 
 he reads the titles of the various 
 causes, summonses in which have 
 been taken out, returnable that 
 day. They are principally apph- 
 cations for time to answer or 
 complete evidence, and the story, 
 which might be a simple one, told 
 concisely, is rendered puzzHngly 
 intricate by the floundering of 
 youths who are entrusted with 
 this kind of work to Uok them 
 into shape; and a man of a re- 
 flective turn of mind — ^which I 
 am not — would come to the con- 
 clusion, sometimes, that if this is 
 the raw material out -of which 
 our great lawyers are made, the 
 moulding and polishing machi- 
 nery must be powerful indeed. 
 At other times, however, the 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 grounds of the application are 
 stated with, a clearness and 
 sequence of which even a Sir 
 Eichard BetheU would not be 
 ashamed. 
 
 By noon, it may be, the half- 
 past 11 o'clock summonses are 
 reached; but as, judging from ex- 
 perience elsewhere, few expected 
 them on so early, a great many are 
 unattended. The gentleman — the 
 "learned gentleman" iheStandard 
 calls him— reads the list rapidly: 
 "Smith V. Brown;" "Black v. 
 White;" " BuMle v. Beadle;" 
 " Rornet v. Wasp ;" " Oldhueh v. 
 Tounghu^band;" "Gibbet v. Ketch." 
 Nobody answers, or perhaps. only 
 one side; and the summonses, 
 therefore, stand over. Presently, 
 the gentleman reads aloud — "Re 
 The Royal Cheatingham Deposit 
 Bank, Mutual Defence, Self-Educa- 
 tion, Casualty, Sick,and Relief Fund 
 Association {Limited)" "Here !" 
 cries a voice; and quickly Mr. 
 Flight (of the firm of Highty, 
 Tighty and Flight) elbows his way 
 to the table. The red-morocco- 
 covered and golden-lettered books 
 I have before noticed, have refer- 
 ence to this case. Mr. Flight pro- 
 duces from a bag some half-dozen 
 calf-bound, orthodox-looking law 
 
 books, and a bundle of papers 
 bound together with red tape. 
 These papers he unties; and 
 having taken one in true profes- 
 sional style by-the left-hand cor-' 
 ner, he turns back a few sheets of 
 it, for the mere fun of the thing I 
 suppose, because he does not read 
 a word ; but lays the open brief 
 down upon the table before him. 
 As I am standing near, and am of 
 an inquisitive turn of mind, I cast 
 my eye upon the sheet, which I 
 find contains a copy of the pro- 
 spectus, headed by a long array of 
 Directors, amongst whom are two 
 " M. P.'s," one "Admiral," three 
 " Lieutenant Colonels," and a 
 " Eev." The Company is stated 
 to be , formed, inter alia, to pur- 
 chase the long-established and 
 flourishing business of the old 
 Cheatingham Bank for the very 
 inadequate sum of One Hundred 
 Thousand Pounds; to turn it iato 
 a limited Company, with shares 
 of Ten shillings each, ia order to 
 secure a large body of responsible 
 shareholders; to guard the un- 
 wary from plunder, and enable 
 every man and woman in the 
 world possessed of a five-pound 
 note, to open a drawing account, 
 and indulge in the luxury of sign- 
 ing cheques for the greengrocer 
 
10 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 and the taHyman ; to receive on 
 deposit sums as low as sixpence, 
 tlius benefiting the hone and sinew 
 of the nation, represented by the 
 working-classes, and maiking it 
 -quite possible to realize undoubted 
 security, together with interest 
 at the rate of twenty per cent, 
 per annum ! A little later on 
 the prospectus became luxuriantly 
 flowery; and, as I copied the pas- 
 sage,,! thought I could detect the 
 composition of the "Eev." gentle- 
 man. It ran thus : " The rock 
 on which this bank stands has 
 existed from the time when the 
 world sprang forth from chaos, 
 but it has been reserved for dis- 
 covery by this Company; and 
 though elnpires may be upheaved 
 amid the throes of revolutions, the 
 Eoyal Oheatingham Deposit Bank^ 
 Mutual Defence, SeM-Bducation, 
 Casualty, Sick, and Relief Fund 
 Association, Limited, will remain 
 steadfast, unmoved, and immove- 
 able." What " working-man " 
 could fail to come in when the 
 invitation was so grandiloquently 
 and dazzlingly worded? But 
 marvel of marvels ! The Eoyal 
 Cheatingham Bank, after a short- 
 lived career of six months, was 
 ordered by the inexorable Court 
 of Chancery to be wound-up com- 
 
 pulsorily ! So willed unrelenting 
 Fate ! 
 
 The Articles of Association, 
 which few do, but all should, read, 
 provided with a laudable self- 
 abnegation, that at no time should 
 the remuneration of the direc- 
 tors exceed £1,000 per annum 
 each, and that for the first twelve 
 months it should be as low as 
 £500. The further provision was 
 also made, that no vacancy should 
 occur in the Board except by resig- 
 nation, or the lamentable event' 
 occurring of one of the members 
 of it departing this life — ^it is 
 devoutly to be hoped, in peace.. 
 No doubt this clause was inserted 
 owing to the difficulty so often 
 experienced of finding a gentle- 
 man ready and willing to accept 
 a post which shareholders are con- 
 stantly informed is beset by crush- 
 ing responsibilities. Inestimable 
 men ! Promoters of domestic 
 peace ! Tour virtuous self-denial 
 has been cast as pearls before 
 swine ! But the " Eev." has doubt- 
 less consoled you and himself in 
 homHetics' overflowing with assur- 
 ance, that though lost in the la- 
 byrinths of history, you shall not 
 fail of your reward in the coming 
 hereafter ! Bom to blush (?) , and 
 be but little seen here, you shall 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 11 
 
 not for eveiv-no, not for ever 
 — waste your sweetness on the 
 desert air ! 
 
 Mr. FKght proceeded to say 
 that he represented the official 
 Hquidators, and that the object of 
 his present application was to ob- 
 tain a decision in a matter of some 
 perplexity. ", In investigating the 
 Company's affairs it had been 
 found that when the bank closed 
 its doors, there was a sum of six- 
 pence which had been placed on 
 deposit, standing in the name 
 of William Softhead. It had, 
 however, been claimed by John 
 Softhead, who was the father of 
 William Softhead, a minor ; and 
 the official liquidators did not 
 know what course to pursue. ' Mr. 
 Flight, who was evidently well 
 primed for the occasion, and had 
 swallowed a good deal about 
 "John Doe and Eichard Eoe," of 
 long and profitable legal memory, 
 referred to the well-known work 
 by Lark and Funnyman on bank- 
 ing, where reference was made to 
 a case, not elsewhere reported, 
 of Grumble v. Snap, in which it 
 had been held in similar circum- 
 stances, that the money might be 
 paid to the parent. But in Botch 
 V. Scotch, 2 Slowman's Eeports, 
 p. 275, Lord Stopham gave judg- 
 
 ment in a diametrically opposite 
 direction, and like conflicting de- 
 cisions are by no means rare, even 
 in these enlightened days. 
 
 At this stage the official liqui- 
 dator chimed in, and said he and 
 his colleague — there being two for 
 so important a liquidation — had 
 investigated the matter, and they 
 thought it would be desirable, in 
 order to avoid further expense, to 
 come to a compromise by the pay- 
 ment of fourpence, taking the 
 joint receipt of father and son. 
 This course, after considerable dis- 
 cussion, having been sanctioned, 
 Mr. Flight and the liquidator 
 left, followed by two clerks, who, 
 having during the discussion per- 
 formed the arduous duty of look- 
 ing on, now hurried away with 
 the books and papers; and the 
 liquidator, for the express purpose" 
 of saving expense, no doubt, tra- 
 velled first-class to Cheatingham 
 that night at the cost of the estate. 
 
 The other summonses were then 
 called on and rapidly disposed of ; 
 but in Spooney v. Zipper, a some- 
 what amusing comedy occurred. 
 A very young gentleman attended 
 it, and so -far as his statement 
 enabled me to get at anything, I 
 gathered that he wanted to adduce 
 evidence on the part of some hy- 
 
12 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCEKT. 
 
 pothetioal co-defendant, not upon 
 the record. He was asked where 
 was his locus standi. In reply, he 
 searched nervously amongst his 
 papers, and at length said, he was 
 afraid he had left it at the office 
 (a titter) ; but if the summons 
 were adjourned, he would hring 
 it on the following day, which he 
 was directed to do ; and he de- 
 ,parted, amidst the laughter of 
 those present, no doubt to en- 
 counter the jeer of his fellow 
 clerks, and commendation from his 
 principal for the sagacity whidh 
 he had displayed in such trying 
 circumstances. At four o'clock, I 
 left the room in company with a 
 benign-looking elderly gentleman, 
 wearing a white cravat, whom 
 everybody seemed to kno'w^ and 
 like to chat with. When we were 
 « outside, I asked him what room it 
 was that we had been in. He told 
 me that it was one of the Cham- 
 bers of the Master of the Eolls. I 
 could not help thinking of Mr. Ar- 
 thur Sketchley's "Mrs. Brown 
 at the Play." That imsophisti- 
 cated old lady when told by the 
 young woman that it was " Queen 
 Wictoria's own The-.a-trei" said, 
 " Then, if I was Queen Wictoria, 
 I'd have a better." I replied, 
 " Were I the Master of the Eolls, 
 
 I would have better Chambers." 
 " Yes," said the gentleman, in a 
 pleasant oily voice; " and so would 
 I. Whilst millions are squandered 5 
 in Admiralty jobs, a Snider is re- 
 fused justice, and officers of the 
 High Court of Chancery are con^ 
 demned to daily imprisonment in 
 these cribbed and cabined decs. 
 It's scandalous. Sir ! " Two or 
 three young clerk^ who heard the 
 gentleman commence his speech, 
 waited the conclusion, and joy- 
 ously chorused : * Well done, Mr. 
 Johnson, right you are!" and 
 shot down stairs to make for then- 
 several offices, where, I dare say, 
 they noted up their daily entries, 
 an^ despatched a dozen letters by 
 that evening's, post. I asked my 
 informant who the gentleman was 
 that had been attending to the 
 business ia the room we had 
 quitted, and was told that he was 
 one of the chief clerks — Mr. E. B; 
 Chuech. 
 
 II. I go to Court this morning. 
 I have passed through the opening 
 in the grim-looking, dingy, leaden- 
 ooloured, rusty, iron-bbund gates 
 that close the archway ia Chan- 
 cery Lane, and which are opened 
 occasionally to admit a coal van, 
 in order that its contents may be 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 13 
 
 emptied for the lawful use of some 
 occupajit of a third floor in the 
 Iim, and the unlawful use of his 
 laundress or charwoman. " But 
 theref it all makes good for trade," 
 she says; and, as there is no deny- 
 ing this proposition, it may he left 
 to the curious and cantankerous to 
 dispute if they please. Besides, 
 the old lady adds, there are no per- 
 quisites, not even candle ends ; 
 for when they get too short for 
 the candle-stiok, Mr. Jones sticks 
 them on the top of a halfpenny 
 and hums them down till they go 
 out without snuffing; and if, as 
 she sometimes does, she should for- 
 get to return the halfpenny, Mr. 
 Jones is sure to ask her for it. I 
 cross over and foUow a species of 
 colonnade round a low pile of 
 building, which always reminds 
 me more of a market-house than 
 anything else. I pass under a low 
 archway, there is a door on the left, 
 and I believe a name upon it ; and 
 although I have walked by it 
 thousands of times in the course 
 of my daily wanderings, I never 
 saw a living soul enter or emerge. 
 Still I imagine a human being or 
 beings must, because the outer 
 door is sometimes open and some- 
 times closed. I have been sorely 
 tempted to open the inner door 
 
 and explore the mysterious inte- 
 rior ; but I am happy to state 
 that a due sense of propriety has 
 hitherto restrained an unpardon- 
 able curiosity, the gratifying of 
 which might, for aught I know, 
 in some way or other, issue in pre- 
 cipitate retreat. I continue till I 
 reach the last door on the right, 
 near the comer where I get a good 
 view of Lincola's Inn Hall. Pre- 
 sently, a neat brougham, drawn by 
 a high-stepper, comes along at a 
 rattling pace; a liveried servant 
 leaps from the driving box, and 
 there emerges atall, well-made man 
 with finely-moulded limbs, and a, 
 good, regular countenance wearing 
 a slightly broad-brimmed hat. He 
 enters a door opened by some one 
 from within and is lost to my view. 
 I pass into the Court. There is a 
 curtain, which I presume was at 
 one time scarlet, but the bright- 
 ness of "other days is faded," 
 drawn across the southern ex- 
 tremity; and aE whago in or come 
 out must puU it or push it on one 
 side. This not unfrequently leads 
 to a species of scuffle between two 
 individuals bent on going differ- 
 ent ways in a hurry, one ia and 
 the other out, and who have, on 
 each side of the curtain, grasped 
 the other's hand, without being in- 
 
14 
 
 PEN ANO INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 timate or intending to be friendly^ 
 I observe, that in this Court, as 
 a unique luxury, you can catch a 
 glimpse of external nature as evi- 
 denced by branches of trees which 
 overhang the green-swaxd around 
 the Hall. Another speciality is 
 the profusion of oak ■wainscoting 
 lining the interior, and the castel- 
 lated carved canopy above the 
 Judge's chair. A good-natured 
 looking man isdeliberately placing 
 papers in position on a desk be- 
 low. Though it is Midsummer, 
 "he has his surtout-coat buttoned 
 closely ; but then it enables him 
 to display to greater advantage 
 that handsome full-blown Gloire 
 de Bij'on ros^ in his button-hole ; 
 and if he be without one, you may 
 be sure that there is " something 
 rotten in the state of" — ^Eoses. 
 Should you have one in your own 
 coat — lam sometimes extravagant 
 enough to pay a penny for one at 
 a seed shop at the comer of "our 
 court" — and it is of a kind of 
 which he has none, he wiU ask you 
 every particulartonceming it; its. 
 name, where it was purchased, &c., 
 &o., and win make a note of it in 
 his po'cket-book ; stating at the 
 same tirde, that he means to pro- 
 cure it, and add it to the many he 
 already possesses. He leaves you, 
 
 and passes into the Judge's privatg 
 room, soon to re-appear with his 
 usual "Hish!— Hish!" and thB 
 Judge enters the Oouxt, three-cor- 
 nered hat in hand ; walks rapidly 
 to his seat, bows, and sits down. 
 He has not a secretaire before him 
 as ^^ave the other Judges ; and he 
 alone wears small clothes, black 
 silk stockings, and gold-bucklei^r 
 polished leather shoes. During 
 the arguments of counsel, he does 
 not make notes in a book, that I 
 perceive, but sits with a sheet of 
 gold-edged paper in his left hand, 
 upon which he writes, the paper 
 resting on his knee, which serves 
 the purpose of a desk. Now that 
 that able Judge, Lord Justice 
 Knight Bruce, has departed from 
 amongst men, this Vice-Ohancellor 
 is the only Judge in tlhancery 
 who indulges in a joke. His 
 Honor occasionally does so ; and 
 I am by no means disposed to 
 believe that by so doing dignity 
 or decorum is outraged. He 
 seems always desirous to avoid 
 waste of time in arguing a pro- 
 position when he is with Counsel 
 upon it, and to be determined, so 
 far as in him lies, to prevent 
 useless and expensive litigation ; 
 and upon this subject I have often 
 heard him express himself very. 
 
PEN AND INK SKBTCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 15 
 
 strongly. He was a member of 
 ParKament for Newark, from 
 January 1846 to July 1852 ; and 
 , for Bury St. Edmunds from 1852 
 until, upon the decease of Sir 
 James Packer, lie was promoted 
 to Ms present position on the 
 Bench; and he now sits as a 
 Judge in that Court where, as a 
 youthful intellectual athlete, he 
 entered the axena with such com- 
 petitors as Pepys, Sugden, Home, 
 Enight-Bruoe, and a host of for- 
 midable combatants. By an order 
 of the Lord Chancellor, all appeals 
 from the County Court, under the 
 Equitable Jurisdiction Act, are 
 brought to him for final determi- 
 nation. He very rapidly disposes 
 of his business; and there is no 
 doubt is actively desirous to do 
 speedy, and not tardy, justice 
 between litigants. He rises at 
 three o'clock, in order to attend 
 personally to matters requiring his 
 consideration in Chambers; and 
 his last act Jor the day is a some- 
 what rapid rising from his seat, 
 saying at the same time, with a 
 slightly northern accent, to the 
 Coimsel addressing him — "Mr. 
 So and So, I will hear you to- 
 morrow, for I am obliged to go 
 to Chambers : " — Sie John 
 Stuart, Yice-Chancellor. 
 
 III. The first Counsel who ad- 
 dresses the Court is he who, before 
 the Judge entered, was- standing 
 with his arms resting upon the top 
 of the partition on the back of the 
 seat appropriatedto Queen's Coun- 
 sel, chatting and joking with the 
 juniors. OccaBionally he raised 
 one of his large pile of briefs, 
 read the title of it, put his glass 
 in his eye, looked all round the 
 Court, and found, by inquiry of 
 everybody, who was with Tn'Tn in 
 it, and who was his opponent. 
 He is rather stout; on the further 
 side of fifty I should say, but 
 youthful in appearance and man- 
 ner. I have heard it said when 
 a man talked away, giving no 
 sign that he would ever be wound 
 up, that he "could talk a horse's 
 hind leg off." Hind leg! why 
 he could talk off all four legs, 
 and make mihoe-meat of the body. 
 Only pay him so much a yard, and 
 see how soon [he wiU run out a 
 mile for you ; and the talk is not 
 a mere bag of wind, but versatile, 
 vigorous, and replete with perti- 
 nence. The same thing goes on 
 the whole day through ; for he is 
 in every case, and when Counsel on 
 the other side are speaking, he 
 manages to slip away and talk at 
 the same rate in one of the Courts 
 
16 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 of Appeal, only toretiim just when 
 lie is wanted, which he learns by 
 means of .diis clerk, who keeps up 
 a constant communication between 
 the two Courts, and telegraphs 
 the result of each journey of ob- 
 servation on slips of paper placed 
 before the speaker. With the 
 facts, figures and dates of case 
 after case, he seems to be equally 
 familiar; and as it appeal's to me 
 an utter impossibility for him to 
 read through the mass of paper 
 brought to his chambers daily, I 
 come to the conclusion that, to 
 a certain extent following the 
 example of "Mr.-Stryver," hehas 
 not only one "Sydney Carton," 
 but half a dozen. I thus con- 
 clude, because man's powers even 
 of reading have a limit, and if 
 the subject of this notice were as 
 little addicted to sleep as Argus 
 himself, he could not, as I con- 
 ceive, read the huge mass of briefs 
 and documents which in a con- 
 tinuous stream are laid upon his 
 table. I do not know that there 
 is anything peculiar in his style 
 or action. He occasionally crosses 
 his right leg over the left, and 
 brings the palm of the right hand 
 plump down upon the back of the 
 book which stands edgewise on 
 the table before him. He not 
 
 unfrequently, whilst in the same 
 position, places his eye-glass in 
 his eye, looks forward to the 
 Judge, and puts his right hand 
 behind him. Such was the Con- 
 servative, honorable member, re- 
 presenting the free, independent, 
 and enlightened electors of Wal- 
 liagf ord, but who, as one of those 
 who have been promoted duriig 
 the present Administration — it is 
 said in fulfilment of a pledge 
 given by Lord Derby when he 
 was last at the head of Her 
 Majesty's Government, is now: 
 
 — SlK ElCHAED MaLINS, ViCB 
 
 Chancellor. 
 
 rV. I have noticed a Queen's 
 Coimsel who, whilst another is in 
 possession of the Court, sits gene- , 
 rally cross-legged and slightly re- 
 cumbent in posture. He now and 
 then takes a pinch of snuff, and 
 at intervals turns his head half 
 round to make a witty remark 
 to a Counsel-behind him. There is 
 a quiet, cynical jocoseness about 
 his eyes, which are frequently 
 semi-dosed, and a snule of wag- 
 gish mirth plays round the comers 
 of the mouth. I have observed 
 him for years, and I am not sure 
 that during the whole course of 
 that time I ever saw him reading- 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCBRY. 
 
 17 
 
 lis briefs, except, o,f course, wten 
 he is addressing the Judge, and 
 it is necessary to call attention to 
 passages in the pleadiags. His 
 papers are before him, tied up 
 as they left his chambers in the 
 morning. When the Registrar 
 has called the cause which he has 
 to open, he rises very deliberately, 
 and proceeds as slowly, with the 
 right hand only at first, to untie 
 a bundle of papers, at the same 
 time, without looking at them, 
 stating the general features of 
 the case. He speaks with much 
 accuracy ; platitudes are scorned, 
 and I dare say he believes, as I 
 should think Lord "Westbury did 
 when at the bar, that it is well to 
 keep in mind the truism contained 
 in the lines : — 
 
 " Learn to speak slow ; all other graces 
 Will follow in. their proper places.'* 
 
 For solid argument, cogency and 
 clearness of reasoning,» never 
 homonymous, and variety of in- 
 formation, gathered from varied 
 and careful reading, I fancy no 
 man in the profession surpasses 
 him; and his mind, as a bookman, 
 is as highly cultivated as that of 
 any who actively follow the voca- 
 tion of a barrister. Like most 
 men of taste, I should say he was 
 an admirer of Shakspere ; at aU 
 
 events he has a quotation from 
 him who is said to rule the world 
 of intellect always ready at hand. 
 And, althoujgh they dp not often 
 take poetic licence in Chancery, 
 recently, in a light and air case, 
 in which witnesses,, after gauge 
 and measurement, had attempted 
 to prove the exact degrees of 
 light that would be obstructed 
 by a new building, the following 
 quotation from Hudibras was ex- 
 ceedingly happy. He likened 
 those witnesses to the philosopher, 
 of whom Hudibras, in Canto I., 
 
 " In Mathematics he was greater 
 Than Tyoho Brahe or Erra Pater ; 
 For he by Geometric scale, 
 ' Could take the size of pots of ale : 
 Eesolve by sines and tangents straight, 
 If bread or butter wanted weight." 
 
 In arguing a case, he never over- 
 lays it with a mass of verbiage; 
 he speaks to the point, and does 
 not suffer himself to be betrayed 
 into a wide divergence from it. 
 When,* at times, he is a little 
 earnest, and desires to lead the 
 mind of the Judge to a particular 
 view of some question, h« removes 
 his spectacles, leans slightly for- 
 ward, and holding the ends of the 
 spectacles between the finger and 
 thumb of the right hand, raps the 
 table before him with the steel 
 
18 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCERY. 
 
 rim of the glasses. He seldom 
 interrupts an adversary; and if 
 he be himself interrupted, in a 
 qliiet, gentlemanly, but telling 
 way, he administers a rebuke. 
 That he is an able m^.n is ad- 
 . mitted on all hands ; and, as an 
 able man, it is not surprising that 
 his practice if, and has for years 
 been, extensive : — Mr. Bacon, 
 Q.O. 
 
 V. The last Queen's Counsel I 
 have noticed having resumed his 
 seat, he is followed by another, 
 who, clearly, has discovered per- 
 petual motion, for he does not 
 keep in one position for two 
 seconds consecutively. There is 
 a jerkiness about his action and 
 his diction too; so much is this 
 the case as regards his movements, 
 that his robe, which should be 
 across his shoulders, is almost 
 invariably slimg at his elbows; 
 and if made to resume the shoul- 
 der, is quickly at the elbow* again. 
 He is tail, rather slight in buUd, 
 with somewhat large and bushy 
 black whiskers,, and he not unfre- 
 quently leans backward,- resting 
 his two elbows on the top of the 
 partition behind him, looking 
 bang at the Judge the while. He 
 is never at a loss for words, and 
 
 with the exception of what I have 
 termed a "jerkiness," they flow 
 away like water from a pump, 
 following the action of the sucker 
 as the handle is pUed. He is 
 fond of a good, round, Latin 
 quotation, which he gives you in 
 dashing style ; and he habitually 
 asks a question, and answers it 
 himself by saying — " Not a bit 
 of it !" To my ears, also, there 
 is a marked peculiarity in his 
 pronunciation of the word " Mes- 
 sieurs." As nearly as I can con- 
 vey it by letters, it is this — 
 " Meshyuce." Of course, it may 
 be peculiarly accurate, but that is 
 a philological inquiry upon which 
 I do not presume to enter. He 
 sometimes comes rushing into 
 Court in a hurry soon after the 
 opening of a case, nearly upsetting 
 in his haste — not hy design, for I 
 believe him to be one of the most 
 kind-hearted of men — half-a- 
 dozen barristers' boys, who are 
 oblivious to aU but the — ^to them 
 — agreeable occupation of suck- 
 ing oranges, or firing, vigorously, 
 paper marbles at each other, some 
 of which, occasionally missing 
 their mark, hit a toelanoholy 
 suitor in the eye, to the evident 
 delight of the aforesaid boys, who 
 retire to the back of the Court 
 
PEN AND INK SKETCHES IN CHANCEKT. 
 
 19 
 
 and give unrestrained vent to 
 their mutual jubilations. These 
 frequently travel beyond tlie point 
 where, in the opinion of the 
 ushers, decorum and dignity ex- 
 tend, and the result is a species of 
 Fenian raid upon a smaU. scale, 
 in which the rebels are dislodged 
 and dismissed from Her Majesty's 
 High Court of Chancery, to re- 
 turn again by stealth a few mo- 
 ments afterwards. This Counsel 
 has not the least pride, and is 
 altogether a joUy sort of fellow. 
 An on dit concerning him has 
 lately been current in the Court, 
 the accuracy of which the reader 
 may if it so please him, take the 
 pains to inquire into. He has 
 recently been returned as Mem- 
 ber of Parliament for Colchester. 
 The fable is that, during his can- 
 vass, he waited jipon an elector, 
 and gave an order for the man to 
 make bim two trunks, at the same 
 time handing his card. " Oh," 
 said the man when he had read 
 it, " I am not a trunk maker." 
 " What are you then ?" inquired 
 the candidate, "I'm an under- 
 taker," was the answer. "Very 
 well, then," said the embryo states- 
 man, "make me a coflBn instead;" 
 and he left. When he returned 
 home, as the story goes, he told 
 
 his cara sposa what he had done ; 
 and that she might expect his 
 coffin in a few days. Of course, 
 the lady refused to give so in- 
 teresting a memento mori house 
 room. "Never mind," jejoined 
 the learned gentleman, " I'll have 
 it sent to ,my chambers ; it will 
 serve as a fit receptacle for 
 Beavan's Eeports." As I have 
 said, this is a matter of gossip, 
 and no doubt is altogether void of 
 foundation. But the story has 
 gained currency; and I have 
 heard a hearty laugh over it on 
 several occasions. He is the sort 
 of man of whom you may safely 
 predicate that by this means, 
 that, or the other, he will assur- 
 edly go ahead. Indeed, to re- 
 produce Mr. Bung's expressive 
 language, he is" so constituted that 
 he must swim, and if he were to 
 " dive under one side of a barge 
 stark naked, he would come up on 
 the other with a new suit of clothes 
 on, and a ticket for soup in the 
 waistcoat pocket:" — Mk. Kaes- 
 
 LAKE, Q.C., M.P. 
 
 VI. Upon the return of the 
 Vice-Ohancellor from the mid-day 
 adjournment, a lady whom I had 
 observed placing herself in position 
 in front of the Queen's Counsel, 
 
20 
 
 PEN AND INK SKETCHES m CHANl T, 
 
 proceeds to address his Honor, 
 She is " five-and-twenty turned," 
 certainly : but upon the ground of 
 a lady's age, at a certain time of 
 life, I tread lightly. She is very 
 dark-complexioned ; her hair is — 
 or was — jet-black, and waves over 
 her forehead. Her means are no 
 doubt slender; but she is never 
 untidy, and her speech has nothing 
 of vulgarity or coarseness about 
 it. Her voice is mild in tone; 
 and although she is persistent and 
 sometimes angry, it never rises to 
 a brawling pitch. This is more 
 than can be said of some other 
 lady suitors in Chancery, who 
 from dwelliifg long upon the one 
 idea of- wrongs, or supposed 
 wrongs, inflicted upon them, have 
 gone oS the rails and apparently 
 lost their mental balance. The 
 lady holds a paper in one hand, 
 and a reticule in the other, and 
 desires to hand something 'to the 
 Judge, who, of course, declines to 
 receive it until he has heard the 
 nature of the application. As most 
 people would anticipate, the appli- 
 cation is of the most irregular kind, 
 it being in truth in the nature of 
 
 a motion, and it is hot motion day ; 
 is not made ex parte, and no notice 
 has been given to the person 
 sought to be affected by it. These 
 defects the Judge clearly points 
 out to the lady, who, howeverj 
 turns a deaf ear to all that is said 
 to her, and insists upon her right 
 to- be h§ard, until the patience of 
 Judge is entirely exhausted, and 
 he is compelled, peremptorily, to 
 order the applicant to cease talk- 
 ing, that he may proceed with 
 the regular business of the Court. 
 When this climax is reached, the 
 lady is silenced, and she leaves 
 the Court, only to repeat a like 
 fruitless attempt on a future 
 occasion : — ^Miss Frat. 
 
 Fare-well, my frienda, a short farewell, 
 On tliis first day of Easter Term. 
 
 Some other things I have to tell, 
 Wtat you have read is but the geim. 
 
 I must, indeed, have miss'd my mark, 
 If I have caus'd one moment's pain. 
 
 Soon shall be heard, if you but hark, 
 
 " The Lounger is himseU again !" 
 
 The curtain falls — once more 'twill rise ; 
 
 The play is in rehearsal now : 
 The characters you may surmise 
 
 " Exit !" I hear, and make my bow. 
 
pgal Math §nUk^th Irg §xt^uxii ^mtx, 
 
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