borated in coachee's mind by the reception of the two sovereigns which he had just secured, by claiming to himself the whole merit of the transaction, but he had hardly noticed me, ere he vociferated, "Gadzooks, your honour, if that be's not the very gentleman who coomed to ma help joost at the nick o' toime, your honour, and gammoned ould camstary like a very knowing one." Benedict was at me in a trice, and begged that I would do him the honour to drink a glass of wine with him and his bride. I readily complied, being anxious, moreover, to see whether the prize was worth the race. We entered the Bush together, and found the poor young lady in tears. She seemed frightened at the sight of a stranger, but, reassured by her lover, and pleased with his delicate and incessant attentions, the clouds that had gathered on her beautiful brow were soon dispelled, and, forgetting a father's maledictions, and the loss of her paternal home, she resigned herself modestly to the joyous impulse of the hour. I thought I should have been devoured with thanks from both the parties when I related to them the true state of the adventure on the banks of the Sark, prompted by the impulse of the moment and the perilous aspect of the chace. But for this seasonable device they must infallibly have been caught, and what would have rendered such a calamity still more dreadful, they would have been arrested at the very moment and spot where they expected to consummate their fondest hopes. Indeed, this must have happened in an earlier part of the run, had not the postillions been previously determined against such a chance. These knowing rogues are afraid of throwing discredit on the road to Gretna; and although they like the chace, they have no notion of running down the game. Besides, it almost always happens that the gallant pays most liberally, and no class of men exemplify so strikingly the omnipotence of gold. Happening to express my surprise to our postillion, a Yorkshireman, that the father was so seldom successful in recovering his child, "Dos'nt know, measter," said coachee, with a mixture of contempt for my ignorance, and indignation at the very idea of a father succeeding in such an attempt, "Dos'nt know, that yae half soovereign coold na, by no possibility in this oorld, e'er catch two whole ones?" I readily assented to the conclusiveness of his logic, and assured him that he could not have reasoned better had he been expelled Oxford for the excellence of his dialectics. I may here add, for the satisfaction of my fair readers, that I have seldom, if ever, seen so interesting a couple. The lady could not be more than seventeen, and her beau had not, he assured me, completed his twenty-fifth year. He had, however, been in the army,-saw the face of a foe for the first time at Quatre Bras and Waterloo,-and was now on half-pay. "Idle dogs worry sheep," says the Scots proverb. On the present occasion, however, I thought I could divine that the first advances had come from the lady. Nor should I be surprised, were I correct in assuming this to be the fact. A more manly and interesting figure one more likely to captivate any woman, I do not know that I have ever seen nor is there one of my female friends and acquaintance on the other side of the Solway, who, placed in similar circumstance with this charming fair one, would have been sorry to take a trip to Gretna in his company. To his bride nature has given, if not regular, at least very finely expressive features. Some of your crack-brained Edinburgh Phrenologists would have been glad to make a tour to the Bush to gaze for five minutes on her beautifully ample forehead. In Assize-week there are just two objects in Carlisle worth a moment's notice, and these are the Bench and the Bar. A few words on each of these in their order constitute all that I have yet to tell you of this trip to the capital of Cumberland. On the occasion of my late visit, Mr Justice Bailey presided in the criminal, and Mr Justice Holroyd in the civil side. The reputation of Mr Justice Bailey is, at this moment, higher than that of any other judge on the bench. I have heard that he was disappointed at not being selected as the successor of Ellenborough, and they have certainly promoted an inferior man. But however unjust the dispensers of patronage may have been to Mr Justice Bailey, I am not equally sure that the country has rea son to regret this act, to say the least, of most unpardonable omission. No thing can be more becoming a judge than the physiognomy of Mr Justice Bailey;-mild, expressive, benevolent, yet firm, and commanding ;-and no countenance was ever a truer index of the indwelling mind. Ever attentive to the business in hand, he appears to have constantly before his eyes what is due to Englishmen, and English justice. In every sense of the word, he is counsel for the accused, and seizes on every fact, circumstance, or principle in law, that can possibly make in their favour, and throws it into their side of the balance. Englishmen view this noble quality in a judge with less enthusiasm than I did, accustomed as I had been, in my own country, to hear judges (with very few exceptions) acting invariably as counsel against the prisoner, and, instead of attempting to extenuate, or mitigate, gathering up, into one fearful cluster of accumulated crimination, every aggravating circumstance and incident of the case. I have often wondered if they took more pleasure in awarding the last sentence of the law, than in hearing the foreman or chancellor pronounce the (to the prisoner) joyful words, 66 NOT GUILTY." But let that pass. It is refreshing to discover mercy blended with justice, and to witness the tear stealing down the manly cheeks of him whose sense of stern duty and of humanity to the community, compels him sometimes to deliver a fellow creature over to a shameful death. The dignity of the judicial character is not impaired, nor the purity of the ermine sullied by those precious drops which prove that, in some happily constituted minds, the dry austerity of legal habits does not eradicate those finer and more elevating affections and sympathies of our nature, which form the greatest and the proudest characteristic of an ennobled humanity. I am certain I am correct in asserting that no judge ever sat on an English bench who holds so high a place in the affections of the public as Mr Justice Bailey. His conduct at York, on the trial of Henry Hunt and others, will not soon, if ever, be forgotten. On that memorable occasion, the demeanour of this excellent judge, combined with the gigantic legal knowledge which 'he displayed, formed altogether a spectacle on which the very gods might have condescended to look with pleasure and satisfaction. Think ouly of patience, that no impertinence or irregularity could disturb of kindness and equanimity, as glowing and as splendid as a summer-day without a cloud-of dignity self-sustained, and, therefore, revered and respected even by HIM whose pride and boast it would have been to have seen it, in a moment of irritation or forgetfulness, cast aside-and of that enormous legal knowledge and experience necessary to meet a case of such magnitude, novelty, interest, importance, and, I would even add, danger :-in which the very existence of the constitution, and the lives of the lieges, were involved;-and on which the eyes of all Britain, and almost all Europe, were fixed-think of these things, and you will have some notion of the difficulty of the task which was devolved on this admirable judge, and also of the manner in which the task was performed. It is not exaggeration to assert, that, on the memorable occasion above alluded to, the sublimest moral spectacle ever exhibited on an English Bench, was the WHOLE conduct of MR JUSTICE BAI LEY. Mr Justice Holroyd appears to be a mere lawyer, and his countenance lacks that graceful and bewitching expression which dwells in the looks of his brother Bailey. Notwithstanding his age and infirmities, however, he gives an undivided attention to business, possesses a clear head, and sums up with great comprehension, ability, and impartiality. As a man, I have been told that he is distinguished alike for his integrity and independence. Having said so much of the Bench on this circuit, I shall now proceed to the Bar, and shall begin with the facile princeps of English plead ers, Mr Scarlett. We have no Scarlett at the Scottish Bar; and it is, therefore, impossible to describe him either by comparison or contrast. He is admitted, on all hands, to be a most profound lawyer, and an elegant scholar. He quotes authorities and decisions as if they came to him by inspiration, and lays down the profoundest maxims of law, as if they were the veriest trifles, rendering them, by a happy art peculiar to himself, intelligible to common minds. Whether addressing judges or jury, he is equally at home. He has the manners of a finished and perfect gentleman, and the air of a man of the world; and contrives to throw round whatever he says or does the easiest and most graceful character. He appcars equal to every occasion and subject; and it may be truly said that quicquid tetigit, ornavit. He has the classics at his finger-ends, and, if not equal to Jonathan Raine in this respect, he is probably superior to most of his brother barristers. His person is stately and symmetrical, and his physiognomy almost too good for a man. These natural advantages he has turned to the best possible account, and has secured an empire at the Bar, which must be witnessed to be believed. Yet it must be confessed that he is without eloquence. He is simply profound, or simply elegant; but never rises into that elevated and sublime region, of which Henry Brougham is sole and undisputed master. In every attempt of this kind he has failed. He is as nothing to Brougham in the House of the Commons, and has no other advantage at the Bar over this great and singular man, but what he has deriv ed from his superior standing, greater experience, and more extensive prac tice. He is almost exclusively a law yer. He has obviously never dipt into philosophy, nor accustomed his mind to those extended views, and those vast conceptions, with which Brougham is so familiar. He is at present a better lawyer than Brougham, but this is the only point in which they can possibly be brought into comparison. His elegance, and clearness, and precision, in stating a case to a jury, are certainly admirable, and it would be very difficult to conceive it possible to excel him in any of these respects, or in general professional learning. His acquaintance with life and manners is obviously very extensive. Although the habits of his profession appear to have given a turn to his mind, and disinclined him to philosophical speculations, yet he is no phlegmatist, but, on the contrary, appears to have a lively perception of the graces and beauties of elegant speaking, or fine writing. In his professional career he has had great advantages. He has always been listened to with peculiar attention by the Bench, and such is his winning manner, that in ten minutes he is almost certain to carry along with him any jury. The death of Sir Samuel Romilly, as it threw into his bag a great accession of briefs, so it added greatly to his consequence and authority. Hence he is now regarded rather as a sort of Delphic oracle, than as a lawyer fee'd to make the worse appear the better reason. "Wait till we hear Mr Scarlett," is now the language of jurors, at the conclusion of an ingenious speech by an opposing counsel. It would be as well were Mr Scarlett not to show that he is sensible of these adventitious helps and advantages. It must be confessed, however, that he really does speak " as one having authority, and not as the scribes." He believes and with good reason—that the thing, as said by him, will have more effect than if it had been said by another man. Of this he sees daily examples-and we all know how readily and imperceptibly self-love may delude even the best of men. As a private character, Mr Scarlett is quite irreproachable, and as a public man, his conduct is singularly free from any stain of suspicion, or time-serving, or popularity-hunting. As to the sneer of a certain dame celebrated for a brainless head and cerulean ankles, that Mr Scarlett is not deep read, (red?) we mortally abhor the miserable pun, and boldly give a flat denial to the assertion which it would seem to countenance. The next in order at the Bar, but by far the first in point of celebrity, is Henry Brougham. I owe it to truth to confess, that I was, for a long period of my life, under the influence of strong prejudices against this illustrious man,-prejudices imbibed I hardly know how, and cast off with disdain as soon as I had an opportunity of witnessing the display of his Herculean powers. He is, take him for all and all, not merely the most wonderful, but the greatest man of his time. He combines powers apparently the most dissimilar. His capacity and versatility are truly prodigious, and are only equalled by his industry. Nature has fitted him to excel in any department of human knowledge to which he chooses to dedicate his mind. As a remarkable instance of this, I may state that he is renovated,-exhausted nature recruitknown to have made very considerable ed,—and his whole soul burning with progress in the mathematics. There the inspiration of superhuman elois, in fact, hardly a literary or scien- quence! His features also underwent tific subject with which he has not a change. His eyes resembled those grappled, not even excepting biblio- of the Sybil under the divine afflatus. graphy. His mind seems equally He seemed delivered up entirely to the formed for the minutest researches, dominion of the predominating passion and the most comprehensive and ge- which burned in his own soul, and neralised speculations. His book on which he shot, with electric rapidity Colonial Policy, and his splendid, per- and irresistibility, into the souls of severing, and, ultimately, triumphant, every one within the reach of his proefforts against the Orders in Council, digious voice. You might have heard may be referred to as examples of that the respiration of my Lord Eldon; prodigious capacity of mind which such was the death-like silence that takes in any subject, however large prevailed, while the minds of all preits dimensions: And he never rises, sent were rapt, and ruled, and moved, either in Parliament or the Courts of and elevated, and depressed, and softLaw, without indicating a knowledge ened, and inflamed, at the will of this of the minutiae of detail, which is the mighty sorcerer. How long this overwonder of every body who has hap- whelming torrent rolled, there was pened to witness his more brilliant none who could exactly tell, as there and striking displays. He is an able was none sufficiently master of himlogician, and a very close and power- self to reckon. The last-the conful reasoner. Few men are gifted cluding prayer was, however, given in with such intuitive perceptions, and such a manner as to defy description, such richness and felicity of illustra- and to leave impressions on the minds tion. Whatever subject he handles, of all who heard it, which they will he exhausts. But it is plain, that, in retain till the last moment of their writing, his attention is more intense- mortal existence. It is said that when ly directed to the matter than the Sheridan made his celebrated speech manner. His style is vigorous, but against Warren Hastings, on the Beirregular; frequently harsh and pe- gum Charge, Mr Pitt moved the house culiar, but always pointed, terse, to adjourn, as they were then in no and perspicuous. In his discursive condition to judge calmly, considerrange of mental exertion, he ap- ing the splendour and force of the appears likewise not to have neglect- peal which had been made to their ed the classics, with the best pas- feelings. And I am satisfied that, sages of which I should suppose him had the votes of the House of Lords to be perfectly familiar. On great been taken at that moment, with the questions of constitutional law, too, exception of the thorough-going miand on the abstract principles of juris- nisterial hacks, the Queen would have prudence, who has thought so pro- been unanimously acquitted by the foundly, or written so learnedly? His independent aristocracy of England!! very labours on the Education Com- With these recollections it was at once mittee, and otherwise on the great an amusing and melancholy contrast, subject of educating the poor, would to see the late Queen's late Attorneyhave served to immortalize an inferior General stript of his silk gown, and man: To Brougham they were a mere engaged in causes of no possible varelaxation-a divertisement where he lue or interest, except to the parties unbent his mind, oppressed with still concerned. I must, however, notice weightier concerns, (if, indeed, any one case, tried before Mr Justice can be so,) and where he allowed it to Holroyd, and reported in the Times recover its wonted tone and elasticity. of September 6; I mean that of Sarah But it was on the Queen's trial that, Thompson v. E. Blamire, for breach by the consent of all parties, he shone of promise of marriage. Mr Broughout with full splendour, and in all the am was counsel for the plaintiff, and greatness of his strength. A speech kept the court in convulsions of laughof three days! Yes, a speech of three ter for an hour and a half. Never days' length he delivered, and yet, was poor sinner rendered so unmerciwhen he came to the peroration, Good fully ridiculous as Blamire, the God! how did his energies seem to be treacherous lover of the forsaken and But what will probably surprise our readers more than all is, that amidst this incessant business hubbub,—ımidst the eternal intrusions of Attorneys and Clients and spending from nine in the morning till six, seven, and eight, at night in the Courts broken-hearted Sarah. Judge, Jury, Bar, Ladies, Gentlemen, and the “ swinish multitude,” were all equally acted on by the irresistible drollery and comic humour of this most wonderful man. I noticed even Jonathan Raine enjoying the fun with all his might, notwithstanding that the immense popularity of Brougham in the four great Northern Counties has robbed him of his usual share of the briefs-an offence which a less generous men would not have readily forgiven. The judge summed up in favour of the defendant, but such was the impression made on the jury, by the opening speech of the plaintiff's counsel, (Mr Brougham,) that, without retiring from the box, they found a verdict for the plaintiff, damages L. 100. To give my readers a better idea of what must have been the ef fect of Mr Brougham's eloquence, it is necessary to add that, from the relative circumstances of the parties, there can be little doubt that young Blamire was considered a good speculation by the father of the plaintiff, who had encouraged his addresses to his daughter, without apprising the young man's relatives of the state of his affections, and the decisive step which he proposed taking. The death of the Queen has placed Mr Brougham in a curious and very awkward situation. He has of course lost his silk gown, and cannot now lead his seniors at the bar, as he could have done had he still retained his office; while, on the other hand, a man of his great (I had almost said unequalled) reputation cannot submit to be led in a cause, by men who possess no advantage over him, but in years and knowledge of the minutiae of forms. In all great causes he must, therefore, rely on his own undivided exertions, I believe his clients have had no reason to regret this, although, at the same time, I have had occasion to know that, from the great numbers of briefs put into his hands, no constitution but his own, which seems to be of iron, or stronger, could undergo the labour to which this has subjected him. On the present Assizes Scarlett and he have swept off all the briefs, so that he has to contend with Scarlett's ready and extensive legal knowledge and great experience, which, at the bar, supplies the place of genius, talent, every thing. his literary labours have suffered little or no interruption; and he has even found time, if I am correctly informed, to transmit very ingenious and profound articles to that celebrated Journal of which he has always been one of the most steady, able, and indefatigable supporters. Indeed, I have heard it asserted, and I am inclined to believe it, that even during the most critical and feverish moments of the Queen's trial, when the mind of almost any other man but himself would have been distracted and oppressed with the weight of responsibility attached to the office, her Majesty's Attorney General, he was able to prepare an article for the Journal above alluded to, which displays even more than his usual learning, ingenuity, comprehension, and research. Were not these things matters of daily notoriety, and consistent with the knowledge and observation of men of veracity and honour, they might fairly be looked on as fictitious, and as got up to adorn a tale of some Admirable Crichton, rather than as descriptive of a real character, actually to be found in rerum natura, and at the very moment when I am writing probably giving his whole mind to a case of butter and hams at Appleby. The next celebrated barrister who generally attends the Northern Circuit is Mr Raine. This gentleman is eminently celebrated for four things, all good in their way; wit, acuteness, a matchless power in bamboozling a reluctant witness, and a profound knowledge of the classics. His wit he disports on all occasions, and though it is no doubt much indebted to his very original manner, imperturbable gravity, and comical eye, it is nevertheless of the sterling sort-no mere cockney trickery or cleverishness, but genuine attic salt, dealt out from an exhaustless girnal. The worst of it is, that Jonathan often spoils a capital thing by attempting to make much of it. He should avoid this. But let him do what he will, he is witty even in spite of himself, and, if he had temper, would in a little time too |
