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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10392-0.txt b/10392-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ceb08c1 --- /dev/null +++ b/10392-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12811 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10392 *** + +[Illustration: SIR HENRY HAWKINS AND "JACK." _Photo by Elliot & Fry_.] + + + + +THE + +REMINISCENCES + +OF + +SIR HENRY HAWKINS + +(BARON BRAMPTON) + +EDITED BY + +RICHARD HARRIS, K.C. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +As a preface I wish to say only a very few words--namely, that but for +the great pressure put upon me I should not have ventured to write, +or allowed to be published, any reminiscences of mine, being very +conscious that I could not offer to the public any words of my own +that would be worth the time it would occupy to read them; but the +whole merit of this volume is due to my very old friend Richard +Harris, K.C., who has already shown, by his skill and marvellously +attractive composition in reproducing my efforts in the Tichborne +case, what interest may be imparted to an otherwise very dry subject. +In that work[A] he has done me much more than justice, and for this I +thank him, with many good wishes for the success of this his new work, +and with many thanks to those of the public who may take and feel an +interest in such of my imperfect reminiscences as are here recorded. + +BRAMPTON. + +HARROGATE, _August 17, 1904_. + +[Footnote A: "Illustrations in Advocacy" (fourth edition, Stevens and +Haynes).] + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE. + + +This volume is the outcome of many conversations with Lord Brampton +and of innumerable manuscript notes from his pen. I have endeavoured, +as far as possible, to present them to the public in such a manner +that, although chronological order has not been strictly adhered to, +it has been, nevertheless, considering the innumerable events of Lord +Brampton's career, carefully observed. + +Apocryphal stories are always told of celebrated men, and of no one +more than of Sir Henry Hawkins during his career on the Bench and at +the Bar; but I venture to say that there is no doubtful story in this +volume, and, further, that there is not one which has ever been told +exactly in the same form before. Good stories, like good coin, lose +by circulation. If there should be one or two in these reminiscences +which have lost their image and superscription by much handling, I +hope that the recasting which they have undergone will give them, not +only the brightness of the original mint, but a wider circulation than +they have ever known. + +The distinguishing characteristics by which Lord Brampton's stories +may be known I have long been familiar with, and have no hesitation in +saying that one or other, some or all, may be found in every anecdote +that bears the genuine stamp. They are + +WIT, HUMOUR, PATHOS, AND TRAGEDY. + +My claims in the production of this volume are confined to its +_defects_, although Lord Brampton has been generous enough to +attribute to me a share in its merits. + +RICHARD HARRIS. + +27 FITZJOHN'S AVENUE, + +HAMPSTEAD, + +_October_ 6, 1904. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + +I. AT BEDFORD SCHOOL + +II. IN MY UNCLE'S OFFICE + +III. SECOND YEAR--THESIGER AND PLATT--MY FIRST BRIEF + +IV. AT THE OLD BAILEY IN THE OLD TIMES + +V. MR. JUSTICE MAULE + +VI. AN INCIDENT ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET + +VII. AN EPISODE AT HERTFORD QUARTER SESSIONS + +VIII. A DANGEROUS SITUATION--A CASE OF FORGETFULNESS + +IX. THE ONLY "RACER" I EVER OWNED--SAM LINTON, THE DOG-FINDER + +X. WHY I GAVE OVER CARD-PLAYING + +XI. "CODD'S PUZZLE" + +XII. GRAHAM, THE POLITE JUDGE + +XIII. GLORIOUS OLD DAYS--THE HON. BOB GRIMSTON, AND MANY +OTHERS--CHICKEN-HAZARD + +XIV. PETER RYLAND--THE REV. MR. FAKER AND THE WELSH WILL + +XV. TATTERSALL'S--BARON MARTIN, HARRY HILL, AND THE OLD FOX IN THE +YARD + +XVI. ARISING OUT OF THE "ORSINI AFFAIR" + +XVII. APPOINTED QUEEN'S COUNSEL--A SERIOUS ILLNESS--SAM LEWIS + +XVIII. THE PRIZE--FIGHT ON FRIMLEY COMMON + +XIX. SAM WARREN, THE AUTHOR OF "TEN THOUSAND A YEAR" + +XX. THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE + +XXI. THE KNEBWORTH THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS--SIR EDWARD BULWER +LYTTON--CHARLES DICKENS, CHARLES MATHEWS, MACREADY, DOUGLAS JERROLD + +XXII. CROCKFORD'S--"HOOKS AND EYES"--DOUGLAS JERROLD + +XXIII. ALDERSON, TOMKINS, AND A FREE COUNTRY--A PROBLEM IN HUMAN +NATURE + +XXIV. CHARLES MATHEWS--A HARVEST FESTIVAL AT THE VILLAGE CHURCH + +XXV. COMPENSATION--NICE CALCULATIONS IN OLD DAYS--EXPERTS--LLOYD AND I + +XXVI. ELECTION PETITIONS + +XXVII. MY CANDIDATURE FOR BARNSTAPLE + +XXVIII. THE TICHBORNE CASE + +XXIX. A VISIT TO SHEFFIELD--MRS. HAILSTONE'S DANISH BOARHOUND + +XXX. AN EXPERT IN HANDWRITING--"DO YOU KNOW JOE BROWN?" + +XXXI. APPOINTED A JUDGE--MY FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER + +XXXII. ON THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT + +XXXIII. JACK + +XXXIV. TWO TRAGEDIES + +XXXV. THE ST. NEOTS CASE + +XXXVI. A NIGHT AT NOTTINGHAM + +XXXVII. HOW I MET AN INCORRIGIBLE PUNSTER + +XXXVIII. THE TILNEY STREET OUTRAGE--"ARE YOU NOT GOING TO PUT ON THE +BLACK CAP, MY LORD?" + +XXXIX. SEVERAL SCENES + +XL. DR. LAMSON--A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY--A WILL CASE + +XLI. MR.J.L. TOOLE ON THE BENCH + +XLII. A FULL MEMBER OF THE JOCKEY CLUB + +XLIII. THE LITTLE MOUSE AND THE PRISONER--THE BRUTALITY OF OUR OLD +LAWS + +XLIV. THE LAST OF LORD CAMPBELL--WINE AND WATER--SIR THOMAS WILDE + +XLV. HOW I CROSS-EXAMINED PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON + +XLVI. THE NEW LAW ALLOWING THE ACCUSED TO GIVE EVIDENCE--THE CASE OF +DR. WALLACE, THE LAST I TRIED ON CIRCUIT + +XLVII. A FAREWELL MEMORY OF JACK + +XLVIII. OLD TURF FRIENDS + +XLIX. LEAVING THE BENCH--LORD BRAMPTON + +L. SENTENCES + +LI. CARDINAL MANNING--"OUR CHAPEL" + +APPENDIX + + + + +THE REMINISCENCES OF SIR HENRY HAWKINS. + +(NOW LORD BRAMPTON.) + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AT BEDFORD SCHOOL. + + +My father was a solicitor at Hitchin, and much esteemed in the county +of Hertford. He was also agent for many of the county families, with +whom he was in friendly intercourse. My mother was the daughter of +the respected Clerk of the Peace for Bedfordshire, a position of good +influence, which might be, and is occasionally, of great assistance +to a young man commencing his career at the Bar. To me it was of no +importance whatever. + +My father had a large family, sons and daughters, of whom only two are +living. I mention this as an explanation of my early position when +straitened circumstances compelled a most rigid economy. During no +part of my educational career, either at school or in the Inn of Court +to which I belonged, had I anything but a small allowance from my +father. My life at home is as little worth telling as that of any +other in the same social position, and I pass it by, merely stating +that, after proper preparation, I was packed off to Bedford School for +a few years. + +My life there would have been an uninteresting blank but for a little +circumstance which will presently be related. It was the custom +then at this very excellent foundation to give mainly a classical +education, and doubtless I attained a very fair proficiency in my +studies. Had I cultivated them, however, with the same assiduity as +I did many of my pursuits in after-life, I might have attained some +eminence as a professor of the dead languages, and arrived at the +dignity of one of the masters of Bedford. + +However, if I had any ambition at that time, it was not to become a +professor of dead languages, but to see what I could make of my own. +It is of no interest to any one that I had great numbers of peg-tops +and marbles, or learnt to be a pretty good swimmer in the Ouse. There +was a greater swim prepared for me in after-life, and that is the only +reason for my referring to it. + +In the year 1830 Bedford Schoolhouse occupied the whole of one side of +St. Paul's Square, which faced the High Street. From that part of the +building you commanded a view of the square and the beautiful country +around. The sleepy old bridge spanned the still more sleepy river, +over which lay the quiet road leading to the little village of +Willshampstead, and it came along through the old square where the +schoolhouse was. + +It was market day in Bedford, and there was the usual concourse of +buyers and sellers, tramps and country people in their Sunday gear; +farmers and their wives, with itinerant venders of every saleable and +unsaleable article from far and near. + +I was in the upper schoolroom with another boy, and, looking out of +the window, had an opportunity of watching all that took place for a +considerable space. There was a good deal of merriment to divert our +attention, for there were clowns and merry-andrews passing along the +highroad, with singlestick players, Punch and Judy shows, and other +public amusers. Every one knows that the smallest event in the country +will cause a good deal of excitement, even if it be so small an +occurrence as a runaway horse. + +There was, however, no runaway horse to-day; but suddenly a great +silence came over the people, and a sullen gloom that made a great +despondency in my mind without my knowing why. Public solemnity +affects even the youngest of us. At all events, it affected me. + +Presently--and deeply is the event impressed on my mind after seventy +years of a busy life, full of almost every conceivable event--I saw, +emerging from a bystreet that led from Bedford Jail, and coming along +through the square and near the window where I was standing, a common +farm cart, drawn by a horse which was led by a labouring man. As I was +above the crowd on the first floor I could see there was a layer of +straw in the cart at the bottom, and above it, tumbled into a rough +heap, as though carelessly thrown in, a quantity of the same; and I +could see also from all the surrounding circumstances, especially the +pallid faces of the crowd, that there was something sad about it all. +The horse moved slowly along, at almost a snail's pace, while behind +walked a poor, sad couple with their heads bowed down, and each with +a hand on the tail-board of the cart. They were evidently overwhelmed +with grief. + +Happily we have no such processions now; even Justice itself has been +humanized to some extent, and the law's cruel severity mitigated. The +cart contained the rude shell into which had been laid the body of +this poor man and woman's only son, _a youth of seventeen, hanged that +morning at Bedford Jail for setting fire to a stack of corn_! + +He was now being conveyed to the village of Willshampstead, six miles +from Bedford, there to be laid in the little churchyard where in his +childhood he had played. He was the son of very respectable labouring +people of Willshampstead; had been misled into committing what was +more a boyish freak than a crime, and was hanged. That was all the +authorities could do for him, and they did it. This is the remotest +and the saddest reminiscence of my life, and the only sad one I mean +to relate, if I can avoid it. + +But years afterwards, when I became a judge, this picture, +photographed on my mind as it was, gave me many a lesson which I +believe was turned to good account on the judicial bench. It was +mainly useful in impressing on my mind the great consideration of the +surrounding circumstances of every crime, the _degree_ of guilt in +the criminal, and the difference in the degrees of the same kind of +offence. About this I shall say something hereafter. + +I remained at this school until I had acquired all the learning my +father thought necessary for my future position, as he intended it to +be, and much more than I thought necessary, unless I was to get my +living by teaching Latin and Greek. + +In due course I was articled to my worthy uncle, the Clerk of the +Peace, and, had I possessed my present experience, should have known +that it was a diplomatic move of the most profound policy to enable +me, if anything happened to him, to succeed to that important dignity. + +Had I been ambitious of wealth, there were other offices which my +uncle held, to the great satisfaction of the county as well as his +own. These would naturally descend to me, and I should have been in a +position of great prominence in the county, with a very respectable +income. + +But I hated the drudgery of an attorney's office. In six months I saw +enough of its documentary evidence to convince me that I hated it +from my heart, and that nothing on earth would induce me to become a +solicitor. I took good care, meek as I was, to show this determination +to my friends. It was my only chance of escape. But while remaining +there it was my duty to work, however hateful the task, and I did so. + +Even this, to me, most odious business had its advantages in +after-life. I attended one morning with my uncle the Petty Sessions of +Hertford, where, no doubt, I was supposed to enlarge my knowledge +of sessions practice; it certainly did so, for I knew nothing, and +received a lesson, which is not only my earliest recollection, but my +first experience in _Advocacy_. + +At this Hertford Petty Sessional Division the chairman was a somewhat +pompous clergyman, but very devoted to his duties. He was strict in +his application of the law when he knew it, but it was fortunate for +some delinquents, although unfortunate for others, that he did not +always possess sufficient knowledge to act independently of his +clerk's opinion, while the clerk's opinion did not always depend upon +his knowledge of law. + +An impudent vagabond was brought up before this clergyman charged with +a violent and unprovoked assault on a man in a public-house. He was +said to have gone into the room where the prosecutor was, and to have +taken up his jug of ale and appropriated the contents to his own use +without the owner's consent. The prosecutor, annoyed at the outrage, +rose, and was immediately knocked down by the interloper, and in +falling cut his head. + +There was to my untutored mind no defence, but the accused was a +man of remarkable cunning and not a little ingenuity. He knew the +magistrate well, and his special weakness, which was vanity. By his +knowledge the man completely outwitted his adversary, and shifted the +charge from himself on to the prosecutor's shoulders. The curious +thing was he cross-examined the reverend chairman instead of the +witness, which I thought a master-stroke of policy, if not advocacy. + +"You know this public-house, sir?" he asked. + +The reverend gentleman nodded. + +"I put it to yourself, sir, as a gentleman: how would you have liked +it if another man had come to your house and drunk your beer?" + +There was no necessity to give an answer to this question. It answered +itself. The reverend gentleman would not have liked it, and, seeing +this, the accused continued,-- + +"Well, your honour, this here man comes and takes my beer. + +"'Halloa, Jack!' I ses, 'no more o' that.' + +"'No,' he says, 'there's no more; it's all gone.' + +"'Stop a bit," says I; 'that wun't do, nuther.' + +"'That wun't do?' he says. 'Wool that do?' and he ups with the jug and +hits me a smack in the mouth, and down I goes clean on the floor; he +then falls atop of me and right on the pot he held in his hand, which +broke with his fall, bein' a earthenware jug, and cuts his head, and +'Sarve him right,' I hopes your honour'll say; and the proof of which +statement is, sir, that there's the cut o' that jug on his forehead +plainly visible for anybody to see at this present moment. Now, sir, +what next? for there's summat else. + +"'Jack,' says I, 'I'll summon you for this assault.' + +"'Yes,' he says, 'and so'll I; I'll have ee afore his Worship Mr. +Knox.' + +"'Afore his Worship Mr. Knox?' says I. 'And why not afore his Worship +the Rev. Mr. Hull? He's the gentleman for my money--a real gentleman +as'll hear reason, and do justice atween man and man.' + +"'What!' says Jack, with an oath that I ain't going to repeat afore a +clergyman--'what!' he says, 'a d--d old dromedary like that!' + +"'Dromedary, sir,' meaning your worship! Did anybody ever hear such +wile words against a clergyman, let alone a magistrate, sir? And he +then has the cheek to come here and ask you to believe him. 'Old +dromedary!' says he--' a d--d old dromedary.'" + +Mr. Hull, the reverend chairman, was naturally very indignant, +not that he minded on his own account, as he said--that was of no +consequence--but a man who could use such foul language was not to be +believed on his oath. He therefore dismissed the summons, and ordered +the prosecutor to pay the costs. + +I think both my father and uncle still nursed the idea that I was to +become the good old-fashioned county attorney, for they perpetually +rang in my ears the praises of "our Bench" and "our chairman," out +Bench being by far the biggest thing in Hertfordshire, except when a +couple of notables came down to contest the heavy-weight championship +or some other noble prize. + +For myself, I can truly say I had no ambition at this time beyond +earning my bread, for I pretty well knew I had to trust entirely to +my own exertions. The fortunate have many friends, and it is just the +fortunate who are best without them. I had none, and desired none, +if they were to advise me against my inclinations. My term being now +expired, for I loyally pursued my studies to the bitter end, my mind +was made up, ambition or no ambition, for the Bar or the Stage. + +Like most young men, I loved acting, and quite believed I would +succeed. My passion for the stage was encouraged by an old +schoolfellow of my father's when he was at Rugby, for whom I had, as a +boy, a great admiration. I forget whether in after-life I retained it, +for we drifted apart, and our divergent ways continued their course +without our meeting again. + +Any worse decision, so far as my friends were concerned, could not be +conceived. They both remonstrated solemnly, and were deeply touched +with what they saw was my impending ruin, especially the ruin of their +hopes. In vain, however, did they attempt to persuade me; my mind was +as fixed as the mind of two-and-twenty can be. Having warned me in +terms of severity, they now addressed me in the language of affection, +and asked how I could be so headstrong and foolish as to attempt the +Bar, at which it was clear that I could only succeed after working +about twenty years as a special pleader. + +They next set before me, as a terrible warning, my uncle, another +brother of my father's, who had gone to the Bar, and I will not say +never had any practice, for I believe he practised a good deal on +the Norfolk Broads, and once had a brief at sessions concerning +the irremovability of a pauper, which he conducted much to the +satisfaction of the pauper, although I believe the solicitor never +gave him another brief. + +However, our family trio could not go on for ever quarrelling, and +at last they made a compromise with me, much to my satisfaction. My +father undertook to allow me a hundred a year for five years, and +after that time it was to cease automatically, whether I sank or swam, +with this solemn proviso, however, for the soothing of his conscience: +that if I sank _my fate was to be upon my own head_! I agreed also +to that part of the business, and accepting the terms, started for +London. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN MY UNCLE'S OFFICE. + + +I ought to mention, in speaking of my ancestors, that I had a very +worthy godfather who was half-brother to my father. He was connected +with a family of great respectability at Royston, in Cambridgeshire, +and inherited from them a moderate-sized landed estate. A portion +of this property was a little farm situate at _Brampton_, in +Huntingdonshire, from which village I took the title I now enjoy. + +The farm was left, however, to my aunt for life, who lived to a good +old age, as most life-tenants do whom you expect to succeed, and I got +nothing until it was of no use to me. When I came into possession I +was making a very fair income at the Bar, and the probability is my +aunt did me, unconsciously, the greatest kindness she could in keeping +me out of it so long. + +So much for my ancestors. About the rest of them I know nothing, +except an anecdote or two. + +There was one more event in my boyhood which I will mention, +because it is historic. I assisted my father, on my little pony, in +proclaiming William IV. on his accession to the throne, and I mention +it with the more pride because, having been created a Peer of the +Realm by her late gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, I was qualified +to assist as a member of the Privy Council at the accession of his +present most gracious Majesty, and had the honour to hear him announce +himself as _King Edward of England_ by the title of _Edward the +Seventh_! + +Arrived in London, full of good advice and abundance of warnings as +to the fate that awaited me, I entered as a pupil the chambers of +a famous special pleader of that time, whose name was Frederick +Thompson. This was in the year 1841. + +I have the right to say I worked very hard there for several months, +and studied with all my might; nor was the study distasteful. I +was learning something which would be useful to me in after-life. +Moreover, being endowed with pluck and energy, I wanted to show that +my uncles--for the godfather warned me as well--and my father were +false prophets. So I gave myself up entirely to the acquisition of +knowledge, this being absolutely necessary if I was to make anything +of my future career. "Sink or swim," my father said, was the +alternative, so I was resolved to keep my head above water if +possible. + +After being at Thompson's my allotted period, I next went to Mr. +George Butt, a very able and learned man, who afterwards became a +Queen's Counsel, but never an advocate. I acquired while with him +a good deal of knowledge that was invaluable, became his favourite +pupil, and was in due course entrusted with papers of great +responsibility, so that in time it came to pass that Mr. Butt would +send off my opinions without any correction. + +These are small things to talk of now, but they were great then, and +the foundation of what, to me, were great things to come, although I +little suspected any of them at that time; and as I look back over +that long stretch of years, I have the satisfaction of feeling that I +did not enter upon my precarious career without doing my utmost to fit +myself for it. + +In those early days of the century prize-fights were very common in +England. The noble art of self-defence was patronized by the greatest +in the land. Society loved a prize-fight, and always went to see it, +as Society went to any other fashionable function. Magistrates went, +and even clerical members of that august body. As magistrates it may +have been their duty to discountenance, but as county gentlemen it was +their privilege to support, the noble champions of the art, especially +when they had their money on the event. + +The magistrates, if their presence was ever discovered, said they went +to prevent a breach of the peace, but if they were unable to effect +this laudable object, they looked on quietly so as to prevent any one +committing a breach of the peace on themselves. Their individual heads +were worth something. + +It was to one of these exhibitions of valour, between _Owen Swift_ +and _Brighton Bill_, that a reverend and sporting magistrate took my +brother John, a nice good schoolboy, in a tall hat. He thought it was +the right thing that the boy should _see the world_. I thought also +that what was good for John, as prescribed by his clerical adviser, +would not be bad for me, so I went as well. + +There was a great crowd, of course, but I kept my eye on John's tall +chimney-pot hat, knowing that while I saw that I should not lose John. + +Presently there was a stir, for Brighton Bill had landed a tremendous +blow on the cheek of Owen Swift, and while we were applauding, as is +the custom at prize-fights and public dinners, a cunning pickpocket +standing immediately behind John pushed the tall chimney-pot hat +tightly down over the boy's eyes. + +His little hands, which had been in his pockets, went up in a moment +to raise his hat, so that he might see the world, the big object he +had come to see; and immediately in went two other hands, and out came +the savings of John's life--two precious half-crowns, which he had +shown to me with great pride that very morning! When he saw the world +again the rogue had disappeared. + +The famous place for these pugilistic encounters, or one of the famous +places, was a spot called Noon's Folly, which was within a very few +miles of Royston, where the counties of Cambridge, Suffolk, Essex, +and Hertfordshire meet, or most of them. That was the scene of many a +stiff encounter; and although, of course, there were both magisterial +and police interference when the knowledge reached them that a fight +was about to take place within their particular jurisdiction, by some +singular misadventure the knowledge never reached them until their +worships were returning from the battle. All was over before any +_official_ communication was made. + + * * * * * + +I was entered of the Middle Temple on April 16, 1839, and remained +with Mr. Butt until I had kept sufficient terms to qualify me to take +out a licence to plead on my own account, which I did at the earliest +possible date. This was a great step in my career, although, of +course, the licence did not enable me to plead in court, as I was not +called to the Bar. + +If work came I should now be in a fair way to attain independence. +But the prospect was by no means flattering; it was, in fact, all but +hopeless while the position of a special pleader was not my ambition. +The lookout, in fact, was anything but encouraging from the fifth +floor of _No. 3 Elm Court_--I mean prospectively. It was a region +not inaccessible, of course, but it looked on to a landscape of +chimney-pots, not one of which was likely to attract attorneys; it was +cheap and lonely, dull and miserable--a melancholy altitude beyond the +world and its companionship. Had I been of a melancholy disposition I +might have gone mad, for hope surely never came to a fifth floor. But +there I sat day by day, week by week, and month by month, waiting for +the knock that never came, hoping for the business that might never +come. + +Hundreds of times did I listen with vain expectations to the footsteps +on the stairs below--footsteps of attorneys and clerks, messengers and +office-boys. I knew them all, and that was all I knew of them. Down +below at the bottom flight they tramped, and there they mostly +stopped. The ground floor was evidently the best for business; but +some came higher, to the first floor. That was a good position; there +were plenty of footsteps, and I could tell they were the footsteps of +clients. A few came a little higher still, and then my hopes rose +with the footsteps. Now some one had come up to the third floor: he +stopped! Alas! there was the knock, one single hard knock: it was a +junior clerk. The sound came all too soon for me, and I turned from my +own door to my little den and looked out of my window up into the sky, +from whence it seemed I might just as well expect a brief as from the +regions below. + +This was not quite true. On another occasion some bold adventurer +ascended with asthmatical energy to the _fourth floor_, and I thought +as I heard him wheeze he would never have breath enough to get down +again, and wondered if the good-natured attorneys kept these wheezy +old gentlemen out of charity. But it was rare indeed that the climber, +unless it was the rent collector, reached that floor. + +The fifth landing was too remote for the postman, for I never got +a letter--at least so it seemed; and no squirrel watching from the +topmost bough of the tallest pine could be more lonely than I. + +At last I thought a step had passed even the fourth landing, and was +approaching mine; but I would not think too fast, and damped my hopes +a little on purpose lest they should burn too brightly and too fast. I +was not mistaken: there _was_ a footstep on my landing, and I listened +for the one heavy knock. It seemed to me I waited about an hour and a +half, judging by the palpitations of my heart, and wished the man had +knocked as vigorously. But I was rewarded: the knocker fell, and as my +boy was away with the toothache, I opened the door myself. He was the +same wheezy man I had heard below some time before; and I really seem +to have liked asthmatical people ever since--except when I became a +judge and they disturbed me in court. + +"Papers!" + +That is enough to say to any one who understands the situation. You +may be sure I gave them my best attention, that they were finished +promptly, and, as I hoped, in the best style. If I had required any +additional incentive to keep me to my daily task of watching, this +would have been sufficient; but I wanted none. I knew that my whole +future depended upon it, and there I was from ten in the morning till +ten at night. + +My first fee was small, but it was the biggest fee I ever had. It was +10s. 6d. I was only a special pleader, and with some papers our fees +were even less; we only had to _draw_ pleadings, not to open them in +court--that comes after you are called to the Bar. Drawing them means +really drawing the points of the case for counsel, and opening them +means a gabbling epitome of them to the jury, which no jury in this +world ever yet understood or ever will. + +This little matter was the forerunner of others, and by little and +little I steadily went on, earning a few shillings now and a few +shillings then, but, best of all, becoming known little by little here +and there. + +I was aware that some knowledge of the world would be necessary for me +when I once got into it by way of business as an advocate, so I came +to the conclusion that it would be well to commence that branch of +study as soon as I closed the other for the day--or rather for the +night. + +I had not far to go to school, only to the Haymarket and its +delightful purlieus; and there were the best teachers to be found in +the world, and the most recondite studies. For all these I kept, as +the great politicians say, an open mind, and learned a great deal +which stood me in good stead in after-life. + +It is not necessary, I suppose, in writing these reminiscences, to +describe all I saw--at least I hope not. Manners have so changed since +that time that people who have no imagination would not believe me, +and those who have would imagine I was exaggerating. So I must skip +this portion of my youthful studies, merely saying that I saw nearly, +if not _quite_, all the life which was to be seen in London; and I am +sure I am not exaggerating when I say that that would nearly fill an +octavo volume of itself. There is so much to be seen in London, as a +dear old lady I used to drink tea with once told me. + +But she did not know more than I, for she had never seen the +night-houses, gambling hells, and other places of amusement that at +that time were open all night long, nor had she seen the ghastly faces +of the morning. I attribute my escaping the consequences of all these +allurements to the beautiful influence which my mother in early life +exercised over me, as I attribute my knowledge of them to the removal +of the restraint with which my earlier years had been curbed. + +My mother died before I came to London, but undoubtedly her influence +was with me, although I broke loose, as a matter of course, from all +paternal control. + +But I was never a "man about town." To be that you must have plenty of +money or none at all, and in either case you are an object to avoid. +I had, nevertheless, a great many pleasures that a young man from the +country can enjoy. I loved horse-racing, cricket, and the prize-ring. +It was not because pugilism was a fashionable amusement in those days +that I attended a "set-to" occasionally; I went on my own account, +not to ape people in the fashionable world, and enjoyed it on my own +account, not because they liked it, but because I did. + +My rent at this time of my entrance into the fashionable world was £12 +a year; my laundress, perhaps, a little less. She earned it by coming +up the stairs; but she was a good old soul. I remembered her long +years after, and always with gratitude for her many kindnesses in +those gloomy days. Her name was Hannem. + +Of course, I had to buy the necessary books for my professional use, +coals, and other things, and after paying all these I had to live on +the narrow margin of my £100 a year. + +This recollection is very pleasing. I never got into debt, and never +wanted; but I had to be frugal and avoid every unnecessary expense. + +But the time at last came when I was no longer to rest on my lonely +perch at the top of Elm Court. I had kept my terms, and was duly +called to the Bar of the Middle Temple on May 3, 1843. + +Just fifty years after, when I was a judge, and almost the Senior +Bencher of my Inn, our illustrious Sovereign, then Prince of Wales, +who is also a Bencher of the Middle Temple, favoured us with his +presence at dinner, and did me the honour to propose my health in a +gracious speech. On returning thanks for this kindness, I told the +crowded audience of my _jubilee_, and pointed out the spot where fifty +years before I had held my call party. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SECOND YEAR--THESIGER AND PLATT--MY FIRST BRIEF. + + +In my second year I made fifty pounds, the sweetest fifty pounds +I ever made. I had no longer any weary waiting, for there was no +weariness in it, and I confess at this time my sole idea, and I may +add my only ambition, was to relieve myself of all obligations to my +father. If I could accomplish this, I should have vindicated the step +I had taken, and my father would have no further right, whatever +reason he might think he had, to complain. + +My third year came, and then, to my great joy, finding that I was +earning more than the hundred pounds he allowed me, I wrote and +informed him, with all proper expressions of gratitude, that I should +no longer need his assistance, and from that time I never had a single +farthing that I did not earn. + +I am sure I was prouder of that than of my peerage, for I experienced +for the first time the joyous pride of independence. There is no fruit +of labour so sweet as that. + +But I no sooner began to obtain a little success than my rivals +and others tried to deprive me of the merit of it, if merit there +was--"Oh, of course his father and uncle are both solicitors in the +county;" while one of the local newspapers years after was good enough +to publish a paragraph which stated that I owed all my success to my +father's office. + +This, of course, does not need contradiction. An occasional small +brief from Hitchin was the beginning and the end of my father's +influence, while sessions practice was not the practice I hoped to +finish my career with, although I had little hopes of eminence. +Certainly if I had I should have known that eminence could not come +from Hitchin. + +I chose the Home Circuit, and did not leave it till I was made a +judge. It is impossible to forget the kindness I received from its +members throughout my whole career. There was a brotherly feeling +amongst us, which made life very pleasant. + +There were several celebrated men on the Home Circuit when I joined. +Amongst them were Thesiger and Platt. + +This was long before the former became Attorney-General, which took +place in 1858. He afterwards was Lord Chancellor, and took his title +from the little county town where probably he obtained his start in +the career which ended so brilliantly. + +Platt became a Baron of the Exchequer. + +Thesiger was a first-rate advocate, and, I need not say, was at all +times scrupulously fair. He had a high sense of honour, and was +replete with a quiet, subtle humour, which seemed to come upon you +unawares, and, like all true humour, derived no little of its pleasure +from its surprise. In addition to his abilities, Thesiger was ever +kind-hearted and gentle, especially in his manner towards juniors. I +know that he sympathized with them, and helped them whenever he had an +opportunity. It did not fall to my lot to hold many briefs with him, +but I am glad to say that I had some, because I shall not forget the +kindness and instruction I received from him. + +Platt was an advocate of a different stamp. He also was kind, and in +every way worthy of grateful remembrance. He loved to amuse especially +the junior Bar, and more particularly in court. He was a good natural +punster, and endowed with a lively wit. The circuit was never dull +when Platt was present; but there was one trait in his character as an +advocate that judges always profess to disapprove of--he loved +popular applause, and his singularly bold and curious mode of +cross-examination sometimes brought him both rebuke and hearty +laughter from the most austere of judges. + +He dealt with a witness as though the witness was putty, moulding him +into any grotesque form that suited his humour. No evidence could +preserve its original shape after Platt had done with it. He had a +coaxing manner, so much so that a witness would often be led to say +what he never intended, and what afterwards he could not believe he +had uttered. + +Thesiger, who was his constant opponent, was sometimes irritated with +Platt's manner, and on the occasion I am about to mention fairly lost +his temper. + +It was in an action for nuisance before Tindal, Chief Justice of the +Common Pleas, at Croydon Assizes. + +Thesiger was for the plaintiff, who complained of a nuisance caused by +the bad smells that emanated from a certain tank on the defendant's +premises, and called a very respectable but ignorant labouring man to +prove his case. + +The witness gave a description of the tank, not picturesque, but +doubtless true, and into this tank all kinds of refuse seem to have +been thrown, so that the vilest of foul stenches were emitted. + +Platt began his cross-examination of poor Hodge by asking him in +his most coaxing manner to describe the character and nature of the +various stenches. Had Hodge been scientific, or if he had had a little +common sense, he would have simply answered "_bad_ character and +_ill_-nature;" but he improved on this simplicity, and said,-- + +"Some on 'em smells summat _like paint_." + +This was quite sufficient for Platt. + +"Come now," said he, "that's a very sensible answer. You are aware, +as a man of undoubted intelligence, that there are various colours of +paint. Had this smell any _particular colour_, think you?" + +"Wall, I dunnow, sir." + +"Don't answer hurriedly; take your time. We only want to get at the +truth. Now, what colour do you say this smell belonged to?" + +"Wall, I don't raightly know, sir." + +"I see. But what do you say to _yellow_? Had it a yellow smell, think +you?" + +"Wall, sir, I doan't think ur wus yaller, nuther. No, sir, not quite +yaller; I think it was moore of a blue like." + +"A blue smell. We all know a blue smell when we see it." + +Of course, I need not say the laughter was going on in peals, much to +Platt's delight. Tindal was simply in an ecstasy, but did all he could +to suppress his enjoyment of the scene. + +Then Platt resumed,-- + +"You think it was more of a blue smell like? Now, let me ask you, +there are many kinds of blue smells, from the smell of a Blue Peter, +which is salt, to that of the sky, which depends upon the weather. Was +it dark, or--" + +"A kind of sky-blue, sir." + +"More like your scarf?" + +Up went Hodge's hand to see if he could feel the colour. + +"Yes," said he, "that's more like--" + +"Zummut like your scarf?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Then he was asked as to a variety of solids and liquids; and the man +shook his head, intimating that he could go a deuce of a way, but that +there were bounds even to human knowledge. + +Then Platt questioned him on less abstruse topics, and to all of his +questions he kept answering,-- + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Were fish remnants," asked Platt, "sometimes thrown into this +reservoir of filth, such as old cods' heads with goggle eyes?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"_Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +Thesiger could stand it no longer. He had been writhing while the +court had been roaring with laughter, which all the ushers in the +universe could not suppress. + +"My lord, my lord, there must be some limit even to cross-examination +by my friend. Does your lordship think it is fair to suggest a +classical quotation to a respectable but illiterate labourer?" + +Tindal, who could not keep his countenance--and no man who witnessed +the scene could--said,-- + +"It all depends, Mr. Thesiger, whether this man understands Latin." +Whereupon Platt immediately turned to the witness and said,-- + +"Now, my man, attend: _Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_. You understand +that, do you not?" + +"Yes, my lord," answered the witness, stroking his chin. + +Tindal, trying all he could to suppress his laughter, said: + +"Mr. Thesiger, the witness says he understands the quotation, and as +you have no evidence to the contrary, I do not see how I can help +you." Of course, there was a renewal of the general laughter, but +Thesiger, in his reply, turned it on Platt. + +This was my first appearance on circuit, and my first lesson from a +great advocate in the art of caricature. + + * * * * * + +No man at the Bar can forget the joy of his first brief--that +wonderful oblong packet of white papers, tied with the mysterious +pink tape, which his fourth share of the diminutive clerk brings him, +marked with the important "I gua." + +I speak not to stall-fed juniors who have not to wait till their +merits are discovered, and who know that whosoever may watch and wait +and hope or despair, they shall have enough. All blessings go with +them; I never envied them their heritage. They are born to briefs +as the sparks fly upwards. I tell my experience to those who will +understand and appreciate every word I say--to men who have to make +their way in the world by their own exertions, and live on their own +labour or die of disappointment. There is one consolation even for the +wretched waiters on solicitors' favours, and that is, that the men who +have never had to work their way seldom rise to eminence or to any +position but respectable mediocrity. They never knew hope, and will +never know what it is to despair, or to nibble the short herbage of +the common where poorer creatures browse. + +A father never looked on his firstborn with more pleasure than a +barrister on his first brief. If the Tower guns were announcing the +birth of an heir to the Throne, he would not look up to ask, "What is +that?" + +It was the turning-point of my life, for had there been no first brief +pretty soon, I should have thought my kind relations' predictions were +about to be verified. But I should never have returned home; there was +still the Stage left, on which I hoped to act my part. + +Strange to say, my first brief, like almost everything in my life, had +a little touch of humour in it. + +I was instructed to defend a man at Hertford Sessions for stealing a +wheelbarrow, and unfortunately the wheelbarrow was found on him; more +unfortunate still--for I might have made a good speech on the subject +of the _animus furandi_--the man not only told the policeman he stole +it, but pleaded "Guilty" before the magistrates. I was therefore in +the miserable condition of one doomed to failure, take what line I +pleased. There was nothing to be said by way of defence, but I learnt +a lesson never to be forgotten. + +Being a little too conscientious, I told my client, the attorney, that +in the circumstances I must return the brief, inasmuch as there was no +defence for the unhappy prisoner. + +The attorney seemed to admire my principle, and instead of taking +offence, smiled in a good-natured manner, and said it was no doubt a +difficult task he had imposed on me, and he would exchange the brief +for another. He kept his word, and by-and-by returned with a much +easier case--a prosecution where the man pleaded "Guilty." It was a +grand triumph, and I was much pleased. + +Those were early days to begin picking and choosing briefs, for no man +can do that unless he is much more wanted by clients than in want of +them; but I learned the secret in after life of a great deal of its +success. + +I was, however, a little chagrined when I saw the mistake I had made. +Rodwell was leader of the sessions, and ought to have been far above a +guinea brief; judge then of my surprise when I saw that same brief a +few minutes after accepted by that great man--the brief I had refused +because there was nothing to be said on the prisoner's behalf. My +curiosity was excited to see what Rodwell would do with it, and what +defence he would set up. It was soon gratified. He simply admitted +the prisoner's guilt, and hoped the chairman, who was Lord Salisbury, +would deal leniently with him. + +I could have done that quite as well myself, and pocketed the guinea. +From that moment I resolved never to turn a case away because it was +hopeless. + +I subjoin a copy of my first brief for the prosecution. + +It must be remembered that in those days the gallows was a very +popular institution. They punished severely even trivial offences, +and this case would have been considered a very serious one; while +a sentence of seven years' transportation was almost as good as an +acquittal. + + _Herts. + No. 10_. + Michaelmas Sessions, + 1844. + Regina + _v_. + Elizabeth Norman. + Brief for the Prosecution. + Mr. Hawkins. + I Gua. + _H. Hawkins_. + Plea--Guilty. + H.H. + Oct. 14, 1844. + Transported for 7 years. + H.H. + _Cobliam_. + Ware. + +These are my notes:-- + + _Sep_. 20. + Mr. Page. + Silk shawl. + Apprehension. + + Various accounts. + Exam. before J---- J----. + Propy found. + Mrs. Stevens,} + Mr. Johnson, } Witnesses. + +I made a rule throughout my professional life to note my cases with +the greatest care. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AT THE OLD BAILEY IN THE OLD TIMES. + + +It is a vast space to look back over sixty years of labour, and yet +there seems hardly a scene or an event of any consequence, that is not +reproduced in my mind with a vividness that astonishes me. + +In my earlier visits to her Majesty's Courts of Justice my principal +business was to study the Queen's Counsel and Serjeants, and they +were worthy the attention I bestowed on them. They all belonged to +different schools of advocacy, and some knew very little about it. + +I went to the Old Bailey, a den of infamy in those times not +conceivable now, and I verily believe that no future time will produce +its like--at least I hope not. Its associations were enough to +strike a chill of horror into you. It was the very cesspool for the +offscourings of humanity. I had no taste for criminal practice in +those days, except as a means of learning the art of advocacy. In +these cases, presided over by a judge who knows his work, the rules of +evidence are strictly observed, and you will learn more in six months +of practical advocacy than in ten years elsewhere. The Criminal Court +was the best school in which to learn your work of cross-examination +and examination-in-chief, while the Courts of Equity were probably the +worst. But I shall not dwell on my struggles in connection with +the Old Bailey at that early period of my life. What will be more +interesting, perhaps, are some curious arrangements which they had for +the conduct of business and the entertainment of the Judges. + +These are a too much neglected part of our history, and when referred +to in reminiscences are generally referred to as matters for +jocularity. They exercised, however, a serious influence on the minds +and feelings of the people, as well as their manners; more so than a +hundred subjects with which the historian or the novelist sometimes +deals. + +In all cases of unusual gravity three Judges sat together. Offences +that would now be treated as not even deserving of a day's +imprisonment in many cases were then invariably punished with death. +It was not, therefore, so much the nature of the offence as the +importance of it in the eyes of the Judges that caused three of them +to sit together and try the criminals. + +They sat till five o'clock right through, and then went to a sumptuous +dinner provided by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. They drank everybody's +health but their own, thoroughly relieved their minds from the horrors +of the court, and, having indulged in much festive wit, sometimes at +an alderman's expense, and often at their own, returned into court +in solemn procession, their gravity undisturbed by anything that had +previously taken place, and looking the picture of contentment and +virtue. + +Another dinner was provided by the Sheriffs; this was for the +Recorder, Common Serjeant, and others, who took their seats when their +lordships had arisen. + +I ought to mention one important dignitary--namely, the chaplain of +Newgate--whose fortunate position gave him the advantage over most +persons: for he _dined at both these dinners_, and assisted in the +circulation of the wit from one party to another; so that what my +Lord Chief Justice had made the table roar with at five o'clock, the +Recorder and the Common Serjeant roared with at six, and were able to +retail at their family tables at a later period of the evening. It was +in that way so many good things have come down to the present day. + +The reverend gentleman alluded to of course attended the court in +robes, and his only, but solemn, function was to say "Amen" when the +sentence of death was pronounced by the Judge. + +There were curious old stories, too, about my lords and old port at +that time which are not of my own reminiscences, and therefore I shall +do no more than mention them in order to pass on to what I heard and +saw myself. + +The first thing that struck me in the after-dinner trials was the +extreme rapidity with which the proceedings were conducted. As judges +and counsel were exhilarated, the business was proportionately +accelerated. But of all the men I had the pleasure of meeting on +these occasions, the one who gave me the best idea of rapidity in an +after-dinner case was Mirehouse. + +Let me illustrate it by a trial which I heard. Jones was the name of +the prisoner. His offence was that of picking pockets, entailing, of +course, a punishment corresponding in severity with the barbarity of +the times. It was not a plea of "Guilty," when perhaps a little more +inquiry might have been necessary; it was a case in which the prisoner +solemnly declared he was "Not Guilty," and therefore had a right to be +tried. + +The accused having "held up his hand," and the jury having solemnly +sworn to hearken to the evidence, and "to well and truly try, and true +deliverance make," etc., the witness for the prosecution climbs into +the box, which was like a pulpit, and before he has time to look round +and see where the voice comes from, he is examined as follows by the +prosecuting counsel:-- + +"I think you were walking up Ludgate Hill on Thursday, 25th, about +half-past two in the afternoon, and suddenly felt a tug at your pocket +and missed your handkerchief, which the constable now produces. Is +that it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I suppose you have nothing to ask him?" says the judge. "Next +witness." + +Constable stands up. + +"Were you following the prosecutor on the occasion when he was robbed +on Ludgate Hill? and did you see the prisoner put his hand into the +prosecutor's pocket and take this handkerchief out of it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Judge to prisoner: "Nothing to say, I suppose?" Then to the jury: +"Gentlemen, I suppose you have no doubt? I have none." + +Jury: "Guilty, my lord," as though to oblige his lordship. + +Judge to prisoner: "Jones, we have met before--we shall not meet again +for some time--seven years' transportation. Next case." + +Time: two minutes fifty-three seconds. + +Perhaps this case was a high example of expedition, because it was not +always that a learned counsel could put his questions so neatly; but +it may be taken that these after-dinner trials did not occupy on the +average more than _four minutes_ each. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MR. JUSTICE MAULE. + + +Of course, in those days there were judges of the utmost strictness +as there are now, who insisted that the rules of evidence should be +rigidly adhered to. I may mention, one, whose abilities were of a +remarkable order, and whose memory is still fresh in the minds of many +of my contemporaries--I mean Mr. Justice Maule. His asthmatic cough +was the most interesting and amusing cough I ever heard, especially +when he was saying anything more than usually humorous, which was not +infrequently. He was a man of great wit, sound sense, and a curious +humour such as I never heard in any other man. He possessed, too, a +particularly keen apprehension. To those who had any real ability +he was the most pleasant of Judges, but he had little love for +mediocrities. No man ever was endowed with a greater abhorrence of +hypocrisy. I learnt a great deal in watching him and noting his +observations. One day a very sad case was being tried. It was that of +a man for killing an infant, and it was proposed by the prosecution to +call as a witness a little brother of the murdered child. + +The boy's capacity to give evidence, however, was somewhat doubted by +the counsel for the Crown, John Clark, and it did honour to his sense +of fairness. Having asked the little boy a question or two as to +the meaning of an oath, he said he had some doubt as to whether the +witness should be admitted to give evidence, as he did not seem to +understand the nature of an oath, and the boy was otherwise deficient +in religious knowledge. + +He was asked the usual sensible questions which St. Thomas Aquinas +himself would have been puzzled to answer; and being a mere child of +seven--or at most eight--years of age, without any kind of education, +was unable to state what the exact nature of an oath was. + +Having failed in this, he was next asked what, when they died, became +of people who told lies. + +"If he knows that, it's a good deal more than I do," said Maule. + +"Attend to me," said the Crown counsel. "Do you know that it's wicked +to tell lies?" + +"Yes, sir," the boy answered. + +"I don't think," said the counsel for the prosecution, "it would be +safe to swear him, my lord; he does not seem to know anything about +religion at all.--You can stand down." + +"Stop a minute, my boy," says Maule; "let me ask you a question or +two. You have been asked about a future state--at least I presume that +was at the bottom of the gentleman's question. I should like to know +what you have been taught to believe. What will become of _you_, my +little boy, when you die, if you are so wicked as to tell a lie?" + +"_Hell fire_," answered the boy with great promptitude and boldness. + +"Right," said Maule. "Now let us go a little further. Do you mean to +say, boy, that you would go to hell fire for telling _any_ lie?" + +"_Hell fire_, sir," said the boy emphatically, as though it were +something to look forward to rather than shun. + +"Take time, my boy," said Maule; "don't answer hurriedly; think it +over. Suppose, now, you were accused of stealing an apple; how would +that be in the next world, think you?" + +"_Hell fire_, my lord!" + +"Very good indeed. Now let us suppose that you were disobedient to +your parents, or to one of them; what would happen in that case?" + +"_Hell fire_, my lord!" + +"Exactly; very good indeed. Now let me take another instance, and +suppose that you were sent for the milk in the morning, and took _just +a little sip_ while you were carrying it home; how would that be as +regards your future state?" + +"_Hell fire_!" repeated the boy. + +Upon this Clark suggested that the lad's absolute ignorance of the +nature of an oath and Divine things rendered it imprudent to call him. + +"I don't know about that," said Maule; "he seems to me to be very +sound, and most divines will tell you he is right." + +"He does not seem to be competent," said the counsel. + +"I beg your pardon," returned the judge, "I think he is a very good +little boy. He thinks that for every wilful fault he will go to hell +fire; and he is very likely while he believes that doctrine to be most +strict in his observance of truth. If you and I believed that such +would be the penalty for every act of misconduct we committed, we +should be better men than we are. Let the boy be sworn." + +On one occasion, before Maule, I had to defend a man for murder. It +was a terribly difficult case, because there was no defence except the +usual one of insanity. + +The court adjourned for lunch, and Woollet (who was my junior) and I +went to consultation. I was oppressed with the difficulty of my task, +and asked Woollet what he thought I could do. + +"Oh," said he in his sanguine way, "make a hell of a speech. You'll +pull him through all right. Let 'em have it." + +"I'll give them as much burning eloquence as I can manage," said I, +in my youthful ardour; "but what's the use of words against facts? We +must really stand by the defence of insanity; it is all that's left." + +"Call the clergyman," said Woollet; "he'll help us all he can." + +With that resolution we returned to court. I made my speech for the +defence, following Woollet's advice as nearly as practicable, and +really blazed away. I think the jury believed there was a good deal in +what I said, for they seemed a very discerning body and a good deal +inclined to logic, especially as there was a mixture of passion in it. + +We then called the clergyman of the village where the prisoner lived. +He said he had been Vicar for thirty-four years, and that up to very +recently, a few days before the murder, the prisoner had been a +regular attendant at his church. He was a married man with a wife and +two little children, one seven and the other nine. + +"Did the wife attend your ministrations, too?" asked Maule. + +"Not so regularly. Suddenly," continued the Vicar, after suppressing +his emotion, "without any apparent cause, the man became _a +Sabbath-breaker_, and absented himself from church." + +This evidence rather puzzled me, for I could not understand its +purport. Maule in the meantime was watching it with the keenest +interest and no little curiosity. He was not a great believer in the +defence of insanity--except, occasionally, that of the solicitor +who set it up--and consequently watched the Vicar with scrutinizing +intensity. + +"Have you finished with your witness, Mr. Woollet?" his lordship +inquired. + +"Yes, my lord." + +Maule then took him in hand, and after looking at him steadfastly for +about a minute, said,-- + +"You say, sir, that you have been Vicar of this parish for +_four-and-thirty years_?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"And during that time I dare say you have regularly performed the +services of the Church?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Did you have week-day services as well?" + +"Every Tuesday, my lord." + +"And did you preach your own sermons?" + +"With an occasional homily of the Church." + +"Your own sermon or discourse, with an occasional homily? And was this +poor man a regular attendant at all your services during the whole +time you have been Vicar?" + +"Until he killed his wife, my lord." + +"That follows--I mean up to the time of this Sabbath-breaking you +spoke of he regularly attended your ministrations, and then killed his +wife?" + +"Exactly, my lord." + +"Never missed the sermon, discourse, or homily of the Church, Sunday +or week-day?" + +"That is so, my lord." + +"Did you write your own sermons, may I ask?" + +"Oh yes, my lord." + +Maule carefully wrote down all that our witness said, and I began to +think the defence of insanity stood on very fair grounds, especially +when I perceived that Maule was making some arithmetical calculations. +But you never could tell by his manner which way he was going, and +therefore we had to wait for his next observation, which was to this +effect:-- + +"You have given yourself, sir, a very excellent character, and +doubtless, by your long service in the village, have richly +deserved it. You have, no doubt, also won the affection of all your +parishioners, probably that of the Bishop of your diocese, by your +incomparable devotion to your parochial duties. The result, however, +of your indefatigable exertions, so far as this unhappy man is +concerned, comes to this--" + +His lordship then turned and addressed his observations on the result +to me. + +"This gentleman, Mr. Hawkins, has written with his own pen and +preached or read with his own voice to this unhappy prisoner about +_one hundred and four Sunday sermons or discourses, with an occasional +homily, every year_." + +There was an irresistible sense of the ludicrous as Maule uttered, or +rather growled, these words in a slow enunciation and an asthmatical +tone. He paused as if wondering at the magnitude of his calculations, +and then commenced again more slowly and solemnly than before. + +"These," said he, "added to the week-day services--make--exactly +_one hundred and fifty-six sermons, discourses, and homilies for the +year_." (Then he stared at me, asking with his eyes what I thought of +it.) "These, again, being continued over a space of time, comprising, +as the reverend gentleman tells us, no less than _thirty-four years_, +give us a grand total of _five thousand three hundred and four +sermons, discourses, or homilies_ during this unhappy man's life." + +Maule's eyes were now riveted on the clergyman as though he were an +accessory to the murder. + +"Five thousand three hundred and four," he repeated, "by the same +person, however respectable and beloved as a pastor he might be, was +what few of us could have gone through unless we were endowed with as +much strength of mind as power of endurance. I was going to ask you, +sir, did the idea ever strike you when you talked of this unhappy +being suddenly leaving your ministrations and turning Sabbath-breaker, +that after thirty-four years he might want a little change? Would +it not be reasonable to suppose that the man might think he had had +enough of it?" + +"It might, my lord." + +"And would not that in your judgment, instead of showing that he was +insane, prove that he was _a very sensible man_?" + +The Vicar did not quite assent to this, and as he would not dissent +from the learned Judge, said nothing. + +"And," continued Maule, "that he was perfectly sane, although he +murdered his wife?" + +All this was very clever, not to say facetious, on the part of the +learned Judge; but as I had yet to address the jury, I was resolved to +take the other view of the effect of the Vicar's sermons, and I did +so. I worked Maule's quarry, I think, with some little effect: for +after all his most strenuous exertions to secure a conviction, the +jury believed, probably, that no man's mind could stand the ordeal; +and, further, that any doubt they might have, after seeing the two +children of the prisoner in court dressed in little black frocks, and +sobbing bitterly while I was addressing them, would be given in the +prisoner's favour, which it was. + +This incident in my life is not finished. On the same evening I was +dining at the country house of a Mr. Hardcastle, and near me sat an +old inhabitant of the village where the tragedy had been committed. + +"You made a touching speech, Mr. Hawkins," said the old inhabitant. + +"Well," I answered, "it was the best thing I could do in the +circumstances." + +"Yes," he said; "but I don't think you would have painted the little +home in such glowing colours if you had seen what I saw last week when +I was driving past the cottage. No, no; I think you'd have toned down +a bit." + +"What was it?" I asked. + +"Why," said the old inhabitant, "the little children who sobbed so +violently in court this morning, and to whom you made such pathetic +reference, were playing on an ash-heap near their cottage; and they +had a poor cat with a string round its neck, swinging backwards and +forwards, and as they did so they sang,-- + + This is the way poor daddy will go! + This is the way poor daddy will go!' + +Such, Mr. Hawkins, was their excessive grief!" + +Yes, but it got the verdict. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN INCIDENT ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET. + + +My first visit to Newmarket Heath had one or two little incidents +which may be interesting, although of no great importance. The +Newmarket of to-day is not quite the same Newmarket that it was then: +many things connected with it have changed, and, above all, its +frequenters have changed; and if "things are not what they seem," they +do not seem to me, at all events, to be what they were "in my day." + +Sixty years is a long space of time to traverse, but I do so with a +very vivid recollection of my old friend Charley Wright. + +It was on a bright October morning when we set out, and glad enough +was I to leave the courts at Westminster and the courts of the +Temple--glad enough to break loose from the thraldom of nothing to do +and get away into the beautiful country. + +Charley and I were always great friends; we had seen so much together, +especially of what is called "the world," which I use in a different +sense from that in which we were now to seek adventures. We had seen +so much of its good and evil, its lights and shades, and had so many +memories in common, that they formed the groundwork of a lasting +friendship. + +He was the only son of an almost too indulgent father, who was the +very best example of an old English gentleman of his day you could +ever meet. He also had seen a good deal of life, and was not +unfamiliar with any of its varied aspects. He was intellectual and +genial, and dispensed his hospitality with the most winning courtesy. +To me he was all kindness, and I have a grateful feeling of delight in +being able in these few words to record my affectionate reverence for +his memory. It was at his house in Pall Mall that I met John Leech and +Percival Leigh. + +But I digress as my mind goes back to these early dates, and unless +I break away, Charley and I will not reach Newmarket in time for the +first race. It happened that when we made this memorable visit I +had an uncle living at The Priory at Royston, which was some +five-and-twenty miles from Newmarket, where the big handicap, I think +the Cesarewitch, was to be run the following day, or the next--I +forget which. + +But an interesting episode interrupted our journey to the Heath. +To our surprise, and no little to our delight, there was to be an +important meeting of the "Fancy" to witness a great prize-fight +between Jack Brassy and Ben Caunt. + +Ben Caunt was the greatest prize-fighter, both in stature and bulk, as +well as in strength, I ever saw. He looked what he was--then or soon +after--the champion of the world. + +Brassy, too, was well made, and seemed every whit the man to meet +Caunt. The two, indeed, were equally well made in form and shape, and +as smooth cut as marble statues when they stripped for action. + +The advertisements had announced that the contest was to come off at, +"or as near thereto as circumstances permitted" (circumstances here +meaning the police), the village of Little Bury, near Saffron Walden. + +At the little inn of the village some of the magnates of the Ring were +to assemble on the morning of the fight for an early breakfast, +to which Charley and I had the good fortune to be invited by Jack +Brassy's second, Peter Crawley, another noted pugilist of his day. + +It was different weather from that we enjoyed in the early morning, +for the rain was now pouring down in torrents, and we had a drive of +no less than fifteen miles before us to the scene of action. Vehicles +were few, and horses fewer. Nothing was to be had for love or money, +as it seemed. But there was at last found one man who, if he had +little love for the prize-ring, had much reverence for the golden coin +that supported it. He was a Quaker. He had an old gig, and, I think, a +still older horse, both of which I hired for the journey--the Quaker, +of course, pretending that he had no idea of any meeting of the +"Fancy" whatever. Nor do I suppose he would know what that term +implied. + +If ever any man in the world did what young men are always told by +good people to do--namely, to persevere--I am sure we did, Charley and +I, with the Quaker's horse. Whether he suspected the mission on which +we were bent, or was considering the danger of such a scene to his +morals, I could not ascertain, but never did any animal show a greater +reluctance to go anywhere except to his quiet home. + +Your happiness at these great gatherings depended entirely upon the +distance or proximity of the police. If they were pretty near, the +landlord of the inn would hesitate about serving you, and if he +did, would charge a far higher price in consequence of the supposed +increased risk. He would never encourage a breach of the peace in +defiance of the county magistrates, who were the authority to renew +his licence at Brewster Sessions. So much, then, if the officers of +justice were _near_. + +If they happened to be absent--which, as I have said, occasionally +occurred when a big thing was to come off--there was then a dominant +feeling of social equality which you could never see manifested so +strongly in any other place. A gentleman would think nothing of +putting his fingers into your pockets and abstracting your money, and +if you had the hardihood to resent the intrusion, would think less of +putting his fist into your eyes. + +We were by no means certain, as I learned, that our fight would come +off after all, for it appeared the magistrates had given strict and +specific instructions to the police that no combat was to take place +in the county of Essex. Consequently the parties whose duty it was to +make preparations had fled from that respectable county and gone away +towards Six Mile Bottom, just in one of the corners of Cambridgeshire, +as if the intention was that the dons of the University should have +a look in. Constables slept more soundly in Cambridgeshire than in +Essex. Moreover, the Essex magistrates would themselves have a moral +right to witness the fight if it did not take place in their county. + +Thus we set out for the rendezvous. Charley soon discovered that +our steed was not accustomed to the whip, for instead of urging him +forward it produced the contrary effect. However, we got along by slow +degrees, and when we came up with the crowd--oh! + +Such a scene I had never witnessed in my life, nor could have +conceived it possible anywhere on this earth or anywhere out of that +abyss the full description of which you will find in "Paradise Lost." + +It was a procession of the blackguardism of all ages and of all +countries under heaven. The sexes were apparently in equal numbers and +in equal degrees of ugliness and ferocity. There were faces flat for +want of noses, and mouths ghastly for want of teeth; faces scarred, +bruised, battered into every shape but what might be called human. +There were fighting-men of every species and variety--men whose +profession it was to fight, and others whose brutal nature it was; +there were women fighters, too, more deadly and dangerous than the +men, because they added cruelty to their ferocity. Innumerable women +there were who had lost the very nature of womanhood, and whose mouths +were the mere outlet of oaths and filthy language. Their shrill +clamours deafened our ears and subdued the deep voices of the men, +whom they chaffed, reviled, shrieked at, yelled at, and swore at by +way of _fun_. + +Amidst this turbulent rabble rode several members of the peerage, and +even Ministerial supporters of the "noble art," exchanging with the +low wretches I have mentioned a word or two of chaff or an occasional +laugh at the grotesque wit and humour which are never absent from an +English crowd. + +As we approached the famous scene, to which every one was looking with +the most intense anticipation, the crowd grew almost frenzied with +expectancy, and yet the utmost good-humour prevailed. In this spirit +we arrived at Bourne Bridge, and thence to the place of encounter was +no great distance. It was a little field behind a public-house. + +Every face was now white with excitement, except the faces of the +combatants. They were firm set as iron itself. Trained to physical +endurance, they were equally so in nerve and coolness of temperament, +and could not have seemed more excited than if they were going to +dinner instead of to one of the most terrible encounters I ever +witnessed. + +To those who have never seen an exhibition of this kind it was quite +amazing to observe with what rapidity the ropes were fixed and the +ring formed; nor were the men less prompt. Into the ring they stepped +with their supporters, or seconds, and in almost an instant the +principals had shaken hands, and were facing each other in what well +might be deadly conflict. There were illustrious members of all +classes assembled there, members probably of all professions, men +who afterwards, as I know, became great in history, politics, law, +literature, and religion; for it was a very great fight, and attracted +all sorts and conditions from all places and positions. Nothing since +that fight, except Tom Sayers and the "Benicia Boy," has attracted so +goodly and so fashionable an audience and so fierce an assembly of +blackguards. + +But in the time of the latter battle the decadence of the Ring was +manifest, and was the outcome of what is doubtless an increasing +civilization. At the time of which I am now speaking the Prize Ring +was one of our fashionable sports, supported by the wealthy of all +classes, and was supposed to contribute to the manliness of our race; +consequently our distinguished warriors, as well as the members of our +most gentle professions, loved a good old-fashioned English "set-to," +and nobody, as a rule, was the worse for it, although my poor brother +Jack never recovered his half-crowns. + +We had been advised to take our cushions from the gig to sit upon, +because the straw round the ring was soddened with the heavy rains, +and I need not say we found it was a very wise precaution. The straw +had been placed round the ring for the benefit of the _élite_, who +occupied front seats. + +The fight now began, and, I must repeat, I never saw anything like it. +Both pugilists were of the heaviest fighting weights. Caunt was a real +giant, ugly as could be by the frequent batterings he had received +in the face. His head was like a bull-dog's, and so was his courage, +whilst his strength must have been that of a very Samson; but if it +was, it did not reside in his hair, for that was short and close as a +mouse's back. + +At first I thought Brassy had the best of it; he was more active, +being less ponderous, and landed some very ugly ones, cutting right +into the flesh, although Caunt did not appear to mind it in the least. +Brassy, however, did not follow up his advantage as I thought he ought +to have done, and in my opinion dreaded the enormous power and force +of his opponent in the event of his "getting home." + +With the usual fluctuations of a great battle, the contest went on +until nearly a _hundred rounds_ were fought, lasting as many minutes, +but no decisive effect was as yet observable. After this, however, +Brassy could not come up to time. The event, therefore, was declared +in Caunt's favour, and his opponent was carried off the field on a +hurdle into the public-house, where I afterwards saw him in bed. + +Thus terminated the great fight of the day, but not thus my day's +adventures. + +The sport was all that the most enthusiastic supporters of the Ring +could desire. It no doubt had its barbarous aspects, regarded from +a humanitarian point of view, but it was not so demoralizing as the +spectacle of some poor creature risking his neck in a performance +for which the spectator pays his sixpence, and the whole excitement +consists in the knowledge that the actor may be dashed to pieces +before his eyes. + +It was time now to leave the scene, so Charley and I went to look for +our gig (evidence of gentility from the time of Thurtell and Hunt's +trial for the murder of Mr. Weare). + +Alas! our respectability was gone--I mean the gig. + +In vindication of the wisdom and foresight of Charley and myself, I +should like to mention that we had entrusted that valuable evidence of +our status to the keeping of a worthy stranger dressed in an old red +jacket and a pair of corduroy trousers fastened with a wisp of hay +below the knees. + +When we arrived at the spot where he promised to wait our coming, he +was gone, the horse and gig too; nor could any inquiries ascertain +their whereabouts. + +Whether this incident was a judgment on the Quaker, as Wright +suggested, or one of the inevitable incidents attendant on a +prize-fight, I am not in a position to say; but we thought it served +the Quaker right for letting us a horse that would not go until the +gentleman in the red jacket relieved us of any further trouble on that +account. + +Mistakes are so common amongst thieves that one can never tell how the +horse got away; but if I were put on my oath, knowing the proclivities +of the animal, I should say that he was backed out of the field. + +We were now, as it seemed, the most deplorable objects in creation: +without friends and without a gig, wet through, shelterless, amidst +a crowd of drunken, loathsome outcasts of society, with only one +solitary comfort between us--a pipe, which Charley enjoyed and I +loathed. Drink is always quarrelsome or affectionate, generally the +one first and the other after. When the tears dry, oaths begin, and we +soon found that the quarrelsome stage of the company had been reached. + +Amidst all this excitement we had not forgotten that this little +matter of the prize-fight was but an incident on our journey to +Newmarket. We knew full well that our present appearance would have +found no recognition in the Mall. But we cared nothing for the Mall, +as we were not known by the fashion in the racing world; and as for +the others, we should like to avoid them in any world. + +You will wonder in these circumstances what we did. We waited where we +were through the whole of that wet afternoon, and then, on a couple of +hacks--how we obtained them I don't know; I never asked Charley, +and nothing of any importance turns upon them--we arrived at our +comfortable Royston quarters about eight o'clock, tired to death. + +We were received with a hearty welcome by my uncle, who was much +entertained with our day's adventures. He liked my description of the +fight, especially when I told him how Brassy "drew Caunt's claret," +and showed such other knowledge of the scientific practice that no one +could possibly have learnt had he not read up carefully _Bell's Life_ +for the current week. + +I am sure my uncle thought I was one of the best of nephews, and I +considered him in reality "my only uncle." Long, thought I, may he +prove to be; and yet I never borrowed a penny from him in my life. + +On the next day, fully equipped, and with all that was necessary for +our distinguished position, we set out for Newmarket Heath, even now +the glory of the racing world, not forgetting Goodwood, which is more +or less a private business and fashionable picnic. + +I shall not attempt to describe Newmarket. No one can describe, the +indescribable. I will only say it was not the Newmarket which our +later generation knows. It was then in its crude state of original +simplicity. There were no stands save "the Duke's," at the top of the +town, and one other, somewhat smaller and nearer to the present grand +stand. Those who could afford to do so rode on horseback about the +Heath; those who could not walked if they felt disposed, or sat down +on the turf--the best enjoyment of all if you are tired. We did all +three: we rode, walked, and sat down. At last, after a thoroughly +enjoyable outing, such as the Bar knows nothing of in these +respectable times, we returned to our business quarters in the Temple. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN EPISODE AT HERTFORD QUARTER SESSIONS. + + +Hearsay is not, as a rule, evidence in a court of justice. There +are one or two exceptions which I need not mention. If you want, +therefore, to say what Smith said, you cannot say it, but must call +Smith himself, and probably he will swear he never said anything of +the sort. + +The Marquis of Salisbury, in the early days that I speak of, was a +kind-hearted chairman, and would never allow the quibble of the lawyer +to stand in the way of justice to the prisoner. In those days at +sessions they were not so nice in the observances of mere forms as +they are now, and you could sometimes get in something that was not +exactly evidence, strictly speaking, in favour of a prisoner by a +side-wind, as it were, although it was not the correct thing to do. + +It happened that I was instructed to defend a man who had been +committed to Hertford Quarter Sessions on a charge of felony. The +committing magistrates having refused to let the man out on bail, an +application was made at Judges' Chambers before Mr. Baron Martin to +reverse that decision, which he did. + +"Not a rag of evidence," said the attorney's clerk when he delivered +the little brief--"not a shadder of evidence, Mr. 'Awkins. It's a +walk-over, sir." + +I knew that meant a nominal fee, but wondered how many more similes he +was going to deliver instead of the money. But to the honour of the +solicitor, I am bound to say that point was soon cleared up, and +the practice of magistrates, supposed to be in their right minds, +committing people for trial with no "shadder" of evidence against +them, it now became my duty to inquire into. I asked how he knew there +was no evidence, and whether the man bore a respectable character. + +"Oh, I was up before the Baron," he answered. ("Yes," I thought, "but +you must wake very early if you are up too soon for Baron Martin.") +"And the Baron said, as to grantin' bail, 'Certainly he should; the +magistrates had no business to commit him for trial, for there was not +a rag of a case against the man.' So you see, sir, it's a easy case, +Mr. 'Awkins; and as the man's a poor man, we can't mark much of a +fee." + +The usual complaint with quarter sessions solicitors. + +Such were my instructions. I was young in practice at that time, and +took a great deal more in--I mean in the way of credulity--than I +did in after life. Nor was I very learned in the ways of solicitors' +clerks. I knew that hearsay evidence, even in the case of a Judge's +observation, was inadmissible, and therefore what the Baron said could +not strictly be given; but I did not know how far you might go in +the country, nor what the Marquis's opinion might be of the Baron. I +therefore mentioned it to Rodwell, who, of course, was instructed for +the prosecution; he was in everything on one side or the other--never, +I believe, on both. + +This stickler for etiquette was absolutely shocked; he held up his +hands, began a declamation on the rules of evidence, and uttered so +many Pharisaical platitudes that I only escaped annihilation by a +hair's-breadth. He was always furious on etiquette. + +Much annoyed at his bumptious manner, I was resolved now, come what +would, to pay him off. I wanted to show him he was not everybody, even +at Hertford Sessions. So when the case came on and the policeman was +in the box, I rose to cross-examine him, which I did very quietly. + +"Now, policeman, I am going to ask you a question; but pray don't +answer it till you are told to do so, because my learned friend may +object to it." + +Rodwell sprang to his feet and objected at once. + +"What is the question?" asked the Marquis. "We must hear what the +question is before I can rule as to your objection, Mr. Rodwell." + +This was a good one for Mr. Rodwell, and made him colour up to his +eyebrows, especially as I looked at him and smiled. + +"The question, my lord," said I, "is a very simple one: Did not Mr. +Baron Martin say, when applied to for bail, that there was not a rag +of a case against the prisoner?" + +"This is monstrous!" said the learned stickler for forms and +ceremonies--"monstrous! Never heard of such a thing!" + +It might have been monstrous, but it gave me an excellent grievance +with the jury, even if the Marquis did not see his way to allow the +question; and a grievance is worth something, if you have no defence. + +The Marquis paid great attention to the case, especially after that +observation of the Baron's. Although he regretted that it could not be +got in as evidence, he was good enough to say I should get the benefit +of it with the jury. + +All this time there was a continuous growl from my learned friend of +"Monstrous! monstrous!"--so much so that for days after that word +kept ringing in my ears, as monotonously as a muffin bell on a Sunday +afternoon. + +But I believe he was more irritated by my subsequent conduct, for I +played round the question like one longing for forbidden fruit, and +emphasized the objection of my learned friend now and again: all very +wrong, I know now, but in the heyday of youthful ardour how many +faults we commit!" + +"Just tell me," I said to the policeman, "did the learned Judge--I +mean Mr. Baron Martin--seem to know what he was about when he let this +man out on bail?" + +"O yes, sir," said the witness, "he knowed what he was about, right +enough," stroking his chin. + +"You may rely on that," said the Marquis. "You may take that for +granted, Mr. Hawkins." + +"I thought so, my lord; there is not a judge on the Bench who can see +through a case quicker than the Baron." + +The grumbling still continued. + +"Now, then, don't answer this." + +"You have already ruled, my lord," said Rodwell. + +"This is another one," said I; "but if it's regular to keep objecting +before the prisoner's counsel has a chance of putting his question, +I sit down, my lord. I shall be allowed, probably, to address the +jury--that is, if Mr. Rodwell does not object." + +The noble Marquis, on seeing my distress, said,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, the question needs no answer from the policeman; you +will get the benefit of it for what it is worth. The jury will draw +their own conclusions from Mr. Rodwell's objections." + +As they did upon the whole case, for they acquitted, much to Mr. +Rodwell's annoyance. + +"Now," said the Marquis, "let the officer stand back. I want to ask +what the Baron really did say when he let this man out on bail." + +"My lord," answered the witness, "his lordship said as how he looked +upon the whole lot as a _gang of thieves_." + +"You've got it now," said Rodwell. + +"And so have you," said I. "You should not have objected, and then you +would have got the answer he has just given." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A DANGEROUS SITUATION--A FORGOTTEN PRISONER. + + +I had been to Paris in the summer of 18-- for a little holiday, and +was returning in the evening after some races had taken place near +that city. I had not attended them, and was, in fact, not aware that +they were being held; but I soon discovered the fact from finding +myself in the midst of the motley Crowds which always throng railway +stations on such occasions, only on this particular day they were a +little worse than usual. The race meeting had brought together the +roughs of all nations, and especially from England. As it seemed +to me, my fellow-countrymen always took the lead in this kind of +competition. + +I was endeavouring to get to the booking-office amongst the rest of +the crowd, and there was far more pushing and struggling than was at +all necessary for that purpose. Presently a burly ruffian, with a low +East End face of the slum pattern and complexion, rolled out a volley +of oaths at me. He asked where the ---- I was pushing and what game I +was up to, as though I were a professional pickpocket like himself. +He had the advantage of me in being surrounded by a gang of the most +loathsome blackguards you could imagine, while I was without a friend. +I spoke, therefore, very civilly, and said the crowd was pushing +behind and forcing me forward. The brute was annoyed at my coolness, +and irritated all the more. + +Hitherto his language had not been strong enough to frighten me, so he +improved its strength by some tremendous epithets, considerably above +proof. I think he must have enjoyed the exclusive copyright, for I +never knew his superlatives imitated. He finished the harangue by +saying that he would knock my head off if I said another word. + +To this I replied, with a look stronger than all his language, "No, +you won't." + +My look must have been strong, because the countenances of the +bystanders were subdued. + +"Why won't I, muster?" he asked. + +"For two reasons," I said: "first, because you won't try; and +secondly, because you could not if you did." + +He was somewhat tamed, and then I lifted my hat, so that he could see +my close-cropped hair, which was as short as his own, only not for the +same reason. "You don't seem to know who I am," I added, hoping he +would now take me for a member of the prize-ring. But my appearance +did not frighten him. I had nothing but my short-cropped hair to rely +on; so in self-defence I had to devise another stratagem. To frighten +him one must look the ruffian in the face, or look the ruffian that +he was. He continued to abuse me as we passed on our way to the +booking-office window, and I have no doubt he and his gang were +determined to rob me. One thing was common between us--we had no +regard for one another. I now assumed as bold a manner as I could and +a rough East End accent. "Look-ee 'ere," said I: "I know you don't +keer for me no more 'an I keers for you. I ain't afraid o' no man, and +I'll tell you what it is: it's your ignorance of who I am that makes +you bold. I know you ain't a bad un with the maulers. Let's have no +more nonsense about it here. I'll fight you on Monday week, say, for +a hundred a side in the Butts, and we'll post the money at Peter +Crawley's next Saturday. What d'ye say to that?" + +Peter Crawley, whom I have already mentioned as inviting me to +breakfast, was like a thunderclap to him. I must be somebody if I knew +Peter Crawley, and now he doubtless bethought him of my short hair. + +I must confess if the fellow had taken me at my word I should have +been in as great a funk as he was, but he did not. My challenge was +declined. + + * * * * * + +A curious incident happened once in the rural district of Saffron +Walden. It is a borough no doubt, but it always seemed to me to be too +small for any grown-up thing, and its name sounded more like a little +flower-bed than anything else. On the occasion of which I speak there +was great excitement in the place because they had got a prisoner--an +event which baffled the experience of the oldest inhabitant. + +The Recorder was an elderly barrister, full of pomp and dignity; and, +like many of his brother Recorders, had very seldom a prisoner to +try. You may therefore imagine with what stupendous importance he was +invested when he found that the rural magistrates had committed a +little boy for trial for stealing a _ball of twine_. Think of the +grand jury filing in to be "charged" by this judicial dignitary. +Imagine his charge, his well-chosen sentences in anticipation of +the one to come at the end of the sitting. Think of his eloquent +disquisition on the law of larceny! It was all there! + +After the usual proclamation against vice and immorality had been +read, and after the grand jury had duly found a true bill, the next +thing was to find the prisoner and bring him up for trial. + +We may not be sentimental, or I might have cried, "God save the +child!" as the usher said, "God save the Queen!" But "Suffer little +children to come unto Me" would not have applied to our jails in +those miserable and inhuman times. Mercy and sympathy were out of the +question when you had law and order to maintain, as well as all the +functionaries who had to contribute to their preservation. + +"Put up the prisoner!" said the Recorder in solemn and commanding +tones. + +Down into the jaws of the cavern below the dock descended the jailer +of six feet two--the only big thing about the place. He was a +resolute-looking man in full uniform, and I can almost feel the +breathless silence that pervaded the court during his absence. + +Time passed and no one appeared. When a sufficient interval had +elapsed for the stalwart jailer to have eaten his prisoner, had he +been so minded, the Recorder, looking up from behind the _Times_, +which he appeared to be reading, asked in a very stern voice why the +prisoner was not "put up." + +They did not put up the boy, but the jailer, with a blood-forsaken +face, put himself up through the hole, like a policeman coming through +a trap-door in a pantomime. + +"I beg your honour's pardon, my lord, but they have forgot to bring +him." + +"Forgot to bring him! What do you mean? Where is he?" + +"They've left him at Chelmsford, your honour." + +It seemed there was no jail at Saffron Walden, because, to the honour +of the borough be it said, they had no one to put into it; and this +small child had been committed for safe custody to Chelmsford to wait +his trial at sessions, and had been there so long that he was actually +forgotten when the day of trial came. I never heard anything more of +him; but hope his small offence was forgotten as well as himself. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE ONLY "RACER" I EVER OWNED--SAM LINTON, THE DOG-FINDER. + + +I have been often asked whether I ever owned a racer. In point of +fact, I never did, although I went as near to that honour as any man +who never arrived at it--a racer, too, who afterwards carried its +owner's colours triumphantly past the winning-post. + +The reader may have been shocked at the story I told of those poor +ill-brought-up children whose mother was murdered, from the natural +feeling that if pure innocence is not to be found in childhood, where +are we to seek it? + +I will indicate the spot in three words--_on the Turf_. + +True, you will find fraud, cunning, knavery, and robbery, but you will +find also the most unsophisticated innocence. + +I went as a spectator, a lover of sport, and a lover of horses; and +took more delight in it than I ever could in any haunt of fashionable +idleness. + +I amused myself by watching the proceedings of the betting-ring, where +there is a good deal more honesty than in many places dignified by the +name of "marts." + +But if there was no innocence on the turf, rogues could not live; they +are not cannibals--not, at all events, while they can obtain tenderer +food. And are there not commercial circles also which could not exist +without their equally innocent supporters? + +Experience may be a dear school, but its lessons are never forgotten. +A very little should go a long way, and the wisest make it go +farthest. If any one wants a picture of innocence on the turf, let me +give one of my own drawing, taken from nature. + +All my life I have loved animals, especially horses and dogs; and all +field sports, especially hunting and racing. But I went on the turf +with as much simplicity as a girl possesses at her first ball, knowing +nothing about public form or the way to calculate odds, to hedge, or +do anything but wonder at the number of fools there were in the world. +I did not know "a thing or two," like the knowing ones who lose all +they possess. Who could believe that men go about philanthropically to +inform the innocent how to "put their money on," while they carefully +avoid putting on their own? Tipsters, in short, were no part of my +racing creed. I was not so ignorant as that. I believed in a good +horse quite as much as Lord Rosebery does, and much more than I +believed in a good rider. But there were even then honest jockeys, as +well as unimpeachable owners. All you can say is, honesty is honesty +everywhere, and you will find a good deal of it on the turf, if you +know where to look for it; and its value is in proportion to its +quantity. The moment you depart a hair's-breadth from its immaculate +principle there is no medium state between that and roguery. + +However, be that as it may, I was once the owner of a pedigree +thoroughbred called Dreadnought, which was presented to me when +a colt. Dreadnought's dam Collingwood was by Muley Moloch out of +Barbelle. Dreadnought was good for nothing as a racer, and had broken +down in training. As a castaway he was offered to me, and I gladly +accepted the present. + +As he was too young to work, I sent him down to ---- Park, to be kept +till he was fit for use. He was there for a considerable time, and was +then sent back in a neglected and miserable condition. + +I rode him for some time, until one day he took me to Richmond Park, +and on going up the hill fell and cut both his knees to pieces and +mine as well. This was a sad mishap, and, of course, I could have no +further confidence in poor Dreadnought, fond of him as I was; so he +was placed under the care of a skilful veterinary surgeon, who gave +him every attention. His bill was by no means heavy, and he brought +him quite round again. + +In the course of time he acquired a respectable appearance, although +his broken knees, to say nothing of his "past," prevented his becoming +valuable so far as I was concerned. Certainly I had no expectation of +his ever going on to the turf. How could one believe that any owner +would think of entering him for a race? + +One morning my groom came to me and said, "I think, sir, I can find a +purchaser for Dreadnought, if you have no objection to selling him; +he's a gentleman, sir, who would take great care of him and give him a +good home." + +"Sell him!" said I. "Well, I should not object if he found a good +master. I cannot ride him, and he is practically useless. What price +does he seem inclined to offer?" + +"Well, he ain't made any offer, sir; but he seems a good deal took +with him and to like the look of him. Perhaps, sir, he might come and +see you. I told him that I thought a matter o' _fifteen pun_ might buy +un. I dunnow whether I did right, sir, but I told un you would never +take a farden less. I stuck to that." + +"No," said I, "certainly not, when the vet.'s bill was twelve pounds +ten--not a farthing less, James." + +When the proposed purchaser came, he said, "It's a poor horse--a very +poor horse; he wants a lot of looking after, and I shouldn't think of +buying him except for the sake of seeing what I could do with him, for +I am not fond of lumber, Mr. Hawkins--I don't care for lumber." + +It was straightforward, but I did not at the time see his depth of +feeling. He was evidently intending to buy him out of compassion, as +he had some knowledge of his ancestors. But I stuck to my fifteen +pounds hard and fast, and at last he said, "Well, Mr. Hawkins, I'll +give you all you ask, if so be you'll throw in the saddle and bridle!" + +I was tired of the negotiations, and yielded; so away went poor +Dreadnought with his saddle and bridle, never for me to look on again. +I was sorry to part with him, and the more so because his life had +been unfortunate. But I was deceived in him as well as in his new +master. From me he had concealed his merits, only to reveal them, as +is often the case with latent genius, when some accidental opportunity +offered. + +At that time Bromley in Kent was a central attraction for a great many +second-class patrons of the sporting world. I know little about the +events that were negotiated at Bromley and other small places of +the kind, but there was, as I have been informed, a good deal of +blackguardism and pickpocketing on its course and in its little +primitive streets--lucky if you came out of them with only one black +eye. They would steal the teeth out of your mouth if you did not keep +it shut and your eyes open. + +However, Bromley races came on some time after the sale of my +Dreadnought.... The next morning my groom came with a look of +astonishment that seemed to have kept him awake all night, and said,-- + +"You'll be surprised to hear, sir, that our 'oss has won a fifty-pound +prize at Bromley, and a pot of money besides in bets for his owner." + +"Won a prize!" said I. "Was it by standing on his head?" + +"Won a _race_, sir." + +"Then it must have been a walk-over." + +"Oh no, sir; he beat the cracks, beat the favourites, and took in all +the knowing ones. I always said there was something about that there +'oss, sir, that I didn't understand and nobody couldn't understand, +sir." + +I was absolutely dumbfounded, knowing very little about "favourites" +or "cracks." My groom I knew I could rely upon, for he always seemed +to be the very soul of honour. I thought at first he might have been +misled in some Bromley taproom, but afterwards found that it was all +true--he had heard it from the owner himself, in whom the public +seemed to place confidence, for they laid very long odds against +Dreadnought. + +The animal was famous, but not in that name; he had, like most honest +persons, an alias. How he achieved his victory is uncertain; one +thing, however, is certain--it must have been a startling surprise +to Dreadnought to find himself in a race at all, and still more +astonishing to find himself in front. + +"How many ran?" I asked. + +"Three, sir; two of 'em crack horses." + +At this time I took little interest in pedigrees, and knew nothing +of the "cracks," so the names of those celebrated animals which +Dreadnought had beaten are forgotten. One of them, it appeared, had +been heavily backed at 9 to 4, but Dreadnought did not seem to care +for that; he ran, not on his public form, but on his merits. My eyes +were opened at last, and the whole mystery was solved when James told +me that _all three horses belonged to the same owner_! + +From that time to this I never heard what became of Dreadnought, and +never saw the man who bought him, even in the dock. It is strange, +however, that animals so true and faithful as dogs and horses should +be instruments so perverted as to make men liars and rogues; while for +intelligence many of them could give most of us pounds and pass us +easily at the winning-post. + +Speaking of dogs reminds me of dog-stealers and _their_ ways, of which +some years ago I had a curious experience. I have told the story +before, but it has become altered, and the true one has never been +heard since. Indeed, no story is told correctly when its copyright is +infringed. + +There was a man at the time referred to known as old Sam Linton, the +most extraordinary dog-fancier who ever lived, and the most curious +thing about him was that he always fancied other people's dogs to his +own. He was a remarkable dog-_finder_, too. In these days of dogs' +homes the services of such a man as Linton are not so much in request; +but he was a home in himself, and did a great deal of good in his way +by restoring lost dogs to their owners; so that it became almost a +common question in those days, when a lady lost her pet, to ask if she +had made any inquiry of old Sam Linton. He was better than the wise +woman who indicated in some mysterious jargon where the stolen watch +might or might not be found in the distant future, for old Sam +_brought_ you the very dog on a _specified day_! The wise woman never +knew where the lost property was; old Sam did. + +I dare say he was a great blackguard, but as he has long joined the +majority, it is of no consequence. There was one thing I admired about +Sam: there was a thorough absence in him of all hypocrisy and cant. He +professed no religion whatever, but acted upon the principle that a +bargain was a bargain, and should be carried out as between man and +man. That was his idea, and as I found him true to it, I respected him +accordingly, and mention his name as one of the few genuinely honest +men I have met. + +The way I made his acquaintance was singular. I was dining with my +brother benchers at the Middle Temple Hall, when a message was brought +that a gentleman would like to see me "partickler" after dinner, if I +could give him a few minutes. + +When I came out of the hall, there was a man looking very like a +burglar. His dress, or what you should call his "get-up," is worth a +momentary glance. He had a cat-skin cap in his hand about as large +as a frying-pan, and nearly of the same colour--this he kept turning +round and round first with one hand, then with both--a pea-jacket with +large pearl buttons, corduroy breeches, a kind of moleskin waistcoat, +and blucher shoes. He impressed one in a moment as being fond of +drink. On one or two occasions I found this quality of great service +to me in matters relating to the discovery of lost dogs. Drink, no +doubt, has its advantages to those who do not drink. + +"Muster Orkins, sir," said he, "beggin' your pardon, sir, but might I +have a word with you, Muster Orkins, if it ain't a great intrusion, +sir?" + +I saw my man at once, and showed him that I understood business. + +"You are Sam Linton?" + +It took his breath away. He hadn't much, but poor old Sam did not +like to part with it. In a very husky voice, that never seemed to get +outside his mouth, he said,-- + +"_Yus, sur_; that's it, Mr. Orkins." Then he breathed, "Yer 'onner, +wot I means to say is this--" + +"What do you want, Linton? Never mind what you mean to say; I know +you'll never say it." + +"Well, Mr. Orkins, sir, ye see it is as this: you've lost a little +dorg. Well, you'll say, 'How do you know that 'ere, Sam?' 'Well, sir,' +I says, ''ow don't I know it? Ain't you bin an' offered _fourteen pun_ +for that there leetle dorg? Why, it's knowed dreckly all round Mile +End--the werry 'ome of lorst dorgs--and that there dorg, find him when +you wool, why, he ain't worth more'n _fourteen bob_, sir.' Now, 'ow +d'ye 'count for that, sir?" + +"You've seen him, then?" + +"Not I," says Sam, unmoved even by a twitch; "but I knows a party as +'as, and it ain't likely, Mr. Orkins, as you'll get 'im by orferin' +a price like that, for why? Why, it stands to reason--don't it, Mr. +Orkins?--it ain't the _dorg_ you're payin' for, but _your feelins_ as +these 'ere wagabonds is _tradin' on, Mr. Orkins_; that's where it is. +O sir, it's abominable, as I tells 'em, keepin' a gennelman's dorg." + +I was perfectly thunderstruck with the man's philosophy and good +feeling. + +"Go on, Mr. Linton." + +"Well, Mr. Orkins, they knows--damn 'em!--as your feelins ull make you +orfer more and more, for who knows that there dorg might belong _to a +lidy_, and then _her_ feelins has to be took into consideration. +I'll tell 'ee now, Mr. Orkins, how this class of wagabond works, for +wagabonds I must allow they be. Well, they meets, let's say, at a +public, and one says to another, 'I say, Bill,' he says, 'that there +dawg as you found 'longs to Lawyer Orkins; he's bloomin' fond o' +dawgs, is Lawyer Orkins, so they say, and he can pay for it.' 'Right +you are,' says Bill, 'and a d---- lawyer _shall_ pay for it. He makes +us pay when we wants him, and now we got him we'll make him pay.' So +you see, Mr. Orkins, where it is, and whereas the way to do it is to +say to these fellers--I'll just suppose, sir, I'm you and you're me, +sir; no offence, I hope--'Well, I wants the dawg back.' Well, they +says; leastways, I ses, ses I,-- + +"'Lawyer Orkins, you lost a dawg, 'ave yer?' + +"'Yes,' ses you, 'I have,' like a gennelman--excuse my imitation, +sir--' and I don't _keer a damn for the whelp_!' That's wot you orter +say. 'He's only a bloomin' mongrel.'" + +"Very good; what am I to say next, Mr. Linton?" + +"'Don't yer?' says the tother feller; 'then what the h---- are yer +looken arter him for?' + +"'Well,' you ses, Mr. Orkins, 'you can go to h----. I don't keer for +the dawg; he ain't my fancy.'" + +"A proper place for the whole lot of you, Sam." + +"But, excuse me, Mr. Orkins, sir, that's for future occasions. This +'ere present one, in orferin' fourteen pun, you've let the cat out o' +the bag, and what I could ha' done had you consulted me sooner I can't +do now; I could ha' got him for a _fi'-pun note_ at one time, but +they've worked on your feelins, and, mark my words, they'll want +_twenty pun_ as the price o' that there dawg, as sure as my name's Sam +Linton. That's all I got to say, Mr. Orkins, and I thought I'd come +and warn yer like a man--he's got into bad hands, that there dawg." + +"I am much obliged, Mr. Linton; you seem to be a +straightforward-dealing man." + +"Well, sir, I tries to act upright and downstraight; and, as I ses, +if a man only does that he ain't got nothin' to fear, 'as he, Muster +Orkins?" + +"When can I have him, Sam?" + +"Well, sir, you can have him--let me see--Monday was a week, when you +lost him; next Monday'll be another week, when I found him; that'll be +a fortnit. Suppose we ses next Tooesday week?" + +"Suppose we say to-morrow." + +"Oh!" said Sam, "then I thinks you'll be sucked in! The chances are, +Mr. Orkins, you won't see him at all. Why, sir, you don't know how +them chaps carries on their business. Would you believe it, Mr. +Orkins, a gennelman comes to me, and he ses, 'Sam,' he ses, 'I want to +find a little pet dawg as belonged to a lidy'--which was his wife, in +course--and he ses the lidy was nearly out of her mind. 'Well,' I ses, +'sir, to be 'onest with you, don't you mention that there fact to +anybody but me'--because when a lidy goes out of her mind over a lorst +dawg up goes the price, and you can't calculate bank-rate, as they +ses. The price'll go up fablous, Mr. Orkins; there's nothin' rules the +market like that there. Well, at last I agrees to do my best for the +gent, and he says, just as you might say, Mr. Orkins, just now, 'When +can she have him?' Well, I told him the time; but what a innercent +question, Mr. Orkins! 'Why not before?' says he, with a kind of a +angry voice, like yours just now, sir. 'Why, sir,' I ses, 'these +people as finds dawgs 'ave their feelins as well as losers 'as theirs, +and sometimes when they can't find the owner, they sells the animal.' +Well, they sold this gennelman's animal to a major, and the reason why +he couldn't be had for a little while was that the major, being fond +on him, and 'avin' paid a good price for the dawg, it would ha' been +cruel if he did not let him have the pleasure of him like for a few +days--or a week." + +Sam and I parted the best of friends, and, I need not say, on the best +of terms I could get. I knew him for many years after this incident, +and say to his credit that, although he was sometimes hard with +customers, he acted, from all one ever heard, strictly in accordance +with the bargain he made, whatever it might be; and what is more +singular than all, I never heard of old Sam Linton getting into +trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WHY I GAVE OVER CARD-PLAYING. + + +Like most men who are not saints, I had the natural instinct for +gambling, without any passion for it; but soon found the necessity for +suppressing my inclination for cards, lest it should interfere with my +legitimate profession. It was necessary to abandon the indulgence, or +abandon myself to its temptations. + +I owe my determination never to play again at cards to the bad luck +which befell me on a particular occasion at Ascot on the Cup Day of +the year 18--. I was at that time struggling to make my way in my +profession, and carefully storing up my little savings for the +proverbial rainy day. + +Having been previously to the Epsom summer races, and had such +extraordinary good luck, nothing but a severe reverse would have +induced me to take the step I did. Good luck is fascinating, and +invariably leads us on, with bad luck sometimes close behind. + +I went to Epsom with my dear old friend Charley Wright, and we soon +set to work in one of the booths to make something towards our +fortunes at _rouge et noir_. The booth was kept by a man who +seemed--to me, at all events--to be the soul of honour. I had no +reason to speak otherwise than well of him, for I staked a half-crown +on the black, and won two half-crowns every time, or nearly every +time. + +I thought it a most excellent game, and with less of the element of +chance or skill in it than any game I ever played. My pockets were +getting stuffed with half-crowns, so that they bulged, and caused me +to wonder if I should be allowed to leave the racecourse alive, for +there were many thieves who visited the Downs in those days. + +But my friend Charley was with me, and I knew he would be a pretty +trustworthy fellow in a row. This, however, was but a momentary +thought, for I was too much engrossed in the game and in my good luck +to dwell on possibilities. Nor did I interest myself in Charley's +proceedings, but took it for granted that a game so propitious to me +was no less so to him. He was playing with several others; who or +what they were was of no moment to me. I pursued my game quietly, and +picked up my half-crowns with great gladness and with no concern for +those who had lost them. + +Presently, however, my attention was momentarily diverted by hearing +Charley let off a most uncontrollable "D--n!" + +"What's the matter, Charley?" I asked, without lifting my head. + +"Matter!" says Charley; "rooked--that's all!" + +"Rooked! That's very extraordinary. I'm winning like anything. Look +here!" and I pointed to my pockets, which were almost bursting. + +"Yes," said he, "I see how it is: you've been winning on twos to one, +and I've been losing on threes." + +"Black's the winning colour to-day, Charley--_noir_; you should have +backed _noir_. Besides, long odds are much too risky. I am quite +content with two to one." + +Here there was a general break-up of the party, because Charley being +out of it as well as several others, it left only one, and, of course, +the keeper of the booth was not so foolish, however honourable, to pay +me two half-crowns and win only one. So there it ended. + +That night I made this game a study, and the sensible conclusion came +to me that if you would take advantage of the table you should play +for the lower stakes, because you have a better chance of winning than +those who play high. At least, that was the result of my policy; for +while those who played high were ruined, my pockets were filled, and, +by that cautious mode of playing, I was so lucky that, had there been +enough at threes to one, I could have kept on making money as long as +they had any to lose. + +I changed my half-crowns with the booth-keeper for gold, and reached +my chambers safely with the spoil. And how pleasant it was to count +it! + +It has occurred to me since that the keeper of the booth had carefully +noted my proceedings (such was my innocence), and that he made his +calculations for a future occasion. One thing he was quite sure +of--namely, that he would see me again on the first opportunity there +was of winning more half-crowns. + +It is possible that a succession of runs of luck might have put an end +to my professional career; it is certain that the opposite result put +an end to my card-playing aspirations. + +In about a fortnight, all eager for a renewal of my Epsom experience, +I went down to the Ascot meeting, taking with me not only all my +previous winnings, but my store of savings for the rainy day, and was +determined to pursue the same moderate system of cautious play. + +There was the same booth, the same little flag fluttering on the top, +and the same obliging proprietor. He recognized me at once, and looked +as if he was quite sure I would be there--as if, in fact, he had been +waiting for me. After a pleasant greeting and a few friendly words, I +thought it a little odd that a man should be so glad to meet one who +had come to fill his pockets at the booth-keeper's expense--at least, +I thought this afterwards, not at the time. He looked genuinely +pleased, and down I sat once more, quite sure that two to one would +beat three. + +The proprietor kept his eye on my play in a very thoughtful manner, +nor was it surprising that he knew his game as well as I; in fact, it +turned out that he knew it better. To this day I am unable to explain +how he manoeuvred it, how he adjusted his tactics to counteract mine; +but that something happened more than mere luck would account for was +certain, for, as often as the half-crown went on black, red was the +lucky colour. But I persevered on black because it had been my friend +at Epsom, and down went the half-crowns, to be swept up by the keeper +of the booth. I cannot even now explain how it was done. + +Intending to make a good day's work and gather a rich harvest, I +took with me every shilling I had in the world--not only my previous +winnings, but my hard-earned savings at the Bar. I began to lose, but +went on playing, in the vain hope--the worst hope of the gambler--of +retrieving what I had lost and recovering my former luck. But it was +not to be; the table was against me. I forsook my loyalty to black and +laid on red. Alas! red was no better friend. I lost again, and knew +now that all my Epsom winnings had found their way once more into the +keeper's pocket. A fortnight's loan was all I had of them. It was a +pity they had not been given to some charity. But I kept on bravely +enough, and did not despair or leave off while I had a half-crown +left. That half-crown, however, was soon raked up with the rest into +the keeper's bag. + +I was bankrupt, with nothing in my pocket but twopence and a return +ticket from Paddington. + +Hopeless and helpless, I had learnt a lesson--a lesson you can only +learn in the school of experience. + +I little thought then that the only certain winner at the gaming-table +is _the table itself_, and made up my mind as I walked alone and +disappointed through Windsor Park, on my way to the station, that I +would never touch a card again--and I never did. + +For the first time since setting out in the morning I felt hungry, and +bought a pennyworth of apples at a little stall kept by an old woman, +and a bottle of ginger-beer. Such was my frugal meal; and thus +sustained I tramped on, my return ticket being my only possession in +the world. I reached Paddington with a sorry heart, and walked to the +Temple, my good resolution my only comfort; but it was all-sufficient +for the occasion and for all time to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"CODD'S PUZZLE." + + +Having somewhat succeeded in my practice at Quarter Sessions, I +enlarged my field of adventure by attending the Old Bailey, hoping, of +course, to obtain some briefs at that court; and although I abandoned +the practice as a rule, I was, in after-life, on many occasions +retained to appear in cases which are still fresh in my memory. I was +with Edwin James, who was counsel for Mr. Bates, one of the partners +of Strahan and Sir John Dean Paul, bankers of the Strand, and who +were sentenced to fourteen years' transportation for fraudulently +misappropriating securities of their customers. I was counsel for a +young clerk to Leopold Redpath, the notorious man who was transported +for extensive forgeries upon the Great Northern Railway. The clerk was +justly acquitted by the jury. + +My recollection of this period brings back many curious defences, +which illustrate the school of advocacy in which I studied. Whether +they contributed to my future success, I do not know, but that they +afforded amusement is proved by my remembering them at all. + +Hertford and St. Albans were my chief places, my earliest attachments, +and are amongst my pleasantest memories. It seems childish to think of +them as scenes of my struggles, for when I come to look back I had +no struggles at all. I was merely practising like a cricketer at the +nets; there was nothing to struggle for except a verdict when it would +not come without some effort. + +But dear old Codd was the man to struggle. He struggled and wriggled; +tie him up as tightly as you could, you saw him fighting to get free, +as he did in the following great duck case. He was a very amiable old +barrister, a fast talker--so fast that he never stayed to pronounce +his words--and of an ingenuity that ought to have been applied to some +better purpose, such as the making of steam-engines or writing novels, +rather than defending thieves. He reminded me on this occasion of the +man in the circus who rode several horses at a time. In the case I +allude to, he set up no less than _seven defences_ to account for the +unhappy duck's finding its way into his client's pocket, and the charm +of them all was their variety. Inconsistency was not the word to apply +reproachfully. Inconsistency was Codd's merit. He was like a conjurer +who asks you to name a card, and as surely as you do so you draw it +from the pack. + +This particular duck case was known long after as "Codd's Puzzle." + +"First," says Codd, "my client bought the duck and paid for it." + +He was not the man to be afraid of being asked where. + +"Second," says Codd, "my client found it; thirdly, it had been given +to him; fourthly, it flew into his garden; fifthly, he was asleep, and +some one put it into his pocket." And so the untiring and ingenious +Codd proceeded making his case unnaturally good. + +But the strange thing was that, instead of sweeping him away with a +touch of ridicule, the young advocate argued the several defences one +after the other with great dialectical skill, so that the jury became +puzzled; and if the defence had not been so extraordinarily good, +there would have been an acquittal forthwith. + +There had been such a bewildering torrent of arguments that presently +Codd's head began to swim, and he shrugged his shoulders, meaning +thereby that it was the most puzzling case _he_ had ever had anything +to do with. + +At last it became a question whether, amidst these conflicting +accounts, there ever was any duck at all. Codd had not thought of that +till some junior suggested it, and then he was asked by the Marquis +of Salisbury, our chairman, whether there was any particular line of +defence he wished to suggest. + +"No," says Codd, "not in particular; my client wished to make a clean +breast of it, and put them all before the jury; and I should be much +obliged if those gentlemen will adopt any one of them."[A] + +The jury acquitted the prisoner, not because they chose any particular +defence, but because they did not know which to choose, and so gave +the prisoner the benefit of the doubt. + +The client was happy, and Codd famous. + +[Footnote A: Sixty years after this event, in the reply in the great +Tichborne case, Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., quoted this very defence as an +illustration of the absurdity of the suggestion that one of several +_Ospreys_ picked up Sir Roger Tichborne--as will hereafter appear.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GRAHAM, THE POLITE JUDGE. + + +Just before my time the punishment of death was inflicted for almost +every offence of stealing which would now be thought sufficiently +dealt with by a sentence of a week's imprisonment. The struggle to +turn King's evidence was great, and it was almost a competitive +examination to ascertain who knew most about the crime; and he, being +generally the worst of the gang, was accepted accordingly. + +I remember when I was a child three men, named respectively Marshall, +Cartwright, and Ingram, were charged with having committed a burglary +in the house of a gentleman named Pym, who lived in a village in +Hertfordshire, Marshall being at that time, and Cartwright having +previously been, butler in the gentleman's service. Ingram had been a +footman in London. + +The burglary was not in itself of an aggravated character. Plate only +was stolen, and that had been concealed under the gravel bed of a +little rivulet which ran through the grounds. + +No violence or threat of violence had been offered to any inmate of +the house, yet the case was looked upon as serious because of the +position of trust which had been held by the two butlers. + +Ingram was admitted as King's evidence. The butlers were convicted, +sentenced to death, and hanged, whilst Ingram was, according to +universal practice, set at liberty. Before the expiration of a +year, however, he was convicted of having stolen a horse, and as +horse-stealing was a capital offence at that time, he suffered the +penalty of death at Hereford. + +It was a curious coincidence that only a year or two afterwards a man +named Probert, who had given King's evidence upon which the notorious +Thurtell and Hunt were convicted of the brutal murder of Weare +and executed, was also released, and within a year convicted of +horse-stealing and hanged. + +An old calendar for the Assize at Lincoln, which I give as an +Appendix, reminds me of the condition of the law and of its victims +at that time. At every assize it was like a tiger let loose upon +the district. If a man escaped the gallows, he was lucky, while the +criminals were by no means the hardened ruffians who had been trained +in the school of crime; they were mostly composed of the most ignorant +rural labourers--if, indeed, in those days there were any degrees of +ignorance, when to be able to read a few words by spelling them was +considered a prodigious feat. + +Jurors often endeavoured to mitigate the terrors of the law by finding +that the stolen property, however valuable it might be, was of less +value than five shillings. May the recording angel "drop a tear over +this record of perjury and blot it out for ever." + +It was in those days that Mr. Justice Graham was called upon to +administer the law, and on one occasion particularly he vindicated his +character for courtesy to all who appeared before him. He was a man +unconscious of humour and yet humorous, and was not aware of the +extreme civility which he exhibited to everybody and upon all +occasions, especially to the prisoner. + +People went away with a sense of gratitude for his kindness, and when +he sentenced a batch of prisoners to death he did it in a manner that +might make any one suppose, if he did not know the facts, that they +had been awarded prizes for good conduct. + +He was firm, nevertheless--a great thing in judges, if not accompanied +with weakness of mind. I may add that there was a singular precision +in his mode of expression as well as in his ideas. + +At a country assize, where he was presiding in the Crown Court, a +man was indicted for murder. He pleaded "Not guilty." The evidence +contained in the depositions was terribly clear, and, of course, the +judge, who had perused them, was aware of it. + +The case having been called on for trial, counsel for the prosecution +applied for a postponement on the ground of the absence of a most +material witness for the Crown. + +I should mention that in those days counsel were not allowed to speak +for the prisoner, but the judge was always in theory supposed to watch +the case on his behalf. In the absence of a _material_ witness the +prisoner would be acquitted. + +The learned Mr. Justice Graham asked the accused if he had any +objection to the case being postponed until the next assizes, on the +ground, as the prosecution had alleged, that their most material +witness could not be produced. His lordship put the case as somewhat +of a misfortune for the prisoner, and made it appear that it would be +postponed, if he desired it, as a favour to _him_. + +Notwithstanding the judge's courteous manner of putting it, the +prisoner most strenuously objected to any postponement. It was not +for him to oblige the Crown at the expense of a broken neck, and he +desired above all things to be tried in accordance with law. He stood +there on his "jail delivery." + +Graham was firm, but polite, and determined to grant the postponement +asked for. In this he was doubtless right, for the interests of +justice demanded it. But to soften down the prisoner's disappointment +and excuse the necessity of his further imprisonment, his lordship +addressed him in the following terms, and in quite a sympathetic +manner:-- + +"Prisoner, I am extremely sorry to have to detain you in prison, but +_common humanity_ requires that I should not let you be tried in the +absence of an important witness for the prosecution, although at +the same time I can quite appreciate your desire to have your case +speedily disposed of; one does not like a thing of this sort hanging +over one's head. But now, for the sake of argument, prisoner, suppose +I were to try you to-day in the absence of that material witness, and +yet, contrary to your expectations, they were to find you guilty. What +then? Why, in the absence of that material witness, I should have to +sentence you to be hanged on Monday next. That would be a painful +ordeal for both of us. + +"But now let us take the other alternative, and let us suppose that if +your trial had been put off, and the material witness, when called, +could prove something in your favour--this sometimes happens--and that +that something induced the jury to acquit you, what a sad thing that +would be! It would not signify to you, because you would have been +hanged, and would be dead!" + +Here his lordship paused for a considerable time, unable to suppress +his emotion, but, having recovered himself, continued,-- + +"But you must consider what my feelings would be when I thought I had +hanged an innocent man!" + +At the next assizes the man was brought up, the material witness +appeared; the prisoner was found guilty, and hanged. + +The humane judge's feelings were therefore spared. + +At the Old Bailey he was presiding during a sessions which was rather +light for the times, there being less than a score left for execution +under sentence of death. There were, in fact, only sixteen, most of +them for petty thefts. + +His lordship, instead of reading the whole of the sixteen names, +omitted one, and read out only fifteen. He then politely, and with +exquisite precision and solemnity, exhorted them severally to prepare +for the awful doom that awaited them the following Monday, and +pronounced on each the sentence of death. + +They left the dock. + +After they were gone the jailer explained to his lordship that there +had been _sixteen_ prisoners capitally convicted, but that his +lordship had omitted the name of one of them, and he would like to +know what was to be done with him. + +"What is the prisoner's name?" asked Graham. + +"John Robins, my lord." + +"Oh, bring John Robins back--by all means let John Robins step +forward. I am obliged to you." + +The culprit was once more placed at the Bar, and Graham, addressing +him in his singularly courteous manner, said apologetically,-- + +"John Robins, I find I have accidentally omitted your name in my list +of prisoners doomed to execution. It was quite accidental, I assure +you, and I ask your pardon for my mistake. I am very sorry, and can +only add that you will be hanged with the rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GLORIOUS OLD DAYS--THE HON. BOB GRIMSTON, AND MANY +OTHERS--CHICKEN-HAZARD. + + +The old glories of the circuit days vanished with stage-coaches and +post-chaises. If you climbed on to the former for the sake of economy +because you could not afford to travel in the latter, you would be +fined at the circuit mess, whose notions of propriety and economy were +always at variance. + +Those who obtained no business found it particularly hateful to keep +up the foolish appearance of having it by means of a post-chaise. You +might not ride in a public vehicle, or dine at a public table, or +put up at an inn for fear of falling in with attorneys and obtaining +briefs from them surreptitiously. The Home Circuit was very strict +in these respects, but it was the cheapest circuit to travel in the +kingdom, so that its members were numerous and, I need not say, +various in mind, manner, and position. + +But it was a circuit of brilliant men in my young days. Many of them +rose to eminence both in law and in Parliament. It was a time, indeed, +when, if judges made law, law made judges. + +I should like to say a word or two about those times and the necessary +studies to be undergone by those who aspired to eminence. + +In the days of my earliest acquaintance with the law, an ancient order +of men, now almost, if not quite, extinct, called Special Pleaders, +existed, who, after having kept the usual number of terms--that is to +say, eaten the prescribed number of dinners in the Inn of Court to +which they belonged--became qualified, on payment of a fee of £12, to +take out a Crown licence to plead under the Bar. This enabled them to +do all things which a barrister could do that did not require to be +transacted in court. They drew pleadings, advised and took pupils. + +Some of them practised in this way all their lives and were never +called. Others grew tired of the drudgery, and were called to the Bar, +where they remained _junior_ barristers as long as they lived, old age +having no effect upon their status. Some were promoted to the ancient +order of Serjeants-at-Law, or were appointed her Majesty's Counsel, +while some of the Serjeants received from the Crown patents of +precedence with priority over all Queen's Counsel appointed after +them, and with the privilege of wearing a silk gown and a Queen's +Counsel wig. + +There was, however, this difference between a Queen's Counsel and +the holder of a Patent of Precedence: that the former, having been +appointed one of her Majesty's Counsel, could not thenceforth appear +without special licence under the sign-manual of the Queen to defend a +prisoner upon a criminal charge. The Serjeant-at-Law is as rare now as +a bustard. + +I mention these old-fashioned times and studies, not because of their +interest at the present day, but because they produced such men as +Littledale, Bayley, Parke (afterwards Lord Wensleydale), Alderson, +Tindal, Patteson, Wightman, Crompton, Vaughan Williams, James, Willes, +and, later, Blackburn. + +The contemplation of these legal giants, amongst whom my career +commenced, somewhat checked the buoyant impulse which had urged me +onward at Quarter Sessions, but at the same time imparted a little +modest desire to imitate such incomparable models. Those of them who +were selected from the junior Bar were good examples of men whose vast +knowledge of law was acquired in the way I have indicated, and who +were chosen on their merits alone. + +But even these successful examples, however encouraging to the +student, were, nevertheless, not ill-calculated to make a young +barrister whose income was small, and sometimes, as in my case, by no +means _assured_ to him, sicken at the thought that, study as he liked, +years might pass, and probably would, before a remunerative practice +came to cheer him. Perhaps it would never come at all, and he would +become, like so many hundreds of others of his day and ours, a +hopeless failure. All were competitors for the briefs and even the +smiles of solicitors; for without their favour none could succeed, +although he might unite in himself all the qualities of lawyer and +advocate. + +The prospect was not exhilarating for any one who had to perform the +drudgery of the first few years of a junior's life; nevertheless, +I was not cast down by the mere apprehension, or rather the mere +possibility of failure, for when I looked round on my competitors I +was encouraged by the thought that dear old Woollet knew more about a +rate appeal than Littledale himself, while old Peter Ryland, with his +inimitable Saxon, was quite as good at the irremovability of a pauper +as Codd was in accounting for the illegal removal of a duck, and both +in their several branches of knowledge more learned than Alderson or +Bayley. But here I was, launched on that wide sea in which I was "to +sink or swim," and, as I preferred the latter, I struck out with a +resolute breast-stroke, and, as I have said, never failed to keep my +head above water. It was some satisfaction to know that, if the judges +were so learned, there was yet more learning to come; much yet to come +down from, the old table-land of the Common Law, and much more from +the inexhaustible fountain of Parliament. + +The Quarter Sessions Court was the arena of my first eight years of +professional life. I watched and waited with unwearied attention, +never without hope, but often on the very verge of despair, of +ever making any progress which would justify my choosing it as a +profession. My greatest delight, perhaps, was the obtaining an +acquittal of some one whose guilt nobody could doubt. All the struggle +of those times was the fight for the "one three six," and the hardest +effort of my life was the most valuable, because it gave me the key +which opened the door to many depositories of unexplored wealth. + +There were many men who outlived their life, and others who never +lived their lives at all; many men who did nothing, and many more who +would almost have given their lives to do something. + +There was, however, one man of those days whom I cannot here pass +over, as he remained my companion and friend to his life's end, and +will be remembered by me with affection and reverence to the end of my +own. It was old Bob Grimston, whom I first met at the benefit of "the +Spider," one of the famous prize-fighters of the time. The Hon. +Bob Grimston was known in the sporting world as one of its most +enthusiastic supporters, and acknowledged as one of the best men in +saddle or at the wicket. But Bob was not only a sportsman--he was a +gentleman of the finest feeling you could meet, and the keenest sense +of honour. + +Having thus spoken of some of the eminent men of my early days, I +would like to mention a little incident that occurred before I had +fairly settled down to practise, or formed any serious intention as to +the course I should pursue--that is to say, whether I should remain a +sessions man like Woollet, or become a master of Saxon like old Peter +Ryland, a sportsman like Bob Grimston, or a cosmopolitan like Rodwell, +so as to comprehend all that came in my way. I chose the latter, for +the simple reason that in principle I loved what in these days would +be called "the open door," and received all comers, even sometimes +entertaining solicitors unawares. + +Accordingly I laid myself open to the attention of kind friends and +people whose manner of life was founded on the Christian principle of +being "given to hospitality." + +But before I come to the particular incident I wish to describe, I +must briefly mention a remarkable case that was tried in the Queen's +Bench, and which necessarily throws me back a year or two in my +narrative. + +It was a case known as "Boyle and Lawson," and the incident it reveals +will give an idea of the state of society of that day. I am not sure +whether it differs in many respects from that of the present, except +in so far as its _honour_ is concerned, for what was looked upon then +as a flagrant outrage on public morality is now regarded as an error +of judgment, or a mistake occasioned by some fortuitous combination +of unconsidered circumstances. Such is the value in literature and +argument of long words without meaning. + +However, the action was brought against the proprietors of the _Times_ +newspaper for libel. The libel consisted in the statement that the +respectable plaintiff--a lady--had conspired with persons unknown to +obtain false letters of credit for large sums of money. + +The hospitable friends I refer to lived in excellent style in Norwich. +How they had attained their social distinction I am unable to say, but +they were, in fact, in the "very best set," which in Norwich was by no +means the fastest. + +I was travelling at this time with Charles Willshire and his brother +Thomas, who was a mere youth. There was also an undergraduate of +Cambridge of the name of Crook with us, and another who had joined our +party for a few days' ramble. + +We were enjoying ourselves in the old city of Norwich as only youth +can, when we received an invitation to pass an evening in a very +fashionable circle. How the invitation came I could not tell, but +we made no inquiry and accepted it. Arrived at the house, which was +situated in the most aristocratic neighbourhood that Norwich could +boast, we found ourselves in the most agreeable society we could +wish to meet. This was a group of exalted and fashionable personages +arrayed in costumes of the superb Prince Regent style. Nothing could +exceed this party in elegance of costume or manners. You could tell +at once they were, as it was then expressed, "of the quality." Their +cordiality was equalled only by their courtesy, and had we been +princes of the blood we could not have received a more polite welcome. +There was an elegance, too, about the house, and a refinement which +coincided with the culture of the hosts and guests. Altogether it was +one of the most agreeable parties I had ever seen. There were several +gentlemen, all Prince Regents, and one sweet lady, charming in every +way, from the well-arranged blonde tresses to the neatest little shoe +that ever adorned a Cinderella foot. She was beautiful in person as +she was charming in manner. You saw at once that she moved in the best +Norwich society, and was the idol of it. Crook was perfectly amazed at +so much grace and splendour, but then he was much younger than any of +us. + +I don't think any one was so much smitten as Crook. We had seen more +of the world than he had--that is to say, more of the witness-box--and +if you don't see the world there, on its oath, you can see it nowhere +in the same unveiled deformity. + +We enjoyed ourselves very much. There was good music and a little +sweet singing, the lady being in that art, as in every other, well +trained and accomplished. If I was not altogether ravished with the +performance, Crook was. You could see that by the tender look of his +eyes. + +After the music, cards were introduced, and they commenced playing +_vingt-et-un_, Crook being the special favourite with everybody, +especially with the ladies. I believe much was due to the expression +of his eyes. + +As I had given up cards, I did not join in the game, but became more +and more interested in it as an onlooker. I was a little surprised, +however, to find that in a very short while, comparatively, our friend +Crook had lost £30 or £40; and as this was the greater part of his +allowance for travelling expenses, it placed him in a rather awkward +position. + +Some men travel faster when they have no money; this was not the case +with poor Crook, who travelled only by means of it. Alas, I thought, +_twenty-one_ and _vingt-et-un_! It was a serious matter, and the worse +because Crook was not a good loser: he lost his head and his temper as +well as his money; and I have ever observed through life that the man +who loses his temper loses himself and his friends. + +He was disgusted with his bad luck, but nurtured a desperate hope--the +forlorn hope that deceives all gamblers--that he should retrieve his +losses on some future occasion, which he eagerly looked for and, one +might say, demanded. + +The occasion was not far off; it was, in fact, nearer than +Crook anticipated. His pleasant manner and agreeable society at +_vingt-et-un_ procured us another invitation for the following night +but one, and of course we accepted it. It was a great change to me +from the scenery of the Elm Court chimney-pots. + +Whatever might be Crook's happily sanguine disposition and hope of +retrieving his luck, there was one thing which the calculator of +chances does not take into consideration in games of this kind. We, +visiting such cultured and fashionable people, would never for a +moment think so meanly of our friends; I mean the possibility of their +cheating, a word never mentioned in well-bred society. A suspicion of +such conduct, even, would be tantamount to treason, and a violation of +the rules that regulate the conduct of ladies and gentlemen. It was +far from all our thoughts, and the devil alone could entertain so +malevolent an idea. Be that as it may, as a matter of philosophy, the +onlooker sees most of the game, and as I was an onlooker this is what +I saw:-- + +The elegant lady _exchanged glances with one of the players while she +was looking over Crook's hand_! Crook was losing as fast as he could, +and no wonder. I was now in an awkward position. To have denounced our +hosts because I interpreted a lady's glances in a manner that made her +worse than a common thief might have produced unknown trouble. But I +kept my eye on the beautiful blonde, nevertheless, and became more +and more confirmed in my suspicions without any better opportunity of +declaring them. + +The charming well-bred lady thus communicating her knowledge of +Crook's cards, I need not say he was soon reduced to a state of +insolvency; and as the party was too exclusive and fashionable to +extend their hospitality to those who had not the means of paying, +it soon broke up, and we returned to our rooms, I somewhat wiser and +Crook a great deal poorer. + +Such was the adventure which came to my mind when I saw in the Queen's +Bench at Westminster the trial of "Boyle and Lawson" against the +_Times_ for calumnious insinuations against the character of a lady +and others, suggesting that they obtained false letters of credit to +enable them to cheat and defraud. + +_This_ was the select party which Norwich society had lionized--the +great unknown to whom we had been introduced, and where Crook had been +cheated out of his travelling-money! + +The lady was the fair plaintiff in this action, seeking for the +rehabilitation of her character; and she succeeded in effecting that +object so far as the outlay of one farthing would enable her to do so, +for that was all the jury gave her, and it was exactly that amount too +much. Her character was worth more to her in Crook's time. + +Speaking of a man running society on his fees--that is, endeavouring +to cope with the rich on the mere earnings of a barrister, however +large they may be--I have met with several instances which would have +preserved me from the same fate had I ever been cursed with such an +inclination. The number of successful men at the Bar who have been +ruined by worshipping the idol which is called "Society," and which is +perhaps a more disastrous deity to worship than any other, is legion. +This is one unhappy example, the only one I intend to give. + +While I was living in Bond Street, and working very hard, I had little +time and no inclination to lounge about amongst the socially great; I +had, indeed, no money to spend on great people. The entrance-fee into +the portals of the smart society temple is heavy, especially for a +working-man; and so found the bright particular star who had long held +his place amidst the splendid social galaxy, and then disappeared into +a deeper obscurity than that from which he had emerged, to be seen no +more for ever. + +He was a Queen's Counsel, a brilliant advocate in a certain line +of business, and a popular, agreeable, intellectual, and amusing +companion. He obtained a seat in Parliament, and a footing in Society +which made him one of its selected and principal lions. In every +Society paper, amongst its most fashionable intelligence, there was +he; and Society hardly seemed to be able to get along without him. + +One Sunday afternoon I was reading in my little room when this +agreeable member of the _élite_ called upon me. My astonishment was +great, because at that time of my career not only did I not receive +visitors, but _such_ a visitor was beyond all expectation, and I +wondered, when his name was announced, what could have brought him, he +so great and I comparatively nothing. It is true I had known him for +some time, but I knew him so little that I thought of him as a most +estimable great man whose career was leading him to the highest +distinction in his profession. + +Another extraordinary thing that struck me long after, but did not +at the time, was that the business he came upon made no particular +impression on my mind, any more than if it had been the most ordinary +thing in the world. That to me is still inexplicable. + +My visitor did not let troubles sit upon him, if troubles he ever had, +for he seemed to be in the highest spirits. Society kept him ever in a +state of effervescent hilarity, so that he never let anything trouble +him. At this time he was making at the Bar seven or eight thousand a +year, and consequently, I thought, must be the happiest of men. + +His manner was agreeable, and his face wore a smile of complacency at +variance with the nature of his errand, which he quickly took care to +make known by informing me that he was in a devil of a mess, and did +not know what he should do to get out of it. + +"Oh," I said quite carelessly, "you'll manage." And little did I think +I should be the means of fulfilling my own prophecy. + +"The fact is, my dear Hawkins," said the wily intriguer, for such he +was, "I'll tell you seriously how I stand. To-morrow morning I have +bills becoming due amounting to £1,250, and I want you to be good +enough to lend me that sum to enable me to meet them." + +I was perfectly astounded! This greatness to have come down to £1,250 +on the wrong side of the ledger. + +"I have no such amount," said I, "and never had anything like it at +my bank." I must say I pitied him, and began to wonder in what way I +_could_ help him. He was so really and good-naturedly in earnest, and +seemed so extremely anxious, that at last I said, "Well, I'll see what +I can do," and asked him to meet me in court the following morning, +when I would tell him whether I could help him or not. + +His gratitude was boundless; my kindness should never be +forgotten--no, as long as he lived! and if he had been addressing a +common jury he could not have used more flowers of speech or shed more +abundant tears to water them with. I was the best friend he had ever +had. And, as it seemed afterwards, very foolishly so, because he told +me he had not one farthing of security to offer for the loan. A man +who ought to have been worth from fifty to a hundred thousand pounds! + +However, I went to my bankers' and made arrangements to be provided +with the amount. I met him at the place of appointment, and was quite +surprised to see the change in his demeanour since the day before. +He was now apparently in a state of deeper distress than ever, and +thinking to soothe him, I said, "It's all right; you can have the +money!" + +Once more he overwhelmed me with the eloquence of a grateful heart, +but said it was of no use--no use whatever; that instead of £1,250 he +had other bills coming in, and unless they could all be met he might +just as well let the others go. + +"How much do you _really_ want to quite clear you?" I asked, with a +simplicity which astonishes me to this day. + +"Well," he said, "nothing is of the least use under £2,500." + +I was a little staggered, but, pitying his distress of mind, went once +more to my bankers' and made the further necessary arrangements. I +borrowed the whole amount at five per cent., and placed it to the +credit of this brilliant Queen's Counsel. + +The only terms I made with him on this new condition of things was +that he should, out of his incoming fees, pay my clerk £500 a quarter +until the whole sum was liquidated. This he might easily have done, +and this he arranged to do; but the next day he pledged the whole of +his prospective income to a Jew, incurred fresh liabilities, and left +me without a shadow of a chance of ever seeing a penny of my money +again. I need not say every farthing was lost, principal and interest. +I say interest, because it cost me five per cent, till the amount was +paid. + +His end was as romantic as his life, but it is best told in the words +of my old friend Charley Colman, who never spares colour when it is +necessary, and in that respect is an artist who resembles Nature. Thus +he writes:-- + +"What a coward at heart was ----! He allowed himself to be sat upon and +crushed without raising a hand or voice in his defence of himself. +When he returned from America he accepted a seat in ---- office--in +the office of the man who urged Lord ---- to prosecute him. + +"After your gift to him--a noble gift of £3,000--he called at my +chambers, spoke in high terms of your generosity, and wished all the +world to know it, so elated was he. I was to publish it far and wide. +He went away. In half an hour he returned, and begged me to keep the +affair secret. 'Too late,' said I. 'Several gentlemen have been here, +and to them I mentioned the matter, and begged them to spread it far +and wide.' His heart failed him when he thought he would be talked +about. + +"He was a kind-hearted fellow at times--generous to a fault, always +most abstemious; but he had a tongue, and one he did not try to +control. He used to say stinging things of people, knowing them to be +untrue. + +"What a life! What a terrible fate was his! Turned out of Parliament; +made to resign his Benchership; his gown taken from him by the +Benchers; driven to America by his creditors to get his living; not +allowed to practise in the Supreme Court in America. At forty-five +years of age his life had foundered. He returns to England--for what! +Simply to find his recklessness had blasted his life, and then--? + +"Sometimes, in spite of _all_, I feel a moisture in my eye when I +think of him. Had he been true to himself what a brilliant life was +open to him! What a practice he had! Up to the last he told me that he +turned £14,000 a year. He worked hard, very hard, and his gains went +to ---- or to chicken-hazard! Poor fellow!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PETER RYLAND--THE REV. MR. FAKER AND THE WELSH WILL. + + +I was retained at Hertford Assizes, with Peter Ryland as my leader, to +prosecute a man for perjury, which was alleged to have been committed +in an action in which a cantankerous man, who had once filled the +office of High Sheriff for the county, was the prosecutor. Wealthy and +disagreeable, he was nevertheless a henpecked tyrant. + +Mrs. Brown, his wife, was a witness for the prosecution in the alleged +perjury--which was unfortunate for her husband, because she had the +greatest knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the case; while +Mr. Brown had the best knowledge of the probable quality of his wife's +evidence. + +When we were in consultation and considering the nature of this +evidence, and arranging the best mode of presenting our case to the +jury, Brown interposed, and begged that Mr. Ryland should call Mrs. +Brown as the _last_ witness, instead of first, which was the proper +course. "Because," said he, "_if anything goes wrong during the trial +or anything is wanting, Mrs. Brown will be quite ready to mop it all +up_." + +This in a prosecution for _perjury_ was one of the boldest +propositions I had ever heard. + +I need not say that good Mrs. Brown was called, as she ought to have +been, first. The lady's mop was not in requisition at that stage of +the trial, and the jury decided against her. + +I was sometimes in the Divorce Court, and old Jack Holker was +generally my opponent. He was called "Long Odds." In one particular +case I won some _éclat_. It is not related on that account, however, +but simply in consequence of its remarkable incidents. No case is +interesting unless it is outside the ordinary stock-in-trade of the +Law Courts, and I think this was. + +The details are not worth telling, and I therefore pass them by. +Cresswell was the President, and the future President, Hannen, my +junior. + +We won a great victory through the remarkable over-confidence and +indiscretion of Edwin James, Q.C., who opposed us. James's client was +the husband of the deceased. By her will the lady had left him the +whole of her property, amounting to nearly £100,000. The case we set +up was that the wife had been improperly influenced by her husband in +making it, and that her mind was coerced into doing what she did not +intend to do, and so we sought to set aside the will on that ground. + +Edwin James had proved a very strong case on behalf of the validity of +the will. He had called the attesting witnesses, and they, respectable +gentlemen as they undoubtedly were, had proved all that was +necessary--namely, that the testator, notwithstanding that she was in +a feeble condition and almost at the last stage, was perfectly calm +and capable in mind and understanding--exactly, in fact, as a testator +ought to be who wills her property to her husband if he retains her +affection. + +The witnesses had been cross-examined by me, and nothing had +been elicited that cast the least doubt upon their character or +credibility. Had the matter been left where it was, the £100,000 would +have been secured. But James, whatever may have been his brilliance, +was wanting in tact. He would not leave well alone, but resolved to +call the Rev. Mr. Faker, a distinguished Dissenting minister. + +In fiction this gentleman would have appeared in the melodramatic +guise of a spangled tunic, sugar-loaf hat, with party-coloured +ribbons, purple or green breeches, and motley hose; but in the +witness-box he was in clerical uniform, a long coat and white cravat +with corresponding long face and hair, especially at the back of his +head. A soberer style of a stage bandit was never seen. He was just +the man for cross-examination, I saw at a glance--a fancy witness, +and, I believe, a Welshman. As he was a Christian warrior, I had to +find out the weak places in his armour. But little he knew of courts +of law and the penetrating art of cross-examination, which could make +a hole in the triple-plated coat of fraud, hypocrisy, and cunning. I +was in no such panoply. I fought only with my little pebblestone and +sling, but took good aim, and then the missile flew with well-directed +speed. + +I had to throw at a venture at first, because, happily, there were no +instructions how to cross-examine. Not that I should have followed +them if there had been; but I might have got a _fact_ or two from +them. + +It is well known that artifice is the resource of cunning, whether +it acts on the principle of concealing truth or boldly asserting +falsehood. Here the reverend strategist did both: he knew how a little +truth could deceive. You must remember that at this point of the case, +when the Rev. Faker was called, there was nothing to cross-examine +about. I knew nothing of the parties, the witnesses, the solicitors, +or any one except my learned friends. It would not have been +discreditable to my advocacy if I had submitted to a verdict. I will, +therefore, give the points of the questions which elicited the truth +from the Christian warrior; and probably the non-legal reader of these +memoirs may be interested in seeing what may sometimes be done by a +few judicious questions. + +"Mr. Faker," I said. + +"Sir," says Faker. + +"You have told us you acted as the adviser of the testatrix." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Spiritual adviser, of course?" + +A spiritual bow. + +"You advised the deceased lady, probably, as to her duties as a dying +woman?" + +"Certainly." + +"Duty to her husband--was that one?" + +A slight hesitation in Mr. Faker revealed the vast amount of fraud of +which he was capable. It was the smallest peephole, but I saw a good +way. Till then there was nothing to cross-examine about, but after +that hesitation there was £100,000 worth! He had betrayed himself. At +last Faker said,-- + +"Yes, Mr. Hawkins; yes, sir--her duty to her husband." + +"In the way of _providing_ for him?" was my next question. + +"Oh yes; quite so." + +"You were careful, of course, as you told your learned counsel, to +avoid any undue influence?" + +"Certainly." + +"The will was not completed, I think, when you first saw the dying +woman--on the day, I mean, of her death?" + +"No, not at that time." + +"Was it kept in a little bag by the pillow of the testatrix? Did she +retain the keys of the bag herself?" + +"That is quite right." + +"Had it been executed at this time? I think you said not?" + +"Not at this time; it had to be revised." + +"How did you obtain possession of the keys?" + +"I obtained them." + +"Yes, I know; but without her knowledge?" + +It was awkward for Faker, but he had to confess that he was not sure. +Then he frankly admitted that the will was taken out of the bag--in +the lady's presence, of course, but whether she was quite dead or +almost alive was uncertain; and then he and the husband spiritually +conferred as to what the real intention of the dying woman in the +circumstances was _likely to be_, and having ascertained that, they +made _another will_, which they called "settling the former one" by +carrying out the lady's intentions, the lady being now dead to all +intentions whatsoever. + +This was the will which was offered for probate! + +Cresswell thought it was a curious state of affairs, and listened with +much interest to the further cross-examination. + +"Had you ever seen any other will?" I inquired. It was quite an +accidental question, as one would put in a desultory sort of +conversation with a friend. + +"Er--yes--I have," said Faker. + +"What was that?" + +"Well, it was a will, to tell you the truth, Mr. Hawkins, executed in +my favour for £5,000." + +"Where is it?" + +"I have not the original," said the minister, "but I have a copy of +it." + +"Copy! But where is the original?" + +"Original?" repeats Faker. + +"Yes, the original; there must have been an original if you have a +copy." + +"Oh," said the Rev. Faker, "I remember, the original was destroyed +after the testatrix's death." + +"How?" + +"Burnt!" + +Even the very grave Hannen, my ever-respected friend and junior, +smiled; Cresswell, never prone to smile at villainy, smiled also. + +"The original burnt, and only a copy produced! What do you mean, sir?" + +The situation was dramatic. + +"Is it not strange," I asked, "even in _your_ view of things, that the +original will should be burnt and the copy preserved?" + +"Yes," answered the reverend gentleman; "perhaps it would have been +better--" + +"To have burnt the copy and given us the original, and more especially +after the lady was dead. But, let me ask you, _why_ did you destroy +the original will?" + +I pressed him again and again, but he could not answer. The reason was +plain. His ingenuity was exhausted, and so I gave him the finishing +stroke with this question,-- + +"Will you swear, sir, that an original will ever existed?" + +The answer was, "No." + +I knew it _must_ be the answer, because there could be no other that +would not betray him. + +"What is your explanation?" asked Cresswell. + +"My explanation, my lord, is that the testatrix had often expressed to +me her intention to leave me £5,000, and I wrote the codicil which was +destroyed to carry out her wishes." + +Cresswell had warned James early in the case as to the futility of +calling witnesses after the two who alone were necessary, but to no +purpose; he hurried his client to destruction, and I have never been +able to understand his conduct. The most that can be said for him +is that he did not suspect any danger, and took no trouble to avoid +incurring it. + +It is curious enough that on the morning of the trial we had tried to +compromise the matter by offering £10,000. + +The refusal of the offer shows how little they thought that any +cross-examination could injure their cause. + +Hannen said he could not have believed a cross-examination could be +conducted in that manner without any knowledge of the facts, and paid +me the compliment of saying it was worth at the least £80,000. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +TATTERSALL'S--BARON MARTIN, HARRY HILL, AND THE OLD FOX IN THE YARD. + + +Tattersall's in my time was one of the pleasantest Sunday afternoon +lounges in London. There was a spirit of freedom and social equality +pervading the place which only belongs to assemblies where sport is +the principal object and pleasure of all. There was also the absence +of irksome workaday drudgery; I think that was, after all, the main +cause of its being so delightful a meeting-place to me. + +There was, however, another attraction, and that was dear old Baron +Martin, one of the most pleasant companions you could meet, no matter +whether in the Court of Exchequer or the "old Ring." A keen sportsman +he was, and a shrewd, common-sense lawyer--so great a lover of the +Turf that it is told of him, and I know it to be true, that once in +court a man was pointed out to him bowing with great reverence, +and repeating it over and over again until he caught the Baron's +attention. The Judge, with one pair of spectacles on his forehead +and another on his eyes, immediately cried aloud to his marshal, +"Custance, the jockey, as I'm alive!" and then the Baron bowed most +politely to the man in the crowd, the most famous jockey of his day. + +Speaking of Tattersall's reminds me of many things, amongst them of +the way in which, happily, I came to the resolution never to bet on +a horse-race. It was here I learnt the lesson, at a place where +generally people learn the opposite, and never forgot it. No sermon +would ever have taught me so much as I learnt there. + +Like my oldest and one of my dearest friends on the turf, Lord +Falmouth, I never made a bet after the time I speak of. No one who +lives in the world needs any description of the Tattersall's of +to-day. But the Tattersall's of my earlier days was not exactly the +same thing, although the differences would not be recognizable to +persons who have not over-keen recollections. + +The institution has perhaps known more great men than Parliament +itself--not so many bishops, perhaps, as the Church, but more +statesmen than could get into the House of Lords; and all the +biographies that have ever been written could not furnish more +illustrations of the ups and downs of life, especially the downs, +nor of more illustrious men. The names of all the great and mediocre +people who visited the famous rendezvous would fill a respectable +Court guide, and the money transactions that have taken place would +pay off the National Debt. All this is a pleasant outcome of the +national character. + +Do not suppose that Judges, other than Baron Martin, never looked in, +for they did, and so did learned and illustrious Queen's Counsel and +Serjeants-at-Law, authors, editors, actors, statesmen, and, to sum +it up in brief, all the real men of the day of all professions and +degrees of social position. + +At first my visits were infrequent; afterwards I went more often, and +then became a regular attendant. I loved the "old Ring," and yet could +never explain why. I think it was the variety of human character that +charmed me. I was doing very little at the Bar, and was, no doubt, +desirous to make as many acquaintances as possible, and to see as much +of the world as I could. It is a long way back in my career, but I go +over the course with no regrets and with every feeling of delight. +Everything seems to have been enjoyable in those far-off days, +although I was in a constant state of uncertainty with regard to my +career. There were three principal places of pleasure at that time: +one was Tattersall's, one Newmarket, and the Courts of Law a third. + +There used to be, in the centre of the yard or court at Tattersall's, +a significant representation of an old fox, and I often wondered +whether it was set up as a warning, or merely by way of ornamentation, +or as the symbol of sport. It might have been to tell you to be wary +and on the alert. But whatever the original design of this statue to +Reynard, the old fox read me a solemn lesson, and seemed to be always +saying, "Take care, Harry; be on your guard. There are many prowlers +everywhere." + +But there was another monitor in constant attendance, who +was deservedly respected by all who had the pleasure of his +acquaintance--that is to say, by all who visited Tattersall's more +than once. He was not in the least emblematic like the old fox, but a +man of sound sense, with no poetry, of an extremely good nature, and +full of anecdote. You might follow his advice, and it would be well +with you; or you might follow your opinion in opposition to his and +take your chance. His name was Hill--Harry Hill they familiarly called +him--and although you might have many a grander acquaintance, you +could never meet a truer friend. + +He was an old and much-respected friend of the Baron, and that says +a great deal for him; for if anybody in the world could understand a +_man_, it was Baron Martin. Whether it was the Prime Minister or the +unhappy thief in the dock, he knew all classes and all degrees of +criminality. He was not poetical with regard to landscapes, for if +one were pointed out to him by some proprietor of a lordly estate, +he would say, "Yes, a vera fine place indeed; and I would have the +winning-post _there_!" + +The old fox and Harry Hill! The two characters at Tattersall's in +those days can never be forgotten, by those who knew them. + +It may seem strange in these more enlightened days that at that time +I was under the impression that no one could make a bet unless he had +the means of paying if he lost. This statement will provoke a +smile, but it is true. The consequence was that I was debarred from +speculating where I thought I had a most excellent chance of winning, +having been brought up to believe that the world was almost destitute +of fraud--a strange and almost unaccountable idea which only time and +experience proved to be erroneous. Judge of the vast unexplored field +of discovery that lay before me! Harry Hill was better informed. He +had lived longer, and had been brought in contact with the cleverest +men of the age. He knew at a glance the adventurous fool who staked +his last chance when the odds were a hundred to one, and also the man +of honour who staked his life on his honesty--and sometimes _lost_! + +There were "blacklegs" in those days who looked out for such honest +gentlemen, and _won_--scoundrels who degrade sport, and trade +successfully on the reputations of men of honour. You cannot cope with +these; honesty cannot compete with fraud either in sport or trade. + +It was a very brief Sunday sermon which Harry preached to me this +afternoon, but it was an effective one, and out of the abundance of +his good nature he gave me these well-remembered words of friendly +warning,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, I see you come here pretty regularly on Sunday +afternoons; but I advise you not to speculate amongst us, for if you +do we shall beat you. We know our business better than you do, and +you'll get nothing out of us any more than we should get out of you +if we were to dabble in your law, for you know _that_ business better +than we do." + +This disinterested advice I took to heart, and treated it as a +warning. I thanked Mr. Hill, promised to take advantage of his +kindness, and kept my word during the whole time that Tattersall's +remained in the old locality, which it did for a considerable period. + +The establishment at this time was at Hyde Park Corner, and had been +rented from Lord Grosvenor since 1766. It was used for the purpose of +selling thoroughbreds and other horses of a first-rate order, until +the expiration of the lease, which was, I think, in 1865. It was then +removed to Knightsbridge, where I still continued my visits. + +The new premises, or, as it might be called, the new institution, was +inaugurated with a grand dinner, chiefly attended by members of the +sporting world, including Admiral Rous, George Payne, and many other +well-known and popular patrons of our national sport. There were also +a great many who were known as "swells," people who took a lively +interest in racing affairs, and others who belonged to the literary +and artistic world, and enjoyed the national sports as well. It was a +large assembly, and if any persons can enjoy a good dinner and lively +conversation, it is those who take an interest in sport. Mixed as the +company might be, it was uniform in its object, which was to be happy +as well as jolly. + +That I should have been asked to be present on this historic occasion +was extremely gratifying, but I could find no reason for the honour +conferred upon me, except that it 'might be because I had always +endeavoured to make myself agreeable--a faculty, if it be a faculty, +most invaluable in all the relations and circumstances of life. I was +flattered by the compliment, because in reality I was the guest of all +the really great men of the day. + +But a still more striking honour was in store. I was called upon to +respond for somebody or something; I don't remember what it was to +this day, nor had I the faintest notion what I ought to say. I was +perfectly bewildered, and the first utterance caused a roar of +laughter. I did not at that time know the reason. It is of no +consequence whether you know what you are talking about in an +after-dinner speech or not, for say what you may, hardly anybody +listens, and if they do few will understand the drift of your +observations. You get a great deal of applause when you stand up, and +a great deal more when you sit down. I seemed to catch my audience +quite accidentally by using a word tabooed at that time in sporting +circles, because it represented the blacklegs of the racecourse, and +was used as a nickname for rascaldom. "Gentlemen," I said, "I have +been unexpectedly called upon my _legs_--" Then I stammered an apology +for using the word in that company, and the laughter was unbounded. +Next morning all the sporting papers reported it as an excellent joke, +although the last person who saw the joke was myself. + +After dinner we adjourned to the new premises, which included a +betting-room, since christened "place," by interpretation of a +particular statute by myself and others. Oh the castigation I received +from the Jockey Club on that account! Whether the monitory fox was +anywhere within the precincts I do not know, but I missed him at +that time, and attributed to his absence the lapse from virtue which +undermined my previous resolution, and in a moment undid the merits of +exemplary years. However, it brought me to myself, and was, after all, +a "blessing in disguise"--and pleasant to think of. + +We were in the betting-room, and there was Harry Hill, my genial old +friend, who had advised me to take care, and never to bet, "because +we know our business better than you do." Alas! amidst the hubbub +and excitement, to say nothing of the joviality of everybody and the +excellence of the champagne, I said in a brave tone,-- + +"Come now, Mr. Hill, I _must_ have a bet, on the opening of the new +Tattersalls. I will give you evens for a fiver on ---- for the Derby!" + +Alas! my friend, who _ought_ to have known better, forgot the good +advice he had given me only a few years before, and I, heedless of +consequences in my hilarity, repeated the offer of evens on the +_favourite_. + +"Done!" said two or three, and amongst them Hill. I might have +repeated the offer and accepted the bet over and over again, so +popular was it. "Done, done, done!" everywhere. + +But Hill was the man for my money, and he had it. Before morning the +_favourite was scratched_! + +It was the race which Hermit won! Poor Hastings lost heavily and died +soon after. I had backed the wrong horse, and have never ceased to +wonder how I could have been so foolish. "Let me advise you not to +speculate amongst us," were Hill's words, "for if you do we shall beat +you;" and it cost me five pounds to learn that. A lawyer's opinion may +be worth what is paid for it in a case stated; but of the soundness +of of a horse's wind, or the thousand and one ailments to which that +animal's flesh and blood are heir, I knew nothing--not so much as the +little boy who runs and fetches in the stable, and who could give +the ablest lawyer in Great Britain or Ireland odds on any particular +favourite's "public form" and beat him. + +Put not your trust in tipsters; they no more knew that Hermit had a +chance for the Derby than they could foretell the snowstorm that was +coming to enable him to win it. + +This was the last bet I ever made; and I owe my abandonment of the +practice to Harry Hill, who gave me excellent advice and enforced it +by example. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ARISING OUT OF THE "ORSINI AFFAIR." + + +The "Orsini Affair" was one of high treason and murder. It was the +attempt on the part of a band of conspirators to murder Napoleon III. +In order to accomplish this _political_ object, they exploded a bomb +as nearly under his Majesty's carriage as they could manage, but +instead of murdering the Emperor they killed a policeman. + +Orsini was captured, tried, and executed in the good old French +fashion. His political career ended with the guillotine--a sharp +remedy, but effective, so far as he was concerned. + +One Dr. Simon Bernard was more fortunate than his principal, for he +was in England, the refuge of discontented foreign murderers, who try +to do good by stealth, and sometimes feel very uncomfortable when they +find that it turns out to be assassination. + +Bernard was a brother conspirator in this famous Orsini business, and +being apprehended in England, was taken to be tried before Lord Chief +Justice Campbell, Edwin James and myself being retained for the +defence. + +There was no defence on the facts, and no case on the law. He was +indicted for conspiracy with Orsini to murder the Emperor in Paris. + +I had prepared a very elaborate and exhaustive argument in favour of +the prisoner, on the law, and had little doubt I could secure his +acquittal; but the facts were terribly strong, and we knew well enough +if the jury convicted, Campbell would hang the prisoner, for he never +tolerated murder. With this view of the case, we summoned Dr. Bernard +to a consultation, which was held in one of the most ghastly rooms of +Newgate. + +No more miserable place could be found outside the jail, and it could +only be surpassed in horror by one within. It might have been, and +probably was, an anteroom to hell, but of that I say nothing. I leave +my description, for I can do no more justice to it. The only cheerful +thing about it was Dr. Bernard himself. He was totally unconcerned +with the danger of his situation, and regarded himself as a hero of +the first order. Murder, hanging, guillotine--all seemed to be the +everyday chances of life, and to him there was nothing sweeter or more +desirable, if you might judge by his demeanour. + +I thought it well to mention the fact that, if the jury found him +guilty, Lord Campbell would certainly sentence him to death. He +exhibited no emotion whatever, but shrugging his shoulders after the +manner of a Frenchman who differed from you in opinion, said,-- + +"Well, if I am hanged, I must be hanged, that is all." + +With a man like him it was impossible to argue or ask for +explanations. He seemed to be possessed with the one idea that to +remedy all the grievances of the State it was merely necessary to blow +up the Emperor with his horses and carriage, and coolly informed us, +without the least reserve, that the bombs manufactured with this +political object had been sent over to Paris from England concealed +in firkins of butter. I can find no words in which to express my +feelings. + +So ended our first consultation. The "merits" of the case were gone; +there was no defence. But whatever might be our opinion on Dr. +Bernard's state of mind, we could not abandon him to his fate. We +were retained to defend him, and defend him we must, even in spite of +himself, if we could do so consistently with our professional honour +and duty. + +Accordingly we had another consultation, and as I have said there was +one other room in England more ghastly than that where we held our +first interview, so now I reluctantly introduce you to it. + +If a man about to be tried for his life could look on this apartment +and its horrors unmoved, he would certainly be a fit subject for the +attentions of the hangman, and deserving of no human sympathy. It was +enough to shake the nerves of the hangman himself. + +We were in an apartment on the north-east side of the quadrangular +building, where the sunshine never entered. Even daylight never came, +but only a feeble, sickening twilight, precursor of the grave itself. +It was not merely the gloom that intensified the horrors of the +situation, or the ghastly traditions of the place, or the impending +fate of our callous client; but there was a tier of shelves occupying +the side of the apartment, on which were placed in dismal prominence +the plaster-of-Paris busts of all the malefactors who had been hanged +in Newgate for some hundred years. + +No man can look attractive after having been hanged, and the +indentation of the hangman's rope on every one of their necks, with +the mark of the knot under the ear, gave such an impression of +all that can be conceived of devilish horror as would baffle the +conceptions of the most morbid genius. + +Whether these things were preserved for phrenological purposes or for +the gratification of the most sanguinary taste, I never knew, but they +impressed me with a disgust of the brutal tendency of the age. + +Dr. Bernard, however, seemed to take a different view. Probably he was +scientific. He went up to them, and examined, as it seemed, every +one of these ghastly memorials with an interest which could only be +scientific. It did not seem to have occurred to his brain that _his_ +head would probably be the next to adorn that repository of criminal +effigies. + +He was in charge of a warder, and looked round with the utmost +composure, as though examining the Caesars in the British Museum, and +was as interested as any fanatical fool of a phrenologist. He shrugged +his shoulders, raised his eyebrows, and repeated his old formula, +"Well, if I am to be hanged, I must be hanged." + +_He was acquitted_. My elaborate arguments on the law were not +necessary, for the jury actually refused to believe the evidence as to +the facts! + +Such are the chances of trial by jury! + +As a relief to this gloomy chapter I must tell you of a distinguished +Judge who had to sentence a dishonest butler for robbing his master of +some silver spoons. He considered it his duty to say a few words to +the prisoner in passing sentence, in order to show the enormity of the +crime of a servant in his position robbing his master, and by way of +warning to others who might be tempted to follow his example. + +"You, prisoner," said his lordship, "have been found guilty, by a jury +of your country, of stealing these articles from your employer--mark +that--_your employer_! Now, it aggravates your offence that he is your +employer, because he employs you to look after his property. You _did_ +look after it, but not in the way that a butler should--mark that!" +The judge here hemmed and coughed, as if somewhat exhausted with his +exemplary speech; and then resumed his address, which was ethical and +judicial: "You, prisoner, have _no_ excuse for your conduct. You had a +most excellent situation, and a kind master to whom you owed a debt +of the deepest gratitude and your allegiance as a faithful servant, +instead of which you paid him by _feathering your nest with his silver +spoons_; therefore you must be transported for the term of seven +years!" + +The metaphor was equal to that employed by an Attorney-General, who at +a certain time in the history of the Home Rule agitation, addressing +his constituents, told them that _Mr. Gladstone had sent up a balloon +to see which way the cat jumped with regard to Ireland_! He was soon +appointed a Judge of the High Court. + +Judges, however, are not always masters of their feelings, any more +than they are of their language; they are sometimes carried away by +prejudice, or even controlled by sentiment. I knew one, a very worthy +and amiable man, who, having to sentence a prisoner to death, was so +overcome by the terrible nature of the crime that he informed the +unhappy convict that he could expect _no mercy either in this world or +the next_! + +Littledale, again, was an uncommonly kind and virtuous man, a good +husband and a learned Judge; but he was afflicted with a wife whom he +could not control. She, on the contrary, controlled him, and left him +no peace unless she had her will. At times, however, she overdid her +business. Littledale had a butler who had been in the family many +years, and with whom he would not have parted on any account. He would +sooner have parted with her ladyship. One morning, however, this +excellent butler came to Sir Joseph and said, with tears in his +eyes,-- + +"I beg your pardon, my lord--" + +"What's the matter, James?" + +"I'm very sorry, my lord," said the butler, "but I wish to leave." + +"Wish to leave, James? Why, what do you wish to leave for? Haven't you +got a good situation?" + +"Capital sitiwation, Sir Joseph, and you have always been a good kind +master to me, Sir Joseph; but, O Sir Joseph, Sir Joseph!" + +"What then, James, what then? Why do you wish to leave? Not going to +get married, eh--not surely going to get married? O James, don't do +it!" + +"Heaven forbid, Sir Joseph!" + +"Eh, eh? Well, then, what is it? Speak out, James, and tell me all +about it. Tell me--tell me as a friend! If there is any trouble--" + +"Well, Sir Joseph, I could put up with anything from _you_, Sir +Joseph, but I _can't get on with my lady_!" + +"My lady be--. O James, what a sinner you make of me! Is that all, +James? Then go down on your knees at once and _thank God my lady is +not your wife_!" + +It was a happy thought, and James stayed. + +I don't think I have mentioned a curious reason that a jury once gave +for _not_ finding a prisoner guilty, although he had been tried on a +charge of a most terrible murder. The evidence was irresistible to +anybody but a jury, and the case was one of inexcusable brutality. The +man had been tried for the murder of his father and mother, and, as I +said, the evidence was too clear to leave a doubt as to his guilt. + +The jury retired to consider their verdict, and were away so long that +the Judge sent for them and asked if there was any point upon which he +could enlighten them. They answered no, and thought they understood +the case perfectly well. + +After a great deal of further consideration they brought in a verdict +of "_Not Guilty_." + +The Judge was angry at so outrageous a violation of their plain duty, +and did what he ought not to have done--namely, asked the reason they +brought in such a verdict, when they knew the culprit was guilty and +ought to have been hanged. + +"That's just it, my lord," said the foreman of this distinguished +body. "I assure you we had no doubt about the prisoner's guilt, but +we _thought there had been deaths enough in the family lately, and so +gave him the benefit of the doubt_!" + +There was a young solicitor who had been entrusted with a defence in +a case of murder. It was his first case of importance, and he was, +of course, enthusiastic in his devotion to his client's interests. +Indeed, his enthusiasm rather overstepped his prudence. + +By dint of perseverance and persuasion he obtained a promise from a +juror-in-waiting that if he should be on the jury he would consent +to no other verdict than manslaughter, which would be a tremendous +triumph for the young solicitor. + +The case was a very strong one for wilful murder. The friendly +juror-in-waiting took his seat in the box. Everything went well except +the evidence, and the solicitor's heart almost failed for fear his man +should give way. The jury for a long time were unable to agree. + +Now the young solicitor felt it was his faithful juror who was +standing out. + +"All agreed but one, my lord." + +"Go back to your room," said the Judge; which they did, and after +another long absence returned with a verdict of "Manslaughter." + +Jubilant with his success, the young solicitor met his juryman, +congratulated him on his firmness, and thanked him for his exertions. + +"How did you manage it, my good friend--how did you manage? It was a +wonderful verdict--wonderful!" + +"Oh," said he, "I was determined not to budge. I never budge. +Conscience is ever my guide." + +"I suppose there were eleven to one against you?" + +"Eleven to one! A tough job, sir--a tough job." + +"Eleven for wilful murder, eh?" said the jubilant young man. "Dear me, +what a narrow squeak!" + +"Eleven for _murder_! No, sir!" exclaimed the juror. + +"What, then?" + +"_Eleven for an acquittal_! You may depend upon it, sir, the other +jurors had been 'got at.'" + +Lord Watson, dining with me one Grand Day at Gray's Inn, said he +recollected a very stupid and a very rude Scottish Judge (which seems +very remarkable) who scarcely ever listened to an advocate, and +pooh-poohed everything that was said. + +One day a celebrated advocate was arguing before him, when, to express +his contempt of what he was saying, the cantankerous old curmudgeon of +a Judge pointed with one forefinger to one of his ears, and with the +other to the opposite one. + +"You see this, Mr. ----?" + +"I do, my lord," said the advocate. + +"Well, it just goes in here and comes out there!" and his lordship +smiled with the hilarity of a Judge who thinks he has actually said a +good thing. + +The advocate looked and smiled not _likewise_, but a good deal more +wise. Then the expression of his face changed to one of contempt. + +"I do not doubt it, my lord," said he. "What is there to prevent it?" + +The learned judge sat immovable, and looked--like a judicial--_wit_. + +I was now getting on so well in my profession that in the minds +of many of the unsuccessful there was a natural feeling of +disappointment. Why one man should succeed and a dozen fail has ever +been an unsolved problem at the Bar, and ever will be. But the curious +part of this natural law is that it manifests itself in the most +unexpected manner. + +Coming one day from a County Court, where I had had a successful day, +and humming a little tune, whom should I meet but my friend Morgan +----. He was a very pleasant man, what is called a _nice man_, of a +quiet, religious turn of mind, and nobody was ever more painstaking +to push himself along. He was a great stickler for a man's doing his +duty, and was possessed with the idea that, getting on as I was, it +was my duty to refuse to take a brief in the County Court. + +Coming up to me on the occasion I refer to, Morgan said, "What, _you_ +here, Hawkins! I believe you'd take a brief before the devil in +h----." + +I was quite taken aback for the moment by the use of such language. If +he had not been so religious a man, perhaps I should not have felt it +so much; as it was, I could hardly fetch my breath. + +When I recovered my equanimity I answered, "Yes, Morgan, I would, and +should get one of my devils to hold it." + +He seemed appeased by my frank avowal, for he loved honesty almost as +much as fees. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +APPOINTED QUEEN'S COUNSEL--A SERIOUS ILLNESS--SAM LEWIS. + + +On January 10, 1859, the Lord Chancellor did me the honour of +recommending my name to Her Most Gracious Majesty, and I was raised to +the rank and dignity of a Queen's Counsel. + +This is a step of doubtful wisdom to most men in the legal profession, +for it is generally looked upon as the end of a man's career or the +beginning. I had no doubt about the propriety of the step; it had been +the object of my ambition, and I believe I should unhesitatingly have +acted as I did even if it had been the termination of my professional +life. My idea was to go forward in the career I had chosen. The junior +work, if it had not lost its emoluments, no longer possessed the +pleasurable excitement of the old days. It was never my ambition +merely to "mark time;" that is unsatisfactory exertion, and leads no +whither. + +But enough; I took silk, and a new life opened before me. I was a +leader. + +My business rolled on in ever-increasing volume, so that I had to +fairly pick my way through the constant downpour of briefs, but +was always pressed forward by that useful institution known as the +"barrister's clerk." + +Whatever business overwhelms the counsel, no amount of it would +disconcert the clerk, and it is wonderful how many briefs he can +arrange in upstanding attitude along mantelpieces, tables, tops of +dwarf cupboards, windows--anywhere, in fact, where there is anything +to stand a brief on--without that gentleman feeling the least +exhausted. It would take as long to wear him out as to wear to a level +the rocks of Niagara. The loss of a brief to him is almost like the +loss of an eye. It would take a week after such a disaster to get the +right focus of things. + +My clerk came rushing into my room one day so pale and excited that I +wondered if the man had lost his wife or child. He did not leave me +long in suspense as soon as he could articulate his words. + +"Sir," said he, "you know those Emmets that you have done so much +for?" + +I remembered. + +"Well, sir, they've taken a brief to another counsel." + +It was a serious misfortune, no doubt, and I had to soothe him in the +best manner I could; so to lessen the calamity I made the best joke I +could think of in the circumstances, and said the Emmets were small +people, almost beneath notice. + +I don't wonder that he did not see it with tears in his eyes; his +distress was painful to witness. The poor fellow was dumbfounded, but +at last shook his head, saying,-- + +"We've had a good deal from those Emmets, sir." + +"But you need not make mountains out of ant-hills." + +He did not see that either. + +I was now living in Bond Street, and for the first time in my life was +taken seriously ill. My clerk's worry then came home to me; not about +a single brief, but about a great many. Illness would be a very +serious matter, as I had arrived at an important stage in my career. A +barrister in full practice cannot afford to be ill. In my distress +I sent to Baron Martin, as I was in every case in his list for the +following day, and begged him to oblige me by adjourning his court. It +was a large request, but I knew his kindness, and felt I might ask the +favour. Baron Martin, I should think, never in his life did an unkind +act or refused to do a kind one. He instantly complied with my +request, and did not listen for a moment to the "public interest," +as the foolish fetish is called which sometimes does duty for its +neglect. The "public interest" on this occasion was the interests of +all those who had entrusted their business to my keeping. The public +interests are the interests of the suitors. + +My illness threatened to be fatal. I had been overworked; and nothing +but the greatest care and skill brought me round. One never knows what +friendship is and what friends are till one is ill. + +At length there was a consultation, Drs. Addison, Charles Johnson, +Duplex, and F. Hawkins, my cousin, being present. + +It was a kind of medical jury which sat upon me. I will pass over +details, and come to the conclusion of the investigation. After +considering the case, Dr. Addison, who acted as foreman of the jury, +said,-- + +"We find a verdict of 'Guilty,' under mitigating circumstances. The +prisoner has not injured himself with intent to do any grievous bodily +or mental harm, but he has been guilty of negligence, not having taken +due care of himself, and we hope the sentence we are about to pass +will act as a warning to him, and deter others from following a like +practice. The prisoner is released on bail, to come up for judgment +when called upon; and the meaning of that is," said Dr. Addison, "that +if you behave yourself you will hear no more of this; but if you +return to your former practice without any regard to the warning you +have had, you will be promptly called up for judgment, and I need not +say the sentence will be proportioned to the requirements of the case. +You may now go." + +To carry on Dr. Addison's joke, I heartily thanked him for taking my +good character into consideration, and practically acquitting me of +all evil tendencies. Acting upon his good advice, from that time to +this I have never been in trouble again. + +Watson, Q.C., afterwards Baron Watson, advised me to take a long rest; +but as he was not a doctor of medicine, I did not act upon his advice. +A long rest would have killed me much faster than any amount of work, +so I worked with judgment; and although my business went on increasing +to an extent that would not have pleased Dr. Addison, I suffered no +evil effects, but seemed to get through it with more ease than ever, +and was soon in a fair way to achieve the greatest goal of human +endeavour--a comfortable independence. The reason of getting through +so much work was that I had to reject a great deal, and, of course, +had my choice of the best, not only as to work, but as to clients. To +use a sporting phrase, I got the best "mounts," and therefore was at +the top of the record in wins. + +Good cases are easy--they do not need winning; they will do their +own work if you only leave them alone. Bad cases require all your +attention; they want much propping, and your only chance is that, if +you cannot win, your opponent may _lose_. + +But nothing in the chatter about the Bar is more erroneous than the +talk of the tremendous incomes of counsel. A man is never estimated +at his true worth in this world, certainly not a barrister, actor, +physician, or writer; and as for incomes, no one can estimate his +neighbour's except the Income-tax Commissioners. They get pretty near +sometimes, however, without knowing it. + +One morning I was riding in the Park when old Sam Lewis, the great +money-lender, a man for whom I had much esteem, and about whom I will +relate a little story presently, came alongside. We were on friendly +and even familiar terms, although I never borrowed any money of him in +my life. + +"Why, Mr. Hawkins," said he, "you seem to be in almost everything. +What a fortune you must be piling up!" + +"Not so big as you might think," I replied. + +"Why, how many," he rejoined, "are making as much as you? A good many +are doing twenty thousand a year, I dare say, but--" + +Here I checked his curiosity by asking if he had ever considered what +twenty thousand a year meant. + +He never had. + +"Then I will tell you, Lewis. _You_ may make it in a day, but to us it +means five hundred golden sovereigns every week in the working year!" + +It somewhat startled him, I could see, and it effected my object +without giving offence. What did it matter to Sam Lewis what my income +was? + +"There are men who make it," he answered. + +"Some men have made it," I said; "and I know some who make more, but +will never own to it, ask who may." + +I may say I liked Sam Lewis, and having told the story of the Queen's +Counsel who _borrowed_ my money in so dishonest a manner, I will tell +one of Sam, the professional money-lender. + +He never was known to take advantage of a man in difficulties, and he +never did, nor to charge any one exorbitant interest. I have known him +lend to men and allow them to fix their own time of payment, their own +rate of interest, and their own security. He often lent without any at +all. He knew his men, and was not fool enough to trust a rogue at any +amount of interest. He was known and respected by all ranks, and never +more esteemed than by those who had had pecuniary transactions with +him. He was the soul of honour, and his transactions were world-wide; +business passed through his hands that would have been entrusted +nowhere else; so that he was rich, and no one was more deservedly so. + +Here is an incident in Lewis's business life that will show one phase +of his character. + +He held a number of bills, many of which were suspected by him to be +forged--that is to say, that the figures had been altered after the +signature of the acceptor had been written. + +They were all in the name of Lord ----. + +One day Lewis met his lordship in the Park, and mentioned his +suspicion, at the same time inviting him to call and examine the +bills. The noble lord was a little amazed, and proceeded at once to +Lewis's office. Seating himself on one side of the table with his +lordship on the other, Lewis handed to him the bills one by one and +requested him to set aside those that were forged. + +The separation having been made, it appeared that over _twenty +thousand-pounds' worth of the bills were forged_! The noble lord was a +little startled at the discovery, but his mind was soon eased by Lewis +putting the whole of the forged bills into the fire. + +"There's an end of them, my lord," said he. "We want no prosecution, +and I do not wish to receive payment from you. I ought to have +examined them with more care, and you ought not to have left space +enough before the first figure to supplement it by another. The rogue +could not resist the temptation." + +So ended this monetary transaction, creditable alike to the honour and +generosity of the money-lender. + +The most steady of minds will sometimes go on the tramp. This was +never better illustrated than when the young curate was being married, +and the officiating clergyman asked him the formal question, "Wilt +thou have this woman to thy wedded wife?" + +The poor bridegroom, losing self-control, and not having yet a better +half to keep him straight, answered, "That is my desire," anticipating +by a considerable period a totally different religious ceremony of the +Church--namely, the Baptism of Infants. In his anticipation the young +man had overreached the necessities of the situation. + +This momentary digression leads me to the following story. I was +staying at the house of an old friend, a wealthy Hebrew, while another +of the guests was Arthur A'Becket. As will sometimes happen when +you are in good spirits, the conversation took a religious turn. We +drifted into it unconsciously, and our worthy host was telling us +that he was in the habit of praying night and morning. Being in a +communicative mood, I said, "Well, since you name it, I sometimes say +a little prayer myself." The Hebrew was attentive, and seemed not a +little surprised. "This is especially the case in the morning," I +added. "But once upon a time my mind wavered a little between business +and prayer, and I found myself in the midst of my devotional exercise +saying, 'Gentlemen of the jury.'" + +"Thank God!" cried A'Becket, "our friend Hawkins is not a Unitarian." + +I often wonder how I was able to get through the amount of business +that pressed upon me and retain my health, but happily I did so. One +great factor in my fortunate condition of health was, perhaps, that I +had no ridiculous ambition. What was to come would come as the result +of hard work, for I was born to no miraculous interpositions or +official friendships. + +Having dropped gambling, I set to work, and after a long spell of +_nisi prius_, in all its phases, had engaged my attention, a new +sphere of action presented itself in the shape of Compensation +Cases--an easy and lucrative branch, which seemed to be added to, +rather than have grown out of, our profession; but whatever was its +connection, it was a prolific branch, hanging down with such good +fruit that it required no tempter to make you taste it. + +Railway, Government, and Municipal authorities were everywhere taking +land for public improvements, and where they were, as a rule, my +friend Horace Lloyd and myself were engaged in friendly rivalry as to +the amount to be paid. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE PRIZE-FIGHT ON FRIMLEY COMMON. + + +I must now describe a remarkable event that occurred a great many +years ago, and which caused no little amusement at the time; indeed, +for years after Baron Parke used to tell the story with the greatest +pleasure. + +In those old days there was a prize-fight on Frimley Common, and it +was known long after as the "Frimley Common Prize-Fight," although +many a battle had taken place on Frimley Ridges before that time, +and many a one since. This particular fight was the more celebrated +because one of the combatants was killed, and I remember the events +connected with it as clearly as if they had taken place only +yesterday. At the following Kingston Assizes the victorious pugilist +was indicted for manslaughter. It was an awful charge, especially +before the Judge who was then presiding. The man, however, escaped for +the moment, and a warrant was issued for his apprehension. + +At a later period I was at Guildford, where the Assizes were being +held. Even at that time the man "wanted" for the manslaughter could be +easily identified, for he still bore visible signs of the punishment +he had undergone in the encounter. + +I was sitting in court one afternoon when a country sporting attorney +of the name of Morris quietly sidled up to me. I ought to mention that +at these Assizes Lord Chief Justice Erie was sitting, and it was well +known that he also detested the Prize Ring, and had therefore, no +sympathy with any of its members. He was consequently a dangerous +Judge to have anything to do with in a case of this kind. His +punishment would be sure to be one of severity, and a conviction a +dead certainty. There was a sparkle in the sporting solicitor's eye, +as he glanced at me over his shoulder, which plainly intimated that he +had something good to communicate. + +As he came in front of the seat where I was, he said, in a subdued +whisper, that he had been instructed by Lord ---- to defend the +accused prize-fighter; that the man was at that moment in the town, +and would like to have my opinion as to whether it would be prudent +to surrender at these Assizes--surrender, that is to say, to the +constables who were on the lookout for him; or whether it would be +better, as they were ignorant of his whereabouts, to delay his trial +until the next Assizes, when he would be better prepared to face the +tribunal, as by that time he would have recovered from the punishment +he had received. + +It is certain the jury would have taken his battered appearance as +evidence of the damage he had inflicted on his adversary, whom he +had unfortunately killed; and even more likely that Erle should +have regarded his injuries in the same light, and punished him more +severely for having received them. I had a perfect right to answer the +question put to me, and felt that it was my duty to the accused to +answer frankly. So I said there was little doubt, as the man was dead, +and the accused still bore unmistakable signs of the contest, there +would be pretty clear evidence of identity; that as Erle was not a +fool, he would most certainly convict him; while, being opposed to +everything connected with the "noble art of self-defence," he might +send him to penal servitude for a number of years. + +I had no need to say more. The solicitor, who was a ready-witted and +voluble man, was anxious to amalgamate his opinion with mine. He +was shrewd, and caught an idea before you could be sure you had one +yourself. + +"The most prudent thing, sir," he said, "would be to surrender at the +next Assizes, and not at these. That is just what I thought, sir, and +so I told him, advising in the meantime that he should carefully avoid +putting himself in the way of the police." + +I have no doubt he acted on this opinion, for I heard that he left the +town immediately, and was neither seen nor heard of again till the eve +of the Spring Assizes, which were to be held at Kingston, and at which +Baron Parke was to preside. The Baron was one of the shrewdest of men, +as any one would discover who attempted to deceive him. + +On the Commission day the attorney for the accused presented himself +to me again, and once more sought my opinion with regard to the trial +and the surrender of the accused. + +"Would it be proper," he asked, "for my client to show his respect for +the court and dress in a becoming manner; or should he appear in his +everyday clothes as a working bricklayer, dirty and unwashed?" + +Again I advised, as was my duty, that he should scrupulously regard +the dignity of the Bench, and show the greatest respect to the learned +Judge who presided; that he ought not to come in a disgraceful costume +if he could help it, but appear as becomingly attired as possible. +That was all I said. Let me also observe, what perhaps there is no +occasion to say, that I impressed upon the attorney that his client +should abstain from any appearance of attempting to deceive the Judge, +and informed him, as the fact was, that his lordship was scrupulously +particular in all points of etiquette and decorum. Moreover, I added +as a last word, "The Judge is too shrewd to be taken in." + +After thus duly impressing upon him the importance of a quiet +behaviour, I suggested that any costume other than that of the man +when actually engaged in the fight _might_ throw some difficulty in +the way of a young and inexperienced country constable identifying +him. It was never too late for even a bricklayer to mend his garments +or his manners and adjust them to the occasion. The policeman who +alone could identify the Frimley champion had not seen him for many +months--not since the fight, in fact; and the prisoner ought not to +appear in the dock in fighting costume, as the young Surrey constable +saw him on that one occasion. Moreover, Baron Parke would not like him +to appear in that dress. + +This was, as nearly as I can remember, all that took place between us. +Judge, now, of my surprise, if you can, when the case was called +on, to see the prisoner appear in the dock looking like a _young +clergyman_, dressed in a complete suit of black, a long frock coat, +fitting him up to the neck and very nearly down to the heels. He had +the appearance of a very tame curate. His hair, instead of being short +and stumpy, as when the young policeman saw him, was now long, shiny, +and carefully brushed over both sides of his forehead, which gave him +the appearance so fashionable amongst the saints of the Old Masters. + +I was utterly astounded at the change from the rude, rough bricklayer, +scarred all over the face, to the clergyman-like appearance of this +gentlemanly prisoner. I dared not laugh, but it was difficult to +maintain my countenance. Deceive Baron Parke! I thought; he would +deceive the devil himself, who knew a great deal more about parsons +than Parke did. + +The learned Judge looked at him for a considerable time, as though he +had never seen a prize-fighter before, and was determined to make the +most of him. If the ghost of Hamlet had stood in the dock instead of +the prisoner, he would not have surprised dear old Parke more than the +prisoner did. + +It was a masterpiece of deception, notwithstanding my serious warning. + +On the jury, it so happened, was an elderly Quaker, in his full array +of drab coat, vest, and breeches, with the regulation blue stockings. +He had long whitish hair, and a Quaker hat in front of him on the +ledge of the jury-box. He was what might be called a "factor" in the +situation, which it was no easy matter to know in a moment how to deal +with. He would be against prize-fighting to a certainty, but how far +he might be inclined to convict a prize-fighter was another matter. +At last I made up my mind in what way to deal with him, and it was +this--not on the merits of the noble art itself, but on those of the +case. If I could convince this conscientious juror that there _might +be_ (that would be good enough) a doubt as to identity, it would be +sufficient for my purpose; so I mainly addressed myself to _him_, +after disposing of the young policeman pretty satisfactorily, +leaving only his bare belief to be dealt with in argument. The young +policeman's belief that _that there_ was the man showed what a strong +young policeman he was. + +I asked the Quaker to allow me to suggest, for the sake of argument +only, that _he_, the Quaker, should imagine himself putting off his +Quaker dress, and assuming the costume of a prize-fighter, his hair +cut so short that it would present the appearance of an aged rat; +"then," said I, "divest yourself of your shirt and flannel--strip +yourself, in fact, quite to the skin above your belt--and with only a +pair of cotton drawers of a sky blue, or any other colour you might +prefer, and, say, a bird's-eye _fogle_ round your waist, your lower +limbs terminating in cotton socks and high-lows--with the additional +ornamentation to all this elegant drapery of a couple of your front +teeth knocked out--and I will venture to ask you, sir, and any one of +the gentlemen whom I am addressing, whether you think your own good +and respectable wife herself would recognize the partner of her joys?" + +The burst of laughter which this little transformation of the +respectable, stout old Quaker occasioned I was in no way responsible +for; but even Old Parke fell back in his seat, and said,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins! Mr. Hawkins!" + +I knew what that meant, and when the usher, by dint of much clamour, +secured me another hearing, I continued,-- + +"Nay, sir, and if you looked at yourself in a looking-glass you would +not be able to recognize a single feature you possessed, had you been +battered about the face as the unfortunate man was. Why, the young +policeman says in his evidence his nose was flattened, his, eyes were +swollen black, blue, and red, his cheeks gashed and bloody! But it is +enough: if that is a correct description, although a mild one, of the +man as he appeared after the scene of the conflict, how can you expect +the young constable to recognize such an individual months afterwards, +or any of the witnesses, although to their dying day they would not +forget the terrible disfigurement of the poor fellow whom you are +supposed to be trying?" + +All this time there was everywhere painfully suppressed laughter, and +even the jury, all of them Epsom men, and many of whom I knew well +enough, were hardly able to contain themselves. + +His lordship, after summing up the case to the jury, looked down +quietly to me, as I was sitting below him, and murmured,-- + +"Hawkins, you've got all Epsom with you!" + +"Yes," I answered, "but you have got the Quaker; he was the only one I +was afraid of." + +"You have transformed him," said the Judge. + +In a few minutes the verdict showed the accuracy of his lordship's +observation, for the jury returned a verdict of "Not guilty." + +I must say, however, that Parke did his utmost to obtain a conviction, +but reason and good sense were too much for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAM WARREN, THE AUTHOR OF "TEN THOUSAND A YEAR." + + +Amongst the illustrious men whom I have met, the name of Sam Warren +deserves remembrance, for he was a genial, good-natured man, full +of humour, and generally entertained a good opinion of everybody, +including himself. He not only achieved distinction in his profession +and became a Queen's Counsel, but wrote a book which attained a +well-deserved popularity, and was entitled "Ten Thousand a Year." + +He was a member of the Northern Circuit, and I believe was as popular +as his book. That he did not become a Judge, like several of his +friends, was not Sam's fault, for no man went more into society, +cultivated acquaintances of the best style, or had better +qualifications for the honour than he. + +But although he did not achieve this distinction, he was made a little +lower than that order, and became in due time a _Master in Lunacy_, a +post, as it seemed from Sam's description, of the highest importance +and no little fun. + +A part of his duties was to visit lunatic asylums and other places +where these patients were confined, with a view to report to the +authorities his opinion of the patients' mental condition. No doubt +to a man of Sam's observant mind this work presented many studies of +interest, as well as situations of excitement, and at times of no +little humour. He found, for instance, that many of these poor +creatures were possessed of a much larger income than ten thousand a +year. Some of them were Dukes and some supernatural beings, who were +just on a visit to this little clod of a world to see how things were +going. + +Soon after his appointment, and before he had become used to the work, +he told me of a singular experience he once had with a particular +gentleman whom he was intending to report as having perfectly +recovered from any mental aberration with which he might have been +afflicted. Sam wondered how it was possible that a gentleman of such +culture and understanding should be considered a fit subject +for confinement, for he had several pleasant and intellectual +conversations with him, and found him quite agreeable and refined, and +of a perfectly balanced mind. + +"I had been told," said the Master, "that the peculiar form of +derangement with this gentleman was that he had aspired to distinction +in the English Church; and on one memorable occasion when I called +he received me, not with the usual familiarity, but with a certain +stiffness and solemnity of bearing which was hardly in keeping with +his courteous demeanour on other occasions. One had to be on one's +guard at all times, or he might get a knife plunged into him without +notice. I chatted for some time in a kind and easy manner, hoping to +find that the mild restraint and discipline had done the poor fellow +good. Alas! how deceived I was, when, in a sudden rage, he turned upon +me, and asked _who the devil I thought I was talking to_?" + +"I told him a gentleman of a kind nature, I was sure, and of an +amiable disposition. + +"'Yes,' said he, 'but that is no reason why you should not treat me +with proper deference and with due respect for my exalted position.' + +"I bowed politely, and expressed a hope that I should never forget +what was due from one gentleman to another. + +"'No, no,' said he, 'that kind of excuse will not do. One gentleman to +another, indeed! Whom are you talking to? I insist on your treating +me with reverence and respect. Perhaps you do not know that I am _St. +Paul_?' + +"'Indeed!' said I, 'I was not aware that I was speaking to that holy +Apostle, to one whom I hold in extreme reverence, and whose writings I +have made my study.'" + +After that, it seems, they got on very well together for the rest of +the interview. Warren was able to delight him with his knowledge of +Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, and the little incident of leaving +his cloak at Troas, his shipwreck, and a vast number of things which +the Apostle seemed very pleased to hear, while he conducted himself +with that pious dignity which well deserved the obsequious reverence +of the official visitor. On parting, St. Paul said,-- + +"You are rather _mixed in your Scriptures_; the only thing you are +accurate about is _leaving my cloak at Troas_." + +On Warren's next visit he resolved to conduct himself with more +reverence. St. Paul was looking much the same as on the previous +occasion. Sam genuflected, and held down his head, putting his hands +devoutly together, and making such other manifestations of reverence +as he thought the case required. + +St. Paul looked at Warren with wonderment, and was evidently by no +means satisfied with his salutations. + +"Who the devil," said the madman, "do you think you are making those +idiotic signs to? Whom do you take me for?" + +"St. Paul, your holiness." + +"'St. Paul, your holiness,' he repeated. 'My ----, you ought to be put +into a lunatic asylum and looked after. You must be stark mad to think +I am the holy Apostle St. Paul. What put that into your silly brains? +Down on your knees, villain, at once, and prostrate yourself before +_the Shah of Persia_--the dawn of creation and the light of the +universe!' + +"I thought this was coming it pretty strong," continued Sam, "but as +it was all in my day's work, I conformed as well as I could to my +instructions. The difficulty was in knowing how to address His +Majesty, so I stammered, 'Dread potentate!' and seeing it pleased him, +'Light of the universe,' I cried, 'it is morning! May I rise?' + +"'I perceive,' said the Shah, 'you are a genius,'" + +"What did you think of his state of mind after that?" I asked. + +Sam laughed and answered: "I thought he was getting better, more +rational, and thanked him for his good opinion. 'Mighty potentate,' +said I, 'monarch of the universe, I apologize for my mistake, but I +was at _St. Luke's_ yesterday,' + +"'My faithful Luke!' said he, and clapped his hands. I knew once more +where he was. + +"'The last time,' said I (thinking I would rather have him the amiable +Paul than the savage Shah), 'your Majesty informed me that you were +the holy Apostle St. Paul!' + +"'So I am,' answered the Shah. + +"'I am at a loss, your Majesty, I humbly confess, to understand how +your immortal Highness can be at one and the same time the blessed +Apostle St. Paul and the Shah of Persia,' + +"'Because you are such a damned fool!' replied His Highness. + +"Here was the fierceness of the Shah, but immediately the gentleness +of the Apostle restored him to a more amiable mood, and coming towards +me with a smile, he said,-- + +"'The explanation, my dear sir, is simple;' and then, in a quiet, +confidential tone, he added: '_It was the same mother, but two +fathers_!'" + +"I had another experience not long after in the same asylum," +continued Warren. "One of my patients told me he had married the +devil's daughter when I was asking him about his relations. 'She was +a nice girl enough,' he said, 'and although my people thought I had +married beneath me, I was satisfied with her rank, seeing she was a +Prince's daughter. We went off on our honeymoon in a chariot of fire +which her father lent us for the occasion, and had a comfortable time +of it at Monte Carlo, where all the hotels are under her father's +special patronage.' + +"'I hope,' said I, 'your marriage was a happy one.' + +"'Yes,' said he with a sigh, '_but we don't get on well with the old +folks_!'" + + * * * * * + +No writer was ever more solicitous of fame than Sam Warren. It was +a proud moment whenever there was the remotest allusion to his +authorship, and I always loved to compliment him on his books. + +In the famous case of Lord St. Leonards's will, which had been lost, I +supported the lost will, and proved its contents from the evidence of +Miss Sugden and others. + +Sam Warren had been in the habit of visiting Lord St. Leonards at +Boyle Farm, Ditton. He gave evidence as to what Lord St. Leonards had +told him respecting his intentions as to the disposal of his property. + +After examining him, I said with a polite bow: "Mr. Warren, I owe you +an apology for bringing you into the Probate Court. I am sure no +one will ever dream of disputing _your_ will, because you have left +everybody '_Ten Thousand a Year_!'" + +Whereupon Warren bowed most politely to me in acknowledgment of the +compliment; then bowed to the _Judge_, and received his lordship's bow +in return; then bowed to the _jury_, then to the _Bar_, and, lastly, +to the _gallery_. + +Writing of the Probate and Divorce Court reminds me of a curious +application for the postponement of a trial made by George Brown, who +was as good a humorist as he was a lawyer. + +I have said that Judges in those days were more strict in refusing +these applications than in ours, and Cresswell was no exception to the +rule. He disliked them, and rarely yielded. But Brown was a man of +a very persuasive manner, and it was always difficult to refuse him +anything. I was sitting in Cresswell's court when George rose as +soon as the Judge had taken his seat, and asked if a case might be +postponed which would be in the next day's list. + +"Have you an affidavit, Mr. Brown, as to the reason?" + +"Yes, my lord; but I can hardly put the real ground of my application +into the affidavit. I have communicated with the other side, and they +are perfectly agreeable under the circumstances." + +"I cannot agree to postpone without some adequate cause being stated," +said Cresswell. + +"I am very sorry, my lord, but it will be very inconvenient to me to +be here to-morrow." + +There was a laugh round the Bar, which Cresswell observing, asked what +the real reason was. + +Brown smiled and blushed; nothing would bring him to state plainly +what the reason of his application was. At last, however, he +stammered,-- + +"My lord, the fact is I am going to take the first step towards a +divorce." + +The appeal touched the Judge; the reason was sufficient. Every step in +a divorce was to be encouraged, especially the first. The application +was granted, and Brown was married the next day. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE. + + +From the courts of justice to the prize-ring is an easy and sometimes +pleasant transition, especially in books. I visited from time to time +such well-known persons as "Deaf Burke," Nat Langham, "Dutch Sam," and +Owen Swift, all remarkable men, with constitutions of iron, and made +like perfect models of humanity. Their names are unknown in these +days, although in those of the long past gentlemen of the first +position were proud of their acquaintance; and these men, although +their profession was battering one another, were as little inclined +to brutality as any. And when it is remembered that they played their +game in accordance with strict rules and on the most scientific +principles, it will be seen that cruelty formed no part of their +character. + +The true sportsmen of the period, amongst whom were the highest in the +social and political world, took the same interest in contests in the +ring as they did on the turf or in the cricket-field, and for the same +reason. Whether Jem Mace would beat Tom Sayers had as much interest +at fashionable dinner-tables as whether Lord Derby would dispose +of Aberdeen or Palmerston. Lords and dukes backed their opinion +in thousands, and the bargee and the ostler gave or took the odds +according to the tips, in shillings. The gentleman of the long robe, +therefore, was not to be supposed as altogether out of his element +in sporting circles any more than the gentleman who had not a rag to +cover him. + +Nor was it uncommon to meet what was called the cream of society +at the celebrated rendezvous of Ben Caunt, which was the Coach and +Horses, St. Martin's Lane, or at the less pretentious resort of the +Tipton Slasher; and what will our modern ladies think of their fair +predecessors, who in those days witnessed the drawing of a badger or a +dog-fight on a Sunday afternoon? + +All mankind will attend exhibitions of skill and prowess, and although +prize-fights are illegal, you never can suppress the spirit which +engendered that form of competition. + +I spent sometimes, with many eminent spectators, a quiet hour or two +at Tom Spring's in Holborn, and met many of the best men there in all +ranks and professions, always excepting the Church. After one of these +entertainments I was travelling with John Gully, once a formidable +champion of the ring, and at that time a great bookmaker, as well +as owner of racehorses--afterwards presented at Court to her most +gracious Majesty the late Queen--and Member of Parliament. We were +travelling on our way to Bath, and as we approached a tunnel not far +from our destination, Gully pointed out a particular spot "where," +said he, "I won my first fight;" and so proud was he of the +recollection that he might have been in a picture like that of +Wellington pointing out the Field of Waterloo to a young lady. + +This knowledge of the world, seen as I saw it, was of the greatest use +in my profession. If you would know the world, you must not confine +yourself to its virtues. There _is_ another side, and it is well to +look at it. I thought on one particular occasion how useful a little +of this knowledge would have been during a certain cross-examination +of Arthur Orton in Chancery by a member of the Chancery Bar. He put +this question and many others of a similar kind,-- + +"Do you swear, sir, that you were on board the _Bella_?" in a very +severe tone. + +"Yes, sir," says the Claimant, "I do." + +"Stop," says the advocate; "I'll take that down;" and he did, with a +great deal besides, his cross-examination materially assisting the man +in prolonging his fraudulent claim. + +I was engaged in the Brighton card-sharping case, upon which so much +stress was laid by the Claimant as proving his identity with Roger +Tichborne, Roger not having been in the matter at all. I was counsel +for one of the persons, the notorious Johnny Broom, who was indicted +for fraud, and whose trial ought to have come on before Lord Chief +Justice Jervis. He was not a good Judge, so far as the _defendant_ was +concerned, to try such a case, and that being Johnny's opinion, he +absconded from his bail. The Lord Chief Justice had a great knowledge +of card-sharping and of all other rogueries, so that he was an apt man +to deal with delinquents who practised them. Conviction before him +would have been certain in this case. He was, in fact, waiting for +Johnny, as it was a case of great roguery, and intended to deal +severely with him. + +You may imagine, then, how angry he was when he heard that his man had +flown. But there was one consolation: the Broom gang consisted of a +number of men who acted on all occasions as confederates when the +frauds were practised. Two of these rogues were also indicted, and +placed on their trial at this assize. + +A Mr. Johnson appeared for the prosecution, and in opening the +case for the Crown, in order to show his uncommon fairness, was so +impartial as to state that he could find no ground of complaint in +respect of the _cards_, which, he said, had been most carefully +examined by the Brighton magistrates. + +Who these Brighton magistrates were I never heard, but probably they +were gentlemen who knew nothing of sharpers and their ways, and whose +only experience of cards was a quiet rubber with the ladies of their +household. However, such was their unanimous opinion, and upon it the +counsel for the Crown informed the Lord Chief Justice that he had no +case so far as the fairness of the cards was concerned. + +The Lord Chief Justice saw in a moment the importance of that +admission on the part of the prosecution. If that were accepted the +case was gone, since the fraud for which these men were indicted could +not have been perpetrated by honest cards. + +"The Brighton magistrates!" said the Chief Justice, with becoming +emphasis. "Give me the cards; I should like to have a look at them." + +They were handed up, and then a little scene took place which was +picturesque and instructive. The Judge took up the cards one by one +after carefully wiping and adjusting his glasses to his nose, while +his confidential clerk leant over his shoulder with clerk-like +familiarity. Having scrutinized them with the minutest observation, +Jervis packed them up, and, turning to Mr. Johnson, said,-- + +"Mr. Johnson, I will show you how the trick was done. If you will take +that card"--handing him one from the pack "--you will see that to +the ordinary eye there is nothing to attract your attention. That is +precisely as it should be in all games of cheating, for if every +fool could see the private marks the rogues could not carry on their +calling." + +Johnson took the card, and, instructed by the Lord Chief Justice, +carefully looked it over, but saw nothing. His face was a perfect +blank, and his mind could not have been much more picturesque. + +"Turn it over," said his lordship. Johnson obeyed. Still the cryptic +hierograph did not appear. The Judge stared at his pupil. "Do you +see," asked his lordship, "a tiny mark on the corner of the card at +the back?" + +"Oh, I see it!" says Johnson, with a face beaming with delight and +simplicity. + +"That means _the ace of diamonds_" said the Chief--"ace of diamonds, +Mr. Johnson!" And thus, after a while, the cards and their secret +signs were explained to the counsel for the Crown, who, on the +intelligence of the Brighton magistrates, declared that, so far as the +_cards_ were concerned, he must acquit these card-sharping rogues of +all intention to deceive. + +In all cases the back of the card showed what was on the face; that +was the simple secret of the whole contrivance, although the Brighton +magistrates could not discover it, as the whole of them combined had +not a hundredth part of the intelligent cuteness of Lord Chief Justice +Jervis. + +Two of this gang were standing near me, and I heard one of them say to +the other,-- + +"Joey, how would you like to play blind hookey with that ---- old +devil?" + +"O my G----!" exclaimed Joey. + +The prisoners were convicted principally upon the evidence of the Lord +Chief Justice, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. My client +Johnny got away. He read about Jervis and this trial in the papers, +and declared he would sooner abandon his profession than be tried by +such an old thief. "Why," said he, "that old bloke knows every trick +on the board." + +His escape was rather interesting. He came into Lewes fully intending +to take his trial, and went out of Lewes with the determination not +to be tried at those assizes, for the simple reason, as he said, that +Jervis was too heavy weight for his counsel. + +He took a room and showed himself publicly; but at night the +police--those stalwart county men--paid a tiptoe visit to his bedroom. +They had no right to this privilege, but perhaps Harry thought it +would be better for his brother if they did so. Why they went on +tiptoe was that Harry told them his brother was in so weak a state +that he woke up with the least noise. The police very kindly believed +him, and paid their first and second visit on tiptoe. + +When they went the third time, however, their bird had flown. Johnny +had let himself down by the window, and, evading the vigilance of +those who may have been on the lookout, escaped. + +But he did not go without providing a substitute. Harry was to answer +all inquiries, and waited the arrival of his watchers, lying in +Johnny's bedroom. When the officers came he opened the door in his +night apparel, and said, "Hush! don't disturb him; poor Johnny ain't +slept hardly for a week over this 'ere job. But you can have a peep at +him, only don't make a noise. There he is!" and he pointed to a fancy +nightcap of his brother's, which only wanted Johnny's head to make the +story true. + +The good constables, having seen it as they saw it the night before, +left the house as quietly as mice, still on tiptoe. + +Harry described this performance to me himself. + +Jervis had the whole country scoured for him, but unless he had +scoured it himself, there was little chance of any one else finding +the culprit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE KNEBWORTH THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS--SIR EDWARD +BULWER--LYTTON--CHARLES DICKENS, CHARLES MATHEWS, MACREADY, DOUGLAS +JERROLD, AND MANY OTHERS. + + +Among my pleasantest reminiscences were the partly amateur and partly +professional entertainments that took place at the celebrated seat of +the distinguished author, Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, about the year +185-. + +At that time a gentleman of position usually sought to enhance the +family dignity by a seat in Parliament. The most brilliant mediocrity +even could not succeed without the patronage of the great families, +while the great families were dependent upon those who had the +franchise for the seats they coveted. + +Forty-shilling freeholders were of some importance in those days; +hence these theatrical performances at Knebworth Park, for Sir Edward +wanted their suffrages without bribery or corruption. + +Those who were the happy possessors of what they called the +"frankise" were also distinguished enough, to be invited to the great +performances at the candidate's beautiful estate. + +It was a happy thought to give a succession of dramatic +entertainments, amongst which "Every Man in his Humour" was one. Sir +Edward knew his constituents and their tastes; it would be better +than oratory at some village inn to ask them to the stately hall of +Knebworth, and give them one of our fine old English plays. + +I have already said that I had made up my mind in my earliest days to +go to the Bar or on the Stage, and that love for the histrionic art +(sometimes called the footlights) never left me. + +For some reason or other I was invited to join the illustrious company +which assembled on those eventful evenings, although I was cast for a +very humble part in the performance. Nor is there much to wonder at +when I tell you who my colleagues were. + +First comes that most distinguished comedian of his day, Charles +Mathews. I had known him for many a year, and liked him the better, if +that was possible, the longer I knew him. + +Mathews was the leader of the company; next was another illustrious +man whose name will live for ever, and who was not only one of the +greatest authors of his time, but also the most distinguished of the +non-professional actors. Had he been on the stage, Mathews himself +could not have surpassed him. This was Charles Dickens. + +After him comes a great friend of Sir Edward, John Foster, a barrister +of Lincoln's Inn, and author of the "Life of Goldsmith," as well as +editor of the _Examiner_ newspaper. + +I am not quite sure whether Macready was present on this particular +occasion, but I think he was; there were really so many illustrious +names that it is impossible at this distance of time to be sure of +every one. Macready was a great friend of Bulwer, and with Dickens +and others was engaged in giving stage representations for charitable +purposes in London and the provinces, so that it is at least possible +I may be confounding Knebworth with some other place where I was one +of the company. + +Amongst us also was another whose name will always command the +admiration of his countrymen, Douglas Jerrold. There were also Mark +Lemon, Frank Stone, and another Royal Academician, John Leech, +Frederick Dickens, Radcliffe, Eliot Yorke, Henry Hale, and others +whose names escape my memory at the present moment. + +No greater honour could be shown to a young barrister than to invite +him to meet so distinguished a company, and what was even more +gratifying to my vanity, asking me to act with them in the +performance. There were many ladies, some of them of the greatest +distinction, but without the leave of those who are their immediate +relatives, which I have no time now to obtain, I forbear to mention +their names in this work. + +The business--for business it was, as well as the greatest +pleasure--was no little strain on my energies, for I was now obtaining +a large amount of work, and appearing in court every day. I had the +orthodox number of devils--at least seven--to assist me, and every +morning they came and received the briefs they were to hold. + +Alas! of the illustrious people I have mentioned all are dead, all +save one lady and myself. + +When will such a company meet again? + +I was no sooner in the midst of Knebworth's delightful associations +than I was anxious to return to the toilsome duties of the Law Courts, +with their prosaic pleadings and windbag eloquence. I was wanted in +several consultations long before the courts met, so that it was idle +to suppose I could stay the night at Knebworth. But what would I have +given to be able to do so? + +Not my briefs! They were the business of my life, without which the +Knebworth pleasures would not have been possible. I never looked with +any other feeling than that of pleasure on my work, and whenever the +question arose I decided without hesitation in favour of the more +profitable but less delightful occupation. + +But I managed a compromise now and then. For instance, after I had +done my duty in the consultations, and seen my work fairly started in +court, I contrived to take the train pretty early to Knebworth, in +order to attend rehearsals as well as perform in the evening. + +Sir Edward's good-nature caused him much distress at my having to +journey to and fro. What _could_ he do? He offered me the sole use of +his library during the time I was there if I could make it in any way +helpful, and said it should be fitted up as a bedroom and study. But +it was impossible to do other than I did. The rehearsals were nearly +always going on--we had audiences as though they were _matinées_--and +they afforded much amusement to us as well as the spectators when we +made our corrections or abused one another for some egregious blunder. +This, of course, did not include Mathews, who coached us from an +improvised royalty box, where he graciously acted as George IV., got +up in a wonderful Georgian costume for the occasion. George was so +good that he diverted the attention of the audience from us, and made +a wonderful hit in his new character. + +I will not say that at our regular performances we always won +the admiration, but I will affirm that we certainly received the +forbearance, of our audience, which says a great deal for them. This +observation, however, does not, of course, apply to the professional +artists, but only to myself, who, luckily, through all the business +still kept my head. + +And it will be easily understood that this was the more difficult, +especially if I may include my temper with it, when the good-natured +Baronet actually invited several of his Hertford friends and +neighbours to take part in the performances, some of them being +friends of my own and members of my profession. + +So that at this electioneering time the whole of that division was +alive with theatricals and "Every Man in his Humour," which was +exactly what Sir Edward wanted. + +It was an ordeal for some of us to rehearse with the celebrities of +the stage, but I need not say their good-humour and delight in showing +how this and that should be done, and how this and that should be +spoken, was, I am sure, reciprocated by all the amateurs in studying +the corrections. Never were lessons more kindly given, or received +with more pleasurable surprise. Some could scarcely conceive how they +could so blunder in accent and emphasis. However, most things require +learning, even advocacy and acting. + +Eliot Yorke was stage-manager, and wrote a very excellent prologue. It +must have been good, it was so heartily applauded, and the same may be +said of all of us. I think Radcliffe studied the part of Old Knowell, +while I played Young Knowell. Speaking after this interval of many +years, I believe we were all word-perfect and pretty well conscious of +our respective duties. Charles Dickens arranged our costumes, while +Nathan supplied them. He arranged me well. I was quite satisfied with +my Elizabethan ruff wound round my throat, but must confess that it +was a little uncomfortable for the first three or four hours. My hose +also gave me great satisfaction and some little annoyance. + +I thought if I could walk into court without changing my costume, what +a sensation I should create! What would Campbell or Jervis say to +_Young Knowell_? + +My father, as I have mentioned, lived at Hitchin, about six miles from +Knebworth, and my professional duties calling me so early to town, I +arranged to sleep at Hitchin, and go to London by an early train in +the morning. Sir Edward was much concerned at all this, and again +wondered whether his library could not be appropriated. But the other +was the only practicable plan, and was adopted. Every day I was in +court by nine o'clock, sometimes worked till five, then went by +rail to Stevenage and drove to Knebworth, three miles. That was the +routine. It was then time to put on my Elizabethan ruff and hose. +After the play I once more donned my private costume, and supped +luxuriously at a round table, where all our splendid company were +assembled. + +After supper some of us used to retire to Douglas Jerrold's room in +one of the towers, and there we spent a jovial evening, prolonging the +entertainment until the small hours of the morning. + +Then my fly, which had been waiting a long time, enabled me to reach +Hitchin and get three hours' sleep. + +All this was hard work, but I was really strong, and in the best of +health, so that I enjoyed the labour as well as the pleasure. One +cannot now conceive how it was possible to go through so much without +breaking down. I attribute it, however, to the attendant excitement, +which braced me up, and have always found that excitement will enable +you to exceed your normal strength. + +I had very many theatrical friends, all of them delightful in every +way. Amongst them Wright and Paul Bedford. Such companions as these +are not to be met with twice, each with his individuality, while the +two in combination were incomparable. They kept one in a perpetual +state of laughter. Paul was irresistible in his drollery, and whether +it was mimicry or original humour, you could not but revel in its +quaint conceits. + +Such men are benefactors; they brighten the darkest hours of +existence, turn sorrow into laughter, and enable men to forget their +troubles and live a little while in the sunshine of humour. Banish +philosophy if you please, banish ambition if you must banish +something, but leave us _humour_, the light of the social world. All +who have experienced its beautiful influence can appreciate its value, +and understand it as one of the choicest blessings conferred on our +existence. + +The dullest company was enlivened when Wright entered upon the scene. +I remember Paul being told one day at the Garrick Club that a certain +poor barrister, who had been an actor, was going to marry the +daughter of an old friend. "Ah!" said he, "yes, he's _a lover without +spangles_." + +Who but Paul would have thought of so grotesque a simile? And yet its +applicability was simply due to the language of the stage. + +I remember Robson, too, and his wonderful acting; he had no rival. +Nature had given him the talent which Art had cultivated to the +highest perfection. Next come the Keelys' impersonations of every +phase of dramatic life--originals in acting, and actors of originals. + +But I must not linger over this portion of my story. It would occupy +many pages, and time and space are limited; I therefore take my leave +of one of the pleasantest chapters in my reminiscences. + +All, alas! have passed away--all I knew and loved, all who made +that time so happy; and reluctantly as I say it, it must be said: +"Farewell, dear, grand old. Knebworth, with all thy glories and all +the glad faces and merry hearts I met within your walls--a long, long, +farewell!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CROCKFORD'S--"THE HOOKS AND EYES"--DOUGLAS JERROLD. + + +"Crockford's" has become a mere reminiscence, but worthy, in many +respects, of being preserved as part of the history of London. It was +historic in many of its associations as well as its incidents, and men +who made history as well as those who wrote it met at Crockford's. It +was celebrated alike for high play and high company. + +As I never had a real passion for gambling, it was to me a place of +great enjoyment, for there were some of the celebrated men of the +day amongst its invited guests--wits, poets, novelists, playwrights, +painters--in fact, all who had distinguished themselves in art +or literature, law, science, or learning of any kind were always +welcomed. + +It was as pleasant a lounge as any in London, not excepting +Tattersall's, which has equal claims on my memory. At Crockford's I +met Captain H----, a wonderful gamester; he died early, but not too +early for his welfare, seeing that all the chances of life are against +the gambler. Padwick, too, I knew; he entertained with refined and +lavish hospitality. He was one of the winners in the game of life who +did not die early. He told good stories and put much interest into +them. He knew Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner--a sporting man of the +first water, who poisoned John Parsons Cook for the sake of his +winnings, and his wife and mother, it was said, for the sake of the +insurance on their lives. Padwick knew everybody's deeds and misdeeds +who sought to increase his wealth on the turf or at the gaming-table. +He was a just and honourable man, but without any sympathy for fools. + +Others I could recall by the score, men of character and of no +character. Some I knew afterwards professionally, and especially one, +who, although convicted of crime, escaped by collusion the sentence +justly passed upon him. Another was a man of position without +character, whose evil habits destroyed the talent that would have made +him famous. + +But I need not dwell on the manifold characters and scenes of +Crockford's. There has been nothing like it either in its origin or +its subsequent history. There will never be anything like it in an +age of refinement and laws, which have been wisely passed for the +protection of fools. + +The founder of this fashionable gambling place was at one time a small +fishmonger in either the Strand or Fleet Street, I forget which, and +lived there till he removed to St. James's Street, where he became a +fisher of men, but never in any other than an honourable way. + +"His Palace of Fortune" was of the grandest style of architectural +beauty. It was one in which the worshippers of Fortune planked down +the last acre of their patrimonial estates to propitiate the fickle +goddess in the allurements of the gaming-table. But how _can_ Fortune +herself give two to one on all comers? Some _must_ lose to pay the +winners. + +At this palatial abode the most sumptuous repasts were prepared by the +most celebrated _chefs_ the world could produce, and were eaten by the +most fastidious and expensive gourmands Nature ever created; gamblers +of the most distinguished and the most disreputable characters; +gentlemen of the latest pattern and the oldest school, the worst +of men and the best, sporting politicians and political sportsmen, +place-hunters, Ministers, ex-Ministers, scions of old families and +ancient pedigrees, as well as men of new families and no pedigrees, +who purchased, as we do now, a coat of arms at the Heralds' tailoring +shop, and selected their ancestors in Wardour Street. + +Only the wealthy could be members of this club, for only the wealthy +could lose money and pay it. Landscape painters might be guests, but +it was only the man who belonged to the landscape who could belong to +the body that gambled for it. Young barristers might visit the place, +possibly with an eye to business, but only members of large practice +or Judges could be members of this society. + +Lord Palmerston defended it manfully before the committee appointed +really for its destruction. He said it did a great deal of good--much +more good than all the gambling hells of London did harm. Whether his +lordship contended that there was no betting carried on at Crockford's +I am not prepared to say, but when evidence is given before +Parliamentary Committees it is sometimes difficult to understand its +exact meaning. Palmerston, however, positively said, without any doubt +as to his meaning, that candidates were not elected in order that they +might be plucked of every feather they possessed, and that any one who +maintained the contrary was slandering one of the most respectable +clubs in London. Some men would rather have pulled down St. Paul's +than Crockford's. + +It was the very perfection of a club, said the statesman, and its +principal game was chicken hazard. What could be stronger evidence +than that of its usefulness and respectability? At this game they +usually lost all they had, of little consequence to those who could +not do better with their property, and perhaps the best thing for the +country, because when it got into better hands it stood some chance of +being applied to more legitimate purposes. + +After a while Crockford quarrelled with his partner, and they +separated. + +Whatever men may say in these days against an institution which +flourished in those, ex-Prime Ministers, Dukes, Earls, and ex-Lord +Chancellors, as well as future Ministers of State and future Judges, +belonged to it, or sought eagerly for admission to its membership. To +be under the shadow of the fishmonger was greatness itself. + +At the mention of the name of Crockford's a procession of the greatest +men of the day passes before my eyes; their name would be legion as to +numbers, but an army of devoted patriots I should call them in every +other sense, for they were English to the backbone, whether gamblers +or saints. + +Of course there were some amongst them, as in every large body of men, +who were not so desirable to know as you could wish; but they were +easy to avoid and at all times an interesting study. + +There were wise men and self-deluded fools, manly, well-bred men, and +effeminate, conceited coxcombs, who wore stays and did up their back +hair, used paint, and daubed their cheeks with violet powder. These +men, while they had it, planked down their money with the longest +possible odds against them. There was one who was the very opposite +to these in the person of old Squire Osbaldistone. True, he had +squandered more money than any one had ever seen outside the Bank of +England, but he had done it like a gentleman and not like a fool. A +real grand man was the old squire, and I enjoyed many a walk with +him over Newmarket Heath, listening to his amusing anecdotes, his +delightful humour and brilliant wit. His manner was so buoyant that no +one could have believed he had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds, +but he had, without compunction or regret. + +The novelist and the painter could artistically describe Squire +Osbaldistone. I can only say he was a "fine old English gentleman, one +of the olden time." It was in a billiard-room at Leamington where I +first met him, and as he was as indifferent a player as you could +meet, he thought himself one of the best that ever handled a cue. + +I neither played chicken hazard nor any other game, but enjoyed myself +in seeing others play, and in picking up crumbs of knowledge which I +made good use of in my profession. + +The institution was not established for the benefit of science or +literature, except that kind of literature which goes by the name +of bookmaking. Its founder was a veritable dunce, but he was the +cleverest of bookmakers, and made more by it in one night than all the +authors of that day in their lives. One hundred thousand pounds in +one night was not bad evidence of his calculation of chances and his +general knowledge of mankind. + +To be a member of this club, wealth was not the only qualification, +because in time you would lose it; you had to be well born or +distinguished in some other way. The fishmonger knew a good salmon +by its appearance; he had also a keen respect for the man who had +ancestors and ancestral estates. + +I ought not to omit to mention another celebrated bookie of that +day; he was second only to Crockford himself, and was called "The +Librarian." He was also known as "Billy Sims." + +Billy lived in St. James's Street, in a house which has long since +been demolished, and thither people resorted to enjoy the idle, witty, +and often scandalous gossip of the time. It was as easy to lose your +reputation there as your money at Crockford's, and far more difficult +to keep it. The only really innocent conversation was when a man +talked about himself. + +From that popular gossiping establishment I heard a little story told +by the son of Sydney Smith. His father had been sent for to see an old +lady who was one of his most troublesome parishioners. She was dying. +Sad to say, she had always been querulous and quarrelsome. It may have +been constitutional, but whatever the cause, her husband had had an +uncomfortable time with her. When Sydney Smith reached the house the +old lady was dead, and the bereaved widower, a religious man in his +way, and acquainted with Scripture, said,-- + +"Ah, sir, you are too late: my poor dear wife has gone to _Abraham's +bosom_." + +"Poor Abraham!" exclaimed Sydney; "she'll tear his inside out." + +As all these things pass through my memory, I recall another little +incident with much satisfaction, because I was retained in the case. +It was a scandalous fraud in connection with the gaming-table. An +action was brought by a cheat against a gentleman who was said to have +lost £20,000 on the cast of the dice. I was the counsel opposed to +plaintiff, who was said to have cheated by means of _loaded dice_. I +won the case, and it was generally believed that the action was the +cause of the appointment of the "Gaming Committee," at which tribunal +all the rascality of the gaming-tables was called to give evidence, +and the witnesses did so in such a manner as to shock the conscience +of the civilized world, which is never conscious of anything until +exposure takes place in a court of law or in some other legal inquiry. + +Diabolical revelations were brought to light. However, as I have said, +Lord Palmerston effectually cleared Crockford's, and it almost seemed, +from the evidence of those who knew Crockford's best, that they never +played anything there but old-fashioned whist for threepenny points, +patience, and beggar-my-neighbour. + +His Royal Highness the then Prince of Wales came into court during the +trial I refer to, and seemed interested in the proceedings. I wonder +if his Majesty now remembers it! + +In those days Baron Martin and I met once a year, he on the Bench and +I in court, with a hansom cab waiting outside ready to start for the +Derby. It is necessary for Judges to sit on Derby Day, to show that +they do not go; but if by some accident the work of the court is +finished in time to get down to Epsom, those who love an afternoon +in the country sometimes go in the direction of the Downs. There is +usually a run on the list on that day. + +There was another club to which I belonged in those old days, called +"The Hooks and Eyes," where I met for the last time poor Douglas +Jerrold. He was one of the Eyes, and always on the lookout for a good +thing, or the opportunity of saying one. He was certainly, in my +opinion, the wittiest man of his day. But at times his wit was more +hurtful than amusing. Wit should never leave a sting. + +He was sometimes hard on those who were the objects of his personal +dislike. Of these Sir Charles Taylor was one. He was not a welcome +member of the Hooks and Eyes, and Jerrold knew it. There was really no +reason why Sir Charles should not have been liked, except perhaps that +he was dull and prosaic; rather simple than dull, perhaps, for he was +always ready to laugh with the rest of us, whether he understood the +joke or not. And what could the most brilliant do beyond that? + +Sir Charles was fond of music. He mentioned in Jerrold's company on +one occasion "that 'The Last Rose of Summer' so affected him that it +quite carried him away." + +"Can any one hum it?" asked Jerrold. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ALDERSON, TOMKINS, AND A FREE COUNTRY--A PROBLEM IN HUMAN NATURE. + + +Alderson was a very excellent man and a good Judge. I liked him, and +could always deal with him on a level footing. He was quaint and +original, and never led away by a false philanthropy or a sickly +sentimentalism. + +Appealed to on behalf of a man who had a wife and large family, +and had been convicted of robbing his neighbours, "True," said +Alderson--"very true, it is a free country. Nothing can be more proper +than that a man should have a wife and a large family; it is his +due--as many children as circumstances will permit. But, Tomkins, +you have no right, even in a free country, to steal your neighbour's +property to support them!" + +I liked him where there was a weak case on the other side; he was +particularly good on those occasions. + +In the Assize Court at Chelmsford a barrister who had a great criminal +practice was retained to defend a man for stealing sheep, a very +serious offence in those days--one where anything less than +transportation would be considered excessive leniency. + +The principal evidence against the man was that the bones of the +deceased animal were found in his garden, which was urged by the +prosecuting counsel as somewhat strong proof of guilt, but not +conclusive. + +It must have struck everybody who has watched criminal proceedings +that the person a prisoner has most to fear when he is tried is +too often his own counsel, who may not be qualified by nature's +certificate of capacity to defend. However, be that as it may, in this +case there was no evidence against the prisoner, unless his counsel +made it so. + +"Counsel for the defence" in those days was a wrong description--he +was called the _friend_ of the prisoner; and I should conclude, from +what I have seen of this relationship, that the adage "Save me from my +friends" originated in this connection. + +The friend of this prisoner, instead of insisting that there was no +evidence, since no one could swear to the sheep bones when no man had +ever seen them, endeavoured to explain away the cause of death, and +thus, by a foolish concession, admitted their actual identity. It was +not Alderson's duty to defend the prisoner against his own admission, +although, but for that, he would have pointed out to the Crown how +absolutely illogical their proposition was in law. But the "friend" of +the prisoner suggested that sheep often put their heads through gaps +or breakages in the hurdles, and rubbed their necks against the +projecting points of the broken bars; and that being so, why should +the jury not come to a verdict in favour of the prisoner on that +ground? It was quite possible that the constant rubbing would +ultimately cut the sheep's throat. If it did not, the prisoner +submitted to the same operation at the hand of his "friend." + +"Yes," said Baron Alderson, "that is a very plausible suggestion to +start with; but having commenced your line of defence on that ground, +you must continue it, and carry it to the finish; and to do this +you must show that not only did this sheep in a moment of temporary +insanity--as I suppose you would allege in order to screen it--commit +suicide, but that it skinned itself and then buried its body, or what, +was left of it after giving a portion to the prisoner to eat, in the +prisoner's garden, and covered itself up in its own grave. You must go +as far as that to make a complete defence of it. I don't say the jury +may not believe you; we shall see. Gentlemen, what do you say--is the +sheep or the prisoner guilty?" The sheep was instantly acquitted. + +There was another display of forensic ingenuity by the same counsel in +the next case, where he was once again the "friend" of the prisoner. + +A man was charged with stealing a number of gold and silver +coins which had been buried a few hours previously under the +foundation-stone of a new public edifice. + +The prisoner was one of the workmen, and had seen them deposited for +the historical curiosity of future ages. Antiquity, of course, would +be the essence of the value of the coins, except to the thief. The +royal hand had covered them with the stone, duly tapped by the silver +trowel amidst the hurrahs of the loyal populace, in which the prisoner +heartily joined. But in the night he stole forth, and then stole the +coins. + +They were found at his cottage secreted in a very private locality, +as though his conscience smote him or his fear sought to prevent +discovery. His legal friend, however, driven from the mere outwork of +facts, had taken refuge in the citadel of law; he was equal to the +occasion. Alas! Alderson knew the way into this impregnable retreat. + +Counsel suggested that it was never intended by those who placed the +coins where they were found that they should remain there till the end +of time; they were intended, said he, to be taken away by somebody, +but by whom was not indicated by the depositors, and as no time or +person was mentioned, they must belong to the first finder. It was all +a mere chance as to the time of their resurrection. Further, it was +certain they were not intended to be taken by their owners who had +placed them there--they never expected to see them again--but by any +one who happened to come upon them. Those who deposited them where +they were found parted not only with the possession, but with all +claims of ownership. Nor could any one representing him make any +claim. + +All this was excellent reasoning as far as it went, and the only thing +the prosecution alleged by way of answer was that they were intended +to be brought to light as antiquities. + +"Very well," said the prisoner's counsel; "then there is no felonious +intent in that case--it is merely a mistake. Antiquity came too soon." + +And so did the conviction. + +I was instructed, with the Hon. George Denman, son of my old friend, +whom I have so often mentioned, to defend three persons at the +Maidstone Assizes for a cruel murder. Mr. Justice Wightman was the +Judge, and there was not a better Judge of evidence than he, or of law +either. + +The prisoners were father, mother, and son, and the deceased was a +poor servant girl who had been engaged to be married to another son of +the male prisoner and his wife. + +The unfortunate girl had left her service at Gravesend, and gone to +this family on a visit. The prisoners, there could be no doubt, were +open to the gravest suspicion, but how far each was concerned with the +actual murder was uncertain, and possibly could never be proved. + +The night before the trial the attorney who acted for the accused +persons called on me, and asked this extraordinary question,-- + +"Could you secure the acquittal of the father and the son if the woman +will plead guilty?" + +It is impossible to conceive the amount of resolution and +self-sacrifice involved in this attempt to save the life of her +husband and son. It was too startling a proposal to listen to. I +could advise no client to plead guilty to wilful murder. It was so +extraordinary a proposition, look at it from whatever point I might, +that it was perfectly impossible to advise such a course. I asked him +if the woman knew what she was doing, and that if she pleaded guilty +certain death would follow. + +"Oh yes," said he; "she is quite prepared." + +"The murder," I said, "is one of the worst that can be +conceived--cruel and fiendish." + +He agreed, but persisted that she was perfectly willing to sacrifice +her own life if her husband and son could be saved. + +This woman, so full of feeling for her own family, had thought so +little of that of others that she had held down the poor servant girl +in bed while her son strangled her. + +"If," said I, "she were to plead guilty, the great probability is that +the jury would believe they were all guilty--very probably they are; +and most certainly in that case they would all be hanged." I therefore +strongly advised that the woman should stand her trial "with the +others," which she did. In the end they all _got off_! the evidence +not being sufficiently clear against any. + +It was a strange mingling of evil and good in one breast--of +diabolical cruelty and noble self-sacrifice. + +I leave others to work out this problem of human nature. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CHARLES MATHEWS--A HARVEST FESTIVAL AT THE VILLAGE CHURCH. + + +The sporting world has no greater claim on my memory than the +theatrical or the artistic. I recall them with a vividness that brings +back all the enjoyments of long and sincere friendships. For instance, +one evening I was in Charles Mathews's dressing-room at the theatre +and enjoying a little chat when he was "called." + +"Come along," said he; "come along." + +Why he should "call" me to come along I never knew. I had no part in +the piece at that moment. But he soon gave me one. I followed, with +lingering steps and slow, having no knowledge of the construction of +the premises; but in a moment Mathews had disappeared, and I found +myself in the middle of the stage, with a crowded house in front of +me. The whole audience burst into an uproar of laughter. I suppose it +was the incompatibility of my appearance at that juncture which made +me "take" so well; but it brought down the house, and if the curtain +had fallen at that moment, I should have been a great success, and +Mathews would have been out of it. In the midst of my discomfiture, +however, he came on to the stage by another entrance as "cool as a +cucumber." He told me afterwards that he had turned the incident to +good account by referring to me as "Every man in his humour," or, "A +bailiff in distressing circumstances!" + +I was visiting the country house of a respectable old solicitor, who +was instructing me in a "compensation case" which was to be heard at +Wakefield. + +"I don't know, Mr. Hawkins," said he on Sunday morning, "whether you +would like to see our little church?" + +"No, thank you," I answered; "we can have a look at it to-morrow when +we have a 'view of the premises.'" + +"I thought, perhaps," said Mr. Goodman, "you might like to attend the +service." + +"No," said I, "not particularly; a walk under the 'broad canopy' is +preferable on a beautiful morning like this to a poky little pew; +and I like the singing of the birds better than the humming of a +clergyman's nose. + +"Very well," he said; "we will, if you like, take a little walk." + +With surprising innocence he inflicted upon me a pious fraud, leading +me over fields and meadows, stiles and rustic bridges, until at last +the cunning old fox brought me out along a by-path and over a +plank bridge right into the village. Then turning a corner near a +picturesque farmhouse, he smilingly observed, "This is our church." + +"It's a very old one, and looks much more picturesque in the distance. +Shall we have a view a little farther off?" + +"St. Mary's," said he; "1694 is the date--" + +"St. Mary's?" said I. "Fancy! And what is the date--1694?" + +"It has some fine tablets, Mr. Hawkins, if you'd like to look in--" + +"I don't care for tablets," I answered; "if I go to church it is not +to stare at tablets." + +At last my host summed up courage to say,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, this is our little harvest festival of thanksgiving, and +I should not like to be absent." + +"Why on earth, Mr. Goodman," I answered, "did you not say that before? +Let us go in by all means. I like a good harvest as well as any +Christian on earth." + +The pew was the family pew--the _whole family pew_, and nothing but +the family pew; bought with the estate, with the family estate; and +was in an excellent situation for the congregation to have a fine view +of Mr. Goodman. Indeed, his cheery face could be seen by everybody in +church. + +I must say the little edifice looked very nice, and had been adorned +with the most artistic taste by the young ladies of the Vicarage +and the Hall. Mr. Goodman was "the Hall." There were bunches of +neatly-arranged turnips and carrots, with potatoes, barley, oats, +and mangel-wurzel, and almost every variety of fruit from the little +village; and every girl had barley and wheat-ears in her straw hat. +It was an affecting sight, calculated to make any one adore the young +ladies and long for dinner. + +The sermon was an excellent one so far as I could pronounce an +opinion, but would have been considerably improved had it been +three-quarters of an hour shorter. It contained, however, the usual +allusions to harvest-homes, gathering into barns, and laying up +treasures; which last observation reminded Mr. Goodman that he had +_left his purse at home_, and had come away without any money. + +I saw him fumbling in his pocket. Now, thought I, the time has come +for showing my devotion to Mr. Goodman. As soon, therefore, as he +had whispered to me, I handed him all I had, which consisted of a +five-pound note. He gratefully took it, and although about five times +as much as _he_ intended to give, when the bag was handed to him in +went the five-pound note. + +I knew my friend was chuckling as soon as we got into his family pew +at the way in which he had lured me step by step, till we walked the +last plank over the ditch, so I was not sorry to return good for evil +and lend him my note. + +He stared somewhat sideways at me when the bag passed, but I bore it +with fortitude. I took particular notice that the crimson bag passed +along the front of our family pew at a very dilatory pace, and tarried +a good deal, as if reluctant to leave it. To and fro it passed in +front of my nose as if it contained something I should like to smell, +and at last moved away altogether. I was glad of that, because +it prevented my following the words of the hymn in my book, and, +unfortunately, it was one of those harvest hymns I did not know by +heart. + +On our way home over the meadows, where the grasshoppers were +practising for the next day's sports, and were in high glee over +this harvest festival, Mr. Goodman seemed fidgety; whether +conscience-stricken for the Sabbath fraud he had practised upon me or +not, I could not say, but at last he asked how I liked their little +service. + +I said it was quite large enough. + +"You"--he paused--"you did not, I think"--another pause--"contribute +to our little gathering?" + +"No," I said, "but it was not my fault; I lent you all I had. The +fund, however, will not suffer in the least, and you have the +satisfaction of having contributed the whole of our joint +pocket-money. It does not matter who the giver is so long as the fund +obtains it." I then diverted his mind with a story or two. + +Cockburn, I said, was sitting next to Thesiger during a trial +before Campbell, Chief Justice, in which the Judge read some French +documents, and, being a Scotsman, it attracted a good deal of +attention. Cockburn, who was a good French scholar, was much annoyed +at the Chief Justice's pronunciation of the French language. + +"He is murdering it," said he--"_murdering_ it!" + +"No, my dear Cockburn," answered Thesiger, "he is not killing it, only +Scotching it." + +Sir Alexander was at a little shooting-party with Bethell and his son, +one of whom shot the gamekeeper. The father accused the son of the +misadventure, while the son returned the compliment. Cockburn, after +some little time, asked the gamekeeper what was the real truth of the +unfortunate incident--who was the gentleman who had inflicted the +injury? + +The gamekeeper, still smarting from his wounds, and forgetting the +respect due to the questioner, answered,-- + +"O Sir Alexander--d--n 'em, it was _both_!" + +A remark made by Lord Young, the Scotch Judge, one of the wittiest men +who ever adorned the Bar, and who is a Bencher of the Middle Temple, +struck me as particularly happy. There was a conversation about the +admission of solicitors to the roll, and the long time it took before +they were eligible to pass from their stage of pupilage to that of +solicitor, amounting, I think, to seven years; upon which Lord Young +said, "_Nemo repente fuit turpissimus_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +COMPENSATION--NICE CALCULATIONS IN OLD DAYS--EXPERTS--LLOYD AND I. + + +As my business continued to increase, it took me more and more from +the ordinary _nisi prius_, and kept me perpetually employed in special +matters. I had a great many compensation cases, where houses, lands, +and businesses had been taken for public or company purposes. They +were interesting and by no means difficult, the great difficulty +being to get the true value when you had, as I have known, a hundred +thousand pounds asked on one side and ten thousand offered on the +other. + +Railway companies were especially plundered in the exorbitant +valuation of lands, and therefore an advocate who could check the +valuers by cross-examination was sought after. Juries were always +liable to be imposed upon, and generally gave liberal compensation, +altogether apart from the market value. Experts, such as land agents +and surveyors, were always in request, and indeed these experts in +value caused the most extravagant amounts to be awarded. Even the mean +sum between highest and lowest was a monstrously unfair guide, for one +old expert used to instruct his pupils that the only true principle in +estimating value was to ask at least twice as much as the business or +other property was worth, because, he said, the other side will be +sure to try and cut you down one-half, and then probably offer to +split the difference. If you accept that, you will of course get +one-quarter more than you could by stating what you really wanted. No +one could deal with the real value, because there was no such thing +known in the Compensation Court. + +On one occasion I was travelling north in connection with one of these +cases, retained, as usual, on behalf of a railway company. In my +judgment the claim would have been handsomely met by an award of +£10,000, and that sum we were prepared to give. + +On my way I observed in my carriage a gentleman who was very busy +in making calculations on slips of paper, and every now and again +mentioning the figures at which he had arrived--repeating them to +himself. When we got to a station he threw away his paper, after +tearing it up, and when we started commenced again, but at every +stoppage on our journey he increased his amount. After we had +travelled 250 miles, the property he was valuing had attained the +handsome figure of £100,000. + +He evidently had not observed me. I was very quiet, and well wrapped +up. The next day, when he stepped into the witness-box he had not the +least idea that I had been his fellow-traveller of the previous +night. He was not very sharp except in the matter of figures; but his +opinion, like that of all experts, was invincible. His name was Bunce. + +"When did you view this property, Mr. Bunce? I understand you come +from London." + +"I saw it this morning, sir." + +"Did you make any calculation as to its value _before_ you saw it?" + +This puzzled him, and he stared at me. It was a hard stare, but I held +out. + +He said, "No." + +"Not when you were travelling? Did it not pass through your mind +when you were in the train, for instance--'I wonder, now, what that +property is worth?'" + +"I dare say it did, sir." + +"But don't _dare say_ anything unless it's true." + +"I did, then, run it over in my mind." + +"And I dare say you made notes and can produce them. Did you make +notes?" After a while I said, "I see you did. You may as well let me +have them." + +"I tore them up." + +"Why? What became of the pieces?" + +"I threw them away." + +"Do you remember what price you had arrived at when you reached +Peterborough, for instance?" + +The expert thought I was some one whom we never mention except when in +a bad temper, and he was more and more puzzled when he found that at +every stoppage I knew how much his price had increased. + +As the case was tried by an arbitrator and not a jury, my task was +easy, arbitrators not being so likely to be befooled as the other form +of tribunal. This arbitrator, especially, knew the elasticity of an +expert's opinion, and therefore I was not alarmed for my client. The +amount was soon arrived at by reducing the sum claimed by no less +than £90,000. Thus vanished the visionary claim and the expert. He +evidently had not been trained by the cunning old surveyor whose +experience taught him to be moderate, and ask only twice as much as +you ought to get. + +In another claim, which was no less than £10,000, the jury gave £300. +This was a state of things that had to be stopped, and it could only +be accomplished at that time by counsel who appeared on behalf of the +companies. + +Sir Henry Hunt was one of the best of arbitrators, and it was +difficult to deceive him. It took a clever expert to convince him that +a piece of land whose actual value would be £100 was worth £20,000. + +Sir Henry once paid me a compliment--of course, I was not present. + +"Hawkins," said he, "is the very best advocate of the day, and, +strange to say, his initials are the same as mine. You may turn them +upside down and they will still stand on their legs" (H.H.). + +Sir Henry was sometimes a witness, and as such always dangerous to the +side against whom he was called, because he was a judge of value and a +man of honour. + +One instance in which I took a somewhat novel course in demolishing a +fictitious claim is, perhaps, worth while to relate, although so many +years have passed since it occurred. + +It was so far back as the time of the old Hungerford Market, which the +railway company was taking for their present Charing Cross terminus. +The question was as to the value of a business for the sale of medical +appliances. + +Mr. Lloyd, as usual, was for the business, while I appeared for the +company. My excellent friend proceeded on the good old lines of +compensation advocacy with the same comfortable routine that one plays +the old family rubber of threepenny points. I occasionally finessed, +however, and put my opponent off his play. He held good hands, but if +I had an occasionally bad one, I sometimes managed to save the odd +trick. + +Lloyd had expatiated on the value of the situation, the highroad +between Waterloo Station and the Strand, immense traffic and grand +frontage. To prove all this he called a multitude of witnesses, who +kissed the same book and swore the same thing almost in the same +words. But to his great surprise I did not cross-examine. Lloyd was +bewildered, and said I had admitted the value by not cross-examining, +and he should not call any more witnesses. + +I then addressed the jury, and said, "A multitude of witnesses may +prove anything they like, but my friend has started with an entirely +erroneous view of the situation. The compensation for disturbance of +a business must depend a great deal on the nature of the business. If +you can carry it on elsewhere with the same facility and profit, the +compensation you are entitled to is very little. I will illustrate +my meaning. Let us suppose that in this thoroughfare there is a good +public-house--for such a business it would indeed be an excellent +situation; you may easily imagine a couple of burly farmers coming up +from Farnham or Windlesham to the Cattle Show, and walking over the +bridge, hot and thirsty. 'Hallo!' says one; 'I say, Jim, here's a nice +public; what d'ye say to goin' in and havin' a glass o' bitter? It's a +goodish pull over this 'ere bridge." + +"'With all my heart,' says Jim; and in they go. + +"There you see the advantage of being on the highroad. But now, let +us see these two stalwart farmers coming along, and--instead of the +handsome public and the bitter ale there is this shop, where they sell +medical arrangements--can you imagine one of them saying to the other, +'I say, Jim, here's a very nice medical shop; what d'ye say to going +in and having a truss?'" + +The argument considerably reduced the compensation, but what it lacked +in money the claimant got in laughter. + +Sometimes I led a witness who was an expert valuer for a claimant to +such a gross exaggeration of the value of a business as to stamp the +claim with fraud, and so destroy his evidence altogether. + +Sir Henry Hunt used to nod with apparent approval at every piece of +evidence which showed any kind of exaggeration, but every nod was +worth, as a rule, a handsome reduction to the other side. + +I shall never forget an attorney's face who, having been offered +£10,000 for a property, stood out for £13,000. + +It was a claim by a poulterers' company for eight houses that were +taken by a railway company. I relied entirely on my speech, as I often +did, because the threadbare cross-examinations were almost, by this +time, things of course, as were the figures themselves mere results of +true calculations on false bases. + +This attorney, who had, perhaps, never had a compensation case before, +was quite a great man, and took the arbitrator's assenting nods as so +much cash down. + +So encouraged, indeed, was he that he became almost impudent to me, +and gave me no little annoyance by his impertinent asides. At last I +looked at him good-humouredly, and politely requested him, as though +he were the court itself, to suspend his judgment while I had the +honour of addressing the arbitrator for twenty minutes, "at the end of +which time I promise to make you, sir," said I, "the most miserable +man in existence." + +I was supported in this appeal by the arbitrator, who hoped he would +not interrupt Mr. Hawkins. + +As I proceeded the attorney fidgeted, puffed out his cheeks, blew out +his breath, twirled his thumbs as I twirled his figures, and grated +his teeth as he looked at me sideways, while I concluded a little +peroration I had got up for him, which was merely to this effect, that +if railway companies yielded to such extortionate demands as were made +by this attorney on behalf of the poulterers' company, they would not +leave their shareholders a feather to fly with. + +The attorney looked very much like moulting himself, and the end of it +was that he got _two thousand pounds_ less than we had offered him in +the morning, and consequently had to pay all the costs. + +As I have stated, John Horatio Lloyd was my principal opponent in +these great public works cases, and I remember him with every feeling +of respect. He was an advocate whom no opponent could treat lightly, +and was uniformly kind and agreeable. + +Of course I had a very large experience in those times--I suppose, +without vanity, I may say the very largest. I was retained to assess +compensation for the immense blocks of buildings acquired for the +space now occupied by the Law Courts. In the very early cases the law. +officers of the Crown were concerned, but after that the whole of the +business was entrusted to my care, although for reasons best known to +themselves the Commissioners declined to send me a general retainer, +which would have been one small sum for the whole, but gave instead +a special retainer on every case. If my memory serves me, on one +occasion I had ninety-four of these special retainers delivered at +my chambers. This was in consequence of their refusing to retain me +generally for the whole, which would have been a nominal fee of five +guineas. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +ELECTION PETITIONS. + + +Another class of work which gave me much pleasure and interest was +that of election petitions. These came in such abundance that I had to +put on, as I thought, a prohibitory fee, which in reality increased +the volume of my labour. + +One day Baron Martin asked me if I was coming to such and such an +election petition. + +"No," I answered, "no; I have put a prohibitory fee on my services; I +can't be bothered with election petitions." + +"How much have you put on?" + +"Five hundred guineas, and two hundred a day." + +The Baron laughed heartily. "A prohibitory fee! They must have you, +Hawkins--they must have you. Put on what you like; make it high +enough, and they'll have you all the more." + +And I did. It turned out a very lucrative branch of my business, and +my electioneering expenses were a good investment. My experience at +Barnstaple, to be told hereafter, repaid the outlay, and no feature of +an election ever came before me but I recognized a family likeness. + +Amongst the earliest was that of W.H. Smith, who had been returned for +Westminster. The petitioner endeavoured to unseat him on the ground of +bribery, alleged to have been committed in paying large sums of money +for exhibiting placards on behalf of the candidate. It was tried +before Baron Martin. + +About the payments there was no element of extravagance, but there +were undoubtedly many cases of payment, and these were alleged to be +illegal. + +Ballantine was my junior. One of the curious matters in the case was +that these payments had been principally made by, or under, the advice +of my old friend, whom I cannot mention too often, the Hon. Robert +Grimston. + +Ballantine, as I thought, most injudiciously advised me not to call +"that old fool;" but believing in Grimston, and having charge of the +case, I resolved to call him. Baron Martin knew Grimston as well as I +did, and believed in him as much. + +"Who is this?" asked the Judge. + +"Another bill-sticker, my lord." + +Grimston gave his evidence, and was severely cross-examined by my +friend, J. Fitzjames Stephen. He fully and satisfactorily explained +every one of the questioned items, evidently to the satisfaction of +Martin, who dismissed the petition, and thus Mr. Smith retained his +seat. + +The learned Judge said, in giving judgment, that without Grimston's +evidence the seat would have been in great danger, but that he had put +an innocent colour on the whole case, and that, knowing him to be an +honourable man and incapable of saying anything but the truth, he had +implicitly trusted to every word he spoke. + +Mr. Smith, whom I met some days after, said he was perfectly assured +that if I had not had the conduct of the case, and Grimston had not +been called, his seat would have been lost. + +In the petition against Sir George Elliot for Durham there was nothing +of any importance in the case, except that Sir George gave a very +interesting history of his life. + +He had been a poor boy who had worked in the cutting of the pit, lying +on his back and picking out from the roof overhead the coal which was +shovelled into the truck. From this humble position literally and +socially he had proceeded, first to his feet, and then step by step, +until, from one grade to another, he had amassed a large fortune, and +sufficient income to enable him to incur, not only the expenses of +an election and a seat in Parliament, but also those of a bitterly +hostile election petition, enormously extravagant in every way. I +succeeded in winning his case, and never was more proud of a victory. +It had lasted many days. + +There is one matter almost of a historical character, which I mention +in order to do all the justice in my power to a man who, although +deserving of reprobation, is also entitled to admiration for the +chivalry of his true nature. I speak of it with some hesitation, and +therefore without the name. Those who are interested in his memory +will know to whom I allude, and possibly be grateful for the tribute +to his character, however much it may have been sullied by his +temporary absence of manly discretion. + +He was charged with assaulting a young lady in a railway train between +Aldershot and Waterloo. There was much of the melodramatic in the +incidents, and much of the righteous indignation of the public before +trial. There was judgment and condemnation in every virtuous mind. The +assault alleged was doubtless of a most serious character, if proved. +I say nothing of what might have been proved or not proved; but, +speaking as an advocate, I will not hesitate to affirm that +cross-examination may sometimes save one person's character without in +the least affecting that of another. + +But this was not to be. Whatever line of defence my experience might +have suggested, I was debarred by his express command from putting a +single question. + +I say to his honour that, as a gentleman and a British officer, he +preferred to take to himself the ruin of his own character, the +forfeiture of his commission in the army, the loss of social status, +and _all_ that could make life worth having, to casting even a doubt +on the lady's veracity in the witness-box. + +My instructions crippled me, but I obeyed my client, of course, +implicitly in the letter and the spirit, even though to some extent he +may have entailed upon himself more ignominy and greater severity of +punishment than I felt he deserved. + +He died in Egypt, never having been reinstated in the British army. +I knew but little of him until this catastrophe occurred; but the +manliness of his defence showed him to be naturally a man of honour, +who, having been guilty of serious misconduct, did all he could to +amend the wrong he had done; and so he won my sympathy in his sad +misfortune and misery. + +In the days when burglary was punished with death, there was very +seldom any remission, I was in court one day at Guildford, when a +respectably-dressed man in a velveteen suit of a yellowy green colour +and pearl buttons came up to me. He looked like one of Lord Onslow's +gamekeepers. I knew nothing of him, but seemed to recognize his +features as those of one I had seen before. When he came in front of +my seat he grinned with immense satisfaction, and said,-- + +"Can I get you anything, Mr. Orkins?" + +I could not understand the man's meaning. + +"No, thank you," I said. "What do you mean?" + +"Don't you recollect, sir, you defended me at Kingston for a burglary +charge, and got me off., Mr. Orkins, in flyin' colours?" + +I recollected. He seemed to have the flying colours on his lips. "Very +well," I said; "I hope you will never want defending again." + +"No, sir; never." + +"That's right." + +"Would a _teapot_ be of any use to you, Mr. Orkins?" + +"A teapot!" + +"Yes, sir, or a few silver spoons--anything you like to name, Mr. +Orkins." + +I begged him to leave the court. + +"Mr. Orkins, I will; but I am grateful for your gettin' me off that +job, and if a piece o' plate will be any good, I'll guarantee it's +good old family stuff as'll fetch you a lot o' money some day." + +I again told him to go, and, disappointed at my not accepting things +of greater value, he said,-- + +"Sir, will a sack o' taters be of any service to you?" + +This sort of gratitude was not uncommon in those days. I told the +story to Mr. Justice Wightman, and he said,-- + +"Oh, that's nothing to what happened to the Common Serjeant of London. +He had sent to him once a Christmas hamper containing a hare, a brace +and a half of pheasants, three ducks, and a couple of fowls, which _he +accepted_." + +I sometimes won a jury over by a little good-natured banter, and often +annoyed Chief Justice Campbell when I woke him up with laughter. And +yet he liked me, for although often annoyed, he was never really +angry. He used to crouch his head down over his two forearms and go to +sleep, or pretend to, by way of showing it did not matter what I said +to the jury. I dare say it was disrespectful, but I could not help on +these occasions quietly pointing across my shoulder at him with my +thumb, and that was enough. The jury roared, and Campbell looked up,-- + +"What's the joke, Mr. Hawkins?" + +"Nothing, my lord; I was only saying I was quite sure your lordship +would tell the jury exactly what I was saying." + +"Go on, Mr. Hawkins--" + +Then he turned to his clerk and said,-- + +"I shall catch him one of these days. Confine yourself to the issue, +Mr. Hawkins." + +"If your lordship pleases," said I, and went on. + +The eccentricities of Judges would form a laughable chapter. Some of +them were overwhelmed with the importance of their position; none were +ever modest enough to perceive their own small individuality amidst +their judicial environments; and this thought reminds me of an +occurrence at Liverpool Assizes, when Huddlestone and Manisty, the two +Judges on circuit, dined as usual with the Lord Mayor. The Queen's +health was proposed, of course, and Manisty, with his innate good +breeding, stood up to drink it, whereupon his august brother Judge +pulled him violently by his sleeve, saying, "Sit down, Manisty, you +damned fool! _we_ are the Queen!" + +I was addressing a jury for the plaintiff in a breach of promise +case, and as the defendant had not appeared in the witness-box, I +inadvertently called attention to an elderly well-dressed gentleman +in blue frock-coat and brass buttons--a man, apparently, of good +position. The jury looked at him and then at one another as I said +how shameful it was for a gentleman to brazen it out in the way the +defendant did--ashamed to go into the witness-box, but not ashamed to +sit in court. + +Here the gentleman rose in a great rage amidst the laughter of the +audience, in which even the ushers and javelin-men joined, to say +nothing of the Judge himself, and shouted with angry vociferation,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, I am _not_ the defendant in this case, Sir ----" + +"I am very sorry for you," I replied; "but no one said you were." + +There was another outburst, and the poor gentleman gesticulated, if +possible, more vehemently than before. + +"I am not the def--" + +"Nobody would have supposed you were, sir, if you had not taken so +much trouble to deny it. The jury, however, will now judge of it." + +"I am a married man, sir." + +"So much the worse," said I. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MY CANDIDATURE FOR BARNSTAPLE. + + +Although the House of Commons dislikes lawyers, constituencies love +them. The enterprising patriots of the long robe are everywhere sought +after, provided they possess, with all their other qualifications, the +one thing needful, and possessing which, all others may be dispensed +with. + +Barnstaple was no exception to the rule. It had a character for +conspicuous discernment, and, like the unseen eagle in the sky, could +pick out at any distance the object of its desire. + +Eminent, respectable, and rich must be the qualification of any +candidate who sought its suffrages--the last, at all events, being +indispensable. + +Up to this time I had not felt those patriotic yearnings which are +manifested so early in the legal heart. I was never a political +adventurer; I had no eye on Parliament merely as a stepping-stone to a +judgeship; and probably, but for the events I am about to describe, I +should never have been heard of as a politician at all. There were so +many candidates in the profession to whom time was no object that I +left this political hunting-ground entirely to them. + +In 1865 I was waited upon at Westminster by a very influential +deputation from the Barnstaple electors--honest-looking electors as +any candidate could wish to see--bringing with them a requisition +signed by almost innumerable independent electors, and stating that +there were a great many more of the same respectable class who would +have signed had time been permitted. Further signatures were, however, +to be forwarded. It was urged by the deputation that I should make my +appearance at Barnstaple at the earliest possible date, as no time was +to be lost, and they were most anxious to hear my views, especially +upon topics that they knew more about than I, which is generally the +case, I am told, in most constituencies. I asked when they thought I +ought to put in an appearance. + +"Within a week at latest," said the leading spirit of the deputation. +"Within a week at latest," repeated all the deputation in chorus." +Because," said the leading personage, "there is already a gentleman of +the name of Cave" (it should have been pronounced as two syllables, so +as to afford me some sort of warning of the danger I was confronting) +"busily canvassing in all directions for the Liberal party, and +Mr. Howell Gwynne and Sir George Stukely will be the Conservative +candidates. However, it would be a certain seat if I would do them the +honour of coming forward. There would be little trouble, and it would +almost be a walk-over." + +A walk-over was very nice, and the tantalizing hopes this deputation +inspired me with overcame my great reluctance to enter the field of +politics; and in that ill-advised moment I promised to allow myself to +be nominated. + +It was arranged that I should make my appearance by a specified +afternoon train on a particular day in the week (apparently to be set +apart as a public holiday), so that I had little time for preparation. +By the next day's post I received a kind of official communication +from "our committee," stating that a very substantial deputation from +the general body would have the honour to meet me at the station, and +accompany me to the committee-rooms for the purpose of introduction. + +Down, therefore, I went by the Great Western line, and in due time +arrived at my destination, as I thought. + +I found, instead of the "influential body of gentlemen" who were to +have the honour of conducting me to the headquarters of the Liberal +party, there was only a small portion of it, almost too insignificant +to admit of counting. But he was an important personage in uniform, +and dressed somewhat like a commissionaire. + +After much salutation and deferential hemming and stammering, he said +I had better proceed to a _little station only a few miles farther +on and dine_, "and if so be I'd do that, they would meet me in the +evening." + +Not being a professional politician, nor greatly ambitious of its +honours, I was somewhat disconcerted at such extraordinary conduct on +the part of my committee, and would have returned to town, but that +the train was going the wrong way, and by the time I reached the +little station I had argued the matter out, as I thought. It _might_ +be a measure of precaution, in a constituency so respectable as +Barnstaple, to prevent the least suspicion of _treating_ or corrupt +influence. Had I dined at Barnstaple it might have been suggested +that some one dined with me or drank my health. Whatever it was, the +revelation was not yet. + +I was to return "as soon as I had dined." Everything was to be ready +for my reception. + +All these instructions I obeyed with the greatest loyalty, and +returned at an early hour in the evening. But if I was disappointed at +my first reception, how was I elated by the second! All was made up +for by good feeling and enthusiasm. We were evidently all brothers +fighting for the sacred cause, but what the cause was I had not been +informed up to this time. + +At the station was a local band of music waiting to receive me, and +to strike up the inspiring air, "See the conquering hero comes;" but, +unfortunately, the band consisted only of a drum, of such dimensions +that I thought it must have been built for the occasion, and a +clarionet. + +Before the band struck up, however, I was greeted with such +enthusiastic outbursts that they might have brought tears into the +eyes of any one less firm than myself. "Orkins for ever!" roared +the multitude. It almost stunned me. Never could I have dreamt my +popularity would be so great. "Orkins for ever!" again and again +they repeated, each volley, if possible, louder than before. "Bravo, +Orkins! Let 'em 'ave it, Orkins! don't spare 'em." I wish I had known +what this meant. + +I must say they did all that mortals could do with their mouths to +honour their future member. + +Hogarth's "March to Finchley" was outdone by that march to the +Barnstaple town hall. An enormous body of electors, "free and +independent" stamped on their faces as well as their hands, was +gathered there, and it was a long time before we could get anywhere +near the door. + +Again and again the air was rent with the cries for "Orkins," and it +was perfectly useless for the police to attempt to clear the way. +They had me as if on show, and it was only by the most wonderful +perseverance and good luck that I found myself going head first along +the corridor leading to the hall itself. + +When I appeared on the platform, it seemed as if Barnstaple had never +seen such a man; they were mad with joy, and all wanted to shake hands +with me at once. I dodged a good many, and by dint of waving his arms +like a semaphore the chairman succeeded, not in restoring peace, but +in moderating the noise. + +I now had an opportunity of using my eyes, and there before me in one +of the front seats was the redoubtable Cave--the great canvassing +Cave--who instantly rose and gave me the most cordial welcome, trusted +I was to be his future colleague in the House, and was most generous +in his expressions of admiration for the people of Barnstaple, +especially the voting portion of them, and hoped I should have a very +pleasant time and never forget dear old Barnstaple. I said I was not +likely to--nor am I. + +Of course I had to address the assembled electors first after the +introduction by the chairman, who, taking a long time to inform us +what the electors _wanted_, I made up my mind what to say in order to +convince them that they should have it. I gave them hopes of a great +deal of legal reform and reduction of punishments, for I thought +that would suit most of them best, and then gladly assented to a +satisfactory adjustment of all local requirements and improvements, as +well as a determined redress of grievances which should on no account +be longer delayed. ("Orkins for ever!") + +Then Cave stood up--an imposing man, with a good deal of presence and +shirt-collar--who invited any man--indeed, _challenged_ anybody--in +that hall to question him on any subject whatever. + +The challenge was accepted, and up stood one of the rank and file of +the electors--no doubt sent by the Howell Gwynne party--and with a +voice that showed at least he meant to be heard, said,-- + +"Mr. Cave, first and foremost of all, I should like to know _how your +missus is to-day_?" + +It was scarcely a political or public question, but nobody objected, +and everybody roared with laughter, because it seemed at all political +meetings Cave had started the fashion, which has been adopted by many +candidates since that time, of referring _to his wife_! Cave always +began by saying he could never go through this ordeal without the help +and sympathy of his dear wife--his support and joy--at whose bidding +and in pursuit of whose dreams he had come forward to win a seat in +their uncorruptible borough, and to represent them--the most coveted +honour of his life--in the House of Commons. + +Of course this oratory, having a religious flavour, took with a very +large body of the Barnstaple electors, and was always received with +cheers as an encouragement to domestic felicity and faithfulness to +connubial ties. + +When this gentleman put the question, Cave answered as though it was +asked in real earnest, and was cheered to the echo, not merely for his +domestic felicity, but his cool contempt for any man who could so far +forget connubial bliss as to sneer at it. + +For a few days all went tolerably well, and then I was told that a +very different kind of influence prevailed in the borough than that +of religion or political morality, and that it would be perfectly +hopeless to expect to win the seat unless I was prepared to purchase +the large majority of electors; indeed, that I must buy almost every +voter. (That's what they meant by "Give it 'em, Orkins! Let 'em 'ave +it!") + +This I refused to believe; but it was said they were such free and +independent electors that they would vote for _either_ party, and you +could not be sure of them until the last moment; in fact, _if I would +win I must bribe_! to say nothing of all sorts of subscriptions to +cricket clubs and blanket clubs, as well as friendly societies of all +kinds. + +I declined to accept these warnings, and looked upon it as some kind +of political dodge got up by the other side. + +I resolved to win by playing the game, and made up my mind to go to +the poll on the political questions which were agitating the public +mind, as I was informed, by a simple honest candidature, thinking that +in political as in every other warfare honesty is the best policy. On +that noble maxim I entered into the contest, believing in Barnstaple, +and feeling confident I should represent it in Parliament. + +To indulge in bribery of any sort would, I knew, be fatal to my own +interests even if I had not been actuated by any higher motive. I +placed myself, therefore, in the hands of my friend and principal +agent, Mr. Kingston, as well as the other agents of the party. + +We did not long, however, remain true to ourselves. There was a hitch +somewhere which soon developed into a split; and it was certain some +of us must go to the wall. I could not, however, understand the reason +of it; we professed the same politics, the same "cause," the same +battle-cry, the same enemies. But, whatever it was, we were so much +divided that my chances of heading the poll were diminishing. + +I had been cheered to the echo night after night and all day long, so +that there was enough shouting to make a Prime Minister; my horses had +time after time been taken from my carriage, and cheering voters drew +me along. These unmistakable signs of popular devotion to my interests +had been most encouraging; and as they shouted themselves hoarse for +me, I talked myself hoarse for them. We had a mutual hoarseness for +each other. Everything looked like success; everything _sounded_ like +success; and night after night out came drum and clarionet to do their +duty manfully in drumming me to my hotel. + +It had been a remarkable success; everybody said so. Most of them +declared solemnly they had never seen anything like it. They +pronounced it a record popularity. I thought it was because the good +people had selected me as their candidate on independent and purity of +election principles. This explanation gave them great joy, and they +cheered with extra enthusiasm for their own virtue. Judge, then, +my surprise a short while after, when, notwithstanding the firm +principles upon which we had proceeded, and by which my popularity +was secured, I began to perceive that _money was the only thing they +wanted_! Their uncorruptible nature yielded, alas! to the lowering +influence of that deity. + +It was at first a little mysterious why they should have postponed +their demands--secret and silent--until almost the last moment; but +the fact is, a large section of my party were dissatisfied with the +voluntary nature of their services; they declined to work for nothing, +and having shown me that the prize--that is, the seat--was mine, they +determined to let me know it must be paid for. A large number of +my voters would do nothing; they kept their hands in their pockets +because they could not get them into mine. + +This was no longer a secret, but on the eve of the election was boldly +put forward as a demand, and I was plainly told that £500 distributed +in small sums would make my election sure. + +As, however, in no circumstances would I stoop to their offer, this +demand did not in the least influence me--I never wavered in my +resolution, and refused to give a farthing. Furthermore, showing the +web in which they sought to entangle me, the same voice that suggested +the £500 also informed me that I was closely watched by a couple of +detectives set on by the other side. + +I was well aware that the "other side" had given five-pound notes for +votes, but I could neither follow the example nor use the information, +as it was told me "in the strictest confidence." + +I was therefore powerless, and felt we were drifting asunder more +and more. At last came the polling day, and a happy relief from an +unpleasant situation it certainly was. + +A fine bright morning ushered in an exciting day. There was a great +inrush of voters at the polling-booth, friendly votes, if I may call +them so--votes, I mean to say, of honest supporters; these were my +acquaintances made during my sojourn at Barnstaple; others came, a few +for Cave as well as myself. Cave did not seem to enjoy the popularity +that I had achieved. Still, he got a few votes. + +Now came an exciting scene. About midday, the working man's dinner +hour, the tide began to turn, for the whole body of _bribed_ voters +were released from work. My majority quickly dwindled, and at length +disappeared, until I was in a very hopeless minority. Everywhere it +was "Stukely for ever!" Some cried, "Stukely and free beer!" Stukely, +who till now had hardly been anybody, and had not talked himself +hoarse in their interests as I had, was the great object of their +admiration and their hopes. + +The consequence of this sudden development of Stukely's popularity +was that Cave united his destiny with the new favourite, and such an +involution of parties took place that "Stukely and Cave" joined hand +in hand and heart to heart, while poor Howell Gwynne and myself were +abandoned as useless candidates. At one o'clock it was clear that I +must be defeated by a large majority. + +The Cave party then approached me with the modest request that, as it +was quite clear that I could not be returned, would I mind attending +the polling places and give my support to Cave? + +This piece of unparalleled impudence I declined to accede to, and +did nothing. The election was over so far as I was interested in its +result; but I was determined to have a parting word with the electors +before leaving the town. I was mortified at the unblushing treachery +and deception of my supporters. + +I was next asked what I proposed to do. It was their object to get +me out of the town as soon as possible, for if unsuccessful as a +candidate, I might be troublesome in other ways. Such people are not +without a sense of fear, if they have no feeling of shame. + +I said I should do nothing but take a stroll by the river, the day +being fine, and come back when the poll was declared and make them a +little speech. + +The little speech was exactly what they did not want, so in the +most friendly manner they informed me that a fast train would leave +Barnstaple at a certain time, and that probably I would like to catch +that, as no doubt I wished to be in town as early as possible to +attend to my numerous engagements. If they had chartered the train +themselves they could not have shown greater consideration for my +interests. But I informed them that I should stop and address the +electors, and with this statement they turned sulkily away. + +At the appointed hour for the declaration of the poll I was on the +hustings--well up there, although the lowest on the poll. Stukely and +Cave were first and second, Howell Gwynne and myself third and _last_! + +When my turn came to address the multitude, I spoke in no measured +terms as to the conduct of the election, which I denounced as having +been won by the most scandalous bribery and corruption. + +All who were present as unbiassed spectators were sorry, and many of +them expressed a wish that I would return on a future day. + +"Not," said I, "until the place has been purged of the foul corruption +with which it is tainted." + +I had resolved to leave by the mail train, and was actually +accompanied to the station by a crowd of some 2,000 people, including +the Rector, or Vicar of the parish, who gave me godspeed on my journey +home. + +This kind and sincere expression of goodwill and sympathy was worth +all the boisterous cheers with which I had been received. + +On the platform at the railway station I had to make another little +speech, and then I took my seat, not for Barnstaple, but London. As +the train drew out of the station, the people clung to the carriage +like bees, and although I had not even honeyed words to give them, +they gave me a "send-off" with vociferous cheers and the most cordial +good wishes. + +Thus I bade good-bye to Barnstaple, never to return or be returned, +and I can only say of that enlightened and independent constituency +that, while seeking the interests of their country, they never +neglected their own. + +I need not add that I learnt a great deal in that election which +was of the greatest importance in the conduct of the Parliamentary +petitions which were showered upon me. + +Before I accepted the candidature of Barnstaple, a friend of mine said +he had been making inquiries as to how the little borough of Totnes +could be won, and that the lowest figure required as an instalment to +commence with was £7,000. + +After this I had no more to do with electioneering in the sense of +being a candidate, but a good deal to do with it in every other. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE TICHBORNE CASE. + + +[The greatest of all chapters in the life of Mr. Hawkins was the +prosecution of the impostor Arthur Orton for perjury, and yet the +story of the Tichborne case is one of the simplest and most romantic. +The heir to the Tichborne baronetcy and estates was shipwrecked while +on board the _Bella_ and drowned in 1854. In 1865 a butcher at Wagga +Wagga in Australia assumed the title and claimed the estates. But the +story is not related in these reminiscences on account of its romantic +incidents, but as an incident in the life of Lord Brampton. It is so +great that there is nothing in the annals of our ordinary courts of +justice comparable with it, either in its magnitude or its advocacy. I +speak particularly of the trial for perjury, in which Mr. Hawkins led +for the prosecution, and not of the preceding trial, in which he was +junior to Sir John Coleridge. + +It is impossible to give more than the _points_ of this strange story +as they were made, and the real _facts_ as they were elicited in +cross-examination and pieced together in his opening speech and his +reply in the case for the Crown. What rendered the task the +more difficult was that his predecessors had so bungled the +cross-examination in many ways that they not only had not elicited +what they might have done, but actually, by many questions, furnished +information to the Claimant which enabled him to carry on his +imposture.] + +The Tichborne trials demand a few words by way of introduction, for +although there were two trials, they were of a different character, +the first being an ordinary action of ejectment in which the Claimant +sought to dispossess the youthful heir, whose title he had already +assumed, under circumstances of the most extraordinary nature. + +The action of ejectment was tried before Chief Justice Bovill at the +Common Pleas, Westminster. Ballantine and Giffard (now Lord Halsbury) +led for the plaintiff, the butcher, while on behalf of the trustees +of the estate (that is, the real heir) were the Solicitor-General +Coleridge, myself, Bowen (afterwards Lord Bowen), and Chapman Barber, +an _equity_ counsel. + +I must explain how it was that I, having been retained to lead +Coleridge, was afterwards compelled to be led by him; and it is an +interesting event in the history of the Bar as well as of the Judicial +Bench. + +The action was really a Western Circuit case, although the venue +was laid in London. Coleridge led that circuit and was retained. I +belonged to the Home Circuit, and had no idea of being engaged at +all for that side. I had been retained for the Claimant, but the +solicitor, with great kindness, withdrew his retainer at my request. + +I was brought into the case for the purpose of leading, and no other; +but by the appointment of Coleridge to the Solicitor-Generalship in +1868, I was displaced, and Coleridge ultimately led. His +further elevation happened in this way: Sir Robert Collier was +Attorney-General, and it was desired to give him a high appointment +which at that moment was vacant, and could only be filled by a Judge +of the High Court. Collier was not a Judge, and therefore was not +eligible for the post. The question was how to make him eligible. +The Prime Minister of the day was not to be baffled by a mere +technicality, and he could soon make the Attorney-General a Judge of +the High Court if that was a condition precedent. + +There was immediately a vacancy on the Bench; Collier was appointed to +the judgeship, and in three days had acquired all the experience +that the Act of Parliament anticipated as necessary for the higher +appointment in the Privy Council. + +Instead of leading, therefore, in the case before Chief Justice +Bovill, I had to perform whatever duties Coleridge assigned to me. My +commanding position was gone, and it was no longer presumable that I +should be entrusted with the cross-examination of the plaintiff. I was +bound to obey orders and cross-examine whomsoever I was allowed to. + +[The one thing Mr. Hawkins was retained for was the cross-examination +of the plaintiff. Lord Chief Justice Cockburn said, "I would have +given a thousand pounds to cross-examine him." It would have been an +excellent investment of the Tichborne family to have given Hawkins ten +thousand pounds to do so, for I am sure there would have been an end +of the case as soon as he got to Wapping. + +Coleridge acknowledged that the Claimant cross-examined him instead of +his cross-examining the Claimant. + +When that shrewd and cunning impostor was asked, "Would you be +surprised to hear this or that?" "No," said he, "I should be surprised +at nothing after this long time and the troubles I have been through; +but, now that you call my attention to it, I remember it all perfectly +well." Coleridge said: "I am leader by an accident." "Yes," said +Hawkins, "a colliery accident."] + +I had also been retained by the trustees of the Doughty estate. Lady +Doughty was an aunt of Sir Roger Tichborne, and it was her daughter +Kate whom the heir desired to marry. Had the Claimant succeeded in the +first case, he would have brought an action against her also. + +No copy of the proceedings had been supplied to me, and I was informed +that at this preliminary cross-examination they would not require my +assistance; that their learned Chancery barrister was merely going +to cross-examine the Claimant on his affidavits--a matter of small +consequence. So it was in one way, but of immeasurable importance +in many other ways. But they said _I might like to hear the +cross-examination as a matter of curiosity_. + +I did. + +The Claimant had it all his own way. I was powerless to lend any +assistance; but had I been instructed, I am perfectly sure I could +then and there have extinguished the case, for the Claimant at +that time knew absolutely nothing of the life and history of Roger +Tichborne. + +So the case proceeded, with costs piled on costs; information picked +up, especially by means of interminable preliminary proceedings, until +the impostor was left master of the situation, to the gratification of +fools and the hopes of fanatics. + +I was, however, allowed in the trial to cross-examine some witnesses. +Amongst them was a man of the name of Baigent, the historian of the +family, who knew more of the Tichbornes than they knew of themselves. +The cross-examination of Baigent, which did more than anything to +destroy the Claimant's case, occupied ten days. He was the real +Roger's old friend, and knew him up to the time of his leaving England +never to return. I drew from him the confession that he did not +believe he was alive, but that he had encouraged the Dowager Lady +Tichborne to believe that the Claimant was her son; and that her +garden was lighted night after night with Chinese lanterns in +expectation of his coming. + +Admissions were also obtained that when he saw the Claimant at +Alresford Station neither knew the other, although Baigent had never +altered in the least, as he alleged. + +There was another witness allotted to me, and that was Carter, an old +servant of Roger whilst he was in the Carabineers. This man supplied +the plaintiff with information as to what occurred in the regiment +while Roger belonged to it; but he only knew what was known to the +whole regiment. He did _not_ know private matters which took place at +the officers' mess, and it was upon these that my cross-examination +showed the Claimant to be an impostor. I "had him there." + +As Parry and I were sitting one morning waiting for the Judges, I +remarked on the subject of the counsel chosen for the prosecution: +"Suppose, Parry, you and I had been Solicitor and Attorney-General, in +the circumstances what should we have done?" + +"Plunged the country into a bloody war before now, I dare say," said +Parry, elevating his eyebrows and wig at the same time. + +I confess when I undertook the responsibility of this great trial +I was not aware of the immense labour and responsibility it would +involve; nor do I believe any one had the smallest notion of the +magnitude of the task. + +Instead of the work diminishing as we proceeded, it increased day by +day, and week by week; one set of witnesses entailed the calling +of another set. The case grew in difficulty and extent. It seemed +absolutely endless and hopeless. + +Within a few weeks of the start, a necessity arose for procuring the +testimony of a witness from Australia, a matter of months; and the +trial being a criminal one, the defendant was entitled to have the +case for the prosecution concluded within a reasonable time. If we had +no evidence, it was to his advantage, and we had no right to detain +him for a year while we were trying to obtain it. + +However, the Australian evidence came in time. Numbers of witnesses +had to be called who not only were not in our brief, but were never +dreamed of. For instance, there was the Danish perjurer Louie, who +swore he picked up the defendant at sea when the _Bella_ went down. + +Instead of this man going away after he had given his evidence, he +remained until two gentlemen from the City, seeing his portrait in the +Stereoscopic Company's window in Regent Street, identified him as a +dishonest servant of theirs, who was undergoing a sentence of penal +servitude at the time he swore he picked Roger up. He received five +years' penal servitude for his evidence. + +I had pledged myself to the task, which extended over many months more +than I ever anticipated. At every sacrifice, however, I was bound to +devote myself to the case, and did so, although I had to relinquish a +very large portion of my professional income. + +What made things worse, there was not only no effort made to curtail +the business, but advantage was taken of every circumstance to prolong +it. The longer it was dragged out the better chance there was of an +acquittal. Had a juryman died after months of the trial had passed, +the Government must have abandoned the prosecution. It would have been +impossible to commence again. This was the last hope of the defence. + +[The trial before Bovill ended at last, as it ought to have done +months before, in a verdict for the defendants and the order for the +prosecution of the Claimant for perjury. It was this prosecution that +occupied the attention of the court and of the world for 188 days, +extending over portions of two years. + +There is no doubt that Coleridge would a second time have deprived +the country of Mr. Hawkins's services, but higher influences than his +prevailed, and the distinguished counsel was appointed to lead for the +Crown, with Mr. Serjeant Parry as his leading junior. It is not too +much to say that no one knew the case so well as Mr. Hawkins, and none +could have done it so well. Bowen and Mathews were also his juniors. + +The whole case, from the commencement of the Chancery proceedings down +to the commencement of this trial, had been a comedy of blunders. The +very claim was an absurdity, every step in the great fraud was an +absurdity, and every proceeding had some ridiculous absurdity to +accompany it. It was not until the cross-examination of Baigent by Mr. +Hawkins that the undoubted truth began to appear. + +"You are the first," said Baron Bramwell, "who has let daylight into +the case." It will be seen presently what the simple story was which +the learned counsel at last evolved from the lies and half-truths +which had for so many years imposed upon a great number even of the +intelligent and educated classes of the community. And I would observe +that until nearly the end of the trial the case was never safe or +quite free from doubt; it was only what was elicited by Mr. Hawkins +that made it so. No Wonder the advocate said to Giffard, who was +opposed to him on the first trial: "If you and I had been together +in that case in the first instance, we should have won it for the +Claimant." Being on the other side, this is how the case stood when he +had completed it:-- + +The real heir to the family was a fairly well-formed, slender youth of +medium height. The personator of this youth was a man an inch and a +half or two inches taller, and weighing five-and-twenty stone. His +hands were a great deal larger than those of Roger, and at least an +inch longer; his feet were an inch and a half longer. He was broader, +deeper, thicker, and altogether of a different build. The lobes of his +ears, instead of being pendent like Roger's, adhered to his cheeks. +But he was not more unlike in physical outline than in mental +endowment, taste, character, pursuits, and sentiment, in manners and +habits, in culture and education, connection and recollection. + +Roger had been educated at Stonyhurst, with the education of a +gentleman; this man had never had any education at all. Roger had +moved in the best English society; this man amongst slaughtermen, +bushrangers, thieves, and highwaymen. Roger had been engaged to a +young lady, his cousin, Kate Doughty; this man had been engaged to a +young woman of Wapping, of the name of Mary Ann Loader, a respectable +girl in his own sphere of life. + +Roger's engagement to this young lady, his cousin, was disapproved of +by the Tichborne family, and was the cause of his leaving England. But +before he went he gave her a writing, and deposited a copy of it with +Mr. Gosford, the legal adviser of the family. + +This document was one of the most important incidents in the history +of the case, and upon it, if the cross-examination had been conducted +by Mr. Hawkins in Chancery, the case would have been crushed at the +outset. It is not my task to show how, but to state what it all came +to when the learned counsel left it to the jury to say whether the +claimant _was_ the Roger Tichborne he had sworn himself to be, or +whether he was Arthur Orton, the butcher of Wapping, whom he swore he +was not. + +This document forms the subject of the "sealed packet" left with Mr. +Gosford, and contained in effect these words: "If God spares me to +return and marry my beloved Kate within a year, I promise to build a +church and dedicate it to my patron saint." + +Till his cross-examination in Chancery he had never heard of this +packet, and when he was informed of it his solicitor naturally +demanded a copy. Gosford had destroyed the original, and of course +there was no end of capital out of it; a concocted original was made, +which was to the effect that this gentleman, "so like Roger," _had +seduced his cousin_, and that if she proved to be _enceinte_, Gosford +was to take care of her. Luckily "Kate Doughty" had her original +preserved with sacred affection. But such was the memory of this man's +early life, contrasted with what _would_ have been the memory of Sir +Roger Tichborne. + +He did not recollect being "at Stonyhurst, but said positively he was +at Winchester, where certainly Roger never was. He did not remember +his mother's Christian names, and could not write his own. + +He came to England to see his mother, and then would not go to her; +she went to see him, and he got on to the bed and turned his face to +the wall. She did not see his face, but recognized him by his ears, +because they were like his uncle's, then ordered the servant to undo +his braces for fear he should choke. + +Such a piece as this on the stage would not have lasted one night; +in real life it had a run for many years. But then there never was a +rogue that some fool would not believe in. How else was it possible +that millions believed in this man, who had forgotten the religion he +had been brought up in, and was married by a Wesleyan minister at a +Wesleyan church, he being, as his mother informed him, a strict Roman +Catholic from his birth? However, he did his best to reform his error +by getting married again by a Roman priest, although he made another +blunder, and forgetting he was Sir Roger Tichborne, married as Arthur +Orton, the son of the Wapping butcher. When his dear mother reminded +him of his being a Catholic, he wrote and thanked her for the +information, and hoped the Blessed Maria would take care of her for +evermore, little dreaming that the "Black Maria" would one day take +particularly good care of himself. + +So that he forgot the place of his birth, the seat of his ancestors, +the friends of his youth, the face, features, and form of his mother, +his education and religion, his brother officers in the regiment, the +regiment itself, and the position he occupied, thinking he had been a +private for fifteen days instead of a painstaking, studious, diligent +officer, who was beloved by his fellows. He had forgotten all his +neighbours, servants, dependants, as well as the family solicitor who +made his will and was appointed his executor. He forgot his life in +Paris, the village church of his ancestral seat--nay, the ancestral +seat itself--and the very road that led to it. He forgot his old +friend and historian, who swore he had never altered the least in +appearance since Roger left--historian and picture-cleaner to the +family. In short, there was not one single thing in the life of Roger +that he knew. He forgot what any but a born fool would remember while +he was in poverty and bankruptcy for a couple of hundred pounds; the +real Roger had written home on hearing of the death of his uncle, from +whom he derived his title and estates, saying, "Pray go to Messrs. +Glyn's and exchange my letter of credit for £2,000 for three years for +one for £3,000." + +Imagine a man forgetting he had £3,000 a year and an estate in England +worth £30,000, and earning his bread in a slaughter-house and in the +Bush, borrowing money from a poor woman and running away with it. + +But now another singular thing stamps this fraudulent impostor who +makes so many believe in him. He, alleged by his supporters to be Sir +Roger Tichborne, recollected all about a place that he had never been +to; people he had never heard of, far less seen; events that he could +_not_ know and which never happened to him, but did happen to Arthur +Orton. He knew Wapping well--every inch of it; Old Charles Orton, the +father of Arthur; Charles Orton the brother, the sisters, the people +who kept this shop and that; so that when on his return to England he +went to the Wapping seat of his ancestors instead of Ashford, he asked +all about them, and reminded them so faithfully of the little events +of Arthur's boyhood, and resembled that person so much in the face, +that they said, "Why, you are Arthur Orton yourself!" True, he paid +some of them to swear he was not, but the impression remained. + +Mr. Hawkins told the jury how he picked up his second-hand knowledge +of the things he spoke about concerning the Tichbornes, for it was +necessary to be able to answer a good many questions wherever he went, +especially when he went into the witness-box. + +There was an old black servant, quite black, who had been a valet in +the Tichborne family. His name was Bogle; and the Claimant was told by +the poor old dowager that if he could meet with him, Bogle could tell +him a good many things about himself. + +Bogle was an excellent diplomatist, and no sooner heard from Lady +Tichborne that her son Roger was in Australia than the two began to +look for one another, the one as black inside as the other was out. +Bogle announced that he was the man before he saw him, on the mother's +recommendation, and became and was to the end one of his principal +supporters--so much so that "Old Bogle" spread the Claimant's +knowledge of the Tichbornes abroad, and, like everybody else, believed +in him because he knew so much which he could not have known unless he +had been the veritable Roger, all which Bogle had told him. + +But in the interests of justice "Old Bogle" and Mr. Hawkins became +acquainted, much to the advantage of the latter, as he happened to +meet Bogle in the witness-box, a place where the counsel unravelled +the trickster's most subtle of designs. The advocate liked "Old +Bogle," as he called him, because, said he, Bogle, having white hair, +was so like a Malacca cane with a silver knob, white at the top and +black below. + +Bogle had sworn that Roger had no tattoo marks when he left England. +In point of fact he had, and Bogle had to fit them to the Claimant, +who had had tattoo marks of a very different kind from Roger's. The +Claimant had removed his, and therefore was presented to the court +without any. + +"How do you know Roger had no tattoo marks?" asked Mr. Hawkins. + +"I saw his arms on three occasions." This was a serious answer for +Bogle. + +"When and where, and under what circumstances?" followed in quick +succession, so that there was no escape. The witness said that Roger +had on a pair of black trousers tied round the waist, and his shirt +buttoned up. + +"The sleeves, how were they?" + +"Loose." + +"How came you to see his naked arms?" + +"He was rubbing one of them like this." + +"What did he rub for?" + +"I thought he'd got a flea." + +"Did you see it?" + +"No, of course." + +"Where was it?" + +"Just there." + +"What time was this?" + +"Ten minutes past eleven." + +"That's the first occasion; come to the second." + +"Just the same," says Bogle. + +"Same time?" + +"Yes." + +"Did he always put his hand inside his sleeve to rub?" + +"I don't know." + +"But I want to know." + +"If your shirt was unbuttoned, Mr. Hawkins, and you was rubbin' your +arm, you would draw up your sleeve--" + +"Never mind what I should do; I want to know what you saw." + +"The same as before," answers Bogle angrily. + +"A flea?" + +"I suppose." + +"But did you see him, Bogle?" + +"I told you, Mr. Hawkins, I did not." + +"Excuse me, that was on the first occasion." + +"Well, this was the same." + +"Same flea?" + +"I suppose." + +"Same time--ten minutes past eleven?" + +"Yes." + +"Then all I can say is, he must have been a very punctual old flea." + +Exit Bogle, and with him his evidence. + +After the trial had been proceeding for some time, Baigent was giving +evidence of the family pedigree. + +Honeyman whispered, "We might as well have the first chapter of +Genesis and read that." + +"Genesis!" said Hawkins; "I want to get to the last chapter of +Revelation." + +One day Mr. J.L. Toole came in, and was invited to sit next to Mr. +Hawkins, which he did. + +At the adjournment for luncheon the Claimant muttered as they passed +along, "There's Toole come to learn actin' from 'Arry Orkins." + +There was one witness who ought not to be forgotten. It was Mr. +Biddulph, a relation of the Tichborne family, a good-natured, amiable +man, willing to oblige any one, and a county magistrate--"one of +the most amiable county magistrates I have ever met, a man of the +strictest honour and unimpeachable integrity." + +He had been asked by the dowager lady to recognize her son. + +"I don't see how I can," said he. "I am willing to oblige, but not at +the expense of truth. Better get some one else who knew him better +than I did. This man bears no resemblance to the man I knew. I cannot +do it." And so he resisted all entreaties with that firmness of +purpose for which he was remarkable. + +"He was then invited," said Mr. Hawkins, "to a little dinner at +another supporter of the Claimant's, and one somewhat shrewder than +the rest." The Claimant described this party as consisting of a county +magistrate, a money-lender, a lawyer, and a humbug. + +This is how the advocate dealt with this little party in his address +to the jury:-- + +"Gentlemen, can't you imagine the scene? Perkins, the lawyer, says +to Biddulph, 'Come, now, Mr. Biddulph, you know you have had great +experience in cross-examining as a county magistrate at Petty +Sessions; now, cross-examine this man _firmly_, and you'll soon find +he knows more than you think. If he's not the man, he's nobody else, +you may be quite sure of that. But first of all,' says Perkins, 'what +did you know of Roger? That's the first thing; let's start with that.' + +"'Oh, not very much,' says Biddulph. 'He stayed at Bath once for a +fortnight, while his mother was there.' + +"'Pass Mr. Biddulph the champagne,' says Perkins. (Laughter.) + +"'Now,' he adds, 'how did you amuse yourselves, eh?' + +"'Well,' says Biddulph, 'we used to smoke together at the +hotel--the--the--White something it was called.' + +"'Did you smoke pipes or cigars?' + +"'Well, I remember we had some curious pipes.' + +"'Another glass of champagne for Mr. Biddulph,' (More laughter.) 'What +sort of pipes?' asks the Claimant; 'death's-head pipes?' + +"The magistrate remembered, opened his eyes, and lifted his hands. +Thus the amiable magistrate was convinced, although he said, candidly +enough, 'I did not recognize him by his features, walk, voice, or +twitch in his eye, but I was struck with his recollection of having +met me at Bath.' The death's-head pipes settled him. + +"As for Miss Brain the governess, she was of a different order from +Mr. Biddulph. She told us she had listened to the defendant when he +solemnly swore that he had seduced her former pupil, that he had +stood in the dock for horse-stealing, and had been the associate of +highwaymen and bushrangers, and had made a will for the purpose of +fraud; and yet this woman took him by the hand, and was not ashamed of +his companionship. His counsel described her as a ministering angel. +Heaven defend me from ministering angels if Miss Brain is one!" + +The Claimant, while in Australia, being asked what kind of lady his +mother (the dowager Lady Tichborne) was, answered, "Oh, a very stout +lady; and that is the reason I am so fond of Mrs. Butts of the +Metropolitan Hotel, she being a tall, stout, and buxom woman; and like +Mrs. Mina Jury (of Wapping), because she was like my mother." + +A witness of the name of Coyne was called to give evidence of the +recognition of the Claimant by the mother in Paris, and the solicitor +said to Coyne, "You see how she recognizes him." + +"Yes," said Coyne; "he's lucky." + +There was no cross-examination, and Mr. Hawkins said to the jury, +"They need not cross-examine unless they like; it's a free country. +They may leave this man's account unquestioned if they like, but if it +is a true account, what do you say to the recognition?" + +Louie, the Dane, said that while the Claimant was on board his ship he +amused himself by picking oakum and reading "The Garden of the Soul." + +There were several _Ospreys_ spoken to as having picked up the +Claimant after the wreck of the _Bella_, and the defendant had not the +least idea which one was the best to carry him safely into harbour. +The defendant's counsel, notwithstanding, had told the jury that he, +Hawkins, had not ventured to contradict one or other of the stories of +the wreck, and had not called the captain of the _Osprey_ which had +picked him up. + +Comment on such a proposition in advocacy would be ridiculous. Mr. +Hawkins dealt with it by an example which the reader will remember as +having occurred in his early days:-- + +"'We don't know which _Osprey_ you mean.' 'Take any one,' says the +defendant's counsel, reminding me of the defence of a man charged with +stealing a duck, and having given seven different accounts as to how +he became possessed of it, his counsel was at last asked which he +relied on. 'Oh, never mind which,' he answered; 'I shall be much +obliged if the jury will adopt any one of them.' + +"You remember, gentlemen, the touching words in which the defendant's +counsel spoke of Bogle: 'He is one of those negroes,' said he, +'described by the author of "Paul and Virginia," who are faithful to +the death, true as gold itself. If ever a witness of truth came into +the box, that witness was Bogle.' + +"Well, you have seen him--Old Bogle! What do you think of him? Was +there ever a better specimen of feigned simplicity than he? 'Bogle,' +cries the defendant, after all those years of estrangement, 'is that +_you_?' 'Yes, Sir Roger,' answered Bogle; how do you do?' + +"'Do you remember giving me a pipe o' baccy?' asks a poor country +greenhorn down at Alresford. 'Yes,' answers the Claimant. 'Then +you're the man,' says the greenhorn. Such was the way evidence was +manufactured. + +"A poor lady--you remember Mrs. Stubbs--had a picture of her +great-great-grandfather's great-grandfather. In goes the Claimant, and +in his artful manner shows his childhood's memory. 'Ah, Mrs. Stubbs,' +says he, looking at another picture, 'that is not the _old_ picture, +is it?' (Somebody had put him up to this.) No, sir,' cries Mrs. +Stubbs, delighted with his recollection--'no, sir; but please to walk +this way into my parlour,' And there, sure enough, was the picture he +had been told to ask for. + +"'Ah!' he exclaims, 'there it is; there's the old picture!' + +"How could Mrs. Stubbs disbelieve her own senses?" + +One, Sir Walter Strickland, declined to see the Claimant and be +misled, and was roundly abused by the defendant's counsel. One of +the jury asked if _he was still alive_. "Yes," said the Lord Chief +Justice, although the defendant expressed a hope that they would all +die who did not recognize him.... + +"In a letter to Rous, my lord, where he said, 'I see I have one enemy +the less in Harris's death. Captain Strickland, who made himself so +great on the other side, went to stay at Stonyhurst with his +brother, and died there. He called on me a week before and abused me +shamefully. So will all go some day'--this," said Mr. Hawkins, "was +not exhibiting the same Christian spirit which he showed when he said, +'God help those poor _purgured_ sailors!'" + +"Why should the defendant," asked Mr. Hawkins at the close of one +of the day's speeches, "if he were Sir Roger, avoid Arthur Orton's +sisters? Why, would he not have said, 'They will be glad indeed to +see me, and hear me tell them about the camp-fire under the canopy of +heaven,' as his counsel put it, 'where their brother Arthur told me +all about Fergusson, the old pilot of the Dundee boat, who kept the +public-house at Wapping, and the Shetland ponies of Wapping, and +the Shottles of the Nook at Wapping, and wished me to ask who kept +Wright's public-house now, and about the Cronins, and Mrs. MacFarlane +of the Globe--all of Wapping.'" + +The Judges fell back with laughter, and the curtain came down, for +these were the questions with many more the Claimant asked on the +evening of his landing. + +"I shall attack the noble army of Carabineers," said Mr. Hawkins on +another occasion. He did so, and conquered the regiment in detail. + +One old Carabineer was librarian at the Westminster Hospital. His name +was Manton, and he was a sergeant. He told Baigent something that had +happened while Roger was his officer, and Baigent told the Claimant. +Manton afterwards saw the huge man, and failed to recognize him in any +way. But when the Claimant repeated to him what he had told Baigent, +Manton opened his eyes. This looked like proof of his being the man. +He was struck with his marvellous recollection, and was at once pinned +down to an affidavit:-- + +"The Claimant's voice is stronger, and has less foreign accent," +he swore; "but I recognized his voice, and found his tone and +pronunciation to be _the same as Roger Tichborne's_, whom I knew as an +officer." + +Truly an affidavit is a powerful auxiliary in fraud. + +While Mr. Hawkins was replying one afternoon, Mr. Whalley, M.P., came +in and sat next to the Claimant. He was from the first one of his most +enthusiastic supporters. + +"Well," he said, "and how are we getting on to-day? How are we getting +on, eh?" + +"Getting on!" growled the Claimant; "he's been going on at a pretty +rate, and if he goes on much longer I shall begin to think I am Arthur +Orton after all." + +I will conclude this chapter with the following reminiscences by Lord +Brampton himself.] + + * * * * * + +I had a great deal to put up with from day to day in many ways during +this prolonged investigation. The Lord Chief Justice, Cockburn, +although good, was a little impatient, and hard to please at times. + +My opponent sought day by day some cause of quarrel with me. At times +he was most insulting, and grew almost hourly worse, until I was +compelled, in order to stop his insults, to declare openly that I +would never speak to him again on this side the grave, and I never +did. My life was made miserable, and what ought to have been a quiet +and orderly performance was rendered a continual scene of bickering +and conflict, too often about the most trifling matters. + +With every one else I got on happily and agreeably, my juniors loyally +doing their very utmost to render me every assistance and lighten my +burden. + +Even the Claimant himself not only gave me no offence from first to +last, but was at times in his manner very amusing, and preserved his +natural good temper admirably, considering what he had at stake on +the issue of the trial, and remembering also that that issue devolved +mainly upon my own personal exertions. + +Nor was the Claimant devoid of humour. On the contrary, he was +plentifully endowed with it. + +One morning on his going into court an elderly lady dressed in deep +mourning presented him with a religious tract. He thanked her, went +to his seat, and perused the document. Then he wrote something on the +tract, carefully revised what he had written, and threw it on the +floor. + +The usher was watching these proceedings, and, as soon as he could do +so unobserved, secured the paper and handed it to me. + +The tract was headed, "Sinner, Repent!" + +The Claimant had written on it, "Surely this must have been meant for +Orkins, not for me!" + +Louie's story of picking him up in the boat must have amused him +greatly. If he was amused at the ease with which fools can be +humbugged, he must also have been astounded at the awful villainy of +those who, perfect strangers to him, had perjured themselves for the +sake of notoriety. + +I did what I could to shorten the proceedings. My opening speech was +confined to six days, as compared with twenty-eight on the other side; +my reply to nine. But that reply was a labour fearful to look back +upon. The mere classification of the evidence was a momentous and +necessary task. It had to be gathered from the four quarters of the +world. It had to be sifted, winnowed, and arranged in order as +a perfect whole before the true story could be evolved from the +complications and entanglements with which it was surrounded. + +And when I rose to reply, to perform my last work and make my last +effort for the success of my cause, I felt as one about to plunge into +a boundless ocean with the certain knowledge that everything depended +upon my own unaided efforts as to whether I should sink or swim. +Happily, for the cause of justice, I succeeded; and at the end, +although nattering words of approval and commendation poured upon +me from all sides, from the highest to the humblest, I did Hot +then realize their value to the extent that I did afterwards. The +excitement and the exertion had been too great for anything to add to +it. + +But I afterwards remembered--ay, and can never forget--the words of +the Lord Chief Justice himself, the first to appreciate and applaud, +as I was passing near him in leaving the court: "Bravo! Bravo, +Hawkins!" And then he added, "I have not heard a piece of oratory like +that for many a long day!" And he patted me cordially on the back as +he looked at me with, I believe, the sincerest appreciation. + +Lord Chelmsford, too, who years before had given me my silk gown, was +on the Bench on this last day, and I shall never forget the compliment +he paid me on my speech. It was of itself worth all the trouble and +anxiety I had undergone. + +Beyond all this, and more gratifying even still, my speech was liked +by the Bar, from the most eminent to the briefless. + +But greatest of all events in that eventful day was one which went +deeper to my feelings. My old father, who had taken so strong a view +against my going to the Bar, and who told me so mournfully that after +five years I must sink or swim; my old father, who had never once seen +me in my wig and gown from that day to this, the almost closing scene +in my forensic career, came into court and sat by my side when I made +successfully the greatest effort of my life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A VISIT TO SHEFFIELD--MRS. HAILSTONE'S DANISH BOARHOUND. + + +The remembrance of my Sessions days will never vanish from my mind, +although at the period of which I am speaking they had long receded +into the distant past. Even _Nisi Prius_ was diminishing in +importance, although increasing in its business and fees. + +Solicitors no longer condescended to deliver their briefs, but +competed for my services. I say this without the smallest vanity, +and only because it was the fact, and a great fact in my life. I was +wanted to win causes by advocacy or compromise; and the innumerable +compensation cases which continually came in with so steady and +so full a tide were a sufficient proof that, at all events, the +solicitors and others thought my services worth having. So did my +clerk! + +Those were the days of the golden harvest, the very gleanings of which +were valuable to those who came after. + +Lloyd must have made £20,000 a year with the greatest ease. What my +income was is of no consequence to any one; suffice it to say that no +expectations of mine ever came up to its amount, and even now when +I look back it seems absolutely fabulous. I will say no more, +notwithstanding the curiosity it has excited amongst the members of +the profession. + +Of course it was a step for me from the humble "_one three six_;" but +I have had a more lively satisfaction from that little sum than from +many a larger fee. + +In the midst of all this rush of London business I still found time +to run down to country places in cases of election petitions or +compensation. + +One day I found myself on my way to Sheffield to support the member +against an attempt to deprive him of his seat in Parliament. I went +with the Hon. Sir Edward Chandos Leigh, my distinguished junior on +that memorable occasion. + +The journey was pleasant until we got near the end of it, and then +the smoke rolled over and around in voluminous dense clouds, for a +description of which you may search in vain through "Paradise Lost." +We were met at the station with great state, and even splendour, and +treated with almost boundless hospitality. + +To keep up our spirits, we were taken for a drive by the sitting +member a few miles out, into what they call "the country" in those +parts. The suburban residence was situated in a well-wooded park, if +that can be called well-wooded where there are no woods, but only +stunted undergrowths sickening with the baleful fumes that proceed +from the city of darkness in the distance, and black with the soot +of a thousand chimneys. The member apologized politely enough for +bringing us to this almost uninhabitable and Heaven-forsaken region; +but I begged him not to mind: it was only a more blasted scene than +the heath in "Macbeth." + +"Yes," said he, still apologetically; "it _is_ very bad, I admit. You +see, the fumes and fires from those manufactories make such havoc of +our woods." + +This was apparent, but the question was how to pass the time amidst +this gloom and sickening atmosphere. + +I found his residence, however, to my great joy, was farther than I +expected from the appalling city of darkness, and hope began to revive +both in my junior's heart and mine. + +Our friend and host, seeing our spirits thus elated, began, to talk +with more life-like animation. + +"The fumes from the factories, Mr. Hawkins, have so played the devil +with our trees that the general impoverishment of nature has earned +for the locality of Sheffield the unpleasant title of the 'Suburbs of +Hell.'" + +"I don't wonder," I answered; "no name could be more appropriate or +better deserved; but if it were my fate to choose my locality, I +should prefer to live in _the city itself_." + +A curious incident happened to us during this Yorkshire visit. An +excursion was arranged to see Warburton's, situated some few miles +off, and notable for many oddities. + +We were driven over, and when we arrived were by no means disappointed +by the singularities of the mansion. It was enclosed within a high +wall, which had been built, not for the purpose, as you might suppose, +of preventing the house from getting away, but for that of keeping +out rats and foxes; for there were birds to be preserved from these +destructive animals. Next, this portion of the estate was surrounded +by water, which afforded an additional security to its isolation, +access to the island being attainable only by means of a bridge. + +The mansion was occupied by a Mrs. Hailstone, whose duty it was to +show visitors over the house and explain everything as she went along, +ghost stories as well; and being a remarkably affable lady, with a +great gift of language, we had a very intelligent and edifying lecture +in every room we passed through, now upon ornithology, now chronology, +next on pisciculture and the habits of stuffed pike and other +fish. But this was not all. Our guide was wonderfully well read in +architecture, and displayed no end of knowledge in pointing out the +different orders and sub-orders, periods of, and blendings of the +same, so that we were quite ready for lunch as soon as that period +should mercifully arrive. + +But it was not exactly yet. There were many other curiosities to be +shown. For instance, we had not done the Warburton Library, which was +a most singular apartment, as we were informed, I don't know how +many stories high, at the top of a very singular tower, with as many +languages in it as the Tower of Babel itself, and very nearly as tall. +One only wished the whole thing would topple down before we could come +to it. + +At last, however, we climbed to this lofty eminence and revelled +as well as we could amongst the musty old books, which themselves +revelled in the dust of ages. + +Having seen all the shelves and the backs of the books, and heard all +the accounts of them without receiving any information, we commenced +our descent by means of the winding staircase towards the garden. On +our way a curious circumstance took place. There was an enormously +great Danish boarhound, which had, unperceived by us, followed Mrs. +Hailstone from the library; it pushed by without ceremony, and +proceeded until it reached the lady, who was some distance in advance. +He then carefully took the skirt of her dress with his mouth and +carried it like an accomplished train-bearer until she reached the +bottom of the stairs and the garden, when he let go the dress and +gazed as an interested spectator. We were now in the midst of a very +beautiful and well-kept garden, with a lawn like velvet stretching far +away to the lake, where ultimately we should have to wait for a +boat to ferry us along its placid water. This was part of our +entertainment, and a very beautiful part it was. + +But before we parted from Mrs. Hailstone, and while I was talking to +her, I felt my hand in the boarhound's mouth, and a pretty capacious +mouth it was, for I seemed to touch nothing but its formidable fangs. + +It was not a pleasant experience, but I preserved sufficient presence +of mind to make no demonstration. Dogs know well enough when a man or +woman loves their kind, and I am sure this one was no exception, or he +would never have behaved with such gentlemanly politeness. So soft was +the touch of his fangs that I was only just conscious my hand was in +his mouth by now and then the gentlest reminder. I knew animals too +well to attempt to withdraw it, and so preserved a calm more wonderful +than I could have given myself credit for. + +While I was wondering what the next proceeding might be, Mrs. +Hailstone begged me to be quite easy, and on no account to show any +opposition to the dog's proceedings, in which case she promised that +he would lead me gently to the other side of the lawn, and there leave +me without doing the least harm. + +All this was said with such cool indifference that I wondered whether +it was a part of the day's programme, and rather supposed it was; but +it turned out that she said it to reassure me and prevent mischief. I +also learned that it was not by any means the first occasion when this +business had taken place. It was the first time in my life that I had +been in custody, and if I had had my choice I should have preferred a +pair of handcuffs without teeth. + +As I was being led away Mrs. Hailstone said,-- + +"Do exactly as he wishes; he is jealous of your talking to me, and +leads any one away who does so to the other side of the garden." + +Having conducted me to the remotest spot he could find, he opened his +huge jaws and released my hand, wagged his tail, and trotted off, much +pleased with his performance. He returned to his mistress and put his +large paws on her arms--a striking proof, I thought, of the dog's +sagacity. + +There will be in this history some stories of my famous "Jack," but as +he belonged to me after I became a Judge, they are deferred until that +period arrives. The reminiscences of Jack are amongst my dearest and +most pleasant recollections. + +The changeful nature of popular clamour was never more manifested than +on this visit. + +The Claimant had been convicted and sentenced to penal servitude, but +to deprive a man of his title and estate because he was a butcher's +son did not coincide with the wishes of a generous democracy, who +lingered round the Sheffield court, where the fate of their sitting +member was to be tried. They believed in their member, and, not +knowing on which side I was retained, when I went along the corridor +into the court they "yah! yah'd!" at me with lungs that would have +been strong enough to set their furnaces going or blow them out. + +After the petition was tried, and I had been successful, they changed +their minds and their language. This same British public, which not +long before had "yah! yah'd!" at me, now came forward with true +British hoorays and bravos. "'Orkins for ever!" "Hooray for Orkins!" +"Bravo, Orkins!" "Hooray! a ---- hooray! Hooray for Wagga Wagga!" + +This last cry had reference to a village in Australia where the great +Tichborne fraud had its origin; where the first advertisement of the +dowager seeking her lost son was shown to the butcher in his own +little shop, the son of the respectable butcher of Wapping. + +The number of people who professed to believe in the Claimant long +after he was sent to penal servitude was prodigious, although not +one of them could have given a reason for his faith, or pointed to +a particle of unimpeachable evidence to support his opinion. It had +never been anything other than feeling in the dark for what never +existed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +AN EXPERT IN HANDWRITING--"DO YOU KNOW JOE BROWN?" + + +I always took great interest in the class of expert who professed to +identify handwriting. Experts of all classes give evidence only as to +opinion; nevertheless, those who decide upon handwriting believe +in their infallibility. Cross-examination can never shake their +confidence. Some will pin their faith even to the crossing of a T, +"the perpendicularity, my lord," of a down-stroke, or the "obliquity" +of an upstroke. + +Mr. Nethercliffe, one of the greatest in his profession, and a +thorough believer in all he said, had been often cross-examined by +me, and we understood each other very well. I sometimes indulged in a +little chaff at his expense; indeed, I generally had a little "fling" +at him when he was in the box. + +It is remarkable that, at the time I speak of, Judges, as a rule, had +wonderful confidence in this class of expert, and never seemed to +think of forming any opinion of their own. A witness swore to certain +peculiarities; the Judge looked at them and at once saw them, too +often without considering that peculiarities are exactly the things +that forgers imitate. + +"You find the same peculiarity here, my lord, and the same peculiarity +there, my lord; consequently I say it is the same handwriting." + +In days long gone by the eminent expert in this science had a great +reputation. As I often met him, I knew _his_ peculiarities, and how +annoyed he was if the correctness of his opinion was in the least +doubted. + +He had a son of whom he was deservedly proud, and he and his son, in +cases of importance, were often employed on opposite sides to support +or deny the genuineness of a questioned handwriting. On one occasion, +in the Queen's Bench, a libel was charged against a defendant which he +positively denied ever to have written. + +I appeared for the defendant, and Mr. Nethercliffe was called as a +witness for the plaintiff. + +When I rose to cross-examine I handed to the expert six slips of +paper, each of which was written in a different kind of handwriting. +Nethercliffe took out his large pair of spectacles--magnifiers--which +he always carried, and began to polish them with a great deal of care, +saying,-- + +"I see, Mr. Hawkins, what you are going to try to do--you want to put +me in a hole." + +"I do, Mr. Nethercliffe; and if you are ready for the hole, tell +me--were those six pieces of paper written by one hand at about the +same time?" + +He examined them carefully, and after a considerable time answered: +"No; they were written at different times and by different hands!" + +"By different persons, do you say?" + +"Yes, certainly!" + +"Now, Mr. Nethercliffe, you are in the hole! I wrote them myself this +morning at this desk." + +He was a good deal disconcerted, not to say very angry, and I then +began to ask him about his son. + +"You educated your son to your own profession, I believe, Mr. +Nethercliffe?" + +"I did, sir; I hope there was no harm in that, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Not in the least; it is a lucrative profession. Was he a diligent +student?" + +"He was." + +"And became as good an expert as his father, I hope?" + +"Even better, I should say, if possible." + +"I think you profess to be infallible, do you not?" + +"That is true, Mr. Hawkins, though I say it." + +"And your son, who, as you say, is even better than yourself, is he as +infallible as you?" + +"Certainly, he ought to be. Why not?" + +Then I put this question; "Have you and your son been sometimes +employed on opposite sides in a case?" + +"That is hardly a fair question, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Let me give you an instance: In Lady D----'s case, which has recently +been tried, did not your son swear one way and you another?" + +He did not deny it, whereupon I added: "It seems strange that two +infallibles should contradict one another?" + +The case was at an end. + + * * * * * + +One evening, after a good hard day's work, I was sitting in my +easy-chair after dinner, comfortably enjoying myself, when a man, who +was quite a respectable working man, came in. I had known him for a +considerable time. + +"What's the matter, Jenkins?" I inquired, seeing he was somewhat +troubled. + +"Well, Mr. Hawkins, it's a terrible job, this 'ere. I wants you to +appear for me." + +"Where?" I inquired. + +"At Bow Street, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Bow Street! What have you been doing, Jenkins?" + +"Why, nothing, sir; but it's a put-up job. You knows my James, I +dessay. Well, sir, that there boy, my son James, have been brought up, +I might say, on the Church Catechism." + +"There's not much in that," I said, meaning nothing they could take +him to Bow Street for. "Is that the charge against him?" + +"No, sir; but from a babby, sir, his poor mother have brought that +there boy up to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the +truth. And it's a curious thing, Mr. Hawkins--a very curious thing, +sir--that arter all his poor mother's care and James's desire to speak +the truth, they've gone and charged that there boy with perjury! 'At +all times,' says his mother, 'James, speak the truth, the whole truth, +and nothing but the truth;' and this is what it's come to--would +anybody believe it, sir? _Could_ anybody believe it? It's enough to +make anybody disbelieve in Christianity. And what's more, sir, that +there boy was so eager at all times to tell the whole truth that, to +make quite sure he told it all, he'd go a little beyond on the other +side, sir--he would, indeed." + +When he heard my fee was a hundred guineas to appear at the police +court, I heard no more of truthful James. + + * * * * * + +In dealing with a case where there is really no substantial defence, +it is sometimes necessary to throw a little ridicule over the +proceedings, taking care, first, to see what is the humour of the +jury. I remember trying this with great success, and reducing a +verdict which might have been considerable to a comparatively trifling +amount. + +[In illustration of this Mr. Cecil A. Coward has given an incident +that occurred in an action for slander tried at the Guildhall many +years ago, in which Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., was for the defendant, and Mr. +Joseph Brown, Q.C., for the plaintiff. The slander consisted in the +defendant pointing his thumb over his shoulder and asking another man, +"Do you know him? That's Joe Smith." + +Mr. Joseph Brown, Q.C., had to rely upon his innuendo--"meaning +thereby Joe Smith was a rogue"--and was very eloquent as to slander +unspoken but expressed by signs and tone. After an exhausting speech +he sat down and buried his head in his bandana, as his habit was. + +Hawkins got up, and turned Mr. Joseph Brown's speech to ridicule in +two or three sentences. + +"Gentlemen," he almost whispered, after a very small whistle which +nobody could hear but those close around, at the same time pointing +his thumb over his shoulder at his opponent, "do you know him--do you +know Joe Brown?" There was a roar of laughter. Joe looked up, saw +nothing, and retired again into his bandana. + +Again the performance was gone through. "Do you know Joe Brown, the +best fellow in the world?" + +Brown looked up again, and was just in time to hear the jury say +they had heard quite enough of the case. No slander--verdict for the +defendant. + +It was one of the best pieces of acting I ever saw him do.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +APPOINTED A JUDGE--MY FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER, + + +No sooner was the Tichborne case finished than I was once more in the +full run of work. + +One brief was delivered with a fee marked twenty thousand guineas, +which I declined. It would not in any way have answered my purpose +to accept it. I was asked, however, to name my own fee, with the +assurance that whatever I named it would be forthcoming. I promised to +consider a fee of fifty thousand guineas, and did so, but resolved not +to accept the brief on any terms, as it involved my going to Indie, +and I felt it would be unwise to do so. + +In 1874 I was offered by Lord Cairns the honour of a judgeship, which +I respectfully declined. It was no hope of mine to step into a puisne +judgeship, or, for the matter of that, any other judicial position. +I was contented with my work and with my career. I did not wish to +abandon my position at the Bar, and my friends at the Bar, and take up +one on the Bench with no friends at all; for a Judge's position is one +of almost isolation. This refusal gave great dissatisfaction to many, +and a letter I have before me says, "I got into a great row with +my editor by your refusal." Another said he lost a lot of money in +consequence: "I thought it was any odds upon your taking it." + +Sir Alexander Cockburn gave me a complimentary side-cut in a speech he +made to some of his old constituents. + +"The time comes," said he, "when men of the greatest eminence are +called upon to give up their professional emoluments for the interests +of their country. In my opinion they have no right to refuse their +services; no man has this right when his country calls for them." + +But these animadversions did not affect me. I held on to the course +which I had deliberately chosen, and which I thought my labours and +sacrifices in the Tichborne case on behalf of my country entitled me +to enjoy. Let any one who has the least knowledge of advocacy consider +what it was to carry that case to a successful issue, and then condemn +me for not taking a judgeship if he will. I was entitled to freedom +and rest. A judgeship is neither, as one finds out when once he puts +on the ermine. But it requires no argument to justify the course I +took. I was entitled to decline, and I did. There is nothing else to +be said; all other considerations are idle and irrelevant. + +A judgeship was, however, a second time offered by Lord Cairns in +1876. This, after due consideration, I accepted, and received my +appointment as a Judge of the Exchequer Court on November 2 of that +year. + +The first and most sensational case that I was called upon to preside +over was known as the Penge case. Sir Alexander Cockburn had appointed +himself to try it, on account of its sensational character; but as it +came for trial at a time when the Lord Chief Justice could not attend, +it fell to the junior Judge on the Bench. + +I am not going to relate the details of that extraordinary case,[A] +which are best left in the obscurity of the newspaper files; but I +refer to it because it cannot well be passed over in the reminiscences +of my life. I shall, however, only touch upon one or two prominent +points. + +[Footnote A: The great sensation of the case was almost overpowered by +the great sensation that "a new power had come upon the Bench." These +are, as nearly as I can give them, the words of one of our most +distinguished advocates, and one of the most brilliant who was in the +Penge case:-- + +"We felt, and the Bar felt, that a great power had come upon the +Bench; he summed up that case as no living man could have done. Every +word told; every point was touched upon and made so clear that it was +impossible not to see it." + +Another distinguished advocate said there was no other Judge on +the Bench who could have summed that case up as Sir Henry Hawkins +did.--R.H.] + +"Every person," I said in my summing up, "who is under a legal duty, +whether such duty was imposed by law or contract, to take charge of +another person must provide that person with the necessaries of life. +Every person who had that legal duty imposed upon him was criminally +responsible if he culpably neglected that duty, and the death of the +person for whom he ought to provide ensued. If the death was the +result of mere carelessness and without criminal intent, the offence +would be manslaughter, provided the jury came to the conclusion that +there had been culpable neglect of the duty cast upon the individual +who had undertaken to perform it." + +With regard to the evidence of one of the witnesses who was said to +be an accomplice, so that it was necessary that she should be +corroborated, I said a jury might convict without it, but recommended +them strongly not to take for granted her evidence unless they found +there was so much corroboration of her testimony as to induce them to +believe she was telling the truth. + +As to one of the accused, I said: "If she had no legal object to +fulfil in providing the deceased with the necessaries of life, the +mere omission to do so would not render her guilty; but if she did an +act wrongfully which had a tendency to destroy life, but which was not +clone with that intention, she would be guilty of manslaughter." + +The jury found a verdict of guilty against all, but with a strong +recommendation in favour of one, in which I joined. + +When a verdict of guilty of wilful murder is returned, a Judge, +whatever may be his opinion of its propriety or justice, has no +alternative but to deliver the sentence of death, and in the very +words the law prescribes. It is not _his_ judgment or decision, but +it is so decreed that the sentence shall in no way depend upon the +sympathy or opinion of the Judge. Whatever mitigating circumstances +there may be must be considered by the Secretary of State for the Home +Department as representing the Sovereign, and upon his advice alone +the Sovereign acts. + +But the Home Secretary never allows a sentence of death to be executed +without the fullest possible inquiry as to mitigating circumstances, +and it is at this stage that the opinion of the Judge is almost +all-powerful. + +My judgment in this case was the result of much anxious thought and +consideration. The responsibility cast upon me was great. The case was +as difficult as it was serious; but my line of duty was plain, and it +was to leave the facts as clearly as I could possibly state them, with +such explanation of the law applicable to each case as my ability +would allow, and then leave the jury to find according to their honest +belief. No duty more arduous has ever since been imposed upon me, and +I performed it in my honest conscience, without swerving from what I +believed, and believe still, to be my strict line of duty. + +I have had many opportunities of reconsidering the whole +circumstances, but I have never changed or varied my opinion after all +these years, and am certain I never shall--namely, that I did my duty +according to the best of my judgment and ability. + +A Judge may go wrong in many ways, and often does in one way or +other, especially if he does not know his own mind--the worst of all +weaknesses, because it usually leads to an attempt to strike a medium +line between innocence and guilt. + +One great weakness, too, in a Judge is not having the faculty of +setting out the facts in language which is intelligible to the jury, +or in not setting them out at all, but repeating them so often and in +so many forms that they are at last left in an absolutely hopeless +muddle. A Judge once kept on so at the jury about "if you find +burglarious intent, and if you don't find burglarious intent," that at +last the jury found nothing except a verdict of not guilty, giving the +"benefit of the doubt as to what the Judge meant." + +As an illustration of the necessity of giving the jury a clear idea +of the evidence in the simplest case, I will state what took place at +Exeter. Juries are unused to evidence, and have very often to be told +what is the bearing of it. In a case of fowl-stealing which I +was trying, there was a curious defence raised, which seemed too +ridiculous to notice. It was that the fowls had crept into the +nose-bag in which they had been found, and which was in the prisoner's +possession, in order to shelter themselves from the east wind. + +Forgetting that possibly I had an unreasoning and ignorant jury to +deal with, I thought they would at once see through so absurd a +defence, and did not insult their common sense by summing up. I merely +said,-- + +"Gentlemen, do you believe in the defence?" + +They put their heads together, and kept in that position for some +time, and at last, to my utter amazement, said,-- + +"We do, my lord; we find the prisoner _not guilty_." + +It was a verdict for the prisoner and a lesson for me. + +It was always my practice, founded on much calculation of the +respective and relative merits and demerits of prisoners, to do what +no other Judge that I am aware of ever did, which was to put convicted +prisoners back until the whole calendar had been tried, then to bring +them up and pass sentence after deliberate consideration of every +case. I thus had the opportunity of reading over my notes and forming +an opinion as to whether there were any circumstances which I could +take into consideration by way of mitigation, or, in the same manner, +as to whether there were matters of aggravation, such as cruelty or +deliberate, wilful malice. The result of this plan on one occasion at +Stafford Assizes, which I remember very well, was this. Two men were +convicted of bigamy. The offence was the same in law as to both the +prisoners. The one was altogether, physically and morally, a brute, +cruel and merciless. The other man found guilty had been a bad husband +to his wife before he went through the form of the second marriage; +but as he had been already punished for his misconduct in that +respect, I thought it fair that he should not be punished again for +the same offence. Such is my idea of the law of England, although I +fear it is sometimes forgotten. I therefore treated this man's crime +as one of a very mitigated character, no harm having been done to the +second woman, and released him on his own recognizances to come up for +judgment if he should be called upon. I would not revisit upon him +his past misdeeds. The other man I sent into penal servitude for five +years. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +ON THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT. + + +"That's Orkins hover there," said a burly-looking sportsman as I +arrived one day at Newmarket Heath--"'im a-torkin' to Corlett. See +'im? Nice bernevolent old cove to look at, ain't 'e? Yus. That didn't +stop 'is guvin' me _five of his wery best_, simply becorze by accident +I mistook someb'dy else's 'ouse and plate-chest for my own. Sorter +mistake which might 'appen a'most to henybody. There 'e is; see 'im? +That's Orkins!" + +I need not say I was frequently spoken of in this complimentary manner +by persons who had been introduced to me at the Bar. I was once +leading a little fox terrier with a string, because on several +occasions he had given me the slip and caused me to be a little late +in court. I led him, therefore, in the leash until he knew his duty. + +On this day, however, as the crowd was waiting for me on the little +platform of a country station, my fox terrier jumped out in front of +me while I was holding him by the string. + +"Good ----!" cried a voice from a gentleman to whom I had previously +given a situation under Government, livery and all found; "why, blow +me if the old bloke ain't blind! Lookee there, 'is dawg's a-leadin' +'im; wot d'ye think o' that?" + +But persons in much higher station were no less at times fond +of chaff, which I always took good-humouredly. A story of Lord +Grimthorpe, who, many years after, had some fun with me at times over +my little Jack, will appear in his reminiscences a little farther on. +I used to lead Jack with a string in the same manner as I had done the +other, for educational purposes, and Lord Grimthorpe jocularly called +me Jack's prisoner. But I must let him tell his own story in his own +way when his turn comes. + +The Midland Circuit was always famous for its ill accommodation of her +Majesty's Judges, and of late years even in the supply of prisoners +to keep them from loitering away their days in idleness or lonely +diversions. + +I always loved work and comfortable lodgings, and may say from the +first to the last of my judicial days set myself to the improvement of +both the work and the accommodation. + +Some Judges in their charges used to discourse with the grand jury of +our foreign relations, turnips, or the state of trade; but I took a +more humble theme at Aylesbury, when I informed that august body +that the quarters assigned to her Majesty's Judges were such that an +officer would hardly think them good enough to billet soldiers in. + +"My rest, gentlemen, has been rudely disturbed," said I, "in the +lodgings assigned to me. My bedroom was hardly accessible, on account +of what appeared to be a dense fog which was difficult to struggle +through. I sought refuge in the dressing-room. Being a bitterly cold +night and a very draughty room, some one had lighted a fire in it; +but, unfortunately, all the smoke came down the chimney after going +up a little way, bringing down as much soot as it could manage to +lay hold of. All this is the fault of the antiquated chimneys and +ill-contrived building generally. My marshal was the subject of equal +discomfort; and I think I may congratulate you, gentlemen, not only on +there being very few prisoners, but also on the fact that you are not +holding an inquest on our bodies." + +The grand jury were good enough to say that there was "an institution +called the Standing Joint Committee, who will, no doubt, inquire into +your lordship's subject of complaint." The "Standing Joint Committee" +sounded powerfully, but I believe no further notice was taken, and the +question dropped. + +"That's a nice un," said one of the javelin-men at the door when a +friend of his came out. "Did yer 'ear that, Jimmy? Orkins is a nice +un to talk about lodgings. Let him look to his own cirkit--the 'Orne +Cirkit--where my brother told me as at a trial at Guildford the tenant +of that there house wouldn't pay his rent. For why? Because they +was so pestered wi' wermin. And what do you think Orkins told the +jury?--He was counsel for the tenant.--'Why,' he says, 'gentlemen, +you heard what one of the witnesses said, how that the fleas was so +outrageous that they ackshally stood on the backs o' the 'all chairs +and barked at 'em as they come in.' That's Orkins on his own circuit; +and 'ere he is finding fault with our lodgings." + +It was not long after my arrival at Lincoln, on the first occasion of +my visiting that drowsy old ecclesiastical city, that I was waited +upon, first by one benevolent body of gentlemen, and then another, all +philanthropists seeking subscriptions for charitable objects. + +One bitterly cold morning I was standing in my robes with my back to +the fire at my lodgings, waiting to step into the carriage on my way +to court, when a very polite gentleman, who headed quite a body of +other polite gentlemen, asked "if his lordship would do them the +honour of receiving a deputation from the L. and B. Skating Club." +I assented--nothing would give me more pleasure; and in filed the +deputation, arranging themselves, hats in hand, round me in a +semicircle. + +"We have the honour, my lord, to call upon your lordship in pursuance +of a resolution passed last night at a special meeting of our club--" + +"What is the name of your club?" + +"The L. and B. Skating Club, my lord." + +"What is its object?" + +"_Our_ object, my lord?" + +"No, the object of your _society_. I can guess your object." + +The leader answered with a smile of the greatest satisfaction,-- + +"Er--skating, my lord." + +"Your own amusement?" + +The head of the deputation bowed. + +"Do you want _me_ to skate?" + +"No, my lord; but we take the liberty of asking your lordship to +kindly support our club with a subscription." + +"When I see," I replied, "so much poverty and misery around me which +needs actual relief, and when I look at this inclement weather and +think how these poor creatures must suffer from the cold, it seems +to me that _they_ are the people who should apply to those who have +anything to bestow in charity; not those who are the only people, as +it would appear, who can take pleasure in this excruciating weather. +See if your club cannot do something for these poor sufferers instead +of collecting merely for your own personal amusement; contribute to +their necessities, and then come and see me again. I shall be here +till Monday." + +The head of the deputation stared, but it did not lose its presence of +mind or forget its duty. The deputation made a little speech "thanking +me heartily for the kind manner in which they had been received." + +I never saw anything more of them from that day to this. + +[In a case at Devizes Sir Henry showed in a striking manner the +character he always bore as a humane Judge. He was not humane where +cruelty was any part of the culprit's misdeeds, for he visited that +with the punishment he thought it deserved, and his idea of that was +on a somewhat considerable scale.] + +I was down upon cruelty, and always lenient where there were any +mitigating circumstances whatever, either of mental weakness, great +temptation, provocation, or unhappy surroundings. + +A woman was brought up before me who had been committed to take her +trial on a charge of concealing the birth of a child. For prisoners +in these circumstances I always felt great sympathy, and regarded the +moral guilt as altogether unworthy of punishment. The law, however, +was bound to be vindicated so far as the legal offence was concerned. +She had already been in prison for three months, because she was too +poor and too friendless to find bail. I am always pointing out that +if magistrates would send more cases to the Judges than they do, they +would get some precedents as to the appropriate measure of punishment, +which they seem badly to need. This woman had already been punished, +without being found guilty, with three times the punishment she ought +to have received had she been found guilty. A month's imprisonment +would have been excessive. + +Prisoners should always be released on their own recognizances where +there is a reasonable expectation that they will appear. + +The result was that the unhappy woman, who had been punished severely +while in the eye of the law she was innocent, was discharged when she +was found to be guilty. + +We have seen how Mr. Justice Maule examined a little boy as to his +understanding the nature of an oath. I once examined a little girl +upon a preliminary point of this kind, before she had arrived at that +period of mental acuteness which enables one to understand exactly the +meaning of the words uttered in the administration of the oath. The +child was called, and after allowing the form of "the evidence you +shall give," etc., and "kiss the book," to be gabbled over, I said, +before the Testament could reach the child's lips,-- + +"Stop! Do you understand what that gentleman has been saying?" + +"No, sir." + +I think it is a great farce to let little children be sworn who cannot +be expected to understand even the language in which the oath is +administered, to say nothing of the oath itself. How can they +comprehend the meaning of the phrases employed? And many grown-up +uneducated people are in the same situation. Surely a simple form, +such as, "_You swear to God to speak the truth_"--or, even better +still, to make false evidence punishable without any oath at +all--would be far better. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +JACK. + + +I was always fond of dogs, and never cease to admire their +intelligence and sagacity. + +My little Jack was given to me when quite a puppy by my old and very +dear friend Lord Falmouth. He was brought to me by Lady Falmouth, and +from that time his history was my history, for his companionship was +constant and faithful; in my hours of labour and of pleasure he was +always with me, and I believe, if I had had any sorrows, he would have +shared them as he did my pleasures--nay, these he enhanced more than I +can tell. + +Of course he invariably came circuit, and sat with me in my lodgings +and on the Bench, where he would patiently remain till the time came +to close my notebook for the day. Whether he liked it or not I am +unable to say, but he seemed to take an interest in the proceedings. +About this, however, his reminiscences will speak for themselves. He +always occupied the seat of honour in the Sheriff's carriage, and +walked to it with a dignity worthy the occasion. I am glad to say the +Judges all loved Jack, and treated him most kindly, not for my sake, +but, I believe, for his own--although, I may add in passing, he +sometimes gave them a pretty loud rebuke if they showed any approach +to ill-humour on an occasional want of punctuality in coming into +court. Some of them were exceedingly particular in being up to time to +a _moment_; and I should have equal to the occasion at all times, but +that I had to give Jack a run before we started for the duties of the +day. It was necessary for his health and good behaviour. On circuit, +of course, whenever there was little to do--I am speaking of the +Midland particularly, although the Western was quite as pleasant--I +gave him longer runs. For instance, in Warwick Park nothing could be +more beautiful than to loiter there on a summer morning amongst the +cedars on the beautiful lawn. + +It may seem unreasonable to say so, but Jack almost seemed to be +endowed with human instincts. He was as restless as I was over long, +windy speeches and cross-examinations that were more adapted for +the smoking-room of a club than a court of justice; and in order to +repress any tendency to manifest his displeasure I gave him plenty of +exercise in the open air, which made him sleep generally when counsel +began to speak. + +Having mentioned the commencement of my companionship with Jack, which +in these reminiscences I would on no account omit, I shall let him +hereafter tell his own experience in his own way. + +JACK'S REMINISCENCES. + +I was born into the family of my Lord Falmouth, and claim descent from +the most well bred of my race in this kingdom, the smooth fox terrier. +All my ancestors were noted for their love of sport, their keen sense +of humour, and hatred of vermin. + +At a very early period of my infancy I was presented to Sir Henry +Hawkins, one of Her Majesty's Judges of the High Court, who took a +great fancy to me, and, if I may say so without appearing to be vain, +at once adopted me as his companion and a member of his family. + +Sir Henry, or, as I prefer to call him, my lord, treated me with the +sweetest kindness, and I went with him wherever it was possible +for him to take me. At first my youthful waywardness and love of +freedom--for that is inherent in our race--compelled him to restrain +me by a string, which I sometimes pulled with such violence that my +lord had to run; and on seeing us so amusing ourselves one morning, +old Lord Grimthorpe, I think they called him, who was always full of +good-natured chaff, cried out,-- + +"Halloa, Hawkins! What, has Jack made you his prisoner? Ha! ha! Hold +him, Jack; don't let him get away!" + +Well, this went on for several weeks, what I think you call chaff, and +at last I was allowed to go without the string. It happened that on +the very first morning when I was thus given my liberty, whom should +we meet but this same old Lord Grimthorpe. + +"Halloa!" he cries again--"halloa, Hawkins! Does your keeper let you +go without being attached to a string?" + +"No, no," says my lord--"no, no; Jack's attached to _me_ now." + +Thereupon dear old Grimthorpe, who loved a joke, laughed till his +elbows rested on his knees as he stooped down. + +"Well," said he, "that's good, Hawkins, very good indeed." + +On one occasion one of those country yokels who always met us at +Assize towns, and got as close up to our javelin-men as they could, so +that we could not only see them but indulge our other senses at the +same time, seeing us get out of our carriage, said to another yokel, +"I say, Bill, blarmed if the old bloke ain't brought his dawg +again--that there fox terrier--to go a-rattin'." + +I did not know what "rattin'" meant at that time, and did not learn +it till we got to Warwick. I thought it was rude to call my lord a +"bloke," especially in his red robes; but did not quite know what +"bloke" meant, for I had seen so little of mankind. + +One morning before we opened the Commission at Warwick--I may as well +come to it at once--my lord and I went for a walk along the road that +leads over the bridge by Warwick Castle towards Leamington. There is a +turning to a village which belonged to the old days, but does not +seem now to belong to anything, and looks something like a rural +watering-place, quiet and unexciting. We turned down this quiet road, +and came alongside a beautiful little garden covered with flowers of +all kinds. + +I had occasion afterwards to learn whom they belonged to; but I +will tell you before we go further, so as to make the situation +intelligible. He was a countryman who used to make it his boast that +he never had a day's schooling in his life (so that he ought to have +been leader of the most ignorant classes), and this made him the +independent man he was towards his betters. Then my Lady Warwick used +to take notice of him, and this also gave him another lift in his own +estimation. He learnt to read in the long run, for he really had +a good deal of native talent for a man, and set himself up for a +politician and a something they call a philosopher, which any man can +be with a pint pot in front of him, I am told, especially at a village +alehouse. + +He was a great orator at the Gridiron beershop in the lane which runs +round one part of my Lord Warwick's park, and it was said that old +Gale--such was his name--had picked up most of his education from his +own speeches. Gale was also the lawyer of the village--he could tell +everybody what his rights were, if anybody had any besides Gale; but +he declared he had been done out of _his_ rights by a man who had lent +his old father some money on the bit of land I am coming to. + +As we went along, what should we see but a rat! I knew what he was in +a moment, although I had never seen such a thing before, and knew I +had to hunt him. My lord cries, "_Cis_!--_rat, Jack_--_rats_!" + +Away I went after the rat--I did not care what his name was--and Sir +Henry after me, with all the exuberance he used to show when he was +following the "Quorn." Presently we heard the dreadful orator's voice +using language only uttered, I am glad to say, amongst men. + +"Where the h--l are you coming to like this?" he cried. + +I forgot to say that our marshal was with us, and of course he took +upon himself to explain how matters stood; indeed, it was one of his +duties when Judges went out a-ratting to explain _who_ they were. So +when we arrived at the place where they were talking together, I heard +the dreadful man say,-- + +"Judge o' th' land! He ain't much of a judge o' th' land to tear my +flowers to pieces like that. Look at these 'ere toolips." + +The marshal explained how that it was for the improvement of Sir Henry +Hawkins's health that a little fresh air was taken every morning. + +"Lookee 'ere," says Gale, "I didn't know it wur the Judge doin' me the +honour to tear my flower-beds to pieces. I bin workin' at these 'ere +beds for months, and here they are spilt in a minit; but I tell +ee what, Orkins or no Orkins, he ain't gwine to play hell with +my flower-beds like that 'ere. If he wants the ground for public +improvement, as you call it, well, you can take it under the Act. +There's room enough for improvement, I dessay." + +Now, instead of his lordship sending the man to prison, as I thought +to be sure he must do, he speaks to him as mild as a lamb, and tells +him he commends his spirit, and actually asks him what he valued the +flowers at. A Judge condescending to do that! This mollified the old +man's temper, and turned away his flowery wrath, so he said at once he +wasn't the man to make a profit out o' the circum_starnce_; but right +was right, and wrong worn't no man's right, with a great many other +proverbs of a like nature, which are as hard to get rid of amongst men +and women as precedents amongst Judges; and then the old man, much +against his will and inclination, had a sovereign forced upon him by +our marshal, which he put into his pocket, and then accompanied us to +the gate. + +Now came this remarkable circumstance. When we got back to our +lodgings after being "churched," what should we find but a beautiful +nosegay of cut flowers in our drawing-room from old Gale, and every +morning came a similar token of his good-nature and admiration while +we were there, and the same whenever we went on that circuit. + +One of our servants was kind enough to make me a set of robes exactly +like my lord's, which I used to wear in the Court of Crown Cases +Reserved and at high functions, such as the Queen's Birthday or +Chancellor's breakfast. In court I always appeared in mufti on +ordinary occasions--that is to say, I did not appear at all +ostentatiously, like some men, but sat quietly on my lord's robe close +to his chair. + +I well remember one occasion while we were at Hereford, a very pompous +and extremely proper town, as all cathedral cities are; my lord and I +were robed for the reception of the High Sheriff (as he is called) and +his chaplain, who were presently coming with the great carriage to +take us to be churched before we charged the grand jury. + +Hereford is a very stately place, and enjoys a very high opinion of +its own importance in the world. It is almost too respectable to admit +of the least frivolity in any circumstances. You always seemed to +be going to church at Hereford, or just coming out--the latter was +nicest--so that there was, in my time, a sedateness only to be +equalled by the hardness of a Brazil nut, which would ruin even my +teeth to crack. I don't know if that is a proper way in which to +describe a solid Herefordian; but if so, judge of the High Sheriff's +surprise, as well as that of the chaplain, when I walked by the side +of my lord into our drawing-room! I never saw a clergyman look so +glum! We were both in robes, as I observed, and my lord was so pleased +with my appearance that he held me up for the two dignitaries to +admire. But Hereford does not admire other people; they confine their +admirations within their own precincts. + +On our way from the station to our lodgings, I ought to have said, +both these gentlemen were full of praises. Who would not admire a +Judge's companion? + +Although Sheriff and chaplain were highly proper, the former could not +restrain a hearty laugh, while the latter tightened his lips with a +reproving smile. But then the chaplain, with a proper reverence for +the State function, afterwards looked very straight down his nose, +and, hemming a little, ventured to say,-- + +"My lord, are you _really_ going to take the little dog to divine +service in the cathedral?" + +My lord looked quite astonished at the question, and then put his face +down to me and pretended to whisper and then to listen. Afterwards he +said,-- + +"No. Jack says not to-day; he doesn't like long sermons." + +The chaplain would much rather I had gone to church than have heard +such a reprimand. + +But this is not quite the end of my reminiscence. I heard on the best +authority that the sermon of the chaplain on that morning was the +_shortest he had ever preached_ as an Assize discourse, and my lord +attributed it entirely to my supposed observation on that subject, so +that my presence, at all events, was useful. + +I have always observed that lesser dignitaries are more jealous of +their dignity than greater ones. Here was an excellent example of it. +The chaplain looked very severe, but when this little story reached +the ears of the good Bishop Atlay he was delighted, and wished to see +me. I was becoming famous. I made my call in due course, and let him +see that a Judge's dog was not to be put down by a mere chaplain, and +came away much gratified with his lordship's politeness. After this, +during our stay in the city, the Bishop gave me the run of his +beautiful new garden along the riverside. And there my lord and I used +to gambol for an hour after our duties in court were over. This lovely +garden was an additional pleasure to me, because I was relieved from a +muzzle. There was only one thing wanting: the Bishop kept no rats. + +After this his lordship never saw my lord without asking the question, +"How's dear Jack?" which showed how much a Bishop could respect a +little dog, and how much superior he was to a chaplain. I heard him +say once we were all God's creatures, but that, of course, I was not +able to understand at the time. I did not know if it included the +chaplain. + +I think I must now tell a little story of myself, if you will not +think me conceited. It is about a small matter that happened at +Cambridge. One day a very amiable but dreadfully noisy advocate was +cross-examining a witness, as I thought, rather angrily, because the +man would not say exactly what he wanted him to say. My lord did not +take notice of this, and it went on until I thought I would call +his attention to the counsel's manner, and, accordingly, gave a +growl--merely a growl of inquiry. Brown--which was the counsel's +name--was a little startled at this unexpected remonstrance, and +paused, looking up at the Judge. + +"Go on," said my lord--"go on, pray," pretending not to know the cause +of the interruption. + +He went on accordingly for a considerable time, with a very noisy +speech--so noisy that one could not hear one's self bark, which I did +two or three times without any effect. However, at last I made one of +my best efforts. + +But this was bad policy, inasmuch as it attracted too much attention +to myself, who had been hitherto unseen. + +My lord, however, thanks to his presence of mind, had the kindness to +say,-- + +"Dear me! I wish people would not bring their dogs into court." Then +turning to our marshal, he said, "Take Jack into Baron Pollock's +room"--the Baron had just gone in to lunch, for he was always punctual +to a minute--"and ask him to give him a mutton-chop." + +And when, five minutes later, my lord came in, the Baron was enjoying +his chop, and I was eating my lord's. + +In another court the Judge administered a well-timed rebuke to a +flippant and very egotistical counsel, and I could hardly restrain +myself from administering another. During the progress of a dreadfully +long address to the jury for the defence, he said,-- + +"Why, gentlemen, there is not sufficient evidence against the prisoner +_on which to hang a dog_." + +"And how much evidence, Mr. ----, would you consider sufficient to +hang a dog?" + +"That would depend, my lord, as to whom the dog belonged." + +I thought how like human nature that young man was. + +I used to have a very good view of all that took place in court, +and could tell some very funny as well as interesting stories about +persons I have seen. + +One day I was amused _so_ much that, had I not remembered where I was, +I must, like my friends mentioned by Robert Burns in his "Twa Dogs," +have "barked wi' joy," because I thought it so strange. Here was a +Queen's Counsel, a man of so proper a countenance that I do not think +it ever smiled in its life, and so very devoted to his profession that +he would never think of leaving it to go to a racecourse. I should +have as soon expected to meet him in our dogs' home looking for a +greyhound to go coursing with on Primrose Hill,--and here he was +standing up on his hind legs, and making an application to the court +which my lord was never in his life known to grant. + +It was the night before the Derby, and we always took care to have a +full list of cases for that Wednesday, for _fear_ the public should +think we went to the Derby and left the work to look after itself. +We generally had about a dozen in pretty early in the afternoon of +Tuesday, so that the suitors and witnesses, solicitors and all others +whom it concerned, might know where they were, and that _they_ could +not go to the Derby the following day. + +What a scene it was as soon as this list was published! I used to sit +and watch the various applicants sidle into their seats with the +most sheepish faces for men I ever saw. In came the first gentleman, +flustered with excitement. + +"Would your lordship allow me to make an application?" + +"Yes," said my lord--"yes; I see no objection. What is your +application, Mr. ----?" I will not give his name. + +"There is a case, my lord, in to-morrow's list--number ten. It is +quite impossible, seeing the number of cases before it, that that case +can be reached." + +"If that is so," said my lord, "there is no necessity for making any +application--if you know it is impossible to reach it, I mean to +say--" + +"It is _ex abundanti cautela_, my lord." + +I think that was the expression, but, as it is not dog-Latin, I am not +sure. + +"It is a good horse to run, I dare say," said my lord, "but I don't +think he'll win this time." + +The counsel shook his head and would have smiled, I could see that, +only he was disappointed. I felt sorry for him, because his clients +had made arrangements to go to the Derby. As he was turning +disconsolately away my lord spoke with a little more encouragement in +his tone and a quiet smile. + +"We will see later, Mr. ----. Is your client _unable_ to appear +to-morrow?" + +"I'm afraid so, my lord, quite." + +"Have you a doctor's certificate?" + +"I am afraid not, my lord; he is not ill." + +"Then you can renew the application later; but understand, I am +_determined to get through the list_." + +That was so like my lord; nothing would turn him from his resolution, +if he sat till midnight, and I nearly barked with admiration. + +Then came number six on the list, with the same complaint that it was +not likely to be reached. + +"I'm not so sure," said Sir Henry. "I have just refused number ten; +yours is a long way before that. Some of the previous ones may go off +very soon; there does not seem to be anything _very long_ in front of +you, Mr. ----. What's your difficulty about being here?" + +"The real difficulty, my lord--" And as he hesitated the Judge said,-- + +"You want to be elsewhere?" + +"Frankly, my lord, that is so." + +"Very well; if both sides are agreed, I have no objection. If I am not +trying your case I shall be trying some one else's, and it is a matter +of perfect indifference to me whose case it is." + +An hour after in came a brisk junior stating that his leader was +unavoidably absent. + +"What is the application, Mr. Wallsend?" + +"There's a case on your lordship's list for to-morrow, my lord." + +"Yes. What number?" + +"Number seven, my lord. I am told number six is a long case, and sure +to be fought. My application is that, as that case will last over +Friday--" + +"Friday? Why Friday?" + +There was a little laughter, because it happened to be the Oaks day. + +"I'm told it's a long case, my lord." + +"Yes, but number six has gone, so that you will stand an excellent +chance of coming on about two o'clock, perhaps a little before. What +is the nature of your case?" + +"Illegal imprisonment, my lord." + +"Very well; if it is any convenience to you, Mr. Wallsend, I will take +it last." + +By the look of the young man it seemed of no great convenience. + +"That will give your witnesses time to be here, I hope." + +The counsel shook his head, and then began to say that the fact was +that his client had an engagement, and his lordship would see it was +the great race of the year. + +"I do not like these applications made in this random manner. I +am willing to oblige the parties in all cases if I can, but these +constant motions to postpone interfere very much with the public +convenience, and I mean to say that the public are to be considered." + +Now came the gentleman who never attended races, and devoted himself +to business. He could not have told you the name of a horse to save +his life. But he also made his application to postpone a case +until Thursday. Delightful day, Thursday; such a convenient day, +too--between the Derby and the Oaks. + +Said my lord, who was very friendly to the learned counsel, and liked +him not only as a member of his old circuit, but as a brother Bencher +and a clever advocate,-- + +"Oh, I see; I see where _you_ want to be to-morrow." + +"My lord!" + +It was no use; in spite of the gentleman's remonstrance and +protestations, he said,-- + +"You may go, Mr. ----, and I hope you will enjoy yourself." + +I need hardly say nothing was left of the list by twelve o'clock the +next day, and Sir Henry had the honour of going in the royal train and +dining at Marlborough House in the evening. + +I ought, perhaps, to mention that there was a case proceeding when all +these interruptions took place. I don't know the name, but two counsel +were in it, one of whom was remarkable for the soul of wit which is +called _brevity_, and the other was not. One was Frank Lockwood, Q.C., +a very amusing counsel, whom I always liked, because he often sketched +me and my lord in pen and ink. + +Mr. Jelf, Q.C., was the other learned counsel. Although I liked most +of the barristers, I often wished I could teach them the invaluable +lesson _when to leave off_. It would have saved many a verdict, and +given me the opportunity of hearing my own voice. + +Lockwood was cross-examining, and appeared to me dealing rather +seriously with Jelf's witnesses, who were a pious body of gentlemen, +and prided themselves, above all things, on speaking the truth, as +though it was a great credit not to commit perjury. + +At last Mr. Jelf, tired with being routed in so ruthless a manner, +cried in a lamentable voice,-- + +"Pray, pray, Mr. Lockwood!" + +"So I do," said Lockwood--"so I do, Mr. Jelf, at fitting and proper +times." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +TWO TRAGEDIES. + + +[The _Daily Telegraph_, speaking of the necessity for Justice +sometimes "to strip the bandage from her eyes and look into the real +merits of a case, mentions the following case as showing Sir Henry's +unequalled knowledge of human nature and the sound equity of his +decrees:-- + +"A young, respectable woman had been led away by a villain, who was +already married, and under a promise of marriage had betrayed her. He +induced her to elope with him, and suggested that she should tear +a cheque out of her father's cheque-book and forge his name. So +completely was she under his influence that she did so. He sent her to +different banks to try and cash it, but it was not till she got to +a local bank, where she was known, that this was accomplished. The +cheque was for £200. But the seducer never obtained the money; the +girl was apprehended before she reached him. + +"Sir Henry openly expressed his strong sympathy for the unhappy girl, +and ordered her to be bound over in her own recognizance of £20, to +come up for judgment when called upon."] + +During the early years of my tenure of office as a criminal Judge I +became, and still am, firmly impressed with the belief that to enable +one filling that office to discharge the twofold duty attached to +it--namely, that of trying the issue whether the crime imputed to +the prisoner has been established by legal evidence, and if so, +what punishment ought to be imposed upon the prisoner, assuming the +presiding Judge to be the person to determine it--it is absolutely +essential that he should keep the whole of the circumstances in his +mind and carefully weigh every fact which either forms an element in +the constitution of the offence itself or has a substantial bearing as +affecting the aggravation or mitigation of the punishment; for it +is not only essential that these matters should be known to and +appreciated by the Judge who tried the case, but that they may be also +presented for the information of the Home Secretary, who ought to be +acquainted with them, so that he may form a satisfactory view of the +whole of the circumstances surrounding the case. + +A strange story that will ever stand out in my memory as one of +the most dramatic of my life was that of a young lady who was a +professional nurse at the General Hospital at Liverpool. She was +young, clever, and, I believe, beautiful, as well as esteemed and +loved by all who knew her. + +She had become engaged to an engineer, and it had been arranged that +she should pay a visit to her mother in Nottingham on a Friday, so as +to acquaint her with their engagement, the intended husband having +arranged to come on the following Monday. + +The parents were poor, respectable people, and the girl herself +was poor, so that she had no change of attire, but went in her +professional nurse's dress. It was her intention, however, to buy an +ordinary dress at Nottingham. + +There was a dressmaker in that city whom her mother knew, and +with whose children in their early days her daughter had played. +Accordingly in the evening the nurse with a younger sister went to the +cottage to make the necessary arrangements. + +While she was there the son of the dressmaker came in, and was at once +attracted by the beauty and the manner of the girl. As they had known +one another in childhood, it was not surprising that they should talk +with more familiarity than would have been the case had they been +strangers. + +When the nurse rose to go, the young man asked permission to accompany +her to her mother's. She declined, but he persisted in his request. + +This man was a clever mechanic, and had invented a machine for making +chenille. Sad to say, this invention he used for the purpose of +inveigling the girl into his workshop, which was situated on the +second floor of an extensive range of warehouses in a yard at +Nottingham. He asked her to come on the Monday morning, and when +she informed him that her lover was to come by the 12.30 train at +Nottingham Station, he said if she came at eleven she would have +plenty of time to see his invention, and then meet him. She at last +consented. + +I now come to a series of facts of a sensational character. On the +Monday morning she went, according to the appointment, and was seen to +go with this man up a flight of steps which led from the yard to the +first floor. The door opened on to the landing outwardly. In about a +quarter of an hour after she was seen staggering down the steps, and +crossing the yard in the direction of the street. In the street she +fell, and was conveyed to a neighbouring house. She was afterwards +taken to a hospital. + +In the course of some minutes the man himself came down the steps, +and was informed that a girl had been seen coming out of his premises +bleeding, and had been taken to a cottage. + +"Was there?" said he, and walked away. + +In the afternoon he was apprehended. He said he was very sorry, but +that he was showing the girl a little toy pistol, and that it had gone +off: quite accidentally. He wished to be taken to the hospital where +she was. + +The magistrate in the meanwhile had been informed of the occurrence, +and with his clerk attended at the hospital to take her dying +deposition. + +There was an amount of skill and ability about the prisoner which was +somewhat surprising to me, who am seldom surprised at anything. + +"Did you not think it was an accident?" he asked. + +The dying girl answered, "Yes." + +In re-examination by the magistrate's clerk at the end of the +business, the following answer was elicited,-- + +"I thought it was an accident before the second shot was fired." + +The extraordinary part of this story, to my mind, is that the able +counsel--and able he indeed was who defended him--treated the matter +as the most frivolous prosecution that was ever instituted. I know +that he almost laughed at the idea of murder, and, further, that the +junior counsel for the prosecution treated the charge in the same +manner, and said that, in his opinion, there was no case. + +The man was indicted for wilful murder, and I am bound to say, after +reading the depositions, I could come to no other conclusion than +that he was guilty of the most cruel and deliberate murder, if the +depositions were correct. + +I went with the counsel on both sides to view the scene of the +tragedy, and it was agreed that the counsel for the prosecution should +indicate as well as he could the case for the Crown by merely stating +undisputed facts in connection with the premises. + +The flight of steps, as I have said, led from the courtyard to the +first landing. + +The door opened outwards, and the first visible piece of evidence was +that some violence had been exercised in forcing open the door on the +occasion of some one making his or her escape from the building, for +the staple into which the bolt of the lock had been thrust showed that +the door had been locked on the inside, and that the person coming +from the premises must have used considerable force in breaking +through. + +The key was not in the lock, neither had it fallen out, or it would +have been found somewhere near. It had evidently been taken out and +secreted, because it was found at the bottom of a dustbin a long way +off from the staircase and in the room occupied by the prisoner. + +There was one additional fact at this part of the view which I must +mention. A bullet was picked up near the door. It had struck the +opposite wall, and then glanced off and hit the other wall close to +the door. + +The bullet had been fired from the landing above; this was indicated +by the direction as it glanced along the wall, and, further, by the +mark it had left of its line of flight from the landing above, for it +had struck against the low ceiling of that spot as though the person +firing had fired in a hurry and had not taken sufficient aim to avoid +it. It might be taken, therefore, that the person firing was not +used to firearms, or he would not have hit what might be called the +ceiling. + +The bullet was produced by the chief constable. + +On reaching the second landing, the mark of the bullet in the lintel +showed clearly that it had been fired in the direction of some object +below--some one, probably, descending the stairs. + +On turning into the factory on this floor, which was quite empty, I +saw on the wall near the doorway the mark of another bullet which had +rested near and was found by the police. It was a bad aim, and showed, +therefore, that the person who fired it was unused to firearms. + +We went to the next room, into which we ascended by six steps; it was +clear that it was from the head of these stairs that the course of the +bullet was directed; its elevated position and the angle of incidence +showed this. But as neither of these bullets had struck the deceased, +for there was no mark of any kind to prove it, there was another +bullet to be accounted for, and as the prisoner said that the pistol +went off by accident, two or three matters had to be considered. Where +was the spot where the accident occurred? and was aim actually taken? + +The bullet had entered the hinder part of the neck, had taken a +downward direction, and lodged in the spine. It did not, therefore, go +off while he was explaining the pistol to her, otherwise it would have +struck her at any other place than where it did. + +Moreover, she had run in a state of intense fright the moment she was +wounded--had commenced to run before, in fact, having escaped from the +clutches of her murderer, for the skirt of her dress was torn from the +gathers. It was proved that the prisoner had bought the pistol on the +Saturday night, that he was unused to firearms, for he had to ask +the man who sold it to explain the mode of using it. He was heard +practising with it on Sunday, and when the accident occurred it was +proved that the interval between the first and second shots exactly +accounted for the space which intervened between the respective spots +where the firing must have taken place. + +Much was made of the fact that the poor girl had said she thought it +was an accident, but I had to call the learned counsel's attention +to the statement at the end of her examination, which was this: "I +thought at first it was an accident, for I could not believe he could +be so cruel, but after the _second shot_ I believed he meant to kill +me." + +A somewhat novel incident occurred during the examination for the +prosecution. + +A wire stand had been dressed with the girl's clothes to show where +the lower part of the dress had been torn from the gathers. It was +placed on the table, and no doubt exactly resembled the girl herself. +The prisoner was so much affected that he shuddered, and had to be +supported. + +He was condemned to death. + +In the House of Commons and out of it sympathy was, of course, +aroused, not for the unhappy girl who had been sent suddenly to her +account, but for the lustful brute who had murdered her. A question +was asked of the Secretary of State for the Home Department as to the +prisoner being insane, and whether there was not abundant evidence of +insanity at the trial. + +The counsel for the prosecution wrote to the Home Secretary and +requested him to lay his letter before the prisoner's counsel to +ascertain whether he agreed with it. The letter was to this effect: +"Not only was there no evidence of insanity, but the prisoner's +counsel based his defence entirely upon the fact that there was no +suggestion that the man was or ever had been insane. He must have been +insane, argued the counsel, if he had committed a brutal murder of +that kind; there was no insanity, and therefore it was an accident." + +The humane questioner of the Home Secretary left the prisoner after +that statement to his well-deserved fate. + + * * * * * + +I recollect at one Gloucester Assize a man was tried before me for the +murder of a woman near Bristol. + +The prisoner had given his account of the tragedy, and said he had +made up his mind to kill the first woman he met alone and unprotected; +that is to say, he had made up his mind to kill somebody when there +was no witness of the deed. Humanitarians for murderers might call +this insanity. + +He went forth on his mission, and saw a woman coming towards him with +a baby. + +He instantly resolved to kill both, and probably would have done so +but for the fact that some one was seen coming towards him in the +distance. + +The woman and child therefore escaped, the person he had seen in the +distance also passed by, and then he waited in the lane alone. In a +little time a poor woman came along. + +The ruffian instantly seized her, cut her throat, and killed her on +the spot. + +No sooner had he accomplished his purpose than a young farmer drove +along in his cart, and seeing the dead body in the road, and the +murderer a little way off, jumped out of his cart and arrested him. + +A little farther on the road there was a labouring man, who had not +been visible up to this moment, breaking stones. + +"Look after this man," said the farmer; "he has committed murder. Keep +him safe while I go to the village and get a constable." + +"All right," said the labourer; "I'll keep un." + +As soon as the farmer was gone the labourer and the murderer got into +conversation, for they had to while away the time until the farmer had +procured the constable. + +"Why," asked the stone-breaker, "what have you been a-doin' of?" + +"Killin' a woman," answered the murderer. + +"Killin' a woman!" said the mason. "Why, what did you want to kill a +woman for? She warn't your wife, was she?" + +"Nay," answered the murderer, "or I should ha' killed her afore." + +The want of motive is always a strong argument with humanitarians, who +pity the murderer and not the victim. I heard no particle of sympathy +expressed for the poor woman, but there was abundance of commiseration +for the fiend who had perpetrated the terrible deed. + +There never was any _adequate_ motive for murder, but there was never +a deed committed or any act performed without motive. + +Insanity on the ground of absence of motive was set up as a matter of +course, but insanity should be based on proof apart from the cruelty +of the act itself. It was a premeditated crime, a bloodthirsty desire +to wreak his malice on some one; but beyond the act, beyond the +malignant disposition of the man, there was no evidence whatever of +insanity. + +I refused to recommend him to the Royal clemency on that ground, or on +any ground, for there was not the smallest pretence for saying it was +not a deliberate cold-blooded murder. And the man was rightly hanged. + +Society should be protected from murderers. This may be hard dealing +with the enemies of society, but it is just to society itself. I was +never hard on a prisoner. The least circumstance in mitigation found +in me a hearty reception, but cruelty in man or woman an unflinching +Judge. + +Take another case. In Gloucestershire a man was convicted of killing a +girl by stabbing her in no less than thirty-eight places. + +Again the humanitarians besieged the Home Secretary. "No man in his +senses would have been so cruel; and there was his conduct in the +dock: he was so wild, so incoherent. There was also his conduct in the +field where he had committed the deed: he called the attention of the +passers-by to his having killed her." And, last of all, "there was the +doctor whom the Home Secretary had consulted after the trial." + +I was appealed to, and stated my opinion honestly: that I had closely +watched the man at the trial, and was satisfied that he was shamming +insanity. + +And he shammed it so awkwardly that there was no doubt whatever that +he was sane. + +Another Judge was asked about the case who saw only the evidence, and +he came to the same conclusion; and I was compelled to report that the +doctor who certified that he was insane did so _without having seen +him_ as the doctors for the prosecution had at the trial and before. + +He was hanged. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE ST. NEOTS CASE. + + +This is the last trial for murder that I presided over. The object is +not to show the horrible details of the deed, but my mode of dealing +with the facts, for it is in the elimination of the false from the +true that the work of a Judge must consist, otherwise his office is a +useless form. I shall give this case, therefore, more in detail than I +otherwise should. + +The case was that of Horsford, in the year 1898, at Huntingdon +Assizes. I say now, long after the event, the murderer was not +improperly described by the _Daily News_ as the greatest monster of +our criminal annals, and yet even in that case some kind-hearted +people said I had gone quite _to the limits of a Judge's rights_ in +summing up the case. Let me say a word about circumstantial evidence. +Some writers have spoken of it as a kind of "dangerous innovation in +our criminal procedure." It is actually almost the only evidence +that is obtainable in all great crimes, and it is the best and most +reliable. + +You may draw wrong impressions from it, I grant, but so you may from +the evidence of witnesses where it is _doubtful_; but you cannot fail +to draw the right ones where the facts are not doubtful. If it is +capable of a wrong inference, a Judge should be absolutely positive in +his direction to the jury not to draw it. + +I have witnessed many great trials for murder, but do not remember one +where there was an eye-witness to the deed. How is it possible, +then, to bring home the charge to the culprit unless you rely on +circumstantial evidence? Circumstantial evidence is the evidence of +circumstances--facts that speak for themselves and that cannot be +contradicted. Circumstances have no motive to deceive, while human +testimony is too often the product of every kind of motive. + +The history of this case is extremely simple. The accused, Walter +Horsford, aged thirty-six, was a farmer of Spaldwick. The person +murdered, Annie Holmes, was a widow whose age was thirty-eight years. +She had resided for several months at St. Neots, where she died on +the night of January 7. She had been married, and lost her husband +thirteen years ago. On his death he left two children, Annie and +Percy. The latter was sixteen years of age and the girl fourteen. +The prisoner was a cousin of the deceased woman. While she lived at +Stonely the man had been in the habit of visiting her, and had become +an intimate member of the family. + +In the month of October the prisoner was married to a young woman +named Bessie ----. The widow with her two children, and a third, which +it would be idle affectation to suggest was the offspring of her late +husband, went to reside at St. Neots in a cottage rented at about £8 a +year. The prisoner wrote to Annie Holmes on at least two occasions. + +Towards the close of the year Annie Holmes suspected herself to be +pregnant. She was anxious not to bring another child into the world, +and had some communication with the prisoner on the subject. + +On January 5 he wrote to her that he would come and make some +arrangement. The woman was deceived as to her condition, but that made +no difference with regard to the crime. The letter went on to state: +"You must remember I paid you for what I done.... Don't write any more +letters, for I don't want Bessie to know." + +On December 28 he purchased from a chemist to whom he was a stranger, +and who lived at Thrapston, a quantity of poison, alleging that he +wanted to poison rats. Prisoner called in a gentleman as a reference +to his respectability, as the chemist had refused to sell him the +poison without. At last a small parcel was supplied. It was entered in +a book with the prisoner's name, and he signed the book, as did also +the gentleman who was his introducer. The poison was strychnine, +arsenic, prussic acid, and carbolic acid. No less than 90 grains of +strychnine were supplied. He had written to say he would come over on +the Friday which followed January 5. There is no reason to suppose he +did not fulfil his promise. On the Friday the woman was suffering from +neuralgia. In the evening, however, she was in her usual health and +spirits, and did her ironing up to eight o'clock. She went to bed +between half-past nine and ten, and took with her a tumbler of water. +In ten minutes the little girl and her brother went upstairs. They +went to the mother, who was in bed with her child. The tumbler was +nearly empty. The mother asked for a "sweet," which the little girl +gave. After this Annie got into bed; the mother began to twitch her +arms and legs, and seemed in great pain. Dr. Turner was sent for, as +she got worse. His assistant, Dr. Anderson, came, and, watching the +patient, noticed that the symptoms were those of strychnine poisoning. +She was dying. Before he could get to the surgery and return with an +antidote the woman was dead. She who had been well at half-past nine +was dead before eleven! + +The police were communicated with, and a constable searched the house. +Turning up the valances of the bed, he found a piece of paper crumpled +up; this was sent to an analyst on the following day. An inquest was +held and a post-mortem directed. + +Horsford at the inquest swore that he had never written to the +deceased or visited her. + +On the evening of Saturday the 8th, after the post-mortem, Mrs. +Hensman and another woman found between the mattress and the bed a +packet of papers. These were also submitted for analysis. One of them +contained 35 grains of strychnine; another had crystals of strychnine +upon it. There was writing on one of the packets, and it was the +handwriting of the prisoner; it said, "Take in a little water; it is +quite harmless. Will come over in a day or two." On another packet was +written: "One dose; take as told," also in the prisoner's handwriting. + +The body had been buried and was exhumed. Three grains of strychnine +were found by the county analyst in such parts of the stomach as were +submitted to him. Dr. Stevenson took other parts to London, and the +conclusion he came to was that at least 10 grains must have been in +the body at the time of death, while 1/2 grain has been known to be +fatal. + +There was a singular circumstance in the defence of this case, one +which I have never heard before or since, and that was a complaint +that the counsel for the prisoner was "twitted" by the Crown because +he had not called _evidence for the defence_. The jury were solemnly +asked to remember that if one jot or tittle of evidence had been put +forward, or a single document put in by him, the prisoner's counsel, +he would _lose the last word on behalf of the prisoner_! Of course, +counsel's last word may be of more value than some evidence; but the +smallest "jot or tittle" of evidence, or any document whatever that +even _tends_ to prove the innocence of the accused, is of more value +than a thousand last words of the most powerful speaker I have ever +listened to. And I would go further and say that evidence in favour of +a prisoner should never be kept back for the sake of the last word. +It is the bounden duty of counsel to produce it, especially where +evidence is so strong that no speech could save the prisoner. Neither +side should keep back evidence in a prisoner's favour. I said to the +jury,-- + +"We are assembled in the presence of God to fulfil one of the most +solemn obligations it is possible to fulfil, and I will to the best of +my ability assist you to arrive at an honest and just conclusion. + +"The law is that if a man deliberately or designedly administers, or +causes to be administered, a fatal poison to procure abortion, whether +the woman be pregnant or not, and she dies of it, the crime is wilful +murder. + +"You have been asked to form a bad opinion of this deceased woman, but +she had brought up her children respectably on her slender means, and +there was no evidence that she was a loose woman. It more than +pained me when I heard the learned counsel--_instructed by the +prisoner_--cross-examine that poor little girl, left an orphan by the +death of the mother, with a view to creating an impression that the +poor dead creature was a person of shameless character. + +"Again, counsel has commented in unkind terms on the deceased woman, +and said the prisoner _had no motive_ in committing this crime on a +woman whom he valued at half a crown. + +"He might not, it is true, care half a crown for her. It is not a +question as to what he valued the woman at; we are not trying that at +all; but it showed there _was_ a motive. + +"I have not admitted a statement which the woman made while in her +dying state, because she may not fully have realized her condition. +Probably you will have no doubt that, by whomsoever this fatal dose +was administered, there is only known to medical science one poison +which will produce the symptoms of this woman's dying agonies. One +thing is surprising at this stage--that immediately after death the +door of the house was not locked, and while the body was upon the +bed a paper of no importance was found, and that afterwards several +relatives went in. The object of the cross-examination was to show +that some evil-disposed person had entered the house and placed things +there _without any motive_. But whoever may have gone into that house, +there was one person who _did not go_--one who, above all others, owed +deceased some respect--and that is the prisoner; and unless you can +wipe out the half-crown letter from your mind, you would have expected +a man on those intimate terms with the poor woman to have gone and +made some inquiries concerning her death. He did not go; he was at the +Falcon Hotel at Huntingdon, and a telegram was sent telling him to +fail not to be at the inquest. + +"At the inquest he told a deliberate lie, for he swore he had never +written to the woman, or sent her anything, or been on familiar terms +with her. He had written to her, and if his letter did not prove +familiar terms, there was no meaning in language. + +"With regard to the prisoner's alleged handwriting on the packets and +papers found under the woman's bed and elsewhere, I must point out to +you that here is one on which is written, 'Take in a little water; it +is quite harmless. Will come over in a day or two.' + +"This was written on a buff paper, which Dr. Stevenson said must have +contained 35 grains of strychnine, sufficient to kill thirty-five +persons, and the direction written was, 'One dose; take as told.' + +"These inscriptions were sworn to by experts as being in the +prisoner's handwriting." + +Here I pointed out the alleged resemblances in the characters of the +letters, so that the jury might judge if the prisoner wrote them. + +"If the prisoner wrote the words 'take as told,' you must ask +yourselves the meaning of it. + +"Also, you will ask whether it was not a little strange that the death +occurred on that very Friday night when he said he would go over and +see her. Again, the word 'harmless' is of the gravest character, +seeing that within the folds of that paper were 35 grains of a deadly +powder, which even for rat-powder would be mixed with something else. + +"Again, as to motive, upon which so much stress has been laid by the +defendant's counsel. If the prisoner had no motive, who else had? Is +there a human being on earth who had ill-will towards her, or anything +to gain by her death? The learned counsel carefully avoided suggesting +any one; nor could he suggest that any one in the neighbourhood wrote +the same handwriting as the prisoner. I will dismiss the theory that +some one had imitated the prisoner's writing in order to do him an +injury, and ask if you can see any reason for any one else giving the +woman the powder. + +"There is one fact beyond all dispute: in December the prisoner bought +a shilling's worth of strychnine. He said he bought it for rats, but +no one on the farm had been called to prove it. What has been done +with the rest of the powder? + +"Where was he on that Friday? His counsel said he could not prove an +_alibi_. But if he was at Spaldwick after saying he was going to St. +Neots to see this poor woman, he _could_ have proved it. + +"The prisoner's counsel said that the accused did not speak of the +woman's murder after the inquest, and said it was not necessary; he +did not understand the 'familiar jargon' of the Law Courts. + +"The familiar jargon of the Law Courts, gentlemen, is not quite the +phrase to use with reference to our judicial proceedings. The Law +Courts are the bulwark of our liberties, our life, and our property. +Our welfare would be jeopardized, indeed, if you dismiss what takes +place in them as 'familiar jargon.' + +"The question is whether the charge has been so reasonably brought +home to the prisoner as to lead you in your consciences to believe +that he is guilty. If so, it is your duty to God, your duty to +society, and your duty to yourselves, to say so." + +Such was the summing up that was arraigned by the humanitarian +partisans of the prisoner. If a Judge may not deal with the fallacies +of a defence by placing before the jury the true trend of the +evidence, what other business has he on the Bench? And it was for thus +clearly defining the issue that some one suggested a petition for a +reprieve, on the ground that the evidence was _purely circumstantial_, +and that my "summing up was against _the weight of the evidence_." +Truly a strange thing that circumstances by themselves shall have no +weight. + +But there was another strange incident in this remarkable trial: _the +jury thanked me for the pains I had taken in the case_. I told them I +looked for no thanks, but was grateful, nevertheless. + +I have learnt that the jury, on retiring, deposited every one on a +slip of paper the word "Guilty" without any previous consultation--a +sufficient indication of their opinion of the _weight_ of the +evidence. + +This was the last case of any importance which I tried on circuit, and +if any trial could show the value of circumstantial evidence, it was +this one. It left the identity of the prisoner and the conclusion of +fact demonstrable almost to mathematical certainty. + +A supposed eye-witness might have said: "I saw him write the paper, +and I saw him administer the poison." It would not have added to the +weight of the evidence. The witness might have lied. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +A NIGHT AT NOTTINGHAM. + + +Ever since the establishment of itinerant justices, now considerably +over seven hundred years, going circuit has been an interesting and +important ceremony, attended with great pomp and circumstance. I had +intended to give a sketch of my own drawing of this great function, +but an esteemed friend, who is a lover of the picturesque, has sent me +an interesting description of one of my own itineraries, and I insert +it with the more pleasure because I could not describe things from +his point of view, and even if I could, might lay myself open to the +charge of being egotistical. + +"When Sir Henry Hawkins stepped into the train with his marshal, he +felt all the exuberance which a Judge usually experiences on going +circuit. + +"Going circuit is a pleasant diversion, and may be a delightful +holiday when the weather is fine and cases few. I am not speaking of +those northern towns where hard labour is the portion of the judicial +personage from the time he opens the Commission to the moment when he +turns his back upon his prison-house, but of rural Assize towns like +Warwick and Bedford or Oakham, where the Judge takes his white gloves, +smiles at the grand jury, congratulates them on the state of the +calendar, and goes away to some nobleman's seat until such time as he +is due to open the Commission in some other circuit paradise where +crime does not enter. + +"At Lincoln station on this present occasion there is a goodly crowd +outside and in, some well dressed and some slatternly, some bareheaded +out of respect to the Judge, and others of necessity, but all with a +look of profoundest awe. + +"But as they wait the arrival of the train, all hearts are beating to +see the Judge. Alas for some of them! they will see him too soon and +too closely. + +"Most conspicuous is the fat and dignified coachman in a powdered wig +and tam-o'-shanter cap, and the footman with the important calves. +Clustered along the platform, and pushing their noses between the +palisade fencing, seem gathered together all the little boys of +Lincoln--that is to say, those who do not live at the top of Steep +Hill; for on that sacred eminence, the Mount Zion of Lincolnshire, are +the _cloisters_ and the closes, where are situated the residences of +Canons, Archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical divinities. The top of +this mountain holds no communion with the bottom. + +"On the platform--for the signal has been given that the judicial +train is entering the station--ranged in due order are the Sheriff of +Lincoln, in full robes, his chaplain in full canonicals, and a +great many other worthy dignities, which want of space prevents my +mentioning in detail. All are bareheaded, all motionless save those +bosoms which heave with the excitement of the occasion. + +"Although the chaplain and the Sheriff hold their hats in their hands, +it is understood in a well-bred town like Lincoln there will be no +cheers, only a deep, respectful silence. + +"And so, amid a hush of expectation and a wondering as to whether it's +_Orkins_, some saying one thing and some another, the train draws +slowly in; a respectful porter, selected for the occasion, opens the +door, and out leaps--Jack. + +"Then bursts from the crowd a general murmur. 'There 'e is! See 'im, +Bill!' cries one. 'There's Orkins! See 'im? There 'e is; that's Orkins +behind that there long black devil!' + +"He was wrong about the black devil, for it was the Sheriff's +Chaplain, who will preach the Assize Sermon next Sunday in the +Cathedral." + +[A somewhat humorous scene once took place at Nottingham. An +indefatigable worker on circuit, Sir Henry seemed to have the +constitution of the Wandering Jew and the energy of radium. No doubt +he had much more patience than was necessary, for it kept him sitting +till the small hours of the morning, and jurors-in-waiting and +attendants were asleep in all directions. He was the only one wide +awake in court. + +Even javelin-men fell asleep with their spears in their hands; the +marshal dozed in his chair, ushers leaned against the pillars which +supported the gallery, while witnesses rubbed their eyes and yawned as +they gave their evidence. + +A case of trifling importance was proceeding with as steady a pace as +though an empire's fate, instead of a butcher's honour, were involved. +One butcher had slandered another butcher. + +The art of advocacy was being exercised between an Irishman and a +Scotchman, which made the English language quite a hotch-potch of +equivocal words and a babel of sounds. + +The slander was one that seemed to shake the very foundations of +butcherdom throughout the world--namely, an insinuation that the +plaintiff had sold Australian mutton for Scotch beef; on the face of +it an extraordinary allegation, although it had to find its way for +the interpretation of a jury as to its meaning. Amidst this costly +international wrangle the Judge kept his temper, occasionally cheering +the combatants by saying in an interrogative tone, "Yes?" and in the +meanwhile writing the following on a slip of paper which he handed to +a friend:-- + +"GREAT PRIZE COMPETITION FOR PATIENCE. + + Hawkins First prize. + Job Honourable mention." + +Much earlier in the evening an application had been made by way of +finding out how far the Judge "would go," as the man tests the wheels +of an express. Every wheel had a good ring. He was prepared for a long +run. Every case was to be struck out if the parties were not there. + +After a while a feeling of compunction seemed to come over him. + +"One moment," said he, after the case in hand had proceeded for an +hour or so. "This case seems as if it will occupy some time; it is the +last but three of the common jury cases, and--I mean to say--if the +gentlemen of the special jury like to go till--seven o'clock this +evening, they may do so, or they may amuse themselves by sitting in +court listening to this case." + +There was a shuffling of feet and a murmur like that of bees. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "do whatever will be most agreeable to +yourselves. I only wish to consider your comfort and convenience." + +"A damned pretty convenience," said a special juryman, "to be kept +here all night!" + +"Return punctually at seven, gentlemen, please; you are released till +then." + +Any person who knows Nottingham and has to spend in that city two +weary hours, between 5 o'clock and 7 p.m., wandering up and down that +vast market-place, will understand the state of mind to which those +special jurymen were reduced when they indulged in audible curses. + +There was, however, an element in this condition of things which his +lordship had not taken into consideration, and that was the _Bar_. + +Several members were unnecessarily detained by this order of the +court. Their mess was at the George Hotel; at seven they must be in +court or within its precincts; at seven they dined. They chose the +precincts, and sending for their butler, ordered the mess to be +brought to the vacant Judge's room, the second Judge having gone away. + +At seven the mess was provided, and those who were not engaged in +court sat down with a good appetite and a feeling of delightful +exultation. + +Meanwhile his lordship proceeded with his work, while the temperature +was 84°. Juries wiped their faces, and javelin-men leaned on their +spears. + +Now and then the sounds of revelry broke upon the ear as a door was +opened. + +At ten his lordship rose for a few moments, and on proceeding along +the corridor towards his room for his cup of tea, several champagne +bottles stood boldly in line before his eyes. He also saw two pairs +of legs adorned with yellow stockings--legs of the Sheriff's footmen +waiting to attend his lordship's carriage some hours hence. + +The scene recalled the scenes of other days, and the old times of the +Home Circuit came back. Should he adjourn and join the mess? No, no; +he must not give way. He had his tea, and went back to court. He +was not very well pleased with the cross-examination of the Irish +advocate. + +"Do you want the witness to contradict what he has said in your +favour, Mr.----?" + +"No, my lord." + +"Why do you cross-examine, then?" + +Now the catch of an old circuit song was heard. + +"Call your next witness, Mr. Jones. Why was not this case tried in the +County Court?" + +(Sounds of revelry from the Bar mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut!" + +"May the witnesses go in the third case after this, my lord?" + +"I don't know how long this case will last. I am here to do the work +of--" + +("_Jolly good fellow_!" from the mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut!" + +"What is your case, Mr.----?" + +"It's slander, my lord--one butcher calling another a rogue; similar +to the present case." + +"Does he justify?" + +"Oh no, my lord." It was now on the stroke of twelve. + +"I don't know at what time your lordship proposes to rise." + +"Renew your application by-and-by." + +("_We won't go home till morning_!" from the mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut! How many more witnesses have you got, Mr. +Williams?" + +Mr. Williams, counting: "About--ten--eleven--" + +"And you, Mr. Jones?" + +"About the same number, my lord." + +It was twenty minutes to one. + +"I shall not sit any longer to oblige any one," said Sir Henry, +closing his book with a bang. + +The noise woke the usher, and soon after the blare of trumpets +announced that the court had risen, as some wag said, until the day +after yesterday.] + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +HOW I MET AN INCORRIGIBLE PUNSTER. + + +As the Midland Circuit was perhaps my favourite, although I liked them +all, there would necessarily be more to interest me there than on any +other, and at our little quiet dinners, for which there was no special +hour (it might be any time between eight o'clock in the evening or +half-past one the next day), there were always pleasant conversations +and amusing stories. With a large circle of acquaintances, I had +learnt many things, sometimes to interest and sometimes to instruct. +Although I never sat down to open a school of instruction, a man +should not despise the humblest teaching, or he may be deficient in +many things he should have a knowledge of. + +There was once an old fox-hunting squire whose ambition was to be +known as a punster. There never was a more good-natured man or a more +genial host, and he would tell you of as many tremendous runs he had +had as Herne the hunter. After-dinner runs are always fine. + +The Squire loved to hunt foxes and make puns. + +We were sitting on a five-barred gate one evening in his paddocks, +and while I was admiring the yearlings, which were of great beauty, I +suddenly saw looking over his left shoulder the most beautiful head of +a thoroughbred I ever beheld, with her nose quite close to his ear. + +"Halloa, my beauty!" said he. "What, _Saltfish_, let me see if I've a +bit of sugar, eh, _Saltfish_?--sugar--is it?" + +His hand dived into the capacious pocket of his shooting-coat and +brought out a piece of sugar, which he gave to the mare, and then +affectionately rubbed her nose. + +"There, _Saltfish_--there you are; and now show us your heels." + +I knew by his mentioning the mare's name so often that there was a pun +in it, so I waited without putting any question. After a while he said +(for he could contain his joke no longer),-- + +"Judge, do you know why I call her _Saltfish_?" + +"Not the least idea," said I. + +"Ha!" he explained, with a prodigious stare that almost shot his blue +globular eyes out of his head: "because she is such a capital mare for +a _fast day_! Ha, ha!" + +Suddenly he stopped laughing from disappointment at my not seeing the +joke. He repeated it--"fast day, fast day"--then _glared at me_, and +his underlip fell. At last the old man tossed his head, and whipped +his boot with his crop. I have no doubt I deprived that man of a great +deal of happiness; for if anything is disappointing to a punster, it +is not seeing his joke. He had not done with me yet, however, and +before abandoning me as an incorrigible lunatic, asked if I would like +to see Naples. + +"Naples! By all means, but not at this time of year." + +"Oh, I don't mean the town--no, no; but if you don't mind a little +mud, I'll show you Naples. Come along this lane." + +"Watercourse, you mean. I don't mind a little mud," said I; "it washes +off, whoever throws it"--and I looked to see what he thought of that, +knowing he would tell it at dinner. + +"Good!" said he; "devilish good! Wash off, no matter who throws +it--devilish good!" + +Down we came off the gate, and through the mud we went, he leading +with a fat chuckle. + +"You don't see the joke, Hawkins--you don't see the joke about that +fast day;" and he gave me another look with his great blue eyes. + +I didn't know it was a joke; I thought it was the mare's name, and I +heard him mutter "Damn!" + +"This is the way," he said angrily. We seemed to travel through an +interminable cesspool, but at last reached the open, and coming to +another gate, he extended his arms on it, after the manner of a +squire, and said,-- + +"There, there's _Naples_. Isn't she lovely?" + +"Where?" I asked. + +"There; and a prettier mare you never saw. Look at her!" + +"She's a beauty--a real beauty!" I exclaimed. + +He breathed rather short, and I felt easy. His manner, especially the +distending of his cheeks, showed me that he was about to bring forth +something--a pun of some sort. + +"Do you know," he asked, with another turn of his eyes, "_why_ I call +her _Naples_?" + +"No, I haven't the faintest idea. Naples? no." + +"Well," he said, "I've puzzled a good many. I may say nobody has ever +guessed it. I call that mare _Naples_ because she's such a beautiful +_bay_." + +I was glad I was not sitting on the gate, for I might have fallen +and broken my neck. As I felt his eyes staring at me I preserved a +dignified composure, and had the satisfaction of hearing him mutter +again, "Damn!" + +"This is our way," said he. + +I have no doubt he thought me the dullest fool he ever came near. + +Our adventures were not ended. We went on over meadow and stile until +we came to "The Park," a tract of land of great beauty and with trees +of superb growth. He was sullen and moody, like one whose nerves had +failed him when a covey rose. + +I saw it coming--his last expiring effort. In the distance was a +beautiful black mare, such as might have carried Dick Turpin from +London to York. He was watching to see if I observed her, but I did +not. + +"Look," he said, in his most coaxing manner, "don't you see that mare +yonder--down there by the spinny?" + +"What," I said, "on the left?" + +"Down there! There--no, a little to the right. Look! There she is." + +"Oh, to be sure, a pretty animal." + +"Pretty! Why, there's no better bred animal in the kingdom. She's by +---- out of ----." + +"She ought to win the Oaks." + +"Come, now, _isn't_ she superb?" + +"A glory. A novelist would call her a _dream_." + +"Ah, I thought you would say so. You know what a horse is." + +"When I _see_ one," I said. "I thought you said this was a mare." + +This is what the Squire thought,-- + +"Well, of all the dull devils I ever met, you are the most utterly +unappreciative!" + +He was at his wits' end, although you must be clever if you can +perceive the wits' end of a punster. + +"That's _Morning Star_," said he. "Now do you know _why_ I call her +_Morning Star_?" + +I answered truthfully I did not. + +"Why," he said, with a merry laugh, "_because she's a roarer_." + +"What a pity!" I exclaimed. "But I don't wonder at it if she has to +carry you and your jokes very far." + +He took it in good part, and we had a pleasant evening at the Hall. +He discharged a good many other puns, which I am glad to say I have +forgotten. But there was a man present who was a good story-teller. +Some I had heard before, but they were none the less welcome, while +one or two I related were as good as new to my host and old Squire +Fullerton, who had once been High Sheriff, and was supposed to know +all about circuit business. He prefaced almost everything he said +with, "When I was High Sheriff," so I asked him innocently enough +how many times he had been High Sheriff, on which my host, being a +quick-witted man, looked at him with a broad grin, while he balanced +the nutcrackers on his forefinger. + +"Well," said Fullerton, "it was in Parke's time." + +"Yes; but which of them?" I asked. "Are you alluding to Sir Alan? They +did not both come together, surely." + +"Now, lookee, Fullerton," said my old friend, tapping the mahogany +with the nutcrackers, as though he was about to say something +remarkably clever; "one of 'em, Jemmy, had a kind of a cast in one of +his eyes--didn't he, Judge?" + +"Yes," said I; "but their names were not spelt alike." + +"No, no!" cried the squire; "I'm coming to that. One eye was a little +troublesome at times, I believe--at least they said so in my time +when _I_ was High Sheriff--and that made him a little ill-tempered +at times. Now, that Judge's name was spelt P-a-r-k-e" (tapping every +letter with his nutcrackers), "so the Bar used to call him '_Parke +with an "e"_;' and what do you think they used to call the other, +whose name was Park?--Come, now, Judge, you can guess that." + +I suppose I shook my head, for he said, "Why, you told me the story +yourself four years ago--ah! it must be five years ago--at this very +table, when old Squire Hawley had laid two thousand on Jannette for +the Leger. 'This is it,' said you; 'they call one of them Parke with +an "e," and the other Park with an "i."'" + +"Very well," I said, after they had done laughing at the way in which +my host had caught me; "now I'll tell you what the Duke of Wellington +said one morning. You recollect his Grace met with an accident and +lost an eye, which was kept in spirits of wine. On asking him how he +was, the Duke answered,-- + +"'Oh, Lord Cairns asked me yesterday the same question; and I said, +"I am rather depressed, but I believe my eye is in pretty good +spirits."'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE TILNEY STREET OUTRAGE--"ARE YOU NOT GOING TO PUT ON THE BLACK CAP, +MY LORD?" + + +One evening, while sitting with some friends in Tilney Street, there +was one of the most tremendous explosions ever heard. It seemed as if +the world was blown up. But as nothing happened, we did not leave the +room, and went on with the conversation. + +It was not until the next day it was ascertained that an attempt had +been made to blow in Reginald Brett's front door, which was a few +houses off, and that it had been perpetrated by some Fenians, whose +friends had been awarded penal servitude for life for a similar +outrage with dynamite. Why their anger was directed against Mr. +Reginald Brett--a most peaceful and excellent man--it was difficult +to say, for he was very kind-hearted, and, above all, the son of the +Master of the Rolls, who never tried prisoners at all, only counsel. + +Having made inquiries the next morning--I don't know of whom, there +were such a number of people in Tilney Street--I was astonished to +hear some one say, "They meant to pay _you_ that visit, Sir Henry." + +"Then _they knocked at the wrong door_," said I. + +The stranger seemed to know me, and I had a little further +conversation with him. It turned out he was a Chancery barrister, and +a friend of Brett's. + +"Why," I asked, "do you think they meant the visit for me?" + +"Well," he answered, "it was." + +"If it was intended for me," I replied, "I can only say they, were +most ungrateful, for I gave their friends all I could." + +"Yes--penal servitude for life." + +"Very well," I added; "if they think they'll frighten me by blowing in +Reginald Brett's front door, they are very much deceived." + +Lord Esher, I believe, always considered that _he_ was the object of +this attack, and as I had no wish to disturb so comforting an idea, +took no further notice, and the Fenians took no further notice of +me. Years after, however, my name was mentioned in Parliament in +connection with this case; nor was my severity called in question. + +There were no more explosions in Tilney Street, but a singular +circumstance occurred, which placed me in a position, if I had desired +it, to deprive Lord Esher of the satisfaction of believing that he was +the object of so much Fenian attention. But if it was a comfort to him +or a source of pride, I did not see why I should take it away. + +A reverend father of the Roman Church told me that a long while ago +a man in confession made a statement which he wished the priest +to communicate to me. It was under the seal of confession, and he +refused, as he was bound to do, to mention a word. The man persisted +in asking him, and he as persistently declined. + +Some considerable time, however, having elapsed, the same man went +to the priest, not to confess, but to repeat his request in ordinary +conversation. This the father could have no objection to, and the +culprit told him that he had undertaken to throw the bomb at the front +door of Number 5, but that through having in the gas-light misread +the figure, he had placed it against that of Number 2. He begged the +priest as a great favour to assure me on his word that the bomb was +certainly intended for me, and not for Brett. + +On this subject the _Kent Leader_ had some interesting remarks on the +anarchists as well as their Judge. + +"Speaking of dynamite," it said, "we have serious cause for alarm in +our free land. The wretches concerned in the abominable outrage of +Tuesday last cannot be too severely dealt with. It is evident that +their intent was against Justice Hawkins, and the fact that Sir Henry +was the presiding Judge at the recent anarchists' trial points the +connection between the outrage and other anarchists.... + +"Justice Hawkins has been spoken of as a harsh Judge. Ever since the +'Penge mystery' trial many have termed him the hanging Judge. We have +sat under him on many eventful occasions, and venture the opinion +that no one who has had equal opportunity would come to any other +conclusion than that he was painstaking and careful to a degree, and +particularly in criminal cases formed one of the most conscientious +Judges on the Bench. Hanging Judge! Why, we have seen the tears +start to his eyes when sentencing a prisoner to death, and, owing to +emotion, only by a masterful effort could his voice be heard. Above +all, he is a just Judge." + +[Many persons were not aware, and thousands are not at the present +time, that when a verdict of "Wilful murder" is pronounced a Judge has +no alternative but to read the prescribed sentence of death. If this +were not so, the situation would be almost intolerable, for who would +not avoid, if possible, deciding that the irrevocable doom of the +prisoner should be delivered? In many cases the feelings of the Judges +would interfere with the course of justice, and murderers would +receive more sympathy than their victims, while fiends would escape to +the danger of society. + +And yet that Judges have sympathy, and that it can be, and is, in +these days properly exercised, the following story will testify. I +give the story as Lord Brampton told it.] + +In a circuit town a poor woman was tried before me for murdering her +baby. The facts were so simple that they can be told in a few words. +Her baby was a week old, and the poor woman, unable to sustain the +load of shame which oppressed her, ran one night into a river, holding +the baby in her arms. She had got into the water deep enough to drown +the baby, while her own life was saved by a boatman. + +The scene was sad enough as she stood under a lamp and looked into the +face of the policeman, clutching her dead child to her breast, and +refusing to part with it. + +At the trial there was no defence to the charge of wilful murder +except _one_, and that I felt it my duty to discountenance. I think +the depositions were handed to a young barrister by my order, and that +being so, I exercised my discretion as to the mode of defence. In +other words, I defended the prisoner myself. + +In order to avoid the sentence that would have followed an acquittal +_on the ground of insanity_, which would have entailed perhaps +lifelong imprisonment, I took upon myself to depart from the usual +course, and ask the jury whether, _without being insane in the +ordinary sense, the woman might not have been at the time of +committing the deed in so excited a state as not to know what she was +doing_. + +I thus avoided the technical form of question sane or insane, and +obtained a verdict of guilty, but that the woman at the time was not +answerable for her conduct, together with a strong recommendation +to mercy. This verdict, if not according to the strictest legal +quibbling, was according to justice. + +I was about to pronounce sentence in accordance with the law, which it +was not possible for me to avoid, however much my mind was inclined to +do so, when the pompous old High Sheriff, all importance and dignity, +said,-- + +"My lord, are you not going to put on the black cap?" + +"No," I answered, "I am not. I do not intend the poor creature to be +hanged, and I am not going to frighten her to death." + +Addressing her by name, I said, "Don't pay any attention to what I am +going to read. No harm will be done to you. I am sure you did not know +in your great trouble and sorrow what you were doing, and I will take +care to represent your case so that nothing will harm you in the way +of punishment." + +I then mumbled over the words of the sentence of death, taking care +that the poor woman did not hear them--much, no doubt, to the chagrin +of the High Sheriff and to the lowering of his high office and +dignity. Nothing so enhances a Sheriff's dignity as the gallows. + +[There was a great deal of unlooked-for appreciation of his merits, +and from quarters where, had he been a hard Judge, one could never +have expected it. + +There was even the observation of the costermonger leaning over his +barrow near the Assize Court when one morning Sir Henry was going in +with little Jack. + +"Gorblime, Jemmy! see 'im? The ole bloke's been poachin' agin. See +what he's got?" + +It was a brace of pheasants, and not going into court with his gun, +but only his dog, it was taken for granted he had been out all night +on an unlawful expedition. + +Some one once asked Sir Henry what was the most wonderful verdict he +ever obtained. + +He answered: "It depends upon circumstances. Do you mean as to value?" + +"And amount." + +"Well, then," he said, "_half a farthing_." + +Some of the company were a little disconcerted. + +"I'll tell you," said the Judge. "There was in our Gracious Majesty's +reign a coinage of _half a farthing_. It was soon discountenanced +as useless, but while it was current as coin of the realm I had the +honour of obtaining a verdict for that amount, and need not say, had +it been paid in _specie_ and preserved, it would in value more than +equal at the present time any verdict the jury might have given in +that case."] + +One of the most remarkable trials in which as a Judge I have presided +was what was known as the Muswell Hill tragedy. It was a brutal, +commonplace affair, and with its sordid details might make a +respectable society novel. I should have liked Sherlock Holmes to +have been in the case, because he would have saved me a great deal of +sensational development, as well as much anxiety and observation. + +Burglars are usually crafty and faithless to one another. They never +act alone--that is, the real professionals--and invariably, while in +danger of being convicted, betray one another. Such, at all events, is +my experience. Each fears the treachery of his companion in guilt, and +endeavours to be first in disclosing it. In the case I am now speaking +of, this experience was never more verified than in the attempt on the +part of these two murderers each to shift the guilt on to the other. + +The ruffians, Milsome and Fowler, resolved to commit a burglary in +the house of an old man who led a lonely life at the suburb known as +Muswell Hill, near Hornsey. + +The sole occupant of the cottage slept in a bedroom on the first +floor. In his room was an iron safe, in which he kept a considerable +sum of money, close by the side of his bed. + +In the dead of night the two robbers found their way into the kitchen, +which was below the bedroom. They made, however, so much noise as to +arouse the sleeper in the room above. The old man rose, and went down +into the kitchen, where he found the two prisoners preparing to search +for whatever property they might carry away. Instantly they fell upon +their victim, threw him on to the floor, and with a tablecloth, +which they found in the room, and which they cut into strips for the +purpose, bound the poor old man hand and foot, and struck him so +violently about the head that he was killed on the spot, where he was +found the following morning. The prisoners failed to obtain the booty +they were in search of, and made off with some trifling plunder, the +only reward for a most cruel murder. They escaped for a time, but were +at last traced by a singular accident--one of the prisoners having +taken a boy's toy lamp on the night of the burglary from his mother's +cottage and left it in the kitchen of the murdered man. The boy +identified one of the prisoners as the man who had been at his +mother's and taken the lamp. + +The men were jointly charged with the murder before me. Each tried +to fix the guilt on the other, knowing--or, at all events, +believing--that he himself would escape the consequences of wilful +murder if he succeeded in hanging his friend. I knew well enough that, +unless it could be proved that _both_ were implicated in the murder, +or if it should be left uncertain which was the man who actually +committed it, or that they both went to the place with the joint +intention of perpetrating it if necessary for their object, they might +both avoid the gallows. I therefore directed my attention closely to +every circumstance in the case, and after a considerable amount of +evidence had been given without much result, so far as implicating +both prisoners in the actual murder was concerned, an accidental +discovery revealed the whole of the facts of the tragedy as plainly as +if I had seen it committed. + +I have said that the tablecover had been _cut_ into strips to +accomplish their purpose; and it was clear that a penknife had been +used, for one was found on the floor. Suddenly my attention was called +to the fact that _two_ penknives, which no one had hitherto noticed, +were produced. They belonged, not to the prisoners, but to the +deceased man, and were usually placed on the shelf in the kitchen. But +it came out in evidence, quite, as it seemed, accidentally, that they +had been taken from that place, and were found on the floor where +the cutting up of the tablecover had been performed, at some little +distance from one another; but each knife _by the side of and not far +from the deceased man_. They were at my wish handed to me; I also +asked for some of the shreds which had bound the dead man. Upon +examination it seemed that these were the knives that had been used to +cut the tablecloth into shreds, and if so, the jury might well assume +that _each_ prisoner had used one of the knives for that purpose, for +one man could not at the same time use two. + +The tablecloth had jagged or hacked edges, which satisfied the jury +that the knives had been used hurriedly, and that each man had been +doing his share of the cutting. It was thus clearly established that +both the men were engaged in the murder and equally guilty, and so the +jury found by their verdict. + +Whilst they were considering, the bigger of the two, a very powerful +man, made a murderous attack upon the other, whom he evidently looked +upon as his betrayer, and tried to kill him in the dock. The struggle +was a fearful one, but the warders at last separated them. + +They were both sentenced to death and hanged. + +[The fact of these men making a noise in entering the house was +strongly against them on a question of intent. Burglars work silently, +and at the least noise decamp, as a rule. In the present case, there +being only one old man to contend against, it was easy to silence him +as they did, and as they doubtless intended, when they went to the +house.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +SEVERAL SCENES. + + +I think I have said that I had a favourite motto, which was, "Never +fret." It has often stood me in good stead and helped me to obey it. +I was once put to it, however, on my way to open the Commission at +Bangor on the Welsh Circuit. The Assizes were to commence on the +following day. It was a very glorious afternoon, and one to make you +wish that no Assize might ever be held again. + +I had engaged to dine with the High Sheriff, who lived three or four +miles away from the town, in a very beautiful part of the country; so +there was everything to make one glad, except the Assizes. Added to +all this pleasurable excitement, the Chester Cup was to be run for in +the meanwhile, and I had many old friends who I knew would be there, +and whom I should have been glad to meet had it been possible. + +The Sheriff had made most elaborate calculations from his Bradshaw and +other sources as to the times of departure and arrival by train. I did +not know what to do, so arranged with the stationmaster at Chester to +shunt my carriage till the afternoon, having no doubt I should be able +to fulfil my engagements easily. + +It so happened, however, that the racing arrangements of the railway +had been completely disturbed by the great crowds of visitors, and the +result was that I did not reach Carnarvon at the proper time, and my +arrival in that place was delayed for nearly an hour. + +Nevertheless, I opened the Commission, and the High Sheriff asked me +if I would allow him to go on to his house to receive his guests, whom +he had invited to meet me, and permit the chaplain to escort me in the +performance of my duties. + +Having dressed in full uniform, I got into the carriage with the +chaplain, who was quite a lively companion, of an enterprising turn of +mind, and desirous of learning something of the world. I could have +taught him a good deal, I have no doubt, had I allowed myself to be +drawn. My friend had no great conversational powers, but was possessed +of an inquiring mind. After we had ridden a little way, to my great +amusement he asked me if I had any favourite _motto_ that I could tell +him, so that he might keep it in his memory. + +"Yes," said I, "I have a very good one," and cheerfully said, "Never +fret." + +This, when I explained it to him, especially with reference to my +business arrangements, seemed to please him very much. It was as good +as saying, "Don't fret because you can't preach two sermons from two +pulpits at the same time." + +He asked if he might write it down in his pocket-book, and I told him +by all means, and hoped he would. + +"Excellent!" he murmured as he wrote it: "Never fret." + +He then asked modestly if I could give him any other pithy saying +which would be worthy of remembrance. + +"Yes," said I, thinking a little, "I recollect one very good thing +which you will do well to remember: Never say anything you think will +be disagreeable to other persons." + +He expressed great admiration for this, as it sounded so original, and +was particularly adapted to the clergy. + +"Oh," said he, "that's in the real spirit of Christianity." + +"Is that so?" I asked, as he wrote it down in his book; and he seemed +to admire it exceedingly after he had written it, even more than the +other. + +Then he said he really did not like to trouble me, but it was the +first time he had had the honour of occupying the position of +Sheriff's chaplain, etc.; but might he trouble me for another motto, +or something that might go as a kind of companion to the others in his +pocket-book? + +This a little puzzled me, but I felt that he took me now for a sage, +and that my reputation as such was at stake. I had nothing in stock, +but wondered if it would be possible to make one for him while he +waited. + +"Yes," said I, "with the greatest displeasure: Never do anything which +you feel will be disagreeable to yourself." + +"My lord!" he cried in the greatest glee, "that is by far the best of +all; that must go down in my book, it is so practical, and of everyday +use." + +I was, of course, equally delighted to afford so young a man so much +instruction, and thought what a thing it is to be young. However, here +was an opportunity not to be lost of showing him how to put to the +practical test of experience two at least, if not all three, of the +little aphorisms, and I said so. + +"I should be delighted, my lord, to put your advice into practice at +the earliest opportunity," he answered. + +"That will be on Sunday," said I, "at twelve o'clock. Don't preach a +long sermon!" + +In due time we arrived at the Sheriff's house, and there found all the +guests assembled and waiting to meet me. I was quite quick enough to +perceive at a glance that they had been planning some scheme to entrap +me--at all events, to cause me embarrassment. The ladies were in it, +for they all smiled, and said as plainly by their looks as possible, +"We shall have you nicely, Judge, depend upon it, by-and-by." + +The Sheriff was the chief spokesman. No sooner had we sat down to +table than he addressed me in a most unaffected manner, as if the +question were quite in the ordinary course, and had not been planned. +I answered it in the same spirit. + +"My lord, could you kindly tell us which horse has won the Cup?" +evidently thinking that I had been to the course. + +There was a dead silence at this crucial question--a silence that +you could feel was the result of a deep-laid conspiracy--and all the +ladies smiled. + +Fortunately I was not caught; nor was I even taken aback; my presence +of mind did not desert me in this my hour of need; and I said, in the +most natural tone I could assume,-- + +"Yes, I was sure that would be the first question you would ask me +when I had the pleasure of meeting this brilliant company, as you knew +I must pass through Chester Station; so I popped my head out of the +window and asked the porter which horse had won. He told me the Judge +had won by a length, Chaplain was a good second, and Sheriff a bad +third." + +The squire took his defeat like a man. + +I was reminded during the evening of a singular case of bigamy--a +double bigamy--that came before me at Derby, in which the simple story +was that an unfortunate couple had got married twenty years before the +time I speak of, and that they had the good luck to find out they did +not care for one another the week after they were married. It would +have been luckier if they had found it out a week before instead of +a week after; but so it was, and in the circumstances they did the +wisest thing, probably, that they could. They separated, and never met +again until they met in the dock before me--a trysting-place not of +their own choosing, and more strange than a novelist would dream of. + +But there they were, and this was the story of their lives:-- + +The man, after the separation, lived for some time single, then formed +a companionship, and, as he afterwards heard that his wife had got +married to some one else, thought he would follow her example. + +Now, if a Judge punished immorality, here was something to punish; but +the law leaves that to the ecclesiastical or some other jurisdiction. +The Judge has but to deal with the breach of the law, and to punish in +accordance with the requirements of the injury to society--not even to +the injury of the individual. + +I made inquiries of the police and others, as the prisoners had +pleaded guilty, and found that all the parties--the four persons--had +been living respectable and hard-working lives. There was no fault +whatever to be found with their conduct. They were respected by all +who knew them. + +I then asked how it was found out at last that these people, living +quietly and happily, had been previously married. + +"O my lord," said a policeman, "there was a hinquest on a babby, which +was the female prisoner's babby and what had died. Then it come out +afore Mr. Coroner, my lord, and he ordered the woman into custody, and +then the man was took." + +I thought they had had punishment enough for their offence, and gave +them no imprisonment, but ordered them to be released on their own +recognizances, and to come up for judgment if called upon. + +Now came _my_ sentence. The clergyman of the parish in which this +terrible crime had been discovered evidently felt that he had been +living in the utmost danger for years. Here these people came to his +church, and for aught he knew prayed for forgiveness under the very +roof where he himself worshipped. + +He said I had done a fine thing to encourage sin and immorality, and +what could come of humanity if Judges would not punish? + +He denounced me, I afterwards learned, in his pulpit in the severest +terms, although I did not hear that he used the same vituperative +language towards the poor creatures I had so far absolved. Luckily I +was not attending the reverend gentleman's ministration, but he seemed +to think the greatest crime I had committed was disallowing the costs +of the prosecution. That was a direct _incentive to bigamy_, although +in what respect I never learned. + +It sometimes suggested to my mind this question,-- + +What would this minister of the gospel have said to the Divine Master +when the woman caught "in the very act" was before Him, and He said, +in words never to be forgotten till men and women are no more, +"Neither do I condemn thee"? + +I thought those who loved a prosecution of this kind--whoever it may +have been--_ought_ to pay for the luxury, and so I condemned _them_ in +the costs. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +DR. LAMSON[A]--A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY--A WILL CASE. + +[Footnote A: In this and one or two other cases I am pleased to +acknowledge my thanks to my esteemed friend Mr. Charles W. Mathews, +the distinguished advocate, for refreshing my memory with the +incidents.] + + +One of the most diabolical cases which came before me while a Judge +was one which, although it occupied several days, can be told in +the course of a few minutes. I mention it, moreover, not so much on +account of its inhuman features as the fact that, in my opinion, Dr. +Lamson led the prosecutors--that is, the Government solicitors--into a +theory which was calculated by that cunning murderer to save him from +a conviction, and it nearly did so. + +The story is this:--There was in the year 1873 a family of five +children, one of whom died that year and another in 1879, leaving +two daughters and a poor cripple boy of eighteen. He was partially +paralyzed, and had a malformation of the spine, so that he was +an object of great commiseration. He was of a kind and cheerful +disposition, and, excepting his spinal affliction, in good health. He +seems to have been loved by everybody. His playmates wheeled him about +in his chair so that he might enjoy their pastimes, and even carried +him up and down stairs. One of this boy's sisters married a Mr. +Chapman; the other married a man who was a doctor, or passed as one, +of the name of Lamson. He was a man of idle habits, luxurious tastes, +and a wicked heart. He was in debt, had fraudulently drawn cheques +when he had nothing at the bank to meet them, and was so reduced +to poverty that he had pawned his watch and his case of surgical +instruments. + +By the death of the brother in 1879, the two sisters received each +a sum of £800. This boy, Percy, received the like amount, and if he +should live to come of age would have a further sum of £3,000; but if +he died before that period, one-half would go to Mrs. Chapman and the +other half to Mrs. Lamson, the doctor's wife. + +Lamson had bought a medical practice at Bournemouth in 1880, but very +soon after writs and executions were issued against him. + +For three years before Percy's death he had been at school at Blenheim +House, Wimbledon. + +It appeared from his statement while dying that he felt just "the same +as I did once before, when I was at Shanklin with my brother-in-law," +the doctor, "after he had given me a quinine pill." "My throat is +burning, and my skin feels all drawn up." This pill, however, did not +kill him, but it showed, as subsequent events proved, the murderous +design of Dr. Lamson. + +On December 3 the boy, being still at school and in good health, was +amusing himself with his schoolfellows when his brother-in-law, the +prisoner, called. Percy was taken into the room to see him. "Well, +Percy, old boy," said the doctor, "how fat you are looking!" The +doctor sat down, and Percy was seated near him. The visitor then took +out of a little bag a Dundee cake and some sweets, and cut a small +slice of the cake with his penknife. About fifteen minutes afterwards +he said to Mr. Bedbury, the master, "I did not forget you and your +boys: these capsules will be nice for them to take nauseous medicines +in;" and he took several boxes of capsules from the bag and placed +them on the table. One box he pushed towards Mr. Bedbury, asking him +to try them. + +No one had seen Lamson take a capsule out of the box, but he was seen +to fill one with sugar and give it to the boy, saying, "Here, Percy, +you are a swell pill-taker." Within five minutes after that the doctor +excused himself for going so soon, saying if he did not he would lose +his train. + +Not long after his departure--that is, between eight and nine--the boy +was taken ill and put into bed with all the violent symptoms which +are invariably produced by that most deadly of vegetable poisons, +aconitine, and he died at twenty minutes past eleven the same night. + +Aconitine was found in the stomach; aconitine had been purchased by +the doctor before the boy's death, and being well and having been +well, the brother-in-law gave him the last thing he swallowed before +the dreadful symptoms of the poison betrayed its presence. At that +time no chemical test could be applied to aconitine, any more than it +could to strychnine in the time of Palmer. But its symptoms were, in +the one case as well as in the other, unmistakable, and such as no +other cause of illness would produce. + +Two pills were found in the boy's play-box, one of which was said to +contain aconitine. + +Such was the simple case which occupied six days to try. The jury were +not long in coming to a conclusion, and returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty." + +My awful duty was soon concluded. I told the prisoner the law +compelled me to pass upon him the sentence of death; but gave him, +both by voice and manner, to understand that in this world there could +be no hope for such a criminal. I said, as I thought it right to say, +that it was no part of my duty to admonish him as to how he was to +meet the dread doom that awaited him, but nevertheless I entreated +him to seek for pardon of his great sin from the Almighty. It was my +opinion, and I believe that of the counsel for the defence, that, +although so much stress was laid upon the _capsule_ and the +administration of the poison by that means, it was not so +administered, but that the capsule was an artifice, designed to +hoodwink the doctors and Treasury solicitors. + +To have poisoned the boy in such a manner would have been a clumsy +device for so keen and artful a criminal as Lamson; and I knew it +was conveyed in another manner. It should be stated that in Lamson's +pocket-book were found memoranda as to the symptoms and effect of +aconitine, and as to there being no test for its discovery. Lamson +therefore had made the poisoning of this boy a careful and particular +study. He was not such a clumsy operator as to administer it in the +way suggested. The openness of that proceeding was to blind the eyes +of detectives and lawyers alike; the aconitine was conveyed to the +lad's stomach _by means of a raisin in the piece of Dundee cake which +Lamson cut with his penknife and handed to him_. He knew, of course, +the part of the cake where it was. + +My attention was directed to the artifice employed by Lamson, by the +shallowness of the stratagem, and by the one circumstance that almost +escaped notice--namely, the Dundee cake and the curious desire of the +man to offer the boy a piece in so unusual a manner. So eager was he +to give him a taste that he must needs cut it with his _penknife_. +I was sure, and am sure now, although there is no evidence but that +which common sense, acting on circumstances, suggested, that the +aconitine was conveyed to the deceased by means of the piece of cake +which Lamson gave him, and being carefully placed in the interior of +the raisin, would not operate until the skin had had time to digest, +and he the opportunity of getting on his journey to Paris, whither +he was bound that night, to await, no doubt, the news of the boy's +illness and death. + +If the poison had been conveyed in the capsule, its operation would +have been almost immediate, and so would the detection of the +aconitine. As I have said, the contrivance would have been too clumsy +for so crafty a mind. A detective would not expect to find the secret +design so foolishly exposed any more than a spectator would expect to +see the actual trick of a conjurer in the manner of its performance. + +I was not able to bring the artifice before the jury; the Crown +had not discovered it, and Lamson's deep-laid scheme was nearly +successful. His plan, of course, was to lead the prosecution to +maintain that he gave the poison in the capsule, and then to compel +them to show that there was no evidence of it. The jury were satisfied +that the boy was poisoned by Lamson, and little troubled themselves +about the way in which it was done. + +A singular case of mistaken identity came under my notice during the +trial of a serious charge of wounding with intent to do grievous +bodily harm. _Five_ men were charged, and the evidence showed that a +most brutal mutilation of a gamekeeper's hand had been inflicted. The +men were notorious poachers, and were engaged in a poaching expedition +when the crime was committed. One of the accused was a young man, +scarcely more than a youth, but I had no doubt that he was the +cleverest of the gang. The men were convicted, but this young man +vehemently protested his innocence, and declared that he was not with +the gang that night. His manner impressed me so much that I began to +doubt whether some mistake had not been made. The injured keeper, +however, whose honesty I had no reason to doubt, declared that this +youth was really the man who knelt on his breast and inflicted the +grievous injury to his hand by nearly severing the thumb. He swore +that he had every opportunity of seeing him while he was committing +the deed, as his face was close to his own, and _their eyes met_. + +Moreover, the young man's cap was found _close by the spot where the +assault took place_. About this there was no dispute and could be no +mistake, for the prisoner confessed that the cap was his, adding, +however, that he _had lent it on that night to one of the other +prisoners_. The youth vehemently protested his innocence after the +verdict was given. + +So far as he was concerned I was _not_ satisfied with the conviction. +"Is it possible," I asked myself, "that there can have been a +mistake?" I did not think that in the excitement of such a moment, and +during so fearful a struggle with his antagonist, with their faces _so +close together_ that they stared into each other's eyes, there was +such an opportunity of seeing the youth's face as to make it clear +beyond any doubt that he was the man who committed the crime. The +jury, I thought, had judged too hastily from appearances--a mistake +always to be guarded against. + +I invited the prosecuting counsel to come to my room, and asked him, +"Are you satisfied with that verdict so far as the _youngest prisoner_ +is concerned?" + +"Yes," he said; "the jury found him 'Guilty,' and I think the evidence +was enough to justify the verdict." + +"I _do not_," I said, "and shall try him again on another indictment." +There was another involving the same evidence. + +I considered the matter very carefully during the night, and weighed +every particle of evidence with every probability, and the more I +thought of it the more convinced I was that injustice had been done. + +First of all, to prevent the men who I was convinced were rightly +convicted from entertaining any doubt about the result of their +conviction, I sentenced them to penal servitude. + +I then undertook to watch the case on behalf of the young man myself, +and did not, as I might have done, assign him counsel. + +The prisoner was put up for trial, and the second inquiry commenced. +It had struck me during the night that there was a point in the case +which had been taken for granted by the _counsel on both sides_, and +that that point was _the_ one on which the verdict had gone wrong. As +I have said, I did not doubt the honest belief of the keeper, but I +doubted, and, in fact, disbelieved altogether in, the power of any man +to identify the face of another when their eyes were close together, +as he had no ordinary but a distorted view of the features. In order +to test my theory on this matter, I took the real point in the case, +as it afterwards turned out to be. It was this: _Five men_ were taken +_for granted_ to have been in the gang and in the field on that +occasion. The difficulty was to prove that there were only _four_, and +then to show that the young man was not one of the four. These two +difficulties lay before me, but I resolved to test them to the utmost +of my ability. The Crown was against me and the Treasury counsel. + +I knew pretty well where to begin--which is a great point, I think, +in advocacy--and began in the right place. I must repeat that the +prisoner boldly asserted, when the evidence was given as to the +finding of his cap close to the spot where the outrage was committed, +that it _was_ his cap, but that he had not worn it on that night, +having lent it to one of the other men, whom he then named. This was, +to my mind, a very important point in this second trial, and I made +a note of it to assist me at a later period of the case. If this was +true, the strong corroboration of the keeper's evidence of identity +was gone. Indeed, it went a good deal further in its value than that, +for it may have been the finding of the prisoner's cap that induced +the belief that the man whose face he saw was the prisoner's! + +I asked the accused if he would like the other men called to prove +his statements, warning him at the same time that it was upon his own +evidence that they had been arrested, and pointing out the risk he ran +from their ill-will. + +"My lord," said he, "they will owe me no ill-will, and they will not +deny what I say. It's true; I'm one of 'em, and I know they won't deny +it." + +Without discarding this evidence I let the case proceed. I asked the +policeman when he came into the witness-box if he examined carefully +the footprints at the gate where the men entered. He said he had, +and was _quite positive_ that there were the footprints of _four men +only_, and further, that these prints corresponded with the shoes +of the four men who had been sentenced, and _not_ with those of the +prisoner. + +It shows how fatal it may be in Judge, counsel, or jury to take +anything for granted in a criminal charge. It had been taken for +granted at the former trial that _five_ men had entered the field, and +how the counsel for the defence could have done so I am at a loss to +conceive. It was further ascertained that the same number and the +_same footprints_ marked the steps of those coming _out_ of the field. +It went even further, for it was proved that _no footprints of a fifth +man were anywhere visible on any other part of the field_, although +the most careful search had been made. + +If this was established, as I think it was beyond all controversy, +it clearly proved that only _four men_ were in the field when the +injuries were inflicted. But it might, nevertheless, be that the young +man identified was one of the four. Whether he was or not was now the +question at issue; it was reduced to that one point. To disprove this +the prisoner said he would like the men to be called. I cautioned him +again as to the danger of the course he proposed, feeling that he was +pretty safe as it was in the hands of the jury. They could hardly +convict under my ruling in the circumstances. + +"No, my lord," he said; "I am _sure they will speak the truth about +it_. They will not swear falsely against me to save themselves." + +The man who was alleged to have borrowed the cap was then brought up, +and I asked him if it was true that he wore the prisoner's cap on the +night of the outrage. He said, "It is true, my lord; I borrowed it." + +"Then are you the man who inflicted the injury on the keeper?" + +His answer was, "Unhappily, my lord, I am, and I am heartily sorry for +it." + +When asked, "Was this young man with you that night?" + +"No, my lord," was the answer. + +The jury at once said they would not trouble me to sum up the case; +they were perfectly satisfied that the prisoner was not guilty, and +that what he said was true--that he was not in the field that night. +They accordingly acquitted him, to my perfect satisfaction. + +Of course, I instantly wrote to the Home Secretary, Mr. H. Matthews +(now Viscount Llandaff), who at once procured a free pardon on the +former conviction, and the prisoner was restored to liberty. + +This case strikingly points to the imperative demand of justice that +every case shall be investigated in its minutest detail. The broad +features are not by any means sufficient to fix guilt on any one +accused, and it is in such cases that circumstantial evidence is often +brought in question, while, indeed, the _real_ circumstances are too +often not brought to light. Circumstantial evidence can seldom fail if +the real circumstances are brought out. Nobody had thought of raising +a doubt as to there being _five_ persons in the field. + +Upon such small points the great issue of a case often depends. + +Another curious case came before me on the Western Circuit. A +solicitor was charged with forging the will of a lady, which devised +to him a considerable amount of her property; but as the case +proceeded it became clear to me that the will was signed after +the lady's death, and then with a dry pen held in the hand of the +deceased, by the accused himself whilst he guided it over a signature +which he had craftily forged. A woman was present when this was done, +and as she had attested the execution of the will, she was a necessary +witness for the prisoner, and in examination-in-chief she was very +clear indeed that it was by the _hand of the deceased_ that the will +was signed, and that she herself had seen the deceased sign it. +Suspicion only existed as to what the real facts were until this woman +went into the box, and then a scene, highly dramatic, occurred in the +course of her cross-examination by Mr. Charles Mathews, who held the +brief for the prosecution. + +The woman positively swore that she saw the testatrix sign the will +_with her own hand_, and no amount of the rough-and-ready, inartistic, +and disingenuous "Will you swear this?" and "Are you prepared to swear +that?" would have been of any avail. She _had_ sworn it, and was +prepared to swear it, in her own way, any number of times that any +counsel might desire. + +The only mode of dealing with her was adopted. She was asked,-- + +"Where was the will signed?" + +"On the bed." + +"Was any one near?" + +"Yes, the prisoner." + +"How near?" + +"Quite close." + +"So that he could hand the ink if necessary?" + +"Oh yes." + +"And the pen?" + +"Oh yes." + +"_Did he hand the pen_?" + +"He did." + +"_And the ink_?" + +"Yes." + +"There was no one else to do so except you?" + +"No." + +"Did he put the pen into her hand?" + +"Yes." + +"And assist her while she signed the will?" + +"Yes." + +"How did he assist her?" + +"_By raising her in the bed and supporting her when he had raised +her_." + +"Did he guide her hand?" + +"No." + +"Did he touch her hand at all?" + +"_I think he did just touch her hand_." + +"When he did touch her hand _was she dead_?" + +At this last question the woman turned terribly pale, was seen to +falter, and fell in a swoon on the ground, and so _revealed the truth_ +which she had come to _deny_. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +MR.J.L. TOOLE ON THE BENCH. + + +Sir Henry Hawkins was sitting at Derby Assizes in the Criminal Court, +which, as usual in country towns, was crowded so that you could +scarcely breathe, while the air you had to breathe was like that of a +pestilence. There was, however, a little space left behind the dock +which admitted of the passage of one man at a time. + +Windows and doors were all securely closed, so as to prevent draught, +for nothing is so bad as draught when you are hot, and nothing makes +you so hot as being stived by hundreds in a narrow space without +draught. + +He happened to look up into the faces of this shining but by no means +brilliant assembly, when what should he observe peeping over the +shoulders of two buxom factory women with blue kerchiefs but the _head +of J.L. Toole_! At least, it looked like Mr. Toole's head; but how it +came there it was impossible to say. It was a delight anywhere, but it +seemed now out of place. + +The marshal asked the Sheriff, "Isn't that Toole?" + +The answer was, "It looks like him." + +We knew he was in the town, and that there was to be a bespeak night, +when her Majesty's Judges and the Midland Circuit would honour, etc. +Derby is not behind other towns in this respect. + +Presently the Judge's eyes went in the direction of the object which +excited so much curiosity, and, like every one else, he was interested +in the appearance of the great comedian, although at that moment he +was not acting a part, but enduring a situation. + +In the afternoon the actor was on the Bench sitting next to the +marshal, and assuming an air of great gravity, which would have +become a Judge of the greatest dignity. There was never the faintest +suggestion of a smile. He looked, indeed, like Byron's description of +the Corsair:-- + + "And where his frown of hatred darkly fell, + Hope, withering, fled, and Mercy sighed farewell." + +A turkey-cock in a pulpit could not have seemed more to dominate the +proceedings. + +One very annoying circumstance occurred at this Assize. It was the +cracking, sometimes almost banging, of the _seats_ and wainscoting, +which had been remade of oak. Every now and again there was a loud +squeak, and then a noise like the cracking of walnuts. To a sensitive +mind it must have been a trying situation, as Toole afterwards said, +when you are trying prisoners. + +Meanwhile Sir Henry pursued the even tenor of his way, speaking +little, as was his wont, and thinking much about the case before him, +of a very trumpery character, unless you measured it by the game laws. +But no one less liked to be disturbed by noises of any kind than Sir +Henry when at work. Even the rustling of a newspaper would cause him +to direct the reader to study in some other part of the building. + +Suddenly there was a squeaking of another kind distinguishable from +all others--it was the squeaking of _Sunday boots_. In the country no +boots are considered Sunday boots unless they squeak. At all events, +that was the case in Derbyshire at the time I write of. + +The noise proceeded from a heavy farmer, a juror-in-waiting, who was +allowed to cross from one side of the court to the other for change of +air. His endeavour to suppress the noise of his boots only seemed to +cause them the greater irritation. There was a universal titter as the +crowd looked up to see what line the Judge would take. + +Sir Henry reproved quietly, and just as the farmer, who was prancing +like an elephant, had got well in front of the Bench, he said,-- + +"If that gentleman desires to perambulate this court, he had better +take off his boots." + +The gravity of the situation was disturbed, but that of the farmer +remained, unhappily for him, for, with one foot planted firmly on the +ground, and the other poised between heaven and earth, he was afraid +to let it come down, and there he stood. "We will wait," said the +Judge, "until that gentleman has got to the door which leads into the +street." The juryman, Toole told us afterwards, was delighted, for he +escaped for the whole Assize. + +Although there was much laughter, Toole knew his position and dignity +too well to join in it; but he did what any respectable citizen would +be expected to do in the circumstances--tried to suppress it, yet made +such faces in the attempt that the whole house came down in volleys. +But now he was resolved to set matters right, and prevent any further +repetition of unseemly conduct. The way he did so is worthy of note. +He took a pen, dipped it in the ink, and then, spreading his elbows +out as one in great authority, and duly impressed with the dignity of +the situation, wrote these words on a sheet of paper, which had the +royal arms in the centre, his tongue meanwhile seeming to imitate the +motion of his pen: "I have had my eye on you for a long time past, +and if I see you laugh again I will send you to prison. Be warned in +time." + +"Just hand that," said he, giving it to a javelin-man, "to the +gentleman there in the _green blouse_ and red hair." + +The paper was stuck into the slit of the tapering fishing-rod-like +instrument, and placed under the nose of the man who had been +laughing. It was some time before he could believe his eyes, but +a thrust or two of the stick acted like a pair of spectacles, and +convinced him it was intended for his perusal. The effect was +instantaneous, and he handed the document to his wife. It was +interesting to watch the face of Toole, suffused with good-humour +and yet preserving its elastic dignity, in contrast with that of +the farmer, which was almost white with terror as they interchanged +furtive glances for the next half-hour. However, it all ended happily, +for the man never laughed again. Toole was invited to dine at the +Judge's dinner, but being himself on circuit, and not at liberty till +_eleven_, when he took supper, an invitation to "look in" was accepted +instead, if it were not too late. + +After supper he accordingly went for his "look in," and arriving at +half-past eleven, was in time for dinner, which did not take place +till half-past twelve, the court having adjourned at 12.15. However, +we spent a very pleasant evening, Toole telling the story of his going +to see Hawkins in the Tichborne trial related elsewhere, and Sir Henry +that of the Queen refusing once upon a time to accept a box at Drury +Lane Theatre while E.T. Smith was lessee, which made Smith so angry +that he could hardly bring himself to propose her Majesty's health +at a dinner that same evening at Drury Lane. Nothing but his loyalty +prevented his resenting it in a suitable and dignified manner. When +one sovereign is affronted by another, the only thing is to consider +their respective _commercial_ values, for that, as a rule, is the test +of all things in a commercial world. But the sequel was that E.T. +said, "_Although me and her Majesty have had a little difference, I +think on the whole I may propose the Queen_!" Fool is he who neglects +his Sovereign, and gets in exchange Sovereign contempt. Such was +Toole's observation. + +It was at this little entertainment that Sir Henry told the story of +the banker's clerk and the bad boy--a true story, he said, although it +may be without a moral. The best stories, said Toole, like the best +people, have no morals--at least, none to make a song about--any more +than the best dogs have the longest tails. + +A gentleman who was a customer at a certain bank was asked by a bank +clerk whether a particular cheque bore his signature. + +The gentleman looked at it, and said, "That is all right." + +"All right?" said the bank clerk. "Is that really your signature, +sir?" + +"Certainly," said the gentleman. + +"Quite sure, sir?" + +"As sure as I am of my own existence." + +The clerk looked puzzled and somewhat disconcerted, so sure was he +that the signature was false. + +"How can I be deceived in my own handwriting?" asked the supposed +drawer of the cheque. + +"Well," said the clerk, "you will excuse me, I hope, but I have +_refused to pay on that signature_, because I do not believe it is +yours." + +"_Pay_!" said the customer. "For Heaven's sake, do not dishonour my +signature." + +"I will never do that," was the answer; "but will you look through +your papers, counterfoils, bank-book, and accounts, and see if you can +trace this cheque?" + +The customer looked through his accounts and found no trace of it or +the amount for which it was given. + +At last, on examining the _number_ of the cheque, he was convinced +that the signature could not be his, _because he had never had +a cheque-book with that number in it_. At the same time, his +astonishment was great that the clerk should know his handwriting +better than he knew it himself. + +"I will tell you," said the clerk, "how I discovered the forgery. A +boy presented this cheque, purporting to have been signed by you. I +cashed it. He came again with another. I cashed that. A little while +afterwards he came again. My suspicions were then aroused, not by +anything in the signature or the cheque, but by the circumstance of +the _frequency of his coming_. When he came the third time, however, +I suspended payment until I saw you, because the _line under your +signature with which you always finish was not at the same angle_; it +went a trifle nearer the letters, and I at once concluded it was a +FORGERY." And so it turned out to be. + +"That boy," said Toole, "deserves to be taken up by some one, for he +has great talent." + +"And in speaking of this matter," said Sir Henry, "I may tell you that +bankers' clerks are the very best that ever could be invented as +tests for handwriting. Their intelligence and accuracy are perfectly +astonishing. They hardly ever make a mistake, and are seldom deceived. +The experts in handwriting are clever enough, and mean to be true; but +every _expert_ in a case, be he doctor, caligrapher, or phrenologist, +has some unknown quantity of bias, and must almost of necessity, if he +is on the one side or the other, exercise it, however unintentional it +may be. The banker speaks _without this influence_, and therefore, if +not more likely to be correct, is more reasonably supposed to be so. + +"Do you remember, Sir Henry," asked Toole, "what the clever rogue +Orton wrote in his pocket-book? 'Some has money no brains; some has +brains no money; them as has money no brains was made for them as has +brains no money.'" + +"Just like Roger," said Sir Henry. This was a catch-phrase in society +at the time of the trial. + +Some one recited from a number of _Hood's Comic Annual_ the following +poem by Tom Hood:-- + +A BIRD OF ANOTHER FEATHER.[A] + +[Footnote A: These lines appeared about 1874, and I have to make +acknowledgments to those whom I have been unable to ask for permission +to reproduce, and trust they will accept both my apologies and +thanks.] + + "Yestreen, when I retired to bed, + I had a funny dream; + Imagination backward sped + Up History's ancient stream. + A falconer in fullest dress + Was teaching me his art; + Of tercel, eyas, hood, and jess, + The terms I learnt by heart. + + "He flew his falcon to attack + The osprey, swan, and hern, + And showed me, when he wished it back, + The lure for its return. + I thought it was a noble sport; + I struggled to excel + My gentle teacher, and, in short, + I managed rather well. + + "The dream is o'er, and I to-day + Return to modern time; + But yet I've something more to say, + If you will list my rhyme. + I've been a witness in a case + For seven long mortal hours, + And, cross-examined, had to face + The counsel's keenest powers. + + "With courteous phrase and winning smiles + He led me gently on; + I fell a victim to his wiles-- + But how he changed anon! + 'Oh, you're prepared to swear to that!' + And, 'Now, sir, just take care!' + And, 'Come, be cautious what you're at!' + With questions hard to bear. + + "And when he'd turned me inside out, + He turned me outside in; + I knew not what I was about-- + My brain was all a-spin, + I'm shaking now with nervous fright, + And since I left the court + I've changed my dream-opinion quite-- + I don't think Hawkins sport!" + +Before concluding the evening, Toole said,-- + +"You remember your joke, Sir Henry, about Miss Brain and her black +kids?" + +"Not for the world, not for the world, my dear Toole!" + +"Not for the world, Sir Henry, not for the world; only for us; not +before the boys! You said it was the best joke you ever made." + +"And the worst. But I was not a Judge then."] + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A FULL MEMBER OF THE JOCKEY CLUB. + + +I knew a great many men connected with the Turf, from the highest +to the humblest; but although I have spent the most agreeable hours +amongst them, there is little which, if written, would afford +amusement: everything in a story, a repartee, or a joke depends, like +a jewel, on its setting. At Lord Falmouth's, my old and esteemed +friend, I have spent many jovial and happy hours. He was one of the +most amiable of hosts, and of a boundless hospitality; ran many +distinguished horses, and won many big races. I used to drive with him +to see his horses at exercise before breakfast, and in his company +visited some of the most celebrated men of the day, who were also +amongst the most distinguished of the Turf. Amongst these was Prince +B----, whose fate was the saddest of all my reminiscences of the Turf. +I almost witnessed his death, for it took place nearly at the moment +of my taking leave of him at the Jockey Club. There was a flight of +stairs from where I stood with him, leading down to the luncheon-room, +and there he appears to have slipped and fallen. + +I don't know that it was in consequence of this accident, or whether +it had anything to do with it, but I seemed after this sad event to +have practically broken my connection with the Turf, and yet perhaps I +was more intimately attached to it than ever, for Lord Rosebery asked +me (I being an honorary member of the Jockey Club) whether there was +any reason, so far as my judicial position was concerned, why I should +not be elected a _full member_. I said there was none. So his lordship +proposed me, and I was elected. + +The only privilege I acquired by "full membership" was that I had +to pay ten guineas a year subscription instead of nothing. I almost +regularly had the honour of being invited, with other members of the +club, to the entertainment given by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales on the +Derby night--a festivity continued since his Majesty's accession to +the throne. Nor shall I forget the several occasions on which I have +had the honour to be the guest of his gracious Majesty at Sandringham; +and I mention them here to record my respectful gratitude for the +kindness and hospitality of their Majesties the King and Queen +whenever it has been my good fortune to be invited. + +Speaking, however, of racing men, I have always thought that the +passion for gambling is one of the strongest propensities of our +nature, and once the mind is given to it there is no restraint +possible, either from law or pulpit. Its fascination never slackens, +and time never blunts the keen desire of self-gratification which it +engenders, while the grip with which it fastens upon us is as fast in +old age as in youth. It will absorb all other pleasures and pastimes. +I will give an instance of what I mean. There was a well-known +bookmaker of my acquaintance whose whole mind was devoted to this +passion; his lifetime was a gamble; everything seemed to be created +to make a bet upon. Do what he would, go where he would, his thoughts +were upon horse-racing. + +I was staying with Charley Carew, the owner and occupier of Beddington +Park, with a small party of guests invited for shooting. One morning +there was to be a rabbit-killing expedition, and after a pretty good +morning's walk, I had a rest, and then leisurely went along towards +the trysting-place for lunch. It was a large oak tree, and as I came +up there was Hodgman, the bookie, who did not see me, walking round +the rabbits, which lay in rows, counting them, and muttering, +"_Two--four--twenty_," and so on up to a hundred. He then paused, and +after a while soliloquized, "Ah! fancy a hundred! One hundred _dead +uns_! What would I give for such a lot for the Chester Cup!" + +His mind was not with the rabbits except in connection with his +betting-book on the Chester Cup. He was by no means singular except in +the manner of showing his propensity. The devotees of "Bridge" are all +Hodgmans in their way. + +At the Benchers' table I was speaking of Clarkson in reference to the +Old Bailey. He had been with me in consultation in a very bad case. We +had not the ghost of a chance of winning it, and indicated our opinion +to that effect to the unhappy client. + +He turned from us with a sad look, as if desperation had seized him, +and then, with tears in his eyes, asked Clarkson if he thought it +advisable for him to _surrender_ and take his trial. + +"My good man," said Clarkson, "it is my duty as a loyal subject to +advise you to surrender and take your trial, _but, if I were in your +shoes_, I'll be damned if I would!" + +The man, however, for some reason or other, _did_ surrender like a +good citizen, and the man who did not appear was his own leading +counsel Clarkson. He never even looked in, and the conduct of the +case, therefore, devolved on me. I did my best for him, however, and +succeeded. The man was acquitted. + +Not content with this piece of good fortune, for such indeed it +was, he was ill-advised enough to bring an action for _malicious +prosecution_. Lord Denman tried it, and told him it was a most +impudent action, and he was astonished that he was not convicted. + +During this conversation another, of no little importance, took place, +and Lord Westbury is reported to have said,-- + +"I did not assert that the House of Lords had abolished hell with +costs, although I have no doubt that the large majority would gladly +assent to any such decree--all, in fact, except the Bishops." + +As I never listen to after-dinner theology, I forbear comment on this +subject; but before this time there had been a curious action brought +by a churchwarden against his vicar for refusing to administer the +Sacrament to him, on the ground that he did not believe in the +personality of the devil. After the decisions in the courts below, it +was finally determined by the House of Lords that the vicar was wrong. +Hence it was that Westbury was reported to have said that the House of +Lords had abolished hell with costs. "What I did say," said Westbury, +"was that the poor churchwarden who did not at one time believe in the +personality of the devil returned to the true orthodox Christian faith +when he received his attorney's bill." + +Turning to me, his lordship said,-- + +"My dear Hawkins, you shall write your reminiscences, and, what is +more, they shall be printed in good type, and, what is more, the first +copy shall be directed to me." + +And so it should be, if I only knew his address. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE LITTLE MOUSE AND THE PRISONER. + + +I come now to a small event which occurred during my judgeship, and +which I call my little mouse story. + +I was presiding at the Old Bailey Sessions, and a case came before me +of a prisoner who was undergoing a term of two years' imprisonment +with hard labour for some offence against the Post Office. + +The charge against him on the present occasion was attempting to +murder or do grievous bodily harm to a prison warder. This officer was +on duty in the prisoner's cell when the assault took place. + +The facts relied on by the Crown were simple enough. The warder +had gone into the cell to take the man's dinner, when suddenly the +prisoner seized the knife brought for his use, and made a rush at the +warder with it in his hand, at the same time uttering threats and +imprecations. + +Believing his life to be in danger, the warder ran to the door and got +outside into the adjoining corridor, pulling the cell door to after +him and closing it. + +He had no sooner escaped than the prisoner struck a violent blow in +the direction the warder had gone, but the door being closed, it fell +harmlessly enough. It left such a mark, however, that no doubt could +be entertained as to the violence with which it was delivered and the +probable result had it reached the warder himself. + +Thus presented, the case looked serious. Mr. Montagu Williams, who was +counsel for the Crown, felt it to be, as it undoubtedly was, his duty +in common fairness to present not only the bare facts necessary +for his own case, but also those which might be relied upon by the +prisoner as his defence, or at all events in mitigation of punishment. +In performing this duty, he elicited from his witness a very touching +little history of the origin and cause of the crime. It was this:-- + +A poor little mouse had, somehow or other, managed to get inside the +prisoner's cell; and one day, while the unhappy man was eating his +prison fare, he saw the mouse running timidly along the floor. At last +it came to a few crumbs of bread which the prisoner had purposely +spread, and ran away with one of them into its hiding-place. The next +day it came again, and found more crumbs; and so on from day to day, +the prisoner relieving the irksomeness and the weary solitude of his +confinement by tempting it to trust him, and become his one companion +and friend, till at last it became so tame that it formed a little +nest, and made its home in the sleeve of the prisoner's jail clothes. +During the long hours of the dreary day it was his companion and pet; +played with him, fed with him, and mitigated his solitude. It even +slept with him at night. + +All this was, of course, against the prison rules. But the mouse had +no reason to obey them. + +One unhappy day a warder came into the cell, when the poor mouse +peeped out from his tiny hiding-place, and the officer, I presume, as +a matter of duty, seized the little intruder on the spot and captured +it. + +God help the world if every one did his strict duty in it! But--what +to the prisoner seemed inexcusable barbarity--he killed the poor +little mouse in the sight of the unhappy man whose friend and +companion it had been. + +This infuriated him to such an extent that, having the dinner-knife in +his hand--the knife which would have assisted at the mouse's banquet +as well as his own--he rushed at the warder, who fortunately escaped +through the open door of the cell, the prisoner striking the knife +into the door. + +In the result the prisoner was indicted on the charge of attempting +to murder the warder. The defence was that, as murder in the +circumstances was impossible, _the attempt could not be established_, +and on the authority of a case (which has, however, since been +overruled) I felt bound to direct an acquittal; and I confess _I was +not sorry_ to come to that conclusion, for it would have been a sad +thing had the prisoner been convicted of an offence committed in a +moment of such great and not unnatural excitement, and one for which +penal servitude must have been awarded. + +The poor fellow had suffered enough without additional punishment. I +can conceive nothing more keen than the torture of returning to his +cell to grieve for the little friend which could never come to him +again. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE LAST OF LORD CAMPBELL--WINE AND WATER--SIR THOMAS WILDE. + + +Life, alas! must have its sad stories as well as its mirthful. I have +told few of the former, not because they have not been present to my +mind, but because I think it useless to perpetuate them by narration. +But for its occasional gleams of humour, life would indeed be dull, +and ever eclipsed by the shadow of sorrow. + +One of the stories the Chief Baron told me is as indelibly fixed on +my memory as it was on his. Lord Campbell had been so long and so +prominently before the country that his death would be a theme of +conversation in the world of literature, science, law, and fashion. +But it was not his death that impressed me; it was the incidents that +immediately attended it. + +"His lordship"--thus was the event related--"had been entertaining +a party at dinner, and amongst them was his brother-in-law, Colonel +Scarlett. In its incidents the dinner had been as lively and agreeable +as those events in social and refined life usually are. Scarlett had +an important engagement with Campbell in the city on the following +Monday, this being Saturday night. As he rose to go Scarlett wished +his host good-night with a hearty shake-hands. + +"'Good-night--good-night; we shall meet again on Monday.'" + +Alas! Campbell died that night suddenly, and by a singular +interposition of Providence, Scarlett died suddenly the next day, +Sunday. They met no more in this world. + + * * * * * + +In the course of my life I have suffered, like many others, from +nameless afflictions--nameless because they do not exist. No one can +localize this strange infirmity or realize it. You only know you have +a sensation of depression. In every other respect I was perfectly +well, yet I thought it was necessary to see a doctor. So it was, if I +wished to be ill. + +Being in this unhappy condition, I consulted Sir James Paget, then in +the zenith of his fame. + +It did not take him very long to test me. I think he did it with a +smile, for I felt a good deal better after it. + +"Just tell me," said he, "do you ever drink any water?" + +"Now it's coming," I thought; "he's going to knock me off my wine." I +thought, however, I would be equal to the occasion, and said,-- + +"I know what you are driving at: you want to know if I ever mix a +little water in my wine." + +"No, no, I don't," said he; "you are quite wrong, for if your water is +good and your wine bad, you spoil your water; and if your wine is good +and your water bad, you spoil your wine." + +I took his advice--which was certainly worth the fee--and never mixed +my wine with water after that, although I have some doubt as to +whether I had ever done so before. + +I came away in good heart, because I was so delighted that there was +not a vestige of anything the matter with me. + +With a view to enable me to give each case due consideration before +fixing the poor wretch's doom after conviction, I invariably ordered +the prisoner to stand down until all were tried. + +I then spent a night in going through my notes in each case, so that +if there were any circumstances that I could lay hold of by way of +mitigation of the sentence, I did so. + +I do not mean to say that I did this in trifling cases, such as a +magistrate could dispose of, but in all cases of magnitude possibly +involving penal servitude. + +Once, however, I had made up my mind as to what was, in accordance +with my judgment, the sentence to be passed, I took care never to +alter it upon any plea in mitigation whatever. + +For this line of conduct I had the example of Sir Thomas Wilde, when, +as Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, he travelled the +Home Circuit. He was a marvellous and powerful judge in dealing with +the facts of a case. He had tried a prisoner for larceny in stealing +from a house a sack of peas. The prisoner's counsel had made for him +a very poor and absurd defence, in which, over and over again, he had +reiterated that one pea was very like another pea, and that he would +be a bold man who would swear to the identity of two peas. + +This miserable defence made the Lord Chief Justice angry, and he +summed up the case tersely but crushingly to this effect: "Gentlemen, +you have been told by the learned counsel very truly that one pea is +very like another pea, and if the only evidence in this case had been +that one pea had been taken from the house of the prosecutor, and a +similar pea had been found in the prisoners house, I for one should +have said it would have been insufficient evidence to justify the +accusation that the prisoner had taken it. + +"But such are _not_ the facts of this case; and when you find, as was +the fact here, that on March 30 a sack appears in a particular place, +marked with the prosecutor's initials, safe in his house at night, +where it ought to have been but was not, on the morning of the 31st; +and when you find that on that morning a sack of peas of precisely +similar character was in the house of the prisoner in a precisely +similar sack behind the door, the question very naturally arises, _How +came_ those peas in that man's house? He says he found them; do you +believe him? Did it ever occur to you, gentlemen, to find a similar +sack of peas in the dead of the night on any road on which you chanced +to be travelling? + +"The prosecutor says the prisoner stole them, and that is the question +I ask you to answer. Did he or not, in your opinion, steal them?" + +I need not say what the verdict was. The man was _put back for +sentence_. That is the point I am upon. + +On the following morning the Lord Chief Justice, still a bit angry +with the prisoner's counsel for the miserable imposture he had +attempted upon the jury, said,-- + +"God forbid, prisoner at the bar, that the defence attempted by your +counsel yesterday should aggravate the punishment which I am about to +inflict upon you; and with a view to dispel from my mind all that was +then urged on your behalf, I have taken the night to consider what +sentence I ought to pronounce." + +Having said thus much about the speech for the defence, he gave a very +moderate sentence of two or three months' imprisonment. Every +sentence that this Chief Justice passed had been well thought out and +considered, and was the result of anxious deliberation--that is to +say, in the serious cases that demanded it. Of course, I do not claim +for my adopted system an infallibility which belongs to no human +device, but only that during some years, by patiently following it, I +was enabled the better to determine how I could combine justice with +leniency. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +HOW I CROSS-EXAMINED PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON. + + +I have been often questioned in an indirect manner as to the amount of +my income and the number of my briefs. I do not mean by the Income Tax +Commissioners, but by private "authorities." I was often _told_ how +much I must be making. Sometimes it was said, "Oh, the Associates' +Office verdict books show this and that." "Why, Hawkins, you must +be making thirty thousand a year if you are making a penny. What a +hard-working man you are! How _do_ you manage to get through it?" + +Well, I had no answer. It is a curious inquisitiveness which it would +do no one any good to gratify. I did not think it necessary to the +happiness of my friends that they should know, and if it would afford +_me_ any satisfaction, it was far better that they should name the +amount than I. They could exaggerate it; I had no wish to do so. It is +true enough in common language I worked hard, but working by system +made it easy. Slovenly work is always hard work; you never get through +it satisfactorily. It was by working easily that I got through so +much. "Never fret" and "_toujours pret_" were my mottoes, as I told +the chaplain; I hope he remembers them to this day. If they would not +help him to a bishopric, nothing would. But I will say seriously that +nothing is so great a help in our daily struggles as _good temper_, +and with that observation I leave my friends still to wonder how I got +through so much. + +Judges often talk over their experiences at the Bar. Sometimes I +talked of mine, and on one occasion told the following curious +incident in my long career. + +I mention this circumstance as a curiosity only so far as the incident +is concerned, but as more than a curiosity so far as the legality of +evading the substance of the law by a technicality is concerned. + +All men are not privileged to cross-examine royalty, and especially +future emperors. + +On July 1, 1847, which was not very long after my call to the Bar, +Prince Louis Napoleon, who afterwards became Emperor of the French, +was residing in England. + +Of course, in looking back upon a man who afterwards became an +Emperor, the proportions seem to have altered, and he looks greater +than his figure actually was. He is more important in one's eyes, and +therefore from this point of view the event seems to be of greater +magnitude than the mere police-court business that it was. When a man +becomes great, the smallest details of his career increase in value +and importance. + +The Prince had given a man of the name of Charles Pollard into custody +for stealing and obtaining by fraud two bills of exchange for £1,000 +each. + +I was instructed by one Saul (not of Tarsus) to defend, and old Saul +thought it would be judicious to cross-examine the Prince into a +cocked hat, little dreaming what kind of a cocked hat our opponent +would one day wear. + +But Saul, not content with this ordinary drum-beating kind of Old +Bailey performance, in which there is much more alarm than harm, +instructed me to make a few inquiries as to the Prince's private life, +and so _show him up_ in public. Saul loved that kind of persecution. +To him the witness-box was a pillory, notwithstanding there was +more mud attaching to the throwers than to the mere object of their +attention. + +Young as I was in my profession, I had sense enough to know that to +dip into a prosecutor's private history, and the history of his father +and grandfather, and a succession of grandmothers and aunts, was +hardly the way to show that the prisoner had not stolen that +gentleman's property, but was a good way to prevent the Prince from +recommending him to mercy. + +I therefore, in my simplicity, asked old Saul what the uncle of the +Prince and his voyage in the _Bellerophon_, etc., had to do with this +man's stealing these two bills of exchange. + +"Never mind, Mr. Hawkins, you do it; it has a great deal to do with +it." + +However, I made up my own mind as to the course I should pursue, and +having carefully read my "instructions," found that the man had been +unjustly accused by this Napoleon--there never was a man so trampled +on--and every word of the whole accusation was false. _So_ did some +solicitors instruct young counsel in those days. + +I started my business of cross-examination, accordingly, with a few +tentative questions, testing whether the ice would bear before I took +the other foot off dry land. It did not seem to be very strong, I +thought. Some of them were a little bewildering, perhaps, but that, +doubtless, was their only fault, which the Prince was desirous of +amending, and he graciously appealed to me in a very sensible manner +by suggesting that if I would put a question that he _could_ answer, +he would do so. + +I thought it a fair offer, even from a Prince, if I could only trust +him. I kept my bargain, and definitely shaped my examination so that +"Yes" and "No" should be all that would be necessary. + +We got on very well indeed for some little time, his answers coming +with great readiness and truth. He was perfectly straightforward, and +so was I. + +"Yes, sir," "No, sir;" that was all. + +As I have said, at this time I had not had much experience in +cross-examination, but I had some intuitive knowledge of the art +waiting to be developed. Napoleon gave me my first lesson in that +department. + +"I am afraid, sir," said his Highness, "you have been sadly +misinstructed in this case." + +"I am afraid, sir, I have," said I. "One or the other of us must be +wrong, and I am much inclined to think it's my solicitor." + +It was a nice little bull, which the Prince liked apparently, for he +laughed good-humouredly, and especially when I found, as I quickly +did, that my strength was to sit still, which I also did. + +I had learned by this exhibition of forces that there _was_ a defence, +if I could only keep it up my sleeve. To expose it before the +magistrate would simply enable Clarkson, who was opposed to me, to +bring up reinforcements, and knock me into a cocked hat instead of +Napoleon. Old Saul knew nothing whatever about my intended manoeuvre, +nor did Clarkson or his solicitor. + +I knew the man would be committed for trial; the magistrate had +intimated as much. I therefore said nothing, except that I would +reserve my defence. + +Had I said a word, Clarkson would have shaped his indictment to +meet the objection which I intended to make; the man, however, was +committed to the Old Bailey in total ignorance of what defence was to +be made. + +The case was tried before Baron Alderson, as shrewd a Judge, perhaps, +as ever adorned the Bench. + +When I took my point, he at once saw the difficulty Napoleon was +in--a difficulty from which no Napoleon could escape even by a _coup +d'état_. + +It was, in fact, this--simple as A B C:-- + +When the bills of exchange were received by Pollard, although he +intended to defraud, they were _neither drawn nor accepted_, and so +were not bills of exchange at all; another process was necessary +before they could become so even in appearance, and that was forgery. + +Moreover, there was included in this point another objection--namely, +that the _stamps_ signed by the Prince having been handed to him with +the intention that they _should be subsequently filled up_, they were +not _valuable securities_ (for stealing which the ill-used Pollard was +indicted) at the time they were appropriated, and could not therefore +be so treated. + +In short, the legal truth was that Pollard neither stole nor obtained +either _bill of exchange_ (for such they were not at that time) or +valuable security. + +Such was the law. I believe Napoleon said the devil must have made it, +or worked it into that "tam shape!" + +There were many technicalities in the law of those days, and justice +was often defeated by legal quibbles. But the law was so severe in its +punishments that Justice herself often connived at its evasion. At +the present day there is a gradual tendency to make punishment more +lenient and more certain--to remove the entanglements of the pleader, +and render progress towards substantial instead of technical justice +more sure and speedy. Napoleon's defeat could not have occurred at the +present day--not, at all events, in that "tam shape." + +In a case in which the member of St. Ives was petitioned against on +the ground of treating, before Lush, J., I was opposed by Russell +(afterwards Lord Chief Justice and Lord Russell of Killowen). A.L. +Smith was my junior, and I need not say he knew almost everything +there was to be known about election law. There was, however, no law +in the case. No specific act of treating was proved, but we felt that +general treating had taken place in such a wholesale manner that +our client was affected by it. So we consented to his losing +his seat--that is to say, that the election should be declared +_void_--merely void. As the other side did not seem to be aware that +this void could be filled by the member who was unseated, they did not +ask that our client should not be permitted to put up for the vacancy, +although this was the real object of my opponent's petition. He wanted +the seat for himself, but knew that he had not the remotest chance +against his unseated opponent. + +His surprise, therefore, must have been as great as his chagrin when, +the very night of the decision which unseated him, he came forward +once more as a candidate. The petition had increased his popularity, +and he won the seat with the greatest ease, and without any subsequent +disturbance by the former petitioner. + +I have told you of a curious trial before a Recorder of Saffron +Walden, and my memory of that event reminds me of another which took +place in that same abode of learning and justice. Joseph Brown, Q.C., +and Thomas Chambers, Q.C., were brother Benchers of mine, and when we +met at the Parliament Chamber after dinner it was more than likely +that many stories would be told, for we often fought our battles over +again. + +At the time I speak of Knox was the Recorder of that important +borough, and was possessed of all the dignity which so enhances a +great officer in the eyes of the public, whether he be the most modest +of beadles in beadledom, or the highest Recorder in Christendom. To +give himself a greater air of importance, Knox always carried a _blue +umbrella_ of a most blazing grandeur. He was looked up to, of course, +at Saffron Walden, as their greatest man, especially as he occupied +the best apartments at the chief brimstone shop in the town. When I +say _brimstone_, I mean that it seemed to be its leading article; +for there were a great many yellow placards all over and about the +emporium, which, perhaps, ought to have been called a "general shop." + +There were three men up before Knox for stealing malt; a very serious +offence indeed in Saffron Walden, where malt was almost regarded as a +sacred object--until it got into the beer. + +"Tom" Chambers (afterwards Recorder of London) was defending these +prisoners, and I have no doubt, from the conduct of Knox, acquired a +great deal of that discrimination of character which afterwards so +distinguished him in the City of London. The degrees of guilt in these +persons ought to be noted by all persons who hold, or hope to hold, a +judicial position. As to the first man, the actual thief, there could +be no doubt about his crime, for he was actually wheeling the two or +three shovelfuls of malt in a barrow; so there was not much use in +defending him. + +About the second man there was not the same degree of certainty, for +he had never touched the malt or the barrow, and there was no evidence +that he knew the first man had stolen it. The only suspicion--for +it was nothing more--against him was that he was seen to be walking +_along the highway_ near the man who was wheeling the barrow, and as +it was daytime, many others were equally guilty. + +The third man was still less implicated, for all that appeared against +him was that _at some time or other_ he had been seen, either on the +day of the theft or just before, to be in a public-house with the +thief and asking him to have a drink. + +If it had not been at Saffron Walden, where they are so jealous of +their malt and such admirers of their maltsters, there would have been +no case against any one but the actual thief; and if the Recorder had +known the law as well as he knew Saffron Walden, or half as much as +Saffron Walden admired him, he would have ruled to that effect. + +However, he pointed out to the jury the cases one by one with great +care and no stint of language. + +"Against the first," said he, "the case is clear enough: he is +caught with the stolen goods in his possession. In the second case, +_perhaps_, it is not quite so strong, you will think; but it is +for _you_, gentlemen, not for _me_, to judge. You will not forget, +gentlemen, he was walking along by the side of the actual thief, and +it is for you to say what that means." Then, after clearing his throat +for a final effort, he said,-- + +"Now we come to the third man. Where was he? I must say there is a +slight difference between his case and that of the other two men, who +might be said to have been caught in the very act; but it's for _you_, +gentlemen, not for _me_. It is difficult to point out item by item, +as it were, the difference between the three cases; but you will say, +gentlemen, whether they were not all mixed up in this robbery--it's +for _you_, gentlemen, not for _me_." + +The jury were not going to let off three such rogues as the Recorder +plainly thought them, and instantly returned a verdict of guilty +against all. + +"I agree with the verdict," said the Recorder. "It is _a very bad +case_, and a mercantile community like Saffron Walden must be +protected against such depredators as you. No doubt there are degrees +of guilt in your several cases, but I do not think I should be doing +my duty to the public if I made any distinction in your sentences: you +must all of you undergo a term of five years' penal servitude." + +Whereupon Tom Chambers was furious. Up he jumped, and said,-- + +"Really, sir; really--" + +"Yes," said Knox, "really." + +"Well, then, sir, you can't do it," said the counsel; "you cannot +give penal servitude for petty larceny. Here is the Act" (reading): +"'Unless the prisoner has been guilty of any felony before.'" + +"Very well," said the Recorder; "you, Brown, the actual thief, and +you, Jones, his accessory in the very act, not having been convicted +before, I am sorry to say, cannot be sentenced to more than two years' +imprisonment with hard labour, and I reduce the sentence in your cases +to that; but as to you, Robinson, yours is a very bad case. The jury +have found that you were _mixed up_ in this robbery, and I find that +you have been convicted of stealing apples. True, it's a good many +years ago, but it brings you within the purview of the statute, and +therefore your sentence of five years will stand." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +THE NEW LAW ALLOWING THE ACCUSED TO GIVE EVIDENCE--THE CASE OF DR. +WALLACE, THE LAST I TRIED ON CIRCUIT. + + +I should like to make an observation on the recent Act for enabling +prisoners to go into the witness-box and subject themselves, after +giving their evidence, to cross-examination. + +It must be apparent to every one, learned and unlearned in its +mysteries, that no evidence can be of its highest value, and often is +of no value, until sifted by cross-examination. I was always opposed +to this process as against an accused person, because I know how +difficult it is under the most favourable circumstances to avoid the +pitfalls which a clever and artistic cross-examiner may dig for the +unwary. + +It did not occur to me in that early stage of the discussion on the +Bill that a really true story _cannot_ be shaken in cross-examination, +and that only the _false_ must give way beneath its searching effect. + +I had to learn something in advocacy; indeed, I was always learning, +and the best of us may go on for ever learning, as long as this +wonderful and mysterious human nature exists. + +However, I am not writing philosophical essays, but relating the facts +of my simple life, and I confess that the case that came before me on +this occasion totally upset my quiet repose in all the comfortable +traditions of the past. Human nature had something which I had not +seen: it arose in this way. A doctor was accused of a terrible +crime against a female patient. I need not give its details; it +is sufficient to say that if the girl's statement was true penal +servitude for life was not too much, for he was a villain of the very +worst character. Taking the ordinary run of evidence, if I may use the +word, and the ordinary mode of cross-examination, which, in the +hands of unskilled practitioners, generally tends to corroborate the +evidence-in-chief, the case was overwhelmingly proved, and how sad and +painful it was to contemplate none can realize who do not understand +anything below the surface of human existence. + +I had watched the case with the anxious care that I am conscious +should be exercised in all inquiries, and especially criminal +inquiries, that come before one. I watched, and, let me say, +_especially watched_, for any point in the evidence on which I could +put a question in the prisoner's favour. + +Upon that subject I never wavered throughout the whole of my career, +and the testimony of the letters which I received from the most +distinguished members of the criminal Bar--not to say that they are +not equally distinguished in the civil--will, I am sure, bear out my +little self-praise upon a small matter of infinite importance. + +Everything in this case seemed to be overwhelmingly against the +unhappy doctor. No one in court, except himself, _could_ believe on +the evidence but that he was guilty. + +I, who through my whole life had been studying evidence and the mode +in which it was delivered, believed in the man's guilt, and felt that +no cross-examination, however subtle and skilfully conducted, could +shake it. + +I felt for the man--a scholar, a scientist--as one must feel for the +victim of so great a temptation. But I felt also that he was entitled, +on account of all those things which aroused my sympathy, to the +severest sentence, which I had already considered it would be my duty +to award him. + +Then, under the New Act, which I had spoken against and written +against, as one long associated with all the bearings of evidence +given in the witness-box, the poor doctor stepped into that terrible +trap for the untruthful. + +Let me now observe that, even before he was sworn, his _manner_ made a +great impression on my mind. And on this subject I would like to say +that few Judges or advocates sufficiently consider it. + +The greatest actor has a manner. The man who is not an actor has a +manner, and if you are only sufficiently read in the human character, +it cannot deceive you, however disguised it may be. A witness's +evidence may deceive, but his manner is the looking-glass of his mind, +sometimes of his innocence. It was so in this case. + +The man was not acting, and he was not an actor. + +This made the first impression on my mind, and I knew there _must_ +be something beneath it which only _he_ could explain. I waited +patiently. It was much more than life and death to this man. + +The next thing that impressed me was that there was not the least +confusion in his evidence or in himself. His tone, his language, could +only be the result of conscious innocence. + +It was not very long before I gathered that he was the victim of +a cruel and cowardly conspiracy. It was absolutely a case of +_blackmailing, and nothing else_. + +I believed every word the man said, and so did the jury. His evidence +_acquitted him_. He was saved from an ignominious doom by the new Act, +and from that moment I went heart and soul with it: however much it +may be a danger to the guilty, it is of the utmost importance to the +innocent. + +This case was not finished without a little touch of humour. When +half-past seven arrived--an hour on circuit at which I always +considered it too early to adjourn--the jury thought it looked very +like an "all-night sitting," although I had no such intention, and one +of their body or of the Bar, I forget which, raised the question on a +motion for the adjournment of the house. + +I was asked, I know, by some impatient member of the Bar whether a +case in which _he_ was engaged could not go over till the morning. + +This gave immense encouragement to an independent juryman, who +evidently was determined to beard the lion in his den, and possibly +shake off "the dewdrops of his British indignation." + +I never believed in British lions, except on his Majesty's +quarterings; and although they look very formidable in heraldry, I +never found them so in fact. Indeed, if the British lion was ever a +native of the British Isles, he must have become extinct, for I have +never heard so much as an imitation growl from him except in Hyde Park +on a Sunday. + +The British lion, however, in this case seemed to assert himself in +the jury-box, and rising on his hind legs, said in a husky voice, +which appeared to come from some concealed cupboard in his bosom,-- + +"My lord!" + +"Yes?" I said in my blandest manner. + +"My lord, this 'ere ---- is a little bit stiff, my lord, with all +respect for your lordship." + +"What is that, sir?" + +"Why, my lord, I've been cramped up in this 'ere narrer box for +fourteen hours, and the seat's that hard and the back so straight up +that now I gets out on it I ain't got a leg to stand on." + +"I'm sorry for the chair," I said. + +He was a very thick-set man, and the whole of the jury burst into a +laugh. Then he went on, with tears in his eyes,-- + +"My lord, when I went home last night arter sittin' here so many hours +I couldn't sleep a wink." + +I could not help saying,-- + +"Then it is no use going to bed; we may as well finish the business." + +That was all very well for him, but another juryman arose, amidst +roars of laughter, and lifted up a hard, wooden-bottomed chair, and +beat it with his heavy walking-stick. + +The chair was perfectly indifferent to the treatment it was receiving +after supporting the juryman for so many hours without the smallest +hope of any reward, and I then asked,-- + +"Is that to keep order, sir?" + +The excitement continued for a long time, but at last it subsided, and +I suggested a compromise. + +I said probably the gentlemen in the next case would not speak for +more than one hour each, and if they would agree to this I would +undertake to sum up in _five minutes_. + +The husky lion sat down, and so did the musician. The jury acquitted +and went home. + +These are some of the caprices of a jury which a Judge has sometimes +to put up with, and it has often been said that Judges are more tried +than prisoners. Perhaps that is so, especially when, if they do not +get the kind of rough music I have mentioned from the jury-box, +they sometimes receive a by no means complimentary address from the +prisoner. One occurs to my mind, with which I will close this chapter. + +I had occasion to sentence to death a soldier for a cruel murder by +taking the life of his sergeant. It was at Winchester, and after I had +uttered the fatal words the culprit turned savagely towards me, and in +a loud, gruff voice cried, "Curse you!" + +I made no remark, and the man was removed to the cells. Very humanely +the chaplain went to the prisoner and endeavoured to bring him to a +proper state of mind with regard to his impending fate. + +On the day appointed for the execution I received by post a long +letter from the clergyman, enclosing another written on prison paper. + +The letter was to tell me that for ten days he could make no +impression on the condemned man; but on the tenth or twelfth day he +expressed his sincere sorrow that he had cursed me for passing on him +the sentence he had so well deserved, and his great desire was to +make a humble apology to me in person. He was told that that was +impossible, as I could not come to him, nor could he go to me. +Whereupon he begged to be allowed to write this humble apology. This +he was permitted to do, and the letter from the culprit, who was +hanged that morning, I was reading at the very moment of his +execution. It contained, I believe, sincere expressions of contrition +for the cruel deed he had done, but was mostly taken up with apologies +to me for having cursed me after advising him to prepare for the doom +that awaited him. He begged my forgiveness, which, I need not say, I +freely gave. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +A FAREWELL MEMORY OF JACK. + + +Poor little Jack is dead! + +It is a real grief to me. A more intelligent, faithful, and +affectionate creature never had existence, and to him I have been +indebted for very many of the happiest hours of my life. + +Poor dear little Jack! he lived with me for many years; and at last, I +believe, some miscreant poisoned him, for he was taken very ill with +symptoms of strychnine, and died in a few hours in the early morning +of May 24, 1894. I was with him when he died. + +I never replaced him, and to this hour have never ceased to be sad +when I think of the merciless and cruel fate by which the ruffian put +an end to his dear little life. + +He was buried under some shrubs in Hyde Park, where I hope he sleeps +the sleep of good affectionate dogs. + +It is ten years ago, and yet there is no abatement of my love for +him, hardly any of my sorrow. He always occupied the best seat in the +Sheriff's carriage on circuit, and looked as though he felt it was his +right. He slept by my side on a little bed of his own. At Norwich, I +think, he made his first appearance in state. The moment he entered +the house he appropriated to himself the chair of state, which had +been provided by the local upholsterer for the express use of Queen +Alexandra, then Princess of Wales, on her first visit to Norwich +to confer honour and happiness on Queen Victoria's subjects in the +eastern counties. + +Nobody, however, molested Jack in his seat, and, I believe, had it +been one of the seats for the county there would have been no petition +to disturb him. He would have been as faithful a member as the +immortal Toby, M.P. for Barkshire, of Mr. Punch, to whom ever my best +regards. Jack considered himself entitled to precedence wherever he +went, and maintained it. He was a famous judge of upholstery, and the +softest chair or sofa, hearthrug or divan, was instantly appropriated. +This sometimes made the local dignitaries sit up a little. They might +be accustomed to the dignity of one of her Majesty's Judges, but +the impudence of her Majesty's "Jack"--for so he deemed himself on +circuit--was a little beyond their aldermanic natures. + +I was much and agreeably surprised to find that the Press everywhere +sympathized with my loss of Jack, and many an extract I made +containing their very kind remarks. My room might have been one of +Romeike's cutting-rooms. Here is one I will give as a sample. I am +sorry I cannot positively state the name of the journal, but I am +almost sure it is from the _Daily Telegraph_. + + "An item of judicial intelligence, which may not everywhere be + duly appreciated, is the death of Mr. Justice Hawkins's fox + terrier Jack. Jack has been his lordship's most constant friend + for many years. With some masters such a useful dog as he was + would have found going on circuit a bore; but with Sir Henry + Hawkins, who knows what kind of life suits a dog, and likes to see + that he enjoys it, going on circuit was a career of adventure. The + Judge was always out betimes to give Jack a long morning walk, and + when his duties took him to small county towns he often rose with + the farmers for no other purpose." + +Here is another paragraph; and I should like to be able to give the +writer's name, for it is very pleasant at all times to find expression +of true love for animals, whose devotion and faithfulness to man +endear them to us:-- + + "Sir Henry Hawkins has my sincere sympathy in his great + bereavement. Jack, the famous fox terrier who accompanied his + master everywhere, is dead. Innumerable are the things told of + Jack's devotion to Sir Henry, and of Sir Henry's devotion to Jack. + I first made their acquaintance at Worcester Railway Station some + years ago, when I saw Jack marching solemnly in the procession + of officials who had come with wands and staves and javelins to + receive Sir Henry Hawkins at the opening of the Assizes. Jack was + on one or two special occasions, I believe, accommodated with a + seat on the Bench; and at Maidstone, when the lodgings caught + fire, Sir Henry rushed back at the risk of his life to save his + faithful little dog." + +These are small memories, perhaps, but to me more dear than the +praises too often unworthily bestowed on actions unworthy to be +recorded. + +But here I pause. Jack rests in his little grave in Hyde Park, and +I sometimes go and look on the spot where he lies. Many and many an +affectionate letter was written to me bewailing the loss of our little +friend. + +Only one of these I shall particularly mention, because it shows how +immeasurably superior was Jack to the lady who wrote it, in that true +and sincere feeling which we call friendship, and which, to my mind, +is the bond of society and the only security for its well-being. +She was a lady who belonged to what is called "Society," the +characteristic of which is that it exists not only independently of +friendship, but in spite of it. + +After condoling with me on my loss and showing her sweet womanly +sympathy, she concluded her letter by informing me that she had "one +of the sweetest pets eyes ever beheld, a darling devoted to her with +a faithfulness which would really be a lesson to 'our specie,'" and +that, in the circumstances, she would let me have her little darling +for _five pounds_. I was so astonished and angry at the meanness of +this "lady of fashion" that I said--Well, perhaps my exact expression +had better be buried in oblivion. + +BALLAD OF THE UNSURPRISED JUDGE, 1895.[A] + +[Footnote A: It was a well-known expression of Sir Henry Hawkins when +on the Bench, "I should be surprised at nothing;" and after the long +and strange experiences which these reminiscences indicate, the +literal truth of the observation is not to be doubted. This clever +ballad, which was written in 1895, seems sufficiently appropriate +to find a place in these memoirs, and I wish I knew the name of the +writer, that my thanks and apologies might be conveyed to him for this +appropriation of them.] + +("Mr. Justice Hawkins observed, 'I am surprised at nothing,'"--_Pitts +v. Joseph, "Times" Report, March 27_.) + + All hail to Sir Henry, whom nothing surprises! + Ye Judges and suitors, regard him with awe, + As he sits up aloft on the Bench and applies his + Swift mind to the shifts and the tricks of the law. + Many years has he lived, and has always seen clear things + That Nox seemed to hide from our average eyes; + But still, though encompassed with all sorts of queer things, + He never, no, never, gives way to surprise. + + When a rogue, for example, a company-monger, + Grows fat on the gain of the shares he has sold, + While the public gets lean, winning nothing but hunger + And a few scraps of scrip for its masses of gold; + When the fat man goes further and takes to religion, + A rascal in hymn-books and Bibles disguised, + "It's a case," says Sir Henry, "of rook _versus_ pigeon, + And the pigeon gets left--well, I'm hardly surprised." + + There's a Heath at Newmarket, and horses that run there; + There are owners and jockeys, and sharpers and flats; + There are some who do nicely, and some who are done there; + There are loud men with pencils and satchels and hats. + But the stewards see nothing of betting or money, + As they stand in the blinkers for stewards devised; + Their blindness may strike Henry Hawkins as funny, + But he only smiles softly--he isn't surprised. + + So here's to Sir Henry, the terror of tricksters, + Of law he's a master, and likewise a limb; + His mind never once, when its purpose is fixed, errs: + For cuteness there's none holds a candle to him. + Let them try to deceive him, why, bless you, he's _been_ there, + And can track his way straight through a tangle of lies; + And though some might grow gray at the things he has seen there, + He never, no, never, gives way to surprise. + +By the courtesy of Sir Francis Burnand, who most kindly obtained +permission from Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, I insert the following +poem, which appeared in a February number of _Punch_ in the year +1887:-- + +THE WOMAN AND THE LAW. + +(A true story, told before Mr. Justice Hawkins at the recent Liverpool +Assizes--_vide Daily Telegraph_, February 8.) + + In the criminal dock stood a woman alone, + To be judged for her crime, her one fault to repair, + And the man who gave evidence sat like a stone, + With a look of contempt for the woman's despair! + For the man was a husband, who'd ruined a life, + And broken a heart he had found without flaw; + He demanded the punishment due to the wife, + Who was only a Woman, whilst his was the Law! + + A terrible silence then reigned in the Court, + And the eyes of humanity turned to the dock; + Her head was bent down, and her sobbing came short, + And the jailer stood ready, with hand on the lock + Of the gate of despair, that would open no more + When this wreckage of beauty was hurried away! + "Let me speak," moaned the woman--"my lord, I implore!" + "Yes, speak," said the Judge. "I will hear what you say!" + + "I was only a girl when he stole me away + From the home and the mother who loved me too well; + But the shame and the pain I have borne since that day + Not a pitying soul who now listens can tell! + There was never a promise he made but he broke; + The bruises he gave I have covered with shame; + Not a tear, not a prayer, but he scorned as a joke! + He cursed at my children, and sneered at my fame! + + "The money I'd slaved for and hoarded he'd rob; + I have borne his reproaches when maddened with drink. + For a man there is pleasure, for woman a sob; + It is he who may slander, but she who must think! + But at last came the day when the Law gave release, + Just a moment of respite from merciless fate, + For they took him to prison, and purchased me peace, + Till I welcomed him home like a wife--at the gate! + + "Was it wrong in repentance of Man to believe? + It is hard to forget, it is right to forgive! + But he struck me again, and he left me to grieve + For the love I had lost, for the life I must live! + So I silently stole from the depths of despair, + And slunk from dark destiny's chastening rod, + And I crept to the light, and the life, and the air, + From the town of the man to the country of God! + + "'Twas in solitude, then, that there came to my soul + The halo of comfort that sympathy casts; + He was strong, he was brave, and, though centuries roll, + I shall love that one man whilst eternity lasts! + O my lord, I was weak, I was wrong, I was poor! + I had suffered so much through my journey of life, + Hear! the worst of the crime that is laid at my door: + I said I was widow when, really a wife! + + "Here I stand to be judged, in the sight of the man + Who from purity took a frail woman away. + Let him look in my face, if he dare, if he can! + Let him stand up on oath to deny what I say! + 'Tis a story that many a wife can repeat, + From the day that the old curse of Eden began; + In the dread name of Justice, look down from your seat! + Come, sentence the Woman, and shelter the Man!" + + A silence more terrible reigned than before, + For the lip of the coward was cruelly curled; + But the hand of the jailer slipped down from the door + Made to shut this sad wanderer out from the world! + Said the Judge, "My poor woman, now listen to me: + Not one hour you shall stray from humanity's heart + When thirty swift minutes have sped, you are free + In the name of the Law, which is Mercy, depart!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +OLD TURF FRIENDS. + + +An announcement in the morning papers of the death of Mr. Richard +C. Naylor of Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire, at the age of eighty-six, +carried me back to the far-off days when, tempted by the hospitality +and kind friendship of Lord Falmouth, I became a regular visitor of +Newmarket Heath--an _habitué_ during the splendid dictatorship of +Admiral Rous! + +I would like to mention the names of some of the celebrities of the +Turf of those days, many of them my frequent companions, and no less +my real and sincere friends. Time, however, fails. But in looking +through the piles of letters with which the kindness of my friends has +favoured me from time to time, I come across many a relic of the past +that recalls the pleasantest associations. Even a telegram, most +prosaic of correspondence, which I meet with at this moment, is a +little poem in its way, and brings back scenes and circumstances over +which memory loves to linger. + +It is nothing in itself, but let any one who has loved country +life and enjoyed its sports and its many friendships consider what +forgotten pleasures may be brought to mind by this telegram. + +_Telegram_. + +DORCHESTER, _November_ 2, '97. + +Handed in at QUORN at 9.10 a.m. + +Received here at 11.1 a.m. + +_To_ SIR H. HAWKINS, The Judges' House, Dorchester. + +Just returned from Badminton to find the most charming present from +you, which I shall always regard with the greatest value, and think +you are too kind, in giving me such a present. Am writing.--LONSDALE. + +"At _Quorn_," I repeat, and then I find the letter which Lord Lonsdale +was writing. This is it:-- + + CHURCHILL COTTAGE, + QUORN, + LOUGHBOROUGH, + _Tuesday, November_ 2, '97. + +MY DEAR SIR HENRY,--How can I thank you enough for your magnificent +present? It is, indeed, kind of you thinking of me, and I can assure +you that the spurs shall remain an "heirloom" to decorate the +dinner-table (a novel ornament) and match the silver spur poor old +White Melville gave me. Why you should have so honoured me I do not +know, but that I fully value your kindly thought I do know. + +Is there any chance of your being in these parts? If so, _do_ pay me a +visit. + +And with many, many thanks for your extreme kindness, + +Believe me + +Yours very truly, + +(_Signed_) LONSDALE. + +Alas! almost all of them have passed away, yet they will live while +the memory of the generation lasts which called them friends. They +have vanished from the scenes in which they played so prominent a +part, and yet their influence remains. + +There was the old Admiral himself, the king of sportsmen and good +fellows. Horse or man-o'-war, it was all one to him; and although +sport may not be regarded as of the same importance with politics, who +knows which has the more beneficial influence on mankind? I would have +backed Admiral Rous to save us from war, and if we drifted into it to +save us from the enemy, against any man in the world. Then there +was his bosom friend George Payne, and the old, old Squire George +Osbaldeston, Lord Falmouth, W.S. Crawfurd, the Earl of Wilton, Lord +Bradford, Lord Rosslyn, Lord Vivian, the Duke of Hamilton, George +Brace, General Mark Wood, Alexander, Lord Westmorland, the Earl of +Aylesbury, Clare Vyner, Dudley, Milner, Sir John Astley ("The Mate"), +Lords Suffolk and Berkshire, Coventry and Clonmell, Manton, Ker +Seymer--the names crowd upon my memory; then, alas! a long, long while +after, Henry Calcraft, Lord Granville, Lord Portsmouth, and "Prince +Eddy," Lord Gerard, the Earl of Hardwicke, Viscount Royston, Sam +Batchelor, and Tyrwhitt Wilson. + +These are some of those whom I remember, and, by the way, I ought to +add the Duke of Westminster and Tom Jennings, names interesting +and distinguished, and indicative of a phase of life ever full of +enjoyment such as is not known out of the sporting world, where +excitement lends to pleasure the effervescence and sparkle which make +life something more than animal existence. + +This is true in hunting, racing, cricket, and I should think +intensified in the highest degree in a charge of cavalry. Take +Balaclava, for instance: the very fact of staking life at such odds +must have compressed into that moment a whole life of ordinary +pleasure. + +I will mention a few more names, and then close another chapter of my +memory. There was Mr. J.A. Craven, the Duke of St. Albans, the Duke +of Beaufort, Montagu Tharp, Major Egerton, General Pearson, Lord +Calthorpe, Henry Saville, Douglas Gordon (Mr. Briggs), Oliver Montagu, +Henry Leeson, the Earl of Milltown, Sir Henry Devereux, Johnny Shafto, +Douglas Phillips, Randolph Churchill, Lord Exeter, Lord Stamford. + +Of the famous jockeys and trainers there were John Scott, Mat Dawson, +Fred Archer. There were also James Weatherby, Judge Clark, and +Tattersall. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +LEAVING THE BENCH--LORD BRAMPTON. + + +At length the time came when I was to bid good-bye to the Queen's +Bench and the Court No. 5 in which I had so long presided, where I had +met and made so many friends, all more or less learned in the law. I +had been a Judge since the year 1876, and Time, in its never-ceasing +progress, had whispered to me more than once, "Tarry not too long upon +the scene of your old labours, where your presence has made you a +familiar object to all the members of every branch of your great and +responsible profession; and while health and vigour and intelligence +still, by God's blessing, remain to you, apparently unimpaired by +lapse of years, take some of that rest and repose which you have +earned, ere it be too late." + +Thereupon, without any needless ceremony of leave-taking, at the close +of the year 1898 I took my leave of the Bench with a simple bow. +Silently, but with real affection for all I was leaving behind me, I +quitted my occupation on the Bench. I considered this to be a far more +dignified way of making my exit than meeting face to face the whole of +the court and its practitioners and officers, and leaving it to the +eloquent and friendly speech of the Attorney-General to flatter me far +beyond my deserts in the customary farewell address which he would +have offered to me. I thought it better to rely upon the expressions +and conduct of those who knew me well, and to feel that they +appreciated the discharge of the many arduous duties which I had been +called on to perform. As some evidence of this, I would point to the +good wishes from all kinds and classes of people which have followed +me into private life, and the numerous letters which every post +brought me, and which would fill a volume in themselves. + +But the crowning honour was graciously conferred upon me by her late +Majesty Queen Victoria on January 1, 1899, through the then Marquis of +Salisbury, who signified that her Majesty intended to raise me to the +peerage. His lordship's letter announcing the gracious act I recall +with feelings of pleasure and gratitude, and I need not say that it +will, while life lasts, be my greatest pride. I was subsequently sworn +of her Majesty's Privy Council, and for more than two years attended +pretty regularly in the Final Court of Appeal. + +It does not behove me to say more on this subject than that the +acknowledgment of my long services by the Sovereign must ever be my +greatest pride and satisfaction. + +On February 7, 1899, I was introduced to the House of Peers, and took +my seat. + +I chose for my name and designation the title of Baron Brampton, which +her Majesty was pleased to approve. My little property, therefore, +which I mentioned earlier in my reminiscences, conferred on me what +was more valuable than its income--the title by which I am now known. + +Speaking with reference to those long years ago when I was dissuaded +from my career by those who doubtless had the most affectionate +interest in my welfare, and to whose advice I proved to be so +undutiful, I cannot help, whether vanity be attributed to me or not, +contrasting the position of the penniless articled clerk in the +attorney's office and the situation which came to me as the result of +unremitting labour. + +Let me state it with pride as well as humility that my rewards have +been beyond my dreams and far above my deserts. + +On February 7, in a committee room of the House, I was met by my +supporters and those whose duties made them a portion of the ceremony, +and realized the ambition that came to me only in my later life. + +Some members of my family would have preferred the family name to be +associated with the title. I must confess I had some attachment for +it, as it had rendered me such good service, and it was somewhat hard +to give it up. + +If, however, I had had any hesitation, it would have been removed +when one afternoon Lord ---- called on me, and in his chaffing manner +said,-- + +"Well, I hear you are to be Lord '_Awkins_ of '_Itchin_, 'Erts." + +"Be ---- if I will!" said I; "Brampton's the only landed estate I have +inherited, and although the old ladies who are life-tenants kept me +out of it as long as they could, I shall take my title from it as the +only thing I am likely to get out of it." + +"Bravo!" said he. "I don't like 'Awkins of 'Itchin, 'Erts. _Brampton_ +sounds like a title; and so my hearty congratulations, and may you and +her ladyship live long to enjoy it!" + +"Mr. Punch" was good enough to furnish me with a beautiful and +humorous coat of arms, done by that very talented artist Mr. E.T. +Reed. + + * * * * * + +Since the commencement of this volume many of the old friends +mentioned in it with affectionate remembrance have gone to their rest, +and I am steadily approaching my own end. Trusting to the mercy and +goodness of God, I patiently await my summons. I can but humbly add +that to the best of my poor ability I have ever conscientiously +endeavoured in all things to do my duty. + +And now, as I lay down my pen, dreamily thinking over old names, old +friends, and old faces of bygone years, I live my life over again. +Everything passes like a picturesque vision before my eyes. I can see +the old coach which brought me from my home--a distance of thirty +miles in eight hours--a rapid journey in those days. This was old +Kirshaw's swift procedure. Then there was the "Bedford Times" I +travelled with, which was Whitehead's fire-engine kind of motor; but +generally in that district John Crowe was the celebrated whip. + +Then passes before me the old Cock that crew over the doorway in Fleet +Street, a Johnsonian tavern of mighty lineage and celebrity for chops +and steaks. And I see the old waiter, with his huge pockets behind, in +which he deposited the tons of copper tips from the numberless diners +whom he attended to during his long career. + +Then I observe the Rainbow, by no means such a celebrity, although +more brilliant than the Mitre by its side; and in the Mitre I see (but +only in imagination) Johnson and Goldsmith talking over the quaint +philosophy of wine and letters till three o'clock in the morning, +finishing their three or four bottles of port, and wondering why they +were a little seedy the next day. + +And there sits at my side, enjoying his chop, Tom Firr, described as +the king of huntsmen--a true and honest sportsman, simple, respectful, +and respected, whose name I will not omit from my list of celebrities, +for he is as worthy of a place in my reminiscences as any M.F.H. you +could meet. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +SENTENCES. + + +There is no part of a Judge's duty which is more important or +more difficult than apportioning the punishment to the particular +circumstances of a conviction. As an illustration of this statement I +would take the offence of bigamy, where in the one case the convicted +person would deserve a severe sentence of imprisonment, while in +another case he or she might be set at liberty without any punishment +at all. Such cases have occurred before me. + +The sentence of another Judge upon another prisoner ought not to be +followed, for each prisoner should be punished for nothing but the +particular crime which he has committed. For this reason the case of +each individual should be considered by itself. + +I dislike, also, the practice of passing a severe sentence for a +trifling offence merely because it has been a common habit in other +places or of other persons. For instance I have known five years of +penal servitude imposed for stealing from outside a shop on a second +conviction, when one month would have been more than enough on a first +conviction, and two or three months on a second conviction. For +small offences like these the penalty should always be the same +in character--I mean not excessive imprisonment, and never penal +servitude. As often as a man steals let him be sent to prison, and it +may be for each offence the time of imprisonment should be somewhat +slightly increased, but not the character of the punishment. + +Years ago, in my Session days, I remember a poor and, I am afraid, +dishonest client of mine being _transported for life_ (on a second +conviction for larceny) for stealing _a donkey_; but I doubt if that +could happen nowadays. It seems incredible. + +Nobody who has carefully noted the innumerable phases of crime which +our criminal courts have continually to deal with, and the infinite +shades of guilt attached to each of those crimes, will fail to come +to the conclusion that one might as well attempt to allocate to its +fitting place each grain of sand, exposed to the currents of a desert +and all other disturbing influences, as endeavour by any scheme or +fixed rule to determine what is the fitting sentence to be endured for +every crime which a person can be proved, under any circumstances, to +have committed. + +The course I adopted in practice was this. My first care was never to +pass any sentence inconsistent with any other sentence passed under +similar circumstances for another though similar offence. Then I +proceeded to fix in my own mind what ought to be the outside sentence +that should be awarded for that particular offence had it stood +alone; and from that I deducted every circumstance of mitigation, +provocation, etc., the balance representing the sentence I finally +awarded, confining it purely to the actual guilt of the prisoner. + +I have noticed that burglaries with violence are rarely committed +by one man alone, and that when two or more men are concerned in a +murder, one or more of them being afraid that some one, in the hope of +saving himself from the treachery of others, is anxious to shift the +whole guilt of the robbery, with its accompanying violence, on to the +shoulders of his comrades. It is well that this should be so, and that +such dangerous criminals should distrust with fear and hatred their +equally guilty associates. + +Except for special peremptory reasons, I never passed sentence until I +had reconsidered the case and informed my own mind, to the best of +my ability, as to what was the true magnitude and character of the +offence I was called upon to punish. + +The effect of such deliberation was that I often mitigated the +punishment I had intended to inflict, and when I had proposed my +sentence I do not remember ever feeling that I had acted excessively +or done injustice. I am now quite certain that no sentence can be +properly awarded unless after such consideration. I speak, of course, +only of serious crimes. + +It has more than once happened that even after all the evidence in the +case was before the jury, as was supposed, I have discovered that an +accused man, in _mitigation of sentence_, has pleaded that which would +have been a _perfect defence to the charge made against him_! One +of these instances was very remarkable. It happened at some country +racecourse. + +A man was charged with robbing another who was in custody in charge +of the police for "welshing." The prisoner had undoubtedly, while the +prosecutor, as I will call him, was in custody, and being led along +the course, rushed up to him, after jumping the barriers, and put +his hand in his coat-pocket, pulling out his pocket-book and other +articles. He then made off, but was pursued by the police and +arrested. He was indicted for the robbery, and the facts were +undisputed. + +There was no defence set up, and I was about to ask the jury for their +opinion on the case, which certainly had a very extraordinary aspect. + +Suddenly the prisoner blurted out, as excusing himself,-- + +"Well, sir, _he asked me to take the things_. I was a stranger to him, +and the mob was turning his pockets inside out and ill-treating him +for welshing." + +I immediately asked the prosecutor, "Is that true?" and he answered, +"Yes." The prisoner said, "I only did it to protect his things for +him." + +Of course I instantly stopped the case and directed an acquittal. +I then gave both parties a little advice. To the prosecutor (the +welsher) I said, "Don't go welshing any more;" and to the prisoner, +"If you ever again see a welsher in distress, don't help him." + +I should like to say one word more. It should not be supposed that +a man, when sentenced, is altogether bad because he uses insulting +language to the Judge. He may not be utterly bad and past all hope of +redemption on that account. + +The want of even an approach to uniformity in criminal sentences is +no doubt a very serious matter, and is due, not to any defect in +the criminal law (much as I think that might be improved in many +respects), but is owing to the great diversity of opinion, and +therefore of action, which not unnaturally exists among criminal +Judges, from the highest to the humblest, numbering, as they do, +at least 5,000 personages, including Judges of the High Courts, +commissioners, recorders, police magistrates, and justices of the +peace. + +When one considers the conditions under which the criminal law is +administered in England, and remembers that no fixed principles upon +which punishments should be awarded have been authoritatively laid +down, and that the law has stated only a maximum (but happily at the +present time not a minimum), and each Judge is left practically at +liberty to exercise his own unfettered discretion so long as he +confines himself within the limit so prescribed, it is no matter for +wonder that so great a diversity of punishment should follow so great +a variety of opinion. + +Even in the most accurate and useful books of practice to which all +look for guidance and assistance during every stage of the criminal +proceedings, down to the conviction of the offender, no serious +attempt has been made to deal, even in the most general way, with the +mode in which the appropriate sentence should be arrived at. + +The result of this state of things is extremely unsatisfactory, and +the most glaring irregularities, diversity, and variety of sentences +are daily brought to our notice, the same offence committed under +similar circumstances being visited by one Judge with a long term of +penal servitude, by another with simple imprisonment, with nothing +appreciable to account for the difference. + +In one or the other of these sentences discretion must have been +erroneously exercised. I have seen such diversity even between Judges +of profound learning in the law who might not unreasonably, _primâ +facie_, be pointed to as safe examples to be followed; and so they +were, so far as regarded their legal utterances. Experience, however, +has told us that the profoundest lawyers are not always the best +administrators of the criminal law. + +Practically there are now no criminal offences which can be visited +with the penalty of death. Treason and murder still remain. For the +latter offence the Judge is _bound to pronounce sentence of death_, +which is imperatively fixed and ordained by Act of Parliament, and any +other sentence would be illegal. + +There are certain principles which I consider ought never to be lost +sight of. + +In the first place, it must be remembered that for mere immorality, +not made criminal by the common or statute law of the land, no +punishment can be legally inflicted, and, in my opinion, no crime +ought to be visited with a heavier punishment merely because it is +also against the laws of God. + +Take, for example, the crime of unlawfully knowing a girl under +the age of sixteen years, even with consent. Assume that with her +invitation the man committed himself. Go further, and establish the +sin of incest. The latter sin ought to be _totally ignored_ in dealing +with the _statutory_ offence. + +I must not, however, be understood as intending my observations to +apply to cases where the immorality is in itself an _element_ of the +crime. My view is that the rule ought to apply only in cases where +the immorality is only a sin against God, and is severable from the +_crime_ committed against the laws of the land. + +The case I have suggested is an illustration of what I mean. + +Secondly, a sentence ought never to be so severe as to create in the +mind of reasonable persons, having knowledge of the circumstances, a +sympathy with the criminal, for that tends to bring the administration +of the law into discredit, and while giving a Judge credit for having +acted with the strictest sense of justice, it might give rise to a +suspicion of his fitness and qualifications for the administration of +the criminal law--a state of things which ought to be avoided. + +The same observations apply, but not with equal force, to sentences +which may to reasonable persons acquainted with all the circumstances +appear to be ridiculously light, for it is more consistent with our +laws to err on the side of mercy than on the side of severity. + +The object of criminal sentences is to compel the observance by all +persons, high and low, rich and poor, of those public rights and +privileges, both as regards the persons and property common to all +their fellow-subjects, the infringement of which is made criminal. + +For the infringement of other rights of a private character the law +has provided civil remedies with which we are not at this moment +concerned. + +Punishments, then, should be administered only as a necessary sequence +to the breach of a _criminal_ law, with the object of deterring the +offender from repeating his offence. + +Of necessity it operates to some extent as a warning to others; but +that is not its primary object, for no punishment ought to exceed in +severity that which is due to the particular offence to which it is +applied. To add to a sentence for a very venial offence for which +a nominal punishment ought to suffice an extra fine or term of +imprisonment by way of example or warning to others would be +unreasonable and unjust. Vengeance, or the infliction of unnecessary +pain, especially for the sake of others, should never form part of a +criminal sentence. + +Reformation of the criminal by and during his imprisonment should +be one chief object of his punishment, but a just sentence for the +offence is not to be prolonged either for education or reformation, +unless expressly sanctioned by law, as in the case of reformatories. + +With regard to crimes of violence, it sometimes happens that long +periods of restraint and imprisonment are imperative--where, for +instance, the criminal is persistent in his threats, or has made +it evident by his actions or words that on his liberation from +imprisonment for criminal violence he intends to resume his criminal +course, and will do so unless restrained. + +Take, for instance, the case of a persistent burglar, the great +majority of whose robberies are committed under circumstances +calculated to create terror and alarm, and upon whom imprisonment, +however long, has no restraining effect after his liberation. Take the +confirmed highway robber, who to secure his booty does not scruple to +use deadly violence upon his victim. It is rare that one short term +of imprisonment, or the fear of another, induces him to abandon his +criminal course. In such cases it is essential for the protection +of the public that he should no longer be at liberty to pursue his +dangerous and alarming course of life. For him, therefore, a much +longer term of restraint is necessary than in the case of mere +pilferers, whose thefts, although causing loss and vexation, are not +productive of personal injury. + +Lastly, I am strongly averse from abolishing the sentence of death in +cases of deliberate murder. Even when the crime is committed under the +influence of jealousy, I should take little pains to save the life +of one who had cruelly and deliberately murdered another for the +gratification of revenge or the purpose of robbery. + +In the case of poor creatures who make away with their illegitimate +offspring in the agony of their trouble and shame, there were, in +my experience, almost always to be found very strong reasons for +commutation, even to very limited periods of imprisonment. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +CARDINAL MANNING--"OUR CHAPEL." + + +Cardinal Manning was a real friend to me, and I often spent an hour +with him on a Sunday morning or afternoon discussing general topics. +At my request, when I had no thought of being converted to his Church, +he marked in a book of prayers which he gave me several of his own +selections, which I have carefully preserved; but I can truly say he +never uttered one word, or made the least attempt, to proselytize me. +He left me to my own free, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable action. My +reception into the Church of Rome was purely of my own free choice and +will, and according to the exercise of my own judgment. I thought for +myself, and acted for myself, or I should not have acted at all. + +I have always been, and _am_, satisfied that I was right. + +As to Cardinal Manning, his extreme good sense and toleration were my +admiration at all times, and I shall venerate his memory as long as I +live. His kindness was unbounded. + +It was after his death, which was a great shock to me, that I was +received into the Church by the late Cardinal Vaughan. + +When the latter was showing Lady Brampton and myself over that +beautiful structure, the new Westminster Cathedral, I thought I should +like to erect a memorial chapel, and made a proposal to that effect. +We resolved to dedicate it to St. Gregory and St. Augustine. It was +afterwards called "Our Chapel." + +The stonework was accordingly proceeded with, and afterwards the plans +for decoration were submitted to the Archbishop and myself. For these +decorations I subscribed a portion. The rest of the work was our own, +and we have the satisfaction of feeling that Our Chapel is erected to +the honour and glory of God. + +The style of decoration adopted is Byzantine. The walls are +embellished with many and various beautiful marbles. The eastern side +has a representation of Pope Gregory sending St. Augustine with his +followers to preach the gospel in England. Another scene is St. +Augustine's reception by King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha in the Isle +of Thanet. + +The panels of the reredos contain pictures of St. Gregory and St. +Augustine, with their four contemporaries, St. Paulinus, St. Justus +(Bishop of Rochester), St. Laurentius, and St. Mellitus (Bishop of +London). + +On the north are figures of St. Edmund, St. Osbald, and the Venerable +Bede; while opposite are St. Wilfred, St. Cuthbert, and St. Benedict. + +On the west are St. John the Baptist and St. Augustine, and below +these, figures of women pouring water from pitchers, symbolical of the +river Jordan. + +Under the arch of this side are most artistically designed panels +containing the names of the four rivers of Paradise. + +The floor is inlaid, and the windows, which are of opalescent glass, +throw over the structure a soft white light, admitting of the perfect +harmony of colours which everywhere adorn this very beautiful chapel. + + * * * * * + +Almost all whose names I have mentioned in these reminiscences are +gone. There are many others equally dear about whom I cannot for want +of time and space write here; most of them have also passed away. + +They can no longer sing the old songs, or tell the old tales, but +their memory remains, and the pleasant melody of their lives. I enjoy +their companionship now in the quietude of my home, and their memory +brightens even the sweet twilight of the evening hours. But it all +reminds me that the signal has been given to ring the curtain down. + +I therefore make a last and momentary appearance in the closing drama, +only to bid all and every one with whom I have been associated in +times past and in times recent, as the curtain falls, + +AN AFFECTIONATE FAREWELL. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +THE CROWN CALENDAR FOR THE LINCOLNSHIRE LENT ASSIZES. + +_Holden at the Castle of Lincoln on Saturday the 7th of March 1818, +before the Right Honorable Sir Vicary Gibbs and the Honorable Sir +William Garrow_. + +JOHN CHARLES LUCAS CALCRAFT, ESQ., SHERIFF. + +1. William Bewley, aged 49, late of Kingston upon Hull, pensioner from +the 5th Regt. of foot, committed July 29, 1817, charged on suspicion +of having feloniously broken into the dwelling house of James Crowder +at Barton, no person being therein, and stealing 1 bottle green coat, +1 velveteen jacket, 3 waistcoats, &c. Guilty--Death. + +2. John Giddy, aged 22, late of Horncastle, tailor, com. Aug. 5, 1817, +charged with stealing a silver watch with a gold seal and key, from +the shop of James Genistan of Horncastle. Six Months Imprisonment. + +3. George Kirkhan, aged 25, } + } both late of Stickney, +4. John Colston Maynard, aged 19, } + +laborers, com. Aug. 22, 1817, charged on suspicion of feloniously +entering the dwelling house of W'm Bell of Stickney, between 9 and +10 o'ck in the morning, and stealing one £5 note and 8 £1 notes. +Acquitted. + +5. George Crow, aged 15, late of Frith Ville, com. Sept. 23, 1817, +charged on suspicion of having entered the dwelling house of S. Holmes +of Frith Ville, about 7 o'ck in the morning, breaking open a desk, +and stealing three £1 notes, 3s. 6d. in silver, and a purse. +Guilty--Death. + +6. Thomas Young, aged 17, late of Firsby, laborer, com. Sept. 23, +1817, charged with having, about 11 o'ck at night, entered the +dwelling house of John Ashlin of Firsby, with intent to commit a +robbery. Guilty--Death. + +7. Robert Husker, aged 28,} + } both late of Glamford Briggs, +8. John Robinson, aged 28,} + +laborers, com. Oct. 13, 1817, charged with burglariously breaking into +the dwelling house of Chas. Saunby, of South Kelsey, and stealing +therefrom several goods and chattels. Guilty--Death. + +9. John Marriott, aged 19, late of Osgodby, laborer, com. Oct. 18, +1817, charged with maliciously and feloniously setting fire to an oat +stack, the property of Thomas Marshall of Osgodby. Guilty--Death. + +10. Sarah Hudson, alias Heardson, aged 25, late of Newark, +Nottinghamshire, com. Oct. 24, 1817, charged on suspicion of +feloniously stealing from the cottage of James Barrell of Aisthorpe, +in the day time, no person being therein, 6 silver tea-spoons and a +pair of silver sugar tongs. Discharged by proclamation. + +11. Elizabeth Firth, aged 14, late of Burgh cum Girsby, spinster, com. +Nov. 22, 1817, charged with twice administering a quantity of vitrol +or verdigrease powder, or other deadly poison, with intent to murder +Susanna, the infant daughter of George Barnes of Burgh cum Girsby. No +true Bill. + +12. John Moody, aged 28, late of Stallingborough, laborer, com. Dec. +24, 1817, charged with having committed the odious and detestable +crime and felony called sodomy. Indicted for misdemeanor. Two years +imprisonment. + +13. William Johnson, aged 28, late of Bardney, laborer, com. Dec. 29, +1817, charged with having burglariously entered the dwelling house +of W'm Smith, of Bardney, and wilfully and malliciously beating and +wounding, with intent to murder and rob Wm. Kirmond, a lodger therein. +Seven Years Transportation. + +14. Richard Randall, aged 27,} + } both late of Lutton, +15. John Tubbs, aged 29, } + +laborers, com. Dec. 29, 1817, charged with feloniously assaulting Wm. +Rowbottom of Holbeach Marsh, between 11 and 12 o'ck in the night, in +a field near the king's highway, and stealing from his person 3 +promissory £10 notes, 8 or 10 shillings in silver, one silver stop +and seconds watch, and various other goods and chattels. Both +guilty--Death. + +16. William Hayes, aged 20, late of Braceby, weaver, com. Jan. 6, +1818, charged with feloniously stealing a mare, together with a saddle +and bridle, the property of Ed. Briggs of Hanby. Guilty--Death. + +17. Thomas Evison, aged 24, } + } both late of Alnwick, +18. Thomas Norris, aged 28, } + +laborers, com. Jan. 21, 1818, charged with feloniously setting fire to +a thrashing machine and a hovel, containing a quantity of oats in the +straw, the property of Thos. Faulkner, jun. of Alnwick, which were all +consumed. Guilty--Death. + +19. William Walker, aged 20, laborer, } + } both late of Boston, +20. Elizabeth Eno, aged 19, spinster, } + +com. Jan. 28, 1818, charged with burglariously entering the dwelling +house of Wm. Trentham, and stealing a sum of money in gold and +silver, several country bank notes, and a red morocco pocket-book. +Guilty--Death. + +21. William Bell, alias John Brown, aged 30, late of Alvingham, +laborer, com. Feb. 19, 1818, charged with burglariously breaking into +the shop of Wm. Goy of Alvingham, and stealing 1 pair of new shoes, 1 +half boot, and 1 half boot top. Guilty--Death. + +22. John Hoyes, aged 48, late of Heckington, com. Feb. 24, 1818, +charged with feloniously stealing 2 pigs of the value of £3, the +property of John Fairchild of Wellingore. Acquitted. + +23. Christiana Robinson, aged 24, } + } both late of Glamford +24. Mary Stewart, aged 26, } + +Briggs, com. March 7, 1818, charged with breaking into Chas. Saunby's +shop, &c. (same as Nos. 7 and 8). Not prosecuted. + +PRISONERS UNDER SENTENCE. + +George Houdlass, convicted at Lammas Assizes, 1815, of mare +stealing.--Ordered to be transported for the term of his natural life. +(The Prince Regent, in the name of His Majesty, having graciously +extended the Royal Mercy to the said convict, his said sentence is +commuted to two years imprisonment, commencing July 1, 1817.) + +Martin Dowdwell, convicted at the Lent Assizes, 1817, of +perjury.--Ordered to be impillored once and imprisoned for two years. + +Susanna Pepper, convicted at the Lammas Assizes, 1817, of secreting +the birth of her bastard child.--Ordered to be imprisoned for one +year. + +William Whitehead (the younger); at the Summer Assizes, 1817, was +found by a jury to be of unsound mind.--Ordered to be imprisoned until +His Majesty's pleasure be known. + +Edward Croft, convicted at the Louth quarter sessions, held Jan. 12, +1815, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +John Caminack, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, Jan. 17, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Busbey, convicted at the same sessions of a felony.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +William Nubert, convicted at the Lent Assizes, 1817, of +burglary.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Patchett, convicted at the same Assizes of burglary.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +Richard Clarke, convicted at the Summer Assizes, 1817, of having +forged bank notes in his possession.--Ordered to be transported for +fourteen years. + +Thomas Maddison, convicted at the same Assizes of burglary.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +James Donnington, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +lamb.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +Samuel Brown, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +mare.--Ordered to be transported for the term of his natural life. + +Joseph Greenfield, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +heifer.--Ordered to be transported for fourteen years. + +William Johnson, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, July 25, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Willson, convicted at the Kirton quarter sessions, Oct. 17, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +Henry Thorpe, convicted at the Bourn quarter sessions, Jan. 13, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +George Croft, convicted at the Boston quarter sessions, Jan. 13, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Betts, alias Bungs, convicted at the Spalding quarter +sessions, Jan. 16, 1818, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for +seven years. + +James Tidwell, convicted at the same sessions of a felony.--Ordered to +be transported for seven years. + +Samuel Chapman, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, Jan. 16, +1818, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +David Jones, convicted at the Kirton quarter sessions, Jan. 20, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +IN HIS MAJESTY'S GAOL IN THE CITY OF LINCOLN. + +1. Daniel Elston, aged 34, late of Waddington, cordwainer, com. Sep. +22, 1817, charged with feloniously stealing from the dwelling house +of Rd. Blackbourn, of Waddington, one silver watch, and a pair of new +quarter boots.--Guilty of stealing only--7 years transportation. + +2. William Kehos, aged 22, a private soldier in the 95th Regt. of +foot, com. Nov. 17, 1817, charged with feloniously slaughtering +and stealing from the close of Matthew White of Lincoln one wether +hog.--Guilty--Death. + + +Printed by DRURY & SONS, Lincoln. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins +(Baron Brampton), by Henry Hawkins Brampton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10392 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..513c84b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10392 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10392) diff --git a/old/10392-8.txt b/old/10392-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..318dd97 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10392-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,13234 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins +(Baron Brampton), by Henry Hawkins Brampton + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton) + +Author: Henry Hawkins Brampton + +Release Date: December 6, 2003 [EBook #10392] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR HENRY HAWKINS *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Hutton, Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: SIR HENRY HAWKINS AND "JACK." _Photo by Elliot & Fry_.] + + + + +THE + +REMINISCENCES + +OF + +SIR HENRY HAWKINS + +(BARON BRAMPTON) + +EDITED BY + +RICHARD HARRIS, K.C. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +As a preface I wish to say only a very few words--namely, that but for +the great pressure put upon me I should not have ventured to write, +or allowed to be published, any reminiscences of mine, being very +conscious that I could not offer to the public any words of my own +that would be worth the time it would occupy to read them; but the +whole merit of this volume is due to my very old friend Richard +Harris, K.C., who has already shown, by his skill and marvellously +attractive composition in reproducing my efforts in the Tichborne +case, what interest may be imparted to an otherwise very dry subject. +In that work[A] he has done me much more than justice, and for this I +thank him, with many good wishes for the success of this his new work, +and with many thanks to those of the public who may take and feel an +interest in such of my imperfect reminiscences as are here recorded. + +BRAMPTON. + +HARROGATE, _August 17, 1904_. + +[Footnote A: "Illustrations in Advocacy" (fourth edition, Stevens and +Haynes).] + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE. + + +This volume is the outcome of many conversations with Lord Brampton +and of innumerable manuscript notes from his pen. I have endeavoured, +as far as possible, to present them to the public in such a manner +that, although chronological order has not been strictly adhered to, +it has been, nevertheless, considering the innumerable events of Lord +Brampton's career, carefully observed. + +Apocryphal stories are always told of celebrated men, and of no one +more than of Sir Henry Hawkins during his career on the Bench and at +the Bar; but I venture to say that there is no doubtful story in this +volume, and, further, that there is not one which has ever been told +exactly in the same form before. Good stories, like good coin, lose +by circulation. If there should be one or two in these reminiscences +which have lost their image and superscription by much handling, I +hope that the recasting which they have undergone will give them, not +only the brightness of the original mint, but a wider circulation than +they have ever known. + +The distinguishing characteristics by which Lord Brampton's stories +may be known I have long been familiar with, and have no hesitation in +saying that one or other, some or all, may be found in every anecdote +that bears the genuine stamp. They are + +WIT, HUMOUR, PATHOS, AND TRAGEDY. + +My claims in the production of this volume are confined to its +_defects_, although Lord Brampton has been generous enough to +attribute to me a share in its merits. + +RICHARD HARRIS. + +27 FITZJOHN'S AVENUE, + +HAMPSTEAD, + +_October_ 6, 1904. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + +I. AT BEDFORD SCHOOL + +II. IN MY UNCLE'S OFFICE + +III. SECOND YEAR--THESIGER AND PLATT--MY FIRST BRIEF + +IV. AT THE OLD BAILEY IN THE OLD TIMES + +V. MR. JUSTICE MAULE + +VI. AN INCIDENT ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET + +VII. AN EPISODE AT HERTFORD QUARTER SESSIONS + +VIII. A DANGEROUS SITUATION--A CASE OF FORGETFULNESS + +IX. THE ONLY "RACER" I EVER OWNED--SAM LINTON, THE DOG-FINDER + +X. WHY I GAVE OVER CARD-PLAYING + +XI. "CODD'S PUZZLE" + +XII. GRAHAM, THE POLITE JUDGE + +XIII. GLORIOUS OLD DAYS--THE HON. BOB GRIMSTON, AND MANY +OTHERS--CHICKEN-HAZARD + +XIV. PETER RYLAND--THE REV. MR. FAKER AND THE WELSH WILL + +XV. TATTERSALL'S--BARON MARTIN, HARRY HILL, AND THE OLD FOX IN THE +YARD + +XVI. ARISING OUT OF THE "ORSINI AFFAIR" + +XVII. APPOINTED QUEEN'S COUNSEL--A SERIOUS ILLNESS--SAM LEWIS + +XVIII. THE PRIZE--FIGHT ON FRIMLEY COMMON + +XIX. SAM WARREN, THE AUTHOR OF "TEN THOUSAND A YEAR" + +XX. THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE + +XXI. THE KNEBWORTH THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS--SIR EDWARD BULWER +LYTTON--CHARLES DICKENS, CHARLES MATHEWS, MACREADY, DOUGLAS JERROLD + +XXII. CROCKFORD'S--"HOOKS AND EYES"--DOUGLAS JERROLD + +XXIII. ALDERSON, TOMKINS, AND A FREE COUNTRY--A PROBLEM IN HUMAN +NATURE + +XXIV. CHARLES MATHEWS--A HARVEST FESTIVAL AT THE VILLAGE CHURCH + +XXV. COMPENSATION--NICE CALCULATIONS IN OLD DAYS--EXPERTS--LLOYD AND I + +XXVI. ELECTION PETITIONS + +XXVII. MY CANDIDATURE FOR BARNSTAPLE + +XXVIII. THE TICHBORNE CASE + +XXIX. A VISIT TO SHEFFIELD--MRS. HAILSTONE'S DANISH BOARHOUND + +XXX. AN EXPERT IN HANDWRITING--"DO YOU KNOW JOE BROWN?" + +XXXI. APPOINTED A JUDGE--MY FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER + +XXXII. ON THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT + +XXXIII. JACK + +XXXIV. TWO TRAGEDIES + +XXXV. THE ST. NEOTS CASE + +XXXVI. A NIGHT AT NOTTINGHAM + +XXXVII. HOW I MET AN INCORRIGIBLE PUNSTER + +XXXVIII. THE TILNEY STREET OUTRAGE--"ARE YOU NOT GOING TO PUT ON THE +BLACK CAP, MY LORD?" + +XXXIX. SEVERAL SCENES + +XL. DR. LAMSON--A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY--A WILL CASE + +XLI. MR.J.L. TOOLE ON THE BENCH + +XLII. A FULL MEMBER OF THE JOCKEY CLUB + +XLIII. THE LITTLE MOUSE AND THE PRISONER--THE BRUTALITY OF OUR OLD +LAWS + +XLIV. THE LAST OF LORD CAMPBELL--WINE AND WATER--SIR THOMAS WILDE + +XLV. HOW I CROSS-EXAMINED PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON + +XLVI. THE NEW LAW ALLOWING THE ACCUSED TO GIVE EVIDENCE--THE CASE OF +DR. WALLACE, THE LAST I TRIED ON CIRCUIT + +XLVII. A FAREWELL MEMORY OF JACK + +XLVIII. OLD TURF FRIENDS + +XLIX. LEAVING THE BENCH--LORD BRAMPTON + +L. SENTENCES + +LI. CARDINAL MANNING--"OUR CHAPEL" + +APPENDIX + + + + +THE REMINISCENCES OF SIR HENRY HAWKINS. + +(NOW LORD BRAMPTON.) + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AT BEDFORD SCHOOL. + + +My father was a solicitor at Hitchin, and much esteemed in the county +of Hertford. He was also agent for many of the county families, with +whom he was in friendly intercourse. My mother was the daughter of +the respected Clerk of the Peace for Bedfordshire, a position of good +influence, which might be, and is occasionally, of great assistance +to a young man commencing his career at the Bar. To me it was of no +importance whatever. + +My father had a large family, sons and daughters, of whom only two are +living. I mention this as an explanation of my early position when +straitened circumstances compelled a most rigid economy. During no +part of my educational career, either at school or in the Inn of Court +to which I belonged, had I anything but a small allowance from my +father. My life at home is as little worth telling as that of any +other in the same social position, and I pass it by, merely stating +that, after proper preparation, I was packed off to Bedford School for +a few years. + +My life there would have been an uninteresting blank but for a little +circumstance which will presently be related. It was the custom +then at this very excellent foundation to give mainly a classical +education, and doubtless I attained a very fair proficiency in my +studies. Had I cultivated them, however, with the same assiduity as +I did many of my pursuits in after-life, I might have attained some +eminence as a professor of the dead languages, and arrived at the +dignity of one of the masters of Bedford. + +However, if I had any ambition at that time, it was not to become a +professor of dead languages, but to see what I could make of my own. +It is of no interest to any one that I had great numbers of peg-tops +and marbles, or learnt to be a pretty good swimmer in the Ouse. There +was a greater swim prepared for me in after-life, and that is the only +reason for my referring to it. + +In the year 1830 Bedford Schoolhouse occupied the whole of one side of +St. Paul's Square, which faced the High Street. From that part of the +building you commanded a view of the square and the beautiful country +around. The sleepy old bridge spanned the still more sleepy river, +over which lay the quiet road leading to the little village of +Willshampstead, and it came along through the old square where the +schoolhouse was. + +It was market day in Bedford, and there was the usual concourse of +buyers and sellers, tramps and country people in their Sunday gear; +farmers and their wives, with itinerant venders of every saleable and +unsaleable article from far and near. + +I was in the upper schoolroom with another boy, and, looking out of +the window, had an opportunity of watching all that took place for a +considerable space. There was a good deal of merriment to divert our +attention, for there were clowns and merry-andrews passing along the +highroad, with singlestick players, Punch and Judy shows, and other +public amusers. Every one knows that the smallest event in the country +will cause a good deal of excitement, even if it be so small an +occurrence as a runaway horse. + +There was, however, no runaway horse to-day; but suddenly a great +silence came over the people, and a sullen gloom that made a great +despondency in my mind without my knowing why. Public solemnity +affects even the youngest of us. At all events, it affected me. + +Presently--and deeply is the event impressed on my mind after seventy +years of a busy life, full of almost every conceivable event--I saw, +emerging from a bystreet that led from Bedford Jail, and coming along +through the square and near the window where I was standing, a common +farm cart, drawn by a horse which was led by a labouring man. As I was +above the crowd on the first floor I could see there was a layer of +straw in the cart at the bottom, and above it, tumbled into a rough +heap, as though carelessly thrown in, a quantity of the same; and I +could see also from all the surrounding circumstances, especially the +pallid faces of the crowd, that there was something sad about it all. +The horse moved slowly along, at almost a snail's pace, while behind +walked a poor, sad couple with their heads bowed down, and each with +a hand on the tail-board of the cart. They were evidently overwhelmed +with grief. + +Happily we have no such processions now; even Justice itself has been +humanized to some extent, and the law's cruel severity mitigated. The +cart contained the rude shell into which had been laid the body of +this poor man and woman's only son, _a youth of seventeen, hanged that +morning at Bedford Jail for setting fire to a stack of corn_! + +He was now being conveyed to the village of Willshampstead, six miles +from Bedford, there to be laid in the little churchyard where in his +childhood he had played. He was the son of very respectable labouring +people of Willshampstead; had been misled into committing what was +more a boyish freak than a crime, and was hanged. That was all the +authorities could do for him, and they did it. This is the remotest +and the saddest reminiscence of my life, and the only sad one I mean +to relate, if I can avoid it. + +But years afterwards, when I became a judge, this picture, +photographed on my mind as it was, gave me many a lesson which I +believe was turned to good account on the judicial bench. It was +mainly useful in impressing on my mind the great consideration of the +surrounding circumstances of every crime, the _degree_ of guilt in +the criminal, and the difference in the degrees of the same kind of +offence. About this I shall say something hereafter. + +I remained at this school until I had acquired all the learning my +father thought necessary for my future position, as he intended it to +be, and much more than I thought necessary, unless I was to get my +living by teaching Latin and Greek. + +In due course I was articled to my worthy uncle, the Clerk of the +Peace, and, had I possessed my present experience, should have known +that it was a diplomatic move of the most profound policy to enable +me, if anything happened to him, to succeed to that important dignity. + +Had I been ambitious of wealth, there were other offices which my +uncle held, to the great satisfaction of the county as well as his +own. These would naturally descend to me, and I should have been in a +position of great prominence in the county, with a very respectable +income. + +But I hated the drudgery of an attorney's office. In six months I saw +enough of its documentary evidence to convince me that I hated it +from my heart, and that nothing on earth would induce me to become a +solicitor. I took good care, meek as I was, to show this determination +to my friends. It was my only chance of escape. But while remaining +there it was my duty to work, however hateful the task, and I did so. + +Even this, to me, most odious business had its advantages in +after-life. I attended one morning with my uncle the Petty Sessions of +Hertford, where, no doubt, I was supposed to enlarge my knowledge +of sessions practice; it certainly did so, for I knew nothing, and +received a lesson, which is not only my earliest recollection, but my +first experience in _Advocacy_. + +At this Hertford Petty Sessional Division the chairman was a somewhat +pompous clergyman, but very devoted to his duties. He was strict in +his application of the law when he knew it, but it was fortunate for +some delinquents, although unfortunate for others, that he did not +always possess sufficient knowledge to act independently of his +clerk's opinion, while the clerk's opinion did not always depend upon +his knowledge of law. + +An impudent vagabond was brought up before this clergyman charged with +a violent and unprovoked assault on a man in a public-house. He was +said to have gone into the room where the prosecutor was, and to have +taken up his jug of ale and appropriated the contents to his own use +without the owner's consent. The prosecutor, annoyed at the outrage, +rose, and was immediately knocked down by the interloper, and in +falling cut his head. + +There was to my untutored mind no defence, but the accused was a +man of remarkable cunning and not a little ingenuity. He knew the +magistrate well, and his special weakness, which was vanity. By his +knowledge the man completely outwitted his adversary, and shifted the +charge from himself on to the prosecutor's shoulders. The curious +thing was he cross-examined the reverend chairman instead of the +witness, which I thought a master-stroke of policy, if not advocacy. + +"You know this public-house, sir?" he asked. + +The reverend gentleman nodded. + +"I put it to yourself, sir, as a gentleman: how would you have liked +it if another man had come to your house and drunk your beer?" + +There was no necessity to give an answer to this question. It answered +itself. The reverend gentleman would not have liked it, and, seeing +this, the accused continued,-- + +"Well, your honour, this here man comes and takes my beer. + +"'Halloa, Jack!' I ses, 'no more o' that.' + +"'No,' he says, 'there's no more; it's all gone.' + +"'Stop a bit," says I; 'that wun't do, nuther.' + +"'That wun't do?' he says. 'Wool that do?' and he ups with the jug and +hits me a smack in the mouth, and down I goes clean on the floor; he +then falls atop of me and right on the pot he held in his hand, which +broke with his fall, bein' a earthenware jug, and cuts his head, and +'Sarve him right,' I hopes your honour'll say; and the proof of which +statement is, sir, that there's the cut o' that jug on his forehead +plainly visible for anybody to see at this present moment. Now, sir, +what next? for there's summat else. + +"'Jack,' says I, 'I'll summon you for this assault.' + +"'Yes,' he says, 'and so'll I; I'll have ee afore his Worship Mr. +Knox.' + +"'Afore his Worship Mr. Knox?' says I. 'And why not afore his Worship +the Rev. Mr. Hull? He's the gentleman for my money--a real gentleman +as'll hear reason, and do justice atween man and man.' + +"'What!' says Jack, with an oath that I ain't going to repeat afore a +clergyman--'what!' he says, 'a d--d old dromedary like that!' + +"'Dromedary, sir,' meaning your worship! Did anybody ever hear such +wile words against a clergyman, let alone a magistrate, sir? And he +then has the cheek to come here and ask you to believe him. 'Old +dromedary!' says he--' a d--d old dromedary.'" + +Mr. Hull, the reverend chairman, was naturally very indignant, +not that he minded on his own account, as he said--that was of no +consequence--but a man who could use such foul language was not to be +believed on his oath. He therefore dismissed the summons, and ordered +the prosecutor to pay the costs. + +I think both my father and uncle still nursed the idea that I was to +become the good old-fashioned county attorney, for they perpetually +rang in my ears the praises of "our Bench" and "our chairman," out +Bench being by far the biggest thing in Hertfordshire, except when a +couple of notables came down to contest the heavy-weight championship +or some other noble prize. + +For myself, I can truly say I had no ambition at this time beyond +earning my bread, for I pretty well knew I had to trust entirely to +my own exertions. The fortunate have many friends, and it is just the +fortunate who are best without them. I had none, and desired none, +if they were to advise me against my inclinations. My term being now +expired, for I loyally pursued my studies to the bitter end, my mind +was made up, ambition or no ambition, for the Bar or the Stage. + +Like most young men, I loved acting, and quite believed I would +succeed. My passion for the stage was encouraged by an old +schoolfellow of my father's when he was at Rugby, for whom I had, as a +boy, a great admiration. I forget whether in after-life I retained it, +for we drifted apart, and our divergent ways continued their course +without our meeting again. + +Any worse decision, so far as my friends were concerned, could not be +conceived. They both remonstrated solemnly, and were deeply touched +with what they saw was my impending ruin, especially the ruin of their +hopes. In vain, however, did they attempt to persuade me; my mind was +as fixed as the mind of two-and-twenty can be. Having warned me in +terms of severity, they now addressed me in the language of affection, +and asked how I could be so headstrong and foolish as to attempt the +Bar, at which it was clear that I could only succeed after working +about twenty years as a special pleader. + +They next set before me, as a terrible warning, my uncle, another +brother of my father's, who had gone to the Bar, and I will not say +never had any practice, for I believe he practised a good deal on +the Norfolk Broads, and once had a brief at sessions concerning +the irremovability of a pauper, which he conducted much to the +satisfaction of the pauper, although I believe the solicitor never +gave him another brief. + +However, our family trio could not go on for ever quarrelling, and +at last they made a compromise with me, much to my satisfaction. My +father undertook to allow me a hundred a year for five years, and +after that time it was to cease automatically, whether I sank or swam, +with this solemn proviso, however, for the soothing of his conscience: +that if I sank _my fate was to be upon my own head_! I agreed also +to that part of the business, and accepting the terms, started for +London. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN MY UNCLE'S OFFICE. + + +I ought to mention, in speaking of my ancestors, that I had a very +worthy godfather who was half-brother to my father. He was connected +with a family of great respectability at Royston, in Cambridgeshire, +and inherited from them a moderate-sized landed estate. A portion +of this property was a little farm situate at _Brampton_, in +Huntingdonshire, from which village I took the title I now enjoy. + +The farm was left, however, to my aunt for life, who lived to a good +old age, as most life-tenants do whom you expect to succeed, and I got +nothing until it was of no use to me. When I came into possession I +was making a very fair income at the Bar, and the probability is my +aunt did me, unconsciously, the greatest kindness she could in keeping +me out of it so long. + +So much for my ancestors. About the rest of them I know nothing, +except an anecdote or two. + +There was one more event in my boyhood which I will mention, +because it is historic. I assisted my father, on my little pony, in +proclaiming William IV. on his accession to the throne, and I mention +it with the more pride because, having been created a Peer of the +Realm by her late gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, I was qualified +to assist as a member of the Privy Council at the accession of his +present most gracious Majesty, and had the honour to hear him announce +himself as _King Edward of England_ by the title of _Edward the +Seventh_! + +Arrived in London, full of good advice and abundance of warnings as +to the fate that awaited me, I entered as a pupil the chambers of +a famous special pleader of that time, whose name was Frederick +Thompson. This was in the year 1841. + +I have the right to say I worked very hard there for several months, +and studied with all my might; nor was the study distasteful. I +was learning something which would be useful to me in after-life. +Moreover, being endowed with pluck and energy, I wanted to show that +my uncles--for the godfather warned me as well--and my father were +false prophets. So I gave myself up entirely to the acquisition of +knowledge, this being absolutely necessary if I was to make anything +of my future career. "Sink or swim," my father said, was the +alternative, so I was resolved to keep my head above water if +possible. + +After being at Thompson's my allotted period, I next went to Mr. +George Butt, a very able and learned man, who afterwards became a +Queen's Counsel, but never an advocate. I acquired while with him +a good deal of knowledge that was invaluable, became his favourite +pupil, and was in due course entrusted with papers of great +responsibility, so that in time it came to pass that Mr. Butt would +send off my opinions without any correction. + +These are small things to talk of now, but they were great then, and +the foundation of what, to me, were great things to come, although I +little suspected any of them at that time; and as I look back over +that long stretch of years, I have the satisfaction of feeling that I +did not enter upon my precarious career without doing my utmost to fit +myself for it. + +In those early days of the century prize-fights were very common in +England. The noble art of self-defence was patronized by the greatest +in the land. Society loved a prize-fight, and always went to see it, +as Society went to any other fashionable function. Magistrates went, +and even clerical members of that august body. As magistrates it may +have been their duty to discountenance, but as county gentlemen it was +their privilege to support, the noble champions of the art, especially +when they had their money on the event. + +The magistrates, if their presence was ever discovered, said they went +to prevent a breach of the peace, but if they were unable to effect +this laudable object, they looked on quietly so as to prevent any one +committing a breach of the peace on themselves. Their individual heads +were worth something. + +It was to one of these exhibitions of valour, between _Owen Swift_ +and _Brighton Bill_, that a reverend and sporting magistrate took my +brother John, a nice good schoolboy, in a tall hat. He thought it was +the right thing that the boy should _see the world_. I thought also +that what was good for John, as prescribed by his clerical adviser, +would not be bad for me, so I went as well. + +There was a great crowd, of course, but I kept my eye on John's tall +chimney-pot hat, knowing that while I saw that I should not lose John. + +Presently there was a stir, for Brighton Bill had landed a tremendous +blow on the cheek of Owen Swift, and while we were applauding, as is +the custom at prize-fights and public dinners, a cunning pickpocket +standing immediately behind John pushed the tall chimney-pot hat +tightly down over the boy's eyes. + +His little hands, which had been in his pockets, went up in a moment +to raise his hat, so that he might see the world, the big object he +had come to see; and immediately in went two other hands, and out came +the savings of John's life--two precious half-crowns, which he had +shown to me with great pride that very morning! When he saw the world +again the rogue had disappeared. + +The famous place for these pugilistic encounters, or one of the famous +places, was a spot called Noon's Folly, which was within a very few +miles of Royston, where the counties of Cambridge, Suffolk, Essex, +and Hertfordshire meet, or most of them. That was the scene of many a +stiff encounter; and although, of course, there were both magisterial +and police interference when the knowledge reached them that a fight +was about to take place within their particular jurisdiction, by some +singular misadventure the knowledge never reached them until their +worships were returning from the battle. All was over before any +_official_ communication was made. + + * * * * * + +I was entered of the Middle Temple on April 16, 1839, and remained +with Mr. Butt until I had kept sufficient terms to qualify me to take +out a licence to plead on my own account, which I did at the earliest +possible date. This was a great step in my career, although, of +course, the licence did not enable me to plead in court, as I was not +called to the Bar. + +If work came I should now be in a fair way to attain independence. +But the prospect was by no means flattering; it was, in fact, all but +hopeless while the position of a special pleader was not my ambition. +The lookout, in fact, was anything but encouraging from the fifth +floor of _No. 3 Elm Court_--I mean prospectively. It was a region +not inaccessible, of course, but it looked on to a landscape of +chimney-pots, not one of which was likely to attract attorneys; it was +cheap and lonely, dull and miserable--a melancholy altitude beyond the +world and its companionship. Had I been of a melancholy disposition I +might have gone mad, for hope surely never came to a fifth floor. But +there I sat day by day, week by week, and month by month, waiting for +the knock that never came, hoping for the business that might never +come. + +Hundreds of times did I listen with vain expectations to the footsteps +on the stairs below--footsteps of attorneys and clerks, messengers and +office-boys. I knew them all, and that was all I knew of them. Down +below at the bottom flight they tramped, and there they mostly +stopped. The ground floor was evidently the best for business; but +some came higher, to the first floor. That was a good position; there +were plenty of footsteps, and I could tell they were the footsteps of +clients. A few came a little higher still, and then my hopes rose +with the footsteps. Now some one had come up to the third floor: he +stopped! Alas! there was the knock, one single hard knock: it was a +junior clerk. The sound came all too soon for me, and I turned from my +own door to my little den and looked out of my window up into the sky, +from whence it seemed I might just as well expect a brief as from the +regions below. + +This was not quite true. On another occasion some bold adventurer +ascended with asthmatical energy to the _fourth floor_, and I thought +as I heard him wheeze he would never have breath enough to get down +again, and wondered if the good-natured attorneys kept these wheezy +old gentlemen out of charity. But it was rare indeed that the climber, +unless it was the rent collector, reached that floor. + +The fifth landing was too remote for the postman, for I never got +a letter--at least so it seemed; and no squirrel watching from the +topmost bough of the tallest pine could be more lonely than I. + +At last I thought a step had passed even the fourth landing, and was +approaching mine; but I would not think too fast, and damped my hopes +a little on purpose lest they should burn too brightly and too fast. I +was not mistaken: there _was_ a footstep on my landing, and I listened +for the one heavy knock. It seemed to me I waited about an hour and a +half, judging by the palpitations of my heart, and wished the man had +knocked as vigorously. But I was rewarded: the knocker fell, and as my +boy was away with the toothache, I opened the door myself. He was the +same wheezy man I had heard below some time before; and I really seem +to have liked asthmatical people ever since--except when I became a +judge and they disturbed me in court. + +"Papers!" + +That is enough to say to any one who understands the situation. You +may be sure I gave them my best attention, that they were finished +promptly, and, as I hoped, in the best style. If I had required any +additional incentive to keep me to my daily task of watching, this +would have been sufficient; but I wanted none. I knew that my whole +future depended upon it, and there I was from ten in the morning till +ten at night. + +My first fee was small, but it was the biggest fee I ever had. It was +10s. 6d. I was only a special pleader, and with some papers our fees +were even less; we only had to _draw_ pleadings, not to open them in +court--that comes after you are called to the Bar. Drawing them means +really drawing the points of the case for counsel, and opening them +means a gabbling epitome of them to the jury, which no jury in this +world ever yet understood or ever will. + +This little matter was the forerunner of others, and by little and +little I steadily went on, earning a few shillings now and a few +shillings then, but, best of all, becoming known little by little here +and there. + +I was aware that some knowledge of the world would be necessary for me +when I once got into it by way of business as an advocate, so I came +to the conclusion that it would be well to commence that branch of +study as soon as I closed the other for the day--or rather for the +night. + +I had not far to go to school, only to the Haymarket and its +delightful purlieus; and there were the best teachers to be found in +the world, and the most recondite studies. For all these I kept, as +the great politicians say, an open mind, and learned a great deal +which stood me in good stead in after-life. + +It is not necessary, I suppose, in writing these reminiscences, to +describe all I saw--at least I hope not. Manners have so changed since +that time that people who have no imagination would not believe me, +and those who have would imagine I was exaggerating. So I must skip +this portion of my youthful studies, merely saying that I saw nearly, +if not _quite_, all the life which was to be seen in London; and I am +sure I am not exaggerating when I say that that would nearly fill an +octavo volume of itself. There is so much to be seen in London, as a +dear old lady I used to drink tea with once told me. + +But she did not know more than I, for she had never seen the +night-houses, gambling hells, and other places of amusement that at +that time were open all night long, nor had she seen the ghastly faces +of the morning. I attribute my escaping the consequences of all these +allurements to the beautiful influence which my mother in early life +exercised over me, as I attribute my knowledge of them to the removal +of the restraint with which my earlier years had been curbed. + +My mother died before I came to London, but undoubtedly her influence +was with me, although I broke loose, as a matter of course, from all +paternal control. + +But I was never a "man about town." To be that you must have plenty of +money or none at all, and in either case you are an object to avoid. +I had, nevertheless, a great many pleasures that a young man from the +country can enjoy. I loved horse-racing, cricket, and the prize-ring. +It was not because pugilism was a fashionable amusement in those days +that I attended a "set-to" occasionally; I went on my own account, +not to ape people in the fashionable world, and enjoyed it on my own +account, not because they liked it, but because I did. + +My rent at this time of my entrance into the fashionable world was £12 +a year; my laundress, perhaps, a little less. She earned it by coming +up the stairs; but she was a good old soul. I remembered her long +years after, and always with gratitude for her many kindnesses in +those gloomy days. Her name was Hannem. + +Of course, I had to buy the necessary books for my professional use, +coals, and other things, and after paying all these I had to live on +the narrow margin of my £100 a year. + +This recollection is very pleasing. I never got into debt, and never +wanted; but I had to be frugal and avoid every unnecessary expense. + +But the time at last came when I was no longer to rest on my lonely +perch at the top of Elm Court. I had kept my terms, and was duly +called to the Bar of the Middle Temple on May 3, 1843. + +Just fifty years after, when I was a judge, and almost the Senior +Bencher of my Inn, our illustrious Sovereign, then Prince of Wales, +who is also a Bencher of the Middle Temple, favoured us with his +presence at dinner, and did me the honour to propose my health in a +gracious speech. On returning thanks for this kindness, I told the +crowded audience of my _jubilee_, and pointed out the spot where fifty +years before I had held my call party. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SECOND YEAR--THESIGER AND PLATT--MY FIRST BRIEF. + + +In my second year I made fifty pounds, the sweetest fifty pounds +I ever made. I had no longer any weary waiting, for there was no +weariness in it, and I confess at this time my sole idea, and I may +add my only ambition, was to relieve myself of all obligations to my +father. If I could accomplish this, I should have vindicated the step +I had taken, and my father would have no further right, whatever +reason he might think he had, to complain. + +My third year came, and then, to my great joy, finding that I was +earning more than the hundred pounds he allowed me, I wrote and +informed him, with all proper expressions of gratitude, that I should +no longer need his assistance, and from that time I never had a single +farthing that I did not earn. + +I am sure I was prouder of that than of my peerage, for I experienced +for the first time the joyous pride of independence. There is no fruit +of labour so sweet as that. + +But I no sooner began to obtain a little success than my rivals +and others tried to deprive me of the merit of it, if merit there +was--"Oh, of course his father and uncle are both solicitors in the +county;" while one of the local newspapers years after was good enough +to publish a paragraph which stated that I owed all my success to my +father's office. + +This, of course, does not need contradiction. An occasional small +brief from Hitchin was the beginning and the end of my father's +influence, while sessions practice was not the practice I hoped to +finish my career with, although I had little hopes of eminence. +Certainly if I had I should have known that eminence could not come +from Hitchin. + +I chose the Home Circuit, and did not leave it till I was made a +judge. It is impossible to forget the kindness I received from its +members throughout my whole career. There was a brotherly feeling +amongst us, which made life very pleasant. + +There were several celebrated men on the Home Circuit when I joined. +Amongst them were Thesiger and Platt. + +This was long before the former became Attorney-General, which took +place in 1858. He afterwards was Lord Chancellor, and took his title +from the little county town where probably he obtained his start in +the career which ended so brilliantly. + +Platt became a Baron of the Exchequer. + +Thesiger was a first-rate advocate, and, I need not say, was at all +times scrupulously fair. He had a high sense of honour, and was +replete with a quiet, subtle humour, which seemed to come upon you +unawares, and, like all true humour, derived no little of its pleasure +from its surprise. In addition to his abilities, Thesiger was ever +kind-hearted and gentle, especially in his manner towards juniors. I +know that he sympathized with them, and helped them whenever he had an +opportunity. It did not fall to my lot to hold many briefs with him, +but I am glad to say that I had some, because I shall not forget the +kindness and instruction I received from him. + +Platt was an advocate of a different stamp. He also was kind, and in +every way worthy of grateful remembrance. He loved to amuse especially +the junior Bar, and more particularly in court. He was a good natural +punster, and endowed with a lively wit. The circuit was never dull +when Platt was present; but there was one trait in his character as an +advocate that judges always profess to disapprove of--he loved +popular applause, and his singularly bold and curious mode of +cross-examination sometimes brought him both rebuke and hearty +laughter from the most austere of judges. + +He dealt with a witness as though the witness was putty, moulding him +into any grotesque form that suited his humour. No evidence could +preserve its original shape after Platt had done with it. He had a +coaxing manner, so much so that a witness would often be led to say +what he never intended, and what afterwards he could not believe he +had uttered. + +Thesiger, who was his constant opponent, was sometimes irritated with +Platt's manner, and on the occasion I am about to mention fairly lost +his temper. + +It was in an action for nuisance before Tindal, Chief Justice of the +Common Pleas, at Croydon Assizes. + +Thesiger was for the plaintiff, who complained of a nuisance caused by +the bad smells that emanated from a certain tank on the defendant's +premises, and called a very respectable but ignorant labouring man to +prove his case. + +The witness gave a description of the tank, not picturesque, but +doubtless true, and into this tank all kinds of refuse seem to have +been thrown, so that the vilest of foul stenches were emitted. + +Platt began his cross-examination of poor Hodge by asking him in +his most coaxing manner to describe the character and nature of the +various stenches. Had Hodge been scientific, or if he had had a little +common sense, he would have simply answered "_bad_ character and +_ill_-nature;" but he improved on this simplicity, and said,-- + +"Some on 'em smells summat _like paint_." + +This was quite sufficient for Platt. + +"Come now," said he, "that's a very sensible answer. You are aware, +as a man of undoubted intelligence, that there are various colours of +paint. Had this smell any _particular colour_, think you?" + +"Wall, I dunnow, sir." + +"Don't answer hurriedly; take your time. We only want to get at the +truth. Now, what colour do you say this smell belonged to?" + +"Wall, I don't raightly know, sir." + +"I see. But what do you say to _yellow_? Had it a yellow smell, think +you?" + +"Wall, sir, I doan't think ur wus yaller, nuther. No, sir, not quite +yaller; I think it was moore of a blue like." + +"A blue smell. We all know a blue smell when we see it." + +Of course, I need not say the laughter was going on in peals, much to +Platt's delight. Tindal was simply in an ecstasy, but did all he could +to suppress his enjoyment of the scene. + +Then Platt resumed,-- + +"You think it was more of a blue smell like? Now, let me ask you, +there are many kinds of blue smells, from the smell of a Blue Peter, +which is salt, to that of the sky, which depends upon the weather. Was +it dark, or--" + +"A kind of sky-blue, sir." + +"More like your scarf?" + +Up went Hodge's hand to see if he could feel the colour. + +"Yes," said he, "that's more like--" + +"Zummut like your scarf?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Then he was asked as to a variety of solids and liquids; and the man +shook his head, intimating that he could go a deuce of a way, but that +there were bounds even to human knowledge. + +Then Platt questioned him on less abstruse topics, and to all of his +questions he kept answering,-- + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Were fish remnants," asked Platt, "sometimes thrown into this +reservoir of filth, such as old cods' heads with goggle eyes?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"_Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +Thesiger could stand it no longer. He had been writhing while the +court had been roaring with laughter, which all the ushers in the +universe could not suppress. + +"My lord, my lord, there must be some limit even to cross-examination +by my friend. Does your lordship think it is fair to suggest a +classical quotation to a respectable but illiterate labourer?" + +Tindal, who could not keep his countenance--and no man who witnessed +the scene could--said,-- + +"It all depends, Mr. Thesiger, whether this man understands Latin." +Whereupon Platt immediately turned to the witness and said,-- + +"Now, my man, attend: _Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_. You understand +that, do you not?" + +"Yes, my lord," answered the witness, stroking his chin. + +Tindal, trying all he could to suppress his laughter, said: + +"Mr. Thesiger, the witness says he understands the quotation, and as +you have no evidence to the contrary, I do not see how I can help +you." Of course, there was a renewal of the general laughter, but +Thesiger, in his reply, turned it on Platt. + +This was my first appearance on circuit, and my first lesson from a +great advocate in the art of caricature. + + * * * * * + +No man at the Bar can forget the joy of his first brief--that +wonderful oblong packet of white papers, tied with the mysterious +pink tape, which his fourth share of the diminutive clerk brings him, +marked with the important "I gua." + +I speak not to stall-fed juniors who have not to wait till their +merits are discovered, and who know that whosoever may watch and wait +and hope or despair, they shall have enough. All blessings go with +them; I never envied them their heritage. They are born to briefs +as the sparks fly upwards. I tell my experience to those who will +understand and appreciate every word I say--to men who have to make +their way in the world by their own exertions, and live on their own +labour or die of disappointment. There is one consolation even for the +wretched waiters on solicitors' favours, and that is, that the men who +have never had to work their way seldom rise to eminence or to any +position but respectable mediocrity. They never knew hope, and will +never know what it is to despair, or to nibble the short herbage of +the common where poorer creatures browse. + +A father never looked on his firstborn with more pleasure than a +barrister on his first brief. If the Tower guns were announcing the +birth of an heir to the Throne, he would not look up to ask, "What is +that?" + +It was the turning-point of my life, for had there been no first brief +pretty soon, I should have thought my kind relations' predictions were +about to be verified. But I should never have returned home; there was +still the Stage left, on which I hoped to act my part. + +Strange to say, my first brief, like almost everything in my life, had +a little touch of humour in it. + +I was instructed to defend a man at Hertford Sessions for stealing a +wheelbarrow, and unfortunately the wheelbarrow was found on him; more +unfortunate still--for I might have made a good speech on the subject +of the _animus furandi_--the man not only told the policeman he stole +it, but pleaded "Guilty" before the magistrates. I was therefore in +the miserable condition of one doomed to failure, take what line I +pleased. There was nothing to be said by way of defence, but I learnt +a lesson never to be forgotten. + +Being a little too conscientious, I told my client, the attorney, that +in the circumstances I must return the brief, inasmuch as there was no +defence for the unhappy prisoner. + +The attorney seemed to admire my principle, and instead of taking +offence, smiled in a good-natured manner, and said it was no doubt a +difficult task he had imposed on me, and he would exchange the brief +for another. He kept his word, and by-and-by returned with a much +easier case--a prosecution where the man pleaded "Guilty." It was a +grand triumph, and I was much pleased. + +Those were early days to begin picking and choosing briefs, for no man +can do that unless he is much more wanted by clients than in want of +them; but I learned the secret in after life of a great deal of its +success. + +I was, however, a little chagrined when I saw the mistake I had made. +Rodwell was leader of the sessions, and ought to have been far above a +guinea brief; judge then of my surprise when I saw that same brief a +few minutes after accepted by that great man--the brief I had refused +because there was nothing to be said on the prisoner's behalf. My +curiosity was excited to see what Rodwell would do with it, and what +defence he would set up. It was soon gratified. He simply admitted +the prisoner's guilt, and hoped the chairman, who was Lord Salisbury, +would deal leniently with him. + +I could have done that quite as well myself, and pocketed the guinea. +From that moment I resolved never to turn a case away because it was +hopeless. + +I subjoin a copy of my first brief for the prosecution. + +It must be remembered that in those days the gallows was a very +popular institution. They punished severely even trivial offences, +and this case would have been considered a very serious one; while +a sentence of seven years' transportation was almost as good as an +acquittal. + + _Herts. + No. 10_. + Michaelmas Sessions, + 1844. + Regina + _v_. + Elizabeth Norman. + Brief for the Prosecution. + Mr. Hawkins. + I Gua. + _H. Hawkins_. + Plea--Guilty. + H.H. + Oct. 14, 1844. + Transported for 7 years. + H.H. + _Cobliam_. + Ware. + +These are my notes:-- + + _Sep_. 20. + Mr. Page. + Silk shawl. + Apprehension. + + Various accounts. + Exam. before J---- J----. + Propy found. + Mrs. Stevens,} + Mr. Johnson, } Witnesses. + +I made a rule throughout my professional life to note my cases with +the greatest care. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AT THE OLD BAILEY IN THE OLD TIMES. + + +It is a vast space to look back over sixty years of labour, and yet +there seems hardly a scene or an event of any consequence, that is not +reproduced in my mind with a vividness that astonishes me. + +In my earlier visits to her Majesty's Courts of Justice my principal +business was to study the Queen's Counsel and Serjeants, and they +were worthy the attention I bestowed on them. They all belonged to +different schools of advocacy, and some knew very little about it. + +I went to the Old Bailey, a den of infamy in those times not +conceivable now, and I verily believe that no future time will produce +its like--at least I hope not. Its associations were enough to +strike a chill of horror into you. It was the very cesspool for the +offscourings of humanity. I had no taste for criminal practice in +those days, except as a means of learning the art of advocacy. In +these cases, presided over by a judge who knows his work, the rules of +evidence are strictly observed, and you will learn more in six months +of practical advocacy than in ten years elsewhere. The Criminal Court +was the best school in which to learn your work of cross-examination +and examination-in-chief, while the Courts of Equity were probably the +worst. But I shall not dwell on my struggles in connection with +the Old Bailey at that early period of my life. What will be more +interesting, perhaps, are some curious arrangements which they had for +the conduct of business and the entertainment of the Judges. + +These are a too much neglected part of our history, and when referred +to in reminiscences are generally referred to as matters for +jocularity. They exercised, however, a serious influence on the minds +and feelings of the people, as well as their manners; more so than a +hundred subjects with which the historian or the novelist sometimes +deals. + +In all cases of unusual gravity three Judges sat together. Offences +that would now be treated as not even deserving of a day's +imprisonment in many cases were then invariably punished with death. +It was not, therefore, so much the nature of the offence as the +importance of it in the eyes of the Judges that caused three of them +to sit together and try the criminals. + +They sat till five o'clock right through, and then went to a sumptuous +dinner provided by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. They drank everybody's +health but their own, thoroughly relieved their minds from the horrors +of the court, and, having indulged in much festive wit, sometimes at +an alderman's expense, and often at their own, returned into court +in solemn procession, their gravity undisturbed by anything that had +previously taken place, and looking the picture of contentment and +virtue. + +Another dinner was provided by the Sheriffs; this was for the +Recorder, Common Serjeant, and others, who took their seats when their +lordships had arisen. + +I ought to mention one important dignitary--namely, the chaplain of +Newgate--whose fortunate position gave him the advantage over most +persons: for he _dined at both these dinners_, and assisted in the +circulation of the wit from one party to another; so that what my +Lord Chief Justice had made the table roar with at five o'clock, the +Recorder and the Common Serjeant roared with at six, and were able to +retail at their family tables at a later period of the evening. It was +in that way so many good things have come down to the present day. + +The reverend gentleman alluded to of course attended the court in +robes, and his only, but solemn, function was to say "Amen" when the +sentence of death was pronounced by the Judge. + +There were curious old stories, too, about my lords and old port at +that time which are not of my own reminiscences, and therefore I shall +do no more than mention them in order to pass on to what I heard and +saw myself. + +The first thing that struck me in the after-dinner trials was the +extreme rapidity with which the proceedings were conducted. As judges +and counsel were exhilarated, the business was proportionately +accelerated. But of all the men I had the pleasure of meeting on +these occasions, the one who gave me the best idea of rapidity in an +after-dinner case was Mirehouse. + +Let me illustrate it by a trial which I heard. Jones was the name of +the prisoner. His offence was that of picking pockets, entailing, of +course, a punishment corresponding in severity with the barbarity of +the times. It was not a plea of "Guilty," when perhaps a little more +inquiry might have been necessary; it was a case in which the prisoner +solemnly declared he was "Not Guilty," and therefore had a right to be +tried. + +The accused having "held up his hand," and the jury having solemnly +sworn to hearken to the evidence, and "to well and truly try, and true +deliverance make," etc., the witness for the prosecution climbs into +the box, which was like a pulpit, and before he has time to look round +and see where the voice comes from, he is examined as follows by the +prosecuting counsel:-- + +"I think you were walking up Ludgate Hill on Thursday, 25th, about +half-past two in the afternoon, and suddenly felt a tug at your pocket +and missed your handkerchief, which the constable now produces. Is +that it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I suppose you have nothing to ask him?" says the judge. "Next +witness." + +Constable stands up. + +"Were you following the prosecutor on the occasion when he was robbed +on Ludgate Hill? and did you see the prisoner put his hand into the +prosecutor's pocket and take this handkerchief out of it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Judge to prisoner: "Nothing to say, I suppose?" Then to the jury: +"Gentlemen, I suppose you have no doubt? I have none." + +Jury: "Guilty, my lord," as though to oblige his lordship. + +Judge to prisoner: "Jones, we have met before--we shall not meet again +for some time--seven years' transportation. Next case." + +Time: two minutes fifty-three seconds. + +Perhaps this case was a high example of expedition, because it was not +always that a learned counsel could put his questions so neatly; but +it may be taken that these after-dinner trials did not occupy on the +average more than _four minutes_ each. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MR. JUSTICE MAULE. + + +Of course, in those days there were judges of the utmost strictness +as there are now, who insisted that the rules of evidence should be +rigidly adhered to. I may mention, one, whose abilities were of a +remarkable order, and whose memory is still fresh in the minds of many +of my contemporaries--I mean Mr. Justice Maule. His asthmatic cough +was the most interesting and amusing cough I ever heard, especially +when he was saying anything more than usually humorous, which was not +infrequently. He was a man of great wit, sound sense, and a curious +humour such as I never heard in any other man. He possessed, too, a +particularly keen apprehension. To those who had any real ability +he was the most pleasant of Judges, but he had little love for +mediocrities. No man ever was endowed with a greater abhorrence of +hypocrisy. I learnt a great deal in watching him and noting his +observations. One day a very sad case was being tried. It was that of +a man for killing an infant, and it was proposed by the prosecution to +call as a witness a little brother of the murdered child. + +The boy's capacity to give evidence, however, was somewhat doubted by +the counsel for the Crown, John Clark, and it did honour to his sense +of fairness. Having asked the little boy a question or two as to +the meaning of an oath, he said he had some doubt as to whether the +witness should be admitted to give evidence, as he did not seem to +understand the nature of an oath, and the boy was otherwise deficient +in religious knowledge. + +He was asked the usual sensible questions which St. Thomas Aquinas +himself would have been puzzled to answer; and being a mere child of +seven--or at most eight--years of age, without any kind of education, +was unable to state what the exact nature of an oath was. + +Having failed in this, he was next asked what, when they died, became +of people who told lies. + +"If he knows that, it's a good deal more than I do," said Maule. + +"Attend to me," said the Crown counsel. "Do you know that it's wicked +to tell lies?" + +"Yes, sir," the boy answered. + +"I don't think," said the counsel for the prosecution, "it would be +safe to swear him, my lord; he does not seem to know anything about +religion at all.--You can stand down." + +"Stop a minute, my boy," says Maule; "let me ask you a question or +two. You have been asked about a future state--at least I presume that +was at the bottom of the gentleman's question. I should like to know +what you have been taught to believe. What will become of _you_, my +little boy, when you die, if you are so wicked as to tell a lie?" + +"_Hell fire_," answered the boy with great promptitude and boldness. + +"Right," said Maule. "Now let us go a little further. Do you mean to +say, boy, that you would go to hell fire for telling _any_ lie?" + +"_Hell fire_, sir," said the boy emphatically, as though it were +something to look forward to rather than shun. + +"Take time, my boy," said Maule; "don't answer hurriedly; think it +over. Suppose, now, you were accused of stealing an apple; how would +that be in the next world, think you?" + +"_Hell fire_, my lord!" + +"Very good indeed. Now let us suppose that you were disobedient to +your parents, or to one of them; what would happen in that case?" + +"_Hell fire_, my lord!" + +"Exactly; very good indeed. Now let me take another instance, and +suppose that you were sent for the milk in the morning, and took _just +a little sip_ while you were carrying it home; how would that be as +regards your future state?" + +"_Hell fire_!" repeated the boy. + +Upon this Clark suggested that the lad's absolute ignorance of the +nature of an oath and Divine things rendered it imprudent to call him. + +"I don't know about that," said Maule; "he seems to me to be very +sound, and most divines will tell you he is right." + +"He does not seem to be competent," said the counsel. + +"I beg your pardon," returned the judge, "I think he is a very good +little boy. He thinks that for every wilful fault he will go to hell +fire; and he is very likely while he believes that doctrine to be most +strict in his observance of truth. If you and I believed that such +would be the penalty for every act of misconduct we committed, we +should be better men than we are. Let the boy be sworn." + +On one occasion, before Maule, I had to defend a man for murder. It +was a terribly difficult case, because there was no defence except the +usual one of insanity. + +The court adjourned for lunch, and Woollet (who was my junior) and I +went to consultation. I was oppressed with the difficulty of my task, +and asked Woollet what he thought I could do. + +"Oh," said he in his sanguine way, "make a hell of a speech. You'll +pull him through all right. Let 'em have it." + +"I'll give them as much burning eloquence as I can manage," said I, +in my youthful ardour; "but what's the use of words against facts? We +must really stand by the defence of insanity; it is all that's left." + +"Call the clergyman," said Woollet; "he'll help us all he can." + +With that resolution we returned to court. I made my speech for the +defence, following Woollet's advice as nearly as practicable, and +really blazed away. I think the jury believed there was a good deal in +what I said, for they seemed a very discerning body and a good deal +inclined to logic, especially as there was a mixture of passion in it. + +We then called the clergyman of the village where the prisoner lived. +He said he had been Vicar for thirty-four years, and that up to very +recently, a few days before the murder, the prisoner had been a +regular attendant at his church. He was a married man with a wife and +two little children, one seven and the other nine. + +"Did the wife attend your ministrations, too?" asked Maule. + +"Not so regularly. Suddenly," continued the Vicar, after suppressing +his emotion, "without any apparent cause, the man became _a +Sabbath-breaker_, and absented himself from church." + +This evidence rather puzzled me, for I could not understand its +purport. Maule in the meantime was watching it with the keenest +interest and no little curiosity. He was not a great believer in the +defence of insanity--except, occasionally, that of the solicitor +who set it up--and consequently watched the Vicar with scrutinizing +intensity. + +"Have you finished with your witness, Mr. Woollet?" his lordship +inquired. + +"Yes, my lord." + +Maule then took him in hand, and after looking at him steadfastly for +about a minute, said,-- + +"You say, sir, that you have been Vicar of this parish for +_four-and-thirty years_?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"And during that time I dare say you have regularly performed the +services of the Church?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Did you have week-day services as well?" + +"Every Tuesday, my lord." + +"And did you preach your own sermons?" + +"With an occasional homily of the Church." + +"Your own sermon or discourse, with an occasional homily? And was this +poor man a regular attendant at all your services during the whole +time you have been Vicar?" + +"Until he killed his wife, my lord." + +"That follows--I mean up to the time of this Sabbath-breaking you +spoke of he regularly attended your ministrations, and then killed his +wife?" + +"Exactly, my lord." + +"Never missed the sermon, discourse, or homily of the Church, Sunday +or week-day?" + +"That is so, my lord." + +"Did you write your own sermons, may I ask?" + +"Oh yes, my lord." + +Maule carefully wrote down all that our witness said, and I began to +think the defence of insanity stood on very fair grounds, especially +when I perceived that Maule was making some arithmetical calculations. +But you never could tell by his manner which way he was going, and +therefore we had to wait for his next observation, which was to this +effect:-- + +"You have given yourself, sir, a very excellent character, and +doubtless, by your long service in the village, have richly +deserved it. You have, no doubt, also won the affection of all your +parishioners, probably that of the Bishop of your diocese, by your +incomparable devotion to your parochial duties. The result, however, +of your indefatigable exertions, so far as this unhappy man is +concerned, comes to this--" + +His lordship then turned and addressed his observations on the result +to me. + +"This gentleman, Mr. Hawkins, has written with his own pen and +preached or read with his own voice to this unhappy prisoner about +_one hundred and four Sunday sermons or discourses, with an occasional +homily, every year_." + +There was an irresistible sense of the ludicrous as Maule uttered, or +rather growled, these words in a slow enunciation and an asthmatical +tone. He paused as if wondering at the magnitude of his calculations, +and then commenced again more slowly and solemnly than before. + +"These," said he, "added to the week-day services--make--exactly +_one hundred and fifty-six sermons, discourses, and homilies for the +year_." (Then he stared at me, asking with his eyes what I thought of +it.) "These, again, being continued over a space of time, comprising, +as the reverend gentleman tells us, no less than _thirty-four years_, +give us a grand total of _five thousand three hundred and four +sermons, discourses, or homilies_ during this unhappy man's life." + +Maule's eyes were now riveted on the clergyman as though he were an +accessory to the murder. + +"Five thousand three hundred and four," he repeated, "by the same +person, however respectable and beloved as a pastor he might be, was +what few of us could have gone through unless we were endowed with as +much strength of mind as power of endurance. I was going to ask you, +sir, did the idea ever strike you when you talked of this unhappy +being suddenly leaving your ministrations and turning Sabbath-breaker, +that after thirty-four years he might want a little change? Would +it not be reasonable to suppose that the man might think he had had +enough of it?" + +"It might, my lord." + +"And would not that in your judgment, instead of showing that he was +insane, prove that he was _a very sensible man_?" + +The Vicar did not quite assent to this, and as he would not dissent +from the learned Judge, said nothing. + +"And," continued Maule, "that he was perfectly sane, although he +murdered his wife?" + +All this was very clever, not to say facetious, on the part of the +learned Judge; but as I had yet to address the jury, I was resolved to +take the other view of the effect of the Vicar's sermons, and I did +so. I worked Maule's quarry, I think, with some little effect: for +after all his most strenuous exertions to secure a conviction, the +jury believed, probably, that no man's mind could stand the ordeal; +and, further, that any doubt they might have, after seeing the two +children of the prisoner in court dressed in little black frocks, and +sobbing bitterly while I was addressing them, would be given in the +prisoner's favour, which it was. + +This incident in my life is not finished. On the same evening I was +dining at the country house of a Mr. Hardcastle, and near me sat an +old inhabitant of the village where the tragedy had been committed. + +"You made a touching speech, Mr. Hawkins," said the old inhabitant. + +"Well," I answered, "it was the best thing I could do in the +circumstances." + +"Yes," he said; "but I don't think you would have painted the little +home in such glowing colours if you had seen what I saw last week when +I was driving past the cottage. No, no; I think you'd have toned down +a bit." + +"What was it?" I asked. + +"Why," said the old inhabitant, "the little children who sobbed so +violently in court this morning, and to whom you made such pathetic +reference, were playing on an ash-heap near their cottage; and they +had a poor cat with a string round its neck, swinging backwards and +forwards, and as they did so they sang,-- + + This is the way poor daddy will go! + This is the way poor daddy will go!' + +Such, Mr. Hawkins, was their excessive grief!" + +Yes, but it got the verdict. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN INCIDENT ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET. + + +My first visit to Newmarket Heath had one or two little incidents +which may be interesting, although of no great importance. The +Newmarket of to-day is not quite the same Newmarket that it was then: +many things connected with it have changed, and, above all, its +frequenters have changed; and if "things are not what they seem," they +do not seem to me, at all events, to be what they were "in my day." + +Sixty years is a long space of time to traverse, but I do so with a +very vivid recollection of my old friend Charley Wright. + +It was on a bright October morning when we set out, and glad enough +was I to leave the courts at Westminster and the courts of the +Temple--glad enough to break loose from the thraldom of nothing to do +and get away into the beautiful country. + +Charley and I were always great friends; we had seen so much together, +especially of what is called "the world," which I use in a different +sense from that in which we were now to seek adventures. We had seen +so much of its good and evil, its lights and shades, and had so many +memories in common, that they formed the groundwork of a lasting +friendship. + +He was the only son of an almost too indulgent father, who was the +very best example of an old English gentleman of his day you could +ever meet. He also had seen a good deal of life, and was not +unfamiliar with any of its varied aspects. He was intellectual and +genial, and dispensed his hospitality with the most winning courtesy. +To me he was all kindness, and I have a grateful feeling of delight in +being able in these few words to record my affectionate reverence for +his memory. It was at his house in Pall Mall that I met John Leech and +Percival Leigh. + +But I digress as my mind goes back to these early dates, and unless +I break away, Charley and I will not reach Newmarket in time for the +first race. It happened that when we made this memorable visit I +had an uncle living at The Priory at Royston, which was some +five-and-twenty miles from Newmarket, where the big handicap, I think +the Cesarewitch, was to be run the following day, or the next--I +forget which. + +But an interesting episode interrupted our journey to the Heath. +To our surprise, and no little to our delight, there was to be an +important meeting of the "Fancy" to witness a great prize-fight +between Jack Brassy and Ben Caunt. + +Ben Caunt was the greatest prize-fighter, both in stature and bulk, as +well as in strength, I ever saw. He looked what he was--then or soon +after--the champion of the world. + +Brassy, too, was well made, and seemed every whit the man to meet +Caunt. The two, indeed, were equally well made in form and shape, and +as smooth cut as marble statues when they stripped for action. + +The advertisements had announced that the contest was to come off at, +"or as near thereto as circumstances permitted" (circumstances here +meaning the police), the village of Little Bury, near Saffron Walden. + +At the little inn of the village some of the magnates of the Ring were +to assemble on the morning of the fight for an early breakfast, +to which Charley and I had the good fortune to be invited by Jack +Brassy's second, Peter Crawley, another noted pugilist of his day. + +It was different weather from that we enjoyed in the early morning, +for the rain was now pouring down in torrents, and we had a drive of +no less than fifteen miles before us to the scene of action. Vehicles +were few, and horses fewer. Nothing was to be had for love or money, +as it seemed. But there was at last found one man who, if he had +little love for the prize-ring, had much reverence for the golden coin +that supported it. He was a Quaker. He had an old gig, and, I think, a +still older horse, both of which I hired for the journey--the Quaker, +of course, pretending that he had no idea of any meeting of the +"Fancy" whatever. Nor do I suppose he would know what that term +implied. + +If ever any man in the world did what young men are always told by +good people to do--namely, to persevere--I am sure we did, Charley and +I, with the Quaker's horse. Whether he suspected the mission on which +we were bent, or was considering the danger of such a scene to his +morals, I could not ascertain, but never did any animal show a greater +reluctance to go anywhere except to his quiet home. + +Your happiness at these great gatherings depended entirely upon the +distance or proximity of the police. If they were pretty near, the +landlord of the inn would hesitate about serving you, and if he +did, would charge a far higher price in consequence of the supposed +increased risk. He would never encourage a breach of the peace in +defiance of the county magistrates, who were the authority to renew +his licence at Brewster Sessions. So much, then, if the officers of +justice were _near_. + +If they happened to be absent--which, as I have said, occasionally +occurred when a big thing was to come off--there was then a dominant +feeling of social equality which you could never see manifested so +strongly in any other place. A gentleman would think nothing of +putting his fingers into your pockets and abstracting your money, and +if you had the hardihood to resent the intrusion, would think less of +putting his fist into your eyes. + +We were by no means certain, as I learned, that our fight would come +off after all, for it appeared the magistrates had given strict and +specific instructions to the police that no combat was to take place +in the county of Essex. Consequently the parties whose duty it was to +make preparations had fled from that respectable county and gone away +towards Six Mile Bottom, just in one of the corners of Cambridgeshire, +as if the intention was that the dons of the University should have +a look in. Constables slept more soundly in Cambridgeshire than in +Essex. Moreover, the Essex magistrates would themselves have a moral +right to witness the fight if it did not take place in their county. + +Thus we set out for the rendezvous. Charley soon discovered that +our steed was not accustomed to the whip, for instead of urging him +forward it produced the contrary effect. However, we got along by slow +degrees, and when we came up with the crowd--oh! + +Such a scene I had never witnessed in my life, nor could have +conceived it possible anywhere on this earth or anywhere out of that +abyss the full description of which you will find in "Paradise Lost." + +It was a procession of the blackguardism of all ages and of all +countries under heaven. The sexes were apparently in equal numbers and +in equal degrees of ugliness and ferocity. There were faces flat for +want of noses, and mouths ghastly for want of teeth; faces scarred, +bruised, battered into every shape but what might be called human. +There were fighting-men of every species and variety--men whose +profession it was to fight, and others whose brutal nature it was; +there were women fighters, too, more deadly and dangerous than the +men, because they added cruelty to their ferocity. Innumerable women +there were who had lost the very nature of womanhood, and whose mouths +were the mere outlet of oaths and filthy language. Their shrill +clamours deafened our ears and subdued the deep voices of the men, +whom they chaffed, reviled, shrieked at, yelled at, and swore at by +way of _fun_. + +Amidst this turbulent rabble rode several members of the peerage, and +even Ministerial supporters of the "noble art," exchanging with the +low wretches I have mentioned a word or two of chaff or an occasional +laugh at the grotesque wit and humour which are never absent from an +English crowd. + +As we approached the famous scene, to which every one was looking with +the most intense anticipation, the crowd grew almost frenzied with +expectancy, and yet the utmost good-humour prevailed. In this spirit +we arrived at Bourne Bridge, and thence to the place of encounter was +no great distance. It was a little field behind a public-house. + +Every face was now white with excitement, except the faces of the +combatants. They were firm set as iron itself. Trained to physical +endurance, they were equally so in nerve and coolness of temperament, +and could not have seemed more excited than if they were going to +dinner instead of to one of the most terrible encounters I ever +witnessed. + +To those who have never seen an exhibition of this kind it was quite +amazing to observe with what rapidity the ropes were fixed and the +ring formed; nor were the men less prompt. Into the ring they stepped +with their supporters, or seconds, and in almost an instant the +principals had shaken hands, and were facing each other in what well +might be deadly conflict. There were illustrious members of all +classes assembled there, members probably of all professions, men +who afterwards, as I know, became great in history, politics, law, +literature, and religion; for it was a very great fight, and attracted +all sorts and conditions from all places and positions. Nothing since +that fight, except Tom Sayers and the "Benicia Boy," has attracted so +goodly and so fashionable an audience and so fierce an assembly of +blackguards. + +But in the time of the latter battle the decadence of the Ring was +manifest, and was the outcome of what is doubtless an increasing +civilization. At the time of which I am now speaking the Prize Ring +was one of our fashionable sports, supported by the wealthy of all +classes, and was supposed to contribute to the manliness of our race; +consequently our distinguished warriors, as well as the members of our +most gentle professions, loved a good old-fashioned English "set-to," +and nobody, as a rule, was the worse for it, although my poor brother +Jack never recovered his half-crowns. + +We had been advised to take our cushions from the gig to sit upon, +because the straw round the ring was soddened with the heavy rains, +and I need not say we found it was a very wise precaution. The straw +had been placed round the ring for the benefit of the _élite_, who +occupied front seats. + +The fight now began, and, I must repeat, I never saw anything like it. +Both pugilists were of the heaviest fighting weights. Caunt was a real +giant, ugly as could be by the frequent batterings he had received +in the face. His head was like a bull-dog's, and so was his courage, +whilst his strength must have been that of a very Samson; but if it +was, it did not reside in his hair, for that was short and close as a +mouse's back. + +At first I thought Brassy had the best of it; he was more active, +being less ponderous, and landed some very ugly ones, cutting right +into the flesh, although Caunt did not appear to mind it in the least. +Brassy, however, did not follow up his advantage as I thought he ought +to have done, and in my opinion dreaded the enormous power and force +of his opponent in the event of his "getting home." + +With the usual fluctuations of a great battle, the contest went on +until nearly a _hundred rounds_ were fought, lasting as many minutes, +but no decisive effect was as yet observable. After this, however, +Brassy could not come up to time. The event, therefore, was declared +in Caunt's favour, and his opponent was carried off the field on a +hurdle into the public-house, where I afterwards saw him in bed. + +Thus terminated the great fight of the day, but not thus my day's +adventures. + +The sport was all that the most enthusiastic supporters of the Ring +could desire. It no doubt had its barbarous aspects, regarded from +a humanitarian point of view, but it was not so demoralizing as the +spectacle of some poor creature risking his neck in a performance +for which the spectator pays his sixpence, and the whole excitement +consists in the knowledge that the actor may be dashed to pieces +before his eyes. + +It was time now to leave the scene, so Charley and I went to look for +our gig (evidence of gentility from the time of Thurtell and Hunt's +trial for the murder of Mr. Weare). + +Alas! our respectability was gone--I mean the gig. + +In vindication of the wisdom and foresight of Charley and myself, I +should like to mention that we had entrusted that valuable evidence of +our status to the keeping of a worthy stranger dressed in an old red +jacket and a pair of corduroy trousers fastened with a wisp of hay +below the knees. + +When we arrived at the spot where he promised to wait our coming, he +was gone, the horse and gig too; nor could any inquiries ascertain +their whereabouts. + +Whether this incident was a judgment on the Quaker, as Wright +suggested, or one of the inevitable incidents attendant on a +prize-fight, I am not in a position to say; but we thought it served +the Quaker right for letting us a horse that would not go until the +gentleman in the red jacket relieved us of any further trouble on that +account. + +Mistakes are so common amongst thieves that one can never tell how the +horse got away; but if I were put on my oath, knowing the proclivities +of the animal, I should say that he was backed out of the field. + +We were now, as it seemed, the most deplorable objects in creation: +without friends and without a gig, wet through, shelterless, amidst +a crowd of drunken, loathsome outcasts of society, with only one +solitary comfort between us--a pipe, which Charley enjoyed and I +loathed. Drink is always quarrelsome or affectionate, generally the +one first and the other after. When the tears dry, oaths begin, and we +soon found that the quarrelsome stage of the company had been reached. + +Amidst all this excitement we had not forgotten that this little +matter of the prize-fight was but an incident on our journey to +Newmarket. We knew full well that our present appearance would have +found no recognition in the Mall. But we cared nothing for the Mall, +as we were not known by the fashion in the racing world; and as for +the others, we should like to avoid them in any world. + +You will wonder in these circumstances what we did. We waited where we +were through the whole of that wet afternoon, and then, on a couple of +hacks--how we obtained them I don't know; I never asked Charley, +and nothing of any importance turns upon them--we arrived at our +comfortable Royston quarters about eight o'clock, tired to death. + +We were received with a hearty welcome by my uncle, who was much +entertained with our day's adventures. He liked my description of the +fight, especially when I told him how Brassy "drew Caunt's claret," +and showed such other knowledge of the scientific practice that no one +could possibly have learnt had he not read up carefully _Bell's Life_ +for the current week. + +I am sure my uncle thought I was one of the best of nephews, and I +considered him in reality "my only uncle." Long, thought I, may he +prove to be; and yet I never borrowed a penny from him in my life. + +On the next day, fully equipped, and with all that was necessary for +our distinguished position, we set out for Newmarket Heath, even now +the glory of the racing world, not forgetting Goodwood, which is more +or less a private business and fashionable picnic. + +I shall not attempt to describe Newmarket. No one can describe, the +indescribable. I will only say it was not the Newmarket which our +later generation knows. It was then in its crude state of original +simplicity. There were no stands save "the Duke's," at the top of the +town, and one other, somewhat smaller and nearer to the present grand +stand. Those who could afford to do so rode on horseback about the +Heath; those who could not walked if they felt disposed, or sat down +on the turf--the best enjoyment of all if you are tired. We did all +three: we rode, walked, and sat down. At last, after a thoroughly +enjoyable outing, such as the Bar knows nothing of in these +respectable times, we returned to our business quarters in the Temple. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN EPISODE AT HERTFORD QUARTER SESSIONS. + + +Hearsay is not, as a rule, evidence in a court of justice. There +are one or two exceptions which I need not mention. If you want, +therefore, to say what Smith said, you cannot say it, but must call +Smith himself, and probably he will swear he never said anything of +the sort. + +The Marquis of Salisbury, in the early days that I speak of, was a +kind-hearted chairman, and would never allow the quibble of the lawyer +to stand in the way of justice to the prisoner. In those days at +sessions they were not so nice in the observances of mere forms as +they are now, and you could sometimes get in something that was not +exactly evidence, strictly speaking, in favour of a prisoner by a +side-wind, as it were, although it was not the correct thing to do. + +It happened that I was instructed to defend a man who had been +committed to Hertford Quarter Sessions on a charge of felony. The +committing magistrates having refused to let the man out on bail, an +application was made at Judges' Chambers before Mr. Baron Martin to +reverse that decision, which he did. + +"Not a rag of evidence," said the attorney's clerk when he delivered +the little brief--"not a shadder of evidence, Mr. 'Awkins. It's a +walk-over, sir." + +I knew that meant a nominal fee, but wondered how many more similes he +was going to deliver instead of the money. But to the honour of the +solicitor, I am bound to say that point was soon cleared up, and +the practice of magistrates, supposed to be in their right minds, +committing people for trial with no "shadder" of evidence against +them, it now became my duty to inquire into. I asked how he knew there +was no evidence, and whether the man bore a respectable character. + +"Oh, I was up before the Baron," he answered. ("Yes," I thought, "but +you must wake very early if you are up too soon for Baron Martin.") +"And the Baron said, as to grantin' bail, 'Certainly he should; the +magistrates had no business to commit him for trial, for there was not +a rag of a case against the man.' So you see, sir, it's a easy case, +Mr. 'Awkins; and as the man's a poor man, we can't mark much of a +fee." + +The usual complaint with quarter sessions solicitors. + +Such were my instructions. I was young in practice at that time, and +took a great deal more in--I mean in the way of credulity--than I +did in after life. Nor was I very learned in the ways of solicitors' +clerks. I knew that hearsay evidence, even in the case of a Judge's +observation, was inadmissible, and therefore what the Baron said could +not strictly be given; but I did not know how far you might go in +the country, nor what the Marquis's opinion might be of the Baron. I +therefore mentioned it to Rodwell, who, of course, was instructed for +the prosecution; he was in everything on one side or the other--never, +I believe, on both. + +This stickler for etiquette was absolutely shocked; he held up his +hands, began a declamation on the rules of evidence, and uttered so +many Pharisaical platitudes that I only escaped annihilation by a +hair's-breadth. He was always furious on etiquette. + +Much annoyed at his bumptious manner, I was resolved now, come what +would, to pay him off. I wanted to show him he was not everybody, even +at Hertford Sessions. So when the case came on and the policeman was +in the box, I rose to cross-examine him, which I did very quietly. + +"Now, policeman, I am going to ask you a question; but pray don't +answer it till you are told to do so, because my learned friend may +object to it." + +Rodwell sprang to his feet and objected at once. + +"What is the question?" asked the Marquis. "We must hear what the +question is before I can rule as to your objection, Mr. Rodwell." + +This was a good one for Mr. Rodwell, and made him colour up to his +eyebrows, especially as I looked at him and smiled. + +"The question, my lord," said I, "is a very simple one: Did not Mr. +Baron Martin say, when applied to for bail, that there was not a rag +of a case against the prisoner?" + +"This is monstrous!" said the learned stickler for forms and +ceremonies--"monstrous! Never heard of such a thing!" + +It might have been monstrous, but it gave me an excellent grievance +with the jury, even if the Marquis did not see his way to allow the +question; and a grievance is worth something, if you have no defence. + +The Marquis paid great attention to the case, especially after that +observation of the Baron's. Although he regretted that it could not be +got in as evidence, he was good enough to say I should get the benefit +of it with the jury. + +All this time there was a continuous growl from my learned friend of +"Monstrous! monstrous!"--so much so that for days after that word +kept ringing in my ears, as monotonously as a muffin bell on a Sunday +afternoon. + +But I believe he was more irritated by my subsequent conduct, for I +played round the question like one longing for forbidden fruit, and +emphasized the objection of my learned friend now and again: all very +wrong, I know now, but in the heyday of youthful ardour how many +faults we commit!" + +"Just tell me," I said to the policeman, "did the learned Judge--I +mean Mr. Baron Martin--seem to know what he was about when he let this +man out on bail?" + +"O yes, sir," said the witness, "he knowed what he was about, right +enough," stroking his chin. + +"You may rely on that," said the Marquis. "You may take that for +granted, Mr. Hawkins." + +"I thought so, my lord; there is not a judge on the Bench who can see +through a case quicker than the Baron." + +The grumbling still continued. + +"Now, then, don't answer this." + +"You have already ruled, my lord," said Rodwell. + +"This is another one," said I; "but if it's regular to keep objecting +before the prisoner's counsel has a chance of putting his question, +I sit down, my lord. I shall be allowed, probably, to address the +jury--that is, if Mr. Rodwell does not object." + +The noble Marquis, on seeing my distress, said,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, the question needs no answer from the policeman; you +will get the benefit of it for what it is worth. The jury will draw +their own conclusions from Mr. Rodwell's objections." + +As they did upon the whole case, for they acquitted, much to Mr. +Rodwell's annoyance. + +"Now," said the Marquis, "let the officer stand back. I want to ask +what the Baron really did say when he let this man out on bail." + +"My lord," answered the witness, "his lordship said as how he looked +upon the whole lot as a _gang of thieves_." + +"You've got it now," said Rodwell. + +"And so have you," said I. "You should not have objected, and then you +would have got the answer he has just given." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A DANGEROUS SITUATION--A FORGOTTEN PRISONER. + + +I had been to Paris in the summer of 18-- for a little holiday, and +was returning in the evening after some races had taken place near +that city. I had not attended them, and was, in fact, not aware that +they were being held; but I soon discovered the fact from finding +myself in the midst of the motley Crowds which always throng railway +stations on such occasions, only on this particular day they were a +little worse than usual. The race meeting had brought together the +roughs of all nations, and especially from England. As it seemed +to me, my fellow-countrymen always took the lead in this kind of +competition. + +I was endeavouring to get to the booking-office amongst the rest of +the crowd, and there was far more pushing and struggling than was at +all necessary for that purpose. Presently a burly ruffian, with a low +East End face of the slum pattern and complexion, rolled out a volley +of oaths at me. He asked where the ---- I was pushing and what game I +was up to, as though I were a professional pickpocket like himself. +He had the advantage of me in being surrounded by a gang of the most +loathsome blackguards you could imagine, while I was without a friend. +I spoke, therefore, very civilly, and said the crowd was pushing +behind and forcing me forward. The brute was annoyed at my coolness, +and irritated all the more. + +Hitherto his language had not been strong enough to frighten me, so he +improved its strength by some tremendous epithets, considerably above +proof. I think he must have enjoyed the exclusive copyright, for I +never knew his superlatives imitated. He finished the harangue by +saying that he would knock my head off if I said another word. + +To this I replied, with a look stronger than all his language, "No, +you won't." + +My look must have been strong, because the countenances of the +bystanders were subdued. + +"Why won't I, muster?" he asked. + +"For two reasons," I said: "first, because you won't try; and +secondly, because you could not if you did." + +He was somewhat tamed, and then I lifted my hat, so that he could see +my close-cropped hair, which was as short as his own, only not for the +same reason. "You don't seem to know who I am," I added, hoping he +would now take me for a member of the prize-ring. But my appearance +did not frighten him. I had nothing but my short-cropped hair to rely +on; so in self-defence I had to devise another stratagem. To frighten +him one must look the ruffian in the face, or look the ruffian that +he was. He continued to abuse me as we passed on our way to the +booking-office window, and I have no doubt he and his gang were +determined to rob me. One thing was common between us--we had no +regard for one another. I now assumed as bold a manner as I could and +a rough East End accent. "Look-ee 'ere," said I: "I know you don't +keer for me no more 'an I keers for you. I ain't afraid o' no man, and +I'll tell you what it is: it's your ignorance of who I am that makes +you bold. I know you ain't a bad un with the maulers. Let's have no +more nonsense about it here. I'll fight you on Monday week, say, for +a hundred a side in the Butts, and we'll post the money at Peter +Crawley's next Saturday. What d'ye say to that?" + +Peter Crawley, whom I have already mentioned as inviting me to +breakfast, was like a thunderclap to him. I must be somebody if I knew +Peter Crawley, and now he doubtless bethought him of my short hair. + +I must confess if the fellow had taken me at my word I should have +been in as great a funk as he was, but he did not. My challenge was +declined. + + * * * * * + +A curious incident happened once in the rural district of Saffron +Walden. It is a borough no doubt, but it always seemed to me to be too +small for any grown-up thing, and its name sounded more like a little +flower-bed than anything else. On the occasion of which I speak there +was great excitement in the place because they had got a prisoner--an +event which baffled the experience of the oldest inhabitant. + +The Recorder was an elderly barrister, full of pomp and dignity; and, +like many of his brother Recorders, had very seldom a prisoner to +try. You may therefore imagine with what stupendous importance he was +invested when he found that the rural magistrates had committed a +little boy for trial for stealing a _ball of twine_. Think of the +grand jury filing in to be "charged" by this judicial dignitary. +Imagine his charge, his well-chosen sentences in anticipation of +the one to come at the end of the sitting. Think of his eloquent +disquisition on the law of larceny! It was all there! + +After the usual proclamation against vice and immorality had been +read, and after the grand jury had duly found a true bill, the next +thing was to find the prisoner and bring him up for trial. + +We may not be sentimental, or I might have cried, "God save the +child!" as the usher said, "God save the Queen!" But "Suffer little +children to come unto Me" would not have applied to our jails in +those miserable and inhuman times. Mercy and sympathy were out of the +question when you had law and order to maintain, as well as all the +functionaries who had to contribute to their preservation. + +"Put up the prisoner!" said the Recorder in solemn and commanding +tones. + +Down into the jaws of the cavern below the dock descended the jailer +of six feet two--the only big thing about the place. He was a +resolute-looking man in full uniform, and I can almost feel the +breathless silence that pervaded the court during his absence. + +Time passed and no one appeared. When a sufficient interval had +elapsed for the stalwart jailer to have eaten his prisoner, had he +been so minded, the Recorder, looking up from behind the _Times_, +which he appeared to be reading, asked in a very stern voice why the +prisoner was not "put up." + +They did not put up the boy, but the jailer, with a blood-forsaken +face, put himself up through the hole, like a policeman coming through +a trap-door in a pantomime. + +"I beg your honour's pardon, my lord, but they have forgot to bring +him." + +"Forgot to bring him! What do you mean? Where is he?" + +"They've left him at Chelmsford, your honour." + +It seemed there was no jail at Saffron Walden, because, to the honour +of the borough be it said, they had no one to put into it; and this +small child had been committed for safe custody to Chelmsford to wait +his trial at sessions, and had been there so long that he was actually +forgotten when the day of trial came. I never heard anything more of +him; but hope his small offence was forgotten as well as himself. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE ONLY "RACER" I EVER OWNED--SAM LINTON, THE DOG-FINDER. + + +I have been often asked whether I ever owned a racer. In point of +fact, I never did, although I went as near to that honour as any man +who never arrived at it--a racer, too, who afterwards carried its +owner's colours triumphantly past the winning-post. + +The reader may have been shocked at the story I told of those poor +ill-brought-up children whose mother was murdered, from the natural +feeling that if pure innocence is not to be found in childhood, where +are we to seek it? + +I will indicate the spot in three words--_on the Turf_. + +True, you will find fraud, cunning, knavery, and robbery, but you will +find also the most unsophisticated innocence. + +I went as a spectator, a lover of sport, and a lover of horses; and +took more delight in it than I ever could in any haunt of fashionable +idleness. + +I amused myself by watching the proceedings of the betting-ring, where +there is a good deal more honesty than in many places dignified by the +name of "marts." + +But if there was no innocence on the turf, rogues could not live; they +are not cannibals--not, at all events, while they can obtain tenderer +food. And are there not commercial circles also which could not exist +without their equally innocent supporters? + +Experience may be a dear school, but its lessons are never forgotten. +A very little should go a long way, and the wisest make it go +farthest. If any one wants a picture of innocence on the turf, let me +give one of my own drawing, taken from nature. + +All my life I have loved animals, especially horses and dogs; and all +field sports, especially hunting and racing. But I went on the turf +with as much simplicity as a girl possesses at her first ball, knowing +nothing about public form or the way to calculate odds, to hedge, or +do anything but wonder at the number of fools there were in the world. +I did not know "a thing or two," like the knowing ones who lose all +they possess. Who could believe that men go about philanthropically to +inform the innocent how to "put their money on," while they carefully +avoid putting on their own? Tipsters, in short, were no part of my +racing creed. I was not so ignorant as that. I believed in a good +horse quite as much as Lord Rosebery does, and much more than I +believed in a good rider. But there were even then honest jockeys, as +well as unimpeachable owners. All you can say is, honesty is honesty +everywhere, and you will find a good deal of it on the turf, if you +know where to look for it; and its value is in proportion to its +quantity. The moment you depart a hair's-breadth from its immaculate +principle there is no medium state between that and roguery. + +However, be that as it may, I was once the owner of a pedigree +thoroughbred called Dreadnought, which was presented to me when +a colt. Dreadnought's dam Collingwood was by Muley Moloch out of +Barbelle. Dreadnought was good for nothing as a racer, and had broken +down in training. As a castaway he was offered to me, and I gladly +accepted the present. + +As he was too young to work, I sent him down to ---- Park, to be kept +till he was fit for use. He was there for a considerable time, and was +then sent back in a neglected and miserable condition. + +I rode him for some time, until one day he took me to Richmond Park, +and on going up the hill fell and cut both his knees to pieces and +mine as well. This was a sad mishap, and, of course, I could have no +further confidence in poor Dreadnought, fond of him as I was; so he +was placed under the care of a skilful veterinary surgeon, who gave +him every attention. His bill was by no means heavy, and he brought +him quite round again. + +In the course of time he acquired a respectable appearance, although +his broken knees, to say nothing of his "past," prevented his becoming +valuable so far as I was concerned. Certainly I had no expectation of +his ever going on to the turf. How could one believe that any owner +would think of entering him for a race? + +One morning my groom came to me and said, "I think, sir, I can find a +purchaser for Dreadnought, if you have no objection to selling him; +he's a gentleman, sir, who would take great care of him and give him a +good home." + +"Sell him!" said I. "Well, I should not object if he found a good +master. I cannot ride him, and he is practically useless. What price +does he seem inclined to offer?" + +"Well, he ain't made any offer, sir; but he seems a good deal took +with him and to like the look of him. Perhaps, sir, he might come and +see you. I told him that I thought a matter o' _fifteen pun_ might buy +un. I dunnow whether I did right, sir, but I told un you would never +take a farden less. I stuck to that." + +"No," said I, "certainly not, when the vet.'s bill was twelve pounds +ten--not a farthing less, James." + +When the proposed purchaser came, he said, "It's a poor horse--a very +poor horse; he wants a lot of looking after, and I shouldn't think of +buying him except for the sake of seeing what I could do with him, for +I am not fond of lumber, Mr. Hawkins--I don't care for lumber." + +It was straightforward, but I did not at the time see his depth of +feeling. He was evidently intending to buy him out of compassion, as +he had some knowledge of his ancestors. But I stuck to my fifteen +pounds hard and fast, and at last he said, "Well, Mr. Hawkins, I'll +give you all you ask, if so be you'll throw in the saddle and bridle!" + +I was tired of the negotiations, and yielded; so away went poor +Dreadnought with his saddle and bridle, never for me to look on again. +I was sorry to part with him, and the more so because his life had +been unfortunate. But I was deceived in him as well as in his new +master. From me he had concealed his merits, only to reveal them, as +is often the case with latent genius, when some accidental opportunity +offered. + +At that time Bromley in Kent was a central attraction for a great many +second-class patrons of the sporting world. I know little about the +events that were negotiated at Bromley and other small places of +the kind, but there was, as I have been informed, a good deal of +blackguardism and pickpocketing on its course and in its little +primitive streets--lucky if you came out of them with only one black +eye. They would steal the teeth out of your mouth if you did not keep +it shut and your eyes open. + +However, Bromley races came on some time after the sale of my +Dreadnought.... The next morning my groom came with a look of +astonishment that seemed to have kept him awake all night, and said,-- + +"You'll be surprised to hear, sir, that our 'oss has won a fifty-pound +prize at Bromley, and a pot of money besides in bets for his owner." + +"Won a prize!" said I. "Was it by standing on his head?" + +"Won a _race_, sir." + +"Then it must have been a walk-over." + +"Oh no, sir; he beat the cracks, beat the favourites, and took in all +the knowing ones. I always said there was something about that there +'oss, sir, that I didn't understand and nobody couldn't understand, +sir." + +I was absolutely dumbfounded, knowing very little about "favourites" +or "cracks." My groom I knew I could rely upon, for he always seemed +to be the very soul of honour. I thought at first he might have been +misled in some Bromley taproom, but afterwards found that it was all +true--he had heard it from the owner himself, in whom the public +seemed to place confidence, for they laid very long odds against +Dreadnought. + +The animal was famous, but not in that name; he had, like most honest +persons, an alias. How he achieved his victory is uncertain; one +thing, however, is certain--it must have been a startling surprise +to Dreadnought to find himself in a race at all, and still more +astonishing to find himself in front. + +"How many ran?" I asked. + +"Three, sir; two of 'em crack horses." + +At this time I took little interest in pedigrees, and knew nothing +of the "cracks," so the names of those celebrated animals which +Dreadnought had beaten are forgotten. One of them, it appeared, had +been heavily backed at 9 to 4, but Dreadnought did not seem to care +for that; he ran, not on his public form, but on his merits. My eyes +were opened at last, and the whole mystery was solved when James told +me that _all three horses belonged to the same owner_! + +From that time to this I never heard what became of Dreadnought, and +never saw the man who bought him, even in the dock. It is strange, +however, that animals so true and faithful as dogs and horses should +be instruments so perverted as to make men liars and rogues; while for +intelligence many of them could give most of us pounds and pass us +easily at the winning-post. + +Speaking of dogs reminds me of dog-stealers and _their_ ways, of which +some years ago I had a curious experience. I have told the story +before, but it has become altered, and the true one has never been +heard since. Indeed, no story is told correctly when its copyright is +infringed. + +There was a man at the time referred to known as old Sam Linton, the +most extraordinary dog-fancier who ever lived, and the most curious +thing about him was that he always fancied other people's dogs to his +own. He was a remarkable dog-_finder_, too. In these days of dogs' +homes the services of such a man as Linton are not so much in request; +but he was a home in himself, and did a great deal of good in his way +by restoring lost dogs to their owners; so that it became almost a +common question in those days, when a lady lost her pet, to ask if she +had made any inquiry of old Sam Linton. He was better than the wise +woman who indicated in some mysterious jargon where the stolen watch +might or might not be found in the distant future, for old Sam +_brought_ you the very dog on a _specified day_! The wise woman never +knew where the lost property was; old Sam did. + +I dare say he was a great blackguard, but as he has long joined the +majority, it is of no consequence. There was one thing I admired about +Sam: there was a thorough absence in him of all hypocrisy and cant. He +professed no religion whatever, but acted upon the principle that a +bargain was a bargain, and should be carried out as between man and +man. That was his idea, and as I found him true to it, I respected him +accordingly, and mention his name as one of the few genuinely honest +men I have met. + +The way I made his acquaintance was singular. I was dining with my +brother benchers at the Middle Temple Hall, when a message was brought +that a gentleman would like to see me "partickler" after dinner, if I +could give him a few minutes. + +When I came out of the hall, there was a man looking very like a +burglar. His dress, or what you should call his "get-up," is worth a +momentary glance. He had a cat-skin cap in his hand about as large +as a frying-pan, and nearly of the same colour--this he kept turning +round and round first with one hand, then with both--a pea-jacket with +large pearl buttons, corduroy breeches, a kind of moleskin waistcoat, +and blucher shoes. He impressed one in a moment as being fond of +drink. On one or two occasions I found this quality of great service +to me in matters relating to the discovery of lost dogs. Drink, no +doubt, has its advantages to those who do not drink. + +"Muster Orkins, sir," said he, "beggin' your pardon, sir, but might I +have a word with you, Muster Orkins, if it ain't a great intrusion, +sir?" + +I saw my man at once, and showed him that I understood business. + +"You are Sam Linton?" + +It took his breath away. He hadn't much, but poor old Sam did not +like to part with it. In a very husky voice, that never seemed to get +outside his mouth, he said,-- + +"_Yus, sur_; that's it, Mr. Orkins." Then he breathed, "Yer 'onner, +wot I means to say is this--" + +"What do you want, Linton? Never mind what you mean to say; I know +you'll never say it." + +"Well, Mr. Orkins, sir, ye see it is as this: you've lost a little +dorg. Well, you'll say, 'How do you know that 'ere, Sam?' 'Well, sir,' +I says, ''ow don't I know it? Ain't you bin an' offered _fourteen pun_ +for that there leetle dorg? Why, it's knowed dreckly all round Mile +End--the werry 'ome of lorst dorgs--and that there dorg, find him when +you wool, why, he ain't worth more'n _fourteen bob_, sir.' Now, 'ow +d'ye 'count for that, sir?" + +"You've seen him, then?" + +"Not I," says Sam, unmoved even by a twitch; "but I knows a party as +'as, and it ain't likely, Mr. Orkins, as you'll get 'im by orferin' +a price like that, for why? Why, it stands to reason--don't it, Mr. +Orkins?--it ain't the _dorg_ you're payin' for, but _your feelins_ as +these 'ere wagabonds is _tradin' on, Mr. Orkins_; that's where it is. +O sir, it's abominable, as I tells 'em, keepin' a gennelman's dorg." + +I was perfectly thunderstruck with the man's philosophy and good +feeling. + +"Go on, Mr. Linton." + +"Well, Mr. Orkins, they knows--damn 'em!--as your feelins ull make you +orfer more and more, for who knows that there dorg might belong _to a +lidy_, and then _her_ feelins has to be took into consideration. +I'll tell 'ee now, Mr. Orkins, how this class of wagabond works, for +wagabonds I must allow they be. Well, they meets, let's say, at a +public, and one says to another, 'I say, Bill,' he says, 'that there +dawg as you found 'longs to Lawyer Orkins; he's bloomin' fond o' +dawgs, is Lawyer Orkins, so they say, and he can pay for it.' 'Right +you are,' says Bill, 'and a d---- lawyer _shall_ pay for it. He makes +us pay when we wants him, and now we got him we'll make him pay.' So +you see, Mr. Orkins, where it is, and whereas the way to do it is to +say to these fellers--I'll just suppose, sir, I'm you and you're me, +sir; no offence, I hope--'Well, I wants the dawg back.' Well, they +says; leastways, I ses, ses I,-- + +"'Lawyer Orkins, you lost a dawg, 'ave yer?' + +"'Yes,' ses you, 'I have,' like a gennelman--excuse my imitation, +sir--' and I don't _keer a damn for the whelp_!' That's wot you orter +say. 'He's only a bloomin' mongrel.'" + +"Very good; what am I to say next, Mr. Linton?" + +"'Don't yer?' says the tother feller; 'then what the h---- are yer +looken arter him for?' + +"'Well,' you ses, Mr. Orkins, 'you can go to h----. I don't keer for +the dawg; he ain't my fancy.'" + +"A proper place for the whole lot of you, Sam." + +"But, excuse me, Mr. Orkins, sir, that's for future occasions. This +'ere present one, in orferin' fourteen pun, you've let the cat out o' +the bag, and what I could ha' done had you consulted me sooner I can't +do now; I could ha' got him for a _fi'-pun note_ at one time, but +they've worked on your feelins, and, mark my words, they'll want +_twenty pun_ as the price o' that there dawg, as sure as my name's Sam +Linton. That's all I got to say, Mr. Orkins, and I thought I'd come +and warn yer like a man--he's got into bad hands, that there dawg." + +"I am much obliged, Mr. Linton; you seem to be a +straightforward-dealing man." + +"Well, sir, I tries to act upright and downstraight; and, as I ses, +if a man only does that he ain't got nothin' to fear, 'as he, Muster +Orkins?" + +"When can I have him, Sam?" + +"Well, sir, you can have him--let me see--Monday was a week, when you +lost him; next Monday'll be another week, when I found him; that'll be +a fortnit. Suppose we ses next Tooesday week?" + +"Suppose we say to-morrow." + +"Oh!" said Sam, "then I thinks you'll be sucked in! The chances are, +Mr. Orkins, you won't see him at all. Why, sir, you don't know how +them chaps carries on their business. Would you believe it, Mr. +Orkins, a gennelman comes to me, and he ses, 'Sam,' he ses, 'I want to +find a little pet dawg as belonged to a lidy'--which was his wife, in +course--and he ses the lidy was nearly out of her mind. 'Well,' I ses, +'sir, to be 'onest with you, don't you mention that there fact to +anybody but me'--because when a lidy goes out of her mind over a lorst +dawg up goes the price, and you can't calculate bank-rate, as they +ses. The price'll go up fablous, Mr. Orkins; there's nothin' rules the +market like that there. Well, at last I agrees to do my best for the +gent, and he says, just as you might say, Mr. Orkins, just now, 'When +can she have him?' Well, I told him the time; but what a innercent +question, Mr. Orkins! 'Why not before?' says he, with a kind of a +angry voice, like yours just now, sir. 'Why, sir,' I ses, 'these +people as finds dawgs 'ave their feelins as well as losers 'as theirs, +and sometimes when they can't find the owner, they sells the animal.' +Well, they sold this gennelman's animal to a major, and the reason why +he couldn't be had for a little while was that the major, being fond +on him, and 'avin' paid a good price for the dawg, it would ha' been +cruel if he did not let him have the pleasure of him like for a few +days--or a week." + +Sam and I parted the best of friends, and, I need not say, on the best +of terms I could get. I knew him for many years after this incident, +and say to his credit that, although he was sometimes hard with +customers, he acted, from all one ever heard, strictly in accordance +with the bargain he made, whatever it might be; and what is more +singular than all, I never heard of old Sam Linton getting into +trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WHY I GAVE OVER CARD-PLAYING. + + +Like most men who are not saints, I had the natural instinct for +gambling, without any passion for it; but soon found the necessity for +suppressing my inclination for cards, lest it should interfere with my +legitimate profession. It was necessary to abandon the indulgence, or +abandon myself to its temptations. + +I owe my determination never to play again at cards to the bad luck +which befell me on a particular occasion at Ascot on the Cup Day of +the year 18--. I was at that time struggling to make my way in my +profession, and carefully storing up my little savings for the +proverbial rainy day. + +Having been previously to the Epsom summer races, and had such +extraordinary good luck, nothing but a severe reverse would have +induced me to take the step I did. Good luck is fascinating, and +invariably leads us on, with bad luck sometimes close behind. + +I went to Epsom with my dear old friend Charley Wright, and we soon +set to work in one of the booths to make something towards our +fortunes at _rouge et noir_. The booth was kept by a man who +seemed--to me, at all events--to be the soul of honour. I had no +reason to speak otherwise than well of him, for I staked a half-crown +on the black, and won two half-crowns every time, or nearly every +time. + +I thought it a most excellent game, and with less of the element of +chance or skill in it than any game I ever played. My pockets were +getting stuffed with half-crowns, so that they bulged, and caused me +to wonder if I should be allowed to leave the racecourse alive, for +there were many thieves who visited the Downs in those days. + +But my friend Charley was with me, and I knew he would be a pretty +trustworthy fellow in a row. This, however, was but a momentary +thought, for I was too much engrossed in the game and in my good luck +to dwell on possibilities. Nor did I interest myself in Charley's +proceedings, but took it for granted that a game so propitious to me +was no less so to him. He was playing with several others; who or +what they were was of no moment to me. I pursued my game quietly, and +picked up my half-crowns with great gladness and with no concern for +those who had lost them. + +Presently, however, my attention was momentarily diverted by hearing +Charley let off a most uncontrollable "D--n!" + +"What's the matter, Charley?" I asked, without lifting my head. + +"Matter!" says Charley; "rooked--that's all!" + +"Rooked! That's very extraordinary. I'm winning like anything. Look +here!" and I pointed to my pockets, which were almost bursting. + +"Yes," said he, "I see how it is: you've been winning on twos to one, +and I've been losing on threes." + +"Black's the winning colour to-day, Charley--_noir_; you should have +backed _noir_. Besides, long odds are much too risky. I am quite +content with two to one." + +Here there was a general break-up of the party, because Charley being +out of it as well as several others, it left only one, and, of course, +the keeper of the booth was not so foolish, however honourable, to pay +me two half-crowns and win only one. So there it ended. + +That night I made this game a study, and the sensible conclusion came +to me that if you would take advantage of the table you should play +for the lower stakes, because you have a better chance of winning than +those who play high. At least, that was the result of my policy; for +while those who played high were ruined, my pockets were filled, and, +by that cautious mode of playing, I was so lucky that, had there been +enough at threes to one, I could have kept on making money as long as +they had any to lose. + +I changed my half-crowns with the booth-keeper for gold, and reached +my chambers safely with the spoil. And how pleasant it was to count +it! + +It has occurred to me since that the keeper of the booth had carefully +noted my proceedings (such was my innocence), and that he made his +calculations for a future occasion. One thing he was quite sure +of--namely, that he would see me again on the first opportunity there +was of winning more half-crowns. + +It is possible that a succession of runs of luck might have put an end +to my professional career; it is certain that the opposite result put +an end to my card-playing aspirations. + +In about a fortnight, all eager for a renewal of my Epsom experience, +I went down to the Ascot meeting, taking with me not only all my +previous winnings, but my store of savings for the rainy day, and was +determined to pursue the same moderate system of cautious play. + +There was the same booth, the same little flag fluttering on the top, +and the same obliging proprietor. He recognized me at once, and looked +as if he was quite sure I would be there--as if, in fact, he had been +waiting for me. After a pleasant greeting and a few friendly words, I +thought it a little odd that a man should be so glad to meet one who +had come to fill his pockets at the booth-keeper's expense--at least, +I thought this afterwards, not at the time. He looked genuinely +pleased, and down I sat once more, quite sure that two to one would +beat three. + +The proprietor kept his eye on my play in a very thoughtful manner, +nor was it surprising that he knew his game as well as I; in fact, it +turned out that he knew it better. To this day I am unable to explain +how he manoeuvred it, how he adjusted his tactics to counteract mine; +but that something happened more than mere luck would account for was +certain, for, as often as the half-crown went on black, red was the +lucky colour. But I persevered on black because it had been my friend +at Epsom, and down went the half-crowns, to be swept up by the keeper +of the booth. I cannot even now explain how it was done. + +Intending to make a good day's work and gather a rich harvest, I +took with me every shilling I had in the world--not only my previous +winnings, but my hard-earned savings at the Bar. I began to lose, but +went on playing, in the vain hope--the worst hope of the gambler--of +retrieving what I had lost and recovering my former luck. But it was +not to be; the table was against me. I forsook my loyalty to black and +laid on red. Alas! red was no better friend. I lost again, and knew +now that all my Epsom winnings had found their way once more into the +keeper's pocket. A fortnight's loan was all I had of them. It was a +pity they had not been given to some charity. But I kept on bravely +enough, and did not despair or leave off while I had a half-crown +left. That half-crown, however, was soon raked up with the rest into +the keeper's bag. + +I was bankrupt, with nothing in my pocket but twopence and a return +ticket from Paddington. + +Hopeless and helpless, I had learnt a lesson--a lesson you can only +learn in the school of experience. + +I little thought then that the only certain winner at the gaming-table +is _the table itself_, and made up my mind as I walked alone and +disappointed through Windsor Park, on my way to the station, that I +would never touch a card again--and I never did. + +For the first time since setting out in the morning I felt hungry, and +bought a pennyworth of apples at a little stall kept by an old woman, +and a bottle of ginger-beer. Such was my frugal meal; and thus +sustained I tramped on, my return ticket being my only possession in +the world. I reached Paddington with a sorry heart, and walked to the +Temple, my good resolution my only comfort; but it was all-sufficient +for the occasion and for all time to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"CODD'S PUZZLE." + + +Having somewhat succeeded in my practice at Quarter Sessions, I +enlarged my field of adventure by attending the Old Bailey, hoping, of +course, to obtain some briefs at that court; and although I abandoned +the practice as a rule, I was, in after-life, on many occasions +retained to appear in cases which are still fresh in my memory. I was +with Edwin James, who was counsel for Mr. Bates, one of the partners +of Strahan and Sir John Dean Paul, bankers of the Strand, and who +were sentenced to fourteen years' transportation for fraudulently +misappropriating securities of their customers. I was counsel for a +young clerk to Leopold Redpath, the notorious man who was transported +for extensive forgeries upon the Great Northern Railway. The clerk was +justly acquitted by the jury. + +My recollection of this period brings back many curious defences, +which illustrate the school of advocacy in which I studied. Whether +they contributed to my future success, I do not know, but that they +afforded amusement is proved by my remembering them at all. + +Hertford and St. Albans were my chief places, my earliest attachments, +and are amongst my pleasantest memories. It seems childish to think of +them as scenes of my struggles, for when I come to look back I had +no struggles at all. I was merely practising like a cricketer at the +nets; there was nothing to struggle for except a verdict when it would +not come without some effort. + +But dear old Codd was the man to struggle. He struggled and wriggled; +tie him up as tightly as you could, you saw him fighting to get free, +as he did in the following great duck case. He was a very amiable old +barrister, a fast talker--so fast that he never stayed to pronounce +his words--and of an ingenuity that ought to have been applied to some +better purpose, such as the making of steam-engines or writing novels, +rather than defending thieves. He reminded me on this occasion of the +man in the circus who rode several horses at a time. In the case I +allude to, he set up no less than _seven defences_ to account for the +unhappy duck's finding its way into his client's pocket, and the charm +of them all was their variety. Inconsistency was not the word to apply +reproachfully. Inconsistency was Codd's merit. He was like a conjurer +who asks you to name a card, and as surely as you do so you draw it +from the pack. + +This particular duck case was known long after as "Codd's Puzzle." + +"First," says Codd, "my client bought the duck and paid for it." + +He was not the man to be afraid of being asked where. + +"Second," says Codd, "my client found it; thirdly, it had been given +to him; fourthly, it flew into his garden; fifthly, he was asleep, and +some one put it into his pocket." And so the untiring and ingenious +Codd proceeded making his case unnaturally good. + +But the strange thing was that, instead of sweeping him away with a +touch of ridicule, the young advocate argued the several defences one +after the other with great dialectical skill, so that the jury became +puzzled; and if the defence had not been so extraordinarily good, +there would have been an acquittal forthwith. + +There had been such a bewildering torrent of arguments that presently +Codd's head began to swim, and he shrugged his shoulders, meaning +thereby that it was the most puzzling case _he_ had ever had anything +to do with. + +At last it became a question whether, amidst these conflicting +accounts, there ever was any duck at all. Codd had not thought of that +till some junior suggested it, and then he was asked by the Marquis +of Salisbury, our chairman, whether there was any particular line of +defence he wished to suggest. + +"No," says Codd, "not in particular; my client wished to make a clean +breast of it, and put them all before the jury; and I should be much +obliged if those gentlemen will adopt any one of them."[A] + +The jury acquitted the prisoner, not because they chose any particular +defence, but because they did not know which to choose, and so gave +the prisoner the benefit of the doubt. + +The client was happy, and Codd famous. + +[Footnote A: Sixty years after this event, in the reply in the great +Tichborne case, Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., quoted this very defence as an +illustration of the absurdity of the suggestion that one of several +_Ospreys_ picked up Sir Roger Tichborne--as will hereafter appear.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GRAHAM, THE POLITE JUDGE. + + +Just before my time the punishment of death was inflicted for almost +every offence of stealing which would now be thought sufficiently +dealt with by a sentence of a week's imprisonment. The struggle to +turn King's evidence was great, and it was almost a competitive +examination to ascertain who knew most about the crime; and he, being +generally the worst of the gang, was accepted accordingly. + +I remember when I was a child three men, named respectively Marshall, +Cartwright, and Ingram, were charged with having committed a burglary +in the house of a gentleman named Pym, who lived in a village in +Hertfordshire, Marshall being at that time, and Cartwright having +previously been, butler in the gentleman's service. Ingram had been a +footman in London. + +The burglary was not in itself of an aggravated character. Plate only +was stolen, and that had been concealed under the gravel bed of a +little rivulet which ran through the grounds. + +No violence or threat of violence had been offered to any inmate of +the house, yet the case was looked upon as serious because of the +position of trust which had been held by the two butlers. + +Ingram was admitted as King's evidence. The butlers were convicted, +sentenced to death, and hanged, whilst Ingram was, according to +universal practice, set at liberty. Before the expiration of a +year, however, he was convicted of having stolen a horse, and as +horse-stealing was a capital offence at that time, he suffered the +penalty of death at Hereford. + +It was a curious coincidence that only a year or two afterwards a man +named Probert, who had given King's evidence upon which the notorious +Thurtell and Hunt were convicted of the brutal murder of Weare +and executed, was also released, and within a year convicted of +horse-stealing and hanged. + +An old calendar for the Assize at Lincoln, which I give as an +Appendix, reminds me of the condition of the law and of its victims +at that time. At every assize it was like a tiger let loose upon +the district. If a man escaped the gallows, he was lucky, while the +criminals were by no means the hardened ruffians who had been trained +in the school of crime; they were mostly composed of the most ignorant +rural labourers--if, indeed, in those days there were any degrees of +ignorance, when to be able to read a few words by spelling them was +considered a prodigious feat. + +Jurors often endeavoured to mitigate the terrors of the law by finding +that the stolen property, however valuable it might be, was of less +value than five shillings. May the recording angel "drop a tear over +this record of perjury and blot it out for ever." + +It was in those days that Mr. Justice Graham was called upon to +administer the law, and on one occasion particularly he vindicated his +character for courtesy to all who appeared before him. He was a man +unconscious of humour and yet humorous, and was not aware of the +extreme civility which he exhibited to everybody and upon all +occasions, especially to the prisoner. + +People went away with a sense of gratitude for his kindness, and when +he sentenced a batch of prisoners to death he did it in a manner that +might make any one suppose, if he did not know the facts, that they +had been awarded prizes for good conduct. + +He was firm, nevertheless--a great thing in judges, if not accompanied +with weakness of mind. I may add that there was a singular precision +in his mode of expression as well as in his ideas. + +At a country assize, where he was presiding in the Crown Court, a +man was indicted for murder. He pleaded "Not guilty." The evidence +contained in the depositions was terribly clear, and, of course, the +judge, who had perused them, was aware of it. + +The case having been called on for trial, counsel for the prosecution +applied for a postponement on the ground of the absence of a most +material witness for the Crown. + +I should mention that in those days counsel were not allowed to speak +for the prisoner, but the judge was always in theory supposed to watch +the case on his behalf. In the absence of a _material_ witness the +prisoner would be acquitted. + +The learned Mr. Justice Graham asked the accused if he had any +objection to the case being postponed until the next assizes, on the +ground, as the prosecution had alleged, that their most material +witness could not be produced. His lordship put the case as somewhat +of a misfortune for the prisoner, and made it appear that it would be +postponed, if he desired it, as a favour to _him_. + +Notwithstanding the judge's courteous manner of putting it, the +prisoner most strenuously objected to any postponement. It was not +for him to oblige the Crown at the expense of a broken neck, and he +desired above all things to be tried in accordance with law. He stood +there on his "jail delivery." + +Graham was firm, but polite, and determined to grant the postponement +asked for. In this he was doubtless right, for the interests of +justice demanded it. But to soften down the prisoner's disappointment +and excuse the necessity of his further imprisonment, his lordship +addressed him in the following terms, and in quite a sympathetic +manner:-- + +"Prisoner, I am extremely sorry to have to detain you in prison, but +_common humanity_ requires that I should not let you be tried in the +absence of an important witness for the prosecution, although at +the same time I can quite appreciate your desire to have your case +speedily disposed of; one does not like a thing of this sort hanging +over one's head. But now, for the sake of argument, prisoner, suppose +I were to try you to-day in the absence of that material witness, and +yet, contrary to your expectations, they were to find you guilty. What +then? Why, in the absence of that material witness, I should have to +sentence you to be hanged on Monday next. That would be a painful +ordeal for both of us. + +"But now let us take the other alternative, and let us suppose that if +your trial had been put off, and the material witness, when called, +could prove something in your favour--this sometimes happens--and that +that something induced the jury to acquit you, what a sad thing that +would be! It would not signify to you, because you would have been +hanged, and would be dead!" + +Here his lordship paused for a considerable time, unable to suppress +his emotion, but, having recovered himself, continued,-- + +"But you must consider what my feelings would be when I thought I had +hanged an innocent man!" + +At the next assizes the man was brought up, the material witness +appeared; the prisoner was found guilty, and hanged. + +The humane judge's feelings were therefore spared. + +At the Old Bailey he was presiding during a sessions which was rather +light for the times, there being less than a score left for execution +under sentence of death. There were, in fact, only sixteen, most of +them for petty thefts. + +His lordship, instead of reading the whole of the sixteen names, +omitted one, and read out only fifteen. He then politely, and with +exquisite precision and solemnity, exhorted them severally to prepare +for the awful doom that awaited them the following Monday, and +pronounced on each the sentence of death. + +They left the dock. + +After they were gone the jailer explained to his lordship that there +had been _sixteen_ prisoners capitally convicted, but that his +lordship had omitted the name of one of them, and he would like to +know what was to be done with him. + +"What is the prisoner's name?" asked Graham. + +"John Robins, my lord." + +"Oh, bring John Robins back--by all means let John Robins step +forward. I am obliged to you." + +The culprit was once more placed at the Bar, and Graham, addressing +him in his singularly courteous manner, said apologetically,-- + +"John Robins, I find I have accidentally omitted your name in my list +of prisoners doomed to execution. It was quite accidental, I assure +you, and I ask your pardon for my mistake. I am very sorry, and can +only add that you will be hanged with the rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GLORIOUS OLD DAYS--THE HON. BOB GRIMSTON, AND MANY +OTHERS--CHICKEN-HAZARD. + + +The old glories of the circuit days vanished with stage-coaches and +post-chaises. If you climbed on to the former for the sake of economy +because you could not afford to travel in the latter, you would be +fined at the circuit mess, whose notions of propriety and economy were +always at variance. + +Those who obtained no business found it particularly hateful to keep +up the foolish appearance of having it by means of a post-chaise. You +might not ride in a public vehicle, or dine at a public table, or +put up at an inn for fear of falling in with attorneys and obtaining +briefs from them surreptitiously. The Home Circuit was very strict +in these respects, but it was the cheapest circuit to travel in the +kingdom, so that its members were numerous and, I need not say, +various in mind, manner, and position. + +But it was a circuit of brilliant men in my young days. Many of them +rose to eminence both in law and in Parliament. It was a time, indeed, +when, if judges made law, law made judges. + +I should like to say a word or two about those times and the necessary +studies to be undergone by those who aspired to eminence. + +In the days of my earliest acquaintance with the law, an ancient order +of men, now almost, if not quite, extinct, called Special Pleaders, +existed, who, after having kept the usual number of terms--that is to +say, eaten the prescribed number of dinners in the Inn of Court to +which they belonged--became qualified, on payment of a fee of £12, to +take out a Crown licence to plead under the Bar. This enabled them to +do all things which a barrister could do that did not require to be +transacted in court. They drew pleadings, advised and took pupils. + +Some of them practised in this way all their lives and were never +called. Others grew tired of the drudgery, and were called to the Bar, +where they remained _junior_ barristers as long as they lived, old age +having no effect upon their status. Some were promoted to the ancient +order of Serjeants-at-Law, or were appointed her Majesty's Counsel, +while some of the Serjeants received from the Crown patents of +precedence with priority over all Queen's Counsel appointed after +them, and with the privilege of wearing a silk gown and a Queen's +Counsel wig. + +There was, however, this difference between a Queen's Counsel and +the holder of a Patent of Precedence: that the former, having been +appointed one of her Majesty's Counsel, could not thenceforth appear +without special licence under the sign-manual of the Queen to defend a +prisoner upon a criminal charge. The Serjeant-at-Law is as rare now as +a bustard. + +I mention these old-fashioned times and studies, not because of their +interest at the present day, but because they produced such men as +Littledale, Bayley, Parke (afterwards Lord Wensleydale), Alderson, +Tindal, Patteson, Wightman, Crompton, Vaughan Williams, James, Willes, +and, later, Blackburn. + +The contemplation of these legal giants, amongst whom my career +commenced, somewhat checked the buoyant impulse which had urged me +onward at Quarter Sessions, but at the same time imparted a little +modest desire to imitate such incomparable models. Those of them who +were selected from the junior Bar were good examples of men whose vast +knowledge of law was acquired in the way I have indicated, and who +were chosen on their merits alone. + +But even these successful examples, however encouraging to the +student, were, nevertheless, not ill-calculated to make a young +barrister whose income was small, and sometimes, as in my case, by no +means _assured_ to him, sicken at the thought that, study as he liked, +years might pass, and probably would, before a remunerative practice +came to cheer him. Perhaps it would never come at all, and he would +become, like so many hundreds of others of his day and ours, a +hopeless failure. All were competitors for the briefs and even the +smiles of solicitors; for without their favour none could succeed, +although he might unite in himself all the qualities of lawyer and +advocate. + +The prospect was not exhilarating for any one who had to perform the +drudgery of the first few years of a junior's life; nevertheless, +I was not cast down by the mere apprehension, or rather the mere +possibility of failure, for when I looked round on my competitors I +was encouraged by the thought that dear old Woollet knew more about a +rate appeal than Littledale himself, while old Peter Ryland, with his +inimitable Saxon, was quite as good at the irremovability of a pauper +as Codd was in accounting for the illegal removal of a duck, and both +in their several branches of knowledge more learned than Alderson or +Bayley. But here I was, launched on that wide sea in which I was "to +sink or swim," and, as I preferred the latter, I struck out with a +resolute breast-stroke, and, as I have said, never failed to keep my +head above water. It was some satisfaction to know that, if the judges +were so learned, there was yet more learning to come; much yet to come +down from, the old table-land of the Common Law, and much more from +the inexhaustible fountain of Parliament. + +The Quarter Sessions Court was the arena of my first eight years of +professional life. I watched and waited with unwearied attention, +never without hope, but often on the very verge of despair, of +ever making any progress which would justify my choosing it as a +profession. My greatest delight, perhaps, was the obtaining an +acquittal of some one whose guilt nobody could doubt. All the struggle +of those times was the fight for the "one three six," and the hardest +effort of my life was the most valuable, because it gave me the key +which opened the door to many depositories of unexplored wealth. + +There were many men who outlived their life, and others who never +lived their lives at all; many men who did nothing, and many more who +would almost have given their lives to do something. + +There was, however, one man of those days whom I cannot here pass +over, as he remained my companion and friend to his life's end, and +will be remembered by me with affection and reverence to the end of my +own. It was old Bob Grimston, whom I first met at the benefit of "the +Spider," one of the famous prize-fighters of the time. The Hon. +Bob Grimston was known in the sporting world as one of its most +enthusiastic supporters, and acknowledged as one of the best men in +saddle or at the wicket. But Bob was not only a sportsman--he was a +gentleman of the finest feeling you could meet, and the keenest sense +of honour. + +Having thus spoken of some of the eminent men of my early days, I +would like to mention a little incident that occurred before I had +fairly settled down to practise, or formed any serious intention as to +the course I should pursue--that is to say, whether I should remain a +sessions man like Woollet, or become a master of Saxon like old Peter +Ryland, a sportsman like Bob Grimston, or a cosmopolitan like Rodwell, +so as to comprehend all that came in my way. I chose the latter, for +the simple reason that in principle I loved what in these days would +be called "the open door," and received all comers, even sometimes +entertaining solicitors unawares. + +Accordingly I laid myself open to the attention of kind friends and +people whose manner of life was founded on the Christian principle of +being "given to hospitality." + +But before I come to the particular incident I wish to describe, I +must briefly mention a remarkable case that was tried in the Queen's +Bench, and which necessarily throws me back a year or two in my +narrative. + +It was a case known as "Boyle and Lawson," and the incident it reveals +will give an idea of the state of society of that day. I am not sure +whether it differs in many respects from that of the present, except +in so far as its _honour_ is concerned, for what was looked upon then +as a flagrant outrage on public morality is now regarded as an error +of judgment, or a mistake occasioned by some fortuitous combination +of unconsidered circumstances. Such is the value in literature and +argument of long words without meaning. + +However, the action was brought against the proprietors of the _Times_ +newspaper for libel. The libel consisted in the statement that the +respectable plaintiff--a lady--had conspired with persons unknown to +obtain false letters of credit for large sums of money. + +The hospitable friends I refer to lived in excellent style in Norwich. +How they had attained their social distinction I am unable to say, but +they were, in fact, in the "very best set," which in Norwich was by no +means the fastest. + +I was travelling at this time with Charles Willshire and his brother +Thomas, who was a mere youth. There was also an undergraduate of +Cambridge of the name of Crook with us, and another who had joined our +party for a few days' ramble. + +We were enjoying ourselves in the old city of Norwich as only youth +can, when we received an invitation to pass an evening in a very +fashionable circle. How the invitation came I could not tell, but +we made no inquiry and accepted it. Arrived at the house, which was +situated in the most aristocratic neighbourhood that Norwich could +boast, we found ourselves in the most agreeable society we could +wish to meet. This was a group of exalted and fashionable personages +arrayed in costumes of the superb Prince Regent style. Nothing could +exceed this party in elegance of costume or manners. You could tell +at once they were, as it was then expressed, "of the quality." Their +cordiality was equalled only by their courtesy, and had we been +princes of the blood we could not have received a more polite welcome. +There was an elegance, too, about the house, and a refinement which +coincided with the culture of the hosts and guests. Altogether it was +one of the most agreeable parties I had ever seen. There were several +gentlemen, all Prince Regents, and one sweet lady, charming in every +way, from the well-arranged blonde tresses to the neatest little shoe +that ever adorned a Cinderella foot. She was beautiful in person as +she was charming in manner. You saw at once that she moved in the best +Norwich society, and was the idol of it. Crook was perfectly amazed at +so much grace and splendour, but then he was much younger than any of +us. + +I don't think any one was so much smitten as Crook. We had seen more +of the world than he had--that is to say, more of the witness-box--and +if you don't see the world there, on its oath, you can see it nowhere +in the same unveiled deformity. + +We enjoyed ourselves very much. There was good music and a little +sweet singing, the lady being in that art, as in every other, well +trained and accomplished. If I was not altogether ravished with the +performance, Crook was. You could see that by the tender look of his +eyes. + +After the music, cards were introduced, and they commenced playing +_vingt-et-un_, Crook being the special favourite with everybody, +especially with the ladies. I believe much was due to the expression +of his eyes. + +As I had given up cards, I did not join in the game, but became more +and more interested in it as an onlooker. I was a little surprised, +however, to find that in a very short while, comparatively, our friend +Crook had lost £30 or £40; and as this was the greater part of his +allowance for travelling expenses, it placed him in a rather awkward +position. + +Some men travel faster when they have no money; this was not the case +with poor Crook, who travelled only by means of it. Alas, I thought, +_twenty-one_ and _vingt-et-un_! It was a serious matter, and the worse +because Crook was not a good loser: he lost his head and his temper as +well as his money; and I have ever observed through life that the man +who loses his temper loses himself and his friends. + +He was disgusted with his bad luck, but nurtured a desperate hope--the +forlorn hope that deceives all gamblers--that he should retrieve his +losses on some future occasion, which he eagerly looked for and, one +might say, demanded. + +The occasion was not far off; it was, in fact, nearer than +Crook anticipated. His pleasant manner and agreeable society at +_vingt-et-un_ procured us another invitation for the following night +but one, and of course we accepted it. It was a great change to me +from the scenery of the Elm Court chimney-pots. + +Whatever might be Crook's happily sanguine disposition and hope of +retrieving his luck, there was one thing which the calculator of +chances does not take into consideration in games of this kind. We, +visiting such cultured and fashionable people, would never for a +moment think so meanly of our friends; I mean the possibility of their +cheating, a word never mentioned in well-bred society. A suspicion of +such conduct, even, would be tantamount to treason, and a violation of +the rules that regulate the conduct of ladies and gentlemen. It was +far from all our thoughts, and the devil alone could entertain so +malevolent an idea. Be that as it may, as a matter of philosophy, the +onlooker sees most of the game, and as I was an onlooker this is what +I saw:-- + +The elegant lady _exchanged glances with one of the players while she +was looking over Crook's hand_! Crook was losing as fast as he could, +and no wonder. I was now in an awkward position. To have denounced our +hosts because I interpreted a lady's glances in a manner that made her +worse than a common thief might have produced unknown trouble. But I +kept my eye on the beautiful blonde, nevertheless, and became more +and more confirmed in my suspicions without any better opportunity of +declaring them. + +The charming well-bred lady thus communicating her knowledge of +Crook's cards, I need not say he was soon reduced to a state of +insolvency; and as the party was too exclusive and fashionable to +extend their hospitality to those who had not the means of paying, +it soon broke up, and we returned to our rooms, I somewhat wiser and +Crook a great deal poorer. + +Such was the adventure which came to my mind when I saw in the Queen's +Bench at Westminster the trial of "Boyle and Lawson" against the +_Times_ for calumnious insinuations against the character of a lady +and others, suggesting that they obtained false letters of credit to +enable them to cheat and defraud. + +_This_ was the select party which Norwich society had lionized--the +great unknown to whom we had been introduced, and where Crook had been +cheated out of his travelling-money! + +The lady was the fair plaintiff in this action, seeking for the +rehabilitation of her character; and she succeeded in effecting that +object so far as the outlay of one farthing would enable her to do so, +for that was all the jury gave her, and it was exactly that amount too +much. Her character was worth more to her in Crook's time. + +Speaking of a man running society on his fees--that is, endeavouring +to cope with the rich on the mere earnings of a barrister, however +large they may be--I have met with several instances which would have +preserved me from the same fate had I ever been cursed with such an +inclination. The number of successful men at the Bar who have been +ruined by worshipping the idol which is called "Society," and which is +perhaps a more disastrous deity to worship than any other, is legion. +This is one unhappy example, the only one I intend to give. + +While I was living in Bond Street, and working very hard, I had little +time and no inclination to lounge about amongst the socially great; I +had, indeed, no money to spend on great people. The entrance-fee into +the portals of the smart society temple is heavy, especially for a +working-man; and so found the bright particular star who had long held +his place amidst the splendid social galaxy, and then disappeared into +a deeper obscurity than that from which he had emerged, to be seen no +more for ever. + +He was a Queen's Counsel, a brilliant advocate in a certain line +of business, and a popular, agreeable, intellectual, and amusing +companion. He obtained a seat in Parliament, and a footing in Society +which made him one of its selected and principal lions. In every +Society paper, amongst its most fashionable intelligence, there was +he; and Society hardly seemed to be able to get along without him. + +One Sunday afternoon I was reading in my little room when this +agreeable member of the _élite_ called upon me. My astonishment was +great, because at that time of my career not only did I not receive +visitors, but _such_ a visitor was beyond all expectation, and I +wondered, when his name was announced, what could have brought him, he +so great and I comparatively nothing. It is true I had known him for +some time, but I knew him so little that I thought of him as a most +estimable great man whose career was leading him to the highest +distinction in his profession. + +Another extraordinary thing that struck me long after, but did not +at the time, was that the business he came upon made no particular +impression on my mind, any more than if it had been the most ordinary +thing in the world. That to me is still inexplicable. + +My visitor did not let troubles sit upon him, if troubles he ever had, +for he seemed to be in the highest spirits. Society kept him ever in a +state of effervescent hilarity, so that he never let anything trouble +him. At this time he was making at the Bar seven or eight thousand a +year, and consequently, I thought, must be the happiest of men. + +His manner was agreeable, and his face wore a smile of complacency at +variance with the nature of his errand, which he quickly took care to +make known by informing me that he was in a devil of a mess, and did +not know what he should do to get out of it. + +"Oh," I said quite carelessly, "you'll manage." And little did I think +I should be the means of fulfilling my own prophecy. + +"The fact is, my dear Hawkins," said the wily intriguer, for such he +was, "I'll tell you seriously how I stand. To-morrow morning I have +bills becoming due amounting to £1,250, and I want you to be good +enough to lend me that sum to enable me to meet them." + +I was perfectly astounded! This greatness to have come down to £1,250 +on the wrong side of the ledger. + +"I have no such amount," said I, "and never had anything like it at +my bank." I must say I pitied him, and began to wonder in what way I +_could_ help him. He was so really and good-naturedly in earnest, and +seemed so extremely anxious, that at last I said, "Well, I'll see what +I can do," and asked him to meet me in court the following morning, +when I would tell him whether I could help him or not. + +His gratitude was boundless; my kindness should never be +forgotten--no, as long as he lived! and if he had been addressing a +common jury he could not have used more flowers of speech or shed more +abundant tears to water them with. I was the best friend he had ever +had. And, as it seemed afterwards, very foolishly so, because he told +me he had not one farthing of security to offer for the loan. A man +who ought to have been worth from fifty to a hundred thousand pounds! + +However, I went to my bankers' and made arrangements to be provided +with the amount. I met him at the place of appointment, and was quite +surprised to see the change in his demeanour since the day before. +He was now apparently in a state of deeper distress than ever, and +thinking to soothe him, I said, "It's all right; you can have the +money!" + +Once more he overwhelmed me with the eloquence of a grateful heart, +but said it was of no use--no use whatever; that instead of £1,250 he +had other bills coming in, and unless they could all be met he might +just as well let the others go. + +"How much do you _really_ want to quite clear you?" I asked, with a +simplicity which astonishes me to this day. + +"Well," he said, "nothing is of the least use under £2,500." + +I was a little staggered, but, pitying his distress of mind, went once +more to my bankers' and made the further necessary arrangements. I +borrowed the whole amount at five per cent., and placed it to the +credit of this brilliant Queen's Counsel. + +The only terms I made with him on this new condition of things was +that he should, out of his incoming fees, pay my clerk £500 a quarter +until the whole sum was liquidated. This he might easily have done, +and this he arranged to do; but the next day he pledged the whole of +his prospective income to a Jew, incurred fresh liabilities, and left +me without a shadow of a chance of ever seeing a penny of my money +again. I need not say every farthing was lost, principal and interest. +I say interest, because it cost me five per cent, till the amount was +paid. + +His end was as romantic as his life, but it is best told in the words +of my old friend Charley Colman, who never spares colour when it is +necessary, and in that respect is an artist who resembles Nature. Thus +he writes:-- + +"What a coward at heart was ----! He allowed himself to be sat upon and +crushed without raising a hand or voice in his defence of himself. +When he returned from America he accepted a seat in ---- office--in +the office of the man who urged Lord ---- to prosecute him. + +"After your gift to him--a noble gift of £3,000--he called at my +chambers, spoke in high terms of your generosity, and wished all the +world to know it, so elated was he. I was to publish it far and wide. +He went away. In half an hour he returned, and begged me to keep the +affair secret. 'Too late,' said I. 'Several gentlemen have been here, +and to them I mentioned the matter, and begged them to spread it far +and wide.' His heart failed him when he thought he would be talked +about. + +"He was a kind-hearted fellow at times--generous to a fault, always +most abstemious; but he had a tongue, and one he did not try to +control. He used to say stinging things of people, knowing them to be +untrue. + +"What a life! What a terrible fate was his! Turned out of Parliament; +made to resign his Benchership; his gown taken from him by the +Benchers; driven to America by his creditors to get his living; not +allowed to practise in the Supreme Court in America. At forty-five +years of age his life had foundered. He returns to England--for what! +Simply to find his recklessness had blasted his life, and then--? + +"Sometimes, in spite of _all_, I feel a moisture in my eye when I +think of him. Had he been true to himself what a brilliant life was +open to him! What a practice he had! Up to the last he told me that he +turned £14,000 a year. He worked hard, very hard, and his gains went +to ---- or to chicken-hazard! Poor fellow!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PETER RYLAND--THE REV. MR. FAKER AND THE WELSH WILL. + + +I was retained at Hertford Assizes, with Peter Ryland as my leader, to +prosecute a man for perjury, which was alleged to have been committed +in an action in which a cantankerous man, who had once filled the +office of High Sheriff for the county, was the prosecutor. Wealthy and +disagreeable, he was nevertheless a henpecked tyrant. + +Mrs. Brown, his wife, was a witness for the prosecution in the alleged +perjury--which was unfortunate for her husband, because she had the +greatest knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the case; while +Mr. Brown had the best knowledge of the probable quality of his wife's +evidence. + +When we were in consultation and considering the nature of this +evidence, and arranging the best mode of presenting our case to the +jury, Brown interposed, and begged that Mr. Ryland should call Mrs. +Brown as the _last_ witness, instead of first, which was the proper +course. "Because," said he, "_if anything goes wrong during the trial +or anything is wanting, Mrs. Brown will be quite ready to mop it all +up_." + +This in a prosecution for _perjury_ was one of the boldest +propositions I had ever heard. + +I need not say that good Mrs. Brown was called, as she ought to have +been, first. The lady's mop was not in requisition at that stage of +the trial, and the jury decided against her. + +I was sometimes in the Divorce Court, and old Jack Holker was +generally my opponent. He was called "Long Odds." In one particular +case I won some _éclat_. It is not related on that account, however, +but simply in consequence of its remarkable incidents. No case is +interesting unless it is outside the ordinary stock-in-trade of the +Law Courts, and I think this was. + +The details are not worth telling, and I therefore pass them by. +Cresswell was the President, and the future President, Hannen, my +junior. + +We won a great victory through the remarkable over-confidence and +indiscretion of Edwin James, Q.C., who opposed us. James's client was +the husband of the deceased. By her will the lady had left him the +whole of her property, amounting to nearly £100,000. The case we set +up was that the wife had been improperly influenced by her husband in +making it, and that her mind was coerced into doing what she did not +intend to do, and so we sought to set aside the will on that ground. + +Edwin James had proved a very strong case on behalf of the validity of +the will. He had called the attesting witnesses, and they, respectable +gentlemen as they undoubtedly were, had proved all that was +necessary--namely, that the testator, notwithstanding that she was in +a feeble condition and almost at the last stage, was perfectly calm +and capable in mind and understanding--exactly, in fact, as a testator +ought to be who wills her property to her husband if he retains her +affection. + +The witnesses had been cross-examined by me, and nothing had +been elicited that cast the least doubt upon their character or +credibility. Had the matter been left where it was, the £100,000 would +have been secured. But James, whatever may have been his brilliance, +was wanting in tact. He would not leave well alone, but resolved to +call the Rev. Mr. Faker, a distinguished Dissenting minister. + +In fiction this gentleman would have appeared in the melodramatic +guise of a spangled tunic, sugar-loaf hat, with party-coloured +ribbons, purple or green breeches, and motley hose; but in the +witness-box he was in clerical uniform, a long coat and white cravat +with corresponding long face and hair, especially at the back of his +head. A soberer style of a stage bandit was never seen. He was just +the man for cross-examination, I saw at a glance--a fancy witness, +and, I believe, a Welshman. As he was a Christian warrior, I had to +find out the weak places in his armour. But little he knew of courts +of law and the penetrating art of cross-examination, which could make +a hole in the triple-plated coat of fraud, hypocrisy, and cunning. I +was in no such panoply. I fought only with my little pebblestone and +sling, but took good aim, and then the missile flew with well-directed +speed. + +I had to throw at a venture at first, because, happily, there were no +instructions how to cross-examine. Not that I should have followed +them if there had been; but I might have got a _fact_ or two from +them. + +It is well known that artifice is the resource of cunning, whether +it acts on the principle of concealing truth or boldly asserting +falsehood. Here the reverend strategist did both: he knew how a little +truth could deceive. You must remember that at this point of the case, +when the Rev. Faker was called, there was nothing to cross-examine +about. I knew nothing of the parties, the witnesses, the solicitors, +or any one except my learned friends. It would not have been +discreditable to my advocacy if I had submitted to a verdict. I will, +therefore, give the points of the questions which elicited the truth +from the Christian warrior; and probably the non-legal reader of these +memoirs may be interested in seeing what may sometimes be done by a +few judicious questions. + +"Mr. Faker," I said. + +"Sir," says Faker. + +"You have told us you acted as the adviser of the testatrix." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Spiritual adviser, of course?" + +A spiritual bow. + +"You advised the deceased lady, probably, as to her duties as a dying +woman?" + +"Certainly." + +"Duty to her husband--was that one?" + +A slight hesitation in Mr. Faker revealed the vast amount of fraud of +which he was capable. It was the smallest peephole, but I saw a good +way. Till then there was nothing to cross-examine about, but after +that hesitation there was £100,000 worth! He had betrayed himself. At +last Faker said,-- + +"Yes, Mr. Hawkins; yes, sir--her duty to her husband." + +"In the way of _providing_ for him?" was my next question. + +"Oh yes; quite so." + +"You were careful, of course, as you told your learned counsel, to +avoid any undue influence?" + +"Certainly." + +"The will was not completed, I think, when you first saw the dying +woman--on the day, I mean, of her death?" + +"No, not at that time." + +"Was it kept in a little bag by the pillow of the testatrix? Did she +retain the keys of the bag herself?" + +"That is quite right." + +"Had it been executed at this time? I think you said not?" + +"Not at this time; it had to be revised." + +"How did you obtain possession of the keys?" + +"I obtained them." + +"Yes, I know; but without her knowledge?" + +It was awkward for Faker, but he had to confess that he was not sure. +Then he frankly admitted that the will was taken out of the bag--in +the lady's presence, of course, but whether she was quite dead or +almost alive was uncertain; and then he and the husband spiritually +conferred as to what the real intention of the dying woman in the +circumstances was _likely to be_, and having ascertained that, they +made _another will_, which they called "settling the former one" by +carrying out the lady's intentions, the lady being now dead to all +intentions whatsoever. + +This was the will which was offered for probate! + +Cresswell thought it was a curious state of affairs, and listened with +much interest to the further cross-examination. + +"Had you ever seen any other will?" I inquired. It was quite an +accidental question, as one would put in a desultory sort of +conversation with a friend. + +"Er--yes--I have," said Faker. + +"What was that?" + +"Well, it was a will, to tell you the truth, Mr. Hawkins, executed in +my favour for £5,000." + +"Where is it?" + +"I have not the original," said the minister, "but I have a copy of +it." + +"Copy! But where is the original?" + +"Original?" repeats Faker. + +"Yes, the original; there must have been an original if you have a +copy." + +"Oh," said the Rev. Faker, "I remember, the original was destroyed +after the testatrix's death." + +"How?" + +"Burnt!" + +Even the very grave Hannen, my ever-respected friend and junior, +smiled; Cresswell, never prone to smile at villainy, smiled also. + +"The original burnt, and only a copy produced! What do you mean, sir?" + +The situation was dramatic. + +"Is it not strange," I asked, "even in _your_ view of things, that the +original will should be burnt and the copy preserved?" + +"Yes," answered the reverend gentleman; "perhaps it would have been +better--" + +"To have burnt the copy and given us the original, and more especially +after the lady was dead. But, let me ask you, _why_ did you destroy +the original will?" + +I pressed him again and again, but he could not answer. The reason was +plain. His ingenuity was exhausted, and so I gave him the finishing +stroke with this question,-- + +"Will you swear, sir, that an original will ever existed?" + +The answer was, "No." + +I knew it _must_ be the answer, because there could be no other that +would not betray him. + +"What is your explanation?" asked Cresswell. + +"My explanation, my lord, is that the testatrix had often expressed to +me her intention to leave me £5,000, and I wrote the codicil which was +destroyed to carry out her wishes." + +Cresswell had warned James early in the case as to the futility of +calling witnesses after the two who alone were necessary, but to no +purpose; he hurried his client to destruction, and I have never been +able to understand his conduct. The most that can be said for him +is that he did not suspect any danger, and took no trouble to avoid +incurring it. + +It is curious enough that on the morning of the trial we had tried to +compromise the matter by offering £10,000. + +The refusal of the offer shows how little they thought that any +cross-examination could injure their cause. + +Hannen said he could not have believed a cross-examination could be +conducted in that manner without any knowledge of the facts, and paid +me the compliment of saying it was worth at the least £80,000. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +TATTERSALL'S--BARON MARTIN, HARRY HILL, AND THE OLD FOX IN THE YARD. + + +Tattersall's in my time was one of the pleasantest Sunday afternoon +lounges in London. There was a spirit of freedom and social equality +pervading the place which only belongs to assemblies where sport is +the principal object and pleasure of all. There was also the absence +of irksome workaday drudgery; I think that was, after all, the main +cause of its being so delightful a meeting-place to me. + +There was, however, another attraction, and that was dear old Baron +Martin, one of the most pleasant companions you could meet, no matter +whether in the Court of Exchequer or the "old Ring." A keen sportsman +he was, and a shrewd, common-sense lawyer--so great a lover of the +Turf that it is told of him, and I know it to be true, that once in +court a man was pointed out to him bowing with great reverence, +and repeating it over and over again until he caught the Baron's +attention. The Judge, with one pair of spectacles on his forehead +and another on his eyes, immediately cried aloud to his marshal, +"Custance, the jockey, as I'm alive!" and then the Baron bowed most +politely to the man in the crowd, the most famous jockey of his day. + +Speaking of Tattersall's reminds me of many things, amongst them of +the way in which, happily, I came to the resolution never to bet on +a horse-race. It was here I learnt the lesson, at a place where +generally people learn the opposite, and never forgot it. No sermon +would ever have taught me so much as I learnt there. + +Like my oldest and one of my dearest friends on the turf, Lord +Falmouth, I never made a bet after the time I speak of. No one who +lives in the world needs any description of the Tattersall's of +to-day. But the Tattersall's of my earlier days was not exactly the +same thing, although the differences would not be recognizable to +persons who have not over-keen recollections. + +The institution has perhaps known more great men than Parliament +itself--not so many bishops, perhaps, as the Church, but more +statesmen than could get into the House of Lords; and all the +biographies that have ever been written could not furnish more +illustrations of the ups and downs of life, especially the downs, +nor of more illustrious men. The names of all the great and mediocre +people who visited the famous rendezvous would fill a respectable +Court guide, and the money transactions that have taken place would +pay off the National Debt. All this is a pleasant outcome of the +national character. + +Do not suppose that Judges, other than Baron Martin, never looked in, +for they did, and so did learned and illustrious Queen's Counsel and +Serjeants-at-Law, authors, editors, actors, statesmen, and, to sum +it up in brief, all the real men of the day of all professions and +degrees of social position. + +At first my visits were infrequent; afterwards I went more often, and +then became a regular attendant. I loved the "old Ring," and yet could +never explain why. I think it was the variety of human character that +charmed me. I was doing very little at the Bar, and was, no doubt, +desirous to make as many acquaintances as possible, and to see as much +of the world as I could. It is a long way back in my career, but I go +over the course with no regrets and with every feeling of delight. +Everything seems to have been enjoyable in those far-off days, +although I was in a constant state of uncertainty with regard to my +career. There were three principal places of pleasure at that time: +one was Tattersall's, one Newmarket, and the Courts of Law a third. + +There used to be, in the centre of the yard or court at Tattersall's, +a significant representation of an old fox, and I often wondered +whether it was set up as a warning, or merely by way of ornamentation, +or as the symbol of sport. It might have been to tell you to be wary +and on the alert. But whatever the original design of this statue to +Reynard, the old fox read me a solemn lesson, and seemed to be always +saying, "Take care, Harry; be on your guard. There are many prowlers +everywhere." + +But there was another monitor in constant attendance, who +was deservedly respected by all who had the pleasure of his +acquaintance--that is to say, by all who visited Tattersall's more +than once. He was not in the least emblematic like the old fox, but a +man of sound sense, with no poetry, of an extremely good nature, and +full of anecdote. You might follow his advice, and it would be well +with you; or you might follow your opinion in opposition to his and +take your chance. His name was Hill--Harry Hill they familiarly called +him--and although you might have many a grander acquaintance, you +could never meet a truer friend. + +He was an old and much-respected friend of the Baron, and that says +a great deal for him; for if anybody in the world could understand a +_man_, it was Baron Martin. Whether it was the Prime Minister or the +unhappy thief in the dock, he knew all classes and all degrees of +criminality. He was not poetical with regard to landscapes, for if +one were pointed out to him by some proprietor of a lordly estate, +he would say, "Yes, a vera fine place indeed; and I would have the +winning-post _there_!" + +The old fox and Harry Hill! The two characters at Tattersall's in +those days can never be forgotten, by those who knew them. + +It may seem strange in these more enlightened days that at that time +I was under the impression that no one could make a bet unless he had +the means of paying if he lost. This statement will provoke a +smile, but it is true. The consequence was that I was debarred from +speculating where I thought I had a most excellent chance of winning, +having been brought up to believe that the world was almost destitute +of fraud--a strange and almost unaccountable idea which only time and +experience proved to be erroneous. Judge of the vast unexplored field +of discovery that lay before me! Harry Hill was better informed. He +had lived longer, and had been brought in contact with the cleverest +men of the age. He knew at a glance the adventurous fool who staked +his last chance when the odds were a hundred to one, and also the man +of honour who staked his life on his honesty--and sometimes _lost_! + +There were "blacklegs" in those days who looked out for such honest +gentlemen, and _won_--scoundrels who degrade sport, and trade +successfully on the reputations of men of honour. You cannot cope with +these; honesty cannot compete with fraud either in sport or trade. + +It was a very brief Sunday sermon which Harry preached to me this +afternoon, but it was an effective one, and out of the abundance of +his good nature he gave me these well-remembered words of friendly +warning,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, I see you come here pretty regularly on Sunday +afternoons; but I advise you not to speculate amongst us, for if you +do we shall beat you. We know our business better than you do, and +you'll get nothing out of us any more than we should get out of you +if we were to dabble in your law, for you know _that_ business better +than we do." + +This disinterested advice I took to heart, and treated it as a +warning. I thanked Mr. Hill, promised to take advantage of his +kindness, and kept my word during the whole time that Tattersall's +remained in the old locality, which it did for a considerable period. + +The establishment at this time was at Hyde Park Corner, and had been +rented from Lord Grosvenor since 1766. It was used for the purpose of +selling thoroughbreds and other horses of a first-rate order, until +the expiration of the lease, which was, I think, in 1865. It was then +removed to Knightsbridge, where I still continued my visits. + +The new premises, or, as it might be called, the new institution, was +inaugurated with a grand dinner, chiefly attended by members of the +sporting world, including Admiral Rous, George Payne, and many other +well-known and popular patrons of our national sport. There were also +a great many who were known as "swells," people who took a lively +interest in racing affairs, and others who belonged to the literary +and artistic world, and enjoyed the national sports as well. It was a +large assembly, and if any persons can enjoy a good dinner and lively +conversation, it is those who take an interest in sport. Mixed as the +company might be, it was uniform in its object, which was to be happy +as well as jolly. + +That I should have been asked to be present on this historic occasion +was extremely gratifying, but I could find no reason for the honour +conferred upon me, except that it 'might be because I had always +endeavoured to make myself agreeable--a faculty, if it be a faculty, +most invaluable in all the relations and circumstances of life. I was +flattered by the compliment, because in reality I was the guest of all +the really great men of the day. + +But a still more striking honour was in store. I was called upon to +respond for somebody or something; I don't remember what it was to +this day, nor had I the faintest notion what I ought to say. I was +perfectly bewildered, and the first utterance caused a roar of +laughter. I did not at that time know the reason. It is of no +consequence whether you know what you are talking about in an +after-dinner speech or not, for say what you may, hardly anybody +listens, and if they do few will understand the drift of your +observations. You get a great deal of applause when you stand up, and +a great deal more when you sit down. I seemed to catch my audience +quite accidentally by using a word tabooed at that time in sporting +circles, because it represented the blacklegs of the racecourse, and +was used as a nickname for rascaldom. "Gentlemen," I said, "I have +been unexpectedly called upon my _legs_--" Then I stammered an apology +for using the word in that company, and the laughter was unbounded. +Next morning all the sporting papers reported it as an excellent joke, +although the last person who saw the joke was myself. + +After dinner we adjourned to the new premises, which included a +betting-room, since christened "place," by interpretation of a +particular statute by myself and others. Oh the castigation I received +from the Jockey Club on that account! Whether the monitory fox was +anywhere within the precincts I do not know, but I missed him at +that time, and attributed to his absence the lapse from virtue which +undermined my previous resolution, and in a moment undid the merits of +exemplary years. However, it brought me to myself, and was, after all, +a "blessing in disguise"--and pleasant to think of. + +We were in the betting-room, and there was Harry Hill, my genial old +friend, who had advised me to take care, and never to bet, "because +we know our business better than you do." Alas! amidst the hubbub +and excitement, to say nothing of the joviality of everybody and the +excellence of the champagne, I said in a brave tone,-- + +"Come now, Mr. Hill, I _must_ have a bet, on the opening of the new +Tattersalls. I will give you evens for a fiver on ---- for the Derby!" + +Alas! my friend, who _ought_ to have known better, forgot the good +advice he had given me only a few years before, and I, heedless of +consequences in my hilarity, repeated the offer of evens on the +_favourite_. + +"Done!" said two or three, and amongst them Hill. I might have +repeated the offer and accepted the bet over and over again, so +popular was it. "Done, done, done!" everywhere. + +But Hill was the man for my money, and he had it. Before morning the +_favourite was scratched_! + +It was the race which Hermit won! Poor Hastings lost heavily and died +soon after. I had backed the wrong horse, and have never ceased to +wonder how I could have been so foolish. "Let me advise you not to +speculate amongst us," were Hill's words, "for if you do we shall beat +you;" and it cost me five pounds to learn that. A lawyer's opinion may +be worth what is paid for it in a case stated; but of the soundness +of of a horse's wind, or the thousand and one ailments to which that +animal's flesh and blood are heir, I knew nothing--not so much as the +little boy who runs and fetches in the stable, and who could give +the ablest lawyer in Great Britain or Ireland odds on any particular +favourite's "public form" and beat him. + +Put not your trust in tipsters; they no more knew that Hermit had a +chance for the Derby than they could foretell the snowstorm that was +coming to enable him to win it. + +This was the last bet I ever made; and I owe my abandonment of the +practice to Harry Hill, who gave me excellent advice and enforced it +by example. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ARISING OUT OF THE "ORSINI AFFAIR." + + +The "Orsini Affair" was one of high treason and murder. It was the +attempt on the part of a band of conspirators to murder Napoleon III. +In order to accomplish this _political_ object, they exploded a bomb +as nearly under his Majesty's carriage as they could manage, but +instead of murdering the Emperor they killed a policeman. + +Orsini was captured, tried, and executed in the good old French +fashion. His political career ended with the guillotine--a sharp +remedy, but effective, so far as he was concerned. + +One Dr. Simon Bernard was more fortunate than his principal, for he +was in England, the refuge of discontented foreign murderers, who try +to do good by stealth, and sometimes feel very uncomfortable when they +find that it turns out to be assassination. + +Bernard was a brother conspirator in this famous Orsini business, and +being apprehended in England, was taken to be tried before Lord Chief +Justice Campbell, Edwin James and myself being retained for the +defence. + +There was no defence on the facts, and no case on the law. He was +indicted for conspiracy with Orsini to murder the Emperor in Paris. + +I had prepared a very elaborate and exhaustive argument in favour of +the prisoner, on the law, and had little doubt I could secure his +acquittal; but the facts were terribly strong, and we knew well enough +if the jury convicted, Campbell would hang the prisoner, for he never +tolerated murder. With this view of the case, we summoned Dr. Bernard +to a consultation, which was held in one of the most ghastly rooms of +Newgate. + +No more miserable place could be found outside the jail, and it could +only be surpassed in horror by one within. It might have been, and +probably was, an anteroom to hell, but of that I say nothing. I leave +my description, for I can do no more justice to it. The only cheerful +thing about it was Dr. Bernard himself. He was totally unconcerned +with the danger of his situation, and regarded himself as a hero of +the first order. Murder, hanging, guillotine--all seemed to be the +everyday chances of life, and to him there was nothing sweeter or more +desirable, if you might judge by his demeanour. + +I thought it well to mention the fact that, if the jury found him +guilty, Lord Campbell would certainly sentence him to death. He +exhibited no emotion whatever, but shrugging his shoulders after the +manner of a Frenchman who differed from you in opinion, said,-- + +"Well, if I am hanged, I must be hanged, that is all." + +With a man like him it was impossible to argue or ask for +explanations. He seemed to be possessed with the one idea that to +remedy all the grievances of the State it was merely necessary to blow +up the Emperor with his horses and carriage, and coolly informed us, +without the least reserve, that the bombs manufactured with this +political object had been sent over to Paris from England concealed +in firkins of butter. I can find no words in which to express my +feelings. + +So ended our first consultation. The "merits" of the case were gone; +there was no defence. But whatever might be our opinion on Dr. +Bernard's state of mind, we could not abandon him to his fate. We +were retained to defend him, and defend him we must, even in spite of +himself, if we could do so consistently with our professional honour +and duty. + +Accordingly we had another consultation, and as I have said there was +one other room in England more ghastly than that where we held our +first interview, so now I reluctantly introduce you to it. + +If a man about to be tried for his life could look on this apartment +and its horrors unmoved, he would certainly be a fit subject for the +attentions of the hangman, and deserving of no human sympathy. It was +enough to shake the nerves of the hangman himself. + +We were in an apartment on the north-east side of the quadrangular +building, where the sunshine never entered. Even daylight never came, +but only a feeble, sickening twilight, precursor of the grave itself. +It was not merely the gloom that intensified the horrors of the +situation, or the ghastly traditions of the place, or the impending +fate of our callous client; but there was a tier of shelves occupying +the side of the apartment, on which were placed in dismal prominence +the plaster-of-Paris busts of all the malefactors who had been hanged +in Newgate for some hundred years. + +No man can look attractive after having been hanged, and the +indentation of the hangman's rope on every one of their necks, with +the mark of the knot under the ear, gave such an impression of +all that can be conceived of devilish horror as would baffle the +conceptions of the most morbid genius. + +Whether these things were preserved for phrenological purposes or for +the gratification of the most sanguinary taste, I never knew, but they +impressed me with a disgust of the brutal tendency of the age. + +Dr. Bernard, however, seemed to take a different view. Probably he was +scientific. He went up to them, and examined, as it seemed, every +one of these ghastly memorials with an interest which could only be +scientific. It did not seem to have occurred to his brain that _his_ +head would probably be the next to adorn that repository of criminal +effigies. + +He was in charge of a warder, and looked round with the utmost +composure, as though examining the Caesars in the British Museum, and +was as interested as any fanatical fool of a phrenologist. He shrugged +his shoulders, raised his eyebrows, and repeated his old formula, +"Well, if I am to be hanged, I must be hanged." + +_He was acquitted_. My elaborate arguments on the law were not +necessary, for the jury actually refused to believe the evidence as to +the facts! + +Such are the chances of trial by jury! + +As a relief to this gloomy chapter I must tell you of a distinguished +Judge who had to sentence a dishonest butler for robbing his master of +some silver spoons. He considered it his duty to say a few words to +the prisoner in passing sentence, in order to show the enormity of the +crime of a servant in his position robbing his master, and by way of +warning to others who might be tempted to follow his example. + +"You, prisoner," said his lordship, "have been found guilty, by a jury +of your country, of stealing these articles from your employer--mark +that--_your employer_! Now, it aggravates your offence that he is your +employer, because he employs you to look after his property. You _did_ +look after it, but not in the way that a butler should--mark that!" +The judge here hemmed and coughed, as if somewhat exhausted with his +exemplary speech; and then resumed his address, which was ethical and +judicial: "You, prisoner, have _no_ excuse for your conduct. You had a +most excellent situation, and a kind master to whom you owed a debt +of the deepest gratitude and your allegiance as a faithful servant, +instead of which you paid him by _feathering your nest with his silver +spoons_; therefore you must be transported for the term of seven +years!" + +The metaphor was equal to that employed by an Attorney-General, who at +a certain time in the history of the Home Rule agitation, addressing +his constituents, told them that _Mr. Gladstone had sent up a balloon +to see which way the cat jumped with regard to Ireland_! He was soon +appointed a Judge of the High Court. + +Judges, however, are not always masters of their feelings, any more +than they are of their language; they are sometimes carried away by +prejudice, or even controlled by sentiment. I knew one, a very worthy +and amiable man, who, having to sentence a prisoner to death, was so +overcome by the terrible nature of the crime that he informed the +unhappy convict that he could expect _no mercy either in this world or +the next_! + +Littledale, again, was an uncommonly kind and virtuous man, a good +husband and a learned Judge; but he was afflicted with a wife whom he +could not control. She, on the contrary, controlled him, and left him +no peace unless she had her will. At times, however, she overdid her +business. Littledale had a butler who had been in the family many +years, and with whom he would not have parted on any account. He would +sooner have parted with her ladyship. One morning, however, this +excellent butler came to Sir Joseph and said, with tears in his +eyes,-- + +"I beg your pardon, my lord--" + +"What's the matter, James?" + +"I'm very sorry, my lord," said the butler, "but I wish to leave." + +"Wish to leave, James? Why, what do you wish to leave for? Haven't you +got a good situation?" + +"Capital sitiwation, Sir Joseph, and you have always been a good kind +master to me, Sir Joseph; but, O Sir Joseph, Sir Joseph!" + +"What then, James, what then? Why do you wish to leave? Not going to +get married, eh--not surely going to get married? O James, don't do +it!" + +"Heaven forbid, Sir Joseph!" + +"Eh, eh? Well, then, what is it? Speak out, James, and tell me all +about it. Tell me--tell me as a friend! If there is any trouble--" + +"Well, Sir Joseph, I could put up with anything from _you_, Sir +Joseph, but I _can't get on with my lady_!" + +"My lady be--. O James, what a sinner you make of me! Is that all, +James? Then go down on your knees at once and _thank God my lady is +not your wife_!" + +It was a happy thought, and James stayed. + +I don't think I have mentioned a curious reason that a jury once gave +for _not_ finding a prisoner guilty, although he had been tried on a +charge of a most terrible murder. The evidence was irresistible to +anybody but a jury, and the case was one of inexcusable brutality. The +man had been tried for the murder of his father and mother, and, as I +said, the evidence was too clear to leave a doubt as to his guilt. + +The jury retired to consider their verdict, and were away so long that +the Judge sent for them and asked if there was any point upon which he +could enlighten them. They answered no, and thought they understood +the case perfectly well. + +After a great deal of further consideration they brought in a verdict +of "_Not Guilty_." + +The Judge was angry at so outrageous a violation of their plain duty, +and did what he ought not to have done--namely, asked the reason they +brought in such a verdict, when they knew the culprit was guilty and +ought to have been hanged. + +"That's just it, my lord," said the foreman of this distinguished +body. "I assure you we had no doubt about the prisoner's guilt, but +we _thought there had been deaths enough in the family lately, and so +gave him the benefit of the doubt_!" + +There was a young solicitor who had been entrusted with a defence in +a case of murder. It was his first case of importance, and he was, +of course, enthusiastic in his devotion to his client's interests. +Indeed, his enthusiasm rather overstepped his prudence. + +By dint of perseverance and persuasion he obtained a promise from a +juror-in-waiting that if he should be on the jury he would consent +to no other verdict than manslaughter, which would be a tremendous +triumph for the young solicitor. + +The case was a very strong one for wilful murder. The friendly +juror-in-waiting took his seat in the box. Everything went well except +the evidence, and the solicitor's heart almost failed for fear his man +should give way. The jury for a long time were unable to agree. + +Now the young solicitor felt it was his faithful juror who was +standing out. + +"All agreed but one, my lord." + +"Go back to your room," said the Judge; which they did, and after +another long absence returned with a verdict of "Manslaughter." + +Jubilant with his success, the young solicitor met his juryman, +congratulated him on his firmness, and thanked him for his exertions. + +"How did you manage it, my good friend--how did you manage? It was a +wonderful verdict--wonderful!" + +"Oh," said he, "I was determined not to budge. I never budge. +Conscience is ever my guide." + +"I suppose there were eleven to one against you?" + +"Eleven to one! A tough job, sir--a tough job." + +"Eleven for wilful murder, eh?" said the jubilant young man. "Dear me, +what a narrow squeak!" + +"Eleven for _murder_! No, sir!" exclaimed the juror. + +"What, then?" + +"_Eleven for an acquittal_! You may depend upon it, sir, the other +jurors had been 'got at.'" + +Lord Watson, dining with me one Grand Day at Gray's Inn, said he +recollected a very stupid and a very rude Scottish Judge (which seems +very remarkable) who scarcely ever listened to an advocate, and +pooh-poohed everything that was said. + +One day a celebrated advocate was arguing before him, when, to express +his contempt of what he was saying, the cantankerous old curmudgeon of +a Judge pointed with one forefinger to one of his ears, and with the +other to the opposite one. + +"You see this, Mr. ----?" + +"I do, my lord," said the advocate. + +"Well, it just goes in here and comes out there!" and his lordship +smiled with the hilarity of a Judge who thinks he has actually said a +good thing. + +The advocate looked and smiled not _likewise_, but a good deal more +wise. Then the expression of his face changed to one of contempt. + +"I do not doubt it, my lord," said he. "What is there to prevent it?" + +The learned judge sat immovable, and looked--like a judicial--_wit_. + +I was now getting on so well in my profession that in the minds +of many of the unsuccessful there was a natural feeling of +disappointment. Why one man should succeed and a dozen fail has ever +been an unsolved problem at the Bar, and ever will be. But the curious +part of this natural law is that it manifests itself in the most +unexpected manner. + +Coming one day from a County Court, where I had had a successful day, +and humming a little tune, whom should I meet but my friend Morgan +----. He was a very pleasant man, what is called a _nice man_, of a +quiet, religious turn of mind, and nobody was ever more painstaking +to push himself along. He was a great stickler for a man's doing his +duty, and was possessed with the idea that, getting on as I was, it +was my duty to refuse to take a brief in the County Court. + +Coming up to me on the occasion I refer to, Morgan said, "What, _you_ +here, Hawkins! I believe you'd take a brief before the devil in +h----." + +I was quite taken aback for the moment by the use of such language. If +he had not been so religious a man, perhaps I should not have felt it +so much; as it was, I could hardly fetch my breath. + +When I recovered my equanimity I answered, "Yes, Morgan, I would, and +should get one of my devils to hold it." + +He seemed appeased by my frank avowal, for he loved honesty almost as +much as fees. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +APPOINTED QUEEN'S COUNSEL--A SERIOUS ILLNESS--SAM LEWIS. + + +On January 10, 1859, the Lord Chancellor did me the honour of +recommending my name to Her Most Gracious Majesty, and I was raised to +the rank and dignity of a Queen's Counsel. + +This is a step of doubtful wisdom to most men in the legal profession, +for it is generally looked upon as the end of a man's career or the +beginning. I had no doubt about the propriety of the step; it had been +the object of my ambition, and I believe I should unhesitatingly have +acted as I did even if it had been the termination of my professional +life. My idea was to go forward in the career I had chosen. The junior +work, if it had not lost its emoluments, no longer possessed the +pleasurable excitement of the old days. It was never my ambition +merely to "mark time;" that is unsatisfactory exertion, and leads no +whither. + +But enough; I took silk, and a new life opened before me. I was a +leader. + +My business rolled on in ever-increasing volume, so that I had to +fairly pick my way through the constant downpour of briefs, but +was always pressed forward by that useful institution known as the +"barrister's clerk." + +Whatever business overwhelms the counsel, no amount of it would +disconcert the clerk, and it is wonderful how many briefs he can +arrange in upstanding attitude along mantelpieces, tables, tops of +dwarf cupboards, windows--anywhere, in fact, where there is anything +to stand a brief on--without that gentleman feeling the least +exhausted. It would take as long to wear him out as to wear to a level +the rocks of Niagara. The loss of a brief to him is almost like the +loss of an eye. It would take a week after such a disaster to get the +right focus of things. + +My clerk came rushing into my room one day so pale and excited that I +wondered if the man had lost his wife or child. He did not leave me +long in suspense as soon as he could articulate his words. + +"Sir," said he, "you know those Emmets that you have done so much +for?" + +I remembered. + +"Well, sir, they've taken a brief to another counsel." + +It was a serious misfortune, no doubt, and I had to soothe him in the +best manner I could; so to lessen the calamity I made the best joke I +could think of in the circumstances, and said the Emmets were small +people, almost beneath notice. + +I don't wonder that he did not see it with tears in his eyes; his +distress was painful to witness. The poor fellow was dumbfounded, but +at last shook his head, saying,-- + +"We've had a good deal from those Emmets, sir." + +"But you need not make mountains out of ant-hills." + +He did not see that either. + +I was now living in Bond Street, and for the first time in my life was +taken seriously ill. My clerk's worry then came home to me; not about +a single brief, but about a great many. Illness would be a very +serious matter, as I had arrived at an important stage in my career. A +barrister in full practice cannot afford to be ill. In my distress +I sent to Baron Martin, as I was in every case in his list for the +following day, and begged him to oblige me by adjourning his court. It +was a large request, but I knew his kindness, and felt I might ask the +favour. Baron Martin, I should think, never in his life did an unkind +act or refused to do a kind one. He instantly complied with my +request, and did not listen for a moment to the "public interest," +as the foolish fetish is called which sometimes does duty for its +neglect. The "public interest" on this occasion was the interests of +all those who had entrusted their business to my keeping. The public +interests are the interests of the suitors. + +My illness threatened to be fatal. I had been overworked; and nothing +but the greatest care and skill brought me round. One never knows what +friendship is and what friends are till one is ill. + +At length there was a consultation, Drs. Addison, Charles Johnson, +Duplex, and F. Hawkins, my cousin, being present. + +It was a kind of medical jury which sat upon me. I will pass over +details, and come to the conclusion of the investigation. After +considering the case, Dr. Addison, who acted as foreman of the jury, +said,-- + +"We find a verdict of 'Guilty,' under mitigating circumstances. The +prisoner has not injured himself with intent to do any grievous bodily +or mental harm, but he has been guilty of negligence, not having taken +due care of himself, and we hope the sentence we are about to pass +will act as a warning to him, and deter others from following a like +practice. The prisoner is released on bail, to come up for judgment +when called upon; and the meaning of that is," said Dr. Addison, "that +if you behave yourself you will hear no more of this; but if you +return to your former practice without any regard to the warning you +have had, you will be promptly called up for judgment, and I need not +say the sentence will be proportioned to the requirements of the case. +You may now go." + +To carry on Dr. Addison's joke, I heartily thanked him for taking my +good character into consideration, and practically acquitting me of +all evil tendencies. Acting upon his good advice, from that time to +this I have never been in trouble again. + +Watson, Q.C., afterwards Baron Watson, advised me to take a long rest; +but as he was not a doctor of medicine, I did not act upon his advice. +A long rest would have killed me much faster than any amount of work, +so I worked with judgment; and although my business went on increasing +to an extent that would not have pleased Dr. Addison, I suffered no +evil effects, but seemed to get through it with more ease than ever, +and was soon in a fair way to achieve the greatest goal of human +endeavour--a comfortable independence. The reason of getting through +so much work was that I had to reject a great deal, and, of course, +had my choice of the best, not only as to work, but as to clients. To +use a sporting phrase, I got the best "mounts," and therefore was at +the top of the record in wins. + +Good cases are easy--they do not need winning; they will do their +own work if you only leave them alone. Bad cases require all your +attention; they want much propping, and your only chance is that, if +you cannot win, your opponent may _lose_. + +But nothing in the chatter about the Bar is more erroneous than the +talk of the tremendous incomes of counsel. A man is never estimated +at his true worth in this world, certainly not a barrister, actor, +physician, or writer; and as for incomes, no one can estimate his +neighbour's except the Income-tax Commissioners. They get pretty near +sometimes, however, without knowing it. + +One morning I was riding in the Park when old Sam Lewis, the great +money-lender, a man for whom I had much esteem, and about whom I will +relate a little story presently, came alongside. We were on friendly +and even familiar terms, although I never borrowed any money of him in +my life. + +"Why, Mr. Hawkins," said he, "you seem to be in almost everything. +What a fortune you must be piling up!" + +"Not so big as you might think," I replied. + +"Why, how many," he rejoined, "are making as much as you? A good many +are doing twenty thousand a year, I dare say, but--" + +Here I checked his curiosity by asking if he had ever considered what +twenty thousand a year meant. + +He never had. + +"Then I will tell you, Lewis. _You_ may make it in a day, but to us it +means five hundred golden sovereigns every week in the working year!" + +It somewhat startled him, I could see, and it effected my object +without giving offence. What did it matter to Sam Lewis what my income +was? + +"There are men who make it," he answered. + +"Some men have made it," I said; "and I know some who make more, but +will never own to it, ask who may." + +I may say I liked Sam Lewis, and having told the story of the Queen's +Counsel who _borrowed_ my money in so dishonest a manner, I will tell +one of Sam, the professional money-lender. + +He never was known to take advantage of a man in difficulties, and he +never did, nor to charge any one exorbitant interest. I have known him +lend to men and allow them to fix their own time of payment, their own +rate of interest, and their own security. He often lent without any at +all. He knew his men, and was not fool enough to trust a rogue at any +amount of interest. He was known and respected by all ranks, and never +more esteemed than by those who had had pecuniary transactions with +him. He was the soul of honour, and his transactions were world-wide; +business passed through his hands that would have been entrusted +nowhere else; so that he was rich, and no one was more deservedly so. + +Here is an incident in Lewis's business life that will show one phase +of his character. + +He held a number of bills, many of which were suspected by him to be +forged--that is to say, that the figures had been altered after the +signature of the acceptor had been written. + +They were all in the name of Lord ----. + +One day Lewis met his lordship in the Park, and mentioned his +suspicion, at the same time inviting him to call and examine the +bills. The noble lord was a little amazed, and proceeded at once to +Lewis's office. Seating himself on one side of the table with his +lordship on the other, Lewis handed to him the bills one by one and +requested him to set aside those that were forged. + +The separation having been made, it appeared that over _twenty +thousand-pounds' worth of the bills were forged_! The noble lord was a +little startled at the discovery, but his mind was soon eased by Lewis +putting the whole of the forged bills into the fire. + +"There's an end of them, my lord," said he. "We want no prosecution, +and I do not wish to receive payment from you. I ought to have +examined them with more care, and you ought not to have left space +enough before the first figure to supplement it by another. The rogue +could not resist the temptation." + +So ended this monetary transaction, creditable alike to the honour and +generosity of the money-lender. + +The most steady of minds will sometimes go on the tramp. This was +never better illustrated than when the young curate was being married, +and the officiating clergyman asked him the formal question, "Wilt +thou have this woman to thy wedded wife?" + +The poor bridegroom, losing self-control, and not having yet a better +half to keep him straight, answered, "That is my desire," anticipating +by a considerable period a totally different religious ceremony of the +Church--namely, the Baptism of Infants. In his anticipation the young +man had overreached the necessities of the situation. + +This momentary digression leads me to the following story. I was +staying at the house of an old friend, a wealthy Hebrew, while another +of the guests was Arthur A'Becket. As will sometimes happen when +you are in good spirits, the conversation took a religious turn. We +drifted into it unconsciously, and our worthy host was telling us +that he was in the habit of praying night and morning. Being in a +communicative mood, I said, "Well, since you name it, I sometimes say +a little prayer myself." The Hebrew was attentive, and seemed not a +little surprised. "This is especially the case in the morning," I +added. "But once upon a time my mind wavered a little between business +and prayer, and I found myself in the midst of my devotional exercise +saying, 'Gentlemen of the jury.'" + +"Thank God!" cried A'Becket, "our friend Hawkins is not a Unitarian." + +I often wonder how I was able to get through the amount of business +that pressed upon me and retain my health, but happily I did so. One +great factor in my fortunate condition of health was, perhaps, that I +had no ridiculous ambition. What was to come would come as the result +of hard work, for I was born to no miraculous interpositions or +official friendships. + +Having dropped gambling, I set to work, and after a long spell of +_nisi prius_, in all its phases, had engaged my attention, a new +sphere of action presented itself in the shape of Compensation +Cases--an easy and lucrative branch, which seemed to be added to, +rather than have grown out of, our profession; but whatever was its +connection, it was a prolific branch, hanging down with such good +fruit that it required no tempter to make you taste it. + +Railway, Government, and Municipal authorities were everywhere taking +land for public improvements, and where they were, as a rule, my +friend Horace Lloyd and myself were engaged in friendly rivalry as to +the amount to be paid. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE PRIZE-FIGHT ON FRIMLEY COMMON. + + +I must now describe a remarkable event that occurred a great many +years ago, and which caused no little amusement at the time; indeed, +for years after Baron Parke used to tell the story with the greatest +pleasure. + +In those old days there was a prize-fight on Frimley Common, and it +was known long after as the "Frimley Common Prize-Fight," although +many a battle had taken place on Frimley Ridges before that time, +and many a one since. This particular fight was the more celebrated +because one of the combatants was killed, and I remember the events +connected with it as clearly as if they had taken place only +yesterday. At the following Kingston Assizes the victorious pugilist +was indicted for manslaughter. It was an awful charge, especially +before the Judge who was then presiding. The man, however, escaped for +the moment, and a warrant was issued for his apprehension. + +At a later period I was at Guildford, where the Assizes were being +held. Even at that time the man "wanted" for the manslaughter could be +easily identified, for he still bore visible signs of the punishment +he had undergone in the encounter. + +I was sitting in court one afternoon when a country sporting attorney +of the name of Morris quietly sidled up to me. I ought to mention that +at these Assizes Lord Chief Justice Erie was sitting, and it was well +known that he also detested the Prize Ring, and had therefore, no +sympathy with any of its members. He was consequently a dangerous +Judge to have anything to do with in a case of this kind. His +punishment would be sure to be one of severity, and a conviction a +dead certainty. There was a sparkle in the sporting solicitor's eye, +as he glanced at me over his shoulder, which plainly intimated that he +had something good to communicate. + +As he came in front of the seat where I was, he said, in a subdued +whisper, that he had been instructed by Lord ---- to defend the +accused prize-fighter; that the man was at that moment in the town, +and would like to have my opinion as to whether it would be prudent +to surrender at these Assizes--surrender, that is to say, to the +constables who were on the lookout for him; or whether it would be +better, as they were ignorant of his whereabouts, to delay his trial +until the next Assizes, when he would be better prepared to face the +tribunal, as by that time he would have recovered from the punishment +he had received. + +It is certain the jury would have taken his battered appearance as +evidence of the damage he had inflicted on his adversary, whom he +had unfortunately killed; and even more likely that Erle should +have regarded his injuries in the same light, and punished him more +severely for having received them. I had a perfect right to answer the +question put to me, and felt that it was my duty to the accused to +answer frankly. So I said there was little doubt, as the man was dead, +and the accused still bore unmistakable signs of the contest, there +would be pretty clear evidence of identity; that as Erle was not a +fool, he would most certainly convict him; while, being opposed to +everything connected with the "noble art of self-defence," he might +send him to penal servitude for a number of years. + +I had no need to say more. The solicitor, who was a ready-witted and +voluble man, was anxious to amalgamate his opinion with mine. He +was shrewd, and caught an idea before you could be sure you had one +yourself. + +"The most prudent thing, sir," he said, "would be to surrender at the +next Assizes, and not at these. That is just what I thought, sir, and +so I told him, advising in the meantime that he should carefully avoid +putting himself in the way of the police." + +I have no doubt he acted on this opinion, for I heard that he left the +town immediately, and was neither seen nor heard of again till the eve +of the Spring Assizes, which were to be held at Kingston, and at which +Baron Parke was to preside. The Baron was one of the shrewdest of men, +as any one would discover who attempted to deceive him. + +On the Commission day the attorney for the accused presented himself +to me again, and once more sought my opinion with regard to the trial +and the surrender of the accused. + +"Would it be proper," he asked, "for my client to show his respect for +the court and dress in a becoming manner; or should he appear in his +everyday clothes as a working bricklayer, dirty and unwashed?" + +Again I advised, as was my duty, that he should scrupulously regard +the dignity of the Bench, and show the greatest respect to the learned +Judge who presided; that he ought not to come in a disgraceful costume +if he could help it, but appear as becomingly attired as possible. +That was all I said. Let me also observe, what perhaps there is no +occasion to say, that I impressed upon the attorney that his client +should abstain from any appearance of attempting to deceive the Judge, +and informed him, as the fact was, that his lordship was scrupulously +particular in all points of etiquette and decorum. Moreover, I added +as a last word, "The Judge is too shrewd to be taken in." + +After thus duly impressing upon him the importance of a quiet +behaviour, I suggested that any costume other than that of the man +when actually engaged in the fight _might_ throw some difficulty in +the way of a young and inexperienced country constable identifying +him. It was never too late for even a bricklayer to mend his garments +or his manners and adjust them to the occasion. The policeman who +alone could identify the Frimley champion had not seen him for many +months--not since the fight, in fact; and the prisoner ought not to +appear in the dock in fighting costume, as the young Surrey constable +saw him on that one occasion. Moreover, Baron Parke would not like him +to appear in that dress. + +This was, as nearly as I can remember, all that took place between us. +Judge, now, of my surprise, if you can, when the case was called +on, to see the prisoner appear in the dock looking like a _young +clergyman_, dressed in a complete suit of black, a long frock coat, +fitting him up to the neck and very nearly down to the heels. He had +the appearance of a very tame curate. His hair, instead of being short +and stumpy, as when the young policeman saw him, was now long, shiny, +and carefully brushed over both sides of his forehead, which gave him +the appearance so fashionable amongst the saints of the Old Masters. + +I was utterly astounded at the change from the rude, rough bricklayer, +scarred all over the face, to the clergyman-like appearance of this +gentlemanly prisoner. I dared not laugh, but it was difficult to +maintain my countenance. Deceive Baron Parke! I thought; he would +deceive the devil himself, who knew a great deal more about parsons +than Parke did. + +The learned Judge looked at him for a considerable time, as though he +had never seen a prize-fighter before, and was determined to make the +most of him. If the ghost of Hamlet had stood in the dock instead of +the prisoner, he would not have surprised dear old Parke more than the +prisoner did. + +It was a masterpiece of deception, notwithstanding my serious warning. + +On the jury, it so happened, was an elderly Quaker, in his full array +of drab coat, vest, and breeches, with the regulation blue stockings. +He had long whitish hair, and a Quaker hat in front of him on the +ledge of the jury-box. He was what might be called a "factor" in the +situation, which it was no easy matter to know in a moment how to deal +with. He would be against prize-fighting to a certainty, but how far +he might be inclined to convict a prize-fighter was another matter. +At last I made up my mind in what way to deal with him, and it was +this--not on the merits of the noble art itself, but on those of the +case. If I could convince this conscientious juror that there _might +be_ (that would be good enough) a doubt as to identity, it would be +sufficient for my purpose; so I mainly addressed myself to _him_, +after disposing of the young policeman pretty satisfactorily, +leaving only his bare belief to be dealt with in argument. The young +policeman's belief that _that there_ was the man showed what a strong +young policeman he was. + +I asked the Quaker to allow me to suggest, for the sake of argument +only, that _he_, the Quaker, should imagine himself putting off his +Quaker dress, and assuming the costume of a prize-fighter, his hair +cut so short that it would present the appearance of an aged rat; +"then," said I, "divest yourself of your shirt and flannel--strip +yourself, in fact, quite to the skin above your belt--and with only a +pair of cotton drawers of a sky blue, or any other colour you might +prefer, and, say, a bird's-eye _fogle_ round your waist, your lower +limbs terminating in cotton socks and high-lows--with the additional +ornamentation to all this elegant drapery of a couple of your front +teeth knocked out--and I will venture to ask you, sir, and any one of +the gentlemen whom I am addressing, whether you think your own good +and respectable wife herself would recognize the partner of her joys?" + +The burst of laughter which this little transformation of the +respectable, stout old Quaker occasioned I was in no way responsible +for; but even Old Parke fell back in his seat, and said,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins! Mr. Hawkins!" + +I knew what that meant, and when the usher, by dint of much clamour, +secured me another hearing, I continued,-- + +"Nay, sir, and if you looked at yourself in a looking-glass you would +not be able to recognize a single feature you possessed, had you been +battered about the face as the unfortunate man was. Why, the young +policeman says in his evidence his nose was flattened, his, eyes were +swollen black, blue, and red, his cheeks gashed and bloody! But it is +enough: if that is a correct description, although a mild one, of the +man as he appeared after the scene of the conflict, how can you expect +the young constable to recognize such an individual months afterwards, +or any of the witnesses, although to their dying day they would not +forget the terrible disfigurement of the poor fellow whom you are +supposed to be trying?" + +All this time there was everywhere painfully suppressed laughter, and +even the jury, all of them Epsom men, and many of whom I knew well +enough, were hardly able to contain themselves. + +His lordship, after summing up the case to the jury, looked down +quietly to me, as I was sitting below him, and murmured,-- + +"Hawkins, you've got all Epsom with you!" + +"Yes," I answered, "but you have got the Quaker; he was the only one I +was afraid of." + +"You have transformed him," said the Judge. + +In a few minutes the verdict showed the accuracy of his lordship's +observation, for the jury returned a verdict of "Not guilty." + +I must say, however, that Parke did his utmost to obtain a conviction, +but reason and good sense were too much for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAM WARREN, THE AUTHOR OF "TEN THOUSAND A YEAR." + + +Amongst the illustrious men whom I have met, the name of Sam Warren +deserves remembrance, for he was a genial, good-natured man, full +of humour, and generally entertained a good opinion of everybody, +including himself. He not only achieved distinction in his profession +and became a Queen's Counsel, but wrote a book which attained a +well-deserved popularity, and was entitled "Ten Thousand a Year." + +He was a member of the Northern Circuit, and I believe was as popular +as his book. That he did not become a Judge, like several of his +friends, was not Sam's fault, for no man went more into society, +cultivated acquaintances of the best style, or had better +qualifications for the honour than he. + +But although he did not achieve this distinction, he was made a little +lower than that order, and became in due time a _Master in Lunacy_, a +post, as it seemed from Sam's description, of the highest importance +and no little fun. + +A part of his duties was to visit lunatic asylums and other places +where these patients were confined, with a view to report to the +authorities his opinion of the patients' mental condition. No doubt +to a man of Sam's observant mind this work presented many studies of +interest, as well as situations of excitement, and at times of no +little humour. He found, for instance, that many of these poor +creatures were possessed of a much larger income than ten thousand a +year. Some of them were Dukes and some supernatural beings, who were +just on a visit to this little clod of a world to see how things were +going. + +Soon after his appointment, and before he had become used to the work, +he told me of a singular experience he once had with a particular +gentleman whom he was intending to report as having perfectly +recovered from any mental aberration with which he might have been +afflicted. Sam wondered how it was possible that a gentleman of such +culture and understanding should be considered a fit subject +for confinement, for he had several pleasant and intellectual +conversations with him, and found him quite agreeable and refined, and +of a perfectly balanced mind. + +"I had been told," said the Master, "that the peculiar form of +derangement with this gentleman was that he had aspired to distinction +in the English Church; and on one memorable occasion when I called +he received me, not with the usual familiarity, but with a certain +stiffness and solemnity of bearing which was hardly in keeping with +his courteous demeanour on other occasions. One had to be on one's +guard at all times, or he might get a knife plunged into him without +notice. I chatted for some time in a kind and easy manner, hoping to +find that the mild restraint and discipline had done the poor fellow +good. Alas! how deceived I was, when, in a sudden rage, he turned upon +me, and asked _who the devil I thought I was talking to_?" + +"I told him a gentleman of a kind nature, I was sure, and of an +amiable disposition. + +"'Yes,' said he, 'but that is no reason why you should not treat me +with proper deference and with due respect for my exalted position.' + +"I bowed politely, and expressed a hope that I should never forget +what was due from one gentleman to another. + +"'No, no,' said he, 'that kind of excuse will not do. One gentleman to +another, indeed! Whom are you talking to? I insist on your treating +me with reverence and respect. Perhaps you do not know that I am _St. +Paul_?' + +"'Indeed!' said I, 'I was not aware that I was speaking to that holy +Apostle, to one whom I hold in extreme reverence, and whose writings I +have made my study.'" + +After that, it seems, they got on very well together for the rest of +the interview. Warren was able to delight him with his knowledge of +Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, and the little incident of leaving +his cloak at Troas, his shipwreck, and a vast number of things which +the Apostle seemed very pleased to hear, while he conducted himself +with that pious dignity which well deserved the obsequious reverence +of the official visitor. On parting, St. Paul said,-- + +"You are rather _mixed in your Scriptures_; the only thing you are +accurate about is _leaving my cloak at Troas_." + +On Warren's next visit he resolved to conduct himself with more +reverence. St. Paul was looking much the same as on the previous +occasion. Sam genuflected, and held down his head, putting his hands +devoutly together, and making such other manifestations of reverence +as he thought the case required. + +St. Paul looked at Warren with wonderment, and was evidently by no +means satisfied with his salutations. + +"Who the devil," said the madman, "do you think you are making those +idiotic signs to? Whom do you take me for?" + +"St. Paul, your holiness." + +"'St. Paul, your holiness,' he repeated. 'My ----, you ought to be put +into a lunatic asylum and looked after. You must be stark mad to think +I am the holy Apostle St. Paul. What put that into your silly brains? +Down on your knees, villain, at once, and prostrate yourself before +_the Shah of Persia_--the dawn of creation and the light of the +universe!' + +"I thought this was coming it pretty strong," continued Sam, "but as +it was all in my day's work, I conformed as well as I could to my +instructions. The difficulty was in knowing how to address His +Majesty, so I stammered, 'Dread potentate!' and seeing it pleased him, +'Light of the universe,' I cried, 'it is morning! May I rise?' + +"'I perceive,' said the Shah, 'you are a genius,'" + +"What did you think of his state of mind after that?" I asked. + +Sam laughed and answered: "I thought he was getting better, more +rational, and thanked him for his good opinion. 'Mighty potentate,' +said I, 'monarch of the universe, I apologize for my mistake, but I +was at _St. Luke's_ yesterday,' + +"'My faithful Luke!' said he, and clapped his hands. I knew once more +where he was. + +"'The last time,' said I (thinking I would rather have him the amiable +Paul than the savage Shah), 'your Majesty informed me that you were +the holy Apostle St. Paul!' + +"'So I am,' answered the Shah. + +"'I am at a loss, your Majesty, I humbly confess, to understand how +your immortal Highness can be at one and the same time the blessed +Apostle St. Paul and the Shah of Persia,' + +"'Because you are such a damned fool!' replied His Highness. + +"Here was the fierceness of the Shah, but immediately the gentleness +of the Apostle restored him to a more amiable mood, and coming towards +me with a smile, he said,-- + +"'The explanation, my dear sir, is simple;' and then, in a quiet, +confidential tone, he added: '_It was the same mother, but two +fathers_!'" + +"I had another experience not long after in the same asylum," +continued Warren. "One of my patients told me he had married the +devil's daughter when I was asking him about his relations. 'She was +a nice girl enough,' he said, 'and although my people thought I had +married beneath me, I was satisfied with her rank, seeing she was a +Prince's daughter. We went off on our honeymoon in a chariot of fire +which her father lent us for the occasion, and had a comfortable time +of it at Monte Carlo, where all the hotels are under her father's +special patronage.' + +"'I hope,' said I, 'your marriage was a happy one.' + +"'Yes,' said he with a sigh, '_but we don't get on well with the old +folks_!'" + + * * * * * + +No writer was ever more solicitous of fame than Sam Warren. It was +a proud moment whenever there was the remotest allusion to his +authorship, and I always loved to compliment him on his books. + +In the famous case of Lord St. Leonards's will, which had been lost, I +supported the lost will, and proved its contents from the evidence of +Miss Sugden and others. + +Sam Warren had been in the habit of visiting Lord St. Leonards at +Boyle Farm, Ditton. He gave evidence as to what Lord St. Leonards had +told him respecting his intentions as to the disposal of his property. + +After examining him, I said with a polite bow: "Mr. Warren, I owe you +an apology for bringing you into the Probate Court. I am sure no +one will ever dream of disputing _your_ will, because you have left +everybody '_Ten Thousand a Year_!'" + +Whereupon Warren bowed most politely to me in acknowledgment of the +compliment; then bowed to the _Judge_, and received his lordship's bow +in return; then bowed to the _jury_, then to the _Bar_, and, lastly, +to the _gallery_. + +Writing of the Probate and Divorce Court reminds me of a curious +application for the postponement of a trial made by George Brown, who +was as good a humorist as he was a lawyer. + +I have said that Judges in those days were more strict in refusing +these applications than in ours, and Cresswell was no exception to the +rule. He disliked them, and rarely yielded. But Brown was a man of +a very persuasive manner, and it was always difficult to refuse him +anything. I was sitting in Cresswell's court when George rose as +soon as the Judge had taken his seat, and asked if a case might be +postponed which would be in the next day's list. + +"Have you an affidavit, Mr. Brown, as to the reason?" + +"Yes, my lord; but I can hardly put the real ground of my application +into the affidavit. I have communicated with the other side, and they +are perfectly agreeable under the circumstances." + +"I cannot agree to postpone without some adequate cause being stated," +said Cresswell. + +"I am very sorry, my lord, but it will be very inconvenient to me to +be here to-morrow." + +There was a laugh round the Bar, which Cresswell observing, asked what +the real reason was. + +Brown smiled and blushed; nothing would bring him to state plainly +what the reason of his application was. At last, however, he +stammered,-- + +"My lord, the fact is I am going to take the first step towards a +divorce." + +The appeal touched the Judge; the reason was sufficient. Every step in +a divorce was to be encouraged, especially the first. The application +was granted, and Brown was married the next day. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE. + + +From the courts of justice to the prize-ring is an easy and sometimes +pleasant transition, especially in books. I visited from time to time +such well-known persons as "Deaf Burke," Nat Langham, "Dutch Sam," and +Owen Swift, all remarkable men, with constitutions of iron, and made +like perfect models of humanity. Their names are unknown in these +days, although in those of the long past gentlemen of the first +position were proud of their acquaintance; and these men, although +their profession was battering one another, were as little inclined +to brutality as any. And when it is remembered that they played their +game in accordance with strict rules and on the most scientific +principles, it will be seen that cruelty formed no part of their +character. + +The true sportsmen of the period, amongst whom were the highest in the +social and political world, took the same interest in contests in the +ring as they did on the turf or in the cricket-field, and for the same +reason. Whether Jem Mace would beat Tom Sayers had as much interest +at fashionable dinner-tables as whether Lord Derby would dispose +of Aberdeen or Palmerston. Lords and dukes backed their opinion +in thousands, and the bargee and the ostler gave or took the odds +according to the tips, in shillings. The gentleman of the long robe, +therefore, was not to be supposed as altogether out of his element +in sporting circles any more than the gentleman who had not a rag to +cover him. + +Nor was it uncommon to meet what was called the cream of society +at the celebrated rendezvous of Ben Caunt, which was the Coach and +Horses, St. Martin's Lane, or at the less pretentious resort of the +Tipton Slasher; and what will our modern ladies think of their fair +predecessors, who in those days witnessed the drawing of a badger or a +dog-fight on a Sunday afternoon? + +All mankind will attend exhibitions of skill and prowess, and although +prize-fights are illegal, you never can suppress the spirit which +engendered that form of competition. + +I spent sometimes, with many eminent spectators, a quiet hour or two +at Tom Spring's in Holborn, and met many of the best men there in all +ranks and professions, always excepting the Church. After one of these +entertainments I was travelling with John Gully, once a formidable +champion of the ring, and at that time a great bookmaker, as well +as owner of racehorses--afterwards presented at Court to her most +gracious Majesty the late Queen--and Member of Parliament. We were +travelling on our way to Bath, and as we approached a tunnel not far +from our destination, Gully pointed out a particular spot "where," +said he, "I won my first fight;" and so proud was he of the +recollection that he might have been in a picture like that of +Wellington pointing out the Field of Waterloo to a young lady. + +This knowledge of the world, seen as I saw it, was of the greatest use +in my profession. If you would know the world, you must not confine +yourself to its virtues. There _is_ another side, and it is well to +look at it. I thought on one particular occasion how useful a little +of this knowledge would have been during a certain cross-examination +of Arthur Orton in Chancery by a member of the Chancery Bar. He put +this question and many others of a similar kind,-- + +"Do you swear, sir, that you were on board the _Bella_?" in a very +severe tone. + +"Yes, sir," says the Claimant, "I do." + +"Stop," says the advocate; "I'll take that down;" and he did, with a +great deal besides, his cross-examination materially assisting the man +in prolonging his fraudulent claim. + +I was engaged in the Brighton card-sharping case, upon which so much +stress was laid by the Claimant as proving his identity with Roger +Tichborne, Roger not having been in the matter at all. I was counsel +for one of the persons, the notorious Johnny Broom, who was indicted +for fraud, and whose trial ought to have come on before Lord Chief +Justice Jervis. He was not a good Judge, so far as the _defendant_ was +concerned, to try such a case, and that being Johnny's opinion, he +absconded from his bail. The Lord Chief Justice had a great knowledge +of card-sharping and of all other rogueries, so that he was an apt man +to deal with delinquents who practised them. Conviction before him +would have been certain in this case. He was, in fact, waiting for +Johnny, as it was a case of great roguery, and intended to deal +severely with him. + +You may imagine, then, how angry he was when he heard that his man had +flown. But there was one consolation: the Broom gang consisted of a +number of men who acted on all occasions as confederates when the +frauds were practised. Two of these rogues were also indicted, and +placed on their trial at this assize. + +A Mr. Johnson appeared for the prosecution, and in opening the +case for the Crown, in order to show his uncommon fairness, was so +impartial as to state that he could find no ground of complaint in +respect of the _cards_, which, he said, had been most carefully +examined by the Brighton magistrates. + +Who these Brighton magistrates were I never heard, but probably they +were gentlemen who knew nothing of sharpers and their ways, and whose +only experience of cards was a quiet rubber with the ladies of their +household. However, such was their unanimous opinion, and upon it the +counsel for the Crown informed the Lord Chief Justice that he had no +case so far as the fairness of the cards was concerned. + +The Lord Chief Justice saw in a moment the importance of that +admission on the part of the prosecution. If that were accepted the +case was gone, since the fraud for which these men were indicted could +not have been perpetrated by honest cards. + +"The Brighton magistrates!" said the Chief Justice, with becoming +emphasis. "Give me the cards; I should like to have a look at them." + +They were handed up, and then a little scene took place which was +picturesque and instructive. The Judge took up the cards one by one +after carefully wiping and adjusting his glasses to his nose, while +his confidential clerk leant over his shoulder with clerk-like +familiarity. Having scrutinized them with the minutest observation, +Jervis packed them up, and, turning to Mr. Johnson, said,-- + +"Mr. Johnson, I will show you how the trick was done. If you will take +that card"--handing him one from the pack "--you will see that to +the ordinary eye there is nothing to attract your attention. That is +precisely as it should be in all games of cheating, for if every +fool could see the private marks the rogues could not carry on their +calling." + +Johnson took the card, and, instructed by the Lord Chief Justice, +carefully looked it over, but saw nothing. His face was a perfect +blank, and his mind could not have been much more picturesque. + +"Turn it over," said his lordship. Johnson obeyed. Still the cryptic +hierograph did not appear. The Judge stared at his pupil. "Do you +see," asked his lordship, "a tiny mark on the corner of the card at +the back?" + +"Oh, I see it!" says Johnson, with a face beaming with delight and +simplicity. + +"That means _the ace of diamonds_" said the Chief--"ace of diamonds, +Mr. Johnson!" And thus, after a while, the cards and their secret +signs were explained to the counsel for the Crown, who, on the +intelligence of the Brighton magistrates, declared that, so far as the +_cards_ were concerned, he must acquit these card-sharping rogues of +all intention to deceive. + +In all cases the back of the card showed what was on the face; that +was the simple secret of the whole contrivance, although the Brighton +magistrates could not discover it, as the whole of them combined had +not a hundredth part of the intelligent cuteness of Lord Chief Justice +Jervis. + +Two of this gang were standing near me, and I heard one of them say to +the other,-- + +"Joey, how would you like to play blind hookey with that ---- old +devil?" + +"O my G----!" exclaimed Joey. + +The prisoners were convicted principally upon the evidence of the Lord +Chief Justice, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. My client +Johnny got away. He read about Jervis and this trial in the papers, +and declared he would sooner abandon his profession than be tried by +such an old thief. "Why," said he, "that old bloke knows every trick +on the board." + +His escape was rather interesting. He came into Lewes fully intending +to take his trial, and went out of Lewes with the determination not +to be tried at those assizes, for the simple reason, as he said, that +Jervis was too heavy weight for his counsel. + +He took a room and showed himself publicly; but at night the +police--those stalwart county men--paid a tiptoe visit to his bedroom. +They had no right to this privilege, but perhaps Harry thought it +would be better for his brother if they did so. Why they went on +tiptoe was that Harry told them his brother was in so weak a state +that he woke up with the least noise. The police very kindly believed +him, and paid their first and second visit on tiptoe. + +When they went the third time, however, their bird had flown. Johnny +had let himself down by the window, and, evading the vigilance of +those who may have been on the lookout, escaped. + +But he did not go without providing a substitute. Harry was to answer +all inquiries, and waited the arrival of his watchers, lying in +Johnny's bedroom. When the officers came he opened the door in his +night apparel, and said, "Hush! don't disturb him; poor Johnny ain't +slept hardly for a week over this 'ere job. But you can have a peep at +him, only don't make a noise. There he is!" and he pointed to a fancy +nightcap of his brother's, which only wanted Johnny's head to make the +story true. + +The good constables, having seen it as they saw it the night before, +left the house as quietly as mice, still on tiptoe. + +Harry described this performance to me himself. + +Jervis had the whole country scoured for him, but unless he had +scoured it himself, there was little chance of any one else finding +the culprit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE KNEBWORTH THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS--SIR EDWARD +BULWER--LYTTON--CHARLES DICKENS, CHARLES MATHEWS, MACREADY, DOUGLAS +JERROLD, AND MANY OTHERS. + + +Among my pleasantest reminiscences were the partly amateur and partly +professional entertainments that took place at the celebrated seat of +the distinguished author, Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, about the year +185-. + +At that time a gentleman of position usually sought to enhance the +family dignity by a seat in Parliament. The most brilliant mediocrity +even could not succeed without the patronage of the great families, +while the great families were dependent upon those who had the +franchise for the seats they coveted. + +Forty-shilling freeholders were of some importance in those days; +hence these theatrical performances at Knebworth Park, for Sir Edward +wanted their suffrages without bribery or corruption. + +Those who were the happy possessors of what they called the +"frankise" were also distinguished enough, to be invited to the great +performances at the candidate's beautiful estate. + +It was a happy thought to give a succession of dramatic +entertainments, amongst which "Every Man in his Humour" was one. Sir +Edward knew his constituents and their tastes; it would be better +than oratory at some village inn to ask them to the stately hall of +Knebworth, and give them one of our fine old English plays. + +I have already said that I had made up my mind in my earliest days to +go to the Bar or on the Stage, and that love for the histrionic art +(sometimes called the footlights) never left me. + +For some reason or other I was invited to join the illustrious company +which assembled on those eventful evenings, although I was cast for a +very humble part in the performance. Nor is there much to wonder at +when I tell you who my colleagues were. + +First comes that most distinguished comedian of his day, Charles +Mathews. I had known him for many a year, and liked him the better, if +that was possible, the longer I knew him. + +Mathews was the leader of the company; next was another illustrious +man whose name will live for ever, and who was not only one of the +greatest authors of his time, but also the most distinguished of the +non-professional actors. Had he been on the stage, Mathews himself +could not have surpassed him. This was Charles Dickens. + +After him comes a great friend of Sir Edward, John Foster, a barrister +of Lincoln's Inn, and author of the "Life of Goldsmith," as well as +editor of the _Examiner_ newspaper. + +I am not quite sure whether Macready was present on this particular +occasion, but I think he was; there were really so many illustrious +names that it is impossible at this distance of time to be sure of +every one. Macready was a great friend of Bulwer, and with Dickens +and others was engaged in giving stage representations for charitable +purposes in London and the provinces, so that it is at least possible +I may be confounding Knebworth with some other place where I was one +of the company. + +Amongst us also was another whose name will always command the +admiration of his countrymen, Douglas Jerrold. There were also Mark +Lemon, Frank Stone, and another Royal Academician, John Leech, +Frederick Dickens, Radcliffe, Eliot Yorke, Henry Hale, and others +whose names escape my memory at the present moment. + +No greater honour could be shown to a young barrister than to invite +him to meet so distinguished a company, and what was even more +gratifying to my vanity, asking me to act with them in the +performance. There were many ladies, some of them of the greatest +distinction, but without the leave of those who are their immediate +relatives, which I have no time now to obtain, I forbear to mention +their names in this work. + +The business--for business it was, as well as the greatest +pleasure--was no little strain on my energies, for I was now obtaining +a large amount of work, and appearing in court every day. I had the +orthodox number of devils--at least seven--to assist me, and every +morning they came and received the briefs they were to hold. + +Alas! of the illustrious people I have mentioned all are dead, all +save one lady and myself. + +When will such a company meet again? + +I was no sooner in the midst of Knebworth's delightful associations +than I was anxious to return to the toilsome duties of the Law Courts, +with their prosaic pleadings and windbag eloquence. I was wanted in +several consultations long before the courts met, so that it was idle +to suppose I could stay the night at Knebworth. But what would I have +given to be able to do so? + +Not my briefs! They were the business of my life, without which the +Knebworth pleasures would not have been possible. I never looked with +any other feeling than that of pleasure on my work, and whenever the +question arose I decided without hesitation in favour of the more +profitable but less delightful occupation. + +But I managed a compromise now and then. For instance, after I had +done my duty in the consultations, and seen my work fairly started in +court, I contrived to take the train pretty early to Knebworth, in +order to attend rehearsals as well as perform in the evening. + +Sir Edward's good-nature caused him much distress at my having to +journey to and fro. What _could_ he do? He offered me the sole use of +his library during the time I was there if I could make it in any way +helpful, and said it should be fitted up as a bedroom and study. But +it was impossible to do other than I did. The rehearsals were nearly +always going on--we had audiences as though they were _matinées_--and +they afforded much amusement to us as well as the spectators when we +made our corrections or abused one another for some egregious blunder. +This, of course, did not include Mathews, who coached us from an +improvised royalty box, where he graciously acted as George IV., got +up in a wonderful Georgian costume for the occasion. George was so +good that he diverted the attention of the audience from us, and made +a wonderful hit in his new character. + +I will not say that at our regular performances we always won +the admiration, but I will affirm that we certainly received the +forbearance, of our audience, which says a great deal for them. This +observation, however, does not, of course, apply to the professional +artists, but only to myself, who, luckily, through all the business +still kept my head. + +And it will be easily understood that this was the more difficult, +especially if I may include my temper with it, when the good-natured +Baronet actually invited several of his Hertford friends and +neighbours to take part in the performances, some of them being +friends of my own and members of my profession. + +So that at this electioneering time the whole of that division was +alive with theatricals and "Every Man in his Humour," which was +exactly what Sir Edward wanted. + +It was an ordeal for some of us to rehearse with the celebrities of +the stage, but I need not say their good-humour and delight in showing +how this and that should be done, and how this and that should be +spoken, was, I am sure, reciprocated by all the amateurs in studying +the corrections. Never were lessons more kindly given, or received +with more pleasurable surprise. Some could scarcely conceive how they +could so blunder in accent and emphasis. However, most things require +learning, even advocacy and acting. + +Eliot Yorke was stage-manager, and wrote a very excellent prologue. It +must have been good, it was so heartily applauded, and the same may be +said of all of us. I think Radcliffe studied the part of Old Knowell, +while I played Young Knowell. Speaking after this interval of many +years, I believe we were all word-perfect and pretty well conscious of +our respective duties. Charles Dickens arranged our costumes, while +Nathan supplied them. He arranged me well. I was quite satisfied with +my Elizabethan ruff wound round my throat, but must confess that it +was a little uncomfortable for the first three or four hours. My hose +also gave me great satisfaction and some little annoyance. + +I thought if I could walk into court without changing my costume, what +a sensation I should create! What would Campbell or Jervis say to +_Young Knowell_? + +My father, as I have mentioned, lived at Hitchin, about six miles from +Knebworth, and my professional duties calling me so early to town, I +arranged to sleep at Hitchin, and go to London by an early train in +the morning. Sir Edward was much concerned at all this, and again +wondered whether his library could not be appropriated. But the other +was the only practicable plan, and was adopted. Every day I was in +court by nine o'clock, sometimes worked till five, then went by +rail to Stevenage and drove to Knebworth, three miles. That was the +routine. It was then time to put on my Elizabethan ruff and hose. +After the play I once more donned my private costume, and supped +luxuriously at a round table, where all our splendid company were +assembled. + +After supper some of us used to retire to Douglas Jerrold's room in +one of the towers, and there we spent a jovial evening, prolonging the +entertainment until the small hours of the morning. + +Then my fly, which had been waiting a long time, enabled me to reach +Hitchin and get three hours' sleep. + +All this was hard work, but I was really strong, and in the best of +health, so that I enjoyed the labour as well as the pleasure. One +cannot now conceive how it was possible to go through so much without +breaking down. I attribute it, however, to the attendant excitement, +which braced me up, and have always found that excitement will enable +you to exceed your normal strength. + +I had very many theatrical friends, all of them delightful in every +way. Amongst them Wright and Paul Bedford. Such companions as these +are not to be met with twice, each with his individuality, while the +two in combination were incomparable. They kept one in a perpetual +state of laughter. Paul was irresistible in his drollery, and whether +it was mimicry or original humour, you could not but revel in its +quaint conceits. + +Such men are benefactors; they brighten the darkest hours of +existence, turn sorrow into laughter, and enable men to forget their +troubles and live a little while in the sunshine of humour. Banish +philosophy if you please, banish ambition if you must banish +something, but leave us _humour_, the light of the social world. All +who have experienced its beautiful influence can appreciate its value, +and understand it as one of the choicest blessings conferred on our +existence. + +The dullest company was enlivened when Wright entered upon the scene. +I remember Paul being told one day at the Garrick Club that a certain +poor barrister, who had been an actor, was going to marry the +daughter of an old friend. "Ah!" said he, "yes, he's _a lover without +spangles_." + +Who but Paul would have thought of so grotesque a simile? And yet its +applicability was simply due to the language of the stage. + +I remember Robson, too, and his wonderful acting; he had no rival. +Nature had given him the talent which Art had cultivated to the +highest perfection. Next come the Keelys' impersonations of every +phase of dramatic life--originals in acting, and actors of originals. + +But I must not linger over this portion of my story. It would occupy +many pages, and time and space are limited; I therefore take my leave +of one of the pleasantest chapters in my reminiscences. + +All, alas! have passed away--all I knew and loved, all who made +that time so happy; and reluctantly as I say it, it must be said: +"Farewell, dear, grand old. Knebworth, with all thy glories and all +the glad faces and merry hearts I met within your walls--a long, long, +farewell!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CROCKFORD'S--"THE HOOKS AND EYES"--DOUGLAS JERROLD. + + +"Crockford's" has become a mere reminiscence, but worthy, in many +respects, of being preserved as part of the history of London. It was +historic in many of its associations as well as its incidents, and men +who made history as well as those who wrote it met at Crockford's. It +was celebrated alike for high play and high company. + +As I never had a real passion for gambling, it was to me a place of +great enjoyment, for there were some of the celebrated men of the +day amongst its invited guests--wits, poets, novelists, playwrights, +painters--in fact, all who had distinguished themselves in art +or literature, law, science, or learning of any kind were always +welcomed. + +It was as pleasant a lounge as any in London, not excepting +Tattersall's, which has equal claims on my memory. At Crockford's I +met Captain H----, a wonderful gamester; he died early, but not too +early for his welfare, seeing that all the chances of life are against +the gambler. Padwick, too, I knew; he entertained with refined and +lavish hospitality. He was one of the winners in the game of life who +did not die early. He told good stories and put much interest into +them. He knew Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner--a sporting man of the +first water, who poisoned John Parsons Cook for the sake of his +winnings, and his wife and mother, it was said, for the sake of the +insurance on their lives. Padwick knew everybody's deeds and misdeeds +who sought to increase his wealth on the turf or at the gaming-table. +He was a just and honourable man, but without any sympathy for fools. + +Others I could recall by the score, men of character and of no +character. Some I knew afterwards professionally, and especially one, +who, although convicted of crime, escaped by collusion the sentence +justly passed upon him. Another was a man of position without +character, whose evil habits destroyed the talent that would have made +him famous. + +But I need not dwell on the manifold characters and scenes of +Crockford's. There has been nothing like it either in its origin or +its subsequent history. There will never be anything like it in an +age of refinement and laws, which have been wisely passed for the +protection of fools. + +The founder of this fashionable gambling place was at one time a small +fishmonger in either the Strand or Fleet Street, I forget which, and +lived there till he removed to St. James's Street, where he became a +fisher of men, but never in any other than an honourable way. + +"His Palace of Fortune" was of the grandest style of architectural +beauty. It was one in which the worshippers of Fortune planked down +the last acre of their patrimonial estates to propitiate the fickle +goddess in the allurements of the gaming-table. But how _can_ Fortune +herself give two to one on all comers? Some _must_ lose to pay the +winners. + +At this palatial abode the most sumptuous repasts were prepared by the +most celebrated _chefs_ the world could produce, and were eaten by the +most fastidious and expensive gourmands Nature ever created; gamblers +of the most distinguished and the most disreputable characters; +gentlemen of the latest pattern and the oldest school, the worst +of men and the best, sporting politicians and political sportsmen, +place-hunters, Ministers, ex-Ministers, scions of old families and +ancient pedigrees, as well as men of new families and no pedigrees, +who purchased, as we do now, a coat of arms at the Heralds' tailoring +shop, and selected their ancestors in Wardour Street. + +Only the wealthy could be members of this club, for only the wealthy +could lose money and pay it. Landscape painters might be guests, but +it was only the man who belonged to the landscape who could belong to +the body that gambled for it. Young barristers might visit the place, +possibly with an eye to business, but only members of large practice +or Judges could be members of this society. + +Lord Palmerston defended it manfully before the committee appointed +really for its destruction. He said it did a great deal of good--much +more good than all the gambling hells of London did harm. Whether his +lordship contended that there was no betting carried on at Crockford's +I am not prepared to say, but when evidence is given before +Parliamentary Committees it is sometimes difficult to understand its +exact meaning. Palmerston, however, positively said, without any doubt +as to his meaning, that candidates were not elected in order that they +might be plucked of every feather they possessed, and that any one who +maintained the contrary was slandering one of the most respectable +clubs in London. Some men would rather have pulled down St. Paul's +than Crockford's. + +It was the very perfection of a club, said the statesman, and its +principal game was chicken hazard. What could be stronger evidence +than that of its usefulness and respectability? At this game they +usually lost all they had, of little consequence to those who could +not do better with their property, and perhaps the best thing for the +country, because when it got into better hands it stood some chance of +being applied to more legitimate purposes. + +After a while Crockford quarrelled with his partner, and they +separated. + +Whatever men may say in these days against an institution which +flourished in those, ex-Prime Ministers, Dukes, Earls, and ex-Lord +Chancellors, as well as future Ministers of State and future Judges, +belonged to it, or sought eagerly for admission to its membership. To +be under the shadow of the fishmonger was greatness itself. + +At the mention of the name of Crockford's a procession of the greatest +men of the day passes before my eyes; their name would be legion as to +numbers, but an army of devoted patriots I should call them in every +other sense, for they were English to the backbone, whether gamblers +or saints. + +Of course there were some amongst them, as in every large body of men, +who were not so desirable to know as you could wish; but they were +easy to avoid and at all times an interesting study. + +There were wise men and self-deluded fools, manly, well-bred men, and +effeminate, conceited coxcombs, who wore stays and did up their back +hair, used paint, and daubed their cheeks with violet powder. These +men, while they had it, planked down their money with the longest +possible odds against them. There was one who was the very opposite +to these in the person of old Squire Osbaldistone. True, he had +squandered more money than any one had ever seen outside the Bank of +England, but he had done it like a gentleman and not like a fool. A +real grand man was the old squire, and I enjoyed many a walk with +him over Newmarket Heath, listening to his amusing anecdotes, his +delightful humour and brilliant wit. His manner was so buoyant that no +one could have believed he had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds, +but he had, without compunction or regret. + +The novelist and the painter could artistically describe Squire +Osbaldistone. I can only say he was a "fine old English gentleman, one +of the olden time." It was in a billiard-room at Leamington where I +first met him, and as he was as indifferent a player as you could +meet, he thought himself one of the best that ever handled a cue. + +I neither played chicken hazard nor any other game, but enjoyed myself +in seeing others play, and in picking up crumbs of knowledge which I +made good use of in my profession. + +The institution was not established for the benefit of science or +literature, except that kind of literature which goes by the name +of bookmaking. Its founder was a veritable dunce, but he was the +cleverest of bookmakers, and made more by it in one night than all the +authors of that day in their lives. One hundred thousand pounds in +one night was not bad evidence of his calculation of chances and his +general knowledge of mankind. + +To be a member of this club, wealth was not the only qualification, +because in time you would lose it; you had to be well born or +distinguished in some other way. The fishmonger knew a good salmon +by its appearance; he had also a keen respect for the man who had +ancestors and ancestral estates. + +I ought not to omit to mention another celebrated bookie of that +day; he was second only to Crockford himself, and was called "The +Librarian." He was also known as "Billy Sims." + +Billy lived in St. James's Street, in a house which has long since +been demolished, and thither people resorted to enjoy the idle, witty, +and often scandalous gossip of the time. It was as easy to lose your +reputation there as your money at Crockford's, and far more difficult +to keep it. The only really innocent conversation was when a man +talked about himself. + +From that popular gossiping establishment I heard a little story told +by the son of Sydney Smith. His father had been sent for to see an old +lady who was one of his most troublesome parishioners. She was dying. +Sad to say, she had always been querulous and quarrelsome. It may have +been constitutional, but whatever the cause, her husband had had an +uncomfortable time with her. When Sydney Smith reached the house the +old lady was dead, and the bereaved widower, a religious man in his +way, and acquainted with Scripture, said,-- + +"Ah, sir, you are too late: my poor dear wife has gone to _Abraham's +bosom_." + +"Poor Abraham!" exclaimed Sydney; "she'll tear his inside out." + +As all these things pass through my memory, I recall another little +incident with much satisfaction, because I was retained in the case. +It was a scandalous fraud in connection with the gaming-table. An +action was brought by a cheat against a gentleman who was said to have +lost £20,000 on the cast of the dice. I was the counsel opposed to +plaintiff, who was said to have cheated by means of _loaded dice_. I +won the case, and it was generally believed that the action was the +cause of the appointment of the "Gaming Committee," at which tribunal +all the rascality of the gaming-tables was called to give evidence, +and the witnesses did so in such a manner as to shock the conscience +of the civilized world, which is never conscious of anything until +exposure takes place in a court of law or in some other legal inquiry. + +Diabolical revelations were brought to light. However, as I have said, +Lord Palmerston effectually cleared Crockford's, and it almost seemed, +from the evidence of those who knew Crockford's best, that they never +played anything there but old-fashioned whist for threepenny points, +patience, and beggar-my-neighbour. + +His Royal Highness the then Prince of Wales came into court during the +trial I refer to, and seemed interested in the proceedings. I wonder +if his Majesty now remembers it! + +In those days Baron Martin and I met once a year, he on the Bench and +I in court, with a hansom cab waiting outside ready to start for the +Derby. It is necessary for Judges to sit on Derby Day, to show that +they do not go; but if by some accident the work of the court is +finished in time to get down to Epsom, those who love an afternoon +in the country sometimes go in the direction of the Downs. There is +usually a run on the list on that day. + +There was another club to which I belonged in those old days, called +"The Hooks and Eyes," where I met for the last time poor Douglas +Jerrold. He was one of the Eyes, and always on the lookout for a good +thing, or the opportunity of saying one. He was certainly, in my +opinion, the wittiest man of his day. But at times his wit was more +hurtful than amusing. Wit should never leave a sting. + +He was sometimes hard on those who were the objects of his personal +dislike. Of these Sir Charles Taylor was one. He was not a welcome +member of the Hooks and Eyes, and Jerrold knew it. There was really no +reason why Sir Charles should not have been liked, except perhaps that +he was dull and prosaic; rather simple than dull, perhaps, for he was +always ready to laugh with the rest of us, whether he understood the +joke or not. And what could the most brilliant do beyond that? + +Sir Charles was fond of music. He mentioned in Jerrold's company on +one occasion "that 'The Last Rose of Summer' so affected him that it +quite carried him away." + +"Can any one hum it?" asked Jerrold. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ALDERSON, TOMKINS, AND A FREE COUNTRY--A PROBLEM IN HUMAN NATURE. + + +Alderson was a very excellent man and a good Judge. I liked him, and +could always deal with him on a level footing. He was quaint and +original, and never led away by a false philanthropy or a sickly +sentimentalism. + +Appealed to on behalf of a man who had a wife and large family, +and had been convicted of robbing his neighbours, "True," said +Alderson--"very true, it is a free country. Nothing can be more proper +than that a man should have a wife and a large family; it is his +due--as many children as circumstances will permit. But, Tomkins, +you have no right, even in a free country, to steal your neighbour's +property to support them!" + +I liked him where there was a weak case on the other side; he was +particularly good on those occasions. + +In the Assize Court at Chelmsford a barrister who had a great criminal +practice was retained to defend a man for stealing sheep, a very +serious offence in those days--one where anything less than +transportation would be considered excessive leniency. + +The principal evidence against the man was that the bones of the +deceased animal were found in his garden, which was urged by the +prosecuting counsel as somewhat strong proof of guilt, but not +conclusive. + +It must have struck everybody who has watched criminal proceedings +that the person a prisoner has most to fear when he is tried is +too often his own counsel, who may not be qualified by nature's +certificate of capacity to defend. However, be that as it may, in this +case there was no evidence against the prisoner, unless his counsel +made it so. + +"Counsel for the defence" in those days was a wrong description--he +was called the _friend_ of the prisoner; and I should conclude, from +what I have seen of this relationship, that the adage "Save me from my +friends" originated in this connection. + +The friend of this prisoner, instead of insisting that there was no +evidence, since no one could swear to the sheep bones when no man had +ever seen them, endeavoured to explain away the cause of death, and +thus, by a foolish concession, admitted their actual identity. It was +not Alderson's duty to defend the prisoner against his own admission, +although, but for that, he would have pointed out to the Crown how +absolutely illogical their proposition was in law. But the "friend" of +the prisoner suggested that sheep often put their heads through gaps +or breakages in the hurdles, and rubbed their necks against the +projecting points of the broken bars; and that being so, why should +the jury not come to a verdict in favour of the prisoner on that +ground? It was quite possible that the constant rubbing would +ultimately cut the sheep's throat. If it did not, the prisoner +submitted to the same operation at the hand of his "friend." + +"Yes," said Baron Alderson, "that is a very plausible suggestion to +start with; but having commenced your line of defence on that ground, +you must continue it, and carry it to the finish; and to do this +you must show that not only did this sheep in a moment of temporary +insanity--as I suppose you would allege in order to screen it--commit +suicide, but that it skinned itself and then buried its body, or what, +was left of it after giving a portion to the prisoner to eat, in the +prisoner's garden, and covered itself up in its own grave. You must go +as far as that to make a complete defence of it. I don't say the jury +may not believe you; we shall see. Gentlemen, what do you say--is the +sheep or the prisoner guilty?" The sheep was instantly acquitted. + +There was another display of forensic ingenuity by the same counsel in +the next case, where he was once again the "friend" of the prisoner. + +A man was charged with stealing a number of gold and silver +coins which had been buried a few hours previously under the +foundation-stone of a new public edifice. + +The prisoner was one of the workmen, and had seen them deposited for +the historical curiosity of future ages. Antiquity, of course, would +be the essence of the value of the coins, except to the thief. The +royal hand had covered them with the stone, duly tapped by the silver +trowel amidst the hurrahs of the loyal populace, in which the prisoner +heartily joined. But in the night he stole forth, and then stole the +coins. + +They were found at his cottage secreted in a very private locality, +as though his conscience smote him or his fear sought to prevent +discovery. His legal friend, however, driven from the mere outwork of +facts, had taken refuge in the citadel of law; he was equal to the +occasion. Alas! Alderson knew the way into this impregnable retreat. + +Counsel suggested that it was never intended by those who placed the +coins where they were found that they should remain there till the end +of time; they were intended, said he, to be taken away by somebody, +but by whom was not indicated by the depositors, and as no time or +person was mentioned, they must belong to the first finder. It was all +a mere chance as to the time of their resurrection. Further, it was +certain they were not intended to be taken by their owners who had +placed them there--they never expected to see them again--but by any +one who happened to come upon them. Those who deposited them where +they were found parted not only with the possession, but with all +claims of ownership. Nor could any one representing him make any +claim. + +All this was excellent reasoning as far as it went, and the only thing +the prosecution alleged by way of answer was that they were intended +to be brought to light as antiquities. + +"Very well," said the prisoner's counsel; "then there is no felonious +intent in that case--it is merely a mistake. Antiquity came too soon." + +And so did the conviction. + +I was instructed, with the Hon. George Denman, son of my old friend, +whom I have so often mentioned, to defend three persons at the +Maidstone Assizes for a cruel murder. Mr. Justice Wightman was the +Judge, and there was not a better Judge of evidence than he, or of law +either. + +The prisoners were father, mother, and son, and the deceased was a +poor servant girl who had been engaged to be married to another son of +the male prisoner and his wife. + +The unfortunate girl had left her service at Gravesend, and gone to +this family on a visit. The prisoners, there could be no doubt, were +open to the gravest suspicion, but how far each was concerned with the +actual murder was uncertain, and possibly could never be proved. + +The night before the trial the attorney who acted for the accused +persons called on me, and asked this extraordinary question,-- + +"Could you secure the acquittal of the father and the son if the woman +will plead guilty?" + +It is impossible to conceive the amount of resolution and +self-sacrifice involved in this attempt to save the life of her +husband and son. It was too startling a proposal to listen to. I +could advise no client to plead guilty to wilful murder. It was so +extraordinary a proposition, look at it from whatever point I might, +that it was perfectly impossible to advise such a course. I asked him +if the woman knew what she was doing, and that if she pleaded guilty +certain death would follow. + +"Oh yes," said he; "she is quite prepared." + +"The murder," I said, "is one of the worst that can be +conceived--cruel and fiendish." + +He agreed, but persisted that she was perfectly willing to sacrifice +her own life if her husband and son could be saved. + +This woman, so full of feeling for her own family, had thought so +little of that of others that she had held down the poor servant girl +in bed while her son strangled her. + +"If," said I, "she were to plead guilty, the great probability is that +the jury would believe they were all guilty--very probably they are; +and most certainly in that case they would all be hanged." I therefore +strongly advised that the woman should stand her trial "with the +others," which she did. In the end they all _got off_! the evidence +not being sufficiently clear against any. + +It was a strange mingling of evil and good in one breast--of +diabolical cruelty and noble self-sacrifice. + +I leave others to work out this problem of human nature. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CHARLES MATHEWS--A HARVEST FESTIVAL AT THE VILLAGE CHURCH. + + +The sporting world has no greater claim on my memory than the +theatrical or the artistic. I recall them with a vividness that brings +back all the enjoyments of long and sincere friendships. For instance, +one evening I was in Charles Mathews's dressing-room at the theatre +and enjoying a little chat when he was "called." + +"Come along," said he; "come along." + +Why he should "call" me to come along I never knew. I had no part in +the piece at that moment. But he soon gave me one. I followed, with +lingering steps and slow, having no knowledge of the construction of +the premises; but in a moment Mathews had disappeared, and I found +myself in the middle of the stage, with a crowded house in front of +me. The whole audience burst into an uproar of laughter. I suppose it +was the incompatibility of my appearance at that juncture which made +me "take" so well; but it brought down the house, and if the curtain +had fallen at that moment, I should have been a great success, and +Mathews would have been out of it. In the midst of my discomfiture, +however, he came on to the stage by another entrance as "cool as a +cucumber." He told me afterwards that he had turned the incident to +good account by referring to me as "Every man in his humour," or, "A +bailiff in distressing circumstances!" + +I was visiting the country house of a respectable old solicitor, who +was instructing me in a "compensation case" which was to be heard at +Wakefield. + +"I don't know, Mr. Hawkins," said he on Sunday morning, "whether you +would like to see our little church?" + +"No, thank you," I answered; "we can have a look at it to-morrow when +we have a 'view of the premises.'" + +"I thought, perhaps," said Mr. Goodman, "you might like to attend the +service." + +"No," said I, "not particularly; a walk under the 'broad canopy' is +preferable on a beautiful morning like this to a poky little pew; +and I like the singing of the birds better than the humming of a +clergyman's nose. + +"Very well," he said; "we will, if you like, take a little walk." + +With surprising innocence he inflicted upon me a pious fraud, leading +me over fields and meadows, stiles and rustic bridges, until at last +the cunning old fox brought me out along a by-path and over a +plank bridge right into the village. Then turning a corner near a +picturesque farmhouse, he smilingly observed, "This is our church." + +"It's a very old one, and looks much more picturesque in the distance. +Shall we have a view a little farther off?" + +"St. Mary's," said he; "1694 is the date--" + +"St. Mary's?" said I. "Fancy! And what is the date--1694?" + +"It has some fine tablets, Mr. Hawkins, if you'd like to look in--" + +"I don't care for tablets," I answered; "if I go to church it is not +to stare at tablets." + +At last my host summed up courage to say,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, this is our little harvest festival of thanksgiving, and +I should not like to be absent." + +"Why on earth, Mr. Goodman," I answered, "did you not say that before? +Let us go in by all means. I like a good harvest as well as any +Christian on earth." + +The pew was the family pew--the _whole family pew_, and nothing but +the family pew; bought with the estate, with the family estate; and +was in an excellent situation for the congregation to have a fine view +of Mr. Goodman. Indeed, his cheery face could be seen by everybody in +church. + +I must say the little edifice looked very nice, and had been adorned +with the most artistic taste by the young ladies of the Vicarage +and the Hall. Mr. Goodman was "the Hall." There were bunches of +neatly-arranged turnips and carrots, with potatoes, barley, oats, +and mangel-wurzel, and almost every variety of fruit from the little +village; and every girl had barley and wheat-ears in her straw hat. +It was an affecting sight, calculated to make any one adore the young +ladies and long for dinner. + +The sermon was an excellent one so far as I could pronounce an +opinion, but would have been considerably improved had it been +three-quarters of an hour shorter. It contained, however, the usual +allusions to harvest-homes, gathering into barns, and laying up +treasures; which last observation reminded Mr. Goodman that he had +_left his purse at home_, and had come away without any money. + +I saw him fumbling in his pocket. Now, thought I, the time has come +for showing my devotion to Mr. Goodman. As soon, therefore, as he +had whispered to me, I handed him all I had, which consisted of a +five-pound note. He gratefully took it, and although about five times +as much as _he_ intended to give, when the bag was handed to him in +went the five-pound note. + +I knew my friend was chuckling as soon as we got into his family pew +at the way in which he had lured me step by step, till we walked the +last plank over the ditch, so I was not sorry to return good for evil +and lend him my note. + +He stared somewhat sideways at me when the bag passed, but I bore it +with fortitude. I took particular notice that the crimson bag passed +along the front of our family pew at a very dilatory pace, and tarried +a good deal, as if reluctant to leave it. To and fro it passed in +front of my nose as if it contained something I should like to smell, +and at last moved away altogether. I was glad of that, because +it prevented my following the words of the hymn in my book, and, +unfortunately, it was one of those harvest hymns I did not know by +heart. + +On our way home over the meadows, where the grasshoppers were +practising for the next day's sports, and were in high glee over +this harvest festival, Mr. Goodman seemed fidgety; whether +conscience-stricken for the Sabbath fraud he had practised upon me or +not, I could not say, but at last he asked how I liked their little +service. + +I said it was quite large enough. + +"You"--he paused--"you did not, I think"--another pause--"contribute +to our little gathering?" + +"No," I said, "but it was not my fault; I lent you all I had. The +fund, however, will not suffer in the least, and you have the +satisfaction of having contributed the whole of our joint +pocket-money. It does not matter who the giver is so long as the fund +obtains it." I then diverted his mind with a story or two. + +Cockburn, I said, was sitting next to Thesiger during a trial +before Campbell, Chief Justice, in which the Judge read some French +documents, and, being a Scotsman, it attracted a good deal of +attention. Cockburn, who was a good French scholar, was much annoyed +at the Chief Justice's pronunciation of the French language. + +"He is murdering it," said he--"_murdering_ it!" + +"No, my dear Cockburn," answered Thesiger, "he is not killing it, only +Scotching it." + +Sir Alexander was at a little shooting-party with Bethell and his son, +one of whom shot the gamekeeper. The father accused the son of the +misadventure, while the son returned the compliment. Cockburn, after +some little time, asked the gamekeeper what was the real truth of the +unfortunate incident--who was the gentleman who had inflicted the +injury? + +The gamekeeper, still smarting from his wounds, and forgetting the +respect due to the questioner, answered,-- + +"O Sir Alexander--d--n 'em, it was _both_!" + +A remark made by Lord Young, the Scotch Judge, one of the wittiest men +who ever adorned the Bar, and who is a Bencher of the Middle Temple, +struck me as particularly happy. There was a conversation about the +admission of solicitors to the roll, and the long time it took before +they were eligible to pass from their stage of pupilage to that of +solicitor, amounting, I think, to seven years; upon which Lord Young +said, "_Nemo repente fuit turpissimus_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +COMPENSATION--NICE CALCULATIONS IN OLD DAYS--EXPERTS--LLOYD AND I. + + +As my business continued to increase, it took me more and more from +the ordinary _nisi prius_, and kept me perpetually employed in special +matters. I had a great many compensation cases, where houses, lands, +and businesses had been taken for public or company purposes. They +were interesting and by no means difficult, the great difficulty +being to get the true value when you had, as I have known, a hundred +thousand pounds asked on one side and ten thousand offered on the +other. + +Railway companies were especially plundered in the exorbitant +valuation of lands, and therefore an advocate who could check the +valuers by cross-examination was sought after. Juries were always +liable to be imposed upon, and generally gave liberal compensation, +altogether apart from the market value. Experts, such as land agents +and surveyors, were always in request, and indeed these experts in +value caused the most extravagant amounts to be awarded. Even the mean +sum between highest and lowest was a monstrously unfair guide, for one +old expert used to instruct his pupils that the only true principle in +estimating value was to ask at least twice as much as the business or +other property was worth, because, he said, the other side will be +sure to try and cut you down one-half, and then probably offer to +split the difference. If you accept that, you will of course get +one-quarter more than you could by stating what you really wanted. No +one could deal with the real value, because there was no such thing +known in the Compensation Court. + +On one occasion I was travelling north in connection with one of these +cases, retained, as usual, on behalf of a railway company. In my +judgment the claim would have been handsomely met by an award of +£10,000, and that sum we were prepared to give. + +On my way I observed in my carriage a gentleman who was very busy +in making calculations on slips of paper, and every now and again +mentioning the figures at which he had arrived--repeating them to +himself. When we got to a station he threw away his paper, after +tearing it up, and when we started commenced again, but at every +stoppage on our journey he increased his amount. After we had +travelled 250 miles, the property he was valuing had attained the +handsome figure of £100,000. + +He evidently had not observed me. I was very quiet, and well wrapped +up. The next day, when he stepped into the witness-box he had not the +least idea that I had been his fellow-traveller of the previous +night. He was not very sharp except in the matter of figures; but his +opinion, like that of all experts, was invincible. His name was Bunce. + +"When did you view this property, Mr. Bunce? I understand you come +from London." + +"I saw it this morning, sir." + +"Did you make any calculation as to its value _before_ you saw it?" + +This puzzled him, and he stared at me. It was a hard stare, but I held +out. + +He said, "No." + +"Not when you were travelling? Did it not pass through your mind +when you were in the train, for instance--'I wonder, now, what that +property is worth?'" + +"I dare say it did, sir." + +"But don't _dare say_ anything unless it's true." + +"I did, then, run it over in my mind." + +"And I dare say you made notes and can produce them. Did you make +notes?" After a while I said, "I see you did. You may as well let me +have them." + +"I tore them up." + +"Why? What became of the pieces?" + +"I threw them away." + +"Do you remember what price you had arrived at when you reached +Peterborough, for instance?" + +The expert thought I was some one whom we never mention except when in +a bad temper, and he was more and more puzzled when he found that at +every stoppage I knew how much his price had increased. + +As the case was tried by an arbitrator and not a jury, my task was +easy, arbitrators not being so likely to be befooled as the other form +of tribunal. This arbitrator, especially, knew the elasticity of an +expert's opinion, and therefore I was not alarmed for my client. The +amount was soon arrived at by reducing the sum claimed by no less +than £90,000. Thus vanished the visionary claim and the expert. He +evidently had not been trained by the cunning old surveyor whose +experience taught him to be moderate, and ask only twice as much as +you ought to get. + +In another claim, which was no less than £10,000, the jury gave £300. +This was a state of things that had to be stopped, and it could only +be accomplished at that time by counsel who appeared on behalf of the +companies. + +Sir Henry Hunt was one of the best of arbitrators, and it was +difficult to deceive him. It took a clever expert to convince him that +a piece of land whose actual value would be £100 was worth £20,000. + +Sir Henry once paid me a compliment--of course, I was not present. + +"Hawkins," said he, "is the very best advocate of the day, and, +strange to say, his initials are the same as mine. You may turn them +upside down and they will still stand on their legs" (H.H.). + +Sir Henry was sometimes a witness, and as such always dangerous to the +side against whom he was called, because he was a judge of value and a +man of honour. + +One instance in which I took a somewhat novel course in demolishing a +fictitious claim is, perhaps, worth while to relate, although so many +years have passed since it occurred. + +It was so far back as the time of the old Hungerford Market, which the +railway company was taking for their present Charing Cross terminus. +The question was as to the value of a business for the sale of medical +appliances. + +Mr. Lloyd, as usual, was for the business, while I appeared for the +company. My excellent friend proceeded on the good old lines of +compensation advocacy with the same comfortable routine that one plays +the old family rubber of threepenny points. I occasionally finessed, +however, and put my opponent off his play. He held good hands, but if +I had an occasionally bad one, I sometimes managed to save the odd +trick. + +Lloyd had expatiated on the value of the situation, the highroad +between Waterloo Station and the Strand, immense traffic and grand +frontage. To prove all this he called a multitude of witnesses, who +kissed the same book and swore the same thing almost in the same +words. But to his great surprise I did not cross-examine. Lloyd was +bewildered, and said I had admitted the value by not cross-examining, +and he should not call any more witnesses. + +I then addressed the jury, and said, "A multitude of witnesses may +prove anything they like, but my friend has started with an entirely +erroneous view of the situation. The compensation for disturbance of +a business must depend a great deal on the nature of the business. If +you can carry it on elsewhere with the same facility and profit, the +compensation you are entitled to is very little. I will illustrate +my meaning. Let us suppose that in this thoroughfare there is a good +public-house--for such a business it would indeed be an excellent +situation; you may easily imagine a couple of burly farmers coming up +from Farnham or Windlesham to the Cattle Show, and walking over the +bridge, hot and thirsty. 'Hallo!' says one; 'I say, Jim, here's a nice +public; what d'ye say to goin' in and havin' a glass o' bitter? It's a +goodish pull over this 'ere bridge." + +"'With all my heart,' says Jim; and in they go. + +"There you see the advantage of being on the highroad. But now, let +us see these two stalwart farmers coming along, and--instead of the +handsome public and the bitter ale there is this shop, where they sell +medical arrangements--can you imagine one of them saying to the other, +'I say, Jim, here's a very nice medical shop; what d'ye say to going +in and having a truss?'" + +The argument considerably reduced the compensation, but what it lacked +in money the claimant got in laughter. + +Sometimes I led a witness who was an expert valuer for a claimant to +such a gross exaggeration of the value of a business as to stamp the +claim with fraud, and so destroy his evidence altogether. + +Sir Henry Hunt used to nod with apparent approval at every piece of +evidence which showed any kind of exaggeration, but every nod was +worth, as a rule, a handsome reduction to the other side. + +I shall never forget an attorney's face who, having been offered +£10,000 for a property, stood out for £13,000. + +It was a claim by a poulterers' company for eight houses that were +taken by a railway company. I relied entirely on my speech, as I often +did, because the threadbare cross-examinations were almost, by this +time, things of course, as were the figures themselves mere results of +true calculations on false bases. + +This attorney, who had, perhaps, never had a compensation case before, +was quite a great man, and took the arbitrator's assenting nods as so +much cash down. + +So encouraged, indeed, was he that he became almost impudent to me, +and gave me no little annoyance by his impertinent asides. At last I +looked at him good-humouredly, and politely requested him, as though +he were the court itself, to suspend his judgment while I had the +honour of addressing the arbitrator for twenty minutes, "at the end of +which time I promise to make you, sir," said I, "the most miserable +man in existence." + +I was supported in this appeal by the arbitrator, who hoped he would +not interrupt Mr. Hawkins. + +As I proceeded the attorney fidgeted, puffed out his cheeks, blew out +his breath, twirled his thumbs as I twirled his figures, and grated +his teeth as he looked at me sideways, while I concluded a little +peroration I had got up for him, which was merely to this effect, that +if railway companies yielded to such extortionate demands as were made +by this attorney on behalf of the poulterers' company, they would not +leave their shareholders a feather to fly with. + +The attorney looked very much like moulting himself, and the end of it +was that he got _two thousand pounds_ less than we had offered him in +the morning, and consequently had to pay all the costs. + +As I have stated, John Horatio Lloyd was my principal opponent in +these great public works cases, and I remember him with every feeling +of respect. He was an advocate whom no opponent could treat lightly, +and was uniformly kind and agreeable. + +Of course I had a very large experience in those times--I suppose, +without vanity, I may say the very largest. I was retained to assess +compensation for the immense blocks of buildings acquired for the +space now occupied by the Law Courts. In the very early cases the law. +officers of the Crown were concerned, but after that the whole of the +business was entrusted to my care, although for reasons best known to +themselves the Commissioners declined to send me a general retainer, +which would have been one small sum for the whole, but gave instead +a special retainer on every case. If my memory serves me, on one +occasion I had ninety-four of these special retainers delivered at +my chambers. This was in consequence of their refusing to retain me +generally for the whole, which would have been a nominal fee of five +guineas. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +ELECTION PETITIONS. + + +Another class of work which gave me much pleasure and interest was +that of election petitions. These came in such abundance that I had to +put on, as I thought, a prohibitory fee, which in reality increased +the volume of my labour. + +One day Baron Martin asked me if I was coming to such and such an +election petition. + +"No," I answered, "no; I have put a prohibitory fee on my services; I +can't be bothered with election petitions." + +"How much have you put on?" + +"Five hundred guineas, and two hundred a day." + +The Baron laughed heartily. "A prohibitory fee! They must have you, +Hawkins--they must have you. Put on what you like; make it high +enough, and they'll have you all the more." + +And I did. It turned out a very lucrative branch of my business, and +my electioneering expenses were a good investment. My experience at +Barnstaple, to be told hereafter, repaid the outlay, and no feature of +an election ever came before me but I recognized a family likeness. + +Amongst the earliest was that of W.H. Smith, who had been returned for +Westminster. The petitioner endeavoured to unseat him on the ground of +bribery, alleged to have been committed in paying large sums of money +for exhibiting placards on behalf of the candidate. It was tried +before Baron Martin. + +About the payments there was no element of extravagance, but there +were undoubtedly many cases of payment, and these were alleged to be +illegal. + +Ballantine was my junior. One of the curious matters in the case was +that these payments had been principally made by, or under, the advice +of my old friend, whom I cannot mention too often, the Hon. Robert +Grimston. + +Ballantine, as I thought, most injudiciously advised me not to call +"that old fool;" but believing in Grimston, and having charge of the +case, I resolved to call him. Baron Martin knew Grimston as well as I +did, and believed in him as much. + +"Who is this?" asked the Judge. + +"Another bill-sticker, my lord." + +Grimston gave his evidence, and was severely cross-examined by my +friend, J. Fitzjames Stephen. He fully and satisfactorily explained +every one of the questioned items, evidently to the satisfaction of +Martin, who dismissed the petition, and thus Mr. Smith retained his +seat. + +The learned Judge said, in giving judgment, that without Grimston's +evidence the seat would have been in great danger, but that he had put +an innocent colour on the whole case, and that, knowing him to be an +honourable man and incapable of saying anything but the truth, he had +implicitly trusted to every word he spoke. + +Mr. Smith, whom I met some days after, said he was perfectly assured +that if I had not had the conduct of the case, and Grimston had not +been called, his seat would have been lost. + +In the petition against Sir George Elliot for Durham there was nothing +of any importance in the case, except that Sir George gave a very +interesting history of his life. + +He had been a poor boy who had worked in the cutting of the pit, lying +on his back and picking out from the roof overhead the coal which was +shovelled into the truck. From this humble position literally and +socially he had proceeded, first to his feet, and then step by step, +until, from one grade to another, he had amassed a large fortune, and +sufficient income to enable him to incur, not only the expenses of +an election and a seat in Parliament, but also those of a bitterly +hostile election petition, enormously extravagant in every way. I +succeeded in winning his case, and never was more proud of a victory. +It had lasted many days. + +There is one matter almost of a historical character, which I mention +in order to do all the justice in my power to a man who, although +deserving of reprobation, is also entitled to admiration for the +chivalry of his true nature. I speak of it with some hesitation, and +therefore without the name. Those who are interested in his memory +will know to whom I allude, and possibly be grateful for the tribute +to his character, however much it may have been sullied by his +temporary absence of manly discretion. + +He was charged with assaulting a young lady in a railway train between +Aldershot and Waterloo. There was much of the melodramatic in the +incidents, and much of the righteous indignation of the public before +trial. There was judgment and condemnation in every virtuous mind. The +assault alleged was doubtless of a most serious character, if proved. +I say nothing of what might have been proved or not proved; but, +speaking as an advocate, I will not hesitate to affirm that +cross-examination may sometimes save one person's character without in +the least affecting that of another. + +But this was not to be. Whatever line of defence my experience might +have suggested, I was debarred by his express command from putting a +single question. + +I say to his honour that, as a gentleman and a British officer, he +preferred to take to himself the ruin of his own character, the +forfeiture of his commission in the army, the loss of social status, +and _all_ that could make life worth having, to casting even a doubt +on the lady's veracity in the witness-box. + +My instructions crippled me, but I obeyed my client, of course, +implicitly in the letter and the spirit, even though to some extent he +may have entailed upon himself more ignominy and greater severity of +punishment than I felt he deserved. + +He died in Egypt, never having been reinstated in the British army. +I knew but little of him until this catastrophe occurred; but the +manliness of his defence showed him to be naturally a man of honour, +who, having been guilty of serious misconduct, did all he could to +amend the wrong he had done; and so he won my sympathy in his sad +misfortune and misery. + +In the days when burglary was punished with death, there was very +seldom any remission, I was in court one day at Guildford, when a +respectably-dressed man in a velveteen suit of a yellowy green colour +and pearl buttons came up to me. He looked like one of Lord Onslow's +gamekeepers. I knew nothing of him, but seemed to recognize his +features as those of one I had seen before. When he came in front of +my seat he grinned with immense satisfaction, and said,-- + +"Can I get you anything, Mr. Orkins?" + +I could not understand the man's meaning. + +"No, thank you," I said. "What do you mean?" + +"Don't you recollect, sir, you defended me at Kingston for a burglary +charge, and got me off., Mr. Orkins, in flyin' colours?" + +I recollected. He seemed to have the flying colours on his lips. "Very +well," I said; "I hope you will never want defending again." + +"No, sir; never." + +"That's right." + +"Would a _teapot_ be of any use to you, Mr. Orkins?" + +"A teapot!" + +"Yes, sir, or a few silver spoons--anything you like to name, Mr. +Orkins." + +I begged him to leave the court. + +"Mr. Orkins, I will; but I am grateful for your gettin' me off that +job, and if a piece o' plate will be any good, I'll guarantee it's +good old family stuff as'll fetch you a lot o' money some day." + +I again told him to go, and, disappointed at my not accepting things +of greater value, he said,-- + +"Sir, will a sack o' taters be of any service to you?" + +This sort of gratitude was not uncommon in those days. I told the +story to Mr. Justice Wightman, and he said,-- + +"Oh, that's nothing to what happened to the Common Serjeant of London. +He had sent to him once a Christmas hamper containing a hare, a brace +and a half of pheasants, three ducks, and a couple of fowls, which _he +accepted_." + +I sometimes won a jury over by a little good-natured banter, and often +annoyed Chief Justice Campbell when I woke him up with laughter. And +yet he liked me, for although often annoyed, he was never really +angry. He used to crouch his head down over his two forearms and go to +sleep, or pretend to, by way of showing it did not matter what I said +to the jury. I dare say it was disrespectful, but I could not help on +these occasions quietly pointing across my shoulder at him with my +thumb, and that was enough. The jury roared, and Campbell looked up,-- + +"What's the joke, Mr. Hawkins?" + +"Nothing, my lord; I was only saying I was quite sure your lordship +would tell the jury exactly what I was saying." + +"Go on, Mr. Hawkins--" + +Then he turned to his clerk and said,-- + +"I shall catch him one of these days. Confine yourself to the issue, +Mr. Hawkins." + +"If your lordship pleases," said I, and went on. + +The eccentricities of Judges would form a laughable chapter. Some of +them were overwhelmed with the importance of their position; none were +ever modest enough to perceive their own small individuality amidst +their judicial environments; and this thought reminds me of an +occurrence at Liverpool Assizes, when Huddlestone and Manisty, the two +Judges on circuit, dined as usual with the Lord Mayor. The Queen's +health was proposed, of course, and Manisty, with his innate good +breeding, stood up to drink it, whereupon his august brother Judge +pulled him violently by his sleeve, saying, "Sit down, Manisty, you +damned fool! _we_ are the Queen!" + +I was addressing a jury for the plaintiff in a breach of promise +case, and as the defendant had not appeared in the witness-box, I +inadvertently called attention to an elderly well-dressed gentleman +in blue frock-coat and brass buttons--a man, apparently, of good +position. The jury looked at him and then at one another as I said +how shameful it was for a gentleman to brazen it out in the way the +defendant did--ashamed to go into the witness-box, but not ashamed to +sit in court. + +Here the gentleman rose in a great rage amidst the laughter of the +audience, in which even the ushers and javelin-men joined, to say +nothing of the Judge himself, and shouted with angry vociferation,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, I am _not_ the defendant in this case, Sir ----" + +"I am very sorry for you," I replied; "but no one said you were." + +There was another outburst, and the poor gentleman gesticulated, if +possible, more vehemently than before. + +"I am not the def--" + +"Nobody would have supposed you were, sir, if you had not taken so +much trouble to deny it. The jury, however, will now judge of it." + +"I am a married man, sir." + +"So much the worse," said I. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MY CANDIDATURE FOR BARNSTAPLE. + + +Although the House of Commons dislikes lawyers, constituencies love +them. The enterprising patriots of the long robe are everywhere sought +after, provided they possess, with all their other qualifications, the +one thing needful, and possessing which, all others may be dispensed +with. + +Barnstaple was no exception to the rule. It had a character for +conspicuous discernment, and, like the unseen eagle in the sky, could +pick out at any distance the object of its desire. + +Eminent, respectable, and rich must be the qualification of any +candidate who sought its suffrages--the last, at all events, being +indispensable. + +Up to this time I had not felt those patriotic yearnings which are +manifested so early in the legal heart. I was never a political +adventurer; I had no eye on Parliament merely as a stepping-stone to a +judgeship; and probably, but for the events I am about to describe, I +should never have been heard of as a politician at all. There were so +many candidates in the profession to whom time was no object that I +left this political hunting-ground entirely to them. + +In 1865 I was waited upon at Westminster by a very influential +deputation from the Barnstaple electors--honest-looking electors as +any candidate could wish to see--bringing with them a requisition +signed by almost innumerable independent electors, and stating that +there were a great many more of the same respectable class who would +have signed had time been permitted. Further signatures were, however, +to be forwarded. It was urged by the deputation that I should make my +appearance at Barnstaple at the earliest possible date, as no time was +to be lost, and they were most anxious to hear my views, especially +upon topics that they knew more about than I, which is generally the +case, I am told, in most constituencies. I asked when they thought I +ought to put in an appearance. + +"Within a week at latest," said the leading spirit of the deputation. +"Within a week at latest," repeated all the deputation in chorus." +Because," said the leading personage, "there is already a gentleman of +the name of Cave" (it should have been pronounced as two syllables, so +as to afford me some sort of warning of the danger I was confronting) +"busily canvassing in all directions for the Liberal party, and +Mr. Howell Gwynne and Sir George Stukely will be the Conservative +candidates. However, it would be a certain seat if I would do them the +honour of coming forward. There would be little trouble, and it would +almost be a walk-over." + +A walk-over was very nice, and the tantalizing hopes this deputation +inspired me with overcame my great reluctance to enter the field of +politics; and in that ill-advised moment I promised to allow myself to +be nominated. + +It was arranged that I should make my appearance by a specified +afternoon train on a particular day in the week (apparently to be set +apart as a public holiday), so that I had little time for preparation. +By the next day's post I received a kind of official communication +from "our committee," stating that a very substantial deputation from +the general body would have the honour to meet me at the station, and +accompany me to the committee-rooms for the purpose of introduction. + +Down, therefore, I went by the Great Western line, and in due time +arrived at my destination, as I thought. + +I found, instead of the "influential body of gentlemen" who were to +have the honour of conducting me to the headquarters of the Liberal +party, there was only a small portion of it, almost too insignificant +to admit of counting. But he was an important personage in uniform, +and dressed somewhat like a commissionaire. + +After much salutation and deferential hemming and stammering, he said +I had better proceed to a _little station only a few miles farther +on and dine_, "and if so be I'd do that, they would meet me in the +evening." + +Not being a professional politician, nor greatly ambitious of its +honours, I was somewhat disconcerted at such extraordinary conduct on +the part of my committee, and would have returned to town, but that +the train was going the wrong way, and by the time I reached the +little station I had argued the matter out, as I thought. It _might_ +be a measure of precaution, in a constituency so respectable as +Barnstaple, to prevent the least suspicion of _treating_ or corrupt +influence. Had I dined at Barnstaple it might have been suggested +that some one dined with me or drank my health. Whatever it was, the +revelation was not yet. + +I was to return "as soon as I had dined." Everything was to be ready +for my reception. + +All these instructions I obeyed with the greatest loyalty, and +returned at an early hour in the evening. But if I was disappointed at +my first reception, how was I elated by the second! All was made up +for by good feeling and enthusiasm. We were evidently all brothers +fighting for the sacred cause, but what the cause was I had not been +informed up to this time. + +At the station was a local band of music waiting to receive me, and +to strike up the inspiring air, "See the conquering hero comes;" but, +unfortunately, the band consisted only of a drum, of such dimensions +that I thought it must have been built for the occasion, and a +clarionet. + +Before the band struck up, however, I was greeted with such +enthusiastic outbursts that they might have brought tears into the +eyes of any one less firm than myself. "Orkins for ever!" roared +the multitude. It almost stunned me. Never could I have dreamt my +popularity would be so great. "Orkins for ever!" again and again +they repeated, each volley, if possible, louder than before. "Bravo, +Orkins! Let 'em 'ave it, Orkins! don't spare 'em." I wish I had known +what this meant. + +I must say they did all that mortals could do with their mouths to +honour their future member. + +Hogarth's "March to Finchley" was outdone by that march to the +Barnstaple town hall. An enormous body of electors, "free and +independent" stamped on their faces as well as their hands, was +gathered there, and it was a long time before we could get anywhere +near the door. + +Again and again the air was rent with the cries for "Orkins," and it +was perfectly useless for the police to attempt to clear the way. +They had me as if on show, and it was only by the most wonderful +perseverance and good luck that I found myself going head first along +the corridor leading to the hall itself. + +When I appeared on the platform, it seemed as if Barnstaple had never +seen such a man; they were mad with joy, and all wanted to shake hands +with me at once. I dodged a good many, and by dint of waving his arms +like a semaphore the chairman succeeded, not in restoring peace, but +in moderating the noise. + +I now had an opportunity of using my eyes, and there before me in one +of the front seats was the redoubtable Cave--the great canvassing +Cave--who instantly rose and gave me the most cordial welcome, trusted +I was to be his future colleague in the House, and was most generous +in his expressions of admiration for the people of Barnstaple, +especially the voting portion of them, and hoped I should have a very +pleasant time and never forget dear old Barnstaple. I said I was not +likely to--nor am I. + +Of course I had to address the assembled electors first after the +introduction by the chairman, who, taking a long time to inform us +what the electors _wanted_, I made up my mind what to say in order to +convince them that they should have it. I gave them hopes of a great +deal of legal reform and reduction of punishments, for I thought +that would suit most of them best, and then gladly assented to a +satisfactory adjustment of all local requirements and improvements, as +well as a determined redress of grievances which should on no account +be longer delayed. ("Orkins for ever!") + +Then Cave stood up--an imposing man, with a good deal of presence and +shirt-collar--who invited any man--indeed, _challenged_ anybody--in +that hall to question him on any subject whatever. + +The challenge was accepted, and up stood one of the rank and file of +the electors--no doubt sent by the Howell Gwynne party--and with a +voice that showed at least he meant to be heard, said,-- + +"Mr. Cave, first and foremost of all, I should like to know _how your +missus is to-day_?" + +It was scarcely a political or public question, but nobody objected, +and everybody roared with laughter, because it seemed at all political +meetings Cave had started the fashion, which has been adopted by many +candidates since that time, of referring _to his wife_! Cave always +began by saying he could never go through this ordeal without the help +and sympathy of his dear wife--his support and joy--at whose bidding +and in pursuit of whose dreams he had come forward to win a seat in +their uncorruptible borough, and to represent them--the most coveted +honour of his life--in the House of Commons. + +Of course this oratory, having a religious flavour, took with a very +large body of the Barnstaple electors, and was always received with +cheers as an encouragement to domestic felicity and faithfulness to +connubial ties. + +When this gentleman put the question, Cave answered as though it was +asked in real earnest, and was cheered to the echo, not merely for his +domestic felicity, but his cool contempt for any man who could so far +forget connubial bliss as to sneer at it. + +For a few days all went tolerably well, and then I was told that a +very different kind of influence prevailed in the borough than that +of religion or political morality, and that it would be perfectly +hopeless to expect to win the seat unless I was prepared to purchase +the large majority of electors; indeed, that I must buy almost every +voter. (That's what they meant by "Give it 'em, Orkins! Let 'em 'ave +it!") + +This I refused to believe; but it was said they were such free and +independent electors that they would vote for _either_ party, and you +could not be sure of them until the last moment; in fact, _if I would +win I must bribe_! to say nothing of all sorts of subscriptions to +cricket clubs and blanket clubs, as well as friendly societies of all +kinds. + +I declined to accept these warnings, and looked upon it as some kind +of political dodge got up by the other side. + +I resolved to win by playing the game, and made up my mind to go to +the poll on the political questions which were agitating the public +mind, as I was informed, by a simple honest candidature, thinking that +in political as in every other warfare honesty is the best policy. On +that noble maxim I entered into the contest, believing in Barnstaple, +and feeling confident I should represent it in Parliament. + +To indulge in bribery of any sort would, I knew, be fatal to my own +interests even if I had not been actuated by any higher motive. I +placed myself, therefore, in the hands of my friend and principal +agent, Mr. Kingston, as well as the other agents of the party. + +We did not long, however, remain true to ourselves. There was a hitch +somewhere which soon developed into a split; and it was certain some +of us must go to the wall. I could not, however, understand the reason +of it; we professed the same politics, the same "cause," the same +battle-cry, the same enemies. But, whatever it was, we were so much +divided that my chances of heading the poll were diminishing. + +I had been cheered to the echo night after night and all day long, so +that there was enough shouting to make a Prime Minister; my horses had +time after time been taken from my carriage, and cheering voters drew +me along. These unmistakable signs of popular devotion to my interests +had been most encouraging; and as they shouted themselves hoarse for +me, I talked myself hoarse for them. We had a mutual hoarseness for +each other. Everything looked like success; everything _sounded_ like +success; and night after night out came drum and clarionet to do their +duty manfully in drumming me to my hotel. + +It had been a remarkable success; everybody said so. Most of them +declared solemnly they had never seen anything like it. They +pronounced it a record popularity. I thought it was because the good +people had selected me as their candidate on independent and purity of +election principles. This explanation gave them great joy, and they +cheered with extra enthusiasm for their own virtue. Judge, then, +my surprise a short while after, when, notwithstanding the firm +principles upon which we had proceeded, and by which my popularity +was secured, I began to perceive that _money was the only thing they +wanted_! Their uncorruptible nature yielded, alas! to the lowering +influence of that deity. + +It was at first a little mysterious why they should have postponed +their demands--secret and silent--until almost the last moment; but +the fact is, a large section of my party were dissatisfied with the +voluntary nature of their services; they declined to work for nothing, +and having shown me that the prize--that is, the seat--was mine, they +determined to let me know it must be paid for. A large number of +my voters would do nothing; they kept their hands in their pockets +because they could not get them into mine. + +This was no longer a secret, but on the eve of the election was boldly +put forward as a demand, and I was plainly told that £500 distributed +in small sums would make my election sure. + +As, however, in no circumstances would I stoop to their offer, this +demand did not in the least influence me--I never wavered in my +resolution, and refused to give a farthing. Furthermore, showing the +web in which they sought to entangle me, the same voice that suggested +the £500 also informed me that I was closely watched by a couple of +detectives set on by the other side. + +I was well aware that the "other side" had given five-pound notes for +votes, but I could neither follow the example nor use the information, +as it was told me "in the strictest confidence." + +I was therefore powerless, and felt we were drifting asunder more +and more. At last came the polling day, and a happy relief from an +unpleasant situation it certainly was. + +A fine bright morning ushered in an exciting day. There was a great +inrush of voters at the polling-booth, friendly votes, if I may call +them so--votes, I mean to say, of honest supporters; these were my +acquaintances made during my sojourn at Barnstaple; others came, a few +for Cave as well as myself. Cave did not seem to enjoy the popularity +that I had achieved. Still, he got a few votes. + +Now came an exciting scene. About midday, the working man's dinner +hour, the tide began to turn, for the whole body of _bribed_ voters +were released from work. My majority quickly dwindled, and at length +disappeared, until I was in a very hopeless minority. Everywhere it +was "Stukely for ever!" Some cried, "Stukely and free beer!" Stukely, +who till now had hardly been anybody, and had not talked himself +hoarse in their interests as I had, was the great object of their +admiration and their hopes. + +The consequence of this sudden development of Stukely's popularity +was that Cave united his destiny with the new favourite, and such an +involution of parties took place that "Stukely and Cave" joined hand +in hand and heart to heart, while poor Howell Gwynne and myself were +abandoned as useless candidates. At one o'clock it was clear that I +must be defeated by a large majority. + +The Cave party then approached me with the modest request that, as it +was quite clear that I could not be returned, would I mind attending +the polling places and give my support to Cave? + +This piece of unparalleled impudence I declined to accede to, and +did nothing. The election was over so far as I was interested in its +result; but I was determined to have a parting word with the electors +before leaving the town. I was mortified at the unblushing treachery +and deception of my supporters. + +I was next asked what I proposed to do. It was their object to get +me out of the town as soon as possible, for if unsuccessful as a +candidate, I might be troublesome in other ways. Such people are not +without a sense of fear, if they have no feeling of shame. + +I said I should do nothing but take a stroll by the river, the day +being fine, and come back when the poll was declared and make them a +little speech. + +The little speech was exactly what they did not want, so in the +most friendly manner they informed me that a fast train would leave +Barnstaple at a certain time, and that probably I would like to catch +that, as no doubt I wished to be in town as early as possible to +attend to my numerous engagements. If they had chartered the train +themselves they could not have shown greater consideration for my +interests. But I informed them that I should stop and address the +electors, and with this statement they turned sulkily away. + +At the appointed hour for the declaration of the poll I was on the +hustings--well up there, although the lowest on the poll. Stukely and +Cave were first and second, Howell Gwynne and myself third and _last_! + +When my turn came to address the multitude, I spoke in no measured +terms as to the conduct of the election, which I denounced as having +been won by the most scandalous bribery and corruption. + +All who were present as unbiassed spectators were sorry, and many of +them expressed a wish that I would return on a future day. + +"Not," said I, "until the place has been purged of the foul corruption +with which it is tainted." + +I had resolved to leave by the mail train, and was actually +accompanied to the station by a crowd of some 2,000 people, including +the Rector, or Vicar of the parish, who gave me godspeed on my journey +home. + +This kind and sincere expression of goodwill and sympathy was worth +all the boisterous cheers with which I had been received. + +On the platform at the railway station I had to make another little +speech, and then I took my seat, not for Barnstaple, but London. As +the train drew out of the station, the people clung to the carriage +like bees, and although I had not even honeyed words to give them, +they gave me a "send-off" with vociferous cheers and the most cordial +good wishes. + +Thus I bade good-bye to Barnstaple, never to return or be returned, +and I can only say of that enlightened and independent constituency +that, while seeking the interests of their country, they never +neglected their own. + +I need not add that I learnt a great deal in that election which +was of the greatest importance in the conduct of the Parliamentary +petitions which were showered upon me. + +Before I accepted the candidature of Barnstaple, a friend of mine said +he had been making inquiries as to how the little borough of Totnes +could be won, and that the lowest figure required as an instalment to +commence with was £7,000. + +After this I had no more to do with electioneering in the sense of +being a candidate, but a good deal to do with it in every other. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE TICHBORNE CASE. + + +[The greatest of all chapters in the life of Mr. Hawkins was the +prosecution of the impostor Arthur Orton for perjury, and yet the +story of the Tichborne case is one of the simplest and most romantic. +The heir to the Tichborne baronetcy and estates was shipwrecked while +on board the _Bella_ and drowned in 1854. In 1865 a butcher at Wagga +Wagga in Australia assumed the title and claimed the estates. But the +story is not related in these reminiscences on account of its romantic +incidents, but as an incident in the life of Lord Brampton. It is so +great that there is nothing in the annals of our ordinary courts of +justice comparable with it, either in its magnitude or its advocacy. I +speak particularly of the trial for perjury, in which Mr. Hawkins led +for the prosecution, and not of the preceding trial, in which he was +junior to Sir John Coleridge. + +It is impossible to give more than the _points_ of this strange story +as they were made, and the real _facts_ as they were elicited in +cross-examination and pieced together in his opening speech and his +reply in the case for the Crown. What rendered the task the +more difficult was that his predecessors had so bungled the +cross-examination in many ways that they not only had not elicited +what they might have done, but actually, by many questions, furnished +information to the Claimant which enabled him to carry on his +imposture.] + +The Tichborne trials demand a few words by way of introduction, for +although there were two trials, they were of a different character, +the first being an ordinary action of ejectment in which the Claimant +sought to dispossess the youthful heir, whose title he had already +assumed, under circumstances of the most extraordinary nature. + +The action of ejectment was tried before Chief Justice Bovill at the +Common Pleas, Westminster. Ballantine and Giffard (now Lord Halsbury) +led for the plaintiff, the butcher, while on behalf of the trustees +of the estate (that is, the real heir) were the Solicitor-General +Coleridge, myself, Bowen (afterwards Lord Bowen), and Chapman Barber, +an _equity_ counsel. + +I must explain how it was that I, having been retained to lead +Coleridge, was afterwards compelled to be led by him; and it is an +interesting event in the history of the Bar as well as of the Judicial +Bench. + +The action was really a Western Circuit case, although the venue +was laid in London. Coleridge led that circuit and was retained. I +belonged to the Home Circuit, and had no idea of being engaged at +all for that side. I had been retained for the Claimant, but the +solicitor, with great kindness, withdrew his retainer at my request. + +I was brought into the case for the purpose of leading, and no other; +but by the appointment of Coleridge to the Solicitor-Generalship in +1868, I was displaced, and Coleridge ultimately led. His +further elevation happened in this way: Sir Robert Collier was +Attorney-General, and it was desired to give him a high appointment +which at that moment was vacant, and could only be filled by a Judge +of the High Court. Collier was not a Judge, and therefore was not +eligible for the post. The question was how to make him eligible. +The Prime Minister of the day was not to be baffled by a mere +technicality, and he could soon make the Attorney-General a Judge of +the High Court if that was a condition precedent. + +There was immediately a vacancy on the Bench; Collier was appointed to +the judgeship, and in three days had acquired all the experience +that the Act of Parliament anticipated as necessary for the higher +appointment in the Privy Council. + +Instead of leading, therefore, in the case before Chief Justice +Bovill, I had to perform whatever duties Coleridge assigned to me. My +commanding position was gone, and it was no longer presumable that I +should be entrusted with the cross-examination of the plaintiff. I was +bound to obey orders and cross-examine whomsoever I was allowed to. + +[The one thing Mr. Hawkins was retained for was the cross-examination +of the plaintiff. Lord Chief Justice Cockburn said, "I would have +given a thousand pounds to cross-examine him." It would have been an +excellent investment of the Tichborne family to have given Hawkins ten +thousand pounds to do so, for I am sure there would have been an end +of the case as soon as he got to Wapping. + +Coleridge acknowledged that the Claimant cross-examined him instead of +his cross-examining the Claimant. + +When that shrewd and cunning impostor was asked, "Would you be +surprised to hear this or that?" "No," said he, "I should be surprised +at nothing after this long time and the troubles I have been through; +but, now that you call my attention to it, I remember it all perfectly +well." Coleridge said: "I am leader by an accident." "Yes," said +Hawkins, "a colliery accident."] + +I had also been retained by the trustees of the Doughty estate. Lady +Doughty was an aunt of Sir Roger Tichborne, and it was her daughter +Kate whom the heir desired to marry. Had the Claimant succeeded in the +first case, he would have brought an action against her also. + +No copy of the proceedings had been supplied to me, and I was informed +that at this preliminary cross-examination they would not require my +assistance; that their learned Chancery barrister was merely going +to cross-examine the Claimant on his affidavits--a matter of small +consequence. So it was in one way, but of immeasurable importance +in many other ways. But they said _I might like to hear the +cross-examination as a matter of curiosity_. + +I did. + +The Claimant had it all his own way. I was powerless to lend any +assistance; but had I been instructed, I am perfectly sure I could +then and there have extinguished the case, for the Claimant at +that time knew absolutely nothing of the life and history of Roger +Tichborne. + +So the case proceeded, with costs piled on costs; information picked +up, especially by means of interminable preliminary proceedings, until +the impostor was left master of the situation, to the gratification of +fools and the hopes of fanatics. + +I was, however, allowed in the trial to cross-examine some witnesses. +Amongst them was a man of the name of Baigent, the historian of the +family, who knew more of the Tichbornes than they knew of themselves. +The cross-examination of Baigent, which did more than anything to +destroy the Claimant's case, occupied ten days. He was the real +Roger's old friend, and knew him up to the time of his leaving England +never to return. I drew from him the confession that he did not +believe he was alive, but that he had encouraged the Dowager Lady +Tichborne to believe that the Claimant was her son; and that her +garden was lighted night after night with Chinese lanterns in +expectation of his coming. + +Admissions were also obtained that when he saw the Claimant at +Alresford Station neither knew the other, although Baigent had never +altered in the least, as he alleged. + +There was another witness allotted to me, and that was Carter, an old +servant of Roger whilst he was in the Carabineers. This man supplied +the plaintiff with information as to what occurred in the regiment +while Roger belonged to it; but he only knew what was known to the +whole regiment. He did _not_ know private matters which took place at +the officers' mess, and it was upon these that my cross-examination +showed the Claimant to be an impostor. I "had him there." + +As Parry and I were sitting one morning waiting for the Judges, I +remarked on the subject of the counsel chosen for the prosecution: +"Suppose, Parry, you and I had been Solicitor and Attorney-General, in +the circumstances what should we have done?" + +"Plunged the country into a bloody war before now, I dare say," said +Parry, elevating his eyebrows and wig at the same time. + +I confess when I undertook the responsibility of this great trial +I was not aware of the immense labour and responsibility it would +involve; nor do I believe any one had the smallest notion of the +magnitude of the task. + +Instead of the work diminishing as we proceeded, it increased day by +day, and week by week; one set of witnesses entailed the calling +of another set. The case grew in difficulty and extent. It seemed +absolutely endless and hopeless. + +Within a few weeks of the start, a necessity arose for procuring the +testimony of a witness from Australia, a matter of months; and the +trial being a criminal one, the defendant was entitled to have the +case for the prosecution concluded within a reasonable time. If we had +no evidence, it was to his advantage, and we had no right to detain +him for a year while we were trying to obtain it. + +However, the Australian evidence came in time. Numbers of witnesses +had to be called who not only were not in our brief, but were never +dreamed of. For instance, there was the Danish perjurer Louie, who +swore he picked up the defendant at sea when the _Bella_ went down. + +Instead of this man going away after he had given his evidence, he +remained until two gentlemen from the City, seeing his portrait in the +Stereoscopic Company's window in Regent Street, identified him as a +dishonest servant of theirs, who was undergoing a sentence of penal +servitude at the time he swore he picked Roger up. He received five +years' penal servitude for his evidence. + +I had pledged myself to the task, which extended over many months more +than I ever anticipated. At every sacrifice, however, I was bound to +devote myself to the case, and did so, although I had to relinquish a +very large portion of my professional income. + +What made things worse, there was not only no effort made to curtail +the business, but advantage was taken of every circumstance to prolong +it. The longer it was dragged out the better chance there was of an +acquittal. Had a juryman died after months of the trial had passed, +the Government must have abandoned the prosecution. It would have been +impossible to commence again. This was the last hope of the defence. + +[The trial before Bovill ended at last, as it ought to have done +months before, in a verdict for the defendants and the order for the +prosecution of the Claimant for perjury. It was this prosecution that +occupied the attention of the court and of the world for 188 days, +extending over portions of two years. + +There is no doubt that Coleridge would a second time have deprived +the country of Mr. Hawkins's services, but higher influences than his +prevailed, and the distinguished counsel was appointed to lead for the +Crown, with Mr. Serjeant Parry as his leading junior. It is not too +much to say that no one knew the case so well as Mr. Hawkins, and none +could have done it so well. Bowen and Mathews were also his juniors. + +The whole case, from the commencement of the Chancery proceedings down +to the commencement of this trial, had been a comedy of blunders. The +very claim was an absurdity, every step in the great fraud was an +absurdity, and every proceeding had some ridiculous absurdity to +accompany it. It was not until the cross-examination of Baigent by Mr. +Hawkins that the undoubted truth began to appear. + +"You are the first," said Baron Bramwell, "who has let daylight into +the case." It will be seen presently what the simple story was which +the learned counsel at last evolved from the lies and half-truths +which had for so many years imposed upon a great number even of the +intelligent and educated classes of the community. And I would observe +that until nearly the end of the trial the case was never safe or +quite free from doubt; it was only what was elicited by Mr. Hawkins +that made it so. No Wonder the advocate said to Giffard, who was +opposed to him on the first trial: "If you and I had been together +in that case in the first instance, we should have won it for the +Claimant." Being on the other side, this is how the case stood when he +had completed it:-- + +The real heir to the family was a fairly well-formed, slender youth of +medium height. The personator of this youth was a man an inch and a +half or two inches taller, and weighing five-and-twenty stone. His +hands were a great deal larger than those of Roger, and at least an +inch longer; his feet were an inch and a half longer. He was broader, +deeper, thicker, and altogether of a different build. The lobes of his +ears, instead of being pendent like Roger's, adhered to his cheeks. +But he was not more unlike in physical outline than in mental +endowment, taste, character, pursuits, and sentiment, in manners and +habits, in culture and education, connection and recollection. + +Roger had been educated at Stonyhurst, with the education of a +gentleman; this man had never had any education at all. Roger had +moved in the best English society; this man amongst slaughtermen, +bushrangers, thieves, and highwaymen. Roger had been engaged to a +young lady, his cousin, Kate Doughty; this man had been engaged to a +young woman of Wapping, of the name of Mary Ann Loader, a respectable +girl in his own sphere of life. + +Roger's engagement to this young lady, his cousin, was disapproved of +by the Tichborne family, and was the cause of his leaving England. But +before he went he gave her a writing, and deposited a copy of it with +Mr. Gosford, the legal adviser of the family. + +This document was one of the most important incidents in the history +of the case, and upon it, if the cross-examination had been conducted +by Mr. Hawkins in Chancery, the case would have been crushed at the +outset. It is not my task to show how, but to state what it all came +to when the learned counsel left it to the jury to say whether the +claimant _was_ the Roger Tichborne he had sworn himself to be, or +whether he was Arthur Orton, the butcher of Wapping, whom he swore he +was not. + +This document forms the subject of the "sealed packet" left with Mr. +Gosford, and contained in effect these words: "If God spares me to +return and marry my beloved Kate within a year, I promise to build a +church and dedicate it to my patron saint." + +Till his cross-examination in Chancery he had never heard of this +packet, and when he was informed of it his solicitor naturally +demanded a copy. Gosford had destroyed the original, and of course +there was no end of capital out of it; a concocted original was made, +which was to the effect that this gentleman, "so like Roger," _had +seduced his cousin_, and that if she proved to be _enceinte_, Gosford +was to take care of her. Luckily "Kate Doughty" had her original +preserved with sacred affection. But such was the memory of this man's +early life, contrasted with what _would_ have been the memory of Sir +Roger Tichborne. + +He did not recollect being "at Stonyhurst, but said positively he was +at Winchester, where certainly Roger never was. He did not remember +his mother's Christian names, and could not write his own. + +He came to England to see his mother, and then would not go to her; +she went to see him, and he got on to the bed and turned his face to +the wall. She did not see his face, but recognized him by his ears, +because they were like his uncle's, then ordered the servant to undo +his braces for fear he should choke. + +Such a piece as this on the stage would not have lasted one night; +in real life it had a run for many years. But then there never was a +rogue that some fool would not believe in. How else was it possible +that millions believed in this man, who had forgotten the religion he +had been brought up in, and was married by a Wesleyan minister at a +Wesleyan church, he being, as his mother informed him, a strict Roman +Catholic from his birth? However, he did his best to reform his error +by getting married again by a Roman priest, although he made another +blunder, and forgetting he was Sir Roger Tichborne, married as Arthur +Orton, the son of the Wapping butcher. When his dear mother reminded +him of his being a Catholic, he wrote and thanked her for the +information, and hoped the Blessed Maria would take care of her for +evermore, little dreaming that the "Black Maria" would one day take +particularly good care of himself. + +So that he forgot the place of his birth, the seat of his ancestors, +the friends of his youth, the face, features, and form of his mother, +his education and religion, his brother officers in the regiment, the +regiment itself, and the position he occupied, thinking he had been a +private for fifteen days instead of a painstaking, studious, diligent +officer, who was beloved by his fellows. He had forgotten all his +neighbours, servants, dependants, as well as the family solicitor who +made his will and was appointed his executor. He forgot his life in +Paris, the village church of his ancestral seat--nay, the ancestral +seat itself--and the very road that led to it. He forgot his old +friend and historian, who swore he had never altered the least in +appearance since Roger left--historian and picture-cleaner to the +family. In short, there was not one single thing in the life of Roger +that he knew. He forgot what any but a born fool would remember while +he was in poverty and bankruptcy for a couple of hundred pounds; the +real Roger had written home on hearing of the death of his uncle, from +whom he derived his title and estates, saying, "Pray go to Messrs. +Glyn's and exchange my letter of credit for £2,000 for three years for +one for £3,000." + +Imagine a man forgetting he had £3,000 a year and an estate in England +worth £30,000, and earning his bread in a slaughter-house and in the +Bush, borrowing money from a poor woman and running away with it. + +But now another singular thing stamps this fraudulent impostor who +makes so many believe in him. He, alleged by his supporters to be Sir +Roger Tichborne, recollected all about a place that he had never been +to; people he had never heard of, far less seen; events that he could +_not_ know and which never happened to him, but did happen to Arthur +Orton. He knew Wapping well--every inch of it; Old Charles Orton, the +father of Arthur; Charles Orton the brother, the sisters, the people +who kept this shop and that; so that when on his return to England he +went to the Wapping seat of his ancestors instead of Ashford, he asked +all about them, and reminded them so faithfully of the little events +of Arthur's boyhood, and resembled that person so much in the face, +that they said, "Why, you are Arthur Orton yourself!" True, he paid +some of them to swear he was not, but the impression remained. + +Mr. Hawkins told the jury how he picked up his second-hand knowledge +of the things he spoke about concerning the Tichbornes, for it was +necessary to be able to answer a good many questions wherever he went, +especially when he went into the witness-box. + +There was an old black servant, quite black, who had been a valet in +the Tichborne family. His name was Bogle; and the Claimant was told by +the poor old dowager that if he could meet with him, Bogle could tell +him a good many things about himself. + +Bogle was an excellent diplomatist, and no sooner heard from Lady +Tichborne that her son Roger was in Australia than the two began to +look for one another, the one as black inside as the other was out. +Bogle announced that he was the man before he saw him, on the mother's +recommendation, and became and was to the end one of his principal +supporters--so much so that "Old Bogle" spread the Claimant's +knowledge of the Tichbornes abroad, and, like everybody else, believed +in him because he knew so much which he could not have known unless he +had been the veritable Roger, all which Bogle had told him. + +But in the interests of justice "Old Bogle" and Mr. Hawkins became +acquainted, much to the advantage of the latter, as he happened to +meet Bogle in the witness-box, a place where the counsel unravelled +the trickster's most subtle of designs. The advocate liked "Old +Bogle," as he called him, because, said he, Bogle, having white hair, +was so like a Malacca cane with a silver knob, white at the top and +black below. + +Bogle had sworn that Roger had no tattoo marks when he left England. +In point of fact he had, and Bogle had to fit them to the Claimant, +who had had tattoo marks of a very different kind from Roger's. The +Claimant had removed his, and therefore was presented to the court +without any. + +"How do you know Roger had no tattoo marks?" asked Mr. Hawkins. + +"I saw his arms on three occasions." This was a serious answer for +Bogle. + +"When and where, and under what circumstances?" followed in quick +succession, so that there was no escape. The witness said that Roger +had on a pair of black trousers tied round the waist, and his shirt +buttoned up. + +"The sleeves, how were they?" + +"Loose." + +"How came you to see his naked arms?" + +"He was rubbing one of them like this." + +"What did he rub for?" + +"I thought he'd got a flea." + +"Did you see it?" + +"No, of course." + +"Where was it?" + +"Just there." + +"What time was this?" + +"Ten minutes past eleven." + +"That's the first occasion; come to the second." + +"Just the same," says Bogle. + +"Same time?" + +"Yes." + +"Did he always put his hand inside his sleeve to rub?" + +"I don't know." + +"But I want to know." + +"If your shirt was unbuttoned, Mr. Hawkins, and you was rubbin' your +arm, you would draw up your sleeve--" + +"Never mind what I should do; I want to know what you saw." + +"The same as before," answers Bogle angrily. + +"A flea?" + +"I suppose." + +"But did you see him, Bogle?" + +"I told you, Mr. Hawkins, I did not." + +"Excuse me, that was on the first occasion." + +"Well, this was the same." + +"Same flea?" + +"I suppose." + +"Same time--ten minutes past eleven?" + +"Yes." + +"Then all I can say is, he must have been a very punctual old flea." + +Exit Bogle, and with him his evidence. + +After the trial had been proceeding for some time, Baigent was giving +evidence of the family pedigree. + +Honeyman whispered, "We might as well have the first chapter of +Genesis and read that." + +"Genesis!" said Hawkins; "I want to get to the last chapter of +Revelation." + +One day Mr. J.L. Toole came in, and was invited to sit next to Mr. +Hawkins, which he did. + +At the adjournment for luncheon the Claimant muttered as they passed +along, "There's Toole come to learn actin' from 'Arry Orkins." + +There was one witness who ought not to be forgotten. It was Mr. +Biddulph, a relation of the Tichborne family, a good-natured, amiable +man, willing to oblige any one, and a county magistrate--"one of +the most amiable county magistrates I have ever met, a man of the +strictest honour and unimpeachable integrity." + +He had been asked by the dowager lady to recognize her son. + +"I don't see how I can," said he. "I am willing to oblige, but not at +the expense of truth. Better get some one else who knew him better +than I did. This man bears no resemblance to the man I knew. I cannot +do it." And so he resisted all entreaties with that firmness of +purpose for which he was remarkable. + +"He was then invited," said Mr. Hawkins, "to a little dinner at +another supporter of the Claimant's, and one somewhat shrewder than +the rest." The Claimant described this party as consisting of a county +magistrate, a money-lender, a lawyer, and a humbug. + +This is how the advocate dealt with this little party in his address +to the jury:-- + +"Gentlemen, can't you imagine the scene? Perkins, the lawyer, says +to Biddulph, 'Come, now, Mr. Biddulph, you know you have had great +experience in cross-examining as a county magistrate at Petty +Sessions; now, cross-examine this man _firmly_, and you'll soon find +he knows more than you think. If he's not the man, he's nobody else, +you may be quite sure of that. But first of all,' says Perkins, 'what +did you know of Roger? That's the first thing; let's start with that.' + +"'Oh, not very much,' says Biddulph. 'He stayed at Bath once for a +fortnight, while his mother was there.' + +"'Pass Mr. Biddulph the champagne,' says Perkins. (Laughter.) + +"'Now,' he adds, 'how did you amuse yourselves, eh?' + +"'Well,' says Biddulph, 'we used to smoke together at the +hotel--the--the--White something it was called.' + +"'Did you smoke pipes or cigars?' + +"'Well, I remember we had some curious pipes.' + +"'Another glass of champagne for Mr. Biddulph,' (More laughter.) 'What +sort of pipes?' asks the Claimant; 'death's-head pipes?' + +"The magistrate remembered, opened his eyes, and lifted his hands. +Thus the amiable magistrate was convinced, although he said, candidly +enough, 'I did not recognize him by his features, walk, voice, or +twitch in his eye, but I was struck with his recollection of having +met me at Bath.' The death's-head pipes settled him. + +"As for Miss Brain the governess, she was of a different order from +Mr. Biddulph. She told us she had listened to the defendant when he +solemnly swore that he had seduced her former pupil, that he had +stood in the dock for horse-stealing, and had been the associate of +highwaymen and bushrangers, and had made a will for the purpose of +fraud; and yet this woman took him by the hand, and was not ashamed of +his companionship. His counsel described her as a ministering angel. +Heaven defend me from ministering angels if Miss Brain is one!" + +The Claimant, while in Australia, being asked what kind of lady his +mother (the dowager Lady Tichborne) was, answered, "Oh, a very stout +lady; and that is the reason I am so fond of Mrs. Butts of the +Metropolitan Hotel, she being a tall, stout, and buxom woman; and like +Mrs. Mina Jury (of Wapping), because she was like my mother." + +A witness of the name of Coyne was called to give evidence of the +recognition of the Claimant by the mother in Paris, and the solicitor +said to Coyne, "You see how she recognizes him." + +"Yes," said Coyne; "he's lucky." + +There was no cross-examination, and Mr. Hawkins said to the jury, +"They need not cross-examine unless they like; it's a free country. +They may leave this man's account unquestioned if they like, but if it +is a true account, what do you say to the recognition?" + +Louie, the Dane, said that while the Claimant was on board his ship he +amused himself by picking oakum and reading "The Garden of the Soul." + +There were several _Ospreys_ spoken to as having picked up the +Claimant after the wreck of the _Bella_, and the defendant had not the +least idea which one was the best to carry him safely into harbour. +The defendant's counsel, notwithstanding, had told the jury that he, +Hawkins, had not ventured to contradict one or other of the stories of +the wreck, and had not called the captain of the _Osprey_ which had +picked him up. + +Comment on such a proposition in advocacy would be ridiculous. Mr. +Hawkins dealt with it by an example which the reader will remember as +having occurred in his early days:-- + +"'We don't know which _Osprey_ you mean.' 'Take any one,' says the +defendant's counsel, reminding me of the defence of a man charged with +stealing a duck, and having given seven different accounts as to how +he became possessed of it, his counsel was at last asked which he +relied on. 'Oh, never mind which,' he answered; 'I shall be much +obliged if the jury will adopt any one of them.' + +"You remember, gentlemen, the touching words in which the defendant's +counsel spoke of Bogle: 'He is one of those negroes,' said he, +'described by the author of "Paul and Virginia," who are faithful to +the death, true as gold itself. If ever a witness of truth came into +the box, that witness was Bogle.' + +"Well, you have seen him--Old Bogle! What do you think of him? Was +there ever a better specimen of feigned simplicity than he? 'Bogle,' +cries the defendant, after all those years of estrangement, 'is that +_you_?' 'Yes, Sir Roger,' answered Bogle; how do you do?' + +"'Do you remember giving me a pipe o' baccy?' asks a poor country +greenhorn down at Alresford. 'Yes,' answers the Claimant. 'Then +you're the man,' says the greenhorn. Such was the way evidence was +manufactured. + +"A poor lady--you remember Mrs. Stubbs--had a picture of her +great-great-grandfather's great-grandfather. In goes the Claimant, and +in his artful manner shows his childhood's memory. 'Ah, Mrs. Stubbs,' +says he, looking at another picture, 'that is not the _old_ picture, +is it?' (Somebody had put him up to this.) No, sir,' cries Mrs. +Stubbs, delighted with his recollection--'no, sir; but please to walk +this way into my parlour,' And there, sure enough, was the picture he +had been told to ask for. + +"'Ah!' he exclaims, 'there it is; there's the old picture!' + +"How could Mrs. Stubbs disbelieve her own senses?" + +One, Sir Walter Strickland, declined to see the Claimant and be +misled, and was roundly abused by the defendant's counsel. One of +the jury asked if _he was still alive_. "Yes," said the Lord Chief +Justice, although the defendant expressed a hope that they would all +die who did not recognize him.... + +"In a letter to Rous, my lord, where he said, 'I see I have one enemy +the less in Harris's death. Captain Strickland, who made himself so +great on the other side, went to stay at Stonyhurst with his +brother, and died there. He called on me a week before and abused me +shamefully. So will all go some day'--this," said Mr. Hawkins, "was +not exhibiting the same Christian spirit which he showed when he said, +'God help those poor _purgured_ sailors!'" + +"Why should the defendant," asked Mr. Hawkins at the close of one +of the day's speeches, "if he were Sir Roger, avoid Arthur Orton's +sisters? Why, would he not have said, 'They will be glad indeed to +see me, and hear me tell them about the camp-fire under the canopy of +heaven,' as his counsel put it, 'where their brother Arthur told me +all about Fergusson, the old pilot of the Dundee boat, who kept the +public-house at Wapping, and the Shetland ponies of Wapping, and +the Shottles of the Nook at Wapping, and wished me to ask who kept +Wright's public-house now, and about the Cronins, and Mrs. MacFarlane +of the Globe--all of Wapping.'" + +The Judges fell back with laughter, and the curtain came down, for +these were the questions with many more the Claimant asked on the +evening of his landing. + +"I shall attack the noble army of Carabineers," said Mr. Hawkins on +another occasion. He did so, and conquered the regiment in detail. + +One old Carabineer was librarian at the Westminster Hospital. His name +was Manton, and he was a sergeant. He told Baigent something that had +happened while Roger was his officer, and Baigent told the Claimant. +Manton afterwards saw the huge man, and failed to recognize him in any +way. But when the Claimant repeated to him what he had told Baigent, +Manton opened his eyes. This looked like proof of his being the man. +He was struck with his marvellous recollection, and was at once pinned +down to an affidavit:-- + +"The Claimant's voice is stronger, and has less foreign accent," +he swore; "but I recognized his voice, and found his tone and +pronunciation to be _the same as Roger Tichborne's_, whom I knew as an +officer." + +Truly an affidavit is a powerful auxiliary in fraud. + +While Mr. Hawkins was replying one afternoon, Mr. Whalley, M.P., came +in and sat next to the Claimant. He was from the first one of his most +enthusiastic supporters. + +"Well," he said, "and how are we getting on to-day? How are we getting +on, eh?" + +"Getting on!" growled the Claimant; "he's been going on at a pretty +rate, and if he goes on much longer I shall begin to think I am Arthur +Orton after all." + +I will conclude this chapter with the following reminiscences by Lord +Brampton himself.] + + * * * * * + +I had a great deal to put up with from day to day in many ways during +this prolonged investigation. The Lord Chief Justice, Cockburn, +although good, was a little impatient, and hard to please at times. + +My opponent sought day by day some cause of quarrel with me. At times +he was most insulting, and grew almost hourly worse, until I was +compelled, in order to stop his insults, to declare openly that I +would never speak to him again on this side the grave, and I never +did. My life was made miserable, and what ought to have been a quiet +and orderly performance was rendered a continual scene of bickering +and conflict, too often about the most trifling matters. + +With every one else I got on happily and agreeably, my juniors loyally +doing their very utmost to render me every assistance and lighten my +burden. + +Even the Claimant himself not only gave me no offence from first to +last, but was at times in his manner very amusing, and preserved his +natural good temper admirably, considering what he had at stake on +the issue of the trial, and remembering also that that issue devolved +mainly upon my own personal exertions. + +Nor was the Claimant devoid of humour. On the contrary, he was +plentifully endowed with it. + +One morning on his going into court an elderly lady dressed in deep +mourning presented him with a religious tract. He thanked her, went +to his seat, and perused the document. Then he wrote something on the +tract, carefully revised what he had written, and threw it on the +floor. + +The usher was watching these proceedings, and, as soon as he could do +so unobserved, secured the paper and handed it to me. + +The tract was headed, "Sinner, Repent!" + +The Claimant had written on it, "Surely this must have been meant for +Orkins, not for me!" + +Louie's story of picking him up in the boat must have amused him +greatly. If he was amused at the ease with which fools can be +humbugged, he must also have been astounded at the awful villainy of +those who, perfect strangers to him, had perjured themselves for the +sake of notoriety. + +I did what I could to shorten the proceedings. My opening speech was +confined to six days, as compared with twenty-eight on the other side; +my reply to nine. But that reply was a labour fearful to look back +upon. The mere classification of the evidence was a momentous and +necessary task. It had to be gathered from the four quarters of the +world. It had to be sifted, winnowed, and arranged in order as +a perfect whole before the true story could be evolved from the +complications and entanglements with which it was surrounded. + +And when I rose to reply, to perform my last work and make my last +effort for the success of my cause, I felt as one about to plunge into +a boundless ocean with the certain knowledge that everything depended +upon my own unaided efforts as to whether I should sink or swim. +Happily, for the cause of justice, I succeeded; and at the end, +although nattering words of approval and commendation poured upon +me from all sides, from the highest to the humblest, I did Hot +then realize their value to the extent that I did afterwards. The +excitement and the exertion had been too great for anything to add to +it. + +But I afterwards remembered--ay, and can never forget--the words of +the Lord Chief Justice himself, the first to appreciate and applaud, +as I was passing near him in leaving the court: "Bravo! Bravo, +Hawkins!" And then he added, "I have not heard a piece of oratory like +that for many a long day!" And he patted me cordially on the back as +he looked at me with, I believe, the sincerest appreciation. + +Lord Chelmsford, too, who years before had given me my silk gown, was +on the Bench on this last day, and I shall never forget the compliment +he paid me on my speech. It was of itself worth all the trouble and +anxiety I had undergone. + +Beyond all this, and more gratifying even still, my speech was liked +by the Bar, from the most eminent to the briefless. + +But greatest of all events in that eventful day was one which went +deeper to my feelings. My old father, who had taken so strong a view +against my going to the Bar, and who told me so mournfully that after +five years I must sink or swim; my old father, who had never once seen +me in my wig and gown from that day to this, the almost closing scene +in my forensic career, came into court and sat by my side when I made +successfully the greatest effort of my life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A VISIT TO SHEFFIELD--MRS. HAILSTONE'S DANISH BOARHOUND. + + +The remembrance of my Sessions days will never vanish from my mind, +although at the period of which I am speaking they had long receded +into the distant past. Even _Nisi Prius_ was diminishing in +importance, although increasing in its business and fees. + +Solicitors no longer condescended to deliver their briefs, but +competed for my services. I say this without the smallest vanity, +and only because it was the fact, and a great fact in my life. I was +wanted to win causes by advocacy or compromise; and the innumerable +compensation cases which continually came in with so steady and +so full a tide were a sufficient proof that, at all events, the +solicitors and others thought my services worth having. So did my +clerk! + +Those were the days of the golden harvest, the very gleanings of which +were valuable to those who came after. + +Lloyd must have made £20,000 a year with the greatest ease. What my +income was is of no consequence to any one; suffice it to say that no +expectations of mine ever came up to its amount, and even now when +I look back it seems absolutely fabulous. I will say no more, +notwithstanding the curiosity it has excited amongst the members of +the profession. + +Of course it was a step for me from the humble "_one three six_;" but +I have had a more lively satisfaction from that little sum than from +many a larger fee. + +In the midst of all this rush of London business I still found time +to run down to country places in cases of election petitions or +compensation. + +One day I found myself on my way to Sheffield to support the member +against an attempt to deprive him of his seat in Parliament. I went +with the Hon. Sir Edward Chandos Leigh, my distinguished junior on +that memorable occasion. + +The journey was pleasant until we got near the end of it, and then +the smoke rolled over and around in voluminous dense clouds, for a +description of which you may search in vain through "Paradise Lost." +We were met at the station with great state, and even splendour, and +treated with almost boundless hospitality. + +To keep up our spirits, we were taken for a drive by the sitting +member a few miles out, into what they call "the country" in those +parts. The suburban residence was situated in a well-wooded park, if +that can be called well-wooded where there are no woods, but only +stunted undergrowths sickening with the baleful fumes that proceed +from the city of darkness in the distance, and black with the soot +of a thousand chimneys. The member apologized politely enough for +bringing us to this almost uninhabitable and Heaven-forsaken region; +but I begged him not to mind: it was only a more blasted scene than +the heath in "Macbeth." + +"Yes," said he, still apologetically; "it _is_ very bad, I admit. You +see, the fumes and fires from those manufactories make such havoc of +our woods." + +This was apparent, but the question was how to pass the time amidst +this gloom and sickening atmosphere. + +I found his residence, however, to my great joy, was farther than I +expected from the appalling city of darkness, and hope began to revive +both in my junior's heart and mine. + +Our friend and host, seeing our spirits thus elated, began, to talk +with more life-like animation. + +"The fumes from the factories, Mr. Hawkins, have so played the devil +with our trees that the general impoverishment of nature has earned +for the locality of Sheffield the unpleasant title of the 'Suburbs of +Hell.'" + +"I don't wonder," I answered; "no name could be more appropriate or +better deserved; but if it were my fate to choose my locality, I +should prefer to live in _the city itself_." + +A curious incident happened to us during this Yorkshire visit. An +excursion was arranged to see Warburton's, situated some few miles +off, and notable for many oddities. + +We were driven over, and when we arrived were by no means disappointed +by the singularities of the mansion. It was enclosed within a high +wall, which had been built, not for the purpose, as you might suppose, +of preventing the house from getting away, but for that of keeping +out rats and foxes; for there were birds to be preserved from these +destructive animals. Next, this portion of the estate was surrounded +by water, which afforded an additional security to its isolation, +access to the island being attainable only by means of a bridge. + +The mansion was occupied by a Mrs. Hailstone, whose duty it was to +show visitors over the house and explain everything as she went along, +ghost stories as well; and being a remarkably affable lady, with a +great gift of language, we had a very intelligent and edifying lecture +in every room we passed through, now upon ornithology, now chronology, +next on pisciculture and the habits of stuffed pike and other +fish. But this was not all. Our guide was wonderfully well read in +architecture, and displayed no end of knowledge in pointing out the +different orders and sub-orders, periods of, and blendings of the +same, so that we were quite ready for lunch as soon as that period +should mercifully arrive. + +But it was not exactly yet. There were many other curiosities to be +shown. For instance, we had not done the Warburton Library, which was +a most singular apartment, as we were informed, I don't know how +many stories high, at the top of a very singular tower, with as many +languages in it as the Tower of Babel itself, and very nearly as tall. +One only wished the whole thing would topple down before we could come +to it. + +At last, however, we climbed to this lofty eminence and revelled +as well as we could amongst the musty old books, which themselves +revelled in the dust of ages. + +Having seen all the shelves and the backs of the books, and heard all +the accounts of them without receiving any information, we commenced +our descent by means of the winding staircase towards the garden. On +our way a curious circumstance took place. There was an enormously +great Danish boarhound, which had, unperceived by us, followed Mrs. +Hailstone from the library; it pushed by without ceremony, and +proceeded until it reached the lady, who was some distance in advance. +He then carefully took the skirt of her dress with his mouth and +carried it like an accomplished train-bearer until she reached the +bottom of the stairs and the garden, when he let go the dress and +gazed as an interested spectator. We were now in the midst of a very +beautiful and well-kept garden, with a lawn like velvet stretching far +away to the lake, where ultimately we should have to wait for a +boat to ferry us along its placid water. This was part of our +entertainment, and a very beautiful part it was. + +But before we parted from Mrs. Hailstone, and while I was talking to +her, I felt my hand in the boarhound's mouth, and a pretty capacious +mouth it was, for I seemed to touch nothing but its formidable fangs. + +It was not a pleasant experience, but I preserved sufficient presence +of mind to make no demonstration. Dogs know well enough when a man or +woman loves their kind, and I am sure this one was no exception, or he +would never have behaved with such gentlemanly politeness. So soft was +the touch of his fangs that I was only just conscious my hand was in +his mouth by now and then the gentlest reminder. I knew animals too +well to attempt to withdraw it, and so preserved a calm more wonderful +than I could have given myself credit for. + +While I was wondering what the next proceeding might be, Mrs. +Hailstone begged me to be quite easy, and on no account to show any +opposition to the dog's proceedings, in which case she promised that +he would lead me gently to the other side of the lawn, and there leave +me without doing the least harm. + +All this was said with such cool indifference that I wondered whether +it was a part of the day's programme, and rather supposed it was; but +it turned out that she said it to reassure me and prevent mischief. I +also learned that it was not by any means the first occasion when this +business had taken place. It was the first time in my life that I had +been in custody, and if I had had my choice I should have preferred a +pair of handcuffs without teeth. + +As I was being led away Mrs. Hailstone said,-- + +"Do exactly as he wishes; he is jealous of your talking to me, and +leads any one away who does so to the other side of the garden." + +Having conducted me to the remotest spot he could find, he opened his +huge jaws and released my hand, wagged his tail, and trotted off, much +pleased with his performance. He returned to his mistress and put his +large paws on her arms--a striking proof, I thought, of the dog's +sagacity. + +There will be in this history some stories of my famous "Jack," but as +he belonged to me after I became a Judge, they are deferred until that +period arrives. The reminiscences of Jack are amongst my dearest and +most pleasant recollections. + +The changeful nature of popular clamour was never more manifested than +on this visit. + +The Claimant had been convicted and sentenced to penal servitude, but +to deprive a man of his title and estate because he was a butcher's +son did not coincide with the wishes of a generous democracy, who +lingered round the Sheffield court, where the fate of their sitting +member was to be tried. They believed in their member, and, not +knowing on which side I was retained, when I went along the corridor +into the court they "yah! yah'd!" at me with lungs that would have +been strong enough to set their furnaces going or blow them out. + +After the petition was tried, and I had been successful, they changed +their minds and their language. This same British public, which not +long before had "yah! yah'd!" at me, now came forward with true +British hoorays and bravos. "'Orkins for ever!" "Hooray for Orkins!" +"Bravo, Orkins!" "Hooray! a ---- hooray! Hooray for Wagga Wagga!" + +This last cry had reference to a village in Australia where the great +Tichborne fraud had its origin; where the first advertisement of the +dowager seeking her lost son was shown to the butcher in his own +little shop, the son of the respectable butcher of Wapping. + +The number of people who professed to believe in the Claimant long +after he was sent to penal servitude was prodigious, although not +one of them could have given a reason for his faith, or pointed to +a particle of unimpeachable evidence to support his opinion. It had +never been anything other than feeling in the dark for what never +existed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +AN EXPERT IN HANDWRITING--"DO YOU KNOW JOE BROWN?" + + +I always took great interest in the class of expert who professed to +identify handwriting. Experts of all classes give evidence only as to +opinion; nevertheless, those who decide upon handwriting believe +in their infallibility. Cross-examination can never shake their +confidence. Some will pin their faith even to the crossing of a T, +"the perpendicularity, my lord," of a down-stroke, or the "obliquity" +of an upstroke. + +Mr. Nethercliffe, one of the greatest in his profession, and a +thorough believer in all he said, had been often cross-examined by +me, and we understood each other very well. I sometimes indulged in a +little chaff at his expense; indeed, I generally had a little "fling" +at him when he was in the box. + +It is remarkable that, at the time I speak of, Judges, as a rule, had +wonderful confidence in this class of expert, and never seemed to +think of forming any opinion of their own. A witness swore to certain +peculiarities; the Judge looked at them and at once saw them, too +often without considering that peculiarities are exactly the things +that forgers imitate. + +"You find the same peculiarity here, my lord, and the same peculiarity +there, my lord; consequently I say it is the same handwriting." + +In days long gone by the eminent expert in this science had a great +reputation. As I often met him, I knew _his_ peculiarities, and how +annoyed he was if the correctness of his opinion was in the least +doubted. + +He had a son of whom he was deservedly proud, and he and his son, in +cases of importance, were often employed on opposite sides to support +or deny the genuineness of a questioned handwriting. On one occasion, +in the Queen's Bench, a libel was charged against a defendant which he +positively denied ever to have written. + +I appeared for the defendant, and Mr. Nethercliffe was called as a +witness for the plaintiff. + +When I rose to cross-examine I handed to the expert six slips of +paper, each of which was written in a different kind of handwriting. +Nethercliffe took out his large pair of spectacles--magnifiers--which +he always carried, and began to polish them with a great deal of care, +saying,-- + +"I see, Mr. Hawkins, what you are going to try to do--you want to put +me in a hole." + +"I do, Mr. Nethercliffe; and if you are ready for the hole, tell +me--were those six pieces of paper written by one hand at about the +same time?" + +He examined them carefully, and after a considerable time answered: +"No; they were written at different times and by different hands!" + +"By different persons, do you say?" + +"Yes, certainly!" + +"Now, Mr. Nethercliffe, you are in the hole! I wrote them myself this +morning at this desk." + +He was a good deal disconcerted, not to say very angry, and I then +began to ask him about his son. + +"You educated your son to your own profession, I believe, Mr. +Nethercliffe?" + +"I did, sir; I hope there was no harm in that, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Not in the least; it is a lucrative profession. Was he a diligent +student?" + +"He was." + +"And became as good an expert as his father, I hope?" + +"Even better, I should say, if possible." + +"I think you profess to be infallible, do you not?" + +"That is true, Mr. Hawkins, though I say it." + +"And your son, who, as you say, is even better than yourself, is he as +infallible as you?" + +"Certainly, he ought to be. Why not?" + +Then I put this question; "Have you and your son been sometimes +employed on opposite sides in a case?" + +"That is hardly a fair question, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Let me give you an instance: In Lady D----'s case, which has recently +been tried, did not your son swear one way and you another?" + +He did not deny it, whereupon I added: "It seems strange that two +infallibles should contradict one another?" + +The case was at an end. + + * * * * * + +One evening, after a good hard day's work, I was sitting in my +easy-chair after dinner, comfortably enjoying myself, when a man, who +was quite a respectable working man, came in. I had known him for a +considerable time. + +"What's the matter, Jenkins?" I inquired, seeing he was somewhat +troubled. + +"Well, Mr. Hawkins, it's a terrible job, this 'ere. I wants you to +appear for me." + +"Where?" I inquired. + +"At Bow Street, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Bow Street! What have you been doing, Jenkins?" + +"Why, nothing, sir; but it's a put-up job. You knows my James, I +dessay. Well, sir, that there boy, my son James, have been brought up, +I might say, on the Church Catechism." + +"There's not much in that," I said, meaning nothing they could take +him to Bow Street for. "Is that the charge against him?" + +"No, sir; but from a babby, sir, his poor mother have brought that +there boy up to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the +truth. And it's a curious thing, Mr. Hawkins--a very curious thing, +sir--that arter all his poor mother's care and James's desire to speak +the truth, they've gone and charged that there boy with perjury! 'At +all times,' says his mother, 'James, speak the truth, the whole truth, +and nothing but the truth;' and this is what it's come to--would +anybody believe it, sir? _Could_ anybody believe it? It's enough to +make anybody disbelieve in Christianity. And what's more, sir, that +there boy was so eager at all times to tell the whole truth that, to +make quite sure he told it all, he'd go a little beyond on the other +side, sir--he would, indeed." + +When he heard my fee was a hundred guineas to appear at the police +court, I heard no more of truthful James. + + * * * * * + +In dealing with a case where there is really no substantial defence, +it is sometimes necessary to throw a little ridicule over the +proceedings, taking care, first, to see what is the humour of the +jury. I remember trying this with great success, and reducing a +verdict which might have been considerable to a comparatively trifling +amount. + +[In illustration of this Mr. Cecil A. Coward has given an incident +that occurred in an action for slander tried at the Guildhall many +years ago, in which Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., was for the defendant, and Mr. +Joseph Brown, Q.C., for the plaintiff. The slander consisted in the +defendant pointing his thumb over his shoulder and asking another man, +"Do you know him? That's Joe Smith." + +Mr. Joseph Brown, Q.C., had to rely upon his innuendo--"meaning +thereby Joe Smith was a rogue"--and was very eloquent as to slander +unspoken but expressed by signs and tone. After an exhausting speech +he sat down and buried his head in his bandana, as his habit was. + +Hawkins got up, and turned Mr. Joseph Brown's speech to ridicule in +two or three sentences. + +"Gentlemen," he almost whispered, after a very small whistle which +nobody could hear but those close around, at the same time pointing +his thumb over his shoulder at his opponent, "do you know him--do you +know Joe Brown?" There was a roar of laughter. Joe looked up, saw +nothing, and retired again into his bandana. + +Again the performance was gone through. "Do you know Joe Brown, the +best fellow in the world?" + +Brown looked up again, and was just in time to hear the jury say +they had heard quite enough of the case. No slander--verdict for the +defendant. + +It was one of the best pieces of acting I ever saw him do.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +APPOINTED A JUDGE--MY FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER, + + +No sooner was the Tichborne case finished than I was once more in the +full run of work. + +One brief was delivered with a fee marked twenty thousand guineas, +which I declined. It would not in any way have answered my purpose +to accept it. I was asked, however, to name my own fee, with the +assurance that whatever I named it would be forthcoming. I promised to +consider a fee of fifty thousand guineas, and did so, but resolved not +to accept the brief on any terms, as it involved my going to Indie, +and I felt it would be unwise to do so. + +In 1874 I was offered by Lord Cairns the honour of a judgeship, which +I respectfully declined. It was no hope of mine to step into a puisne +judgeship, or, for the matter of that, any other judicial position. +I was contented with my work and with my career. I did not wish to +abandon my position at the Bar, and my friends at the Bar, and take up +one on the Bench with no friends at all; for a Judge's position is one +of almost isolation. This refusal gave great dissatisfaction to many, +and a letter I have before me says, "I got into a great row with +my editor by your refusal." Another said he lost a lot of money in +consequence: "I thought it was any odds upon your taking it." + +Sir Alexander Cockburn gave me a complimentary side-cut in a speech he +made to some of his old constituents. + +"The time comes," said he, "when men of the greatest eminence are +called upon to give up their professional emoluments for the interests +of their country. In my opinion they have no right to refuse their +services; no man has this right when his country calls for them." + +But these animadversions did not affect me. I held on to the course +which I had deliberately chosen, and which I thought my labours and +sacrifices in the Tichborne case on behalf of my country entitled me +to enjoy. Let any one who has the least knowledge of advocacy consider +what it was to carry that case to a successful issue, and then condemn +me for not taking a judgeship if he will. I was entitled to freedom +and rest. A judgeship is neither, as one finds out when once he puts +on the ermine. But it requires no argument to justify the course I +took. I was entitled to decline, and I did. There is nothing else to +be said; all other considerations are idle and irrelevant. + +A judgeship was, however, a second time offered by Lord Cairns in +1876. This, after due consideration, I accepted, and received my +appointment as a Judge of the Exchequer Court on November 2 of that +year. + +The first and most sensational case that I was called upon to preside +over was known as the Penge case. Sir Alexander Cockburn had appointed +himself to try it, on account of its sensational character; but as it +came for trial at a time when the Lord Chief Justice could not attend, +it fell to the junior Judge on the Bench. + +I am not going to relate the details of that extraordinary case,[A] +which are best left in the obscurity of the newspaper files; but I +refer to it because it cannot well be passed over in the reminiscences +of my life. I shall, however, only touch upon one or two prominent +points. + +[Footnote A: The great sensation of the case was almost overpowered by +the great sensation that "a new power had come upon the Bench." These +are, as nearly as I can give them, the words of one of our most +distinguished advocates, and one of the most brilliant who was in the +Penge case:-- + +"We felt, and the Bar felt, that a great power had come upon the +Bench; he summed up that case as no living man could have done. Every +word told; every point was touched upon and made so clear that it was +impossible not to see it." + +Another distinguished advocate said there was no other Judge on +the Bench who could have summed that case up as Sir Henry Hawkins +did.--R.H.] + +"Every person," I said in my summing up, "who is under a legal duty, +whether such duty was imposed by law or contract, to take charge of +another person must provide that person with the necessaries of life. +Every person who had that legal duty imposed upon him was criminally +responsible if he culpably neglected that duty, and the death of the +person for whom he ought to provide ensued. If the death was the +result of mere carelessness and without criminal intent, the offence +would be manslaughter, provided the jury came to the conclusion that +there had been culpable neglect of the duty cast upon the individual +who had undertaken to perform it." + +With regard to the evidence of one of the witnesses who was said to +be an accomplice, so that it was necessary that she should be +corroborated, I said a jury might convict without it, but recommended +them strongly not to take for granted her evidence unless they found +there was so much corroboration of her testimony as to induce them to +believe she was telling the truth. + +As to one of the accused, I said: "If she had no legal object to +fulfil in providing the deceased with the necessaries of life, the +mere omission to do so would not render her guilty; but if she did an +act wrongfully which had a tendency to destroy life, but which was not +clone with that intention, she would be guilty of manslaughter." + +The jury found a verdict of guilty against all, but with a strong +recommendation in favour of one, in which I joined. + +When a verdict of guilty of wilful murder is returned, a Judge, +whatever may be his opinion of its propriety or justice, has no +alternative but to deliver the sentence of death, and in the very +words the law prescribes. It is not _his_ judgment or decision, but +it is so decreed that the sentence shall in no way depend upon the +sympathy or opinion of the Judge. Whatever mitigating circumstances +there may be must be considered by the Secretary of State for the Home +Department as representing the Sovereign, and upon his advice alone +the Sovereign acts. + +But the Home Secretary never allows a sentence of death to be executed +without the fullest possible inquiry as to mitigating circumstances, +and it is at this stage that the opinion of the Judge is almost +all-powerful. + +My judgment in this case was the result of much anxious thought and +consideration. The responsibility cast upon me was great. The case was +as difficult as it was serious; but my line of duty was plain, and it +was to leave the facts as clearly as I could possibly state them, with +such explanation of the law applicable to each case as my ability +would allow, and then leave the jury to find according to their honest +belief. No duty more arduous has ever since been imposed upon me, and +I performed it in my honest conscience, without swerving from what I +believed, and believe still, to be my strict line of duty. + +I have had many opportunities of reconsidering the whole +circumstances, but I have never changed or varied my opinion after all +these years, and am certain I never shall--namely, that I did my duty +according to the best of my judgment and ability. + +A Judge may go wrong in many ways, and often does in one way or +other, especially if he does not know his own mind--the worst of all +weaknesses, because it usually leads to an attempt to strike a medium +line between innocence and guilt. + +One great weakness, too, in a Judge is not having the faculty of +setting out the facts in language which is intelligible to the jury, +or in not setting them out at all, but repeating them so often and in +so many forms that they are at last left in an absolutely hopeless +muddle. A Judge once kept on so at the jury about "if you find +burglarious intent, and if you don't find burglarious intent," that at +last the jury found nothing except a verdict of not guilty, giving the +"benefit of the doubt as to what the Judge meant." + +As an illustration of the necessity of giving the jury a clear idea +of the evidence in the simplest case, I will state what took place at +Exeter. Juries are unused to evidence, and have very often to be told +what is the bearing of it. In a case of fowl-stealing which I +was trying, there was a curious defence raised, which seemed too +ridiculous to notice. It was that the fowls had crept into the +nose-bag in which they had been found, and which was in the prisoner's +possession, in order to shelter themselves from the east wind. + +Forgetting that possibly I had an unreasoning and ignorant jury to +deal with, I thought they would at once see through so absurd a +defence, and did not insult their common sense by summing up. I merely +said,-- + +"Gentlemen, do you believe in the defence?" + +They put their heads together, and kept in that position for some +time, and at last, to my utter amazement, said,-- + +"We do, my lord; we find the prisoner _not guilty_." + +It was a verdict for the prisoner and a lesson for me. + +It was always my practice, founded on much calculation of the +respective and relative merits and demerits of prisoners, to do what +no other Judge that I am aware of ever did, which was to put convicted +prisoners back until the whole calendar had been tried, then to bring +them up and pass sentence after deliberate consideration of every +case. I thus had the opportunity of reading over my notes and forming +an opinion as to whether there were any circumstances which I could +take into consideration by way of mitigation, or, in the same manner, +as to whether there were matters of aggravation, such as cruelty or +deliberate, wilful malice. The result of this plan on one occasion at +Stafford Assizes, which I remember very well, was this. Two men were +convicted of bigamy. The offence was the same in law as to both the +prisoners. The one was altogether, physically and morally, a brute, +cruel and merciless. The other man found guilty had been a bad husband +to his wife before he went through the form of the second marriage; +but as he had been already punished for his misconduct in that +respect, I thought it fair that he should not be punished again for +the same offence. Such is my idea of the law of England, although I +fear it is sometimes forgotten. I therefore treated this man's crime +as one of a very mitigated character, no harm having been done to the +second woman, and released him on his own recognizances to come up for +judgment if he should be called upon. I would not revisit upon him +his past misdeeds. The other man I sent into penal servitude for five +years. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +ON THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT. + + +"That's Orkins hover there," said a burly-looking sportsman as I +arrived one day at Newmarket Heath--"'im a-torkin' to Corlett. See +'im? Nice bernevolent old cove to look at, ain't 'e? Yus. That didn't +stop 'is guvin' me _five of his wery best_, simply becorze by accident +I mistook someb'dy else's 'ouse and plate-chest for my own. Sorter +mistake which might 'appen a'most to henybody. There 'e is; see 'im? +That's Orkins!" + +I need not say I was frequently spoken of in this complimentary manner +by persons who had been introduced to me at the Bar. I was once +leading a little fox terrier with a string, because on several +occasions he had given me the slip and caused me to be a little late +in court. I led him, therefore, in the leash until he knew his duty. + +On this day, however, as the crowd was waiting for me on the little +platform of a country station, my fox terrier jumped out in front of +me while I was holding him by the string. + +"Good ----!" cried a voice from a gentleman to whom I had previously +given a situation under Government, livery and all found; "why, blow +me if the old bloke ain't blind! Lookee there, 'is dawg's a-leadin' +'im; wot d'ye think o' that?" + +But persons in much higher station were no less at times fond +of chaff, which I always took good-humouredly. A story of Lord +Grimthorpe, who, many years after, had some fun with me at times over +my little Jack, will appear in his reminiscences a little farther on. +I used to lead Jack with a string in the same manner as I had done the +other, for educational purposes, and Lord Grimthorpe jocularly called +me Jack's prisoner. But I must let him tell his own story in his own +way when his turn comes. + +The Midland Circuit was always famous for its ill accommodation of her +Majesty's Judges, and of late years even in the supply of prisoners +to keep them from loitering away their days in idleness or lonely +diversions. + +I always loved work and comfortable lodgings, and may say from the +first to the last of my judicial days set myself to the improvement of +both the work and the accommodation. + +Some Judges in their charges used to discourse with the grand jury of +our foreign relations, turnips, or the state of trade; but I took a +more humble theme at Aylesbury, when I informed that august body +that the quarters assigned to her Majesty's Judges were such that an +officer would hardly think them good enough to billet soldiers in. + +"My rest, gentlemen, has been rudely disturbed," said I, "in the +lodgings assigned to me. My bedroom was hardly accessible, on account +of what appeared to be a dense fog which was difficult to struggle +through. I sought refuge in the dressing-room. Being a bitterly cold +night and a very draughty room, some one had lighted a fire in it; +but, unfortunately, all the smoke came down the chimney after going +up a little way, bringing down as much soot as it could manage to +lay hold of. All this is the fault of the antiquated chimneys and +ill-contrived building generally. My marshal was the subject of equal +discomfort; and I think I may congratulate you, gentlemen, not only on +there being very few prisoners, but also on the fact that you are not +holding an inquest on our bodies." + +The grand jury were good enough to say that there was "an institution +called the Standing Joint Committee, who will, no doubt, inquire into +your lordship's subject of complaint." The "Standing Joint Committee" +sounded powerfully, but I believe no further notice was taken, and the +question dropped. + +"That's a nice un," said one of the javelin-men at the door when a +friend of his came out. "Did yer 'ear that, Jimmy? Orkins is a nice +un to talk about lodgings. Let him look to his own cirkit--the 'Orne +Cirkit--where my brother told me as at a trial at Guildford the tenant +of that there house wouldn't pay his rent. For why? Because they +was so pestered wi' wermin. And what do you think Orkins told the +jury?--He was counsel for the tenant.--'Why,' he says, 'gentlemen, +you heard what one of the witnesses said, how that the fleas was so +outrageous that they ackshally stood on the backs o' the 'all chairs +and barked at 'em as they come in.' That's Orkins on his own circuit; +and 'ere he is finding fault with our lodgings." + +It was not long after my arrival at Lincoln, on the first occasion of +my visiting that drowsy old ecclesiastical city, that I was waited +upon, first by one benevolent body of gentlemen, and then another, all +philanthropists seeking subscriptions for charitable objects. + +One bitterly cold morning I was standing in my robes with my back to +the fire at my lodgings, waiting to step into the carriage on my way +to court, when a very polite gentleman, who headed quite a body of +other polite gentlemen, asked "if his lordship would do them the +honour of receiving a deputation from the L. and B. Skating Club." +I assented--nothing would give me more pleasure; and in filed the +deputation, arranging themselves, hats in hand, round me in a +semicircle. + +"We have the honour, my lord, to call upon your lordship in pursuance +of a resolution passed last night at a special meeting of our club--" + +"What is the name of your club?" + +"The L. and B. Skating Club, my lord." + +"What is its object?" + +"_Our_ object, my lord?" + +"No, the object of your _society_. I can guess your object." + +The leader answered with a smile of the greatest satisfaction,-- + +"Er--skating, my lord." + +"Your own amusement?" + +The head of the deputation bowed. + +"Do you want _me_ to skate?" + +"No, my lord; but we take the liberty of asking your lordship to +kindly support our club with a subscription." + +"When I see," I replied, "so much poverty and misery around me which +needs actual relief, and when I look at this inclement weather and +think how these poor creatures must suffer from the cold, it seems +to me that _they_ are the people who should apply to those who have +anything to bestow in charity; not those who are the only people, as +it would appear, who can take pleasure in this excruciating weather. +See if your club cannot do something for these poor sufferers instead +of collecting merely for your own personal amusement; contribute to +their necessities, and then come and see me again. I shall be here +till Monday." + +The head of the deputation stared, but it did not lose its presence of +mind or forget its duty. The deputation made a little speech "thanking +me heartily for the kind manner in which they had been received." + +I never saw anything more of them from that day to this. + +[In a case at Devizes Sir Henry showed in a striking manner the +character he always bore as a humane Judge. He was not humane where +cruelty was any part of the culprit's misdeeds, for he visited that +with the punishment he thought it deserved, and his idea of that was +on a somewhat considerable scale.] + +I was down upon cruelty, and always lenient where there were any +mitigating circumstances whatever, either of mental weakness, great +temptation, provocation, or unhappy surroundings. + +A woman was brought up before me who had been committed to take her +trial on a charge of concealing the birth of a child. For prisoners +in these circumstances I always felt great sympathy, and regarded the +moral guilt as altogether unworthy of punishment. The law, however, +was bound to be vindicated so far as the legal offence was concerned. +She had already been in prison for three months, because she was too +poor and too friendless to find bail. I am always pointing out that +if magistrates would send more cases to the Judges than they do, they +would get some precedents as to the appropriate measure of punishment, +which they seem badly to need. This woman had already been punished, +without being found guilty, with three times the punishment she ought +to have received had she been found guilty. A month's imprisonment +would have been excessive. + +Prisoners should always be released on their own recognizances where +there is a reasonable expectation that they will appear. + +The result was that the unhappy woman, who had been punished severely +while in the eye of the law she was innocent, was discharged when she +was found to be guilty. + +We have seen how Mr. Justice Maule examined a little boy as to his +understanding the nature of an oath. I once examined a little girl +upon a preliminary point of this kind, before she had arrived at that +period of mental acuteness which enables one to understand exactly the +meaning of the words uttered in the administration of the oath. The +child was called, and after allowing the form of "the evidence you +shall give," etc., and "kiss the book," to be gabbled over, I said, +before the Testament could reach the child's lips,-- + +"Stop! Do you understand what that gentleman has been saying?" + +"No, sir." + +I think it is a great farce to let little children be sworn who cannot +be expected to understand even the language in which the oath is +administered, to say nothing of the oath itself. How can they +comprehend the meaning of the phrases employed? And many grown-up +uneducated people are in the same situation. Surely a simple form, +such as, "_You swear to God to speak the truth_"--or, even better +still, to make false evidence punishable without any oath at +all--would be far better. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +JACK. + + +I was always fond of dogs, and never cease to admire their +intelligence and sagacity. + +My little Jack was given to me when quite a puppy by my old and very +dear friend Lord Falmouth. He was brought to me by Lady Falmouth, and +from that time his history was my history, for his companionship was +constant and faithful; in my hours of labour and of pleasure he was +always with me, and I believe, if I had had any sorrows, he would have +shared them as he did my pleasures--nay, these he enhanced more than I +can tell. + +Of course he invariably came circuit, and sat with me in my lodgings +and on the Bench, where he would patiently remain till the time came +to close my notebook for the day. Whether he liked it or not I am +unable to say, but he seemed to take an interest in the proceedings. +About this, however, his reminiscences will speak for themselves. He +always occupied the seat of honour in the Sheriff's carriage, and +walked to it with a dignity worthy the occasion. I am glad to say the +Judges all loved Jack, and treated him most kindly, not for my sake, +but, I believe, for his own--although, I may add in passing, he +sometimes gave them a pretty loud rebuke if they showed any approach +to ill-humour on an occasional want of punctuality in coming into +court. Some of them were exceedingly particular in being up to time to +a _moment_; and I should have equal to the occasion at all times, but +that I had to give Jack a run before we started for the duties of the +day. It was necessary for his health and good behaviour. On circuit, +of course, whenever there was little to do--I am speaking of the +Midland particularly, although the Western was quite as pleasant--I +gave him longer runs. For instance, in Warwick Park nothing could be +more beautiful than to loiter there on a summer morning amongst the +cedars on the beautiful lawn. + +It may seem unreasonable to say so, but Jack almost seemed to be +endowed with human instincts. He was as restless as I was over long, +windy speeches and cross-examinations that were more adapted for +the smoking-room of a club than a court of justice; and in order to +repress any tendency to manifest his displeasure I gave him plenty of +exercise in the open air, which made him sleep generally when counsel +began to speak. + +Having mentioned the commencement of my companionship with Jack, which +in these reminiscences I would on no account omit, I shall let him +hereafter tell his own experience in his own way. + +JACK'S REMINISCENCES. + +I was born into the family of my Lord Falmouth, and claim descent from +the most well bred of my race in this kingdom, the smooth fox terrier. +All my ancestors were noted for their love of sport, their keen sense +of humour, and hatred of vermin. + +At a very early period of my infancy I was presented to Sir Henry +Hawkins, one of Her Majesty's Judges of the High Court, who took a +great fancy to me, and, if I may say so without appearing to be vain, +at once adopted me as his companion and a member of his family. + +Sir Henry, or, as I prefer to call him, my lord, treated me with the +sweetest kindness, and I went with him wherever it was possible +for him to take me. At first my youthful waywardness and love of +freedom--for that is inherent in our race--compelled him to restrain +me by a string, which I sometimes pulled with such violence that my +lord had to run; and on seeing us so amusing ourselves one morning, +old Lord Grimthorpe, I think they called him, who was always full of +good-natured chaff, cried out,-- + +"Halloa, Hawkins! What, has Jack made you his prisoner? Ha! ha! Hold +him, Jack; don't let him get away!" + +Well, this went on for several weeks, what I think you call chaff, and +at last I was allowed to go without the string. It happened that on +the very first morning when I was thus given my liberty, whom should +we meet but this same old Lord Grimthorpe. + +"Halloa!" he cries again--"halloa, Hawkins! Does your keeper let you +go without being attached to a string?" + +"No, no," says my lord--"no, no; Jack's attached to _me_ now." + +Thereupon dear old Grimthorpe, who loved a joke, laughed till his +elbows rested on his knees as he stooped down. + +"Well," said he, "that's good, Hawkins, very good indeed." + +On one occasion one of those country yokels who always met us at +Assize towns, and got as close up to our javelin-men as they could, so +that we could not only see them but indulge our other senses at the +same time, seeing us get out of our carriage, said to another yokel, +"I say, Bill, blarmed if the old bloke ain't brought his dawg +again--that there fox terrier--to go a-rattin'." + +I did not know what "rattin'" meant at that time, and did not learn +it till we got to Warwick. I thought it was rude to call my lord a +"bloke," especially in his red robes; but did not quite know what +"bloke" meant, for I had seen so little of mankind. + +One morning before we opened the Commission at Warwick--I may as well +come to it at once--my lord and I went for a walk along the road that +leads over the bridge by Warwick Castle towards Leamington. There is a +turning to a village which belonged to the old days, but does not +seem now to belong to anything, and looks something like a rural +watering-place, quiet and unexciting. We turned down this quiet road, +and came alongside a beautiful little garden covered with flowers of +all kinds. + +I had occasion afterwards to learn whom they belonged to; but I +will tell you before we go further, so as to make the situation +intelligible. He was a countryman who used to make it his boast that +he never had a day's schooling in his life (so that he ought to have +been leader of the most ignorant classes), and this made him the +independent man he was towards his betters. Then my Lady Warwick used +to take notice of him, and this also gave him another lift in his own +estimation. He learnt to read in the long run, for he really had +a good deal of native talent for a man, and set himself up for a +politician and a something they call a philosopher, which any man can +be with a pint pot in front of him, I am told, especially at a village +alehouse. + +He was a great orator at the Gridiron beershop in the lane which runs +round one part of my Lord Warwick's park, and it was said that old +Gale--such was his name--had picked up most of his education from his +own speeches. Gale was also the lawyer of the village--he could tell +everybody what his rights were, if anybody had any besides Gale; but +he declared he had been done out of _his_ rights by a man who had lent +his old father some money on the bit of land I am coming to. + +As we went along, what should we see but a rat! I knew what he was in +a moment, although I had never seen such a thing before, and knew I +had to hunt him. My lord cries, "_Cis_!--_rat, Jack_--_rats_!" + +Away I went after the rat--I did not care what his name was--and Sir +Henry after me, with all the exuberance he used to show when he was +following the "Quorn." Presently we heard the dreadful orator's voice +using language only uttered, I am glad to say, amongst men. + +"Where the h--l are you coming to like this?" he cried. + +I forgot to say that our marshal was with us, and of course he took +upon himself to explain how matters stood; indeed, it was one of his +duties when Judges went out a-ratting to explain _who_ they were. So +when we arrived at the place where they were talking together, I heard +the dreadful man say,-- + +"Judge o' th' land! He ain't much of a judge o' th' land to tear my +flowers to pieces like that. Look at these 'ere toolips." + +The marshal explained how that it was for the improvement of Sir Henry +Hawkins's health that a little fresh air was taken every morning. + +"Lookee 'ere," says Gale, "I didn't know it wur the Judge doin' me the +honour to tear my flower-beds to pieces. I bin workin' at these 'ere +beds for months, and here they are spilt in a minit; but I tell +ee what, Orkins or no Orkins, he ain't gwine to play hell with +my flower-beds like that 'ere. If he wants the ground for public +improvement, as you call it, well, you can take it under the Act. +There's room enough for improvement, I dessay." + +Now, instead of his lordship sending the man to prison, as I thought +to be sure he must do, he speaks to him as mild as a lamb, and tells +him he commends his spirit, and actually asks him what he valued the +flowers at. A Judge condescending to do that! This mollified the old +man's temper, and turned away his flowery wrath, so he said at once he +wasn't the man to make a profit out o' the circum_starnce_; but right +was right, and wrong worn't no man's right, with a great many other +proverbs of a like nature, which are as hard to get rid of amongst men +and women as precedents amongst Judges; and then the old man, much +against his will and inclination, had a sovereign forced upon him by +our marshal, which he put into his pocket, and then accompanied us to +the gate. + +Now came this remarkable circumstance. When we got back to our +lodgings after being "churched," what should we find but a beautiful +nosegay of cut flowers in our drawing-room from old Gale, and every +morning came a similar token of his good-nature and admiration while +we were there, and the same whenever we went on that circuit. + +One of our servants was kind enough to make me a set of robes exactly +like my lord's, which I used to wear in the Court of Crown Cases +Reserved and at high functions, such as the Queen's Birthday or +Chancellor's breakfast. In court I always appeared in mufti on +ordinary occasions--that is to say, I did not appear at all +ostentatiously, like some men, but sat quietly on my lord's robe close +to his chair. + +I well remember one occasion while we were at Hereford, a very pompous +and extremely proper town, as all cathedral cities are; my lord and I +were robed for the reception of the High Sheriff (as he is called) and +his chaplain, who were presently coming with the great carriage to +take us to be churched before we charged the grand jury. + +Hereford is a very stately place, and enjoys a very high opinion of +its own importance in the world. It is almost too respectable to admit +of the least frivolity in any circumstances. You always seemed to +be going to church at Hereford, or just coming out--the latter was +nicest--so that there was, in my time, a sedateness only to be +equalled by the hardness of a Brazil nut, which would ruin even my +teeth to crack. I don't know if that is a proper way in which to +describe a solid Herefordian; but if so, judge of the High Sheriff's +surprise, as well as that of the chaplain, when I walked by the side +of my lord into our drawing-room! I never saw a clergyman look so +glum! We were both in robes, as I observed, and my lord was so pleased +with my appearance that he held me up for the two dignitaries to +admire. But Hereford does not admire other people; they confine their +admirations within their own precincts. + +On our way from the station to our lodgings, I ought to have said, +both these gentlemen were full of praises. Who would not admire a +Judge's companion? + +Although Sheriff and chaplain were highly proper, the former could not +restrain a hearty laugh, while the latter tightened his lips with a +reproving smile. But then the chaplain, with a proper reverence for +the State function, afterwards looked very straight down his nose, +and, hemming a little, ventured to say,-- + +"My lord, are you _really_ going to take the little dog to divine +service in the cathedral?" + +My lord looked quite astonished at the question, and then put his face +down to me and pretended to whisper and then to listen. Afterwards he +said,-- + +"No. Jack says not to-day; he doesn't like long sermons." + +The chaplain would much rather I had gone to church than have heard +such a reprimand. + +But this is not quite the end of my reminiscence. I heard on the best +authority that the sermon of the chaplain on that morning was the +_shortest he had ever preached_ as an Assize discourse, and my lord +attributed it entirely to my supposed observation on that subject, so +that my presence, at all events, was useful. + +I have always observed that lesser dignitaries are more jealous of +their dignity than greater ones. Here was an excellent example of it. +The chaplain looked very severe, but when this little story reached +the ears of the good Bishop Atlay he was delighted, and wished to see +me. I was becoming famous. I made my call in due course, and let him +see that a Judge's dog was not to be put down by a mere chaplain, and +came away much gratified with his lordship's politeness. After this, +during our stay in the city, the Bishop gave me the run of his +beautiful new garden along the riverside. And there my lord and I used +to gambol for an hour after our duties in court were over. This lovely +garden was an additional pleasure to me, because I was relieved from a +muzzle. There was only one thing wanting: the Bishop kept no rats. + +After this his lordship never saw my lord without asking the question, +"How's dear Jack?" which showed how much a Bishop could respect a +little dog, and how much superior he was to a chaplain. I heard him +say once we were all God's creatures, but that, of course, I was not +able to understand at the time. I did not know if it included the +chaplain. + +I think I must now tell a little story of myself, if you will not +think me conceited. It is about a small matter that happened at +Cambridge. One day a very amiable but dreadfully noisy advocate was +cross-examining a witness, as I thought, rather angrily, because the +man would not say exactly what he wanted him to say. My lord did not +take notice of this, and it went on until I thought I would call +his attention to the counsel's manner, and, accordingly, gave a +growl--merely a growl of inquiry. Brown--which was the counsel's +name--was a little startled at this unexpected remonstrance, and +paused, looking up at the Judge. + +"Go on," said my lord--"go on, pray," pretending not to know the cause +of the interruption. + +He went on accordingly for a considerable time, with a very noisy +speech--so noisy that one could not hear one's self bark, which I did +two or three times without any effect. However, at last I made one of +my best efforts. + +But this was bad policy, inasmuch as it attracted too much attention +to myself, who had been hitherto unseen. + +My lord, however, thanks to his presence of mind, had the kindness to +say,-- + +"Dear me! I wish people would not bring their dogs into court." Then +turning to our marshal, he said, "Take Jack into Baron Pollock's +room"--the Baron had just gone in to lunch, for he was always punctual +to a minute--"and ask him to give him a mutton-chop." + +And when, five minutes later, my lord came in, the Baron was enjoying +his chop, and I was eating my lord's. + +In another court the Judge administered a well-timed rebuke to a +flippant and very egotistical counsel, and I could hardly restrain +myself from administering another. During the progress of a dreadfully +long address to the jury for the defence, he said,-- + +"Why, gentlemen, there is not sufficient evidence against the prisoner +_on which to hang a dog_." + +"And how much evidence, Mr. ----, would you consider sufficient to +hang a dog?" + +"That would depend, my lord, as to whom the dog belonged." + +I thought how like human nature that young man was. + +I used to have a very good view of all that took place in court, +and could tell some very funny as well as interesting stories about +persons I have seen. + +One day I was amused _so_ much that, had I not remembered where I was, +I must, like my friends mentioned by Robert Burns in his "Twa Dogs," +have "barked wi' joy," because I thought it so strange. Here was a +Queen's Counsel, a man of so proper a countenance that I do not think +it ever smiled in its life, and so very devoted to his profession that +he would never think of leaving it to go to a racecourse. I should +have as soon expected to meet him in our dogs' home looking for a +greyhound to go coursing with on Primrose Hill,--and here he was +standing up on his hind legs, and making an application to the court +which my lord was never in his life known to grant. + +It was the night before the Derby, and we always took care to have a +full list of cases for that Wednesday, for _fear_ the public should +think we went to the Derby and left the work to look after itself. +We generally had about a dozen in pretty early in the afternoon of +Tuesday, so that the suitors and witnesses, solicitors and all others +whom it concerned, might know where they were, and that _they_ could +not go to the Derby the following day. + +What a scene it was as soon as this list was published! I used to sit +and watch the various applicants sidle into their seats with the +most sheepish faces for men I ever saw. In came the first gentleman, +flustered with excitement. + +"Would your lordship allow me to make an application?" + +"Yes," said my lord--"yes; I see no objection. What is your +application, Mr. ----?" I will not give his name. + +"There is a case, my lord, in to-morrow's list--number ten. It is +quite impossible, seeing the number of cases before it, that that case +can be reached." + +"If that is so," said my lord, "there is no necessity for making any +application--if you know it is impossible to reach it, I mean to +say--" + +"It is _ex abundanti cautela_, my lord." + +I think that was the expression, but, as it is not dog-Latin, I am not +sure. + +"It is a good horse to run, I dare say," said my lord, "but I don't +think he'll win this time." + +The counsel shook his head and would have smiled, I could see that, +only he was disappointed. I felt sorry for him, because his clients +had made arrangements to go to the Derby. As he was turning +disconsolately away my lord spoke with a little more encouragement in +his tone and a quiet smile. + +"We will see later, Mr. ----. Is your client _unable_ to appear +to-morrow?" + +"I'm afraid so, my lord, quite." + +"Have you a doctor's certificate?" + +"I am afraid not, my lord; he is not ill." + +"Then you can renew the application later; but understand, I am +_determined to get through the list_." + +That was so like my lord; nothing would turn him from his resolution, +if he sat till midnight, and I nearly barked with admiration. + +Then came number six on the list, with the same complaint that it was +not likely to be reached. + +"I'm not so sure," said Sir Henry. "I have just refused number ten; +yours is a long way before that. Some of the previous ones may go off +very soon; there does not seem to be anything _very long_ in front of +you, Mr. ----. What's your difficulty about being here?" + +"The real difficulty, my lord--" And as he hesitated the Judge said,-- + +"You want to be elsewhere?" + +"Frankly, my lord, that is so." + +"Very well; if both sides are agreed, I have no objection. If I am not +trying your case I shall be trying some one else's, and it is a matter +of perfect indifference to me whose case it is." + +An hour after in came a brisk junior stating that his leader was +unavoidably absent. + +"What is the application, Mr. Wallsend?" + +"There's a case on your lordship's list for to-morrow, my lord." + +"Yes. What number?" + +"Number seven, my lord. I am told number six is a long case, and sure +to be fought. My application is that, as that case will last over +Friday--" + +"Friday? Why Friday?" + +There was a little laughter, because it happened to be the Oaks day. + +"I'm told it's a long case, my lord." + +"Yes, but number six has gone, so that you will stand an excellent +chance of coming on about two o'clock, perhaps a little before. What +is the nature of your case?" + +"Illegal imprisonment, my lord." + +"Very well; if it is any convenience to you, Mr. Wallsend, I will take +it last." + +By the look of the young man it seemed of no great convenience. + +"That will give your witnesses time to be here, I hope." + +The counsel shook his head, and then began to say that the fact was +that his client had an engagement, and his lordship would see it was +the great race of the year. + +"I do not like these applications made in this random manner. I +am willing to oblige the parties in all cases if I can, but these +constant motions to postpone interfere very much with the public +convenience, and I mean to say that the public are to be considered." + +Now came the gentleman who never attended races, and devoted himself +to business. He could not have told you the name of a horse to save +his life. But he also made his application to postpone a case +until Thursday. Delightful day, Thursday; such a convenient day, +too--between the Derby and the Oaks. + +Said my lord, who was very friendly to the learned counsel, and liked +him not only as a member of his old circuit, but as a brother Bencher +and a clever advocate,-- + +"Oh, I see; I see where _you_ want to be to-morrow." + +"My lord!" + +It was no use; in spite of the gentleman's remonstrance and +protestations, he said,-- + +"You may go, Mr. ----, and I hope you will enjoy yourself." + +I need hardly say nothing was left of the list by twelve o'clock the +next day, and Sir Henry had the honour of going in the royal train and +dining at Marlborough House in the evening. + +I ought, perhaps, to mention that there was a case proceeding when all +these interruptions took place. I don't know the name, but two counsel +were in it, one of whom was remarkable for the soul of wit which is +called _brevity_, and the other was not. One was Frank Lockwood, Q.C., +a very amusing counsel, whom I always liked, because he often sketched +me and my lord in pen and ink. + +Mr. Jelf, Q.C., was the other learned counsel. Although I liked most +of the barristers, I often wished I could teach them the invaluable +lesson _when to leave off_. It would have saved many a verdict, and +given me the opportunity of hearing my own voice. + +Lockwood was cross-examining, and appeared to me dealing rather +seriously with Jelf's witnesses, who were a pious body of gentlemen, +and prided themselves, above all things, on speaking the truth, as +though it was a great credit not to commit perjury. + +At last Mr. Jelf, tired with being routed in so ruthless a manner, +cried in a lamentable voice,-- + +"Pray, pray, Mr. Lockwood!" + +"So I do," said Lockwood--"so I do, Mr. Jelf, at fitting and proper +times." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +TWO TRAGEDIES. + + +[The _Daily Telegraph_, speaking of the necessity for Justice +sometimes "to strip the bandage from her eyes and look into the real +merits of a case, mentions the following case as showing Sir Henry's +unequalled knowledge of human nature and the sound equity of his +decrees:-- + +"A young, respectable woman had been led away by a villain, who was +already married, and under a promise of marriage had betrayed her. He +induced her to elope with him, and suggested that she should tear +a cheque out of her father's cheque-book and forge his name. So +completely was she under his influence that she did so. He sent her to +different banks to try and cash it, but it was not till she got to +a local bank, where she was known, that this was accomplished. The +cheque was for £200. But the seducer never obtained the money; the +girl was apprehended before she reached him. + +"Sir Henry openly expressed his strong sympathy for the unhappy girl, +and ordered her to be bound over in her own recognizance of £20, to +come up for judgment when called upon."] + +During the early years of my tenure of office as a criminal Judge I +became, and still am, firmly impressed with the belief that to enable +one filling that office to discharge the twofold duty attached to +it--namely, that of trying the issue whether the crime imputed to +the prisoner has been established by legal evidence, and if so, +what punishment ought to be imposed upon the prisoner, assuming the +presiding Judge to be the person to determine it--it is absolutely +essential that he should keep the whole of the circumstances in his +mind and carefully weigh every fact which either forms an element in +the constitution of the offence itself or has a substantial bearing as +affecting the aggravation or mitigation of the punishment; for it +is not only essential that these matters should be known to and +appreciated by the Judge who tried the case, but that they may be also +presented for the information of the Home Secretary, who ought to be +acquainted with them, so that he may form a satisfactory view of the +whole of the circumstances surrounding the case. + +A strange story that will ever stand out in my memory as one of +the most dramatic of my life was that of a young lady who was a +professional nurse at the General Hospital at Liverpool. She was +young, clever, and, I believe, beautiful, as well as esteemed and +loved by all who knew her. + +She had become engaged to an engineer, and it had been arranged that +she should pay a visit to her mother in Nottingham on a Friday, so as +to acquaint her with their engagement, the intended husband having +arranged to come on the following Monday. + +The parents were poor, respectable people, and the girl herself +was poor, so that she had no change of attire, but went in her +professional nurse's dress. It was her intention, however, to buy an +ordinary dress at Nottingham. + +There was a dressmaker in that city whom her mother knew, and +with whose children in their early days her daughter had played. +Accordingly in the evening the nurse with a younger sister went to the +cottage to make the necessary arrangements. + +While she was there the son of the dressmaker came in, and was at once +attracted by the beauty and the manner of the girl. As they had known +one another in childhood, it was not surprising that they should talk +with more familiarity than would have been the case had they been +strangers. + +When the nurse rose to go, the young man asked permission to accompany +her to her mother's. She declined, but he persisted in his request. + +This man was a clever mechanic, and had invented a machine for making +chenille. Sad to say, this invention he used for the purpose of +inveigling the girl into his workshop, which was situated on the +second floor of an extensive range of warehouses in a yard at +Nottingham. He asked her to come on the Monday morning, and when +she informed him that her lover was to come by the 12.30 train at +Nottingham Station, he said if she came at eleven she would have +plenty of time to see his invention, and then meet him. She at last +consented. + +I now come to a series of facts of a sensational character. On the +Monday morning she went, according to the appointment, and was seen to +go with this man up a flight of steps which led from the yard to the +first floor. The door opened on to the landing outwardly. In about a +quarter of an hour after she was seen staggering down the steps, and +crossing the yard in the direction of the street. In the street she +fell, and was conveyed to a neighbouring house. She was afterwards +taken to a hospital. + +In the course of some minutes the man himself came down the steps, +and was informed that a girl had been seen coming out of his premises +bleeding, and had been taken to a cottage. + +"Was there?" said he, and walked away. + +In the afternoon he was apprehended. He said he was very sorry, but +that he was showing the girl a little toy pistol, and that it had gone +off: quite accidentally. He wished to be taken to the hospital where +she was. + +The magistrate in the meanwhile had been informed of the occurrence, +and with his clerk attended at the hospital to take her dying +deposition. + +There was an amount of skill and ability about the prisoner which was +somewhat surprising to me, who am seldom surprised at anything. + +"Did you not think it was an accident?" he asked. + +The dying girl answered, "Yes." + +In re-examination by the magistrate's clerk at the end of the +business, the following answer was elicited,-- + +"I thought it was an accident before the second shot was fired." + +The extraordinary part of this story, to my mind, is that the able +counsel--and able he indeed was who defended him--treated the matter +as the most frivolous prosecution that was ever instituted. I know +that he almost laughed at the idea of murder, and, further, that the +junior counsel for the prosecution treated the charge in the same +manner, and said that, in his opinion, there was no case. + +The man was indicted for wilful murder, and I am bound to say, after +reading the depositions, I could come to no other conclusion than +that he was guilty of the most cruel and deliberate murder, if the +depositions were correct. + +I went with the counsel on both sides to view the scene of the +tragedy, and it was agreed that the counsel for the prosecution should +indicate as well as he could the case for the Crown by merely stating +undisputed facts in connection with the premises. + +The flight of steps, as I have said, led from the courtyard to the +first landing. + +The door opened outwards, and the first visible piece of evidence was +that some violence had been exercised in forcing open the door on the +occasion of some one making his or her escape from the building, for +the staple into which the bolt of the lock had been thrust showed that +the door had been locked on the inside, and that the person coming +from the premises must have used considerable force in breaking +through. + +The key was not in the lock, neither had it fallen out, or it would +have been found somewhere near. It had evidently been taken out and +secreted, because it was found at the bottom of a dustbin a long way +off from the staircase and in the room occupied by the prisoner. + +There was one additional fact at this part of the view which I must +mention. A bullet was picked up near the door. It had struck the +opposite wall, and then glanced off and hit the other wall close to +the door. + +The bullet had been fired from the landing above; this was indicated +by the direction as it glanced along the wall, and, further, by the +mark it had left of its line of flight from the landing above, for it +had struck against the low ceiling of that spot as though the person +firing had fired in a hurry and had not taken sufficient aim to avoid +it. It might be taken, therefore, that the person firing was not +used to firearms, or he would not have hit what might be called the +ceiling. + +The bullet was produced by the chief constable. + +On reaching the second landing, the mark of the bullet in the lintel +showed clearly that it had been fired in the direction of some object +below--some one, probably, descending the stairs. + +On turning into the factory on this floor, which was quite empty, I +saw on the wall near the doorway the mark of another bullet which had +rested near and was found by the police. It was a bad aim, and showed, +therefore, that the person who fired it was unused to firearms. + +We went to the next room, into which we ascended by six steps; it was +clear that it was from the head of these stairs that the course of the +bullet was directed; its elevated position and the angle of incidence +showed this. But as neither of these bullets had struck the deceased, +for there was no mark of any kind to prove it, there was another +bullet to be accounted for, and as the prisoner said that the pistol +went off by accident, two or three matters had to be considered. Where +was the spot where the accident occurred? and was aim actually taken? + +The bullet had entered the hinder part of the neck, had taken a +downward direction, and lodged in the spine. It did not, therefore, go +off while he was explaining the pistol to her, otherwise it would have +struck her at any other place than where it did. + +Moreover, she had run in a state of intense fright the moment she was +wounded--had commenced to run before, in fact, having escaped from the +clutches of her murderer, for the skirt of her dress was torn from the +gathers. It was proved that the prisoner had bought the pistol on the +Saturday night, that he was unused to firearms, for he had to ask +the man who sold it to explain the mode of using it. He was heard +practising with it on Sunday, and when the accident occurred it was +proved that the interval between the first and second shots exactly +accounted for the space which intervened between the respective spots +where the firing must have taken place. + +Much was made of the fact that the poor girl had said she thought it +was an accident, but I had to call the learned counsel's attention +to the statement at the end of her examination, which was this: "I +thought at first it was an accident, for I could not believe he could +be so cruel, but after the _second shot_ I believed he meant to kill +me." + +A somewhat novel incident occurred during the examination for the +prosecution. + +A wire stand had been dressed with the girl's clothes to show where +the lower part of the dress had been torn from the gathers. It was +placed on the table, and no doubt exactly resembled the girl herself. +The prisoner was so much affected that he shuddered, and had to be +supported. + +He was condemned to death. + +In the House of Commons and out of it sympathy was, of course, +aroused, not for the unhappy girl who had been sent suddenly to her +account, but for the lustful brute who had murdered her. A question +was asked of the Secretary of State for the Home Department as to the +prisoner being insane, and whether there was not abundant evidence of +insanity at the trial. + +The counsel for the prosecution wrote to the Home Secretary and +requested him to lay his letter before the prisoner's counsel to +ascertain whether he agreed with it. The letter was to this effect: +"Not only was there no evidence of insanity, but the prisoner's +counsel based his defence entirely upon the fact that there was no +suggestion that the man was or ever had been insane. He must have been +insane, argued the counsel, if he had committed a brutal murder of +that kind; there was no insanity, and therefore it was an accident." + +The humane questioner of the Home Secretary left the prisoner after +that statement to his well-deserved fate. + + * * * * * + +I recollect at one Gloucester Assize a man was tried before me for the +murder of a woman near Bristol. + +The prisoner had given his account of the tragedy, and said he had +made up his mind to kill the first woman he met alone and unprotected; +that is to say, he had made up his mind to kill somebody when there +was no witness of the deed. Humanitarians for murderers might call +this insanity. + +He went forth on his mission, and saw a woman coming towards him with +a baby. + +He instantly resolved to kill both, and probably would have done so +but for the fact that some one was seen coming towards him in the +distance. + +The woman and child therefore escaped, the person he had seen in the +distance also passed by, and then he waited in the lane alone. In a +little time a poor woman came along. + +The ruffian instantly seized her, cut her throat, and killed her on +the spot. + +No sooner had he accomplished his purpose than a young farmer drove +along in his cart, and seeing the dead body in the road, and the +murderer a little way off, jumped out of his cart and arrested him. + +A little farther on the road there was a labouring man, who had not +been visible up to this moment, breaking stones. + +"Look after this man," said the farmer; "he has committed murder. Keep +him safe while I go to the village and get a constable." + +"All right," said the labourer; "I'll keep un." + +As soon as the farmer was gone the labourer and the murderer got into +conversation, for they had to while away the time until the farmer had +procured the constable. + +"Why," asked the stone-breaker, "what have you been a-doin' of?" + +"Killin' a woman," answered the murderer. + +"Killin' a woman!" said the mason. "Why, what did you want to kill a +woman for? She warn't your wife, was she?" + +"Nay," answered the murderer, "or I should ha' killed her afore." + +The want of motive is always a strong argument with humanitarians, who +pity the murderer and not the victim. I heard no particle of sympathy +expressed for the poor woman, but there was abundance of commiseration +for the fiend who had perpetrated the terrible deed. + +There never was any _adequate_ motive for murder, but there was never +a deed committed or any act performed without motive. + +Insanity on the ground of absence of motive was set up as a matter of +course, but insanity should be based on proof apart from the cruelty +of the act itself. It was a premeditated crime, a bloodthirsty desire +to wreak his malice on some one; but beyond the act, beyond the +malignant disposition of the man, there was no evidence whatever of +insanity. + +I refused to recommend him to the Royal clemency on that ground, or on +any ground, for there was not the smallest pretence for saying it was +not a deliberate cold-blooded murder. And the man was rightly hanged. + +Society should be protected from murderers. This may be hard dealing +with the enemies of society, but it is just to society itself. I was +never hard on a prisoner. The least circumstance in mitigation found +in me a hearty reception, but cruelty in man or woman an unflinching +Judge. + +Take another case. In Gloucestershire a man was convicted of killing a +girl by stabbing her in no less than thirty-eight places. + +Again the humanitarians besieged the Home Secretary. "No man in his +senses would have been so cruel; and there was his conduct in the +dock: he was so wild, so incoherent. There was also his conduct in the +field where he had committed the deed: he called the attention of the +passers-by to his having killed her." And, last of all, "there was the +doctor whom the Home Secretary had consulted after the trial." + +I was appealed to, and stated my opinion honestly: that I had closely +watched the man at the trial, and was satisfied that he was shamming +insanity. + +And he shammed it so awkwardly that there was no doubt whatever that +he was sane. + +Another Judge was asked about the case who saw only the evidence, and +he came to the same conclusion; and I was compelled to report that the +doctor who certified that he was insane did so _without having seen +him_ as the doctors for the prosecution had at the trial and before. + +He was hanged. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE ST. NEOTS CASE. + + +This is the last trial for murder that I presided over. The object is +not to show the horrible details of the deed, but my mode of dealing +with the facts, for it is in the elimination of the false from the +true that the work of a Judge must consist, otherwise his office is a +useless form. I shall give this case, therefore, more in detail than I +otherwise should. + +The case was that of Horsford, in the year 1898, at Huntingdon +Assizes. I say now, long after the event, the murderer was not +improperly described by the _Daily News_ as the greatest monster of +our criminal annals, and yet even in that case some kind-hearted +people said I had gone quite _to the limits of a Judge's rights_ in +summing up the case. Let me say a word about circumstantial evidence. +Some writers have spoken of it as a kind of "dangerous innovation in +our criminal procedure." It is actually almost the only evidence +that is obtainable in all great crimes, and it is the best and most +reliable. + +You may draw wrong impressions from it, I grant, but so you may from +the evidence of witnesses where it is _doubtful_; but you cannot fail +to draw the right ones where the facts are not doubtful. If it is +capable of a wrong inference, a Judge should be absolutely positive in +his direction to the jury not to draw it. + +I have witnessed many great trials for murder, but do not remember one +where there was an eye-witness to the deed. How is it possible, +then, to bring home the charge to the culprit unless you rely on +circumstantial evidence? Circumstantial evidence is the evidence of +circumstances--facts that speak for themselves and that cannot be +contradicted. Circumstances have no motive to deceive, while human +testimony is too often the product of every kind of motive. + +The history of this case is extremely simple. The accused, Walter +Horsford, aged thirty-six, was a farmer of Spaldwick. The person +murdered, Annie Holmes, was a widow whose age was thirty-eight years. +She had resided for several months at St. Neots, where she died on +the night of January 7. She had been married, and lost her husband +thirteen years ago. On his death he left two children, Annie and +Percy. The latter was sixteen years of age and the girl fourteen. +The prisoner was a cousin of the deceased woman. While she lived at +Stonely the man had been in the habit of visiting her, and had become +an intimate member of the family. + +In the month of October the prisoner was married to a young woman +named Bessie ----. The widow with her two children, and a third, which +it would be idle affectation to suggest was the offspring of her late +husband, went to reside at St. Neots in a cottage rented at about £8 a +year. The prisoner wrote to Annie Holmes on at least two occasions. + +Towards the close of the year Annie Holmes suspected herself to be +pregnant. She was anxious not to bring another child into the world, +and had some communication with the prisoner on the subject. + +On January 5 he wrote to her that he would come and make some +arrangement. The woman was deceived as to her condition, but that made +no difference with regard to the crime. The letter went on to state: +"You must remember I paid you for what I done.... Don't write any more +letters, for I don't want Bessie to know." + +On December 28 he purchased from a chemist to whom he was a stranger, +and who lived at Thrapston, a quantity of poison, alleging that he +wanted to poison rats. Prisoner called in a gentleman as a reference +to his respectability, as the chemist had refused to sell him the +poison without. At last a small parcel was supplied. It was entered in +a book with the prisoner's name, and he signed the book, as did also +the gentleman who was his introducer. The poison was strychnine, +arsenic, prussic acid, and carbolic acid. No less than 90 grains of +strychnine were supplied. He had written to say he would come over on +the Friday which followed January 5. There is no reason to suppose he +did not fulfil his promise. On the Friday the woman was suffering from +neuralgia. In the evening, however, she was in her usual health and +spirits, and did her ironing up to eight o'clock. She went to bed +between half-past nine and ten, and took with her a tumbler of water. +In ten minutes the little girl and her brother went upstairs. They +went to the mother, who was in bed with her child. The tumbler was +nearly empty. The mother asked for a "sweet," which the little girl +gave. After this Annie got into bed; the mother began to twitch her +arms and legs, and seemed in great pain. Dr. Turner was sent for, as +she got worse. His assistant, Dr. Anderson, came, and, watching the +patient, noticed that the symptoms were those of strychnine poisoning. +She was dying. Before he could get to the surgery and return with an +antidote the woman was dead. She who had been well at half-past nine +was dead before eleven! + +The police were communicated with, and a constable searched the house. +Turning up the valances of the bed, he found a piece of paper crumpled +up; this was sent to an analyst on the following day. An inquest was +held and a post-mortem directed. + +Horsford at the inquest swore that he had never written to the +deceased or visited her. + +On the evening of Saturday the 8th, after the post-mortem, Mrs. +Hensman and another woman found between the mattress and the bed a +packet of papers. These were also submitted for analysis. One of them +contained 35 grains of strychnine; another had crystals of strychnine +upon it. There was writing on one of the packets, and it was the +handwriting of the prisoner; it said, "Take in a little water; it is +quite harmless. Will come over in a day or two." On another packet was +written: "One dose; take as told," also in the prisoner's handwriting. + +The body had been buried and was exhumed. Three grains of strychnine +were found by the county analyst in such parts of the stomach as were +submitted to him. Dr. Stevenson took other parts to London, and the +conclusion he came to was that at least 10 grains must have been in +the body at the time of death, while 1/2 grain has been known to be +fatal. + +There was a singular circumstance in the defence of this case, one +which I have never heard before or since, and that was a complaint +that the counsel for the prisoner was "twitted" by the Crown because +he had not called _evidence for the defence_. The jury were solemnly +asked to remember that if one jot or tittle of evidence had been put +forward, or a single document put in by him, the prisoner's counsel, +he would _lose the last word on behalf of the prisoner_! Of course, +counsel's last word may be of more value than some evidence; but the +smallest "jot or tittle" of evidence, or any document whatever that +even _tends_ to prove the innocence of the accused, is of more value +than a thousand last words of the most powerful speaker I have ever +listened to. And I would go further and say that evidence in favour of +a prisoner should never be kept back for the sake of the last word. +It is the bounden duty of counsel to produce it, especially where +evidence is so strong that no speech could save the prisoner. Neither +side should keep back evidence in a prisoner's favour. I said to the +jury,-- + +"We are assembled in the presence of God to fulfil one of the most +solemn obligations it is possible to fulfil, and I will to the best of +my ability assist you to arrive at an honest and just conclusion. + +"The law is that if a man deliberately or designedly administers, or +causes to be administered, a fatal poison to procure abortion, whether +the woman be pregnant or not, and she dies of it, the crime is wilful +murder. + +"You have been asked to form a bad opinion of this deceased woman, but +she had brought up her children respectably on her slender means, and +there was no evidence that she was a loose woman. It more than +pained me when I heard the learned counsel--_instructed by the +prisoner_--cross-examine that poor little girl, left an orphan by the +death of the mother, with a view to creating an impression that the +poor dead creature was a person of shameless character. + +"Again, counsel has commented in unkind terms on the deceased woman, +and said the prisoner _had no motive_ in committing this crime on a +woman whom he valued at half a crown. + +"He might not, it is true, care half a crown for her. It is not a +question as to what he valued the woman at; we are not trying that at +all; but it showed there _was_ a motive. + +"I have not admitted a statement which the woman made while in her +dying state, because she may not fully have realized her condition. +Probably you will have no doubt that, by whomsoever this fatal dose +was administered, there is only known to medical science one poison +which will produce the symptoms of this woman's dying agonies. One +thing is surprising at this stage--that immediately after death the +door of the house was not locked, and while the body was upon the +bed a paper of no importance was found, and that afterwards several +relatives went in. The object of the cross-examination was to show +that some evil-disposed person had entered the house and placed things +there _without any motive_. But whoever may have gone into that house, +there was one person who _did not go_--one who, above all others, owed +deceased some respect--and that is the prisoner; and unless you can +wipe out the half-crown letter from your mind, you would have expected +a man on those intimate terms with the poor woman to have gone and +made some inquiries concerning her death. He did not go; he was at the +Falcon Hotel at Huntingdon, and a telegram was sent telling him to +fail not to be at the inquest. + +"At the inquest he told a deliberate lie, for he swore he had never +written to the woman, or sent her anything, or been on familiar terms +with her. He had written to her, and if his letter did not prove +familiar terms, there was no meaning in language. + +"With regard to the prisoner's alleged handwriting on the packets and +papers found under the woman's bed and elsewhere, I must point out to +you that here is one on which is written, 'Take in a little water; it +is quite harmless. Will come over in a day or two.' + +"This was written on a buff paper, which Dr. Stevenson said must have +contained 35 grains of strychnine, sufficient to kill thirty-five +persons, and the direction written was, 'One dose; take as told.' + +"These inscriptions were sworn to by experts as being in the +prisoner's handwriting." + +Here I pointed out the alleged resemblances in the characters of the +letters, so that the jury might judge if the prisoner wrote them. + +"If the prisoner wrote the words 'take as told,' you must ask +yourselves the meaning of it. + +"Also, you will ask whether it was not a little strange that the death +occurred on that very Friday night when he said he would go over and +see her. Again, the word 'harmless' is of the gravest character, +seeing that within the folds of that paper were 35 grains of a deadly +powder, which even for rat-powder would be mixed with something else. + +"Again, as to motive, upon which so much stress has been laid by the +defendant's counsel. If the prisoner had no motive, who else had? Is +there a human being on earth who had ill-will towards her, or anything +to gain by her death? The learned counsel carefully avoided suggesting +any one; nor could he suggest that any one in the neighbourhood wrote +the same handwriting as the prisoner. I will dismiss the theory that +some one had imitated the prisoner's writing in order to do him an +injury, and ask if you can see any reason for any one else giving the +woman the powder. + +"There is one fact beyond all dispute: in December the prisoner bought +a shilling's worth of strychnine. He said he bought it for rats, but +no one on the farm had been called to prove it. What has been done +with the rest of the powder? + +"Where was he on that Friday? His counsel said he could not prove an +_alibi_. But if he was at Spaldwick after saying he was going to St. +Neots to see this poor woman, he _could_ have proved it. + +"The prisoner's counsel said that the accused did not speak of the +woman's murder after the inquest, and said it was not necessary; he +did not understand the 'familiar jargon' of the Law Courts. + +"The familiar jargon of the Law Courts, gentlemen, is not quite the +phrase to use with reference to our judicial proceedings. The Law +Courts are the bulwark of our liberties, our life, and our property. +Our welfare would be jeopardized, indeed, if you dismiss what takes +place in them as 'familiar jargon.' + +"The question is whether the charge has been so reasonably brought +home to the prisoner as to lead you in your consciences to believe +that he is guilty. If so, it is your duty to God, your duty to +society, and your duty to yourselves, to say so." + +Such was the summing up that was arraigned by the humanitarian +partisans of the prisoner. If a Judge may not deal with the fallacies +of a defence by placing before the jury the true trend of the +evidence, what other business has he on the Bench? And it was for thus +clearly defining the issue that some one suggested a petition for a +reprieve, on the ground that the evidence was _purely circumstantial_, +and that my "summing up was against _the weight of the evidence_." +Truly a strange thing that circumstances by themselves shall have no +weight. + +But there was another strange incident in this remarkable trial: _the +jury thanked me for the pains I had taken in the case_. I told them I +looked for no thanks, but was grateful, nevertheless. + +I have learnt that the jury, on retiring, deposited every one on a +slip of paper the word "Guilty" without any previous consultation--a +sufficient indication of their opinion of the _weight_ of the +evidence. + +This was the last case of any importance which I tried on circuit, and +if any trial could show the value of circumstantial evidence, it was +this one. It left the identity of the prisoner and the conclusion of +fact demonstrable almost to mathematical certainty. + +A supposed eye-witness might have said: "I saw him write the paper, +and I saw him administer the poison." It would not have added to the +weight of the evidence. The witness might have lied. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +A NIGHT AT NOTTINGHAM. + + +Ever since the establishment of itinerant justices, now considerably +over seven hundred years, going circuit has been an interesting and +important ceremony, attended with great pomp and circumstance. I had +intended to give a sketch of my own drawing of this great function, +but an esteemed friend, who is a lover of the picturesque, has sent me +an interesting description of one of my own itineraries, and I insert +it with the more pleasure because I could not describe things from +his point of view, and even if I could, might lay myself open to the +charge of being egotistical. + +"When Sir Henry Hawkins stepped into the train with his marshal, he +felt all the exuberance which a Judge usually experiences on going +circuit. + +"Going circuit is a pleasant diversion, and may be a delightful +holiday when the weather is fine and cases few. I am not speaking of +those northern towns where hard labour is the portion of the judicial +personage from the time he opens the Commission to the moment when he +turns his back upon his prison-house, but of rural Assize towns like +Warwick and Bedford or Oakham, where the Judge takes his white gloves, +smiles at the grand jury, congratulates them on the state of the +calendar, and goes away to some nobleman's seat until such time as he +is due to open the Commission in some other circuit paradise where +crime does not enter. + +"At Lincoln station on this present occasion there is a goodly crowd +outside and in, some well dressed and some slatternly, some bareheaded +out of respect to the Judge, and others of necessity, but all with a +look of profoundest awe. + +"But as they wait the arrival of the train, all hearts are beating to +see the Judge. Alas for some of them! they will see him too soon and +too closely. + +"Most conspicuous is the fat and dignified coachman in a powdered wig +and tam-o'-shanter cap, and the footman with the important calves. +Clustered along the platform, and pushing their noses between the +palisade fencing, seem gathered together all the little boys of +Lincoln--that is to say, those who do not live at the top of Steep +Hill; for on that sacred eminence, the Mount Zion of Lincolnshire, are +the _cloisters_ and the closes, where are situated the residences of +Canons, Archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical divinities. The top of +this mountain holds no communion with the bottom. + +"On the platform--for the signal has been given that the judicial +train is entering the station--ranged in due order are the Sheriff of +Lincoln, in full robes, his chaplain in full canonicals, and a +great many other worthy dignities, which want of space prevents my +mentioning in detail. All are bareheaded, all motionless save those +bosoms which heave with the excitement of the occasion. + +"Although the chaplain and the Sheriff hold their hats in their hands, +it is understood in a well-bred town like Lincoln there will be no +cheers, only a deep, respectful silence. + +"And so, amid a hush of expectation and a wondering as to whether it's +_Orkins_, some saying one thing and some another, the train draws +slowly in; a respectful porter, selected for the occasion, opens the +door, and out leaps--Jack. + +"Then bursts from the crowd a general murmur. 'There 'e is! See 'im, +Bill!' cries one. 'There's Orkins! See 'im? There 'e is; that's Orkins +behind that there long black devil!' + +"He was wrong about the black devil, for it was the Sheriff's +Chaplain, who will preach the Assize Sermon next Sunday in the +Cathedral." + +[A somewhat humorous scene once took place at Nottingham. An +indefatigable worker on circuit, Sir Henry seemed to have the +constitution of the Wandering Jew and the energy of radium. No doubt +he had much more patience than was necessary, for it kept him sitting +till the small hours of the morning, and jurors-in-waiting and +attendants were asleep in all directions. He was the only one wide +awake in court. + +Even javelin-men fell asleep with their spears in their hands; the +marshal dozed in his chair, ushers leaned against the pillars which +supported the gallery, while witnesses rubbed their eyes and yawned as +they gave their evidence. + +A case of trifling importance was proceeding with as steady a pace as +though an empire's fate, instead of a butcher's honour, were involved. +One butcher had slandered another butcher. + +The art of advocacy was being exercised between an Irishman and a +Scotchman, which made the English language quite a hotch-potch of +equivocal words and a babel of sounds. + +The slander was one that seemed to shake the very foundations of +butcherdom throughout the world--namely, an insinuation that the +plaintiff had sold Australian mutton for Scotch beef; on the face of +it an extraordinary allegation, although it had to find its way for +the interpretation of a jury as to its meaning. Amidst this costly +international wrangle the Judge kept his temper, occasionally cheering +the combatants by saying in an interrogative tone, "Yes?" and in the +meanwhile writing the following on a slip of paper which he handed to +a friend:-- + +"GREAT PRIZE COMPETITION FOR PATIENCE. + + Hawkins First prize. + Job Honourable mention." + +Much earlier in the evening an application had been made by way of +finding out how far the Judge "would go," as the man tests the wheels +of an express. Every wheel had a good ring. He was prepared for a long +run. Every case was to be struck out if the parties were not there. + +After a while a feeling of compunction seemed to come over him. + +"One moment," said he, after the case in hand had proceeded for an +hour or so. "This case seems as if it will occupy some time; it is the +last but three of the common jury cases, and--I mean to say--if the +gentlemen of the special jury like to go till--seven o'clock this +evening, they may do so, or they may amuse themselves by sitting in +court listening to this case." + +There was a shuffling of feet and a murmur like that of bees. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "do whatever will be most agreeable to +yourselves. I only wish to consider your comfort and convenience." + +"A damned pretty convenience," said a special juryman, "to be kept +here all night!" + +"Return punctually at seven, gentlemen, please; you are released till +then." + +Any person who knows Nottingham and has to spend in that city two +weary hours, between 5 o'clock and 7 p.m., wandering up and down that +vast market-place, will understand the state of mind to which those +special jurymen were reduced when they indulged in audible curses. + +There was, however, an element in this condition of things which his +lordship had not taken into consideration, and that was the _Bar_. + +Several members were unnecessarily detained by this order of the +court. Their mess was at the George Hotel; at seven they must be in +court or within its precincts; at seven they dined. They chose the +precincts, and sending for their butler, ordered the mess to be +brought to the vacant Judge's room, the second Judge having gone away. + +At seven the mess was provided, and those who were not engaged in +court sat down with a good appetite and a feeling of delightful +exultation. + +Meanwhile his lordship proceeded with his work, while the temperature +was 84°. Juries wiped their faces, and javelin-men leaned on their +spears. + +Now and then the sounds of revelry broke upon the ear as a door was +opened. + +At ten his lordship rose for a few moments, and on proceeding along +the corridor towards his room for his cup of tea, several champagne +bottles stood boldly in line before his eyes. He also saw two pairs +of legs adorned with yellow stockings--legs of the Sheriff's footmen +waiting to attend his lordship's carriage some hours hence. + +The scene recalled the scenes of other days, and the old times of the +Home Circuit came back. Should he adjourn and join the mess? No, no; +he must not give way. He had his tea, and went back to court. He +was not very well pleased with the cross-examination of the Irish +advocate. + +"Do you want the witness to contradict what he has said in your +favour, Mr.----?" + +"No, my lord." + +"Why do you cross-examine, then?" + +Now the catch of an old circuit song was heard. + +"Call your next witness, Mr. Jones. Why was not this case tried in the +County Court?" + +(Sounds of revelry from the Bar mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut!" + +"May the witnesses go in the third case after this, my lord?" + +"I don't know how long this case will last. I am here to do the work +of--" + +("_Jolly good fellow_!" from the mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut!" + +"What is your case, Mr.----?" + +"It's slander, my lord--one butcher calling another a rogue; similar +to the present case." + +"Does he justify?" + +"Oh no, my lord." It was now on the stroke of twelve. + +"I don't know at what time your lordship proposes to rise." + +"Renew your application by-and-by." + +("_We won't go home till morning_!" from the mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut! How many more witnesses have you got, Mr. +Williams?" + +Mr. Williams, counting: "About--ten--eleven--" + +"And you, Mr. Jones?" + +"About the same number, my lord." + +It was twenty minutes to one. + +"I shall not sit any longer to oblige any one," said Sir Henry, +closing his book with a bang. + +The noise woke the usher, and soon after the blare of trumpets +announced that the court had risen, as some wag said, until the day +after yesterday.] + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +HOW I MET AN INCORRIGIBLE PUNSTER. + + +As the Midland Circuit was perhaps my favourite, although I liked them +all, there would necessarily be more to interest me there than on any +other, and at our little quiet dinners, for which there was no special +hour (it might be any time between eight o'clock in the evening or +half-past one the next day), there were always pleasant conversations +and amusing stories. With a large circle of acquaintances, I had +learnt many things, sometimes to interest and sometimes to instruct. +Although I never sat down to open a school of instruction, a man +should not despise the humblest teaching, or he may be deficient in +many things he should have a knowledge of. + +There was once an old fox-hunting squire whose ambition was to be +known as a punster. There never was a more good-natured man or a more +genial host, and he would tell you of as many tremendous runs he had +had as Herne the hunter. After-dinner runs are always fine. + +The Squire loved to hunt foxes and make puns. + +We were sitting on a five-barred gate one evening in his paddocks, +and while I was admiring the yearlings, which were of great beauty, I +suddenly saw looking over his left shoulder the most beautiful head of +a thoroughbred I ever beheld, with her nose quite close to his ear. + +"Halloa, my beauty!" said he. "What, _Saltfish_, let me see if I've a +bit of sugar, eh, _Saltfish_?--sugar--is it?" + +His hand dived into the capacious pocket of his shooting-coat and +brought out a piece of sugar, which he gave to the mare, and then +affectionately rubbed her nose. + +"There, _Saltfish_--there you are; and now show us your heels." + +I knew by his mentioning the mare's name so often that there was a pun +in it, so I waited without putting any question. After a while he said +(for he could contain his joke no longer),-- + +"Judge, do you know why I call her _Saltfish_?" + +"Not the least idea," said I. + +"Ha!" he explained, with a prodigious stare that almost shot his blue +globular eyes out of his head: "because she is such a capital mare for +a _fast day_! Ha, ha!" + +Suddenly he stopped laughing from disappointment at my not seeing the +joke. He repeated it--"fast day, fast day"--then _glared at me_, and +his underlip fell. At last the old man tossed his head, and whipped +his boot with his crop. I have no doubt I deprived that man of a great +deal of happiness; for if anything is disappointing to a punster, it +is not seeing his joke. He had not done with me yet, however, and +before abandoning me as an incorrigible lunatic, asked if I would like +to see Naples. + +"Naples! By all means, but not at this time of year." + +"Oh, I don't mean the town--no, no; but if you don't mind a little +mud, I'll show you Naples. Come along this lane." + +"Watercourse, you mean. I don't mind a little mud," said I; "it washes +off, whoever throws it"--and I looked to see what he thought of that, +knowing he would tell it at dinner. + +"Good!" said he; "devilish good! Wash off, no matter who throws +it--devilish good!" + +Down we came off the gate, and through the mud we went, he leading +with a fat chuckle. + +"You don't see the joke, Hawkins--you don't see the joke about that +fast day;" and he gave me another look with his great blue eyes. + +I didn't know it was a joke; I thought it was the mare's name, and I +heard him mutter "Damn!" + +"This is the way," he said angrily. We seemed to travel through an +interminable cesspool, but at last reached the open, and coming to +another gate, he extended his arms on it, after the manner of a +squire, and said,-- + +"There, there's _Naples_. Isn't she lovely?" + +"Where?" I asked. + +"There; and a prettier mare you never saw. Look at her!" + +"She's a beauty--a real beauty!" I exclaimed. + +He breathed rather short, and I felt easy. His manner, especially the +distending of his cheeks, showed me that he was about to bring forth +something--a pun of some sort. + +"Do you know," he asked, with another turn of his eyes, "_why_ I call +her _Naples_?" + +"No, I haven't the faintest idea. Naples? no." + +"Well," he said, "I've puzzled a good many. I may say nobody has ever +guessed it. I call that mare _Naples_ because she's such a beautiful +_bay_." + +I was glad I was not sitting on the gate, for I might have fallen +and broken my neck. As I felt his eyes staring at me I preserved a +dignified composure, and had the satisfaction of hearing him mutter +again, "Damn!" + +"This is our way," said he. + +I have no doubt he thought me the dullest fool he ever came near. + +Our adventures were not ended. We went on over meadow and stile until +we came to "The Park," a tract of land of great beauty and with trees +of superb growth. He was sullen and moody, like one whose nerves had +failed him when a covey rose. + +I saw it coming--his last expiring effort. In the distance was a +beautiful black mare, such as might have carried Dick Turpin from +London to York. He was watching to see if I observed her, but I did +not. + +"Look," he said, in his most coaxing manner, "don't you see that mare +yonder--down there by the spinny?" + +"What," I said, "on the left?" + +"Down there! There--no, a little to the right. Look! There she is." + +"Oh, to be sure, a pretty animal." + +"Pretty! Why, there's no better bred animal in the kingdom. She's by +---- out of ----." + +"She ought to win the Oaks." + +"Come, now, _isn't_ she superb?" + +"A glory. A novelist would call her a _dream_." + +"Ah, I thought you would say so. You know what a horse is." + +"When I _see_ one," I said. "I thought you said this was a mare." + +This is what the Squire thought,-- + +"Well, of all the dull devils I ever met, you are the most utterly +unappreciative!" + +He was at his wits' end, although you must be clever if you can +perceive the wits' end of a punster. + +"That's _Morning Star_," said he. "Now do you know _why_ I call her +_Morning Star_?" + +I answered truthfully I did not. + +"Why," he said, with a merry laugh, "_because she's a roarer_." + +"What a pity!" I exclaimed. "But I don't wonder at it if she has to +carry you and your jokes very far." + +He took it in good part, and we had a pleasant evening at the Hall. +He discharged a good many other puns, which I am glad to say I have +forgotten. But there was a man present who was a good story-teller. +Some I had heard before, but they were none the less welcome, while +one or two I related were as good as new to my host and old Squire +Fullerton, who had once been High Sheriff, and was supposed to know +all about circuit business. He prefaced almost everything he said +with, "When I was High Sheriff," so I asked him innocently enough +how many times he had been High Sheriff, on which my host, being a +quick-witted man, looked at him with a broad grin, while he balanced +the nutcrackers on his forefinger. + +"Well," said Fullerton, "it was in Parke's time." + +"Yes; but which of them?" I asked. "Are you alluding to Sir Alan? They +did not both come together, surely." + +"Now, lookee, Fullerton," said my old friend, tapping the mahogany +with the nutcrackers, as though he was about to say something +remarkably clever; "one of 'em, Jemmy, had a kind of a cast in one of +his eyes--didn't he, Judge?" + +"Yes," said I; "but their names were not spelt alike." + +"No, no!" cried the squire; "I'm coming to that. One eye was a little +troublesome at times, I believe--at least they said so in my time +when _I_ was High Sheriff--and that made him a little ill-tempered +at times. Now, that Judge's name was spelt P-a-r-k-e" (tapping every +letter with his nutcrackers), "so the Bar used to call him '_Parke +with an "e"_;' and what do you think they used to call the other, +whose name was Park?--Come, now, Judge, you can guess that." + +I suppose I shook my head, for he said, "Why, you told me the story +yourself four years ago--ah! it must be five years ago--at this very +table, when old Squire Hawley had laid two thousand on Jannette for +the Leger. 'This is it,' said you; 'they call one of them Parke with +an "e," and the other Park with an "i."'" + +"Very well," I said, after they had done laughing at the way in which +my host had caught me; "now I'll tell you what the Duke of Wellington +said one morning. You recollect his Grace met with an accident and +lost an eye, which was kept in spirits of wine. On asking him how he +was, the Duke answered,-- + +"'Oh, Lord Cairns asked me yesterday the same question; and I said, +"I am rather depressed, but I believe my eye is in pretty good +spirits."'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE TILNEY STREET OUTRAGE--"ARE YOU NOT GOING TO PUT ON THE BLACK CAP, +MY LORD?" + + +One evening, while sitting with some friends in Tilney Street, there +was one of the most tremendous explosions ever heard. It seemed as if +the world was blown up. But as nothing happened, we did not leave the +room, and went on with the conversation. + +It was not until the next day it was ascertained that an attempt had +been made to blow in Reginald Brett's front door, which was a few +houses off, and that it had been perpetrated by some Fenians, whose +friends had been awarded penal servitude for life for a similar +outrage with dynamite. Why their anger was directed against Mr. +Reginald Brett--a most peaceful and excellent man--it was difficult +to say, for he was very kind-hearted, and, above all, the son of the +Master of the Rolls, who never tried prisoners at all, only counsel. + +Having made inquiries the next morning--I don't know of whom, there +were such a number of people in Tilney Street--I was astonished to +hear some one say, "They meant to pay _you_ that visit, Sir Henry." + +"Then _they knocked at the wrong door_," said I. + +The stranger seemed to know me, and I had a little further +conversation with him. It turned out he was a Chancery barrister, and +a friend of Brett's. + +"Why," I asked, "do you think they meant the visit for me?" + +"Well," he answered, "it was." + +"If it was intended for me," I replied, "I can only say they, were +most ungrateful, for I gave their friends all I could." + +"Yes--penal servitude for life." + +"Very well," I added; "if they think they'll frighten me by blowing in +Reginald Brett's front door, they are very much deceived." + +Lord Esher, I believe, always considered that _he_ was the object of +this attack, and as I had no wish to disturb so comforting an idea, +took no further notice, and the Fenians took no further notice of +me. Years after, however, my name was mentioned in Parliament in +connection with this case; nor was my severity called in question. + +There were no more explosions in Tilney Street, but a singular +circumstance occurred, which placed me in a position, if I had desired +it, to deprive Lord Esher of the satisfaction of believing that he was +the object of so much Fenian attention. But if it was a comfort to him +or a source of pride, I did not see why I should take it away. + +A reverend father of the Roman Church told me that a long while ago +a man in confession made a statement which he wished the priest +to communicate to me. It was under the seal of confession, and he +refused, as he was bound to do, to mention a word. The man persisted +in asking him, and he as persistently declined. + +Some considerable time, however, having elapsed, the same man went +to the priest, not to confess, but to repeat his request in ordinary +conversation. This the father could have no objection to, and the +culprit told him that he had undertaken to throw the bomb at the front +door of Number 5, but that through having in the gas-light misread +the figure, he had placed it against that of Number 2. He begged the +priest as a great favour to assure me on his word that the bomb was +certainly intended for me, and not for Brett. + +On this subject the _Kent Leader_ had some interesting remarks on the +anarchists as well as their Judge. + +"Speaking of dynamite," it said, "we have serious cause for alarm in +our free land. The wretches concerned in the abominable outrage of +Tuesday last cannot be too severely dealt with. It is evident that +their intent was against Justice Hawkins, and the fact that Sir Henry +was the presiding Judge at the recent anarchists' trial points the +connection between the outrage and other anarchists.... + +"Justice Hawkins has been spoken of as a harsh Judge. Ever since the +'Penge mystery' trial many have termed him the hanging Judge. We have +sat under him on many eventful occasions, and venture the opinion +that no one who has had equal opportunity would come to any other +conclusion than that he was painstaking and careful to a degree, and +particularly in criminal cases formed one of the most conscientious +Judges on the Bench. Hanging Judge! Why, we have seen the tears +start to his eyes when sentencing a prisoner to death, and, owing to +emotion, only by a masterful effort could his voice be heard. Above +all, he is a just Judge." + +[Many persons were not aware, and thousands are not at the present +time, that when a verdict of "Wilful murder" is pronounced a Judge has +no alternative but to read the prescribed sentence of death. If this +were not so, the situation would be almost intolerable, for who would +not avoid, if possible, deciding that the irrevocable doom of the +prisoner should be delivered? In many cases the feelings of the Judges +would interfere with the course of justice, and murderers would +receive more sympathy than their victims, while fiends would escape to +the danger of society. + +And yet that Judges have sympathy, and that it can be, and is, in +these days properly exercised, the following story will testify. I +give the story as Lord Brampton told it.] + +In a circuit town a poor woman was tried before me for murdering her +baby. The facts were so simple that they can be told in a few words. +Her baby was a week old, and the poor woman, unable to sustain the +load of shame which oppressed her, ran one night into a river, holding +the baby in her arms. She had got into the water deep enough to drown +the baby, while her own life was saved by a boatman. + +The scene was sad enough as she stood under a lamp and looked into the +face of the policeman, clutching her dead child to her breast, and +refusing to part with it. + +At the trial there was no defence to the charge of wilful murder +except _one_, and that I felt it my duty to discountenance. I think +the depositions were handed to a young barrister by my order, and that +being so, I exercised my discretion as to the mode of defence. In +other words, I defended the prisoner myself. + +In order to avoid the sentence that would have followed an acquittal +_on the ground of insanity_, which would have entailed perhaps +lifelong imprisonment, I took upon myself to depart from the usual +course, and ask the jury whether, _without being insane in the +ordinary sense, the woman might not have been at the time of +committing the deed in so excited a state as not to know what she was +doing_. + +I thus avoided the technical form of question sane or insane, and +obtained a verdict of guilty, but that the woman at the time was not +answerable for her conduct, together with a strong recommendation +to mercy. This verdict, if not according to the strictest legal +quibbling, was according to justice. + +I was about to pronounce sentence in accordance with the law, which it +was not possible for me to avoid, however much my mind was inclined to +do so, when the pompous old High Sheriff, all importance and dignity, +said,-- + +"My lord, are you not going to put on the black cap?" + +"No," I answered, "I am not. I do not intend the poor creature to be +hanged, and I am not going to frighten her to death." + +Addressing her by name, I said, "Don't pay any attention to what I am +going to read. No harm will be done to you. I am sure you did not know +in your great trouble and sorrow what you were doing, and I will take +care to represent your case so that nothing will harm you in the way +of punishment." + +I then mumbled over the words of the sentence of death, taking care +that the poor woman did not hear them--much, no doubt, to the chagrin +of the High Sheriff and to the lowering of his high office and +dignity. Nothing so enhances a Sheriff's dignity as the gallows. + +[There was a great deal of unlooked-for appreciation of his merits, +and from quarters where, had he been a hard Judge, one could never +have expected it. + +There was even the observation of the costermonger leaning over his +barrow near the Assize Court when one morning Sir Henry was going in +with little Jack. + +"Gorblime, Jemmy! see 'im? The ole bloke's been poachin' agin. See +what he's got?" + +It was a brace of pheasants, and not going into court with his gun, +but only his dog, it was taken for granted he had been out all night +on an unlawful expedition. + +Some one once asked Sir Henry what was the most wonderful verdict he +ever obtained. + +He answered: "It depends upon circumstances. Do you mean as to value?" + +"And amount." + +"Well, then," he said, "_half a farthing_." + +Some of the company were a little disconcerted. + +"I'll tell you," said the Judge. "There was in our Gracious Majesty's +reign a coinage of _half a farthing_. It was soon discountenanced +as useless, but while it was current as coin of the realm I had the +honour of obtaining a verdict for that amount, and need not say, had +it been paid in _specie_ and preserved, it would in value more than +equal at the present time any verdict the jury might have given in +that case."] + +One of the most remarkable trials in which as a Judge I have presided +was what was known as the Muswell Hill tragedy. It was a brutal, +commonplace affair, and with its sordid details might make a +respectable society novel. I should have liked Sherlock Holmes to +have been in the case, because he would have saved me a great deal of +sensational development, as well as much anxiety and observation. + +Burglars are usually crafty and faithless to one another. They never +act alone--that is, the real professionals--and invariably, while in +danger of being convicted, betray one another. Such, at all events, is +my experience. Each fears the treachery of his companion in guilt, and +endeavours to be first in disclosing it. In the case I am now speaking +of, this experience was never more verified than in the attempt on the +part of these two murderers each to shift the guilt on to the other. + +The ruffians, Milsome and Fowler, resolved to commit a burglary in +the house of an old man who led a lonely life at the suburb known as +Muswell Hill, near Hornsey. + +The sole occupant of the cottage slept in a bedroom on the first +floor. In his room was an iron safe, in which he kept a considerable +sum of money, close by the side of his bed. + +In the dead of night the two robbers found their way into the kitchen, +which was below the bedroom. They made, however, so much noise as to +arouse the sleeper in the room above. The old man rose, and went down +into the kitchen, where he found the two prisoners preparing to search +for whatever property they might carry away. Instantly they fell upon +their victim, threw him on to the floor, and with a tablecloth, +which they found in the room, and which they cut into strips for the +purpose, bound the poor old man hand and foot, and struck him so +violently about the head that he was killed on the spot, where he was +found the following morning. The prisoners failed to obtain the booty +they were in search of, and made off with some trifling plunder, the +only reward for a most cruel murder. They escaped for a time, but were +at last traced by a singular accident--one of the prisoners having +taken a boy's toy lamp on the night of the burglary from his mother's +cottage and left it in the kitchen of the murdered man. The boy +identified one of the prisoners as the man who had been at his +mother's and taken the lamp. + +The men were jointly charged with the murder before me. Each tried +to fix the guilt on the other, knowing--or, at all events, +believing--that he himself would escape the consequences of wilful +murder if he succeeded in hanging his friend. I knew well enough that, +unless it could be proved that _both_ were implicated in the murder, +or if it should be left uncertain which was the man who actually +committed it, or that they both went to the place with the joint +intention of perpetrating it if necessary for their object, they might +both avoid the gallows. I therefore directed my attention closely to +every circumstance in the case, and after a considerable amount of +evidence had been given without much result, so far as implicating +both prisoners in the actual murder was concerned, an accidental +discovery revealed the whole of the facts of the tragedy as plainly as +if I had seen it committed. + +I have said that the tablecover had been _cut_ into strips to +accomplish their purpose; and it was clear that a penknife had been +used, for one was found on the floor. Suddenly my attention was called +to the fact that _two_ penknives, which no one had hitherto noticed, +were produced. They belonged, not to the prisoners, but to the +deceased man, and were usually placed on the shelf in the kitchen. But +it came out in evidence, quite, as it seemed, accidentally, that they +had been taken from that place, and were found on the floor where +the cutting up of the tablecover had been performed, at some little +distance from one another; but each knife _by the side of and not far +from the deceased man_. They were at my wish handed to me; I also +asked for some of the shreds which had bound the dead man. Upon +examination it seemed that these were the knives that had been used to +cut the tablecloth into shreds, and if so, the jury might well assume +that _each_ prisoner had used one of the knives for that purpose, for +one man could not at the same time use two. + +The tablecloth had jagged or hacked edges, which satisfied the jury +that the knives had been used hurriedly, and that each man had been +doing his share of the cutting. It was thus clearly established that +both the men were engaged in the murder and equally guilty, and so the +jury found by their verdict. + +Whilst they were considering, the bigger of the two, a very powerful +man, made a murderous attack upon the other, whom he evidently looked +upon as his betrayer, and tried to kill him in the dock. The struggle +was a fearful one, but the warders at last separated them. + +They were both sentenced to death and hanged. + +[The fact of these men making a noise in entering the house was +strongly against them on a question of intent. Burglars work silently, +and at the least noise decamp, as a rule. In the present case, there +being only one old man to contend against, it was easy to silence him +as they did, and as they doubtless intended, when they went to the +house.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +SEVERAL SCENES. + + +I think I have said that I had a favourite motto, which was, "Never +fret." It has often stood me in good stead and helped me to obey it. +I was once put to it, however, on my way to open the Commission at +Bangor on the Welsh Circuit. The Assizes were to commence on the +following day. It was a very glorious afternoon, and one to make you +wish that no Assize might ever be held again. + +I had engaged to dine with the High Sheriff, who lived three or four +miles away from the town, in a very beautiful part of the country; so +there was everything to make one glad, except the Assizes. Added to +all this pleasurable excitement, the Chester Cup was to be run for in +the meanwhile, and I had many old friends who I knew would be there, +and whom I should have been glad to meet had it been possible. + +The Sheriff had made most elaborate calculations from his Bradshaw and +other sources as to the times of departure and arrival by train. I did +not know what to do, so arranged with the stationmaster at Chester to +shunt my carriage till the afternoon, having no doubt I should be able +to fulfil my engagements easily. + +It so happened, however, that the racing arrangements of the railway +had been completely disturbed by the great crowds of visitors, and the +result was that I did not reach Carnarvon at the proper time, and my +arrival in that place was delayed for nearly an hour. + +Nevertheless, I opened the Commission, and the High Sheriff asked me +if I would allow him to go on to his house to receive his guests, whom +he had invited to meet me, and permit the chaplain to escort me in the +performance of my duties. + +Having dressed in full uniform, I got into the carriage with the +chaplain, who was quite a lively companion, of an enterprising turn of +mind, and desirous of learning something of the world. I could have +taught him a good deal, I have no doubt, had I allowed myself to be +drawn. My friend had no great conversational powers, but was possessed +of an inquiring mind. After we had ridden a little way, to my great +amusement he asked me if I had any favourite _motto_ that I could tell +him, so that he might keep it in his memory. + +"Yes," said I, "I have a very good one," and cheerfully said, "Never +fret." + +This, when I explained it to him, especially with reference to my +business arrangements, seemed to please him very much. It was as good +as saying, "Don't fret because you can't preach two sermons from two +pulpits at the same time." + +He asked if he might write it down in his pocket-book, and I told him +by all means, and hoped he would. + +"Excellent!" he murmured as he wrote it: "Never fret." + +He then asked modestly if I could give him any other pithy saying +which would be worthy of remembrance. + +"Yes," said I, thinking a little, "I recollect one very good thing +which you will do well to remember: Never say anything you think will +be disagreeable to other persons." + +He expressed great admiration for this, as it sounded so original, and +was particularly adapted to the clergy. + +"Oh," said he, "that's in the real spirit of Christianity." + +"Is that so?" I asked, as he wrote it down in his book; and he seemed +to admire it exceedingly after he had written it, even more than the +other. + +Then he said he really did not like to trouble me, but it was the +first time he had had the honour of occupying the position of +Sheriff's chaplain, etc.; but might he trouble me for another motto, +or something that might go as a kind of companion to the others in his +pocket-book? + +This a little puzzled me, but I felt that he took me now for a sage, +and that my reputation as such was at stake. I had nothing in stock, +but wondered if it would be possible to make one for him while he +waited. + +"Yes," said I, "with the greatest displeasure: Never do anything which +you feel will be disagreeable to yourself." + +"My lord!" he cried in the greatest glee, "that is by far the best of +all; that must go down in my book, it is so practical, and of everyday +use." + +I was, of course, equally delighted to afford so young a man so much +instruction, and thought what a thing it is to be young. However, here +was an opportunity not to be lost of showing him how to put to the +practical test of experience two at least, if not all three, of the +little aphorisms, and I said so. + +"I should be delighted, my lord, to put your advice into practice at +the earliest opportunity," he answered. + +"That will be on Sunday," said I, "at twelve o'clock. Don't preach a +long sermon!" + +In due time we arrived at the Sheriff's house, and there found all the +guests assembled and waiting to meet me. I was quite quick enough to +perceive at a glance that they had been planning some scheme to entrap +me--at all events, to cause me embarrassment. The ladies were in it, +for they all smiled, and said as plainly by their looks as possible, +"We shall have you nicely, Judge, depend upon it, by-and-by." + +The Sheriff was the chief spokesman. No sooner had we sat down to +table than he addressed me in a most unaffected manner, as if the +question were quite in the ordinary course, and had not been planned. +I answered it in the same spirit. + +"My lord, could you kindly tell us which horse has won the Cup?" +evidently thinking that I had been to the course. + +There was a dead silence at this crucial question--a silence that +you could feel was the result of a deep-laid conspiracy--and all the +ladies smiled. + +Fortunately I was not caught; nor was I even taken aback; my presence +of mind did not desert me in this my hour of need; and I said, in the +most natural tone I could assume,-- + +"Yes, I was sure that would be the first question you would ask me +when I had the pleasure of meeting this brilliant company, as you knew +I must pass through Chester Station; so I popped my head out of the +window and asked the porter which horse had won. He told me the Judge +had won by a length, Chaplain was a good second, and Sheriff a bad +third." + +The squire took his defeat like a man. + +I was reminded during the evening of a singular case of bigamy--a +double bigamy--that came before me at Derby, in which the simple story +was that an unfortunate couple had got married twenty years before the +time I speak of, and that they had the good luck to find out they did +not care for one another the week after they were married. It would +have been luckier if they had found it out a week before instead of +a week after; but so it was, and in the circumstances they did the +wisest thing, probably, that they could. They separated, and never met +again until they met in the dock before me--a trysting-place not of +their own choosing, and more strange than a novelist would dream of. + +But there they were, and this was the story of their lives:-- + +The man, after the separation, lived for some time single, then formed +a companionship, and, as he afterwards heard that his wife had got +married to some one else, thought he would follow her example. + +Now, if a Judge punished immorality, here was something to punish; but +the law leaves that to the ecclesiastical or some other jurisdiction. +The Judge has but to deal with the breach of the law, and to punish in +accordance with the requirements of the injury to society--not even to +the injury of the individual. + +I made inquiries of the police and others, as the prisoners had +pleaded guilty, and found that all the parties--the four persons--had +been living respectable and hard-working lives. There was no fault +whatever to be found with their conduct. They were respected by all +who knew them. + +I then asked how it was found out at last that these people, living +quietly and happily, had been previously married. + +"O my lord," said a policeman, "there was a hinquest on a babby, which +was the female prisoner's babby and what had died. Then it come out +afore Mr. Coroner, my lord, and he ordered the woman into custody, and +then the man was took." + +I thought they had had punishment enough for their offence, and gave +them no imprisonment, but ordered them to be released on their own +recognizances, and to come up for judgment if called upon. + +Now came _my_ sentence. The clergyman of the parish in which this +terrible crime had been discovered evidently felt that he had been +living in the utmost danger for years. Here these people came to his +church, and for aught he knew prayed for forgiveness under the very +roof where he himself worshipped. + +He said I had done a fine thing to encourage sin and immorality, and +what could come of humanity if Judges would not punish? + +He denounced me, I afterwards learned, in his pulpit in the severest +terms, although I did not hear that he used the same vituperative +language towards the poor creatures I had so far absolved. Luckily I +was not attending the reverend gentleman's ministration, but he seemed +to think the greatest crime I had committed was disallowing the costs +of the prosecution. That was a direct _incentive to bigamy_, although +in what respect I never learned. + +It sometimes suggested to my mind this question,-- + +What would this minister of the gospel have said to the Divine Master +when the woman caught "in the very act" was before Him, and He said, +in words never to be forgotten till men and women are no more, +"Neither do I condemn thee"? + +I thought those who loved a prosecution of this kind--whoever it may +have been--_ought_ to pay for the luxury, and so I condemned _them_ in +the costs. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +DR. LAMSON[A]--A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY--A WILL CASE. + +[Footnote A: In this and one or two other cases I am pleased to +acknowledge my thanks to my esteemed friend Mr. Charles W. Mathews, +the distinguished advocate, for refreshing my memory with the +incidents.] + + +One of the most diabolical cases which came before me while a Judge +was one which, although it occupied several days, can be told in +the course of a few minutes. I mention it, moreover, not so much on +account of its inhuman features as the fact that, in my opinion, Dr. +Lamson led the prosecutors--that is, the Government solicitors--into a +theory which was calculated by that cunning murderer to save him from +a conviction, and it nearly did so. + +The story is this:--There was in the year 1873 a family of five +children, one of whom died that year and another in 1879, leaving +two daughters and a poor cripple boy of eighteen. He was partially +paralyzed, and had a malformation of the spine, so that he was +an object of great commiseration. He was of a kind and cheerful +disposition, and, excepting his spinal affliction, in good health. He +seems to have been loved by everybody. His playmates wheeled him about +in his chair so that he might enjoy their pastimes, and even carried +him up and down stairs. One of this boy's sisters married a Mr. +Chapman; the other married a man who was a doctor, or passed as one, +of the name of Lamson. He was a man of idle habits, luxurious tastes, +and a wicked heart. He was in debt, had fraudulently drawn cheques +when he had nothing at the bank to meet them, and was so reduced +to poverty that he had pawned his watch and his case of surgical +instruments. + +By the death of the brother in 1879, the two sisters received each +a sum of £800. This boy, Percy, received the like amount, and if he +should live to come of age would have a further sum of £3,000; but if +he died before that period, one-half would go to Mrs. Chapman and the +other half to Mrs. Lamson, the doctor's wife. + +Lamson had bought a medical practice at Bournemouth in 1880, but very +soon after writs and executions were issued against him. + +For three years before Percy's death he had been at school at Blenheim +House, Wimbledon. + +It appeared from his statement while dying that he felt just "the same +as I did once before, when I was at Shanklin with my brother-in-law," +the doctor, "after he had given me a quinine pill." "My throat is +burning, and my skin feels all drawn up." This pill, however, did not +kill him, but it showed, as subsequent events proved, the murderous +design of Dr. Lamson. + +On December 3 the boy, being still at school and in good health, was +amusing himself with his schoolfellows when his brother-in-law, the +prisoner, called. Percy was taken into the room to see him. "Well, +Percy, old boy," said the doctor, "how fat you are looking!" The +doctor sat down, and Percy was seated near him. The visitor then took +out of a little bag a Dundee cake and some sweets, and cut a small +slice of the cake with his penknife. About fifteen minutes afterwards +he said to Mr. Bedbury, the master, "I did not forget you and your +boys: these capsules will be nice for them to take nauseous medicines +in;" and he took several boxes of capsules from the bag and placed +them on the table. One box he pushed towards Mr. Bedbury, asking him +to try them. + +No one had seen Lamson take a capsule out of the box, but he was seen +to fill one with sugar and give it to the boy, saying, "Here, Percy, +you are a swell pill-taker." Within five minutes after that the doctor +excused himself for going so soon, saying if he did not he would lose +his train. + +Not long after his departure--that is, between eight and nine--the boy +was taken ill and put into bed with all the violent symptoms which +are invariably produced by that most deadly of vegetable poisons, +aconitine, and he died at twenty minutes past eleven the same night. + +Aconitine was found in the stomach; aconitine had been purchased by +the doctor before the boy's death, and being well and having been +well, the brother-in-law gave him the last thing he swallowed before +the dreadful symptoms of the poison betrayed its presence. At that +time no chemical test could be applied to aconitine, any more than it +could to strychnine in the time of Palmer. But its symptoms were, in +the one case as well as in the other, unmistakable, and such as no +other cause of illness would produce. + +Two pills were found in the boy's play-box, one of which was said to +contain aconitine. + +Such was the simple case which occupied six days to try. The jury were +not long in coming to a conclusion, and returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty." + +My awful duty was soon concluded. I told the prisoner the law +compelled me to pass upon him the sentence of death; but gave him, +both by voice and manner, to understand that in this world there could +be no hope for such a criminal. I said, as I thought it right to say, +that it was no part of my duty to admonish him as to how he was to +meet the dread doom that awaited him, but nevertheless I entreated +him to seek for pardon of his great sin from the Almighty. It was my +opinion, and I believe that of the counsel for the defence, that, +although so much stress was laid upon the _capsule_ and the +administration of the poison by that means, it was not so +administered, but that the capsule was an artifice, designed to +hoodwink the doctors and Treasury solicitors. + +To have poisoned the boy in such a manner would have been a clumsy +device for so keen and artful a criminal as Lamson; and I knew it +was conveyed in another manner. It should be stated that in Lamson's +pocket-book were found memoranda as to the symptoms and effect of +aconitine, and as to there being no test for its discovery. Lamson +therefore had made the poisoning of this boy a careful and particular +study. He was not such a clumsy operator as to administer it in the +way suggested. The openness of that proceeding was to blind the eyes +of detectives and lawyers alike; the aconitine was conveyed to the +lad's stomach _by means of a raisin in the piece of Dundee cake which +Lamson cut with his penknife and handed to him_. He knew, of course, +the part of the cake where it was. + +My attention was directed to the artifice employed by Lamson, by the +shallowness of the stratagem, and by the one circumstance that almost +escaped notice--namely, the Dundee cake and the curious desire of the +man to offer the boy a piece in so unusual a manner. So eager was he +to give him a taste that he must needs cut it with his _penknife_. +I was sure, and am sure now, although there is no evidence but that +which common sense, acting on circumstances, suggested, that the +aconitine was conveyed to the deceased by means of the piece of cake +which Lamson gave him, and being carefully placed in the interior of +the raisin, would not operate until the skin had had time to digest, +and he the opportunity of getting on his journey to Paris, whither +he was bound that night, to await, no doubt, the news of the boy's +illness and death. + +If the poison had been conveyed in the capsule, its operation would +have been almost immediate, and so would the detection of the +aconitine. As I have said, the contrivance would have been too clumsy +for so crafty a mind. A detective would not expect to find the secret +design so foolishly exposed any more than a spectator would expect to +see the actual trick of a conjurer in the manner of its performance. + +I was not able to bring the artifice before the jury; the Crown +had not discovered it, and Lamson's deep-laid scheme was nearly +successful. His plan, of course, was to lead the prosecution to +maintain that he gave the poison in the capsule, and then to compel +them to show that there was no evidence of it. The jury were satisfied +that the boy was poisoned by Lamson, and little troubled themselves +about the way in which it was done. + +A singular case of mistaken identity came under my notice during the +trial of a serious charge of wounding with intent to do grievous +bodily harm. _Five_ men were charged, and the evidence showed that a +most brutal mutilation of a gamekeeper's hand had been inflicted. The +men were notorious poachers, and were engaged in a poaching expedition +when the crime was committed. One of the accused was a young man, +scarcely more than a youth, but I had no doubt that he was the +cleverest of the gang. The men were convicted, but this young man +vehemently protested his innocence, and declared that he was not with +the gang that night. His manner impressed me so much that I began to +doubt whether some mistake had not been made. The injured keeper, +however, whose honesty I had no reason to doubt, declared that this +youth was really the man who knelt on his breast and inflicted the +grievous injury to his hand by nearly severing the thumb. He swore +that he had every opportunity of seeing him while he was committing +the deed, as his face was close to his own, and _their eyes met_. + +Moreover, the young man's cap was found _close by the spot where the +assault took place_. About this there was no dispute and could be no +mistake, for the prisoner confessed that the cap was his, adding, +however, that he _had lent it on that night to one of the other +prisoners_. The youth vehemently protested his innocence after the +verdict was given. + +So far as he was concerned I was _not_ satisfied with the conviction. +"Is it possible," I asked myself, "that there can have been a +mistake?" I did not think that in the excitement of such a moment, and +during so fearful a struggle with his antagonist, with their faces _so +close together_ that they stared into each other's eyes, there was +such an opportunity of seeing the youth's face as to make it clear +beyond any doubt that he was the man who committed the crime. The +jury, I thought, had judged too hastily from appearances--a mistake +always to be guarded against. + +I invited the prosecuting counsel to come to my room, and asked him, +"Are you satisfied with that verdict so far as the _youngest prisoner_ +is concerned?" + +"Yes," he said; "the jury found him 'Guilty,' and I think the evidence +was enough to justify the verdict." + +"I _do not_," I said, "and shall try him again on another indictment." +There was another involving the same evidence. + +I considered the matter very carefully during the night, and weighed +every particle of evidence with every probability, and the more I +thought of it the more convinced I was that injustice had been done. + +First of all, to prevent the men who I was convinced were rightly +convicted from entertaining any doubt about the result of their +conviction, I sentenced them to penal servitude. + +I then undertook to watch the case on behalf of the young man myself, +and did not, as I might have done, assign him counsel. + +The prisoner was put up for trial, and the second inquiry commenced. +It had struck me during the night that there was a point in the case +which had been taken for granted by the _counsel on both sides_, and +that that point was _the_ one on which the verdict had gone wrong. As +I have said, I did not doubt the honest belief of the keeper, but I +doubted, and, in fact, disbelieved altogether in, the power of any man +to identify the face of another when their eyes were close together, +as he had no ordinary but a distorted view of the features. In order +to test my theory on this matter, I took the real point in the case, +as it afterwards turned out to be. It was this: _Five men_ were taken +_for granted_ to have been in the gang and in the field on that +occasion. The difficulty was to prove that there were only _four_, and +then to show that the young man was not one of the four. These two +difficulties lay before me, but I resolved to test them to the utmost +of my ability. The Crown was against me and the Treasury counsel. + +I knew pretty well where to begin--which is a great point, I think, +in advocacy--and began in the right place. I must repeat that the +prisoner boldly asserted, when the evidence was given as to the +finding of his cap close to the spot where the outrage was committed, +that it _was_ his cap, but that he had not worn it on that night, +having lent it to one of the other men, whom he then named. This was, +to my mind, a very important point in this second trial, and I made +a note of it to assist me at a later period of the case. If this was +true, the strong corroboration of the keeper's evidence of identity +was gone. Indeed, it went a good deal further in its value than that, +for it may have been the finding of the prisoner's cap that induced +the belief that the man whose face he saw was the prisoner's! + +I asked the accused if he would like the other men called to prove +his statements, warning him at the same time that it was upon his own +evidence that they had been arrested, and pointing out the risk he ran +from their ill-will. + +"My lord," said he, "they will owe me no ill-will, and they will not +deny what I say. It's true; I'm one of 'em, and I know they won't deny +it." + +Without discarding this evidence I let the case proceed. I asked the +policeman when he came into the witness-box if he examined carefully +the footprints at the gate where the men entered. He said he had, +and was _quite positive_ that there were the footprints of _four men +only_, and further, that these prints corresponded with the shoes +of the four men who had been sentenced, and _not_ with those of the +prisoner. + +It shows how fatal it may be in Judge, counsel, or jury to take +anything for granted in a criminal charge. It had been taken for +granted at the former trial that _five_ men had entered the field, and +how the counsel for the defence could have done so I am at a loss to +conceive. It was further ascertained that the same number and the +_same footprints_ marked the steps of those coming _out_ of the field. +It went even further, for it was proved that _no footprints of a fifth +man were anywhere visible on any other part of the field_, although +the most careful search had been made. + +If this was established, as I think it was beyond all controversy, +it clearly proved that only _four men_ were in the field when the +injuries were inflicted. But it might, nevertheless, be that the young +man identified was one of the four. Whether he was or not was now the +question at issue; it was reduced to that one point. To disprove this +the prisoner said he would like the men to be called. I cautioned him +again as to the danger of the course he proposed, feeling that he was +pretty safe as it was in the hands of the jury. They could hardly +convict under my ruling in the circumstances. + +"No, my lord," he said; "I am _sure they will speak the truth about +it_. They will not swear falsely against me to save themselves." + +The man who was alleged to have borrowed the cap was then brought up, +and I asked him if it was true that he wore the prisoner's cap on the +night of the outrage. He said, "It is true, my lord; I borrowed it." + +"Then are you the man who inflicted the injury on the keeper?" + +His answer was, "Unhappily, my lord, I am, and I am heartily sorry for +it." + +When asked, "Was this young man with you that night?" + +"No, my lord," was the answer. + +The jury at once said they would not trouble me to sum up the case; +they were perfectly satisfied that the prisoner was not guilty, and +that what he said was true--that he was not in the field that night. +They accordingly acquitted him, to my perfect satisfaction. + +Of course, I instantly wrote to the Home Secretary, Mr. H. Matthews +(now Viscount Llandaff), who at once procured a free pardon on the +former conviction, and the prisoner was restored to liberty. + +This case strikingly points to the imperative demand of justice that +every case shall be investigated in its minutest detail. The broad +features are not by any means sufficient to fix guilt on any one +accused, and it is in such cases that circumstantial evidence is often +brought in question, while, indeed, the _real_ circumstances are too +often not brought to light. Circumstantial evidence can seldom fail if +the real circumstances are brought out. Nobody had thought of raising +a doubt as to there being _five_ persons in the field. + +Upon such small points the great issue of a case often depends. + +Another curious case came before me on the Western Circuit. A +solicitor was charged with forging the will of a lady, which devised +to him a considerable amount of her property; but as the case +proceeded it became clear to me that the will was signed after +the lady's death, and then with a dry pen held in the hand of the +deceased, by the accused himself whilst he guided it over a signature +which he had craftily forged. A woman was present when this was done, +and as she had attested the execution of the will, she was a necessary +witness for the prisoner, and in examination-in-chief she was very +clear indeed that it was by the _hand of the deceased_ that the will +was signed, and that she herself had seen the deceased sign it. +Suspicion only existed as to what the real facts were until this woman +went into the box, and then a scene, highly dramatic, occurred in the +course of her cross-examination by Mr. Charles Mathews, who held the +brief for the prosecution. + +The woman positively swore that she saw the testatrix sign the will +_with her own hand_, and no amount of the rough-and-ready, inartistic, +and disingenuous "Will you swear this?" and "Are you prepared to swear +that?" would have been of any avail. She _had_ sworn it, and was +prepared to swear it, in her own way, any number of times that any +counsel might desire. + +The only mode of dealing with her was adopted. She was asked,-- + +"Where was the will signed?" + +"On the bed." + +"Was any one near?" + +"Yes, the prisoner." + +"How near?" + +"Quite close." + +"So that he could hand the ink if necessary?" + +"Oh yes." + +"And the pen?" + +"Oh yes." + +"_Did he hand the pen_?" + +"He did." + +"_And the ink_?" + +"Yes." + +"There was no one else to do so except you?" + +"No." + +"Did he put the pen into her hand?" + +"Yes." + +"And assist her while she signed the will?" + +"Yes." + +"How did he assist her?" + +"_By raising her in the bed and supporting her when he had raised +her_." + +"Did he guide her hand?" + +"No." + +"Did he touch her hand at all?" + +"_I think he did just touch her hand_." + +"When he did touch her hand _was she dead_?" + +At this last question the woman turned terribly pale, was seen to +falter, and fell in a swoon on the ground, and so _revealed the truth_ +which she had come to _deny_. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +MR.J.L. TOOLE ON THE BENCH. + + +Sir Henry Hawkins was sitting at Derby Assizes in the Criminal Court, +which, as usual in country towns, was crowded so that you could +scarcely breathe, while the air you had to breathe was like that of a +pestilence. There was, however, a little space left behind the dock +which admitted of the passage of one man at a time. + +Windows and doors were all securely closed, so as to prevent draught, +for nothing is so bad as draught when you are hot, and nothing makes +you so hot as being stived by hundreds in a narrow space without +draught. + +He happened to look up into the faces of this shining but by no means +brilliant assembly, when what should he observe peeping over the +shoulders of two buxom factory women with blue kerchiefs but the _head +of J.L. Toole_! At least, it looked like Mr. Toole's head; but how it +came there it was impossible to say. It was a delight anywhere, but it +seemed now out of place. + +The marshal asked the Sheriff, "Isn't that Toole?" + +The answer was, "It looks like him." + +We knew he was in the town, and that there was to be a bespeak night, +when her Majesty's Judges and the Midland Circuit would honour, etc. +Derby is not behind other towns in this respect. + +Presently the Judge's eyes went in the direction of the object which +excited so much curiosity, and, like every one else, he was interested +in the appearance of the great comedian, although at that moment he +was not acting a part, but enduring a situation. + +In the afternoon the actor was on the Bench sitting next to the +marshal, and assuming an air of great gravity, which would have +become a Judge of the greatest dignity. There was never the faintest +suggestion of a smile. He looked, indeed, like Byron's description of +the Corsair:-- + + "And where his frown of hatred darkly fell, + Hope, withering, fled, and Mercy sighed farewell." + +A turkey-cock in a pulpit could not have seemed more to dominate the +proceedings. + +One very annoying circumstance occurred at this Assize. It was the +cracking, sometimes almost banging, of the _seats_ and wainscoting, +which had been remade of oak. Every now and again there was a loud +squeak, and then a noise like the cracking of walnuts. To a sensitive +mind it must have been a trying situation, as Toole afterwards said, +when you are trying prisoners. + +Meanwhile Sir Henry pursued the even tenor of his way, speaking +little, as was his wont, and thinking much about the case before him, +of a very trumpery character, unless you measured it by the game laws. +But no one less liked to be disturbed by noises of any kind than Sir +Henry when at work. Even the rustling of a newspaper would cause him +to direct the reader to study in some other part of the building. + +Suddenly there was a squeaking of another kind distinguishable from +all others--it was the squeaking of _Sunday boots_. In the country no +boots are considered Sunday boots unless they squeak. At all events, +that was the case in Derbyshire at the time I write of. + +The noise proceeded from a heavy farmer, a juror-in-waiting, who was +allowed to cross from one side of the court to the other for change of +air. His endeavour to suppress the noise of his boots only seemed to +cause them the greater irritation. There was a universal titter as the +crowd looked up to see what line the Judge would take. + +Sir Henry reproved quietly, and just as the farmer, who was prancing +like an elephant, had got well in front of the Bench, he said,-- + +"If that gentleman desires to perambulate this court, he had better +take off his boots." + +The gravity of the situation was disturbed, but that of the farmer +remained, unhappily for him, for, with one foot planted firmly on the +ground, and the other poised between heaven and earth, he was afraid +to let it come down, and there he stood. "We will wait," said the +Judge, "until that gentleman has got to the door which leads into the +street." The juryman, Toole told us afterwards, was delighted, for he +escaped for the whole Assize. + +Although there was much laughter, Toole knew his position and dignity +too well to join in it; but he did what any respectable citizen would +be expected to do in the circumstances--tried to suppress it, yet made +such faces in the attempt that the whole house came down in volleys. +But now he was resolved to set matters right, and prevent any further +repetition of unseemly conduct. The way he did so is worthy of note. +He took a pen, dipped it in the ink, and then, spreading his elbows +out as one in great authority, and duly impressed with the dignity of +the situation, wrote these words on a sheet of paper, which had the +royal arms in the centre, his tongue meanwhile seeming to imitate the +motion of his pen: "I have had my eye on you for a long time past, +and if I see you laugh again I will send you to prison. Be warned in +time." + +"Just hand that," said he, giving it to a javelin-man, "to the +gentleman there in the _green blouse_ and red hair." + +The paper was stuck into the slit of the tapering fishing-rod-like +instrument, and placed under the nose of the man who had been +laughing. It was some time before he could believe his eyes, but +a thrust or two of the stick acted like a pair of spectacles, and +convinced him it was intended for his perusal. The effect was +instantaneous, and he handed the document to his wife. It was +interesting to watch the face of Toole, suffused with good-humour +and yet preserving its elastic dignity, in contrast with that of +the farmer, which was almost white with terror as they interchanged +furtive glances for the next half-hour. However, it all ended happily, +for the man never laughed again. Toole was invited to dine at the +Judge's dinner, but being himself on circuit, and not at liberty till +_eleven_, when he took supper, an invitation to "look in" was accepted +instead, if it were not too late. + +After supper he accordingly went for his "look in," and arriving at +half-past eleven, was in time for dinner, which did not take place +till half-past twelve, the court having adjourned at 12.15. However, +we spent a very pleasant evening, Toole telling the story of his going +to see Hawkins in the Tichborne trial related elsewhere, and Sir Henry +that of the Queen refusing once upon a time to accept a box at Drury +Lane Theatre while E.T. Smith was lessee, which made Smith so angry +that he could hardly bring himself to propose her Majesty's health +at a dinner that same evening at Drury Lane. Nothing but his loyalty +prevented his resenting it in a suitable and dignified manner. When +one sovereign is affronted by another, the only thing is to consider +their respective _commercial_ values, for that, as a rule, is the test +of all things in a commercial world. But the sequel was that E.T. +said, "_Although me and her Majesty have had a little difference, I +think on the whole I may propose the Queen_!" Fool is he who neglects +his Sovereign, and gets in exchange Sovereign contempt. Such was +Toole's observation. + +It was at this little entertainment that Sir Henry told the story of +the banker's clerk and the bad boy--a true story, he said, although it +may be without a moral. The best stories, said Toole, like the best +people, have no morals--at least, none to make a song about--any more +than the best dogs have the longest tails. + +A gentleman who was a customer at a certain bank was asked by a bank +clerk whether a particular cheque bore his signature. + +The gentleman looked at it, and said, "That is all right." + +"All right?" said the bank clerk. "Is that really your signature, +sir?" + +"Certainly," said the gentleman. + +"Quite sure, sir?" + +"As sure as I am of my own existence." + +The clerk looked puzzled and somewhat disconcerted, so sure was he +that the signature was false. + +"How can I be deceived in my own handwriting?" asked the supposed +drawer of the cheque. + +"Well," said the clerk, "you will excuse me, I hope, but I have +_refused to pay on that signature_, because I do not believe it is +yours." + +"_Pay_!" said the customer. "For Heaven's sake, do not dishonour my +signature." + +"I will never do that," was the answer; "but will you look through +your papers, counterfoils, bank-book, and accounts, and see if you can +trace this cheque?" + +The customer looked through his accounts and found no trace of it or +the amount for which it was given. + +At last, on examining the _number_ of the cheque, he was convinced +that the signature could not be his, _because he had never had +a cheque-book with that number in it_. At the same time, his +astonishment was great that the clerk should know his handwriting +better than he knew it himself. + +"I will tell you," said the clerk, "how I discovered the forgery. A +boy presented this cheque, purporting to have been signed by you. I +cashed it. He came again with another. I cashed that. A little while +afterwards he came again. My suspicions were then aroused, not by +anything in the signature or the cheque, but by the circumstance of +the _frequency of his coming_. When he came the third time, however, +I suspended payment until I saw you, because the _line under your +signature with which you always finish was not at the same angle_; it +went a trifle nearer the letters, and I at once concluded it was a +FORGERY." And so it turned out to be. + +"That boy," said Toole, "deserves to be taken up by some one, for he +has great talent." + +"And in speaking of this matter," said Sir Henry, "I may tell you that +bankers' clerks are the very best that ever could be invented as +tests for handwriting. Their intelligence and accuracy are perfectly +astonishing. They hardly ever make a mistake, and are seldom deceived. +The experts in handwriting are clever enough, and mean to be true; but +every _expert_ in a case, be he doctor, caligrapher, or phrenologist, +has some unknown quantity of bias, and must almost of necessity, if he +is on the one side or the other, exercise it, however unintentional it +may be. The banker speaks _without this influence_, and therefore, if +not more likely to be correct, is more reasonably supposed to be so. + +"Do you remember, Sir Henry," asked Toole, "what the clever rogue +Orton wrote in his pocket-book? 'Some has money no brains; some has +brains no money; them as has money no brains was made for them as has +brains no money.'" + +"Just like Roger," said Sir Henry. This was a catch-phrase in society +at the time of the trial. + +Some one recited from a number of _Hood's Comic Annual_ the following +poem by Tom Hood:-- + +A BIRD OF ANOTHER FEATHER.[A] + +[Footnote A: These lines appeared about 1874, and I have to make +acknowledgments to those whom I have been unable to ask for permission +to reproduce, and trust they will accept both my apologies and +thanks.] + + "Yestreen, when I retired to bed, + I had a funny dream; + Imagination backward sped + Up History's ancient stream. + A falconer in fullest dress + Was teaching me his art; + Of tercel, eyas, hood, and jess, + The terms I learnt by heart. + + "He flew his falcon to attack + The osprey, swan, and hern, + And showed me, when he wished it back, + The lure for its return. + I thought it was a noble sport; + I struggled to excel + My gentle teacher, and, in short, + I managed rather well. + + "The dream is o'er, and I to-day + Return to modern time; + But yet I've something more to say, + If you will list my rhyme. + I've been a witness in a case + For seven long mortal hours, + And, cross-examined, had to face + The counsel's keenest powers. + + "With courteous phrase and winning smiles + He led me gently on; + I fell a victim to his wiles-- + But how he changed anon! + 'Oh, you're prepared to swear to that!' + And, 'Now, sir, just take care!' + And, 'Come, be cautious what you're at!' + With questions hard to bear. + + "And when he'd turned me inside out, + He turned me outside in; + I knew not what I was about-- + My brain was all a-spin, + I'm shaking now with nervous fright, + And since I left the court + I've changed my dream-opinion quite-- + I don't think Hawkins sport!" + +Before concluding the evening, Toole said,-- + +"You remember your joke, Sir Henry, about Miss Brain and her black +kids?" + +"Not for the world, not for the world, my dear Toole!" + +"Not for the world, Sir Henry, not for the world; only for us; not +before the boys! You said it was the best joke you ever made." + +"And the worst. But I was not a Judge then."] + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A FULL MEMBER OF THE JOCKEY CLUB. + + +I knew a great many men connected with the Turf, from the highest +to the humblest; but although I have spent the most agreeable hours +amongst them, there is little which, if written, would afford +amusement: everything in a story, a repartee, or a joke depends, like +a jewel, on its setting. At Lord Falmouth's, my old and esteemed +friend, I have spent many jovial and happy hours. He was one of the +most amiable of hosts, and of a boundless hospitality; ran many +distinguished horses, and won many big races. I used to drive with him +to see his horses at exercise before breakfast, and in his company +visited some of the most celebrated men of the day, who were also +amongst the most distinguished of the Turf. Amongst these was Prince +B----, whose fate was the saddest of all my reminiscences of the Turf. +I almost witnessed his death, for it took place nearly at the moment +of my taking leave of him at the Jockey Club. There was a flight of +stairs from where I stood with him, leading down to the luncheon-room, +and there he appears to have slipped and fallen. + +I don't know that it was in consequence of this accident, or whether +it had anything to do with it, but I seemed after this sad event to +have practically broken my connection with the Turf, and yet perhaps I +was more intimately attached to it than ever, for Lord Rosebery asked +me (I being an honorary member of the Jockey Club) whether there was +any reason, so far as my judicial position was concerned, why I should +not be elected a _full member_. I said there was none. So his lordship +proposed me, and I was elected. + +The only privilege I acquired by "full membership" was that I had +to pay ten guineas a year subscription instead of nothing. I almost +regularly had the honour of being invited, with other members of the +club, to the entertainment given by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales on the +Derby night--a festivity continued since his Majesty's accession to +the throne. Nor shall I forget the several occasions on which I have +had the honour to be the guest of his gracious Majesty at Sandringham; +and I mention them here to record my respectful gratitude for the +kindness and hospitality of their Majesties the King and Queen +whenever it has been my good fortune to be invited. + +Speaking, however, of racing men, I have always thought that the +passion for gambling is one of the strongest propensities of our +nature, and once the mind is given to it there is no restraint +possible, either from law or pulpit. Its fascination never slackens, +and time never blunts the keen desire of self-gratification which it +engenders, while the grip with which it fastens upon us is as fast in +old age as in youth. It will absorb all other pleasures and pastimes. +I will give an instance of what I mean. There was a well-known +bookmaker of my acquaintance whose whole mind was devoted to this +passion; his lifetime was a gamble; everything seemed to be created +to make a bet upon. Do what he would, go where he would, his thoughts +were upon horse-racing. + +I was staying with Charley Carew, the owner and occupier of Beddington +Park, with a small party of guests invited for shooting. One morning +there was to be a rabbit-killing expedition, and after a pretty good +morning's walk, I had a rest, and then leisurely went along towards +the trysting-place for lunch. It was a large oak tree, and as I came +up there was Hodgman, the bookie, who did not see me, walking round +the rabbits, which lay in rows, counting them, and muttering, +"_Two--four--twenty_," and so on up to a hundred. He then paused, and +after a while soliloquized, "Ah! fancy a hundred! One hundred _dead +uns_! What would I give for such a lot for the Chester Cup!" + +His mind was not with the rabbits except in connection with his +betting-book on the Chester Cup. He was by no means singular except in +the manner of showing his propensity. The devotees of "Bridge" are all +Hodgmans in their way. + +At the Benchers' table I was speaking of Clarkson in reference to the +Old Bailey. He had been with me in consultation in a very bad case. We +had not the ghost of a chance of winning it, and indicated our opinion +to that effect to the unhappy client. + +He turned from us with a sad look, as if desperation had seized him, +and then, with tears in his eyes, asked Clarkson if he thought it +advisable for him to _surrender_ and take his trial. + +"My good man," said Clarkson, "it is my duty as a loyal subject to +advise you to surrender and take your trial, _but, if I were in your +shoes_, I'll be damned if I would!" + +The man, however, for some reason or other, _did_ surrender like a +good citizen, and the man who did not appear was his own leading +counsel Clarkson. He never even looked in, and the conduct of the +case, therefore, devolved on me. I did my best for him, however, and +succeeded. The man was acquitted. + +Not content with this piece of good fortune, for such indeed it +was, he was ill-advised enough to bring an action for _malicious +prosecution_. Lord Denman tried it, and told him it was a most +impudent action, and he was astonished that he was not convicted. + +During this conversation another, of no little importance, took place, +and Lord Westbury is reported to have said,-- + +"I did not assert that the House of Lords had abolished hell with +costs, although I have no doubt that the large majority would gladly +assent to any such decree--all, in fact, except the Bishops." + +As I never listen to after-dinner theology, I forbear comment on this +subject; but before this time there had been a curious action brought +by a churchwarden against his vicar for refusing to administer the +Sacrament to him, on the ground that he did not believe in the +personality of the devil. After the decisions in the courts below, it +was finally determined by the House of Lords that the vicar was wrong. +Hence it was that Westbury was reported to have said that the House of +Lords had abolished hell with costs. "What I did say," said Westbury, +"was that the poor churchwarden who did not at one time believe in the +personality of the devil returned to the true orthodox Christian faith +when he received his attorney's bill." + +Turning to me, his lordship said,-- + +"My dear Hawkins, you shall write your reminiscences, and, what is +more, they shall be printed in good type, and, what is more, the first +copy shall be directed to me." + +And so it should be, if I only knew his address. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE LITTLE MOUSE AND THE PRISONER. + + +I come now to a small event which occurred during my judgeship, and +which I call my little mouse story. + +I was presiding at the Old Bailey Sessions, and a case came before me +of a prisoner who was undergoing a term of two years' imprisonment +with hard labour for some offence against the Post Office. + +The charge against him on the present occasion was attempting to +murder or do grievous bodily harm to a prison warder. This officer was +on duty in the prisoner's cell when the assault took place. + +The facts relied on by the Crown were simple enough. The warder +had gone into the cell to take the man's dinner, when suddenly the +prisoner seized the knife brought for his use, and made a rush at the +warder with it in his hand, at the same time uttering threats and +imprecations. + +Believing his life to be in danger, the warder ran to the door and got +outside into the adjoining corridor, pulling the cell door to after +him and closing it. + +He had no sooner escaped than the prisoner struck a violent blow in +the direction the warder had gone, but the door being closed, it fell +harmlessly enough. It left such a mark, however, that no doubt could +be entertained as to the violence with which it was delivered and the +probable result had it reached the warder himself. + +Thus presented, the case looked serious. Mr. Montagu Williams, who was +counsel for the Crown, felt it to be, as it undoubtedly was, his duty +in common fairness to present not only the bare facts necessary +for his own case, but also those which might be relied upon by the +prisoner as his defence, or at all events in mitigation of punishment. +In performing this duty, he elicited from his witness a very touching +little history of the origin and cause of the crime. It was this:-- + +A poor little mouse had, somehow or other, managed to get inside the +prisoner's cell; and one day, while the unhappy man was eating his +prison fare, he saw the mouse running timidly along the floor. At last +it came to a few crumbs of bread which the prisoner had purposely +spread, and ran away with one of them into its hiding-place. The next +day it came again, and found more crumbs; and so on from day to day, +the prisoner relieving the irksomeness and the weary solitude of his +confinement by tempting it to trust him, and become his one companion +and friend, till at last it became so tame that it formed a little +nest, and made its home in the sleeve of the prisoner's jail clothes. +During the long hours of the dreary day it was his companion and pet; +played with him, fed with him, and mitigated his solitude. It even +slept with him at night. + +All this was, of course, against the prison rules. But the mouse had +no reason to obey them. + +One unhappy day a warder came into the cell, when the poor mouse +peeped out from his tiny hiding-place, and the officer, I presume, as +a matter of duty, seized the little intruder on the spot and captured +it. + +God help the world if every one did his strict duty in it! But--what +to the prisoner seemed inexcusable barbarity--he killed the poor +little mouse in the sight of the unhappy man whose friend and +companion it had been. + +This infuriated him to such an extent that, having the dinner-knife in +his hand--the knife which would have assisted at the mouse's banquet +as well as his own--he rushed at the warder, who fortunately escaped +through the open door of the cell, the prisoner striking the knife +into the door. + +In the result the prisoner was indicted on the charge of attempting +to murder the warder. The defence was that, as murder in the +circumstances was impossible, _the attempt could not be established_, +and on the authority of a case (which has, however, since been +overruled) I felt bound to direct an acquittal; and I confess _I was +not sorry_ to come to that conclusion, for it would have been a sad +thing had the prisoner been convicted of an offence committed in a +moment of such great and not unnatural excitement, and one for which +penal servitude must have been awarded. + +The poor fellow had suffered enough without additional punishment. I +can conceive nothing more keen than the torture of returning to his +cell to grieve for the little friend which could never come to him +again. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE LAST OF LORD CAMPBELL--WINE AND WATER--SIR THOMAS WILDE. + + +Life, alas! must have its sad stories as well as its mirthful. I have +told few of the former, not because they have not been present to my +mind, but because I think it useless to perpetuate them by narration. +But for its occasional gleams of humour, life would indeed be dull, +and ever eclipsed by the shadow of sorrow. + +One of the stories the Chief Baron told me is as indelibly fixed on +my memory as it was on his. Lord Campbell had been so long and so +prominently before the country that his death would be a theme of +conversation in the world of literature, science, law, and fashion. +But it was not his death that impressed me; it was the incidents that +immediately attended it. + +"His lordship"--thus was the event related--"had been entertaining +a party at dinner, and amongst them was his brother-in-law, Colonel +Scarlett. In its incidents the dinner had been as lively and agreeable +as those events in social and refined life usually are. Scarlett had +an important engagement with Campbell in the city on the following +Monday, this being Saturday night. As he rose to go Scarlett wished +his host good-night with a hearty shake-hands. + +"'Good-night--good-night; we shall meet again on Monday.'" + +Alas! Campbell died that night suddenly, and by a singular +interposition of Providence, Scarlett died suddenly the next day, +Sunday. They met no more in this world. + + * * * * * + +In the course of my life I have suffered, like many others, from +nameless afflictions--nameless because they do not exist. No one can +localize this strange infirmity or realize it. You only know you have +a sensation of depression. In every other respect I was perfectly +well, yet I thought it was necessary to see a doctor. So it was, if I +wished to be ill. + +Being in this unhappy condition, I consulted Sir James Paget, then in +the zenith of his fame. + +It did not take him very long to test me. I think he did it with a +smile, for I felt a good deal better after it. + +"Just tell me," said he, "do you ever drink any water?" + +"Now it's coming," I thought; "he's going to knock me off my wine." I +thought, however, I would be equal to the occasion, and said,-- + +"I know what you are driving at: you want to know if I ever mix a +little water in my wine." + +"No, no, I don't," said he; "you are quite wrong, for if your water is +good and your wine bad, you spoil your water; and if your wine is good +and your water bad, you spoil your wine." + +I took his advice--which was certainly worth the fee--and never mixed +my wine with water after that, although I have some doubt as to +whether I had ever done so before. + +I came away in good heart, because I was so delighted that there was +not a vestige of anything the matter with me. + +With a view to enable me to give each case due consideration before +fixing the poor wretch's doom after conviction, I invariably ordered +the prisoner to stand down until all were tried. + +I then spent a night in going through my notes in each case, so that +if there were any circumstances that I could lay hold of by way of +mitigation of the sentence, I did so. + +I do not mean to say that I did this in trifling cases, such as a +magistrate could dispose of, but in all cases of magnitude possibly +involving penal servitude. + +Once, however, I had made up my mind as to what was, in accordance +with my judgment, the sentence to be passed, I took care never to +alter it upon any plea in mitigation whatever. + +For this line of conduct I had the example of Sir Thomas Wilde, when, +as Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, he travelled the +Home Circuit. He was a marvellous and powerful judge in dealing with +the facts of a case. He had tried a prisoner for larceny in stealing +from a house a sack of peas. The prisoner's counsel had made for him +a very poor and absurd defence, in which, over and over again, he had +reiterated that one pea was very like another pea, and that he would +be a bold man who would swear to the identity of two peas. + +This miserable defence made the Lord Chief Justice angry, and he +summed up the case tersely but crushingly to this effect: "Gentlemen, +you have been told by the learned counsel very truly that one pea is +very like another pea, and if the only evidence in this case had been +that one pea had been taken from the house of the prosecutor, and a +similar pea had been found in the prisoners house, I for one should +have said it would have been insufficient evidence to justify the +accusation that the prisoner had taken it. + +"But such are _not_ the facts of this case; and when you find, as was +the fact here, that on March 30 a sack appears in a particular place, +marked with the prosecutor's initials, safe in his house at night, +where it ought to have been but was not, on the morning of the 31st; +and when you find that on that morning a sack of peas of precisely +similar character was in the house of the prisoner in a precisely +similar sack behind the door, the question very naturally arises, _How +came_ those peas in that man's house? He says he found them; do you +believe him? Did it ever occur to you, gentlemen, to find a similar +sack of peas in the dead of the night on any road on which you chanced +to be travelling? + +"The prosecutor says the prisoner stole them, and that is the question +I ask you to answer. Did he or not, in your opinion, steal them?" + +I need not say what the verdict was. The man was _put back for +sentence_. That is the point I am upon. + +On the following morning the Lord Chief Justice, still a bit angry +with the prisoner's counsel for the miserable imposture he had +attempted upon the jury, said,-- + +"God forbid, prisoner at the bar, that the defence attempted by your +counsel yesterday should aggravate the punishment which I am about to +inflict upon you; and with a view to dispel from my mind all that was +then urged on your behalf, I have taken the night to consider what +sentence I ought to pronounce." + +Having said thus much about the speech for the defence, he gave a very +moderate sentence of two or three months' imprisonment. Every +sentence that this Chief Justice passed had been well thought out and +considered, and was the result of anxious deliberation--that is to +say, in the serious cases that demanded it. Of course, I do not claim +for my adopted system an infallibility which belongs to no human +device, but only that during some years, by patiently following it, I +was enabled the better to determine how I could combine justice with +leniency. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +HOW I CROSS-EXAMINED PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON. + + +I have been often questioned in an indirect manner as to the amount of +my income and the number of my briefs. I do not mean by the Income Tax +Commissioners, but by private "authorities." I was often _told_ how +much I must be making. Sometimes it was said, "Oh, the Associates' +Office verdict books show this and that." "Why, Hawkins, you must +be making thirty thousand a year if you are making a penny. What a +hard-working man you are! How _do_ you manage to get through it?" + +Well, I had no answer. It is a curious inquisitiveness which it would +do no one any good to gratify. I did not think it necessary to the +happiness of my friends that they should know, and if it would afford +_me_ any satisfaction, it was far better that they should name the +amount than I. They could exaggerate it; I had no wish to do so. It is +true enough in common language I worked hard, but working by system +made it easy. Slovenly work is always hard work; you never get through +it satisfactorily. It was by working easily that I got through so +much. "Never fret" and "_toujours pret_" were my mottoes, as I told +the chaplain; I hope he remembers them to this day. If they would not +help him to a bishopric, nothing would. But I will say seriously that +nothing is so great a help in our daily struggles as _good temper_, +and with that observation I leave my friends still to wonder how I got +through so much. + +Judges often talk over their experiences at the Bar. Sometimes I +talked of mine, and on one occasion told the following curious +incident in my long career. + +I mention this circumstance as a curiosity only so far as the incident +is concerned, but as more than a curiosity so far as the legality of +evading the substance of the law by a technicality is concerned. + +All men are not privileged to cross-examine royalty, and especially +future emperors. + +On July 1, 1847, which was not very long after my call to the Bar, +Prince Louis Napoleon, who afterwards became Emperor of the French, +was residing in England. + +Of course, in looking back upon a man who afterwards became an +Emperor, the proportions seem to have altered, and he looks greater +than his figure actually was. He is more important in one's eyes, and +therefore from this point of view the event seems to be of greater +magnitude than the mere police-court business that it was. When a man +becomes great, the smallest details of his career increase in value +and importance. + +The Prince had given a man of the name of Charles Pollard into custody +for stealing and obtaining by fraud two bills of exchange for £1,000 +each. + +I was instructed by one Saul (not of Tarsus) to defend, and old Saul +thought it would be judicious to cross-examine the Prince into a +cocked hat, little dreaming what kind of a cocked hat our opponent +would one day wear. + +But Saul, not content with this ordinary drum-beating kind of Old +Bailey performance, in which there is much more alarm than harm, +instructed me to make a few inquiries as to the Prince's private life, +and so _show him up_ in public. Saul loved that kind of persecution. +To him the witness-box was a pillory, notwithstanding there was +more mud attaching to the throwers than to the mere object of their +attention. + +Young as I was in my profession, I had sense enough to know that to +dip into a prosecutor's private history, and the history of his father +and grandfather, and a succession of grandmothers and aunts, was +hardly the way to show that the prisoner had not stolen that +gentleman's property, but was a good way to prevent the Prince from +recommending him to mercy. + +I therefore, in my simplicity, asked old Saul what the uncle of the +Prince and his voyage in the _Bellerophon_, etc., had to do with this +man's stealing these two bills of exchange. + +"Never mind, Mr. Hawkins, you do it; it has a great deal to do with +it." + +However, I made up my own mind as to the course I should pursue, and +having carefully read my "instructions," found that the man had been +unjustly accused by this Napoleon--there never was a man so trampled +on--and every word of the whole accusation was false. _So_ did some +solicitors instruct young counsel in those days. + +I started my business of cross-examination, accordingly, with a few +tentative questions, testing whether the ice would bear before I took +the other foot off dry land. It did not seem to be very strong, I +thought. Some of them were a little bewildering, perhaps, but that, +doubtless, was their only fault, which the Prince was desirous of +amending, and he graciously appealed to me in a very sensible manner +by suggesting that if I would put a question that he _could_ answer, +he would do so. + +I thought it a fair offer, even from a Prince, if I could only trust +him. I kept my bargain, and definitely shaped my examination so that +"Yes" and "No" should be all that would be necessary. + +We got on very well indeed for some little time, his answers coming +with great readiness and truth. He was perfectly straightforward, and +so was I. + +"Yes, sir," "No, sir;" that was all. + +As I have said, at this time I had not had much experience in +cross-examination, but I had some intuitive knowledge of the art +waiting to be developed. Napoleon gave me my first lesson in that +department. + +"I am afraid, sir," said his Highness, "you have been sadly +misinstructed in this case." + +"I am afraid, sir, I have," said I. "One or the other of us must be +wrong, and I am much inclined to think it's my solicitor." + +It was a nice little bull, which the Prince liked apparently, for he +laughed good-humouredly, and especially when I found, as I quickly +did, that my strength was to sit still, which I also did. + +I had learned by this exhibition of forces that there _was_ a defence, +if I could only keep it up my sleeve. To expose it before the +magistrate would simply enable Clarkson, who was opposed to me, to +bring up reinforcements, and knock me into a cocked hat instead of +Napoleon. Old Saul knew nothing whatever about my intended manoeuvre, +nor did Clarkson or his solicitor. + +I knew the man would be committed for trial; the magistrate had +intimated as much. I therefore said nothing, except that I would +reserve my defence. + +Had I said a word, Clarkson would have shaped his indictment to +meet the objection which I intended to make; the man, however, was +committed to the Old Bailey in total ignorance of what defence was to +be made. + +The case was tried before Baron Alderson, as shrewd a Judge, perhaps, +as ever adorned the Bench. + +When I took my point, he at once saw the difficulty Napoleon was +in--a difficulty from which no Napoleon could escape even by a _coup +d'état_. + +It was, in fact, this--simple as A B C:-- + +When the bills of exchange were received by Pollard, although he +intended to defraud, they were _neither drawn nor accepted_, and so +were not bills of exchange at all; another process was necessary +before they could become so even in appearance, and that was forgery. + +Moreover, there was included in this point another objection--namely, +that the _stamps_ signed by the Prince having been handed to him with +the intention that they _should be subsequently filled up_, they were +not _valuable securities_ (for stealing which the ill-used Pollard was +indicted) at the time they were appropriated, and could not therefore +be so treated. + +In short, the legal truth was that Pollard neither stole nor obtained +either _bill of exchange_ (for such they were not at that time) or +valuable security. + +Such was the law. I believe Napoleon said the devil must have made it, +or worked it into that "tam shape!" + +There were many technicalities in the law of those days, and justice +was often defeated by legal quibbles. But the law was so severe in its +punishments that Justice herself often connived at its evasion. At +the present day there is a gradual tendency to make punishment more +lenient and more certain--to remove the entanglements of the pleader, +and render progress towards substantial instead of technical justice +more sure and speedy. Napoleon's defeat could not have occurred at the +present day--not, at all events, in that "tam shape." + +In a case in which the member of St. Ives was petitioned against on +the ground of treating, before Lush, J., I was opposed by Russell +(afterwards Lord Chief Justice and Lord Russell of Killowen). A.L. +Smith was my junior, and I need not say he knew almost everything +there was to be known about election law. There was, however, no law +in the case. No specific act of treating was proved, but we felt that +general treating had taken place in such a wholesale manner that +our client was affected by it. So we consented to his losing +his seat--that is to say, that the election should be declared +_void_--merely void. As the other side did not seem to be aware that +this void could be filled by the member who was unseated, they did not +ask that our client should not be permitted to put up for the vacancy, +although this was the real object of my opponent's petition. He wanted +the seat for himself, but knew that he had not the remotest chance +against his unseated opponent. + +His surprise, therefore, must have been as great as his chagrin when, +the very night of the decision which unseated him, he came forward +once more as a candidate. The petition had increased his popularity, +and he won the seat with the greatest ease, and without any subsequent +disturbance by the former petitioner. + +I have told you of a curious trial before a Recorder of Saffron +Walden, and my memory of that event reminds me of another which took +place in that same abode of learning and justice. Joseph Brown, Q.C., +and Thomas Chambers, Q.C., were brother Benchers of mine, and when we +met at the Parliament Chamber after dinner it was more than likely +that many stories would be told, for we often fought our battles over +again. + +At the time I speak of Knox was the Recorder of that important +borough, and was possessed of all the dignity which so enhances a +great officer in the eyes of the public, whether he be the most modest +of beadles in beadledom, or the highest Recorder in Christendom. To +give himself a greater air of importance, Knox always carried a _blue +umbrella_ of a most blazing grandeur. He was looked up to, of course, +at Saffron Walden, as their greatest man, especially as he occupied +the best apartments at the chief brimstone shop in the town. When I +say _brimstone_, I mean that it seemed to be its leading article; +for there were a great many yellow placards all over and about the +emporium, which, perhaps, ought to have been called a "general shop." + +There were three men up before Knox for stealing malt; a very serious +offence indeed in Saffron Walden, where malt was almost regarded as a +sacred object--until it got into the beer. + +"Tom" Chambers (afterwards Recorder of London) was defending these +prisoners, and I have no doubt, from the conduct of Knox, acquired a +great deal of that discrimination of character which afterwards so +distinguished him in the City of London. The degrees of guilt in these +persons ought to be noted by all persons who hold, or hope to hold, a +judicial position. As to the first man, the actual thief, there could +be no doubt about his crime, for he was actually wheeling the two or +three shovelfuls of malt in a barrow; so there was not much use in +defending him. + +About the second man there was not the same degree of certainty, for +he had never touched the malt or the barrow, and there was no evidence +that he knew the first man had stolen it. The only suspicion--for +it was nothing more--against him was that he was seen to be walking +_along the highway_ near the man who was wheeling the barrow, and as +it was daytime, many others were equally guilty. + +The third man was still less implicated, for all that appeared against +him was that _at some time or other_ he had been seen, either on the +day of the theft or just before, to be in a public-house with the +thief and asking him to have a drink. + +If it had not been at Saffron Walden, where they are so jealous of +their malt and such admirers of their maltsters, there would have been +no case against any one but the actual thief; and if the Recorder had +known the law as well as he knew Saffron Walden, or half as much as +Saffron Walden admired him, he would have ruled to that effect. + +However, he pointed out to the jury the cases one by one with great +care and no stint of language. + +"Against the first," said he, "the case is clear enough: he is +caught with the stolen goods in his possession. In the second case, +_perhaps_, it is not quite so strong, you will think; but it is +for _you_, gentlemen, not for _me_, to judge. You will not forget, +gentlemen, he was walking along by the side of the actual thief, and +it is for you to say what that means." Then, after clearing his throat +for a final effort, he said,-- + +"Now we come to the third man. Where was he? I must say there is a +slight difference between his case and that of the other two men, who +might be said to have been caught in the very act; but it's for _you_, +gentlemen, not for _me_. It is difficult to point out item by item, +as it were, the difference between the three cases; but you will say, +gentlemen, whether they were not all mixed up in this robbery--it's +for _you_, gentlemen, not for _me_." + +The jury were not going to let off three such rogues as the Recorder +plainly thought them, and instantly returned a verdict of guilty +against all. + +"I agree with the verdict," said the Recorder. "It is _a very bad +case_, and a mercantile community like Saffron Walden must be +protected against such depredators as you. No doubt there are degrees +of guilt in your several cases, but I do not think I should be doing +my duty to the public if I made any distinction in your sentences: you +must all of you undergo a term of five years' penal servitude." + +Whereupon Tom Chambers was furious. Up he jumped, and said,-- + +"Really, sir; really--" + +"Yes," said Knox, "really." + +"Well, then, sir, you can't do it," said the counsel; "you cannot +give penal servitude for petty larceny. Here is the Act" (reading): +"'Unless the prisoner has been guilty of any felony before.'" + +"Very well," said the Recorder; "you, Brown, the actual thief, and +you, Jones, his accessory in the very act, not having been convicted +before, I am sorry to say, cannot be sentenced to more than two years' +imprisonment with hard labour, and I reduce the sentence in your cases +to that; but as to you, Robinson, yours is a very bad case. The jury +have found that you were _mixed up_ in this robbery, and I find that +you have been convicted of stealing apples. True, it's a good many +years ago, but it brings you within the purview of the statute, and +therefore your sentence of five years will stand." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +THE NEW LAW ALLOWING THE ACCUSED TO GIVE EVIDENCE--THE CASE OF DR. +WALLACE, THE LAST I TRIED ON CIRCUIT. + + +I should like to make an observation on the recent Act for enabling +prisoners to go into the witness-box and subject themselves, after +giving their evidence, to cross-examination. + +It must be apparent to every one, learned and unlearned in its +mysteries, that no evidence can be of its highest value, and often is +of no value, until sifted by cross-examination. I was always opposed +to this process as against an accused person, because I know how +difficult it is under the most favourable circumstances to avoid the +pitfalls which a clever and artistic cross-examiner may dig for the +unwary. + +It did not occur to me in that early stage of the discussion on the +Bill that a really true story _cannot_ be shaken in cross-examination, +and that only the _false_ must give way beneath its searching effect. + +I had to learn something in advocacy; indeed, I was always learning, +and the best of us may go on for ever learning, as long as this +wonderful and mysterious human nature exists. + +However, I am not writing philosophical essays, but relating the facts +of my simple life, and I confess that the case that came before me on +this occasion totally upset my quiet repose in all the comfortable +traditions of the past. Human nature had something which I had not +seen: it arose in this way. A doctor was accused of a terrible +crime against a female patient. I need not give its details; it +is sufficient to say that if the girl's statement was true penal +servitude for life was not too much, for he was a villain of the very +worst character. Taking the ordinary run of evidence, if I may use the +word, and the ordinary mode of cross-examination, which, in the +hands of unskilled practitioners, generally tends to corroborate the +evidence-in-chief, the case was overwhelmingly proved, and how sad and +painful it was to contemplate none can realize who do not understand +anything below the surface of human existence. + +I had watched the case with the anxious care that I am conscious +should be exercised in all inquiries, and especially criminal +inquiries, that come before one. I watched, and, let me say, +_especially watched_, for any point in the evidence on which I could +put a question in the prisoner's favour. + +Upon that subject I never wavered throughout the whole of my career, +and the testimony of the letters which I received from the most +distinguished members of the criminal Bar--not to say that they are +not equally distinguished in the civil--will, I am sure, bear out my +little self-praise upon a small matter of infinite importance. + +Everything in this case seemed to be overwhelmingly against the +unhappy doctor. No one in court, except himself, _could_ believe on +the evidence but that he was guilty. + +I, who through my whole life had been studying evidence and the mode +in which it was delivered, believed in the man's guilt, and felt that +no cross-examination, however subtle and skilfully conducted, could +shake it. + +I felt for the man--a scholar, a scientist--as one must feel for the +victim of so great a temptation. But I felt also that he was entitled, +on account of all those things which aroused my sympathy, to the +severest sentence, which I had already considered it would be my duty +to award him. + +Then, under the New Act, which I had spoken against and written +against, as one long associated with all the bearings of evidence +given in the witness-box, the poor doctor stepped into that terrible +trap for the untruthful. + +Let me now observe that, even before he was sworn, his _manner_ made a +great impression on my mind. And on this subject I would like to say +that few Judges or advocates sufficiently consider it. + +The greatest actor has a manner. The man who is not an actor has a +manner, and if you are only sufficiently read in the human character, +it cannot deceive you, however disguised it may be. A witness's +evidence may deceive, but his manner is the looking-glass of his mind, +sometimes of his innocence. It was so in this case. + +The man was not acting, and he was not an actor. + +This made the first impression on my mind, and I knew there _must_ +be something beneath it which only _he_ could explain. I waited +patiently. It was much more than life and death to this man. + +The next thing that impressed me was that there was not the least +confusion in his evidence or in himself. His tone, his language, could +only be the result of conscious innocence. + +It was not very long before I gathered that he was the victim of +a cruel and cowardly conspiracy. It was absolutely a case of +_blackmailing, and nothing else_. + +I believed every word the man said, and so did the jury. His evidence +_acquitted him_. He was saved from an ignominious doom by the new Act, +and from that moment I went heart and soul with it: however much it +may be a danger to the guilty, it is of the utmost importance to the +innocent. + +This case was not finished without a little touch of humour. When +half-past seven arrived--an hour on circuit at which I always +considered it too early to adjourn--the jury thought it looked very +like an "all-night sitting," although I had no such intention, and one +of their body or of the Bar, I forget which, raised the question on a +motion for the adjournment of the house. + +I was asked, I know, by some impatient member of the Bar whether a +case in which _he_ was engaged could not go over till the morning. + +This gave immense encouragement to an independent juryman, who +evidently was determined to beard the lion in his den, and possibly +shake off "the dewdrops of his British indignation." + +I never believed in British lions, except on his Majesty's +quarterings; and although they look very formidable in heraldry, I +never found them so in fact. Indeed, if the British lion was ever a +native of the British Isles, he must have become extinct, for I have +never heard so much as an imitation growl from him except in Hyde Park +on a Sunday. + +The British lion, however, in this case seemed to assert himself in +the jury-box, and rising on his hind legs, said in a husky voice, +which appeared to come from some concealed cupboard in his bosom,-- + +"My lord!" + +"Yes?" I said in my blandest manner. + +"My lord, this 'ere ---- is a little bit stiff, my lord, with all +respect for your lordship." + +"What is that, sir?" + +"Why, my lord, I've been cramped up in this 'ere narrer box for +fourteen hours, and the seat's that hard and the back so straight up +that now I gets out on it I ain't got a leg to stand on." + +"I'm sorry for the chair," I said. + +He was a very thick-set man, and the whole of the jury burst into a +laugh. Then he went on, with tears in his eyes,-- + +"My lord, when I went home last night arter sittin' here so many hours +I couldn't sleep a wink." + +I could not help saying,-- + +"Then it is no use going to bed; we may as well finish the business." + +That was all very well for him, but another juryman arose, amidst +roars of laughter, and lifted up a hard, wooden-bottomed chair, and +beat it with his heavy walking-stick. + +The chair was perfectly indifferent to the treatment it was receiving +after supporting the juryman for so many hours without the smallest +hope of any reward, and I then asked,-- + +"Is that to keep order, sir?" + +The excitement continued for a long time, but at last it subsided, and +I suggested a compromise. + +I said probably the gentlemen in the next case would not speak for +more than one hour each, and if they would agree to this I would +undertake to sum up in _five minutes_. + +The husky lion sat down, and so did the musician. The jury acquitted +and went home. + +These are some of the caprices of a jury which a Judge has sometimes +to put up with, and it has often been said that Judges are more tried +than prisoners. Perhaps that is so, especially when, if they do not +get the kind of rough music I have mentioned from the jury-box, +they sometimes receive a by no means complimentary address from the +prisoner. One occurs to my mind, with which I will close this chapter. + +I had occasion to sentence to death a soldier for a cruel murder by +taking the life of his sergeant. It was at Winchester, and after I had +uttered the fatal words the culprit turned savagely towards me, and in +a loud, gruff voice cried, "Curse you!" + +I made no remark, and the man was removed to the cells. Very humanely +the chaplain went to the prisoner and endeavoured to bring him to a +proper state of mind with regard to his impending fate. + +On the day appointed for the execution I received by post a long +letter from the clergyman, enclosing another written on prison paper. + +The letter was to tell me that for ten days he could make no +impression on the condemned man; but on the tenth or twelfth day he +expressed his sincere sorrow that he had cursed me for passing on him +the sentence he had so well deserved, and his great desire was to +make a humble apology to me in person. He was told that that was +impossible, as I could not come to him, nor could he go to me. +Whereupon he begged to be allowed to write this humble apology. This +he was permitted to do, and the letter from the culprit, who was +hanged that morning, I was reading at the very moment of his +execution. It contained, I believe, sincere expressions of contrition +for the cruel deed he had done, but was mostly taken up with apologies +to me for having cursed me after advising him to prepare for the doom +that awaited him. He begged my forgiveness, which, I need not say, I +freely gave. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +A FAREWELL MEMORY OF JACK. + + +Poor little Jack is dead! + +It is a real grief to me. A more intelligent, faithful, and +affectionate creature never had existence, and to him I have been +indebted for very many of the happiest hours of my life. + +Poor dear little Jack! he lived with me for many years; and at last, I +believe, some miscreant poisoned him, for he was taken very ill with +symptoms of strychnine, and died in a few hours in the early morning +of May 24, 1894. I was with him when he died. + +I never replaced him, and to this hour have never ceased to be sad +when I think of the merciless and cruel fate by which the ruffian put +an end to his dear little life. + +He was buried under some shrubs in Hyde Park, where I hope he sleeps +the sleep of good affectionate dogs. + +It is ten years ago, and yet there is no abatement of my love for +him, hardly any of my sorrow. He always occupied the best seat in the +Sheriff's carriage on circuit, and looked as though he felt it was his +right. He slept by my side on a little bed of his own. At Norwich, I +think, he made his first appearance in state. The moment he entered +the house he appropriated to himself the chair of state, which had +been provided by the local upholsterer for the express use of Queen +Alexandra, then Princess of Wales, on her first visit to Norwich +to confer honour and happiness on Queen Victoria's subjects in the +eastern counties. + +Nobody, however, molested Jack in his seat, and, I believe, had it +been one of the seats for the county there would have been no petition +to disturb him. He would have been as faithful a member as the +immortal Toby, M.P. for Barkshire, of Mr. Punch, to whom ever my best +regards. Jack considered himself entitled to precedence wherever he +went, and maintained it. He was a famous judge of upholstery, and the +softest chair or sofa, hearthrug or divan, was instantly appropriated. +This sometimes made the local dignitaries sit up a little. They might +be accustomed to the dignity of one of her Majesty's Judges, but +the impudence of her Majesty's "Jack"--for so he deemed himself on +circuit--was a little beyond their aldermanic natures. + +I was much and agreeably surprised to find that the Press everywhere +sympathized with my loss of Jack, and many an extract I made +containing their very kind remarks. My room might have been one of +Romeike's cutting-rooms. Here is one I will give as a sample. I am +sorry I cannot positively state the name of the journal, but I am +almost sure it is from the _Daily Telegraph_. + + "An item of judicial intelligence, which may not everywhere be + duly appreciated, is the death of Mr. Justice Hawkins's fox + terrier Jack. Jack has been his lordship's most constant friend + for many years. With some masters such a useful dog as he was + would have found going on circuit a bore; but with Sir Henry + Hawkins, who knows what kind of life suits a dog, and likes to see + that he enjoys it, going on circuit was a career of adventure. The + Judge was always out betimes to give Jack a long morning walk, and + when his duties took him to small county towns he often rose with + the farmers for no other purpose." + +Here is another paragraph; and I should like to be able to give the +writer's name, for it is very pleasant at all times to find expression +of true love for animals, whose devotion and faithfulness to man +endear them to us:-- + + "Sir Henry Hawkins has my sincere sympathy in his great + bereavement. Jack, the famous fox terrier who accompanied his + master everywhere, is dead. Innumerable are the things told of + Jack's devotion to Sir Henry, and of Sir Henry's devotion to Jack. + I first made their acquaintance at Worcester Railway Station some + years ago, when I saw Jack marching solemnly in the procession + of officials who had come with wands and staves and javelins to + receive Sir Henry Hawkins at the opening of the Assizes. Jack was + on one or two special occasions, I believe, accommodated with a + seat on the Bench; and at Maidstone, when the lodgings caught + fire, Sir Henry rushed back at the risk of his life to save his + faithful little dog." + +These are small memories, perhaps, but to me more dear than the +praises too often unworthily bestowed on actions unworthy to be +recorded. + +But here I pause. Jack rests in his little grave in Hyde Park, and +I sometimes go and look on the spot where he lies. Many and many an +affectionate letter was written to me bewailing the loss of our little +friend. + +Only one of these I shall particularly mention, because it shows how +immeasurably superior was Jack to the lady who wrote it, in that true +and sincere feeling which we call friendship, and which, to my mind, +is the bond of society and the only security for its well-being. +She was a lady who belonged to what is called "Society," the +characteristic of which is that it exists not only independently of +friendship, but in spite of it. + +After condoling with me on my loss and showing her sweet womanly +sympathy, she concluded her letter by informing me that she had "one +of the sweetest pets eyes ever beheld, a darling devoted to her with +a faithfulness which would really be a lesson to 'our specie,'" and +that, in the circumstances, she would let me have her little darling +for _five pounds_. I was so astonished and angry at the meanness of +this "lady of fashion" that I said--Well, perhaps my exact expression +had better be buried in oblivion. + +BALLAD OF THE UNSURPRISED JUDGE, 1895.[A] + +[Footnote A: It was a well-known expression of Sir Henry Hawkins when +on the Bench, "I should be surprised at nothing;" and after the long +and strange experiences which these reminiscences indicate, the +literal truth of the observation is not to be doubted. This clever +ballad, which was written in 1895, seems sufficiently appropriate +to find a place in these memoirs, and I wish I knew the name of the +writer, that my thanks and apologies might be conveyed to him for this +appropriation of them.] + +("Mr. Justice Hawkins observed, 'I am surprised at nothing,'"--_Pitts +v. Joseph, "Times" Report, March 27_.) + + All hail to Sir Henry, whom nothing surprises! + Ye Judges and suitors, regard him with awe, + As he sits up aloft on the Bench and applies his + Swift mind to the shifts and the tricks of the law. + Many years has he lived, and has always seen clear things + That Nox seemed to hide from our average eyes; + But still, though encompassed with all sorts of queer things, + He never, no, never, gives way to surprise. + + When a rogue, for example, a company-monger, + Grows fat on the gain of the shares he has sold, + While the public gets lean, winning nothing but hunger + And a few scraps of scrip for its masses of gold; + When the fat man goes further and takes to religion, + A rascal in hymn-books and Bibles disguised, + "It's a case," says Sir Henry, "of rook _versus_ pigeon, + And the pigeon gets left--well, I'm hardly surprised." + + There's a Heath at Newmarket, and horses that run there; + There are owners and jockeys, and sharpers and flats; + There are some who do nicely, and some who are done there; + There are loud men with pencils and satchels and hats. + But the stewards see nothing of betting or money, + As they stand in the blinkers for stewards devised; + Their blindness may strike Henry Hawkins as funny, + But he only smiles softly--he isn't surprised. + + So here's to Sir Henry, the terror of tricksters, + Of law he's a master, and likewise a limb; + His mind never once, when its purpose is fixed, errs: + For cuteness there's none holds a candle to him. + Let them try to deceive him, why, bless you, he's _been_ there, + And can track his way straight through a tangle of lies; + And though some might grow gray at the things he has seen there, + He never, no, never, gives way to surprise. + +By the courtesy of Sir Francis Burnand, who most kindly obtained +permission from Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, I insert the following +poem, which appeared in a February number of _Punch_ in the year +1887:-- + +THE WOMAN AND THE LAW. + +(A true story, told before Mr. Justice Hawkins at the recent Liverpool +Assizes--_vide Daily Telegraph_, February 8.) + + In the criminal dock stood a woman alone, + To be judged for her crime, her one fault to repair, + And the man who gave evidence sat like a stone, + With a look of contempt for the woman's despair! + For the man was a husband, who'd ruined a life, + And broken a heart he had found without flaw; + He demanded the punishment due to the wife, + Who was only a Woman, whilst his was the Law! + + A terrible silence then reigned in the Court, + And the eyes of humanity turned to the dock; + Her head was bent down, and her sobbing came short, + And the jailer stood ready, with hand on the lock + Of the gate of despair, that would open no more + When this wreckage of beauty was hurried away! + "Let me speak," moaned the woman--"my lord, I implore!" + "Yes, speak," said the Judge. "I will hear what you say!" + + "I was only a girl when he stole me away + From the home and the mother who loved me too well; + But the shame and the pain I have borne since that day + Not a pitying soul who now listens can tell! + There was never a promise he made but he broke; + The bruises he gave I have covered with shame; + Not a tear, not a prayer, but he scorned as a joke! + He cursed at my children, and sneered at my fame! + + "The money I'd slaved for and hoarded he'd rob; + I have borne his reproaches when maddened with drink. + For a man there is pleasure, for woman a sob; + It is he who may slander, but she who must think! + But at last came the day when the Law gave release, + Just a moment of respite from merciless fate, + For they took him to prison, and purchased me peace, + Till I welcomed him home like a wife--at the gate! + + "Was it wrong in repentance of Man to believe? + It is hard to forget, it is right to forgive! + But he struck me again, and he left me to grieve + For the love I had lost, for the life I must live! + So I silently stole from the depths of despair, + And slunk from dark destiny's chastening rod, + And I crept to the light, and the life, and the air, + From the town of the man to the country of God! + + "'Twas in solitude, then, that there came to my soul + The halo of comfort that sympathy casts; + He was strong, he was brave, and, though centuries roll, + I shall love that one man whilst eternity lasts! + O my lord, I was weak, I was wrong, I was poor! + I had suffered so much through my journey of life, + Hear! the worst of the crime that is laid at my door: + I said I was widow when, really a wife! + + "Here I stand to be judged, in the sight of the man + Who from purity took a frail woman away. + Let him look in my face, if he dare, if he can! + Let him stand up on oath to deny what I say! + 'Tis a story that many a wife can repeat, + From the day that the old curse of Eden began; + In the dread name of Justice, look down from your seat! + Come, sentence the Woman, and shelter the Man!" + + A silence more terrible reigned than before, + For the lip of the coward was cruelly curled; + But the hand of the jailer slipped down from the door + Made to shut this sad wanderer out from the world! + Said the Judge, "My poor woman, now listen to me: + Not one hour you shall stray from humanity's heart + When thirty swift minutes have sped, you are free + In the name of the Law, which is Mercy, depart!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +OLD TURF FRIENDS. + + +An announcement in the morning papers of the death of Mr. Richard +C. Naylor of Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire, at the age of eighty-six, +carried me back to the far-off days when, tempted by the hospitality +and kind friendship of Lord Falmouth, I became a regular visitor of +Newmarket Heath--an _habitué_ during the splendid dictatorship of +Admiral Rous! + +I would like to mention the names of some of the celebrities of the +Turf of those days, many of them my frequent companions, and no less +my real and sincere friends. Time, however, fails. But in looking +through the piles of letters with which the kindness of my friends has +favoured me from time to time, I come across many a relic of the past +that recalls the pleasantest associations. Even a telegram, most +prosaic of correspondence, which I meet with at this moment, is a +little poem in its way, and brings back scenes and circumstances over +which memory loves to linger. + +It is nothing in itself, but let any one who has loved country +life and enjoyed its sports and its many friendships consider what +forgotten pleasures may be brought to mind by this telegram. + +_Telegram_. + +DORCHESTER, _November_ 2, '97. + +Handed in at QUORN at 9.10 a.m. + +Received here at 11.1 a.m. + +_To_ SIR H. HAWKINS, The Judges' House, Dorchester. + +Just returned from Badminton to find the most charming present from +you, which I shall always regard with the greatest value, and think +you are too kind, in giving me such a present. Am writing.--LONSDALE. + +"At _Quorn_," I repeat, and then I find the letter which Lord Lonsdale +was writing. This is it:-- + + CHURCHILL COTTAGE, + QUORN, + LOUGHBOROUGH, + _Tuesday, November_ 2, '97. + +MY DEAR SIR HENRY,--How can I thank you enough for your magnificent +present? It is, indeed, kind of you thinking of me, and I can assure +you that the spurs shall remain an "heirloom" to decorate the +dinner-table (a novel ornament) and match the silver spur poor old +White Melville gave me. Why you should have so honoured me I do not +know, but that I fully value your kindly thought I do know. + +Is there any chance of your being in these parts? If so, _do_ pay me a +visit. + +And with many, many thanks for your extreme kindness, + +Believe me + +Yours very truly, + +(_Signed_) LONSDALE. + +Alas! almost all of them have passed away, yet they will live while +the memory of the generation lasts which called them friends. They +have vanished from the scenes in which they played so prominent a +part, and yet their influence remains. + +There was the old Admiral himself, the king of sportsmen and good +fellows. Horse or man-o'-war, it was all one to him; and although +sport may not be regarded as of the same importance with politics, who +knows which has the more beneficial influence on mankind? I would have +backed Admiral Rous to save us from war, and if we drifted into it to +save us from the enemy, against any man in the world. Then there +was his bosom friend George Payne, and the old, old Squire George +Osbaldeston, Lord Falmouth, W.S. Crawfurd, the Earl of Wilton, Lord +Bradford, Lord Rosslyn, Lord Vivian, the Duke of Hamilton, George +Brace, General Mark Wood, Alexander, Lord Westmorland, the Earl of +Aylesbury, Clare Vyner, Dudley, Milner, Sir John Astley ("The Mate"), +Lords Suffolk and Berkshire, Coventry and Clonmell, Manton, Ker +Seymer--the names crowd upon my memory; then, alas! a long, long while +after, Henry Calcraft, Lord Granville, Lord Portsmouth, and "Prince +Eddy," Lord Gerard, the Earl of Hardwicke, Viscount Royston, Sam +Batchelor, and Tyrwhitt Wilson. + +These are some of those whom I remember, and, by the way, I ought to +add the Duke of Westminster and Tom Jennings, names interesting +and distinguished, and indicative of a phase of life ever full of +enjoyment such as is not known out of the sporting world, where +excitement lends to pleasure the effervescence and sparkle which make +life something more than animal existence. + +This is true in hunting, racing, cricket, and I should think +intensified in the highest degree in a charge of cavalry. Take +Balaclava, for instance: the very fact of staking life at such odds +must have compressed into that moment a whole life of ordinary +pleasure. + +I will mention a few more names, and then close another chapter of my +memory. There was Mr. J.A. Craven, the Duke of St. Albans, the Duke +of Beaufort, Montagu Tharp, Major Egerton, General Pearson, Lord +Calthorpe, Henry Saville, Douglas Gordon (Mr. Briggs), Oliver Montagu, +Henry Leeson, the Earl of Milltown, Sir Henry Devereux, Johnny Shafto, +Douglas Phillips, Randolph Churchill, Lord Exeter, Lord Stamford. + +Of the famous jockeys and trainers there were John Scott, Mat Dawson, +Fred Archer. There were also James Weatherby, Judge Clark, and +Tattersall. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +LEAVING THE BENCH--LORD BRAMPTON. + + +At length the time came when I was to bid good-bye to the Queen's +Bench and the Court No. 5 in which I had so long presided, where I had +met and made so many friends, all more or less learned in the law. I +had been a Judge since the year 1876, and Time, in its never-ceasing +progress, had whispered to me more than once, "Tarry not too long upon +the scene of your old labours, where your presence has made you a +familiar object to all the members of every branch of your great and +responsible profession; and while health and vigour and intelligence +still, by God's blessing, remain to you, apparently unimpaired by +lapse of years, take some of that rest and repose which you have +earned, ere it be too late." + +Thereupon, without any needless ceremony of leave-taking, at the close +of the year 1898 I took my leave of the Bench with a simple bow. +Silently, but with real affection for all I was leaving behind me, I +quitted my occupation on the Bench. I considered this to be a far more +dignified way of making my exit than meeting face to face the whole of +the court and its practitioners and officers, and leaving it to the +eloquent and friendly speech of the Attorney-General to flatter me far +beyond my deserts in the customary farewell address which he would +have offered to me. I thought it better to rely upon the expressions +and conduct of those who knew me well, and to feel that they +appreciated the discharge of the many arduous duties which I had been +called on to perform. As some evidence of this, I would point to the +good wishes from all kinds and classes of people which have followed +me into private life, and the numerous letters which every post +brought me, and which would fill a volume in themselves. + +But the crowning honour was graciously conferred upon me by her late +Majesty Queen Victoria on January 1, 1899, through the then Marquis of +Salisbury, who signified that her Majesty intended to raise me to the +peerage. His lordship's letter announcing the gracious act I recall +with feelings of pleasure and gratitude, and I need not say that it +will, while life lasts, be my greatest pride. I was subsequently sworn +of her Majesty's Privy Council, and for more than two years attended +pretty regularly in the Final Court of Appeal. + +It does not behove me to say more on this subject than that the +acknowledgment of my long services by the Sovereign must ever be my +greatest pride and satisfaction. + +On February 7, 1899, I was introduced to the House of Peers, and took +my seat. + +I chose for my name and designation the title of Baron Brampton, which +her Majesty was pleased to approve. My little property, therefore, +which I mentioned earlier in my reminiscences, conferred on me what +was more valuable than its income--the title by which I am now known. + +Speaking with reference to those long years ago when I was dissuaded +from my career by those who doubtless had the most affectionate +interest in my welfare, and to whose advice I proved to be so +undutiful, I cannot help, whether vanity be attributed to me or not, +contrasting the position of the penniless articled clerk in the +attorney's office and the situation which came to me as the result of +unremitting labour. + +Let me state it with pride as well as humility that my rewards have +been beyond my dreams and far above my deserts. + +On February 7, in a committee room of the House, I was met by my +supporters and those whose duties made them a portion of the ceremony, +and realized the ambition that came to me only in my later life. + +Some members of my family would have preferred the family name to be +associated with the title. I must confess I had some attachment for +it, as it had rendered me such good service, and it was somewhat hard +to give it up. + +If, however, I had had any hesitation, it would have been removed +when one afternoon Lord ---- called on me, and in his chaffing manner +said,-- + +"Well, I hear you are to be Lord '_Awkins_ of '_Itchin_, 'Erts." + +"Be ---- if I will!" said I; "Brampton's the only landed estate I have +inherited, and although the old ladies who are life-tenants kept me +out of it as long as they could, I shall take my title from it as the +only thing I am likely to get out of it." + +"Bravo!" said he. "I don't like 'Awkins of 'Itchin, 'Erts. _Brampton_ +sounds like a title; and so my hearty congratulations, and may you and +her ladyship live long to enjoy it!" + +"Mr. Punch" was good enough to furnish me with a beautiful and +humorous coat of arms, done by that very talented artist Mr. E.T. +Reed. + + * * * * * + +Since the commencement of this volume many of the old friends +mentioned in it with affectionate remembrance have gone to their rest, +and I am steadily approaching my own end. Trusting to the mercy and +goodness of God, I patiently await my summons. I can but humbly add +that to the best of my poor ability I have ever conscientiously +endeavoured in all things to do my duty. + +And now, as I lay down my pen, dreamily thinking over old names, old +friends, and old faces of bygone years, I live my life over again. +Everything passes like a picturesque vision before my eyes. I can see +the old coach which brought me from my home--a distance of thirty +miles in eight hours--a rapid journey in those days. This was old +Kirshaw's swift procedure. Then there was the "Bedford Times" I +travelled with, which was Whitehead's fire-engine kind of motor; but +generally in that district John Crowe was the celebrated whip. + +Then passes before me the old Cock that crew over the doorway in Fleet +Street, a Johnsonian tavern of mighty lineage and celebrity for chops +and steaks. And I see the old waiter, with his huge pockets behind, in +which he deposited the tons of copper tips from the numberless diners +whom he attended to during his long career. + +Then I observe the Rainbow, by no means such a celebrity, although +more brilliant than the Mitre by its side; and in the Mitre I see (but +only in imagination) Johnson and Goldsmith talking over the quaint +philosophy of wine and letters till three o'clock in the morning, +finishing their three or four bottles of port, and wondering why they +were a little seedy the next day. + +And there sits at my side, enjoying his chop, Tom Firr, described as +the king of huntsmen--a true and honest sportsman, simple, respectful, +and respected, whose name I will not omit from my list of celebrities, +for he is as worthy of a place in my reminiscences as any M.F.H. you +could meet. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +SENTENCES. + + +There is no part of a Judge's duty which is more important or +more difficult than apportioning the punishment to the particular +circumstances of a conviction. As an illustration of this statement I +would take the offence of bigamy, where in the one case the convicted +person would deserve a severe sentence of imprisonment, while in +another case he or she might be set at liberty without any punishment +at all. Such cases have occurred before me. + +The sentence of another Judge upon another prisoner ought not to be +followed, for each prisoner should be punished for nothing but the +particular crime which he has committed. For this reason the case of +each individual should be considered by itself. + +I dislike, also, the practice of passing a severe sentence for a +trifling offence merely because it has been a common habit in other +places or of other persons. For instance I have known five years of +penal servitude imposed for stealing from outside a shop on a second +conviction, when one month would have been more than enough on a first +conviction, and two or three months on a second conviction. For +small offences like these the penalty should always be the same +in character--I mean not excessive imprisonment, and never penal +servitude. As often as a man steals let him be sent to prison, and it +may be for each offence the time of imprisonment should be somewhat +slightly increased, but not the character of the punishment. + +Years ago, in my Session days, I remember a poor and, I am afraid, +dishonest client of mine being _transported for life_ (on a second +conviction for larceny) for stealing _a donkey_; but I doubt if that +could happen nowadays. It seems incredible. + +Nobody who has carefully noted the innumerable phases of crime which +our criminal courts have continually to deal with, and the infinite +shades of guilt attached to each of those crimes, will fail to come +to the conclusion that one might as well attempt to allocate to its +fitting place each grain of sand, exposed to the currents of a desert +and all other disturbing influences, as endeavour by any scheme or +fixed rule to determine what is the fitting sentence to be endured for +every crime which a person can be proved, under any circumstances, to +have committed. + +The course I adopted in practice was this. My first care was never to +pass any sentence inconsistent with any other sentence passed under +similar circumstances for another though similar offence. Then I +proceeded to fix in my own mind what ought to be the outside sentence +that should be awarded for that particular offence had it stood +alone; and from that I deducted every circumstance of mitigation, +provocation, etc., the balance representing the sentence I finally +awarded, confining it purely to the actual guilt of the prisoner. + +I have noticed that burglaries with violence are rarely committed +by one man alone, and that when two or more men are concerned in a +murder, one or more of them being afraid that some one, in the hope of +saving himself from the treachery of others, is anxious to shift the +whole guilt of the robbery, with its accompanying violence, on to the +shoulders of his comrades. It is well that this should be so, and that +such dangerous criminals should distrust with fear and hatred their +equally guilty associates. + +Except for special peremptory reasons, I never passed sentence until I +had reconsidered the case and informed my own mind, to the best of +my ability, as to what was the true magnitude and character of the +offence I was called upon to punish. + +The effect of such deliberation was that I often mitigated the +punishment I had intended to inflict, and when I had proposed my +sentence I do not remember ever feeling that I had acted excessively +or done injustice. I am now quite certain that no sentence can be +properly awarded unless after such consideration. I speak, of course, +only of serious crimes. + +It has more than once happened that even after all the evidence in the +case was before the jury, as was supposed, I have discovered that an +accused man, in _mitigation of sentence_, has pleaded that which would +have been a _perfect defence to the charge made against him_! One +of these instances was very remarkable. It happened at some country +racecourse. + +A man was charged with robbing another who was in custody in charge +of the police for "welshing." The prisoner had undoubtedly, while the +prosecutor, as I will call him, was in custody, and being led along +the course, rushed up to him, after jumping the barriers, and put +his hand in his coat-pocket, pulling out his pocket-book and other +articles. He then made off, but was pursued by the police and +arrested. He was indicted for the robbery, and the facts were +undisputed. + +There was no defence set up, and I was about to ask the jury for their +opinion on the case, which certainly had a very extraordinary aspect. + +Suddenly the prisoner blurted out, as excusing himself,-- + +"Well, sir, _he asked me to take the things_. I was a stranger to him, +and the mob was turning his pockets inside out and ill-treating him +for welshing." + +I immediately asked the prosecutor, "Is that true?" and he answered, +"Yes." The prisoner said, "I only did it to protect his things for +him." + +Of course I instantly stopped the case and directed an acquittal. +I then gave both parties a little advice. To the prosecutor (the +welsher) I said, "Don't go welshing any more;" and to the prisoner, +"If you ever again see a welsher in distress, don't help him." + +I should like to say one word more. It should not be supposed that +a man, when sentenced, is altogether bad because he uses insulting +language to the Judge. He may not be utterly bad and past all hope of +redemption on that account. + +The want of even an approach to uniformity in criminal sentences is +no doubt a very serious matter, and is due, not to any defect in +the criminal law (much as I think that might be improved in many +respects), but is owing to the great diversity of opinion, and +therefore of action, which not unnaturally exists among criminal +Judges, from the highest to the humblest, numbering, as they do, +at least 5,000 personages, including Judges of the High Courts, +commissioners, recorders, police magistrates, and justices of the +peace. + +When one considers the conditions under which the criminal law is +administered in England, and remembers that no fixed principles upon +which punishments should be awarded have been authoritatively laid +down, and that the law has stated only a maximum (but happily at the +present time not a minimum), and each Judge is left practically at +liberty to exercise his own unfettered discretion so long as he +confines himself within the limit so prescribed, it is no matter for +wonder that so great a diversity of punishment should follow so great +a variety of opinion. + +Even in the most accurate and useful books of practice to which all +look for guidance and assistance during every stage of the criminal +proceedings, down to the conviction of the offender, no serious +attempt has been made to deal, even in the most general way, with the +mode in which the appropriate sentence should be arrived at. + +The result of this state of things is extremely unsatisfactory, and +the most glaring irregularities, diversity, and variety of sentences +are daily brought to our notice, the same offence committed under +similar circumstances being visited by one Judge with a long term of +penal servitude, by another with simple imprisonment, with nothing +appreciable to account for the difference. + +In one or the other of these sentences discretion must have been +erroneously exercised. I have seen such diversity even between Judges +of profound learning in the law who might not unreasonably, _primâ +facie_, be pointed to as safe examples to be followed; and so they +were, so far as regarded their legal utterances. Experience, however, +has told us that the profoundest lawyers are not always the best +administrators of the criminal law. + +Practically there are now no criminal offences which can be visited +with the penalty of death. Treason and murder still remain. For the +latter offence the Judge is _bound to pronounce sentence of death_, +which is imperatively fixed and ordained by Act of Parliament, and any +other sentence would be illegal. + +There are certain principles which I consider ought never to be lost +sight of. + +In the first place, it must be remembered that for mere immorality, +not made criminal by the common or statute law of the land, no +punishment can be legally inflicted, and, in my opinion, no crime +ought to be visited with a heavier punishment merely because it is +also against the laws of God. + +Take, for example, the crime of unlawfully knowing a girl under +the age of sixteen years, even with consent. Assume that with her +invitation the man committed himself. Go further, and establish the +sin of incest. The latter sin ought to be _totally ignored_ in dealing +with the _statutory_ offence. + +I must not, however, be understood as intending my observations to +apply to cases where the immorality is in itself an _element_ of the +crime. My view is that the rule ought to apply only in cases where +the immorality is only a sin against God, and is severable from the +_crime_ committed against the laws of the land. + +The case I have suggested is an illustration of what I mean. + +Secondly, a sentence ought never to be so severe as to create in the +mind of reasonable persons, having knowledge of the circumstances, a +sympathy with the criminal, for that tends to bring the administration +of the law into discredit, and while giving a Judge credit for having +acted with the strictest sense of justice, it might give rise to a +suspicion of his fitness and qualifications for the administration of +the criminal law--a state of things which ought to be avoided. + +The same observations apply, but not with equal force, to sentences +which may to reasonable persons acquainted with all the circumstances +appear to be ridiculously light, for it is more consistent with our +laws to err on the side of mercy than on the side of severity. + +The object of criminal sentences is to compel the observance by all +persons, high and low, rich and poor, of those public rights and +privileges, both as regards the persons and property common to all +their fellow-subjects, the infringement of which is made criminal. + +For the infringement of other rights of a private character the law +has provided civil remedies with which we are not at this moment +concerned. + +Punishments, then, should be administered only as a necessary sequence +to the breach of a _criminal_ law, with the object of deterring the +offender from repeating his offence. + +Of necessity it operates to some extent as a warning to others; but +that is not its primary object, for no punishment ought to exceed in +severity that which is due to the particular offence to which it is +applied. To add to a sentence for a very venial offence for which +a nominal punishment ought to suffice an extra fine or term of +imprisonment by way of example or warning to others would be +unreasonable and unjust. Vengeance, or the infliction of unnecessary +pain, especially for the sake of others, should never form part of a +criminal sentence. + +Reformation of the criminal by and during his imprisonment should +be one chief object of his punishment, but a just sentence for the +offence is not to be prolonged either for education or reformation, +unless expressly sanctioned by law, as in the case of reformatories. + +With regard to crimes of violence, it sometimes happens that long +periods of restraint and imprisonment are imperative--where, for +instance, the criminal is persistent in his threats, or has made +it evident by his actions or words that on his liberation from +imprisonment for criminal violence he intends to resume his criminal +course, and will do so unless restrained. + +Take, for instance, the case of a persistent burglar, the great +majority of whose robberies are committed under circumstances +calculated to create terror and alarm, and upon whom imprisonment, +however long, has no restraining effect after his liberation. Take the +confirmed highway robber, who to secure his booty does not scruple to +use deadly violence upon his victim. It is rare that one short term +of imprisonment, or the fear of another, induces him to abandon his +criminal course. In such cases it is essential for the protection +of the public that he should no longer be at liberty to pursue his +dangerous and alarming course of life. For him, therefore, a much +longer term of restraint is necessary than in the case of mere +pilferers, whose thefts, although causing loss and vexation, are not +productive of personal injury. + +Lastly, I am strongly averse from abolishing the sentence of death in +cases of deliberate murder. Even when the crime is committed under the +influence of jealousy, I should take little pains to save the life +of one who had cruelly and deliberately murdered another for the +gratification of revenge or the purpose of robbery. + +In the case of poor creatures who make away with their illegitimate +offspring in the agony of their trouble and shame, there were, in +my experience, almost always to be found very strong reasons for +commutation, even to very limited periods of imprisonment. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +CARDINAL MANNING--"OUR CHAPEL." + + +Cardinal Manning was a real friend to me, and I often spent an hour +with him on a Sunday morning or afternoon discussing general topics. +At my request, when I had no thought of being converted to his Church, +he marked in a book of prayers which he gave me several of his own +selections, which I have carefully preserved; but I can truly say he +never uttered one word, or made the least attempt, to proselytize me. +He left me to my own free, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable action. My +reception into the Church of Rome was purely of my own free choice and +will, and according to the exercise of my own judgment. I thought for +myself, and acted for myself, or I should not have acted at all. + +I have always been, and _am_, satisfied that I was right. + +As to Cardinal Manning, his extreme good sense and toleration were my +admiration at all times, and I shall venerate his memory as long as I +live. His kindness was unbounded. + +It was after his death, which was a great shock to me, that I was +received into the Church by the late Cardinal Vaughan. + +When the latter was showing Lady Brampton and myself over that +beautiful structure, the new Westminster Cathedral, I thought I should +like to erect a memorial chapel, and made a proposal to that effect. +We resolved to dedicate it to St. Gregory and St. Augustine. It was +afterwards called "Our Chapel." + +The stonework was accordingly proceeded with, and afterwards the plans +for decoration were submitted to the Archbishop and myself. For these +decorations I subscribed a portion. The rest of the work was our own, +and we have the satisfaction of feeling that Our Chapel is erected to +the honour and glory of God. + +The style of decoration adopted is Byzantine. The walls are +embellished with many and various beautiful marbles. The eastern side +has a representation of Pope Gregory sending St. Augustine with his +followers to preach the gospel in England. Another scene is St. +Augustine's reception by King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha in the Isle +of Thanet. + +The panels of the reredos contain pictures of St. Gregory and St. +Augustine, with their four contemporaries, St. Paulinus, St. Justus +(Bishop of Rochester), St. Laurentius, and St. Mellitus (Bishop of +London). + +On the north are figures of St. Edmund, St. Osbald, and the Venerable +Bede; while opposite are St. Wilfred, St. Cuthbert, and St. Benedict. + +On the west are St. John the Baptist and St. Augustine, and below +these, figures of women pouring water from pitchers, symbolical of the +river Jordan. + +Under the arch of this side are most artistically designed panels +containing the names of the four rivers of Paradise. + +The floor is inlaid, and the windows, which are of opalescent glass, +throw over the structure a soft white light, admitting of the perfect +harmony of colours which everywhere adorn this very beautiful chapel. + + * * * * * + +Almost all whose names I have mentioned in these reminiscences are +gone. There are many others equally dear about whom I cannot for want +of time and space write here; most of them have also passed away. + +They can no longer sing the old songs, or tell the old tales, but +their memory remains, and the pleasant melody of their lives. I enjoy +their companionship now in the quietude of my home, and their memory +brightens even the sweet twilight of the evening hours. But it all +reminds me that the signal has been given to ring the curtain down. + +I therefore make a last and momentary appearance in the closing drama, +only to bid all and every one with whom I have been associated in +times past and in times recent, as the curtain falls, + +AN AFFECTIONATE FAREWELL. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +THE CROWN CALENDAR FOR THE LINCOLNSHIRE LENT ASSIZES. + +_Holden at the Castle of Lincoln on Saturday the 7th of March 1818, +before the Right Honorable Sir Vicary Gibbs and the Honorable Sir +William Garrow_. + +JOHN CHARLES LUCAS CALCRAFT, ESQ., SHERIFF. + +1. William Bewley, aged 49, late of Kingston upon Hull, pensioner from +the 5th Regt. of foot, committed July 29, 1817, charged on suspicion +of having feloniously broken into the dwelling house of James Crowder +at Barton, no person being therein, and stealing 1 bottle green coat, +1 velveteen jacket, 3 waistcoats, &c. Guilty--Death. + +2. John Giddy, aged 22, late of Horncastle, tailor, com. Aug. 5, 1817, +charged with stealing a silver watch with a gold seal and key, from +the shop of James Genistan of Horncastle. Six Months Imprisonment. + +3. George Kirkhan, aged 25, } + } both late of Stickney, +4. John Colston Maynard, aged 19, } + +laborers, com. Aug. 22, 1817, charged on suspicion of feloniously +entering the dwelling house of W'm Bell of Stickney, between 9 and +10 o'ck in the morning, and stealing one £5 note and 8 £1 notes. +Acquitted. + +5. George Crow, aged 15, late of Frith Ville, com. Sept. 23, 1817, +charged on suspicion of having entered the dwelling house of S. Holmes +of Frith Ville, about 7 o'ck in the morning, breaking open a desk, +and stealing three £1 notes, 3s. 6d. in silver, and a purse. +Guilty--Death. + +6. Thomas Young, aged 17, late of Firsby, laborer, com. Sept. 23, +1817, charged with having, about 11 o'ck at night, entered the +dwelling house of John Ashlin of Firsby, with intent to commit a +robbery. Guilty--Death. + +7. Robert Husker, aged 28,} + } both late of Glamford Briggs, +8. John Robinson, aged 28,} + +laborers, com. Oct. 13, 1817, charged with burglariously breaking into +the dwelling house of Chas. Saunby, of South Kelsey, and stealing +therefrom several goods and chattels. Guilty--Death. + +9. John Marriott, aged 19, late of Osgodby, laborer, com. Oct. 18, +1817, charged with maliciously and feloniously setting fire to an oat +stack, the property of Thomas Marshall of Osgodby. Guilty--Death. + +10. Sarah Hudson, alias Heardson, aged 25, late of Newark, +Nottinghamshire, com. Oct. 24, 1817, charged on suspicion of +feloniously stealing from the cottage of James Barrell of Aisthorpe, +in the day time, no person being therein, 6 silver tea-spoons and a +pair of silver sugar tongs. Discharged by proclamation. + +11. Elizabeth Firth, aged 14, late of Burgh cum Girsby, spinster, com. +Nov. 22, 1817, charged with twice administering a quantity of vitrol +or verdigrease powder, or other deadly poison, with intent to murder +Susanna, the infant daughter of George Barnes of Burgh cum Girsby. No +true Bill. + +12. John Moody, aged 28, late of Stallingborough, laborer, com. Dec. +24, 1817, charged with having committed the odious and detestable +crime and felony called sodomy. Indicted for misdemeanor. Two years +imprisonment. + +13. William Johnson, aged 28, late of Bardney, laborer, com. Dec. 29, +1817, charged with having burglariously entered the dwelling house +of W'm Smith, of Bardney, and wilfully and malliciously beating and +wounding, with intent to murder and rob Wm. Kirmond, a lodger therein. +Seven Years Transportation. + +14. Richard Randall, aged 27,} + } both late of Lutton, +15. John Tubbs, aged 29, } + +laborers, com. Dec. 29, 1817, charged with feloniously assaulting Wm. +Rowbottom of Holbeach Marsh, between 11 and 12 o'ck in the night, in +a field near the king's highway, and stealing from his person 3 +promissory £10 notes, 8 or 10 shillings in silver, one silver stop +and seconds watch, and various other goods and chattels. Both +guilty--Death. + +16. William Hayes, aged 20, late of Braceby, weaver, com. Jan. 6, +1818, charged with feloniously stealing a mare, together with a saddle +and bridle, the property of Ed. Briggs of Hanby. Guilty--Death. + +17. Thomas Evison, aged 24, } + } both late of Alnwick, +18. Thomas Norris, aged 28, } + +laborers, com. Jan. 21, 1818, charged with feloniously setting fire to +a thrashing machine and a hovel, containing a quantity of oats in the +straw, the property of Thos. Faulkner, jun. of Alnwick, which were all +consumed. Guilty--Death. + +19. William Walker, aged 20, laborer, } + } both late of Boston, +20. Elizabeth Eno, aged 19, spinster, } + +com. Jan. 28, 1818, charged with burglariously entering the dwelling +house of Wm. Trentham, and stealing a sum of money in gold and +silver, several country bank notes, and a red morocco pocket-book. +Guilty--Death. + +21. William Bell, alias John Brown, aged 30, late of Alvingham, +laborer, com. Feb. 19, 1818, charged with burglariously breaking into +the shop of Wm. Goy of Alvingham, and stealing 1 pair of new shoes, 1 +half boot, and 1 half boot top. Guilty--Death. + +22. John Hoyes, aged 48, late of Heckington, com. Feb. 24, 1818, +charged with feloniously stealing 2 pigs of the value of £3, the +property of John Fairchild of Wellingore. Acquitted. + +23. Christiana Robinson, aged 24, } + } both late of Glamford +24. Mary Stewart, aged 26, } + +Briggs, com. March 7, 1818, charged with breaking into Chas. Saunby's +shop, &c. (same as Nos. 7 and 8). Not prosecuted. + +PRISONERS UNDER SENTENCE. + +George Houdlass, convicted at Lammas Assizes, 1815, of mare +stealing.--Ordered to be transported for the term of his natural life. +(The Prince Regent, in the name of His Majesty, having graciously +extended the Royal Mercy to the said convict, his said sentence is +commuted to two years imprisonment, commencing July 1, 1817.) + +Martin Dowdwell, convicted at the Lent Assizes, 1817, of +perjury.--Ordered to be impillored once and imprisoned for two years. + +Susanna Pepper, convicted at the Lammas Assizes, 1817, of secreting +the birth of her bastard child.--Ordered to be imprisoned for one +year. + +William Whitehead (the younger); at the Summer Assizes, 1817, was +found by a jury to be of unsound mind.--Ordered to be imprisoned until +His Majesty's pleasure be known. + +Edward Croft, convicted at the Louth quarter sessions, held Jan. 12, +1815, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +John Caminack, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, Jan. 17, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Busbey, convicted at the same sessions of a felony.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +William Nubert, convicted at the Lent Assizes, 1817, of +burglary.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Patchett, convicted at the same Assizes of burglary.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +Richard Clarke, convicted at the Summer Assizes, 1817, of having +forged bank notes in his possession.--Ordered to be transported for +fourteen years. + +Thomas Maddison, convicted at the same Assizes of burglary.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +James Donnington, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +lamb.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +Samuel Brown, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +mare.--Ordered to be transported for the term of his natural life. + +Joseph Greenfield, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +heifer.--Ordered to be transported for fourteen years. + +William Johnson, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, July 25, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Willson, convicted at the Kirton quarter sessions, Oct. 17, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +Henry Thorpe, convicted at the Bourn quarter sessions, Jan. 13, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +George Croft, convicted at the Boston quarter sessions, Jan. 13, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Betts, alias Bungs, convicted at the Spalding quarter +sessions, Jan. 16, 1818, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for +seven years. + +James Tidwell, convicted at the same sessions of a felony.--Ordered to +be transported for seven years. + +Samuel Chapman, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, Jan. 16, +1818, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +David Jones, convicted at the Kirton quarter sessions, Jan. 20, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +IN HIS MAJESTY'S GAOL IN THE CITY OF LINCOLN. + +1. Daniel Elston, aged 34, late of Waddington, cordwainer, com. Sep. +22, 1817, charged with feloniously stealing from the dwelling house +of Rd. Blackbourn, of Waddington, one silver watch, and a pair of new +quarter boots.--Guilty of stealing only--7 years transportation. + +2. William Kehos, aged 22, a private soldier in the 95th Regt. of +foot, com. Nov. 17, 1817, charged with feloniously slaughtering +and stealing from the close of Matthew White of Lincoln one wether +hog.--Guilty--Death. + + +Printed by DRURY & SONS, Lincoln. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins +(Baron Brampton), by Henry Hawkins Brampton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR HENRY HAWKINS *** + +***** This file should be named 10392-8.txt or 10392-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/9/10392/ + +Produced by Eric Hutton, Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins (Baron Brampton) + +Author: Henry Hawkins Brampton + +Release Date: December 6, 2003 [EBook #10392] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR HENRY HAWKINS *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Hutton, Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + +[Illustration: SIR HENRY HAWKINS AND "JACK." _Photo by Elliot & Fry_.] + + + + +THE + +REMINISCENCES + +OF + +SIR HENRY HAWKINS + +(BARON BRAMPTON) + +EDITED BY + +RICHARD HARRIS, K.C. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +As a preface I wish to say only a very few words--namely, that but for +the great pressure put upon me I should not have ventured to write, +or allowed to be published, any reminiscences of mine, being very +conscious that I could not offer to the public any words of my own +that would be worth the time it would occupy to read them; but the +whole merit of this volume is due to my very old friend Richard +Harris, K.C., who has already shown, by his skill and marvellously +attractive composition in reproducing my efforts in the Tichborne +case, what interest may be imparted to an otherwise very dry subject. +In that work[A] he has done me much more than justice, and for this I +thank him, with many good wishes for the success of this his new work, +and with many thanks to those of the public who may take and feel an +interest in such of my imperfect reminiscences as are here recorded. + +BRAMPTON. + +HARROGATE, _August 17, 1904_. + +[Footnote A: "Illustrations in Advocacy" (fourth edition, Stevens and +Haynes).] + + + + +EDITOR'S PREFACE. + + +This volume is the outcome of many conversations with Lord Brampton +and of innumerable manuscript notes from his pen. I have endeavoured, +as far as possible, to present them to the public in such a manner +that, although chronological order has not been strictly adhered to, +it has been, nevertheless, considering the innumerable events of Lord +Brampton's career, carefully observed. + +Apocryphal stories are always told of celebrated men, and of no one +more than of Sir Henry Hawkins during his career on the Bench and at +the Bar; but I venture to say that there is no doubtful story in this +volume, and, further, that there is not one which has ever been told +exactly in the same form before. Good stories, like good coin, lose +by circulation. If there should be one or two in these reminiscences +which have lost their image and superscription by much handling, I +hope that the recasting which they have undergone will give them, not +only the brightness of the original mint, but a wider circulation than +they have ever known. + +The distinguishing characteristics by which Lord Brampton's stories +may be known I have long been familiar with, and have no hesitation in +saying that one or other, some or all, may be found in every anecdote +that bears the genuine stamp. They are + +WIT, HUMOUR, PATHOS, AND TRAGEDY. + +My claims in the production of this volume are confined to its +_defects_, although Lord Brampton has been generous enough to +attribute to me a share in its merits. + +RICHARD HARRIS. + +27 FITZJOHN'S AVENUE, + +HAMPSTEAD, + +_October_ 6, 1904. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER + +I. AT BEDFORD SCHOOL + +II. IN MY UNCLE'S OFFICE + +III. SECOND YEAR--THESIGER AND PLATT--MY FIRST BRIEF + +IV. AT THE OLD BAILEY IN THE OLD TIMES + +V. MR. JUSTICE MAULE + +VI. AN INCIDENT ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET + +VII. AN EPISODE AT HERTFORD QUARTER SESSIONS + +VIII. A DANGEROUS SITUATION--A CASE OF FORGETFULNESS + +IX. THE ONLY "RACER" I EVER OWNED--SAM LINTON, THE DOG-FINDER + +X. WHY I GAVE OVER CARD-PLAYING + +XI. "CODD'S PUZZLE" + +XII. GRAHAM, THE POLITE JUDGE + +XIII. GLORIOUS OLD DAYS--THE HON. BOB GRIMSTON, AND MANY +OTHERS--CHICKEN-HAZARD + +XIV. PETER RYLAND--THE REV. MR. FAKER AND THE WELSH WILL + +XV. TATTERSALL'S--BARON MARTIN, HARRY HILL, AND THE OLD FOX IN THE +YARD + +XVI. ARISING OUT OF THE "ORSINI AFFAIR" + +XVII. APPOINTED QUEEN'S COUNSEL--A SERIOUS ILLNESS--SAM LEWIS + +XVIII. THE PRIZE--FIGHT ON FRIMLEY COMMON + +XIX. SAM WARREN, THE AUTHOR OF "TEN THOUSAND A YEAR" + +XX. THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE + +XXI. THE KNEBWORTH THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS--SIR EDWARD BULWER +LYTTON--CHARLES DICKENS, CHARLES MATHEWS, MACREADY, DOUGLAS JERROLD + +XXII. CROCKFORD'S--"HOOKS AND EYES"--DOUGLAS JERROLD + +XXIII. ALDERSON, TOMKINS, AND A FREE COUNTRY--A PROBLEM IN HUMAN +NATURE + +XXIV. CHARLES MATHEWS--A HARVEST FESTIVAL AT THE VILLAGE CHURCH + +XXV. COMPENSATION--NICE CALCULATIONS IN OLD DAYS--EXPERTS--LLOYD AND I + +XXVI. ELECTION PETITIONS + +XXVII. MY CANDIDATURE FOR BARNSTAPLE + +XXVIII. THE TICHBORNE CASE + +XXIX. A VISIT TO SHEFFIELD--MRS. HAILSTONE'S DANISH BOARHOUND + +XXX. AN EXPERT IN HANDWRITING--"DO YOU KNOW JOE BROWN?" + +XXXI. APPOINTED A JUDGE--MY FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER + +XXXII. ON THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT + +XXXIII. JACK + +XXXIV. TWO TRAGEDIES + +XXXV. THE ST. NEOTS CASE + +XXXVI. A NIGHT AT NOTTINGHAM + +XXXVII. HOW I MET AN INCORRIGIBLE PUNSTER + +XXXVIII. THE TILNEY STREET OUTRAGE--"ARE YOU NOT GOING TO PUT ON THE +BLACK CAP, MY LORD?" + +XXXIX. SEVERAL SCENES + +XL. DR. LAMSON--A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY--A WILL CASE + +XLI. MR.J.L. TOOLE ON THE BENCH + +XLII. A FULL MEMBER OF THE JOCKEY CLUB + +XLIII. THE LITTLE MOUSE AND THE PRISONER--THE BRUTALITY OF OUR OLD +LAWS + +XLIV. THE LAST OF LORD CAMPBELL--WINE AND WATER--SIR THOMAS WILDE + +XLV. HOW I CROSS-EXAMINED PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON + +XLVI. THE NEW LAW ALLOWING THE ACCUSED TO GIVE EVIDENCE--THE CASE OF +DR. WALLACE, THE LAST I TRIED ON CIRCUIT + +XLVII. A FAREWELL MEMORY OF JACK + +XLVIII. OLD TURF FRIENDS + +XLIX. LEAVING THE BENCH--LORD BRAMPTON + +L. SENTENCES + +LI. CARDINAL MANNING--"OUR CHAPEL" + +APPENDIX + + + + +THE REMINISCENCES OF SIR HENRY HAWKINS. + +(NOW LORD BRAMPTON.) + + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AT BEDFORD SCHOOL. + + +My father was a solicitor at Hitchin, and much esteemed in the county +of Hertford. He was also agent for many of the county families, with +whom he was in friendly intercourse. My mother was the daughter of +the respected Clerk of the Peace for Bedfordshire, a position of good +influence, which might be, and is occasionally, of great assistance +to a young man commencing his career at the Bar. To me it was of no +importance whatever. + +My father had a large family, sons and daughters, of whom only two are +living. I mention this as an explanation of my early position when +straitened circumstances compelled a most rigid economy. During no +part of my educational career, either at school or in the Inn of Court +to which I belonged, had I anything but a small allowance from my +father. My life at home is as little worth telling as that of any +other in the same social position, and I pass it by, merely stating +that, after proper preparation, I was packed off to Bedford School for +a few years. + +My life there would have been an uninteresting blank but for a little +circumstance which will presently be related. It was the custom +then at this very excellent foundation to give mainly a classical +education, and doubtless I attained a very fair proficiency in my +studies. Had I cultivated them, however, with the same assiduity as +I did many of my pursuits in after-life, I might have attained some +eminence as a professor of the dead languages, and arrived at the +dignity of one of the masters of Bedford. + +However, if I had any ambition at that time, it was not to become a +professor of dead languages, but to see what I could make of my own. +It is of no interest to any one that I had great numbers of peg-tops +and marbles, or learnt to be a pretty good swimmer in the Ouse. There +was a greater swim prepared for me in after-life, and that is the only +reason for my referring to it. + +In the year 1830 Bedford Schoolhouse occupied the whole of one side of +St. Paul's Square, which faced the High Street. From that part of the +building you commanded a view of the square and the beautiful country +around. The sleepy old bridge spanned the still more sleepy river, +over which lay the quiet road leading to the little village of +Willshampstead, and it came along through the old square where the +schoolhouse was. + +It was market day in Bedford, and there was the usual concourse of +buyers and sellers, tramps and country people in their Sunday gear; +farmers and their wives, with itinerant venders of every saleable and +unsaleable article from far and near. + +I was in the upper schoolroom with another boy, and, looking out of +the window, had an opportunity of watching all that took place for a +considerable space. There was a good deal of merriment to divert our +attention, for there were clowns and merry-andrews passing along the +highroad, with singlestick players, Punch and Judy shows, and other +public amusers. Every one knows that the smallest event in the country +will cause a good deal of excitement, even if it be so small an +occurrence as a runaway horse. + +There was, however, no runaway horse to-day; but suddenly a great +silence came over the people, and a sullen gloom that made a great +despondency in my mind without my knowing why. Public solemnity +affects even the youngest of us. At all events, it affected me. + +Presently--and deeply is the event impressed on my mind after seventy +years of a busy life, full of almost every conceivable event--I saw, +emerging from a bystreet that led from Bedford Jail, and coming along +through the square and near the window where I was standing, a common +farm cart, drawn by a horse which was led by a labouring man. As I was +above the crowd on the first floor I could see there was a layer of +straw in the cart at the bottom, and above it, tumbled into a rough +heap, as though carelessly thrown in, a quantity of the same; and I +could see also from all the surrounding circumstances, especially the +pallid faces of the crowd, that there was something sad about it all. +The horse moved slowly along, at almost a snail's pace, while behind +walked a poor, sad couple with their heads bowed down, and each with +a hand on the tail-board of the cart. They were evidently overwhelmed +with grief. + +Happily we have no such processions now; even Justice itself has been +humanized to some extent, and the law's cruel severity mitigated. The +cart contained the rude shell into which had been laid the body of +this poor man and woman's only son, _a youth of seventeen, hanged that +morning at Bedford Jail for setting fire to a stack of corn_! + +He was now being conveyed to the village of Willshampstead, six miles +from Bedford, there to be laid in the little churchyard where in his +childhood he had played. He was the son of very respectable labouring +people of Willshampstead; had been misled into committing what was +more a boyish freak than a crime, and was hanged. That was all the +authorities could do for him, and they did it. This is the remotest +and the saddest reminiscence of my life, and the only sad one I mean +to relate, if I can avoid it. + +But years afterwards, when I became a judge, this picture, +photographed on my mind as it was, gave me many a lesson which I +believe was turned to good account on the judicial bench. It was +mainly useful in impressing on my mind the great consideration of the +surrounding circumstances of every crime, the _degree_ of guilt in +the criminal, and the difference in the degrees of the same kind of +offence. About this I shall say something hereafter. + +I remained at this school until I had acquired all the learning my +father thought necessary for my future position, as he intended it to +be, and much more than I thought necessary, unless I was to get my +living by teaching Latin and Greek. + +In due course I was articled to my worthy uncle, the Clerk of the +Peace, and, had I possessed my present experience, should have known +that it was a diplomatic move of the most profound policy to enable +me, if anything happened to him, to succeed to that important dignity. + +Had I been ambitious of wealth, there were other offices which my +uncle held, to the great satisfaction of the county as well as his +own. These would naturally descend to me, and I should have been in a +position of great prominence in the county, with a very respectable +income. + +But I hated the drudgery of an attorney's office. In six months I saw +enough of its documentary evidence to convince me that I hated it +from my heart, and that nothing on earth would induce me to become a +solicitor. I took good care, meek as I was, to show this determination +to my friends. It was my only chance of escape. But while remaining +there it was my duty to work, however hateful the task, and I did so. + +Even this, to me, most odious business had its advantages in +after-life. I attended one morning with my uncle the Petty Sessions of +Hertford, where, no doubt, I was supposed to enlarge my knowledge +of sessions practice; it certainly did so, for I knew nothing, and +received a lesson, which is not only my earliest recollection, but my +first experience in _Advocacy_. + +At this Hertford Petty Sessional Division the chairman was a somewhat +pompous clergyman, but very devoted to his duties. He was strict in +his application of the law when he knew it, but it was fortunate for +some delinquents, although unfortunate for others, that he did not +always possess sufficient knowledge to act independently of his +clerk's opinion, while the clerk's opinion did not always depend upon +his knowledge of law. + +An impudent vagabond was brought up before this clergyman charged with +a violent and unprovoked assault on a man in a public-house. He was +said to have gone into the room where the prosecutor was, and to have +taken up his jug of ale and appropriated the contents to his own use +without the owner's consent. The prosecutor, annoyed at the outrage, +rose, and was immediately knocked down by the interloper, and in +falling cut his head. + +There was to my untutored mind no defence, but the accused was a +man of remarkable cunning and not a little ingenuity. He knew the +magistrate well, and his special weakness, which was vanity. By his +knowledge the man completely outwitted his adversary, and shifted the +charge from himself on to the prosecutor's shoulders. The curious +thing was he cross-examined the reverend chairman instead of the +witness, which I thought a master-stroke of policy, if not advocacy. + +"You know this public-house, sir?" he asked. + +The reverend gentleman nodded. + +"I put it to yourself, sir, as a gentleman: how would you have liked +it if another man had come to your house and drunk your beer?" + +There was no necessity to give an answer to this question. It answered +itself. The reverend gentleman would not have liked it, and, seeing +this, the accused continued,-- + +"Well, your honour, this here man comes and takes my beer. + +"'Halloa, Jack!' I ses, 'no more o' that.' + +"'No,' he says, 'there's no more; it's all gone.' + +"'Stop a bit," says I; 'that wun't do, nuther.' + +"'That wun't do?' he says. 'Wool that do?' and he ups with the jug and +hits me a smack in the mouth, and down I goes clean on the floor; he +then falls atop of me and right on the pot he held in his hand, which +broke with his fall, bein' a earthenware jug, and cuts his head, and +'Sarve him right,' I hopes your honour'll say; and the proof of which +statement is, sir, that there's the cut o' that jug on his forehead +plainly visible for anybody to see at this present moment. Now, sir, +what next? for there's summat else. + +"'Jack,' says I, 'I'll summon you for this assault.' + +"'Yes,' he says, 'and so'll I; I'll have ee afore his Worship Mr. +Knox.' + +"'Afore his Worship Mr. Knox?' says I. 'And why not afore his Worship +the Rev. Mr. Hull? He's the gentleman for my money--a real gentleman +as'll hear reason, and do justice atween man and man.' + +"'What!' says Jack, with an oath that I ain't going to repeat afore a +clergyman--'what!' he says, 'a d--d old dromedary like that!' + +"'Dromedary, sir,' meaning your worship! Did anybody ever hear such +wile words against a clergyman, let alone a magistrate, sir? And he +then has the cheek to come here and ask you to believe him. 'Old +dromedary!' says he--' a d--d old dromedary.'" + +Mr. Hull, the reverend chairman, was naturally very indignant, +not that he minded on his own account, as he said--that was of no +consequence--but a man who could use such foul language was not to be +believed on his oath. He therefore dismissed the summons, and ordered +the prosecutor to pay the costs. + +I think both my father and uncle still nursed the idea that I was to +become the good old-fashioned county attorney, for they perpetually +rang in my ears the praises of "our Bench" and "our chairman," out +Bench being by far the biggest thing in Hertfordshire, except when a +couple of notables came down to contest the heavy-weight championship +or some other noble prize. + +For myself, I can truly say I had no ambition at this time beyond +earning my bread, for I pretty well knew I had to trust entirely to +my own exertions. The fortunate have many friends, and it is just the +fortunate who are best without them. I had none, and desired none, +if they were to advise me against my inclinations. My term being now +expired, for I loyally pursued my studies to the bitter end, my mind +was made up, ambition or no ambition, for the Bar or the Stage. + +Like most young men, I loved acting, and quite believed I would +succeed. My passion for the stage was encouraged by an old +schoolfellow of my father's when he was at Rugby, for whom I had, as a +boy, a great admiration. I forget whether in after-life I retained it, +for we drifted apart, and our divergent ways continued their course +without our meeting again. + +Any worse decision, so far as my friends were concerned, could not be +conceived. They both remonstrated solemnly, and were deeply touched +with what they saw was my impending ruin, especially the ruin of their +hopes. In vain, however, did they attempt to persuade me; my mind was +as fixed as the mind of two-and-twenty can be. Having warned me in +terms of severity, they now addressed me in the language of affection, +and asked how I could be so headstrong and foolish as to attempt the +Bar, at which it was clear that I could only succeed after working +about twenty years as a special pleader. + +They next set before me, as a terrible warning, my uncle, another +brother of my father's, who had gone to the Bar, and I will not say +never had any practice, for I believe he practised a good deal on +the Norfolk Broads, and once had a brief at sessions concerning +the irremovability of a pauper, which he conducted much to the +satisfaction of the pauper, although I believe the solicitor never +gave him another brief. + +However, our family trio could not go on for ever quarrelling, and +at last they made a compromise with me, much to my satisfaction. My +father undertook to allow me a hundred a year for five years, and +after that time it was to cease automatically, whether I sank or swam, +with this solemn proviso, however, for the soothing of his conscience: +that if I sank _my fate was to be upon my own head_! I agreed also +to that part of the business, and accepting the terms, started for +London. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IN MY UNCLE'S OFFICE. + + +I ought to mention, in speaking of my ancestors, that I had a very +worthy godfather who was half-brother to my father. He was connected +with a family of great respectability at Royston, in Cambridgeshire, +and inherited from them a moderate-sized landed estate. A portion +of this property was a little farm situate at _Brampton_, in +Huntingdonshire, from which village I took the title I now enjoy. + +The farm was left, however, to my aunt for life, who lived to a good +old age, as most life-tenants do whom you expect to succeed, and I got +nothing until it was of no use to me. When I came into possession I +was making a very fair income at the Bar, and the probability is my +aunt did me, unconsciously, the greatest kindness she could in keeping +me out of it so long. + +So much for my ancestors. About the rest of them I know nothing, +except an anecdote or two. + +There was one more event in my boyhood which I will mention, +because it is historic. I assisted my father, on my little pony, in +proclaiming William IV. on his accession to the throne, and I mention +it with the more pride because, having been created a Peer of the +Realm by her late gracious Majesty Queen Victoria, I was qualified +to assist as a member of the Privy Council at the accession of his +present most gracious Majesty, and had the honour to hear him announce +himself as _King Edward of England_ by the title of _Edward the +Seventh_! + +Arrived in London, full of good advice and abundance of warnings as +to the fate that awaited me, I entered as a pupil the chambers of +a famous special pleader of that time, whose name was Frederick +Thompson. This was in the year 1841. + +I have the right to say I worked very hard there for several months, +and studied with all my might; nor was the study distasteful. I +was learning something which would be useful to me in after-life. +Moreover, being endowed with pluck and energy, I wanted to show that +my uncles--for the godfather warned me as well--and my father were +false prophets. So I gave myself up entirely to the acquisition of +knowledge, this being absolutely necessary if I was to make anything +of my future career. "Sink or swim," my father said, was the +alternative, so I was resolved to keep my head above water if +possible. + +After being at Thompson's my allotted period, I next went to Mr. +George Butt, a very able and learned man, who afterwards became a +Queen's Counsel, but never an advocate. I acquired while with him +a good deal of knowledge that was invaluable, became his favourite +pupil, and was in due course entrusted with papers of great +responsibility, so that in time it came to pass that Mr. Butt would +send off my opinions without any correction. + +These are small things to talk of now, but they were great then, and +the foundation of what, to me, were great things to come, although I +little suspected any of them at that time; and as I look back over +that long stretch of years, I have the satisfaction of feeling that I +did not enter upon my precarious career without doing my utmost to fit +myself for it. + +In those early days of the century prize-fights were very common in +England. The noble art of self-defence was patronized by the greatest +in the land. Society loved a prize-fight, and always went to see it, +as Society went to any other fashionable function. Magistrates went, +and even clerical members of that august body. As magistrates it may +have been their duty to discountenance, but as county gentlemen it was +their privilege to support, the noble champions of the art, especially +when they had their money on the event. + +The magistrates, if their presence was ever discovered, said they went +to prevent a breach of the peace, but if they were unable to effect +this laudable object, they looked on quietly so as to prevent any one +committing a breach of the peace on themselves. Their individual heads +were worth something. + +It was to one of these exhibitions of valour, between _Owen Swift_ +and _Brighton Bill_, that a reverend and sporting magistrate took my +brother John, a nice good schoolboy, in a tall hat. He thought it was +the right thing that the boy should _see the world_. I thought also +that what was good for John, as prescribed by his clerical adviser, +would not be bad for me, so I went as well. + +There was a great crowd, of course, but I kept my eye on John's tall +chimney-pot hat, knowing that while I saw that I should not lose John. + +Presently there was a stir, for Brighton Bill had landed a tremendous +blow on the cheek of Owen Swift, and while we were applauding, as is +the custom at prize-fights and public dinners, a cunning pickpocket +standing immediately behind John pushed the tall chimney-pot hat +tightly down over the boy's eyes. + +His little hands, which had been in his pockets, went up in a moment +to raise his hat, so that he might see the world, the big object he +had come to see; and immediately in went two other hands, and out came +the savings of John's life--two precious half-crowns, which he had +shown to me with great pride that very morning! When he saw the world +again the rogue had disappeared. + +The famous place for these pugilistic encounters, or one of the famous +places, was a spot called Noon's Folly, which was within a very few +miles of Royston, where the counties of Cambridge, Suffolk, Essex, +and Hertfordshire meet, or most of them. That was the scene of many a +stiff encounter; and although, of course, there were both magisterial +and police interference when the knowledge reached them that a fight +was about to take place within their particular jurisdiction, by some +singular misadventure the knowledge never reached them until their +worships were returning from the battle. All was over before any +_official_ communication was made. + + * * * * * + +I was entered of the Middle Temple on April 16, 1839, and remained +with Mr. Butt until I had kept sufficient terms to qualify me to take +out a licence to plead on my own account, which I did at the earliest +possible date. This was a great step in my career, although, of +course, the licence did not enable me to plead in court, as I was not +called to the Bar. + +If work came I should now be in a fair way to attain independence. +But the prospect was by no means flattering; it was, in fact, all but +hopeless while the position of a special pleader was not my ambition. +The lookout, in fact, was anything but encouraging from the fifth +floor of _No. 3 Elm Court_--I mean prospectively. It was a region +not inaccessible, of course, but it looked on to a landscape of +chimney-pots, not one of which was likely to attract attorneys; it was +cheap and lonely, dull and miserable--a melancholy altitude beyond the +world and its companionship. Had I been of a melancholy disposition I +might have gone mad, for hope surely never came to a fifth floor. But +there I sat day by day, week by week, and month by month, waiting for +the knock that never came, hoping for the business that might never +come. + +Hundreds of times did I listen with vain expectations to the footsteps +on the stairs below--footsteps of attorneys and clerks, messengers and +office-boys. I knew them all, and that was all I knew of them. Down +below at the bottom flight they tramped, and there they mostly +stopped. The ground floor was evidently the best for business; but +some came higher, to the first floor. That was a good position; there +were plenty of footsteps, and I could tell they were the footsteps of +clients. A few came a little higher still, and then my hopes rose +with the footsteps. Now some one had come up to the third floor: he +stopped! Alas! there was the knock, one single hard knock: it was a +junior clerk. The sound came all too soon for me, and I turned from my +own door to my little den and looked out of my window up into the sky, +from whence it seemed I might just as well expect a brief as from the +regions below. + +This was not quite true. On another occasion some bold adventurer +ascended with asthmatical energy to the _fourth floor_, and I thought +as I heard him wheeze he would never have breath enough to get down +again, and wondered if the good-natured attorneys kept these wheezy +old gentlemen out of charity. But it was rare indeed that the climber, +unless it was the rent collector, reached that floor. + +The fifth landing was too remote for the postman, for I never got +a letter--at least so it seemed; and no squirrel watching from the +topmost bough of the tallest pine could be more lonely than I. + +At last I thought a step had passed even the fourth landing, and was +approaching mine; but I would not think too fast, and damped my hopes +a little on purpose lest they should burn too brightly and too fast. I +was not mistaken: there _was_ a footstep on my landing, and I listened +for the one heavy knock. It seemed to me I waited about an hour and a +half, judging by the palpitations of my heart, and wished the man had +knocked as vigorously. But I was rewarded: the knocker fell, and as my +boy was away with the toothache, I opened the door myself. He was the +same wheezy man I had heard below some time before; and I really seem +to have liked asthmatical people ever since--except when I became a +judge and they disturbed me in court. + +"Papers!" + +That is enough to say to any one who understands the situation. You +may be sure I gave them my best attention, that they were finished +promptly, and, as I hoped, in the best style. If I had required any +additional incentive to keep me to my daily task of watching, this +would have been sufficient; but I wanted none. I knew that my whole +future depended upon it, and there I was from ten in the morning till +ten at night. + +My first fee was small, but it was the biggest fee I ever had. It was +10s. 6d. I was only a special pleader, and with some papers our fees +were even less; we only had to _draw_ pleadings, not to open them in +court--that comes after you are called to the Bar. Drawing them means +really drawing the points of the case for counsel, and opening them +means a gabbling epitome of them to the jury, which no jury in this +world ever yet understood or ever will. + +This little matter was the forerunner of others, and by little and +little I steadily went on, earning a few shillings now and a few +shillings then, but, best of all, becoming known little by little here +and there. + +I was aware that some knowledge of the world would be necessary for me +when I once got into it by way of business as an advocate, so I came +to the conclusion that it would be well to commence that branch of +study as soon as I closed the other for the day--or rather for the +night. + +I had not far to go to school, only to the Haymarket and its +delightful purlieus; and there were the best teachers to be found in +the world, and the most recondite studies. For all these I kept, as +the great politicians say, an open mind, and learned a great deal +which stood me in good stead in after-life. + +It is not necessary, I suppose, in writing these reminiscences, to +describe all I saw--at least I hope not. Manners have so changed since +that time that people who have no imagination would not believe me, +and those who have would imagine I was exaggerating. So I must skip +this portion of my youthful studies, merely saying that I saw nearly, +if not _quite_, all the life which was to be seen in London; and I am +sure I am not exaggerating when I say that that would nearly fill an +octavo volume of itself. There is so much to be seen in London, as a +dear old lady I used to drink tea with once told me. + +But she did not know more than I, for she had never seen the +night-houses, gambling hells, and other places of amusement that at +that time were open all night long, nor had she seen the ghastly faces +of the morning. I attribute my escaping the consequences of all these +allurements to the beautiful influence which my mother in early life +exercised over me, as I attribute my knowledge of them to the removal +of the restraint with which my earlier years had been curbed. + +My mother died before I came to London, but undoubtedly her influence +was with me, although I broke loose, as a matter of course, from all +paternal control. + +But I was never a "man about town." To be that you must have plenty of +money or none at all, and in either case you are an object to avoid. +I had, nevertheless, a great many pleasures that a young man from the +country can enjoy. I loved horse-racing, cricket, and the prize-ring. +It was not because pugilism was a fashionable amusement in those days +that I attended a "set-to" occasionally; I went on my own account, +not to ape people in the fashionable world, and enjoyed it on my own +account, not because they liked it, but because I did. + +My rent at this time of my entrance into the fashionable world was L12 +a year; my laundress, perhaps, a little less. She earned it by coming +up the stairs; but she was a good old soul. I remembered her long +years after, and always with gratitude for her many kindnesses in +those gloomy days. Her name was Hannem. + +Of course, I had to buy the necessary books for my professional use, +coals, and other things, and after paying all these I had to live on +the narrow margin of my L100 a year. + +This recollection is very pleasing. I never got into debt, and never +wanted; but I had to be frugal and avoid every unnecessary expense. + +But the time at last came when I was no longer to rest on my lonely +perch at the top of Elm Court. I had kept my terms, and was duly +called to the Bar of the Middle Temple on May 3, 1843. + +Just fifty years after, when I was a judge, and almost the Senior +Bencher of my Inn, our illustrious Sovereign, then Prince of Wales, +who is also a Bencher of the Middle Temple, favoured us with his +presence at dinner, and did me the honour to propose my health in a +gracious speech. On returning thanks for this kindness, I told the +crowded audience of my _jubilee_, and pointed out the spot where fifty +years before I had held my call party. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SECOND YEAR--THESIGER AND PLATT--MY FIRST BRIEF. + + +In my second year I made fifty pounds, the sweetest fifty pounds +I ever made. I had no longer any weary waiting, for there was no +weariness in it, and I confess at this time my sole idea, and I may +add my only ambition, was to relieve myself of all obligations to my +father. If I could accomplish this, I should have vindicated the step +I had taken, and my father would have no further right, whatever +reason he might think he had, to complain. + +My third year came, and then, to my great joy, finding that I was +earning more than the hundred pounds he allowed me, I wrote and +informed him, with all proper expressions of gratitude, that I should +no longer need his assistance, and from that time I never had a single +farthing that I did not earn. + +I am sure I was prouder of that than of my peerage, for I experienced +for the first time the joyous pride of independence. There is no fruit +of labour so sweet as that. + +But I no sooner began to obtain a little success than my rivals +and others tried to deprive me of the merit of it, if merit there +was--"Oh, of course his father and uncle are both solicitors in the +county;" while one of the local newspapers years after was good enough +to publish a paragraph which stated that I owed all my success to my +father's office. + +This, of course, does not need contradiction. An occasional small +brief from Hitchin was the beginning and the end of my father's +influence, while sessions practice was not the practice I hoped to +finish my career with, although I had little hopes of eminence. +Certainly if I had I should have known that eminence could not come +from Hitchin. + +I chose the Home Circuit, and did not leave it till I was made a +judge. It is impossible to forget the kindness I received from its +members throughout my whole career. There was a brotherly feeling +amongst us, which made life very pleasant. + +There were several celebrated men on the Home Circuit when I joined. +Amongst them were Thesiger and Platt. + +This was long before the former became Attorney-General, which took +place in 1858. He afterwards was Lord Chancellor, and took his title +from the little county town where probably he obtained his start in +the career which ended so brilliantly. + +Platt became a Baron of the Exchequer. + +Thesiger was a first-rate advocate, and, I need not say, was at all +times scrupulously fair. He had a high sense of honour, and was +replete with a quiet, subtle humour, which seemed to come upon you +unawares, and, like all true humour, derived no little of its pleasure +from its surprise. In addition to his abilities, Thesiger was ever +kind-hearted and gentle, especially in his manner towards juniors. I +know that he sympathized with them, and helped them whenever he had an +opportunity. It did not fall to my lot to hold many briefs with him, +but I am glad to say that I had some, because I shall not forget the +kindness and instruction I received from him. + +Platt was an advocate of a different stamp. He also was kind, and in +every way worthy of grateful remembrance. He loved to amuse especially +the junior Bar, and more particularly in court. He was a good natural +punster, and endowed with a lively wit. The circuit was never dull +when Platt was present; but there was one trait in his character as an +advocate that judges always profess to disapprove of--he loved +popular applause, and his singularly bold and curious mode of +cross-examination sometimes brought him both rebuke and hearty +laughter from the most austere of judges. + +He dealt with a witness as though the witness was putty, moulding him +into any grotesque form that suited his humour. No evidence could +preserve its original shape after Platt had done with it. He had a +coaxing manner, so much so that a witness would often be led to say +what he never intended, and what afterwards he could not believe he +had uttered. + +Thesiger, who was his constant opponent, was sometimes irritated with +Platt's manner, and on the occasion I am about to mention fairly lost +his temper. + +It was in an action for nuisance before Tindal, Chief Justice of the +Common Pleas, at Croydon Assizes. + +Thesiger was for the plaintiff, who complained of a nuisance caused by +the bad smells that emanated from a certain tank on the defendant's +premises, and called a very respectable but ignorant labouring man to +prove his case. + +The witness gave a description of the tank, not picturesque, but +doubtless true, and into this tank all kinds of refuse seem to have +been thrown, so that the vilest of foul stenches were emitted. + +Platt began his cross-examination of poor Hodge by asking him in +his most coaxing manner to describe the character and nature of the +various stenches. Had Hodge been scientific, or if he had had a little +common sense, he would have simply answered "_bad_ character and +_ill_-nature;" but he improved on this simplicity, and said,-- + +"Some on 'em smells summat _like paint_." + +This was quite sufficient for Platt. + +"Come now," said he, "that's a very sensible answer. You are aware, +as a man of undoubted intelligence, that there are various colours of +paint. Had this smell any _particular colour_, think you?" + +"Wall, I dunnow, sir." + +"Don't answer hurriedly; take your time. We only want to get at the +truth. Now, what colour do you say this smell belonged to?" + +"Wall, I don't raightly know, sir." + +"I see. But what do you say to _yellow_? Had it a yellow smell, think +you?" + +"Wall, sir, I doan't think ur wus yaller, nuther. No, sir, not quite +yaller; I think it was moore of a blue like." + +"A blue smell. We all know a blue smell when we see it." + +Of course, I need not say the laughter was going on in peals, much to +Platt's delight. Tindal was simply in an ecstasy, but did all he could +to suppress his enjoyment of the scene. + +Then Platt resumed,-- + +"You think it was more of a blue smell like? Now, let me ask you, +there are many kinds of blue smells, from the smell of a Blue Peter, +which is salt, to that of the sky, which depends upon the weather. Was +it dark, or--" + +"A kind of sky-blue, sir." + +"More like your scarf?" + +Up went Hodge's hand to see if he could feel the colour. + +"Yes," said he, "that's more like--" + +"Zummut like your scarf?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Then he was asked as to a variety of solids and liquids; and the man +shook his head, intimating that he could go a deuce of a way, but that +there were bounds even to human knowledge. + +Then Platt questioned him on less abstruse topics, and to all of his +questions he kept answering,-- + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Were fish remnants," asked Platt, "sometimes thrown into this +reservoir of filth, such as old cods' heads with goggle eyes?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"_Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +Thesiger could stand it no longer. He had been writhing while the +court had been roaring with laughter, which all the ushers in the +universe could not suppress. + +"My lord, my lord, there must be some limit even to cross-examination +by my friend. Does your lordship think it is fair to suggest a +classical quotation to a respectable but illiterate labourer?" + +Tindal, who could not keep his countenance--and no man who witnessed +the scene could--said,-- + +"It all depends, Mr. Thesiger, whether this man understands Latin." +Whereupon Platt immediately turned to the witness and said,-- + +"Now, my man, attend: _Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_. You understand +that, do you not?" + +"Yes, my lord," answered the witness, stroking his chin. + +Tindal, trying all he could to suppress his laughter, said: + +"Mr. Thesiger, the witness says he understands the quotation, and as +you have no evidence to the contrary, I do not see how I can help +you." Of course, there was a renewal of the general laughter, but +Thesiger, in his reply, turned it on Platt. + +This was my first appearance on circuit, and my first lesson from a +great advocate in the art of caricature. + + * * * * * + +No man at the Bar can forget the joy of his first brief--that +wonderful oblong packet of white papers, tied with the mysterious +pink tape, which his fourth share of the diminutive clerk brings him, +marked with the important "I gua." + +I speak not to stall-fed juniors who have not to wait till their +merits are discovered, and who know that whosoever may watch and wait +and hope or despair, they shall have enough. All blessings go with +them; I never envied them their heritage. They are born to briefs +as the sparks fly upwards. I tell my experience to those who will +understand and appreciate every word I say--to men who have to make +their way in the world by their own exertions, and live on their own +labour or die of disappointment. There is one consolation even for the +wretched waiters on solicitors' favours, and that is, that the men who +have never had to work their way seldom rise to eminence or to any +position but respectable mediocrity. They never knew hope, and will +never know what it is to despair, or to nibble the short herbage of +the common where poorer creatures browse. + +A father never looked on his firstborn with more pleasure than a +barrister on his first brief. If the Tower guns were announcing the +birth of an heir to the Throne, he would not look up to ask, "What is +that?" + +It was the turning-point of my life, for had there been no first brief +pretty soon, I should have thought my kind relations' predictions were +about to be verified. But I should never have returned home; there was +still the Stage left, on which I hoped to act my part. + +Strange to say, my first brief, like almost everything in my life, had +a little touch of humour in it. + +I was instructed to defend a man at Hertford Sessions for stealing a +wheelbarrow, and unfortunately the wheelbarrow was found on him; more +unfortunate still--for I might have made a good speech on the subject +of the _animus furandi_--the man not only told the policeman he stole +it, but pleaded "Guilty" before the magistrates. I was therefore in +the miserable condition of one doomed to failure, take what line I +pleased. There was nothing to be said by way of defence, but I learnt +a lesson never to be forgotten. + +Being a little too conscientious, I told my client, the attorney, that +in the circumstances I must return the brief, inasmuch as there was no +defence for the unhappy prisoner. + +The attorney seemed to admire my principle, and instead of taking +offence, smiled in a good-natured manner, and said it was no doubt a +difficult task he had imposed on me, and he would exchange the brief +for another. He kept his word, and by-and-by returned with a much +easier case--a prosecution where the man pleaded "Guilty." It was a +grand triumph, and I was much pleased. + +Those were early days to begin picking and choosing briefs, for no man +can do that unless he is much more wanted by clients than in want of +them; but I learned the secret in after life of a great deal of its +success. + +I was, however, a little chagrined when I saw the mistake I had made. +Rodwell was leader of the sessions, and ought to have been far above a +guinea brief; judge then of my surprise when I saw that same brief a +few minutes after accepted by that great man--the brief I had refused +because there was nothing to be said on the prisoner's behalf. My +curiosity was excited to see what Rodwell would do with it, and what +defence he would set up. It was soon gratified. He simply admitted +the prisoner's guilt, and hoped the chairman, who was Lord Salisbury, +would deal leniently with him. + +I could have done that quite as well myself, and pocketed the guinea. +From that moment I resolved never to turn a case away because it was +hopeless. + +I subjoin a copy of my first brief for the prosecution. + +It must be remembered that in those days the gallows was a very +popular institution. They punished severely even trivial offences, +and this case would have been considered a very serious one; while +a sentence of seven years' transportation was almost as good as an +acquittal. + + _Herts. + No. 10_. + Michaelmas Sessions, + 1844. + Regina + _v_. + Elizabeth Norman. + Brief for the Prosecution. + Mr. Hawkins. + I Gua. + _H. Hawkins_. + Plea--Guilty. + H.H. + Oct. 14, 1844. + Transported for 7 years. + H.H. + _Cobliam_. + Ware. + +These are my notes:-- + + _Sep_. 20. + Mr. Page. + Silk shawl. + Apprehension. + + Various accounts. + Exam. before J---- J----. + Propy found. + Mrs. Stevens,} + Mr. Johnson, } Witnesses. + +I made a rule throughout my professional life to note my cases with +the greatest care. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AT THE OLD BAILEY IN THE OLD TIMES. + + +It is a vast space to look back over sixty years of labour, and yet +there seems hardly a scene or an event of any consequence, that is not +reproduced in my mind with a vividness that astonishes me. + +In my earlier visits to her Majesty's Courts of Justice my principal +business was to study the Queen's Counsel and Serjeants, and they +were worthy the attention I bestowed on them. They all belonged to +different schools of advocacy, and some knew very little about it. + +I went to the Old Bailey, a den of infamy in those times not +conceivable now, and I verily believe that no future time will produce +its like--at least I hope not. Its associations were enough to +strike a chill of horror into you. It was the very cesspool for the +offscourings of humanity. I had no taste for criminal practice in +those days, except as a means of learning the art of advocacy. In +these cases, presided over by a judge who knows his work, the rules of +evidence are strictly observed, and you will learn more in six months +of practical advocacy than in ten years elsewhere. The Criminal Court +was the best school in which to learn your work of cross-examination +and examination-in-chief, while the Courts of Equity were probably the +worst. But I shall not dwell on my struggles in connection with +the Old Bailey at that early period of my life. What will be more +interesting, perhaps, are some curious arrangements which they had for +the conduct of business and the entertainment of the Judges. + +These are a too much neglected part of our history, and when referred +to in reminiscences are generally referred to as matters for +jocularity. They exercised, however, a serious influence on the minds +and feelings of the people, as well as their manners; more so than a +hundred subjects with which the historian or the novelist sometimes +deals. + +In all cases of unusual gravity three Judges sat together. Offences +that would now be treated as not even deserving of a day's +imprisonment in many cases were then invariably punished with death. +It was not, therefore, so much the nature of the offence as the +importance of it in the eyes of the Judges that caused three of them +to sit together and try the criminals. + +They sat till five o'clock right through, and then went to a sumptuous +dinner provided by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. They drank everybody's +health but their own, thoroughly relieved their minds from the horrors +of the court, and, having indulged in much festive wit, sometimes at +an alderman's expense, and often at their own, returned into court +in solemn procession, their gravity undisturbed by anything that had +previously taken place, and looking the picture of contentment and +virtue. + +Another dinner was provided by the Sheriffs; this was for the +Recorder, Common Serjeant, and others, who took their seats when their +lordships had arisen. + +I ought to mention one important dignitary--namely, the chaplain of +Newgate--whose fortunate position gave him the advantage over most +persons: for he _dined at both these dinners_, and assisted in the +circulation of the wit from one party to another; so that what my +Lord Chief Justice had made the table roar with at five o'clock, the +Recorder and the Common Serjeant roared with at six, and were able to +retail at their family tables at a later period of the evening. It was +in that way so many good things have come down to the present day. + +The reverend gentleman alluded to of course attended the court in +robes, and his only, but solemn, function was to say "Amen" when the +sentence of death was pronounced by the Judge. + +There were curious old stories, too, about my lords and old port at +that time which are not of my own reminiscences, and therefore I shall +do no more than mention them in order to pass on to what I heard and +saw myself. + +The first thing that struck me in the after-dinner trials was the +extreme rapidity with which the proceedings were conducted. As judges +and counsel were exhilarated, the business was proportionately +accelerated. But of all the men I had the pleasure of meeting on +these occasions, the one who gave me the best idea of rapidity in an +after-dinner case was Mirehouse. + +Let me illustrate it by a trial which I heard. Jones was the name of +the prisoner. His offence was that of picking pockets, entailing, of +course, a punishment corresponding in severity with the barbarity of +the times. It was not a plea of "Guilty," when perhaps a little more +inquiry might have been necessary; it was a case in which the prisoner +solemnly declared he was "Not Guilty," and therefore had a right to be +tried. + +The accused having "held up his hand," and the jury having solemnly +sworn to hearken to the evidence, and "to well and truly try, and true +deliverance make," etc., the witness for the prosecution climbs into +the box, which was like a pulpit, and before he has time to look round +and see where the voice comes from, he is examined as follows by the +prosecuting counsel:-- + +"I think you were walking up Ludgate Hill on Thursday, 25th, about +half-past two in the afternoon, and suddenly felt a tug at your pocket +and missed your handkerchief, which the constable now produces. Is +that it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I suppose you have nothing to ask him?" says the judge. "Next +witness." + +Constable stands up. + +"Were you following the prosecutor on the occasion when he was robbed +on Ludgate Hill? and did you see the prisoner put his hand into the +prosecutor's pocket and take this handkerchief out of it?" + +"Yes, sir." + +Judge to prisoner: "Nothing to say, I suppose?" Then to the jury: +"Gentlemen, I suppose you have no doubt? I have none." + +Jury: "Guilty, my lord," as though to oblige his lordship. + +Judge to prisoner: "Jones, we have met before--we shall not meet again +for some time--seven years' transportation. Next case." + +Time: two minutes fifty-three seconds. + +Perhaps this case was a high example of expedition, because it was not +always that a learned counsel could put his questions so neatly; but +it may be taken that these after-dinner trials did not occupy on the +average more than _four minutes_ each. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +MR. JUSTICE MAULE. + + +Of course, in those days there were judges of the utmost strictness +as there are now, who insisted that the rules of evidence should be +rigidly adhered to. I may mention, one, whose abilities were of a +remarkable order, and whose memory is still fresh in the minds of many +of my contemporaries--I mean Mr. Justice Maule. His asthmatic cough +was the most interesting and amusing cough I ever heard, especially +when he was saying anything more than usually humorous, which was not +infrequently. He was a man of great wit, sound sense, and a curious +humour such as I never heard in any other man. He possessed, too, a +particularly keen apprehension. To those who had any real ability +he was the most pleasant of Judges, but he had little love for +mediocrities. No man ever was endowed with a greater abhorrence of +hypocrisy. I learnt a great deal in watching him and noting his +observations. One day a very sad case was being tried. It was that of +a man for killing an infant, and it was proposed by the prosecution to +call as a witness a little brother of the murdered child. + +The boy's capacity to give evidence, however, was somewhat doubted by +the counsel for the Crown, John Clark, and it did honour to his sense +of fairness. Having asked the little boy a question or two as to +the meaning of an oath, he said he had some doubt as to whether the +witness should be admitted to give evidence, as he did not seem to +understand the nature of an oath, and the boy was otherwise deficient +in religious knowledge. + +He was asked the usual sensible questions which St. Thomas Aquinas +himself would have been puzzled to answer; and being a mere child of +seven--or at most eight--years of age, without any kind of education, +was unable to state what the exact nature of an oath was. + +Having failed in this, he was next asked what, when they died, became +of people who told lies. + +"If he knows that, it's a good deal more than I do," said Maule. + +"Attend to me," said the Crown counsel. "Do you know that it's wicked +to tell lies?" + +"Yes, sir," the boy answered. + +"I don't think," said the counsel for the prosecution, "it would be +safe to swear him, my lord; he does not seem to know anything about +religion at all.--You can stand down." + +"Stop a minute, my boy," says Maule; "let me ask you a question or +two. You have been asked about a future state--at least I presume that +was at the bottom of the gentleman's question. I should like to know +what you have been taught to believe. What will become of _you_, my +little boy, when you die, if you are so wicked as to tell a lie?" + +"_Hell fire_," answered the boy with great promptitude and boldness. + +"Right," said Maule. "Now let us go a little further. Do you mean to +say, boy, that you would go to hell fire for telling _any_ lie?" + +"_Hell fire_, sir," said the boy emphatically, as though it were +something to look forward to rather than shun. + +"Take time, my boy," said Maule; "don't answer hurriedly; think it +over. Suppose, now, you were accused of stealing an apple; how would +that be in the next world, think you?" + +"_Hell fire_, my lord!" + +"Very good indeed. Now let us suppose that you were disobedient to +your parents, or to one of them; what would happen in that case?" + +"_Hell fire_, my lord!" + +"Exactly; very good indeed. Now let me take another instance, and +suppose that you were sent for the milk in the morning, and took _just +a little sip_ while you were carrying it home; how would that be as +regards your future state?" + +"_Hell fire_!" repeated the boy. + +Upon this Clark suggested that the lad's absolute ignorance of the +nature of an oath and Divine things rendered it imprudent to call him. + +"I don't know about that," said Maule; "he seems to me to be very +sound, and most divines will tell you he is right." + +"He does not seem to be competent," said the counsel. + +"I beg your pardon," returned the judge, "I think he is a very good +little boy. He thinks that for every wilful fault he will go to hell +fire; and he is very likely while he believes that doctrine to be most +strict in his observance of truth. If you and I believed that such +would be the penalty for every act of misconduct we committed, we +should be better men than we are. Let the boy be sworn." + +On one occasion, before Maule, I had to defend a man for murder. It +was a terribly difficult case, because there was no defence except the +usual one of insanity. + +The court adjourned for lunch, and Woollet (who was my junior) and I +went to consultation. I was oppressed with the difficulty of my task, +and asked Woollet what he thought I could do. + +"Oh," said he in his sanguine way, "make a hell of a speech. You'll +pull him through all right. Let 'em have it." + +"I'll give them as much burning eloquence as I can manage," said I, +in my youthful ardour; "but what's the use of words against facts? We +must really stand by the defence of insanity; it is all that's left." + +"Call the clergyman," said Woollet; "he'll help us all he can." + +With that resolution we returned to court. I made my speech for the +defence, following Woollet's advice as nearly as practicable, and +really blazed away. I think the jury believed there was a good deal in +what I said, for they seemed a very discerning body and a good deal +inclined to logic, especially as there was a mixture of passion in it. + +We then called the clergyman of the village where the prisoner lived. +He said he had been Vicar for thirty-four years, and that up to very +recently, a few days before the murder, the prisoner had been a +regular attendant at his church. He was a married man with a wife and +two little children, one seven and the other nine. + +"Did the wife attend your ministrations, too?" asked Maule. + +"Not so regularly. Suddenly," continued the Vicar, after suppressing +his emotion, "without any apparent cause, the man became _a +Sabbath-breaker_, and absented himself from church." + +This evidence rather puzzled me, for I could not understand its +purport. Maule in the meantime was watching it with the keenest +interest and no little curiosity. He was not a great believer in the +defence of insanity--except, occasionally, that of the solicitor +who set it up--and consequently watched the Vicar with scrutinizing +intensity. + +"Have you finished with your witness, Mr. Woollet?" his lordship +inquired. + +"Yes, my lord." + +Maule then took him in hand, and after looking at him steadfastly for +about a minute, said,-- + +"You say, sir, that you have been Vicar of this parish for +_four-and-thirty years_?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"And during that time I dare say you have regularly performed the +services of the Church?" + +"Yes, my lord." + +"Did you have week-day services as well?" + +"Every Tuesday, my lord." + +"And did you preach your own sermons?" + +"With an occasional homily of the Church." + +"Your own sermon or discourse, with an occasional homily? And was this +poor man a regular attendant at all your services during the whole +time you have been Vicar?" + +"Until he killed his wife, my lord." + +"That follows--I mean up to the time of this Sabbath-breaking you +spoke of he regularly attended your ministrations, and then killed his +wife?" + +"Exactly, my lord." + +"Never missed the sermon, discourse, or homily of the Church, Sunday +or week-day?" + +"That is so, my lord." + +"Did you write your own sermons, may I ask?" + +"Oh yes, my lord." + +Maule carefully wrote down all that our witness said, and I began to +think the defence of insanity stood on very fair grounds, especially +when I perceived that Maule was making some arithmetical calculations. +But you never could tell by his manner which way he was going, and +therefore we had to wait for his next observation, which was to this +effect:-- + +"You have given yourself, sir, a very excellent character, and +doubtless, by your long service in the village, have richly +deserved it. You have, no doubt, also won the affection of all your +parishioners, probably that of the Bishop of your diocese, by your +incomparable devotion to your parochial duties. The result, however, +of your indefatigable exertions, so far as this unhappy man is +concerned, comes to this--" + +His lordship then turned and addressed his observations on the result +to me. + +"This gentleman, Mr. Hawkins, has written with his own pen and +preached or read with his own voice to this unhappy prisoner about +_one hundred and four Sunday sermons or discourses, with an occasional +homily, every year_." + +There was an irresistible sense of the ludicrous as Maule uttered, or +rather growled, these words in a slow enunciation and an asthmatical +tone. He paused as if wondering at the magnitude of his calculations, +and then commenced again more slowly and solemnly than before. + +"These," said he, "added to the week-day services--make--exactly +_one hundred and fifty-six sermons, discourses, and homilies for the +year_." (Then he stared at me, asking with his eyes what I thought of +it.) "These, again, being continued over a space of time, comprising, +as the reverend gentleman tells us, no less than _thirty-four years_, +give us a grand total of _five thousand three hundred and four +sermons, discourses, or homilies_ during this unhappy man's life." + +Maule's eyes were now riveted on the clergyman as though he were an +accessory to the murder. + +"Five thousand three hundred and four," he repeated, "by the same +person, however respectable and beloved as a pastor he might be, was +what few of us could have gone through unless we were endowed with as +much strength of mind as power of endurance. I was going to ask you, +sir, did the idea ever strike you when you talked of this unhappy +being suddenly leaving your ministrations and turning Sabbath-breaker, +that after thirty-four years he might want a little change? Would +it not be reasonable to suppose that the man might think he had had +enough of it?" + +"It might, my lord." + +"And would not that in your judgment, instead of showing that he was +insane, prove that he was _a very sensible man_?" + +The Vicar did not quite assent to this, and as he would not dissent +from the learned Judge, said nothing. + +"And," continued Maule, "that he was perfectly sane, although he +murdered his wife?" + +All this was very clever, not to say facetious, on the part of the +learned Judge; but as I had yet to address the jury, I was resolved to +take the other view of the effect of the Vicar's sermons, and I did +so. I worked Maule's quarry, I think, with some little effect: for +after all his most strenuous exertions to secure a conviction, the +jury believed, probably, that no man's mind could stand the ordeal; +and, further, that any doubt they might have, after seeing the two +children of the prisoner in court dressed in little black frocks, and +sobbing bitterly while I was addressing them, would be given in the +prisoner's favour, which it was. + +This incident in my life is not finished. On the same evening I was +dining at the country house of a Mr. Hardcastle, and near me sat an +old inhabitant of the village where the tragedy had been committed. + +"You made a touching speech, Mr. Hawkins," said the old inhabitant. + +"Well," I answered, "it was the best thing I could do in the +circumstances." + +"Yes," he said; "but I don't think you would have painted the little +home in such glowing colours if you had seen what I saw last week when +I was driving past the cottage. No, no; I think you'd have toned down +a bit." + +"What was it?" I asked. + +"Why," said the old inhabitant, "the little children who sobbed so +violently in court this morning, and to whom you made such pathetic +reference, were playing on an ash-heap near their cottage; and they +had a poor cat with a string round its neck, swinging backwards and +forwards, and as they did so they sang,-- + + This is the way poor daddy will go! + This is the way poor daddy will go!' + +Such, Mr. Hawkins, was their excessive grief!" + +Yes, but it got the verdict. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AN INCIDENT ON THE ROAD TO NEWMARKET. + + +My first visit to Newmarket Heath had one or two little incidents +which may be interesting, although of no great importance. The +Newmarket of to-day is not quite the same Newmarket that it was then: +many things connected with it have changed, and, above all, its +frequenters have changed; and if "things are not what they seem," they +do not seem to me, at all events, to be what they were "in my day." + +Sixty years is a long space of time to traverse, but I do so with a +very vivid recollection of my old friend Charley Wright. + +It was on a bright October morning when we set out, and glad enough +was I to leave the courts at Westminster and the courts of the +Temple--glad enough to break loose from the thraldom of nothing to do +and get away into the beautiful country. + +Charley and I were always great friends; we had seen so much together, +especially of what is called "the world," which I use in a different +sense from that in which we were now to seek adventures. We had seen +so much of its good and evil, its lights and shades, and had so many +memories in common, that they formed the groundwork of a lasting +friendship. + +He was the only son of an almost too indulgent father, who was the +very best example of an old English gentleman of his day you could +ever meet. He also had seen a good deal of life, and was not +unfamiliar with any of its varied aspects. He was intellectual and +genial, and dispensed his hospitality with the most winning courtesy. +To me he was all kindness, and I have a grateful feeling of delight in +being able in these few words to record my affectionate reverence for +his memory. It was at his house in Pall Mall that I met John Leech and +Percival Leigh. + +But I digress as my mind goes back to these early dates, and unless +I break away, Charley and I will not reach Newmarket in time for the +first race. It happened that when we made this memorable visit I +had an uncle living at The Priory at Royston, which was some +five-and-twenty miles from Newmarket, where the big handicap, I think +the Cesarewitch, was to be run the following day, or the next--I +forget which. + +But an interesting episode interrupted our journey to the Heath. +To our surprise, and no little to our delight, there was to be an +important meeting of the "Fancy" to witness a great prize-fight +between Jack Brassy and Ben Caunt. + +Ben Caunt was the greatest prize-fighter, both in stature and bulk, as +well as in strength, I ever saw. He looked what he was--then or soon +after--the champion of the world. + +Brassy, too, was well made, and seemed every whit the man to meet +Caunt. The two, indeed, were equally well made in form and shape, and +as smooth cut as marble statues when they stripped for action. + +The advertisements had announced that the contest was to come off at, +"or as near thereto as circumstances permitted" (circumstances here +meaning the police), the village of Little Bury, near Saffron Walden. + +At the little inn of the village some of the magnates of the Ring were +to assemble on the morning of the fight for an early breakfast, +to which Charley and I had the good fortune to be invited by Jack +Brassy's second, Peter Crawley, another noted pugilist of his day. + +It was different weather from that we enjoyed in the early morning, +for the rain was now pouring down in torrents, and we had a drive of +no less than fifteen miles before us to the scene of action. Vehicles +were few, and horses fewer. Nothing was to be had for love or money, +as it seemed. But there was at last found one man who, if he had +little love for the prize-ring, had much reverence for the golden coin +that supported it. He was a Quaker. He had an old gig, and, I think, a +still older horse, both of which I hired for the journey--the Quaker, +of course, pretending that he had no idea of any meeting of the +"Fancy" whatever. Nor do I suppose he would know what that term +implied. + +If ever any man in the world did what young men are always told by +good people to do--namely, to persevere--I am sure we did, Charley and +I, with the Quaker's horse. Whether he suspected the mission on which +we were bent, or was considering the danger of such a scene to his +morals, I could not ascertain, but never did any animal show a greater +reluctance to go anywhere except to his quiet home. + +Your happiness at these great gatherings depended entirely upon the +distance or proximity of the police. If they were pretty near, the +landlord of the inn would hesitate about serving you, and if he +did, would charge a far higher price in consequence of the supposed +increased risk. He would never encourage a breach of the peace in +defiance of the county magistrates, who were the authority to renew +his licence at Brewster Sessions. So much, then, if the officers of +justice were _near_. + +If they happened to be absent--which, as I have said, occasionally +occurred when a big thing was to come off--there was then a dominant +feeling of social equality which you could never see manifested so +strongly in any other place. A gentleman would think nothing of +putting his fingers into your pockets and abstracting your money, and +if you had the hardihood to resent the intrusion, would think less of +putting his fist into your eyes. + +We were by no means certain, as I learned, that our fight would come +off after all, for it appeared the magistrates had given strict and +specific instructions to the police that no combat was to take place +in the county of Essex. Consequently the parties whose duty it was to +make preparations had fled from that respectable county and gone away +towards Six Mile Bottom, just in one of the corners of Cambridgeshire, +as if the intention was that the dons of the University should have +a look in. Constables slept more soundly in Cambridgeshire than in +Essex. Moreover, the Essex magistrates would themselves have a moral +right to witness the fight if it did not take place in their county. + +Thus we set out for the rendezvous. Charley soon discovered that +our steed was not accustomed to the whip, for instead of urging him +forward it produced the contrary effect. However, we got along by slow +degrees, and when we came up with the crowd--oh! + +Such a scene I had never witnessed in my life, nor could have +conceived it possible anywhere on this earth or anywhere out of that +abyss the full description of which you will find in "Paradise Lost." + +It was a procession of the blackguardism of all ages and of all +countries under heaven. The sexes were apparently in equal numbers and +in equal degrees of ugliness and ferocity. There were faces flat for +want of noses, and mouths ghastly for want of teeth; faces scarred, +bruised, battered into every shape but what might be called human. +There were fighting-men of every species and variety--men whose +profession it was to fight, and others whose brutal nature it was; +there were women fighters, too, more deadly and dangerous than the +men, because they added cruelty to their ferocity. Innumerable women +there were who had lost the very nature of womanhood, and whose mouths +were the mere outlet of oaths and filthy language. Their shrill +clamours deafened our ears and subdued the deep voices of the men, +whom they chaffed, reviled, shrieked at, yelled at, and swore at by +way of _fun_. + +Amidst this turbulent rabble rode several members of the peerage, and +even Ministerial supporters of the "noble art," exchanging with the +low wretches I have mentioned a word or two of chaff or an occasional +laugh at the grotesque wit and humour which are never absent from an +English crowd. + +As we approached the famous scene, to which every one was looking with +the most intense anticipation, the crowd grew almost frenzied with +expectancy, and yet the utmost good-humour prevailed. In this spirit +we arrived at Bourne Bridge, and thence to the place of encounter was +no great distance. It was a little field behind a public-house. + +Every face was now white with excitement, except the faces of the +combatants. They were firm set as iron itself. Trained to physical +endurance, they were equally so in nerve and coolness of temperament, +and could not have seemed more excited than if they were going to +dinner instead of to one of the most terrible encounters I ever +witnessed. + +To those who have never seen an exhibition of this kind it was quite +amazing to observe with what rapidity the ropes were fixed and the +ring formed; nor were the men less prompt. Into the ring they stepped +with their supporters, or seconds, and in almost an instant the +principals had shaken hands, and were facing each other in what well +might be deadly conflict. There were illustrious members of all +classes assembled there, members probably of all professions, men +who afterwards, as I know, became great in history, politics, law, +literature, and religion; for it was a very great fight, and attracted +all sorts and conditions from all places and positions. Nothing since +that fight, except Tom Sayers and the "Benicia Boy," has attracted so +goodly and so fashionable an audience and so fierce an assembly of +blackguards. + +But in the time of the latter battle the decadence of the Ring was +manifest, and was the outcome of what is doubtless an increasing +civilization. At the time of which I am now speaking the Prize Ring +was one of our fashionable sports, supported by the wealthy of all +classes, and was supposed to contribute to the manliness of our race; +consequently our distinguished warriors, as well as the members of our +most gentle professions, loved a good old-fashioned English "set-to," +and nobody, as a rule, was the worse for it, although my poor brother +Jack never recovered his half-crowns. + +We had been advised to take our cushions from the gig to sit upon, +because the straw round the ring was soddened with the heavy rains, +and I need not say we found it was a very wise precaution. The straw +had been placed round the ring for the benefit of the _elite_, who +occupied front seats. + +The fight now began, and, I must repeat, I never saw anything like it. +Both pugilists were of the heaviest fighting weights. Caunt was a real +giant, ugly as could be by the frequent batterings he had received +in the face. His head was like a bull-dog's, and so was his courage, +whilst his strength must have been that of a very Samson; but if it +was, it did not reside in his hair, for that was short and close as a +mouse's back. + +At first I thought Brassy had the best of it; he was more active, +being less ponderous, and landed some very ugly ones, cutting right +into the flesh, although Caunt did not appear to mind it in the least. +Brassy, however, did not follow up his advantage as I thought he ought +to have done, and in my opinion dreaded the enormous power and force +of his opponent in the event of his "getting home." + +With the usual fluctuations of a great battle, the contest went on +until nearly a _hundred rounds_ were fought, lasting as many minutes, +but no decisive effect was as yet observable. After this, however, +Brassy could not come up to time. The event, therefore, was declared +in Caunt's favour, and his opponent was carried off the field on a +hurdle into the public-house, where I afterwards saw him in bed. + +Thus terminated the great fight of the day, but not thus my day's +adventures. + +The sport was all that the most enthusiastic supporters of the Ring +could desire. It no doubt had its barbarous aspects, regarded from +a humanitarian point of view, but it was not so demoralizing as the +spectacle of some poor creature risking his neck in a performance +for which the spectator pays his sixpence, and the whole excitement +consists in the knowledge that the actor may be dashed to pieces +before his eyes. + +It was time now to leave the scene, so Charley and I went to look for +our gig (evidence of gentility from the time of Thurtell and Hunt's +trial for the murder of Mr. Weare). + +Alas! our respectability was gone--I mean the gig. + +In vindication of the wisdom and foresight of Charley and myself, I +should like to mention that we had entrusted that valuable evidence of +our status to the keeping of a worthy stranger dressed in an old red +jacket and a pair of corduroy trousers fastened with a wisp of hay +below the knees. + +When we arrived at the spot where he promised to wait our coming, he +was gone, the horse and gig too; nor could any inquiries ascertain +their whereabouts. + +Whether this incident was a judgment on the Quaker, as Wright +suggested, or one of the inevitable incidents attendant on a +prize-fight, I am not in a position to say; but we thought it served +the Quaker right for letting us a horse that would not go until the +gentleman in the red jacket relieved us of any further trouble on that +account. + +Mistakes are so common amongst thieves that one can never tell how the +horse got away; but if I were put on my oath, knowing the proclivities +of the animal, I should say that he was backed out of the field. + +We were now, as it seemed, the most deplorable objects in creation: +without friends and without a gig, wet through, shelterless, amidst +a crowd of drunken, loathsome outcasts of society, with only one +solitary comfort between us--a pipe, which Charley enjoyed and I +loathed. Drink is always quarrelsome or affectionate, generally the +one first and the other after. When the tears dry, oaths begin, and we +soon found that the quarrelsome stage of the company had been reached. + +Amidst all this excitement we had not forgotten that this little +matter of the prize-fight was but an incident on our journey to +Newmarket. We knew full well that our present appearance would have +found no recognition in the Mall. But we cared nothing for the Mall, +as we were not known by the fashion in the racing world; and as for +the others, we should like to avoid them in any world. + +You will wonder in these circumstances what we did. We waited where we +were through the whole of that wet afternoon, and then, on a couple of +hacks--how we obtained them I don't know; I never asked Charley, +and nothing of any importance turns upon them--we arrived at our +comfortable Royston quarters about eight o'clock, tired to death. + +We were received with a hearty welcome by my uncle, who was much +entertained with our day's adventures. He liked my description of the +fight, especially when I told him how Brassy "drew Caunt's claret," +and showed such other knowledge of the scientific practice that no one +could possibly have learnt had he not read up carefully _Bell's Life_ +for the current week. + +I am sure my uncle thought I was one of the best of nephews, and I +considered him in reality "my only uncle." Long, thought I, may he +prove to be; and yet I never borrowed a penny from him in my life. + +On the next day, fully equipped, and with all that was necessary for +our distinguished position, we set out for Newmarket Heath, even now +the glory of the racing world, not forgetting Goodwood, which is more +or less a private business and fashionable picnic. + +I shall not attempt to describe Newmarket. No one can describe, the +indescribable. I will only say it was not the Newmarket which our +later generation knows. It was then in its crude state of original +simplicity. There were no stands save "the Duke's," at the top of the +town, and one other, somewhat smaller and nearer to the present grand +stand. Those who could afford to do so rode on horseback about the +Heath; those who could not walked if they felt disposed, or sat down +on the turf--the best enjoyment of all if you are tired. We did all +three: we rode, walked, and sat down. At last, after a thoroughly +enjoyable outing, such as the Bar knows nothing of in these +respectable times, we returned to our business quarters in the Temple. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +AN EPISODE AT HERTFORD QUARTER SESSIONS. + + +Hearsay is not, as a rule, evidence in a court of justice. There +are one or two exceptions which I need not mention. If you want, +therefore, to say what Smith said, you cannot say it, but must call +Smith himself, and probably he will swear he never said anything of +the sort. + +The Marquis of Salisbury, in the early days that I speak of, was a +kind-hearted chairman, and would never allow the quibble of the lawyer +to stand in the way of justice to the prisoner. In those days at +sessions they were not so nice in the observances of mere forms as +they are now, and you could sometimes get in something that was not +exactly evidence, strictly speaking, in favour of a prisoner by a +side-wind, as it were, although it was not the correct thing to do. + +It happened that I was instructed to defend a man who had been +committed to Hertford Quarter Sessions on a charge of felony. The +committing magistrates having refused to let the man out on bail, an +application was made at Judges' Chambers before Mr. Baron Martin to +reverse that decision, which he did. + +"Not a rag of evidence," said the attorney's clerk when he delivered +the little brief--"not a shadder of evidence, Mr. 'Awkins. It's a +walk-over, sir." + +I knew that meant a nominal fee, but wondered how many more similes he +was going to deliver instead of the money. But to the honour of the +solicitor, I am bound to say that point was soon cleared up, and +the practice of magistrates, supposed to be in their right minds, +committing people for trial with no "shadder" of evidence against +them, it now became my duty to inquire into. I asked how he knew there +was no evidence, and whether the man bore a respectable character. + +"Oh, I was up before the Baron," he answered. ("Yes," I thought, "but +you must wake very early if you are up too soon for Baron Martin.") +"And the Baron said, as to grantin' bail, 'Certainly he should; the +magistrates had no business to commit him for trial, for there was not +a rag of a case against the man.' So you see, sir, it's a easy case, +Mr. 'Awkins; and as the man's a poor man, we can't mark much of a +fee." + +The usual complaint with quarter sessions solicitors. + +Such were my instructions. I was young in practice at that time, and +took a great deal more in--I mean in the way of credulity--than I +did in after life. Nor was I very learned in the ways of solicitors' +clerks. I knew that hearsay evidence, even in the case of a Judge's +observation, was inadmissible, and therefore what the Baron said could +not strictly be given; but I did not know how far you might go in +the country, nor what the Marquis's opinion might be of the Baron. I +therefore mentioned it to Rodwell, who, of course, was instructed for +the prosecution; he was in everything on one side or the other--never, +I believe, on both. + +This stickler for etiquette was absolutely shocked; he held up his +hands, began a declamation on the rules of evidence, and uttered so +many Pharisaical platitudes that I only escaped annihilation by a +hair's-breadth. He was always furious on etiquette. + +Much annoyed at his bumptious manner, I was resolved now, come what +would, to pay him off. I wanted to show him he was not everybody, even +at Hertford Sessions. So when the case came on and the policeman was +in the box, I rose to cross-examine him, which I did very quietly. + +"Now, policeman, I am going to ask you a question; but pray don't +answer it till you are told to do so, because my learned friend may +object to it." + +Rodwell sprang to his feet and objected at once. + +"What is the question?" asked the Marquis. "We must hear what the +question is before I can rule as to your objection, Mr. Rodwell." + +This was a good one for Mr. Rodwell, and made him colour up to his +eyebrows, especially as I looked at him and smiled. + +"The question, my lord," said I, "is a very simple one: Did not Mr. +Baron Martin say, when applied to for bail, that there was not a rag +of a case against the prisoner?" + +"This is monstrous!" said the learned stickler for forms and +ceremonies--"monstrous! Never heard of such a thing!" + +It might have been monstrous, but it gave me an excellent grievance +with the jury, even if the Marquis did not see his way to allow the +question; and a grievance is worth something, if you have no defence. + +The Marquis paid great attention to the case, especially after that +observation of the Baron's. Although he regretted that it could not be +got in as evidence, he was good enough to say I should get the benefit +of it with the jury. + +All this time there was a continuous growl from my learned friend of +"Monstrous! monstrous!"--so much so that for days after that word +kept ringing in my ears, as monotonously as a muffin bell on a Sunday +afternoon. + +But I believe he was more irritated by my subsequent conduct, for I +played round the question like one longing for forbidden fruit, and +emphasized the objection of my learned friend now and again: all very +wrong, I know now, but in the heyday of youthful ardour how many +faults we commit!" + +"Just tell me," I said to the policeman, "did the learned Judge--I +mean Mr. Baron Martin--seem to know what he was about when he let this +man out on bail?" + +"O yes, sir," said the witness, "he knowed what he was about, right +enough," stroking his chin. + +"You may rely on that," said the Marquis. "You may take that for +granted, Mr. Hawkins." + +"I thought so, my lord; there is not a judge on the Bench who can see +through a case quicker than the Baron." + +The grumbling still continued. + +"Now, then, don't answer this." + +"You have already ruled, my lord," said Rodwell. + +"This is another one," said I; "but if it's regular to keep objecting +before the prisoner's counsel has a chance of putting his question, +I sit down, my lord. I shall be allowed, probably, to address the +jury--that is, if Mr. Rodwell does not object." + +The noble Marquis, on seeing my distress, said,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, the question needs no answer from the policeman; you +will get the benefit of it for what it is worth. The jury will draw +their own conclusions from Mr. Rodwell's objections." + +As they did upon the whole case, for they acquitted, much to Mr. +Rodwell's annoyance. + +"Now," said the Marquis, "let the officer stand back. I want to ask +what the Baron really did say when he let this man out on bail." + +"My lord," answered the witness, "his lordship said as how he looked +upon the whole lot as a _gang of thieves_." + +"You've got it now," said Rodwell. + +"And so have you," said I. "You should not have objected, and then you +would have got the answer he has just given." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +A DANGEROUS SITUATION--A FORGOTTEN PRISONER. + + +I had been to Paris in the summer of 18-- for a little holiday, and +was returning in the evening after some races had taken place near +that city. I had not attended them, and was, in fact, not aware that +they were being held; but I soon discovered the fact from finding +myself in the midst of the motley Crowds which always throng railway +stations on such occasions, only on this particular day they were a +little worse than usual. The race meeting had brought together the +roughs of all nations, and especially from England. As it seemed +to me, my fellow-countrymen always took the lead in this kind of +competition. + +I was endeavouring to get to the booking-office amongst the rest of +the crowd, and there was far more pushing and struggling than was at +all necessary for that purpose. Presently a burly ruffian, with a low +East End face of the slum pattern and complexion, rolled out a volley +of oaths at me. He asked where the ---- I was pushing and what game I +was up to, as though I were a professional pickpocket like himself. +He had the advantage of me in being surrounded by a gang of the most +loathsome blackguards you could imagine, while I was without a friend. +I spoke, therefore, very civilly, and said the crowd was pushing +behind and forcing me forward. The brute was annoyed at my coolness, +and irritated all the more. + +Hitherto his language had not been strong enough to frighten me, so he +improved its strength by some tremendous epithets, considerably above +proof. I think he must have enjoyed the exclusive copyright, for I +never knew his superlatives imitated. He finished the harangue by +saying that he would knock my head off if I said another word. + +To this I replied, with a look stronger than all his language, "No, +you won't." + +My look must have been strong, because the countenances of the +bystanders were subdued. + +"Why won't I, muster?" he asked. + +"For two reasons," I said: "first, because you won't try; and +secondly, because you could not if you did." + +He was somewhat tamed, and then I lifted my hat, so that he could see +my close-cropped hair, which was as short as his own, only not for the +same reason. "You don't seem to know who I am," I added, hoping he +would now take me for a member of the prize-ring. But my appearance +did not frighten him. I had nothing but my short-cropped hair to rely +on; so in self-defence I had to devise another stratagem. To frighten +him one must look the ruffian in the face, or look the ruffian that +he was. He continued to abuse me as we passed on our way to the +booking-office window, and I have no doubt he and his gang were +determined to rob me. One thing was common between us--we had no +regard for one another. I now assumed as bold a manner as I could and +a rough East End accent. "Look-ee 'ere," said I: "I know you don't +keer for me no more 'an I keers for you. I ain't afraid o' no man, and +I'll tell you what it is: it's your ignorance of who I am that makes +you bold. I know you ain't a bad un with the maulers. Let's have no +more nonsense about it here. I'll fight you on Monday week, say, for +a hundred a side in the Butts, and we'll post the money at Peter +Crawley's next Saturday. What d'ye say to that?" + +Peter Crawley, whom I have already mentioned as inviting me to +breakfast, was like a thunderclap to him. I must be somebody if I knew +Peter Crawley, and now he doubtless bethought him of my short hair. + +I must confess if the fellow had taken me at my word I should have +been in as great a funk as he was, but he did not. My challenge was +declined. + + * * * * * + +A curious incident happened once in the rural district of Saffron +Walden. It is a borough no doubt, but it always seemed to me to be too +small for any grown-up thing, and its name sounded more like a little +flower-bed than anything else. On the occasion of which I speak there +was great excitement in the place because they had got a prisoner--an +event which baffled the experience of the oldest inhabitant. + +The Recorder was an elderly barrister, full of pomp and dignity; and, +like many of his brother Recorders, had very seldom a prisoner to +try. You may therefore imagine with what stupendous importance he was +invested when he found that the rural magistrates had committed a +little boy for trial for stealing a _ball of twine_. Think of the +grand jury filing in to be "charged" by this judicial dignitary. +Imagine his charge, his well-chosen sentences in anticipation of +the one to come at the end of the sitting. Think of his eloquent +disquisition on the law of larceny! It was all there! + +After the usual proclamation against vice and immorality had been +read, and after the grand jury had duly found a true bill, the next +thing was to find the prisoner and bring him up for trial. + +We may not be sentimental, or I might have cried, "God save the +child!" as the usher said, "God save the Queen!" But "Suffer little +children to come unto Me" would not have applied to our jails in +those miserable and inhuman times. Mercy and sympathy were out of the +question when you had law and order to maintain, as well as all the +functionaries who had to contribute to their preservation. + +"Put up the prisoner!" said the Recorder in solemn and commanding +tones. + +Down into the jaws of the cavern below the dock descended the jailer +of six feet two--the only big thing about the place. He was a +resolute-looking man in full uniform, and I can almost feel the +breathless silence that pervaded the court during his absence. + +Time passed and no one appeared. When a sufficient interval had +elapsed for the stalwart jailer to have eaten his prisoner, had he +been so minded, the Recorder, looking up from behind the _Times_, +which he appeared to be reading, asked in a very stern voice why the +prisoner was not "put up." + +They did not put up the boy, but the jailer, with a blood-forsaken +face, put himself up through the hole, like a policeman coming through +a trap-door in a pantomime. + +"I beg your honour's pardon, my lord, but they have forgot to bring +him." + +"Forgot to bring him! What do you mean? Where is he?" + +"They've left him at Chelmsford, your honour." + +It seemed there was no jail at Saffron Walden, because, to the honour +of the borough be it said, they had no one to put into it; and this +small child had been committed for safe custody to Chelmsford to wait +his trial at sessions, and had been there so long that he was actually +forgotten when the day of trial came. I never heard anything more of +him; but hope his small offence was forgotten as well as himself. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE ONLY "RACER" I EVER OWNED--SAM LINTON, THE DOG-FINDER. + + +I have been often asked whether I ever owned a racer. In point of +fact, I never did, although I went as near to that honour as any man +who never arrived at it--a racer, too, who afterwards carried its +owner's colours triumphantly past the winning-post. + +The reader may have been shocked at the story I told of those poor +ill-brought-up children whose mother was murdered, from the natural +feeling that if pure innocence is not to be found in childhood, where +are we to seek it? + +I will indicate the spot in three words--_on the Turf_. + +True, you will find fraud, cunning, knavery, and robbery, but you will +find also the most unsophisticated innocence. + +I went as a spectator, a lover of sport, and a lover of horses; and +took more delight in it than I ever could in any haunt of fashionable +idleness. + +I amused myself by watching the proceedings of the betting-ring, where +there is a good deal more honesty than in many places dignified by the +name of "marts." + +But if there was no innocence on the turf, rogues could not live; they +are not cannibals--not, at all events, while they can obtain tenderer +food. And are there not commercial circles also which could not exist +without their equally innocent supporters? + +Experience may be a dear school, but its lessons are never forgotten. +A very little should go a long way, and the wisest make it go +farthest. If any one wants a picture of innocence on the turf, let me +give one of my own drawing, taken from nature. + +All my life I have loved animals, especially horses and dogs; and all +field sports, especially hunting and racing. But I went on the turf +with as much simplicity as a girl possesses at her first ball, knowing +nothing about public form or the way to calculate odds, to hedge, or +do anything but wonder at the number of fools there were in the world. +I did not know "a thing or two," like the knowing ones who lose all +they possess. Who could believe that men go about philanthropically to +inform the innocent how to "put their money on," while they carefully +avoid putting on their own? Tipsters, in short, were no part of my +racing creed. I was not so ignorant as that. I believed in a good +horse quite as much as Lord Rosebery does, and much more than I +believed in a good rider. But there were even then honest jockeys, as +well as unimpeachable owners. All you can say is, honesty is honesty +everywhere, and you will find a good deal of it on the turf, if you +know where to look for it; and its value is in proportion to its +quantity. The moment you depart a hair's-breadth from its immaculate +principle there is no medium state between that and roguery. + +However, be that as it may, I was once the owner of a pedigree +thoroughbred called Dreadnought, which was presented to me when +a colt. Dreadnought's dam Collingwood was by Muley Moloch out of +Barbelle. Dreadnought was good for nothing as a racer, and had broken +down in training. As a castaway he was offered to me, and I gladly +accepted the present. + +As he was too young to work, I sent him down to ---- Park, to be kept +till he was fit for use. He was there for a considerable time, and was +then sent back in a neglected and miserable condition. + +I rode him for some time, until one day he took me to Richmond Park, +and on going up the hill fell and cut both his knees to pieces and +mine as well. This was a sad mishap, and, of course, I could have no +further confidence in poor Dreadnought, fond of him as I was; so he +was placed under the care of a skilful veterinary surgeon, who gave +him every attention. His bill was by no means heavy, and he brought +him quite round again. + +In the course of time he acquired a respectable appearance, although +his broken knees, to say nothing of his "past," prevented his becoming +valuable so far as I was concerned. Certainly I had no expectation of +his ever going on to the turf. How could one believe that any owner +would think of entering him for a race? + +One morning my groom came to me and said, "I think, sir, I can find a +purchaser for Dreadnought, if you have no objection to selling him; +he's a gentleman, sir, who would take great care of him and give him a +good home." + +"Sell him!" said I. "Well, I should not object if he found a good +master. I cannot ride him, and he is practically useless. What price +does he seem inclined to offer?" + +"Well, he ain't made any offer, sir; but he seems a good deal took +with him and to like the look of him. Perhaps, sir, he might come and +see you. I told him that I thought a matter o' _fifteen pun_ might buy +un. I dunnow whether I did right, sir, but I told un you would never +take a farden less. I stuck to that." + +"No," said I, "certainly not, when the vet.'s bill was twelve pounds +ten--not a farthing less, James." + +When the proposed purchaser came, he said, "It's a poor horse--a very +poor horse; he wants a lot of looking after, and I shouldn't think of +buying him except for the sake of seeing what I could do with him, for +I am not fond of lumber, Mr. Hawkins--I don't care for lumber." + +It was straightforward, but I did not at the time see his depth of +feeling. He was evidently intending to buy him out of compassion, as +he had some knowledge of his ancestors. But I stuck to my fifteen +pounds hard and fast, and at last he said, "Well, Mr. Hawkins, I'll +give you all you ask, if so be you'll throw in the saddle and bridle!" + +I was tired of the negotiations, and yielded; so away went poor +Dreadnought with his saddle and bridle, never for me to look on again. +I was sorry to part with him, and the more so because his life had +been unfortunate. But I was deceived in him as well as in his new +master. From me he had concealed his merits, only to reveal them, as +is often the case with latent genius, when some accidental opportunity +offered. + +At that time Bromley in Kent was a central attraction for a great many +second-class patrons of the sporting world. I know little about the +events that were negotiated at Bromley and other small places of +the kind, but there was, as I have been informed, a good deal of +blackguardism and pickpocketing on its course and in its little +primitive streets--lucky if you came out of them with only one black +eye. They would steal the teeth out of your mouth if you did not keep +it shut and your eyes open. + +However, Bromley races came on some time after the sale of my +Dreadnought.... The next morning my groom came with a look of +astonishment that seemed to have kept him awake all night, and said,-- + +"You'll be surprised to hear, sir, that our 'oss has won a fifty-pound +prize at Bromley, and a pot of money besides in bets for his owner." + +"Won a prize!" said I. "Was it by standing on his head?" + +"Won a _race_, sir." + +"Then it must have been a walk-over." + +"Oh no, sir; he beat the cracks, beat the favourites, and took in all +the knowing ones. I always said there was something about that there +'oss, sir, that I didn't understand and nobody couldn't understand, +sir." + +I was absolutely dumbfounded, knowing very little about "favourites" +or "cracks." My groom I knew I could rely upon, for he always seemed +to be the very soul of honour. I thought at first he might have been +misled in some Bromley taproom, but afterwards found that it was all +true--he had heard it from the owner himself, in whom the public +seemed to place confidence, for they laid very long odds against +Dreadnought. + +The animal was famous, but not in that name; he had, like most honest +persons, an alias. How he achieved his victory is uncertain; one +thing, however, is certain--it must have been a startling surprise +to Dreadnought to find himself in a race at all, and still more +astonishing to find himself in front. + +"How many ran?" I asked. + +"Three, sir; two of 'em crack horses." + +At this time I took little interest in pedigrees, and knew nothing +of the "cracks," so the names of those celebrated animals which +Dreadnought had beaten are forgotten. One of them, it appeared, had +been heavily backed at 9 to 4, but Dreadnought did not seem to care +for that; he ran, not on his public form, but on his merits. My eyes +were opened at last, and the whole mystery was solved when James told +me that _all three horses belonged to the same owner_! + +From that time to this I never heard what became of Dreadnought, and +never saw the man who bought him, even in the dock. It is strange, +however, that animals so true and faithful as dogs and horses should +be instruments so perverted as to make men liars and rogues; while for +intelligence many of them could give most of us pounds and pass us +easily at the winning-post. + +Speaking of dogs reminds me of dog-stealers and _their_ ways, of which +some years ago I had a curious experience. I have told the story +before, but it has become altered, and the true one has never been +heard since. Indeed, no story is told correctly when its copyright is +infringed. + +There was a man at the time referred to known as old Sam Linton, the +most extraordinary dog-fancier who ever lived, and the most curious +thing about him was that he always fancied other people's dogs to his +own. He was a remarkable dog-_finder_, too. In these days of dogs' +homes the services of such a man as Linton are not so much in request; +but he was a home in himself, and did a great deal of good in his way +by restoring lost dogs to their owners; so that it became almost a +common question in those days, when a lady lost her pet, to ask if she +had made any inquiry of old Sam Linton. He was better than the wise +woman who indicated in some mysterious jargon where the stolen watch +might or might not be found in the distant future, for old Sam +_brought_ you the very dog on a _specified day_! The wise woman never +knew where the lost property was; old Sam did. + +I dare say he was a great blackguard, but as he has long joined the +majority, it is of no consequence. There was one thing I admired about +Sam: there was a thorough absence in him of all hypocrisy and cant. He +professed no religion whatever, but acted upon the principle that a +bargain was a bargain, and should be carried out as between man and +man. That was his idea, and as I found him true to it, I respected him +accordingly, and mention his name as one of the few genuinely honest +men I have met. + +The way I made his acquaintance was singular. I was dining with my +brother benchers at the Middle Temple Hall, when a message was brought +that a gentleman would like to see me "partickler" after dinner, if I +could give him a few minutes. + +When I came out of the hall, there was a man looking very like a +burglar. His dress, or what you should call his "get-up," is worth a +momentary glance. He had a cat-skin cap in his hand about as large +as a frying-pan, and nearly of the same colour--this he kept turning +round and round first with one hand, then with both--a pea-jacket with +large pearl buttons, corduroy breeches, a kind of moleskin waistcoat, +and blucher shoes. He impressed one in a moment as being fond of +drink. On one or two occasions I found this quality of great service +to me in matters relating to the discovery of lost dogs. Drink, no +doubt, has its advantages to those who do not drink. + +"Muster Orkins, sir," said he, "beggin' your pardon, sir, but might I +have a word with you, Muster Orkins, if it ain't a great intrusion, +sir?" + +I saw my man at once, and showed him that I understood business. + +"You are Sam Linton?" + +It took his breath away. He hadn't much, but poor old Sam did not +like to part with it. In a very husky voice, that never seemed to get +outside his mouth, he said,-- + +"_Yus, sur_; that's it, Mr. Orkins." Then he breathed, "Yer 'onner, +wot I means to say is this--" + +"What do you want, Linton? Never mind what you mean to say; I know +you'll never say it." + +"Well, Mr. Orkins, sir, ye see it is as this: you've lost a little +dorg. Well, you'll say, 'How do you know that 'ere, Sam?' 'Well, sir,' +I says, ''ow don't I know it? Ain't you bin an' offered _fourteen pun_ +for that there leetle dorg? Why, it's knowed dreckly all round Mile +End--the werry 'ome of lorst dorgs--and that there dorg, find him when +you wool, why, he ain't worth more'n _fourteen bob_, sir.' Now, 'ow +d'ye 'count for that, sir?" + +"You've seen him, then?" + +"Not I," says Sam, unmoved even by a twitch; "but I knows a party as +'as, and it ain't likely, Mr. Orkins, as you'll get 'im by orferin' +a price like that, for why? Why, it stands to reason--don't it, Mr. +Orkins?--it ain't the _dorg_ you're payin' for, but _your feelins_ as +these 'ere wagabonds is _tradin' on, Mr. Orkins_; that's where it is. +O sir, it's abominable, as I tells 'em, keepin' a gennelman's dorg." + +I was perfectly thunderstruck with the man's philosophy and good +feeling. + +"Go on, Mr. Linton." + +"Well, Mr. Orkins, they knows--damn 'em!--as your feelins ull make you +orfer more and more, for who knows that there dorg might belong _to a +lidy_, and then _her_ feelins has to be took into consideration. +I'll tell 'ee now, Mr. Orkins, how this class of wagabond works, for +wagabonds I must allow they be. Well, they meets, let's say, at a +public, and one says to another, 'I say, Bill,' he says, 'that there +dawg as you found 'longs to Lawyer Orkins; he's bloomin' fond o' +dawgs, is Lawyer Orkins, so they say, and he can pay for it.' 'Right +you are,' says Bill, 'and a d---- lawyer _shall_ pay for it. He makes +us pay when we wants him, and now we got him we'll make him pay.' So +you see, Mr. Orkins, where it is, and whereas the way to do it is to +say to these fellers--I'll just suppose, sir, I'm you and you're me, +sir; no offence, I hope--'Well, I wants the dawg back.' Well, they +says; leastways, I ses, ses I,-- + +"'Lawyer Orkins, you lost a dawg, 'ave yer?' + +"'Yes,' ses you, 'I have,' like a gennelman--excuse my imitation, +sir--' and I don't _keer a damn for the whelp_!' That's wot you orter +say. 'He's only a bloomin' mongrel.'" + +"Very good; what am I to say next, Mr. Linton?" + +"'Don't yer?' says the tother feller; 'then what the h---- are yer +looken arter him for?' + +"'Well,' you ses, Mr. Orkins, 'you can go to h----. I don't keer for +the dawg; he ain't my fancy.'" + +"A proper place for the whole lot of you, Sam." + +"But, excuse me, Mr. Orkins, sir, that's for future occasions. This +'ere present one, in orferin' fourteen pun, you've let the cat out o' +the bag, and what I could ha' done had you consulted me sooner I can't +do now; I could ha' got him for a _fi'-pun note_ at one time, but +they've worked on your feelins, and, mark my words, they'll want +_twenty pun_ as the price o' that there dawg, as sure as my name's Sam +Linton. That's all I got to say, Mr. Orkins, and I thought I'd come +and warn yer like a man--he's got into bad hands, that there dawg." + +"I am much obliged, Mr. Linton; you seem to be a +straightforward-dealing man." + +"Well, sir, I tries to act upright and downstraight; and, as I ses, +if a man only does that he ain't got nothin' to fear, 'as he, Muster +Orkins?" + +"When can I have him, Sam?" + +"Well, sir, you can have him--let me see--Monday was a week, when you +lost him; next Monday'll be another week, when I found him; that'll be +a fortnit. Suppose we ses next Tooesday week?" + +"Suppose we say to-morrow." + +"Oh!" said Sam, "then I thinks you'll be sucked in! The chances are, +Mr. Orkins, you won't see him at all. Why, sir, you don't know how +them chaps carries on their business. Would you believe it, Mr. +Orkins, a gennelman comes to me, and he ses, 'Sam,' he ses, 'I want to +find a little pet dawg as belonged to a lidy'--which was his wife, in +course--and he ses the lidy was nearly out of her mind. 'Well,' I ses, +'sir, to be 'onest with you, don't you mention that there fact to +anybody but me'--because when a lidy goes out of her mind over a lorst +dawg up goes the price, and you can't calculate bank-rate, as they +ses. The price'll go up fablous, Mr. Orkins; there's nothin' rules the +market like that there. Well, at last I agrees to do my best for the +gent, and he says, just as you might say, Mr. Orkins, just now, 'When +can she have him?' Well, I told him the time; but what a innercent +question, Mr. Orkins! 'Why not before?' says he, with a kind of a +angry voice, like yours just now, sir. 'Why, sir,' I ses, 'these +people as finds dawgs 'ave their feelins as well as losers 'as theirs, +and sometimes when they can't find the owner, they sells the animal.' +Well, they sold this gennelman's animal to a major, and the reason why +he couldn't be had for a little while was that the major, being fond +on him, and 'avin' paid a good price for the dawg, it would ha' been +cruel if he did not let him have the pleasure of him like for a few +days--or a week." + +Sam and I parted the best of friends, and, I need not say, on the best +of terms I could get. I knew him for many years after this incident, +and say to his credit that, although he was sometimes hard with +customers, he acted, from all one ever heard, strictly in accordance +with the bargain he made, whatever it might be; and what is more +singular than all, I never heard of old Sam Linton getting into +trouble. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +WHY I GAVE OVER CARD-PLAYING. + + +Like most men who are not saints, I had the natural instinct for +gambling, without any passion for it; but soon found the necessity for +suppressing my inclination for cards, lest it should interfere with my +legitimate profession. It was necessary to abandon the indulgence, or +abandon myself to its temptations. + +I owe my determination never to play again at cards to the bad luck +which befell me on a particular occasion at Ascot on the Cup Day of +the year 18--. I was at that time struggling to make my way in my +profession, and carefully storing up my little savings for the +proverbial rainy day. + +Having been previously to the Epsom summer races, and had such +extraordinary good luck, nothing but a severe reverse would have +induced me to take the step I did. Good luck is fascinating, and +invariably leads us on, with bad luck sometimes close behind. + +I went to Epsom with my dear old friend Charley Wright, and we soon +set to work in one of the booths to make something towards our +fortunes at _rouge et noir_. The booth was kept by a man who +seemed--to me, at all events--to be the soul of honour. I had no +reason to speak otherwise than well of him, for I staked a half-crown +on the black, and won two half-crowns every time, or nearly every +time. + +I thought it a most excellent game, and with less of the element of +chance or skill in it than any game I ever played. My pockets were +getting stuffed with half-crowns, so that they bulged, and caused me +to wonder if I should be allowed to leave the racecourse alive, for +there were many thieves who visited the Downs in those days. + +But my friend Charley was with me, and I knew he would be a pretty +trustworthy fellow in a row. This, however, was but a momentary +thought, for I was too much engrossed in the game and in my good luck +to dwell on possibilities. Nor did I interest myself in Charley's +proceedings, but took it for granted that a game so propitious to me +was no less so to him. He was playing with several others; who or +what they were was of no moment to me. I pursued my game quietly, and +picked up my half-crowns with great gladness and with no concern for +those who had lost them. + +Presently, however, my attention was momentarily diverted by hearing +Charley let off a most uncontrollable "D--n!" + +"What's the matter, Charley?" I asked, without lifting my head. + +"Matter!" says Charley; "rooked--that's all!" + +"Rooked! That's very extraordinary. I'm winning like anything. Look +here!" and I pointed to my pockets, which were almost bursting. + +"Yes," said he, "I see how it is: you've been winning on twos to one, +and I've been losing on threes." + +"Black's the winning colour to-day, Charley--_noir_; you should have +backed _noir_. Besides, long odds are much too risky. I am quite +content with two to one." + +Here there was a general break-up of the party, because Charley being +out of it as well as several others, it left only one, and, of course, +the keeper of the booth was not so foolish, however honourable, to pay +me two half-crowns and win only one. So there it ended. + +That night I made this game a study, and the sensible conclusion came +to me that if you would take advantage of the table you should play +for the lower stakes, because you have a better chance of winning than +those who play high. At least, that was the result of my policy; for +while those who played high were ruined, my pockets were filled, and, +by that cautious mode of playing, I was so lucky that, had there been +enough at threes to one, I could have kept on making money as long as +they had any to lose. + +I changed my half-crowns with the booth-keeper for gold, and reached +my chambers safely with the spoil. And how pleasant it was to count +it! + +It has occurred to me since that the keeper of the booth had carefully +noted my proceedings (such was my innocence), and that he made his +calculations for a future occasion. One thing he was quite sure +of--namely, that he would see me again on the first opportunity there +was of winning more half-crowns. + +It is possible that a succession of runs of luck might have put an end +to my professional career; it is certain that the opposite result put +an end to my card-playing aspirations. + +In about a fortnight, all eager for a renewal of my Epsom experience, +I went down to the Ascot meeting, taking with me not only all my +previous winnings, but my store of savings for the rainy day, and was +determined to pursue the same moderate system of cautious play. + +There was the same booth, the same little flag fluttering on the top, +and the same obliging proprietor. He recognized me at once, and looked +as if he was quite sure I would be there--as if, in fact, he had been +waiting for me. After a pleasant greeting and a few friendly words, I +thought it a little odd that a man should be so glad to meet one who +had come to fill his pockets at the booth-keeper's expense--at least, +I thought this afterwards, not at the time. He looked genuinely +pleased, and down I sat once more, quite sure that two to one would +beat three. + +The proprietor kept his eye on my play in a very thoughtful manner, +nor was it surprising that he knew his game as well as I; in fact, it +turned out that he knew it better. To this day I am unable to explain +how he manoeuvred it, how he adjusted his tactics to counteract mine; +but that something happened more than mere luck would account for was +certain, for, as often as the half-crown went on black, red was the +lucky colour. But I persevered on black because it had been my friend +at Epsom, and down went the half-crowns, to be swept up by the keeper +of the booth. I cannot even now explain how it was done. + +Intending to make a good day's work and gather a rich harvest, I +took with me every shilling I had in the world--not only my previous +winnings, but my hard-earned savings at the Bar. I began to lose, but +went on playing, in the vain hope--the worst hope of the gambler--of +retrieving what I had lost and recovering my former luck. But it was +not to be; the table was against me. I forsook my loyalty to black and +laid on red. Alas! red was no better friend. I lost again, and knew +now that all my Epsom winnings had found their way once more into the +keeper's pocket. A fortnight's loan was all I had of them. It was a +pity they had not been given to some charity. But I kept on bravely +enough, and did not despair or leave off while I had a half-crown +left. That half-crown, however, was soon raked up with the rest into +the keeper's bag. + +I was bankrupt, with nothing in my pocket but twopence and a return +ticket from Paddington. + +Hopeless and helpless, I had learnt a lesson--a lesson you can only +learn in the school of experience. + +I little thought then that the only certain winner at the gaming-table +is _the table itself_, and made up my mind as I walked alone and +disappointed through Windsor Park, on my way to the station, that I +would never touch a card again--and I never did. + +For the first time since setting out in the morning I felt hungry, and +bought a pennyworth of apples at a little stall kept by an old woman, +and a bottle of ginger-beer. Such was my frugal meal; and thus +sustained I tramped on, my return ticket being my only possession in +the world. I reached Paddington with a sorry heart, and walked to the +Temple, my good resolution my only comfort; but it was all-sufficient +for the occasion and for all time to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +"CODD'S PUZZLE." + + +Having somewhat succeeded in my practice at Quarter Sessions, I +enlarged my field of adventure by attending the Old Bailey, hoping, of +course, to obtain some briefs at that court; and although I abandoned +the practice as a rule, I was, in after-life, on many occasions +retained to appear in cases which are still fresh in my memory. I was +with Edwin James, who was counsel for Mr. Bates, one of the partners +of Strahan and Sir John Dean Paul, bankers of the Strand, and who +were sentenced to fourteen years' transportation for fraudulently +misappropriating securities of their customers. I was counsel for a +young clerk to Leopold Redpath, the notorious man who was transported +for extensive forgeries upon the Great Northern Railway. The clerk was +justly acquitted by the jury. + +My recollection of this period brings back many curious defences, +which illustrate the school of advocacy in which I studied. Whether +they contributed to my future success, I do not know, but that they +afforded amusement is proved by my remembering them at all. + +Hertford and St. Albans were my chief places, my earliest attachments, +and are amongst my pleasantest memories. It seems childish to think of +them as scenes of my struggles, for when I come to look back I had +no struggles at all. I was merely practising like a cricketer at the +nets; there was nothing to struggle for except a verdict when it would +not come without some effort. + +But dear old Codd was the man to struggle. He struggled and wriggled; +tie him up as tightly as you could, you saw him fighting to get free, +as he did in the following great duck case. He was a very amiable old +barrister, a fast talker--so fast that he never stayed to pronounce +his words--and of an ingenuity that ought to have been applied to some +better purpose, such as the making of steam-engines or writing novels, +rather than defending thieves. He reminded me on this occasion of the +man in the circus who rode several horses at a time. In the case I +allude to, he set up no less than _seven defences_ to account for the +unhappy duck's finding its way into his client's pocket, and the charm +of them all was their variety. Inconsistency was not the word to apply +reproachfully. Inconsistency was Codd's merit. He was like a conjurer +who asks you to name a card, and as surely as you do so you draw it +from the pack. + +This particular duck case was known long after as "Codd's Puzzle." + +"First," says Codd, "my client bought the duck and paid for it." + +He was not the man to be afraid of being asked where. + +"Second," says Codd, "my client found it; thirdly, it had been given +to him; fourthly, it flew into his garden; fifthly, he was asleep, and +some one put it into his pocket." And so the untiring and ingenious +Codd proceeded making his case unnaturally good. + +But the strange thing was that, instead of sweeping him away with a +touch of ridicule, the young advocate argued the several defences one +after the other with great dialectical skill, so that the jury became +puzzled; and if the defence had not been so extraordinarily good, +there would have been an acquittal forthwith. + +There had been such a bewildering torrent of arguments that presently +Codd's head began to swim, and he shrugged his shoulders, meaning +thereby that it was the most puzzling case _he_ had ever had anything +to do with. + +At last it became a question whether, amidst these conflicting +accounts, there ever was any duck at all. Codd had not thought of that +till some junior suggested it, and then he was asked by the Marquis +of Salisbury, our chairman, whether there was any particular line of +defence he wished to suggest. + +"No," says Codd, "not in particular; my client wished to make a clean +breast of it, and put them all before the jury; and I should be much +obliged if those gentlemen will adopt any one of them."[A] + +The jury acquitted the prisoner, not because they chose any particular +defence, but because they did not know which to choose, and so gave +the prisoner the benefit of the doubt. + +The client was happy, and Codd famous. + +[Footnote A: Sixty years after this event, in the reply in the great +Tichborne case, Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., quoted this very defence as an +illustration of the absurdity of the suggestion that one of several +_Ospreys_ picked up Sir Roger Tichborne--as will hereafter appear.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GRAHAM, THE POLITE JUDGE. + + +Just before my time the punishment of death was inflicted for almost +every offence of stealing which would now be thought sufficiently +dealt with by a sentence of a week's imprisonment. The struggle to +turn King's evidence was great, and it was almost a competitive +examination to ascertain who knew most about the crime; and he, being +generally the worst of the gang, was accepted accordingly. + +I remember when I was a child three men, named respectively Marshall, +Cartwright, and Ingram, were charged with having committed a burglary +in the house of a gentleman named Pym, who lived in a village in +Hertfordshire, Marshall being at that time, and Cartwright having +previously been, butler in the gentleman's service. Ingram had been a +footman in London. + +The burglary was not in itself of an aggravated character. Plate only +was stolen, and that had been concealed under the gravel bed of a +little rivulet which ran through the grounds. + +No violence or threat of violence had been offered to any inmate of +the house, yet the case was looked upon as serious because of the +position of trust which had been held by the two butlers. + +Ingram was admitted as King's evidence. The butlers were convicted, +sentenced to death, and hanged, whilst Ingram was, according to +universal practice, set at liberty. Before the expiration of a +year, however, he was convicted of having stolen a horse, and as +horse-stealing was a capital offence at that time, he suffered the +penalty of death at Hereford. + +It was a curious coincidence that only a year or two afterwards a man +named Probert, who had given King's evidence upon which the notorious +Thurtell and Hunt were convicted of the brutal murder of Weare +and executed, was also released, and within a year convicted of +horse-stealing and hanged. + +An old calendar for the Assize at Lincoln, which I give as an +Appendix, reminds me of the condition of the law and of its victims +at that time. At every assize it was like a tiger let loose upon +the district. If a man escaped the gallows, he was lucky, while the +criminals were by no means the hardened ruffians who had been trained +in the school of crime; they were mostly composed of the most ignorant +rural labourers--if, indeed, in those days there were any degrees of +ignorance, when to be able to read a few words by spelling them was +considered a prodigious feat. + +Jurors often endeavoured to mitigate the terrors of the law by finding +that the stolen property, however valuable it might be, was of less +value than five shillings. May the recording angel "drop a tear over +this record of perjury and blot it out for ever." + +It was in those days that Mr. Justice Graham was called upon to +administer the law, and on one occasion particularly he vindicated his +character for courtesy to all who appeared before him. He was a man +unconscious of humour and yet humorous, and was not aware of the +extreme civility which he exhibited to everybody and upon all +occasions, especially to the prisoner. + +People went away with a sense of gratitude for his kindness, and when +he sentenced a batch of prisoners to death he did it in a manner that +might make any one suppose, if he did not know the facts, that they +had been awarded prizes for good conduct. + +He was firm, nevertheless--a great thing in judges, if not accompanied +with weakness of mind. I may add that there was a singular precision +in his mode of expression as well as in his ideas. + +At a country assize, where he was presiding in the Crown Court, a +man was indicted for murder. He pleaded "Not guilty." The evidence +contained in the depositions was terribly clear, and, of course, the +judge, who had perused them, was aware of it. + +The case having been called on for trial, counsel for the prosecution +applied for a postponement on the ground of the absence of a most +material witness for the Crown. + +I should mention that in those days counsel were not allowed to speak +for the prisoner, but the judge was always in theory supposed to watch +the case on his behalf. In the absence of a _material_ witness the +prisoner would be acquitted. + +The learned Mr. Justice Graham asked the accused if he had any +objection to the case being postponed until the next assizes, on the +ground, as the prosecution had alleged, that their most material +witness could not be produced. His lordship put the case as somewhat +of a misfortune for the prisoner, and made it appear that it would be +postponed, if he desired it, as a favour to _him_. + +Notwithstanding the judge's courteous manner of putting it, the +prisoner most strenuously objected to any postponement. It was not +for him to oblige the Crown at the expense of a broken neck, and he +desired above all things to be tried in accordance with law. He stood +there on his "jail delivery." + +Graham was firm, but polite, and determined to grant the postponement +asked for. In this he was doubtless right, for the interests of +justice demanded it. But to soften down the prisoner's disappointment +and excuse the necessity of his further imprisonment, his lordship +addressed him in the following terms, and in quite a sympathetic +manner:-- + +"Prisoner, I am extremely sorry to have to detain you in prison, but +_common humanity_ requires that I should not let you be tried in the +absence of an important witness for the prosecution, although at +the same time I can quite appreciate your desire to have your case +speedily disposed of; one does not like a thing of this sort hanging +over one's head. But now, for the sake of argument, prisoner, suppose +I were to try you to-day in the absence of that material witness, and +yet, contrary to your expectations, they were to find you guilty. What +then? Why, in the absence of that material witness, I should have to +sentence you to be hanged on Monday next. That would be a painful +ordeal for both of us. + +"But now let us take the other alternative, and let us suppose that if +your trial had been put off, and the material witness, when called, +could prove something in your favour--this sometimes happens--and that +that something induced the jury to acquit you, what a sad thing that +would be! It would not signify to you, because you would have been +hanged, and would be dead!" + +Here his lordship paused for a considerable time, unable to suppress +his emotion, but, having recovered himself, continued,-- + +"But you must consider what my feelings would be when I thought I had +hanged an innocent man!" + +At the next assizes the man was brought up, the material witness +appeared; the prisoner was found guilty, and hanged. + +The humane judge's feelings were therefore spared. + +At the Old Bailey he was presiding during a sessions which was rather +light for the times, there being less than a score left for execution +under sentence of death. There were, in fact, only sixteen, most of +them for petty thefts. + +His lordship, instead of reading the whole of the sixteen names, +omitted one, and read out only fifteen. He then politely, and with +exquisite precision and solemnity, exhorted them severally to prepare +for the awful doom that awaited them the following Monday, and +pronounced on each the sentence of death. + +They left the dock. + +After they were gone the jailer explained to his lordship that there +had been _sixteen_ prisoners capitally convicted, but that his +lordship had omitted the name of one of them, and he would like to +know what was to be done with him. + +"What is the prisoner's name?" asked Graham. + +"John Robins, my lord." + +"Oh, bring John Robins back--by all means let John Robins step +forward. I am obliged to you." + +The culprit was once more placed at the Bar, and Graham, addressing +him in his singularly courteous manner, said apologetically,-- + +"John Robins, I find I have accidentally omitted your name in my list +of prisoners doomed to execution. It was quite accidental, I assure +you, and I ask your pardon for my mistake. I am very sorry, and can +only add that you will be hanged with the rest." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +GLORIOUS OLD DAYS--THE HON. BOB GRIMSTON, AND MANY +OTHERS--CHICKEN-HAZARD. + + +The old glories of the circuit days vanished with stage-coaches and +post-chaises. If you climbed on to the former for the sake of economy +because you could not afford to travel in the latter, you would be +fined at the circuit mess, whose notions of propriety and economy were +always at variance. + +Those who obtained no business found it particularly hateful to keep +up the foolish appearance of having it by means of a post-chaise. You +might not ride in a public vehicle, or dine at a public table, or +put up at an inn for fear of falling in with attorneys and obtaining +briefs from them surreptitiously. The Home Circuit was very strict +in these respects, but it was the cheapest circuit to travel in the +kingdom, so that its members were numerous and, I need not say, +various in mind, manner, and position. + +But it was a circuit of brilliant men in my young days. Many of them +rose to eminence both in law and in Parliament. It was a time, indeed, +when, if judges made law, law made judges. + +I should like to say a word or two about those times and the necessary +studies to be undergone by those who aspired to eminence. + +In the days of my earliest acquaintance with the law, an ancient order +of men, now almost, if not quite, extinct, called Special Pleaders, +existed, who, after having kept the usual number of terms--that is to +say, eaten the prescribed number of dinners in the Inn of Court to +which they belonged--became qualified, on payment of a fee of L12, to +take out a Crown licence to plead under the Bar. This enabled them to +do all things which a barrister could do that did not require to be +transacted in court. They drew pleadings, advised and took pupils. + +Some of them practised in this way all their lives and were never +called. Others grew tired of the drudgery, and were called to the Bar, +where they remained _junior_ barristers as long as they lived, old age +having no effect upon their status. Some were promoted to the ancient +order of Serjeants-at-Law, or were appointed her Majesty's Counsel, +while some of the Serjeants received from the Crown patents of +precedence with priority over all Queen's Counsel appointed after +them, and with the privilege of wearing a silk gown and a Queen's +Counsel wig. + +There was, however, this difference between a Queen's Counsel and +the holder of a Patent of Precedence: that the former, having been +appointed one of her Majesty's Counsel, could not thenceforth appear +without special licence under the sign-manual of the Queen to defend a +prisoner upon a criminal charge. The Serjeant-at-Law is as rare now as +a bustard. + +I mention these old-fashioned times and studies, not because of their +interest at the present day, but because they produced such men as +Littledale, Bayley, Parke (afterwards Lord Wensleydale), Alderson, +Tindal, Patteson, Wightman, Crompton, Vaughan Williams, James, Willes, +and, later, Blackburn. + +The contemplation of these legal giants, amongst whom my career +commenced, somewhat checked the buoyant impulse which had urged me +onward at Quarter Sessions, but at the same time imparted a little +modest desire to imitate such incomparable models. Those of them who +were selected from the junior Bar were good examples of men whose vast +knowledge of law was acquired in the way I have indicated, and who +were chosen on their merits alone. + +But even these successful examples, however encouraging to the +student, were, nevertheless, not ill-calculated to make a young +barrister whose income was small, and sometimes, as in my case, by no +means _assured_ to him, sicken at the thought that, study as he liked, +years might pass, and probably would, before a remunerative practice +came to cheer him. Perhaps it would never come at all, and he would +become, like so many hundreds of others of his day and ours, a +hopeless failure. All were competitors for the briefs and even the +smiles of solicitors; for without their favour none could succeed, +although he might unite in himself all the qualities of lawyer and +advocate. + +The prospect was not exhilarating for any one who had to perform the +drudgery of the first few years of a junior's life; nevertheless, +I was not cast down by the mere apprehension, or rather the mere +possibility of failure, for when I looked round on my competitors I +was encouraged by the thought that dear old Woollet knew more about a +rate appeal than Littledale himself, while old Peter Ryland, with his +inimitable Saxon, was quite as good at the irremovability of a pauper +as Codd was in accounting for the illegal removal of a duck, and both +in their several branches of knowledge more learned than Alderson or +Bayley. But here I was, launched on that wide sea in which I was "to +sink or swim," and, as I preferred the latter, I struck out with a +resolute breast-stroke, and, as I have said, never failed to keep my +head above water. It was some satisfaction to know that, if the judges +were so learned, there was yet more learning to come; much yet to come +down from, the old table-land of the Common Law, and much more from +the inexhaustible fountain of Parliament. + +The Quarter Sessions Court was the arena of my first eight years of +professional life. I watched and waited with unwearied attention, +never without hope, but often on the very verge of despair, of +ever making any progress which would justify my choosing it as a +profession. My greatest delight, perhaps, was the obtaining an +acquittal of some one whose guilt nobody could doubt. All the struggle +of those times was the fight for the "one three six," and the hardest +effort of my life was the most valuable, because it gave me the key +which opened the door to many depositories of unexplored wealth. + +There were many men who outlived their life, and others who never +lived their lives at all; many men who did nothing, and many more who +would almost have given their lives to do something. + +There was, however, one man of those days whom I cannot here pass +over, as he remained my companion and friend to his life's end, and +will be remembered by me with affection and reverence to the end of my +own. It was old Bob Grimston, whom I first met at the benefit of "the +Spider," one of the famous prize-fighters of the time. The Hon. +Bob Grimston was known in the sporting world as one of its most +enthusiastic supporters, and acknowledged as one of the best men in +saddle or at the wicket. But Bob was not only a sportsman--he was a +gentleman of the finest feeling you could meet, and the keenest sense +of honour. + +Having thus spoken of some of the eminent men of my early days, I +would like to mention a little incident that occurred before I had +fairly settled down to practise, or formed any serious intention as to +the course I should pursue--that is to say, whether I should remain a +sessions man like Woollet, or become a master of Saxon like old Peter +Ryland, a sportsman like Bob Grimston, or a cosmopolitan like Rodwell, +so as to comprehend all that came in my way. I chose the latter, for +the simple reason that in principle I loved what in these days would +be called "the open door," and received all comers, even sometimes +entertaining solicitors unawares. + +Accordingly I laid myself open to the attention of kind friends and +people whose manner of life was founded on the Christian principle of +being "given to hospitality." + +But before I come to the particular incident I wish to describe, I +must briefly mention a remarkable case that was tried in the Queen's +Bench, and which necessarily throws me back a year or two in my +narrative. + +It was a case known as "Boyle and Lawson," and the incident it reveals +will give an idea of the state of society of that day. I am not sure +whether it differs in many respects from that of the present, except +in so far as its _honour_ is concerned, for what was looked upon then +as a flagrant outrage on public morality is now regarded as an error +of judgment, or a mistake occasioned by some fortuitous combination +of unconsidered circumstances. Such is the value in literature and +argument of long words without meaning. + +However, the action was brought against the proprietors of the _Times_ +newspaper for libel. The libel consisted in the statement that the +respectable plaintiff--a lady--had conspired with persons unknown to +obtain false letters of credit for large sums of money. + +The hospitable friends I refer to lived in excellent style in Norwich. +How they had attained their social distinction I am unable to say, but +they were, in fact, in the "very best set," which in Norwich was by no +means the fastest. + +I was travelling at this time with Charles Willshire and his brother +Thomas, who was a mere youth. There was also an undergraduate of +Cambridge of the name of Crook with us, and another who had joined our +party for a few days' ramble. + +We were enjoying ourselves in the old city of Norwich as only youth +can, when we received an invitation to pass an evening in a very +fashionable circle. How the invitation came I could not tell, but +we made no inquiry and accepted it. Arrived at the house, which was +situated in the most aristocratic neighbourhood that Norwich could +boast, we found ourselves in the most agreeable society we could +wish to meet. This was a group of exalted and fashionable personages +arrayed in costumes of the superb Prince Regent style. Nothing could +exceed this party in elegance of costume or manners. You could tell +at once they were, as it was then expressed, "of the quality." Their +cordiality was equalled only by their courtesy, and had we been +princes of the blood we could not have received a more polite welcome. +There was an elegance, too, about the house, and a refinement which +coincided with the culture of the hosts and guests. Altogether it was +one of the most agreeable parties I had ever seen. There were several +gentlemen, all Prince Regents, and one sweet lady, charming in every +way, from the well-arranged blonde tresses to the neatest little shoe +that ever adorned a Cinderella foot. She was beautiful in person as +she was charming in manner. You saw at once that she moved in the best +Norwich society, and was the idol of it. Crook was perfectly amazed at +so much grace and splendour, but then he was much younger than any of +us. + +I don't think any one was so much smitten as Crook. We had seen more +of the world than he had--that is to say, more of the witness-box--and +if you don't see the world there, on its oath, you can see it nowhere +in the same unveiled deformity. + +We enjoyed ourselves very much. There was good music and a little +sweet singing, the lady being in that art, as in every other, well +trained and accomplished. If I was not altogether ravished with the +performance, Crook was. You could see that by the tender look of his +eyes. + +After the music, cards were introduced, and they commenced playing +_vingt-et-un_, Crook being the special favourite with everybody, +especially with the ladies. I believe much was due to the expression +of his eyes. + +As I had given up cards, I did not join in the game, but became more +and more interested in it as an onlooker. I was a little surprised, +however, to find that in a very short while, comparatively, our friend +Crook had lost L30 or L40; and as this was the greater part of his +allowance for travelling expenses, it placed him in a rather awkward +position. + +Some men travel faster when they have no money; this was not the case +with poor Crook, who travelled only by means of it. Alas, I thought, +_twenty-one_ and _vingt-et-un_! It was a serious matter, and the worse +because Crook was not a good loser: he lost his head and his temper as +well as his money; and I have ever observed through life that the man +who loses his temper loses himself and his friends. + +He was disgusted with his bad luck, but nurtured a desperate hope--the +forlorn hope that deceives all gamblers--that he should retrieve his +losses on some future occasion, which he eagerly looked for and, one +might say, demanded. + +The occasion was not far off; it was, in fact, nearer than +Crook anticipated. His pleasant manner and agreeable society at +_vingt-et-un_ procured us another invitation for the following night +but one, and of course we accepted it. It was a great change to me +from the scenery of the Elm Court chimney-pots. + +Whatever might be Crook's happily sanguine disposition and hope of +retrieving his luck, there was one thing which the calculator of +chances does not take into consideration in games of this kind. We, +visiting such cultured and fashionable people, would never for a +moment think so meanly of our friends; I mean the possibility of their +cheating, a word never mentioned in well-bred society. A suspicion of +such conduct, even, would be tantamount to treason, and a violation of +the rules that regulate the conduct of ladies and gentlemen. It was +far from all our thoughts, and the devil alone could entertain so +malevolent an idea. Be that as it may, as a matter of philosophy, the +onlooker sees most of the game, and as I was an onlooker this is what +I saw:-- + +The elegant lady _exchanged glances with one of the players while she +was looking over Crook's hand_! Crook was losing as fast as he could, +and no wonder. I was now in an awkward position. To have denounced our +hosts because I interpreted a lady's glances in a manner that made her +worse than a common thief might have produced unknown trouble. But I +kept my eye on the beautiful blonde, nevertheless, and became more +and more confirmed in my suspicions without any better opportunity of +declaring them. + +The charming well-bred lady thus communicating her knowledge of +Crook's cards, I need not say he was soon reduced to a state of +insolvency; and as the party was too exclusive and fashionable to +extend their hospitality to those who had not the means of paying, +it soon broke up, and we returned to our rooms, I somewhat wiser and +Crook a great deal poorer. + +Such was the adventure which came to my mind when I saw in the Queen's +Bench at Westminster the trial of "Boyle and Lawson" against the +_Times_ for calumnious insinuations against the character of a lady +and others, suggesting that they obtained false letters of credit to +enable them to cheat and defraud. + +_This_ was the select party which Norwich society had lionized--the +great unknown to whom we had been introduced, and where Crook had been +cheated out of his travelling-money! + +The lady was the fair plaintiff in this action, seeking for the +rehabilitation of her character; and she succeeded in effecting that +object so far as the outlay of one farthing would enable her to do so, +for that was all the jury gave her, and it was exactly that amount too +much. Her character was worth more to her in Crook's time. + +Speaking of a man running society on his fees--that is, endeavouring +to cope with the rich on the mere earnings of a barrister, however +large they may be--I have met with several instances which would have +preserved me from the same fate had I ever been cursed with such an +inclination. The number of successful men at the Bar who have been +ruined by worshipping the idol which is called "Society," and which is +perhaps a more disastrous deity to worship than any other, is legion. +This is one unhappy example, the only one I intend to give. + +While I was living in Bond Street, and working very hard, I had little +time and no inclination to lounge about amongst the socially great; I +had, indeed, no money to spend on great people. The entrance-fee into +the portals of the smart society temple is heavy, especially for a +working-man; and so found the bright particular star who had long held +his place amidst the splendid social galaxy, and then disappeared into +a deeper obscurity than that from which he had emerged, to be seen no +more for ever. + +He was a Queen's Counsel, a brilliant advocate in a certain line +of business, and a popular, agreeable, intellectual, and amusing +companion. He obtained a seat in Parliament, and a footing in Society +which made him one of its selected and principal lions. In every +Society paper, amongst its most fashionable intelligence, there was +he; and Society hardly seemed to be able to get along without him. + +One Sunday afternoon I was reading in my little room when this +agreeable member of the _elite_ called upon me. My astonishment was +great, because at that time of my career not only did I not receive +visitors, but _such_ a visitor was beyond all expectation, and I +wondered, when his name was announced, what could have brought him, he +so great and I comparatively nothing. It is true I had known him for +some time, but I knew him so little that I thought of him as a most +estimable great man whose career was leading him to the highest +distinction in his profession. + +Another extraordinary thing that struck me long after, but did not +at the time, was that the business he came upon made no particular +impression on my mind, any more than if it had been the most ordinary +thing in the world. That to me is still inexplicable. + +My visitor did not let troubles sit upon him, if troubles he ever had, +for he seemed to be in the highest spirits. Society kept him ever in a +state of effervescent hilarity, so that he never let anything trouble +him. At this time he was making at the Bar seven or eight thousand a +year, and consequently, I thought, must be the happiest of men. + +His manner was agreeable, and his face wore a smile of complacency at +variance with the nature of his errand, which he quickly took care to +make known by informing me that he was in a devil of a mess, and did +not know what he should do to get out of it. + +"Oh," I said quite carelessly, "you'll manage." And little did I think +I should be the means of fulfilling my own prophecy. + +"The fact is, my dear Hawkins," said the wily intriguer, for such he +was, "I'll tell you seriously how I stand. To-morrow morning I have +bills becoming due amounting to L1,250, and I want you to be good +enough to lend me that sum to enable me to meet them." + +I was perfectly astounded! This greatness to have come down to L1,250 +on the wrong side of the ledger. + +"I have no such amount," said I, "and never had anything like it at +my bank." I must say I pitied him, and began to wonder in what way I +_could_ help him. He was so really and good-naturedly in earnest, and +seemed so extremely anxious, that at last I said, "Well, I'll see what +I can do," and asked him to meet me in court the following morning, +when I would tell him whether I could help him or not. + +His gratitude was boundless; my kindness should never be +forgotten--no, as long as he lived! and if he had been addressing a +common jury he could not have used more flowers of speech or shed more +abundant tears to water them with. I was the best friend he had ever +had. And, as it seemed afterwards, very foolishly so, because he told +me he had not one farthing of security to offer for the loan. A man +who ought to have been worth from fifty to a hundred thousand pounds! + +However, I went to my bankers' and made arrangements to be provided +with the amount. I met him at the place of appointment, and was quite +surprised to see the change in his demeanour since the day before. +He was now apparently in a state of deeper distress than ever, and +thinking to soothe him, I said, "It's all right; you can have the +money!" + +Once more he overwhelmed me with the eloquence of a grateful heart, +but said it was of no use--no use whatever; that instead of L1,250 he +had other bills coming in, and unless they could all be met he might +just as well let the others go. + +"How much do you _really_ want to quite clear you?" I asked, with a +simplicity which astonishes me to this day. + +"Well," he said, "nothing is of the least use under L2,500." + +I was a little staggered, but, pitying his distress of mind, went once +more to my bankers' and made the further necessary arrangements. I +borrowed the whole amount at five per cent., and placed it to the +credit of this brilliant Queen's Counsel. + +The only terms I made with him on this new condition of things was +that he should, out of his incoming fees, pay my clerk L500 a quarter +until the whole sum was liquidated. This he might easily have done, +and this he arranged to do; but the next day he pledged the whole of +his prospective income to a Jew, incurred fresh liabilities, and left +me without a shadow of a chance of ever seeing a penny of my money +again. I need not say every farthing was lost, principal and interest. +I say interest, because it cost me five per cent, till the amount was +paid. + +His end was as romantic as his life, but it is best told in the words +of my old friend Charley Colman, who never spares colour when it is +necessary, and in that respect is an artist who resembles Nature. Thus +he writes:-- + +"What a coward at heart was ----! He allowed himself to be sat upon and +crushed without raising a hand or voice in his defence of himself. +When he returned from America he accepted a seat in ---- office--in +the office of the man who urged Lord ---- to prosecute him. + +"After your gift to him--a noble gift of L3,000--he called at my +chambers, spoke in high terms of your generosity, and wished all the +world to know it, so elated was he. I was to publish it far and wide. +He went away. In half an hour he returned, and begged me to keep the +affair secret. 'Too late,' said I. 'Several gentlemen have been here, +and to them I mentioned the matter, and begged them to spread it far +and wide.' His heart failed him when he thought he would be talked +about. + +"He was a kind-hearted fellow at times--generous to a fault, always +most abstemious; but he had a tongue, and one he did not try to +control. He used to say stinging things of people, knowing them to be +untrue. + +"What a life! What a terrible fate was his! Turned out of Parliament; +made to resign his Benchership; his gown taken from him by the +Benchers; driven to America by his creditors to get his living; not +allowed to practise in the Supreme Court in America. At forty-five +years of age his life had foundered. He returns to England--for what! +Simply to find his recklessness had blasted his life, and then--? + +"Sometimes, in spite of _all_, I feel a moisture in my eye when I +think of him. Had he been true to himself what a brilliant life was +open to him! What a practice he had! Up to the last he told me that he +turned L14,000 a year. He worked hard, very hard, and his gains went +to ---- or to chicken-hazard! Poor fellow!" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +PETER RYLAND--THE REV. MR. FAKER AND THE WELSH WILL. + + +I was retained at Hertford Assizes, with Peter Ryland as my leader, to +prosecute a man for perjury, which was alleged to have been committed +in an action in which a cantankerous man, who had once filled the +office of High Sheriff for the county, was the prosecutor. Wealthy and +disagreeable, he was nevertheless a henpecked tyrant. + +Mrs. Brown, his wife, was a witness for the prosecution in the alleged +perjury--which was unfortunate for her husband, because she had the +greatest knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the case; while +Mr. Brown had the best knowledge of the probable quality of his wife's +evidence. + +When we were in consultation and considering the nature of this +evidence, and arranging the best mode of presenting our case to the +jury, Brown interposed, and begged that Mr. Ryland should call Mrs. +Brown as the _last_ witness, instead of first, which was the proper +course. "Because," said he, "_if anything goes wrong during the trial +or anything is wanting, Mrs. Brown will be quite ready to mop it all +up_." + +This in a prosecution for _perjury_ was one of the boldest +propositions I had ever heard. + +I need not say that good Mrs. Brown was called, as she ought to have +been, first. The lady's mop was not in requisition at that stage of +the trial, and the jury decided against her. + +I was sometimes in the Divorce Court, and old Jack Holker was +generally my opponent. He was called "Long Odds." In one particular +case I won some _eclat_. It is not related on that account, however, +but simply in consequence of its remarkable incidents. No case is +interesting unless it is outside the ordinary stock-in-trade of the +Law Courts, and I think this was. + +The details are not worth telling, and I therefore pass them by. +Cresswell was the President, and the future President, Hannen, my +junior. + +We won a great victory through the remarkable over-confidence and +indiscretion of Edwin James, Q.C., who opposed us. James's client was +the husband of the deceased. By her will the lady had left him the +whole of her property, amounting to nearly L100,000. The case we set +up was that the wife had been improperly influenced by her husband in +making it, and that her mind was coerced into doing what she did not +intend to do, and so we sought to set aside the will on that ground. + +Edwin James had proved a very strong case on behalf of the validity of +the will. He had called the attesting witnesses, and they, respectable +gentlemen as they undoubtedly were, had proved all that was +necessary--namely, that the testator, notwithstanding that she was in +a feeble condition and almost at the last stage, was perfectly calm +and capable in mind and understanding--exactly, in fact, as a testator +ought to be who wills her property to her husband if he retains her +affection. + +The witnesses had been cross-examined by me, and nothing had +been elicited that cast the least doubt upon their character or +credibility. Had the matter been left where it was, the L100,000 would +have been secured. But James, whatever may have been his brilliance, +was wanting in tact. He would not leave well alone, but resolved to +call the Rev. Mr. Faker, a distinguished Dissenting minister. + +In fiction this gentleman would have appeared in the melodramatic +guise of a spangled tunic, sugar-loaf hat, with party-coloured +ribbons, purple or green breeches, and motley hose; but in the +witness-box he was in clerical uniform, a long coat and white cravat +with corresponding long face and hair, especially at the back of his +head. A soberer style of a stage bandit was never seen. He was just +the man for cross-examination, I saw at a glance--a fancy witness, +and, I believe, a Welshman. As he was a Christian warrior, I had to +find out the weak places in his armour. But little he knew of courts +of law and the penetrating art of cross-examination, which could make +a hole in the triple-plated coat of fraud, hypocrisy, and cunning. I +was in no such panoply. I fought only with my little pebblestone and +sling, but took good aim, and then the missile flew with well-directed +speed. + +I had to throw at a venture at first, because, happily, there were no +instructions how to cross-examine. Not that I should have followed +them if there had been; but I might have got a _fact_ or two from +them. + +It is well known that artifice is the resource of cunning, whether +it acts on the principle of concealing truth or boldly asserting +falsehood. Here the reverend strategist did both: he knew how a little +truth could deceive. You must remember that at this point of the case, +when the Rev. Faker was called, there was nothing to cross-examine +about. I knew nothing of the parties, the witnesses, the solicitors, +or any one except my learned friends. It would not have been +discreditable to my advocacy if I had submitted to a verdict. I will, +therefore, give the points of the questions which elicited the truth +from the Christian warrior; and probably the non-legal reader of these +memoirs may be interested in seeing what may sometimes be done by a +few judicious questions. + +"Mr. Faker," I said. + +"Sir," says Faker. + +"You have told us you acted as the adviser of the testatrix." + +"Yes, sir." + +"Spiritual adviser, of course?" + +A spiritual bow. + +"You advised the deceased lady, probably, as to her duties as a dying +woman?" + +"Certainly." + +"Duty to her husband--was that one?" + +A slight hesitation in Mr. Faker revealed the vast amount of fraud of +which he was capable. It was the smallest peephole, but I saw a good +way. Till then there was nothing to cross-examine about, but after +that hesitation there was L100,000 worth! He had betrayed himself. At +last Faker said,-- + +"Yes, Mr. Hawkins; yes, sir--her duty to her husband." + +"In the way of _providing_ for him?" was my next question. + +"Oh yes; quite so." + +"You were careful, of course, as you told your learned counsel, to +avoid any undue influence?" + +"Certainly." + +"The will was not completed, I think, when you first saw the dying +woman--on the day, I mean, of her death?" + +"No, not at that time." + +"Was it kept in a little bag by the pillow of the testatrix? Did she +retain the keys of the bag herself?" + +"That is quite right." + +"Had it been executed at this time? I think you said not?" + +"Not at this time; it had to be revised." + +"How did you obtain possession of the keys?" + +"I obtained them." + +"Yes, I know; but without her knowledge?" + +It was awkward for Faker, but he had to confess that he was not sure. +Then he frankly admitted that the will was taken out of the bag--in +the lady's presence, of course, but whether she was quite dead or +almost alive was uncertain; and then he and the husband spiritually +conferred as to what the real intention of the dying woman in the +circumstances was _likely to be_, and having ascertained that, they +made _another will_, which they called "settling the former one" by +carrying out the lady's intentions, the lady being now dead to all +intentions whatsoever. + +This was the will which was offered for probate! + +Cresswell thought it was a curious state of affairs, and listened with +much interest to the further cross-examination. + +"Had you ever seen any other will?" I inquired. It was quite an +accidental question, as one would put in a desultory sort of +conversation with a friend. + +"Er--yes--I have," said Faker. + +"What was that?" + +"Well, it was a will, to tell you the truth, Mr. Hawkins, executed in +my favour for L5,000." + +"Where is it?" + +"I have not the original," said the minister, "but I have a copy of +it." + +"Copy! But where is the original?" + +"Original?" repeats Faker. + +"Yes, the original; there must have been an original if you have a +copy." + +"Oh," said the Rev. Faker, "I remember, the original was destroyed +after the testatrix's death." + +"How?" + +"Burnt!" + +Even the very grave Hannen, my ever-respected friend and junior, +smiled; Cresswell, never prone to smile at villainy, smiled also. + +"The original burnt, and only a copy produced! What do you mean, sir?" + +The situation was dramatic. + +"Is it not strange," I asked, "even in _your_ view of things, that the +original will should be burnt and the copy preserved?" + +"Yes," answered the reverend gentleman; "perhaps it would have been +better--" + +"To have burnt the copy and given us the original, and more especially +after the lady was dead. But, let me ask you, _why_ did you destroy +the original will?" + +I pressed him again and again, but he could not answer. The reason was +plain. His ingenuity was exhausted, and so I gave him the finishing +stroke with this question,-- + +"Will you swear, sir, that an original will ever existed?" + +The answer was, "No." + +I knew it _must_ be the answer, because there could be no other that +would not betray him. + +"What is your explanation?" asked Cresswell. + +"My explanation, my lord, is that the testatrix had often expressed to +me her intention to leave me L5,000, and I wrote the codicil which was +destroyed to carry out her wishes." + +Cresswell had warned James early in the case as to the futility of +calling witnesses after the two who alone were necessary, but to no +purpose; he hurried his client to destruction, and I have never been +able to understand his conduct. The most that can be said for him +is that he did not suspect any danger, and took no trouble to avoid +incurring it. + +It is curious enough that on the morning of the trial we had tried to +compromise the matter by offering L10,000. + +The refusal of the offer shows how little they thought that any +cross-examination could injure their cause. + +Hannen said he could not have believed a cross-examination could be +conducted in that manner without any knowledge of the facts, and paid +me the compliment of saying it was worth at the least L80,000. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +TATTERSALL'S--BARON MARTIN, HARRY HILL, AND THE OLD FOX IN THE YARD. + + +Tattersall's in my time was one of the pleasantest Sunday afternoon +lounges in London. There was a spirit of freedom and social equality +pervading the place which only belongs to assemblies where sport is +the principal object and pleasure of all. There was also the absence +of irksome workaday drudgery; I think that was, after all, the main +cause of its being so delightful a meeting-place to me. + +There was, however, another attraction, and that was dear old Baron +Martin, one of the most pleasant companions you could meet, no matter +whether in the Court of Exchequer or the "old Ring." A keen sportsman +he was, and a shrewd, common-sense lawyer--so great a lover of the +Turf that it is told of him, and I know it to be true, that once in +court a man was pointed out to him bowing with great reverence, +and repeating it over and over again until he caught the Baron's +attention. The Judge, with one pair of spectacles on his forehead +and another on his eyes, immediately cried aloud to his marshal, +"Custance, the jockey, as I'm alive!" and then the Baron bowed most +politely to the man in the crowd, the most famous jockey of his day. + +Speaking of Tattersall's reminds me of many things, amongst them of +the way in which, happily, I came to the resolution never to bet on +a horse-race. It was here I learnt the lesson, at a place where +generally people learn the opposite, and never forgot it. No sermon +would ever have taught me so much as I learnt there. + +Like my oldest and one of my dearest friends on the turf, Lord +Falmouth, I never made a bet after the time I speak of. No one who +lives in the world needs any description of the Tattersall's of +to-day. But the Tattersall's of my earlier days was not exactly the +same thing, although the differences would not be recognizable to +persons who have not over-keen recollections. + +The institution has perhaps known more great men than Parliament +itself--not so many bishops, perhaps, as the Church, but more +statesmen than could get into the House of Lords; and all the +biographies that have ever been written could not furnish more +illustrations of the ups and downs of life, especially the downs, +nor of more illustrious men. The names of all the great and mediocre +people who visited the famous rendezvous would fill a respectable +Court guide, and the money transactions that have taken place would +pay off the National Debt. All this is a pleasant outcome of the +national character. + +Do not suppose that Judges, other than Baron Martin, never looked in, +for they did, and so did learned and illustrious Queen's Counsel and +Serjeants-at-Law, authors, editors, actors, statesmen, and, to sum +it up in brief, all the real men of the day of all professions and +degrees of social position. + +At first my visits were infrequent; afterwards I went more often, and +then became a regular attendant. I loved the "old Ring," and yet could +never explain why. I think it was the variety of human character that +charmed me. I was doing very little at the Bar, and was, no doubt, +desirous to make as many acquaintances as possible, and to see as much +of the world as I could. It is a long way back in my career, but I go +over the course with no regrets and with every feeling of delight. +Everything seems to have been enjoyable in those far-off days, +although I was in a constant state of uncertainty with regard to my +career. There were three principal places of pleasure at that time: +one was Tattersall's, one Newmarket, and the Courts of Law a third. + +There used to be, in the centre of the yard or court at Tattersall's, +a significant representation of an old fox, and I often wondered +whether it was set up as a warning, or merely by way of ornamentation, +or as the symbol of sport. It might have been to tell you to be wary +and on the alert. But whatever the original design of this statue to +Reynard, the old fox read me a solemn lesson, and seemed to be always +saying, "Take care, Harry; be on your guard. There are many prowlers +everywhere." + +But there was another monitor in constant attendance, who +was deservedly respected by all who had the pleasure of his +acquaintance--that is to say, by all who visited Tattersall's more +than once. He was not in the least emblematic like the old fox, but a +man of sound sense, with no poetry, of an extremely good nature, and +full of anecdote. You might follow his advice, and it would be well +with you; or you might follow your opinion in opposition to his and +take your chance. His name was Hill--Harry Hill they familiarly called +him--and although you might have many a grander acquaintance, you +could never meet a truer friend. + +He was an old and much-respected friend of the Baron, and that says +a great deal for him; for if anybody in the world could understand a +_man_, it was Baron Martin. Whether it was the Prime Minister or the +unhappy thief in the dock, he knew all classes and all degrees of +criminality. He was not poetical with regard to landscapes, for if +one were pointed out to him by some proprietor of a lordly estate, +he would say, "Yes, a vera fine place indeed; and I would have the +winning-post _there_!" + +The old fox and Harry Hill! The two characters at Tattersall's in +those days can never be forgotten, by those who knew them. + +It may seem strange in these more enlightened days that at that time +I was under the impression that no one could make a bet unless he had +the means of paying if he lost. This statement will provoke a +smile, but it is true. The consequence was that I was debarred from +speculating where I thought I had a most excellent chance of winning, +having been brought up to believe that the world was almost destitute +of fraud--a strange and almost unaccountable idea which only time and +experience proved to be erroneous. Judge of the vast unexplored field +of discovery that lay before me! Harry Hill was better informed. He +had lived longer, and had been brought in contact with the cleverest +men of the age. He knew at a glance the adventurous fool who staked +his last chance when the odds were a hundred to one, and also the man +of honour who staked his life on his honesty--and sometimes _lost_! + +There were "blacklegs" in those days who looked out for such honest +gentlemen, and _won_--scoundrels who degrade sport, and trade +successfully on the reputations of men of honour. You cannot cope with +these; honesty cannot compete with fraud either in sport or trade. + +It was a very brief Sunday sermon which Harry preached to me this +afternoon, but it was an effective one, and out of the abundance of +his good nature he gave me these well-remembered words of friendly +warning,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, I see you come here pretty regularly on Sunday +afternoons; but I advise you not to speculate amongst us, for if you +do we shall beat you. We know our business better than you do, and +you'll get nothing out of us any more than we should get out of you +if we were to dabble in your law, for you know _that_ business better +than we do." + +This disinterested advice I took to heart, and treated it as a +warning. I thanked Mr. Hill, promised to take advantage of his +kindness, and kept my word during the whole time that Tattersall's +remained in the old locality, which it did for a considerable period. + +The establishment at this time was at Hyde Park Corner, and had been +rented from Lord Grosvenor since 1766. It was used for the purpose of +selling thoroughbreds and other horses of a first-rate order, until +the expiration of the lease, which was, I think, in 1865. It was then +removed to Knightsbridge, where I still continued my visits. + +The new premises, or, as it might be called, the new institution, was +inaugurated with a grand dinner, chiefly attended by members of the +sporting world, including Admiral Rous, George Payne, and many other +well-known and popular patrons of our national sport. There were also +a great many who were known as "swells," people who took a lively +interest in racing affairs, and others who belonged to the literary +and artistic world, and enjoyed the national sports as well. It was a +large assembly, and if any persons can enjoy a good dinner and lively +conversation, it is those who take an interest in sport. Mixed as the +company might be, it was uniform in its object, which was to be happy +as well as jolly. + +That I should have been asked to be present on this historic occasion +was extremely gratifying, but I could find no reason for the honour +conferred upon me, except that it 'might be because I had always +endeavoured to make myself agreeable--a faculty, if it be a faculty, +most invaluable in all the relations and circumstances of life. I was +flattered by the compliment, because in reality I was the guest of all +the really great men of the day. + +But a still more striking honour was in store. I was called upon to +respond for somebody or something; I don't remember what it was to +this day, nor had I the faintest notion what I ought to say. I was +perfectly bewildered, and the first utterance caused a roar of +laughter. I did not at that time know the reason. It is of no +consequence whether you know what you are talking about in an +after-dinner speech or not, for say what you may, hardly anybody +listens, and if they do few will understand the drift of your +observations. You get a great deal of applause when you stand up, and +a great deal more when you sit down. I seemed to catch my audience +quite accidentally by using a word tabooed at that time in sporting +circles, because it represented the blacklegs of the racecourse, and +was used as a nickname for rascaldom. "Gentlemen," I said, "I have +been unexpectedly called upon my _legs_--" Then I stammered an apology +for using the word in that company, and the laughter was unbounded. +Next morning all the sporting papers reported it as an excellent joke, +although the last person who saw the joke was myself. + +After dinner we adjourned to the new premises, which included a +betting-room, since christened "place," by interpretation of a +particular statute by myself and others. Oh the castigation I received +from the Jockey Club on that account! Whether the monitory fox was +anywhere within the precincts I do not know, but I missed him at +that time, and attributed to his absence the lapse from virtue which +undermined my previous resolution, and in a moment undid the merits of +exemplary years. However, it brought me to myself, and was, after all, +a "blessing in disguise"--and pleasant to think of. + +We were in the betting-room, and there was Harry Hill, my genial old +friend, who had advised me to take care, and never to bet, "because +we know our business better than you do." Alas! amidst the hubbub +and excitement, to say nothing of the joviality of everybody and the +excellence of the champagne, I said in a brave tone,-- + +"Come now, Mr. Hill, I _must_ have a bet, on the opening of the new +Tattersalls. I will give you evens for a fiver on ---- for the Derby!" + +Alas! my friend, who _ought_ to have known better, forgot the good +advice he had given me only a few years before, and I, heedless of +consequences in my hilarity, repeated the offer of evens on the +_favourite_. + +"Done!" said two or three, and amongst them Hill. I might have +repeated the offer and accepted the bet over and over again, so +popular was it. "Done, done, done!" everywhere. + +But Hill was the man for my money, and he had it. Before morning the +_favourite was scratched_! + +It was the race which Hermit won! Poor Hastings lost heavily and died +soon after. I had backed the wrong horse, and have never ceased to +wonder how I could have been so foolish. "Let me advise you not to +speculate amongst us," were Hill's words, "for if you do we shall beat +you;" and it cost me five pounds to learn that. A lawyer's opinion may +be worth what is paid for it in a case stated; but of the soundness +of of a horse's wind, or the thousand and one ailments to which that +animal's flesh and blood are heir, I knew nothing--not so much as the +little boy who runs and fetches in the stable, and who could give +the ablest lawyer in Great Britain or Ireland odds on any particular +favourite's "public form" and beat him. + +Put not your trust in tipsters; they no more knew that Hermit had a +chance for the Derby than they could foretell the snowstorm that was +coming to enable him to win it. + +This was the last bet I ever made; and I owe my abandonment of the +practice to Harry Hill, who gave me excellent advice and enforced it +by example. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +ARISING OUT OF THE "ORSINI AFFAIR." + + +The "Orsini Affair" was one of high treason and murder. It was the +attempt on the part of a band of conspirators to murder Napoleon III. +In order to accomplish this _political_ object, they exploded a bomb +as nearly under his Majesty's carriage as they could manage, but +instead of murdering the Emperor they killed a policeman. + +Orsini was captured, tried, and executed in the good old French +fashion. His political career ended with the guillotine--a sharp +remedy, but effective, so far as he was concerned. + +One Dr. Simon Bernard was more fortunate than his principal, for he +was in England, the refuge of discontented foreign murderers, who try +to do good by stealth, and sometimes feel very uncomfortable when they +find that it turns out to be assassination. + +Bernard was a brother conspirator in this famous Orsini business, and +being apprehended in England, was taken to be tried before Lord Chief +Justice Campbell, Edwin James and myself being retained for the +defence. + +There was no defence on the facts, and no case on the law. He was +indicted for conspiracy with Orsini to murder the Emperor in Paris. + +I had prepared a very elaborate and exhaustive argument in favour of +the prisoner, on the law, and had little doubt I could secure his +acquittal; but the facts were terribly strong, and we knew well enough +if the jury convicted, Campbell would hang the prisoner, for he never +tolerated murder. With this view of the case, we summoned Dr. Bernard +to a consultation, which was held in one of the most ghastly rooms of +Newgate. + +No more miserable place could be found outside the jail, and it could +only be surpassed in horror by one within. It might have been, and +probably was, an anteroom to hell, but of that I say nothing. I leave +my description, for I can do no more justice to it. The only cheerful +thing about it was Dr. Bernard himself. He was totally unconcerned +with the danger of his situation, and regarded himself as a hero of +the first order. Murder, hanging, guillotine--all seemed to be the +everyday chances of life, and to him there was nothing sweeter or more +desirable, if you might judge by his demeanour. + +I thought it well to mention the fact that, if the jury found him +guilty, Lord Campbell would certainly sentence him to death. He +exhibited no emotion whatever, but shrugging his shoulders after the +manner of a Frenchman who differed from you in opinion, said,-- + +"Well, if I am hanged, I must be hanged, that is all." + +With a man like him it was impossible to argue or ask for +explanations. He seemed to be possessed with the one idea that to +remedy all the grievances of the State it was merely necessary to blow +up the Emperor with his horses and carriage, and coolly informed us, +without the least reserve, that the bombs manufactured with this +political object had been sent over to Paris from England concealed +in firkins of butter. I can find no words in which to express my +feelings. + +So ended our first consultation. The "merits" of the case were gone; +there was no defence. But whatever might be our opinion on Dr. +Bernard's state of mind, we could not abandon him to his fate. We +were retained to defend him, and defend him we must, even in spite of +himself, if we could do so consistently with our professional honour +and duty. + +Accordingly we had another consultation, and as I have said there was +one other room in England more ghastly than that where we held our +first interview, so now I reluctantly introduce you to it. + +If a man about to be tried for his life could look on this apartment +and its horrors unmoved, he would certainly be a fit subject for the +attentions of the hangman, and deserving of no human sympathy. It was +enough to shake the nerves of the hangman himself. + +We were in an apartment on the north-east side of the quadrangular +building, where the sunshine never entered. Even daylight never came, +but only a feeble, sickening twilight, precursor of the grave itself. +It was not merely the gloom that intensified the horrors of the +situation, or the ghastly traditions of the place, or the impending +fate of our callous client; but there was a tier of shelves occupying +the side of the apartment, on which were placed in dismal prominence +the plaster-of-Paris busts of all the malefactors who had been hanged +in Newgate for some hundred years. + +No man can look attractive after having been hanged, and the +indentation of the hangman's rope on every one of their necks, with +the mark of the knot under the ear, gave such an impression of +all that can be conceived of devilish horror as would baffle the +conceptions of the most morbid genius. + +Whether these things were preserved for phrenological purposes or for +the gratification of the most sanguinary taste, I never knew, but they +impressed me with a disgust of the brutal tendency of the age. + +Dr. Bernard, however, seemed to take a different view. Probably he was +scientific. He went up to them, and examined, as it seemed, every +one of these ghastly memorials with an interest which could only be +scientific. It did not seem to have occurred to his brain that _his_ +head would probably be the next to adorn that repository of criminal +effigies. + +He was in charge of a warder, and looked round with the utmost +composure, as though examining the Caesars in the British Museum, and +was as interested as any fanatical fool of a phrenologist. He shrugged +his shoulders, raised his eyebrows, and repeated his old formula, +"Well, if I am to be hanged, I must be hanged." + +_He was acquitted_. My elaborate arguments on the law were not +necessary, for the jury actually refused to believe the evidence as to +the facts! + +Such are the chances of trial by jury! + +As a relief to this gloomy chapter I must tell you of a distinguished +Judge who had to sentence a dishonest butler for robbing his master of +some silver spoons. He considered it his duty to say a few words to +the prisoner in passing sentence, in order to show the enormity of the +crime of a servant in his position robbing his master, and by way of +warning to others who might be tempted to follow his example. + +"You, prisoner," said his lordship, "have been found guilty, by a jury +of your country, of stealing these articles from your employer--mark +that--_your employer_! Now, it aggravates your offence that he is your +employer, because he employs you to look after his property. You _did_ +look after it, but not in the way that a butler should--mark that!" +The judge here hemmed and coughed, as if somewhat exhausted with his +exemplary speech; and then resumed his address, which was ethical and +judicial: "You, prisoner, have _no_ excuse for your conduct. You had a +most excellent situation, and a kind master to whom you owed a debt +of the deepest gratitude and your allegiance as a faithful servant, +instead of which you paid him by _feathering your nest with his silver +spoons_; therefore you must be transported for the term of seven +years!" + +The metaphor was equal to that employed by an Attorney-General, who at +a certain time in the history of the Home Rule agitation, addressing +his constituents, told them that _Mr. Gladstone had sent up a balloon +to see which way the cat jumped with regard to Ireland_! He was soon +appointed a Judge of the High Court. + +Judges, however, are not always masters of their feelings, any more +than they are of their language; they are sometimes carried away by +prejudice, or even controlled by sentiment. I knew one, a very worthy +and amiable man, who, having to sentence a prisoner to death, was so +overcome by the terrible nature of the crime that he informed the +unhappy convict that he could expect _no mercy either in this world or +the next_! + +Littledale, again, was an uncommonly kind and virtuous man, a good +husband and a learned Judge; but he was afflicted with a wife whom he +could not control. She, on the contrary, controlled him, and left him +no peace unless she had her will. At times, however, she overdid her +business. Littledale had a butler who had been in the family many +years, and with whom he would not have parted on any account. He would +sooner have parted with her ladyship. One morning, however, this +excellent butler came to Sir Joseph and said, with tears in his +eyes,-- + +"I beg your pardon, my lord--" + +"What's the matter, James?" + +"I'm very sorry, my lord," said the butler, "but I wish to leave." + +"Wish to leave, James? Why, what do you wish to leave for? Haven't you +got a good situation?" + +"Capital sitiwation, Sir Joseph, and you have always been a good kind +master to me, Sir Joseph; but, O Sir Joseph, Sir Joseph!" + +"What then, James, what then? Why do you wish to leave? Not going to +get married, eh--not surely going to get married? O James, don't do +it!" + +"Heaven forbid, Sir Joseph!" + +"Eh, eh? Well, then, what is it? Speak out, James, and tell me all +about it. Tell me--tell me as a friend! If there is any trouble--" + +"Well, Sir Joseph, I could put up with anything from _you_, Sir +Joseph, but I _can't get on with my lady_!" + +"My lady be--. O James, what a sinner you make of me! Is that all, +James? Then go down on your knees at once and _thank God my lady is +not your wife_!" + +It was a happy thought, and James stayed. + +I don't think I have mentioned a curious reason that a jury once gave +for _not_ finding a prisoner guilty, although he had been tried on a +charge of a most terrible murder. The evidence was irresistible to +anybody but a jury, and the case was one of inexcusable brutality. The +man had been tried for the murder of his father and mother, and, as I +said, the evidence was too clear to leave a doubt as to his guilt. + +The jury retired to consider their verdict, and were away so long that +the Judge sent for them and asked if there was any point upon which he +could enlighten them. They answered no, and thought they understood +the case perfectly well. + +After a great deal of further consideration they brought in a verdict +of "_Not Guilty_." + +The Judge was angry at so outrageous a violation of their plain duty, +and did what he ought not to have done--namely, asked the reason they +brought in such a verdict, when they knew the culprit was guilty and +ought to have been hanged. + +"That's just it, my lord," said the foreman of this distinguished +body. "I assure you we had no doubt about the prisoner's guilt, but +we _thought there had been deaths enough in the family lately, and so +gave him the benefit of the doubt_!" + +There was a young solicitor who had been entrusted with a defence in +a case of murder. It was his first case of importance, and he was, +of course, enthusiastic in his devotion to his client's interests. +Indeed, his enthusiasm rather overstepped his prudence. + +By dint of perseverance and persuasion he obtained a promise from a +juror-in-waiting that if he should be on the jury he would consent +to no other verdict than manslaughter, which would be a tremendous +triumph for the young solicitor. + +The case was a very strong one for wilful murder. The friendly +juror-in-waiting took his seat in the box. Everything went well except +the evidence, and the solicitor's heart almost failed for fear his man +should give way. The jury for a long time were unable to agree. + +Now the young solicitor felt it was his faithful juror who was +standing out. + +"All agreed but one, my lord." + +"Go back to your room," said the Judge; which they did, and after +another long absence returned with a verdict of "Manslaughter." + +Jubilant with his success, the young solicitor met his juryman, +congratulated him on his firmness, and thanked him for his exertions. + +"How did you manage it, my good friend--how did you manage? It was a +wonderful verdict--wonderful!" + +"Oh," said he, "I was determined not to budge. I never budge. +Conscience is ever my guide." + +"I suppose there were eleven to one against you?" + +"Eleven to one! A tough job, sir--a tough job." + +"Eleven for wilful murder, eh?" said the jubilant young man. "Dear me, +what a narrow squeak!" + +"Eleven for _murder_! No, sir!" exclaimed the juror. + +"What, then?" + +"_Eleven for an acquittal_! You may depend upon it, sir, the other +jurors had been 'got at.'" + +Lord Watson, dining with me one Grand Day at Gray's Inn, said he +recollected a very stupid and a very rude Scottish Judge (which seems +very remarkable) who scarcely ever listened to an advocate, and +pooh-poohed everything that was said. + +One day a celebrated advocate was arguing before him, when, to express +his contempt of what he was saying, the cantankerous old curmudgeon of +a Judge pointed with one forefinger to one of his ears, and with the +other to the opposite one. + +"You see this, Mr. ----?" + +"I do, my lord," said the advocate. + +"Well, it just goes in here and comes out there!" and his lordship +smiled with the hilarity of a Judge who thinks he has actually said a +good thing. + +The advocate looked and smiled not _likewise_, but a good deal more +wise. Then the expression of his face changed to one of contempt. + +"I do not doubt it, my lord," said he. "What is there to prevent it?" + +The learned judge sat immovable, and looked--like a judicial--_wit_. + +I was now getting on so well in my profession that in the minds +of many of the unsuccessful there was a natural feeling of +disappointment. Why one man should succeed and a dozen fail has ever +been an unsolved problem at the Bar, and ever will be. But the curious +part of this natural law is that it manifests itself in the most +unexpected manner. + +Coming one day from a County Court, where I had had a successful day, +and humming a little tune, whom should I meet but my friend Morgan +----. He was a very pleasant man, what is called a _nice man_, of a +quiet, religious turn of mind, and nobody was ever more painstaking +to push himself along. He was a great stickler for a man's doing his +duty, and was possessed with the idea that, getting on as I was, it +was my duty to refuse to take a brief in the County Court. + +Coming up to me on the occasion I refer to, Morgan said, "What, _you_ +here, Hawkins! I believe you'd take a brief before the devil in +h----." + +I was quite taken aback for the moment by the use of such language. If +he had not been so religious a man, perhaps I should not have felt it +so much; as it was, I could hardly fetch my breath. + +When I recovered my equanimity I answered, "Yes, Morgan, I would, and +should get one of my devils to hold it." + +He seemed appeased by my frank avowal, for he loved honesty almost as +much as fees. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +APPOINTED QUEEN'S COUNSEL--A SERIOUS ILLNESS--SAM LEWIS. + + +On January 10, 1859, the Lord Chancellor did me the honour of +recommending my name to Her Most Gracious Majesty, and I was raised to +the rank and dignity of a Queen's Counsel. + +This is a step of doubtful wisdom to most men in the legal profession, +for it is generally looked upon as the end of a man's career or the +beginning. I had no doubt about the propriety of the step; it had been +the object of my ambition, and I believe I should unhesitatingly have +acted as I did even if it had been the termination of my professional +life. My idea was to go forward in the career I had chosen. The junior +work, if it had not lost its emoluments, no longer possessed the +pleasurable excitement of the old days. It was never my ambition +merely to "mark time;" that is unsatisfactory exertion, and leads no +whither. + +But enough; I took silk, and a new life opened before me. I was a +leader. + +My business rolled on in ever-increasing volume, so that I had to +fairly pick my way through the constant downpour of briefs, but +was always pressed forward by that useful institution known as the +"barrister's clerk." + +Whatever business overwhelms the counsel, no amount of it would +disconcert the clerk, and it is wonderful how many briefs he can +arrange in upstanding attitude along mantelpieces, tables, tops of +dwarf cupboards, windows--anywhere, in fact, where there is anything +to stand a brief on--without that gentleman feeling the least +exhausted. It would take as long to wear him out as to wear to a level +the rocks of Niagara. The loss of a brief to him is almost like the +loss of an eye. It would take a week after such a disaster to get the +right focus of things. + +My clerk came rushing into my room one day so pale and excited that I +wondered if the man had lost his wife or child. He did not leave me +long in suspense as soon as he could articulate his words. + +"Sir," said he, "you know those Emmets that you have done so much +for?" + +I remembered. + +"Well, sir, they've taken a brief to another counsel." + +It was a serious misfortune, no doubt, and I had to soothe him in the +best manner I could; so to lessen the calamity I made the best joke I +could think of in the circumstances, and said the Emmets were small +people, almost beneath notice. + +I don't wonder that he did not see it with tears in his eyes; his +distress was painful to witness. The poor fellow was dumbfounded, but +at last shook his head, saying,-- + +"We've had a good deal from those Emmets, sir." + +"But you need not make mountains out of ant-hills." + +He did not see that either. + +I was now living in Bond Street, and for the first time in my life was +taken seriously ill. My clerk's worry then came home to me; not about +a single brief, but about a great many. Illness would be a very +serious matter, as I had arrived at an important stage in my career. A +barrister in full practice cannot afford to be ill. In my distress +I sent to Baron Martin, as I was in every case in his list for the +following day, and begged him to oblige me by adjourning his court. It +was a large request, but I knew his kindness, and felt I might ask the +favour. Baron Martin, I should think, never in his life did an unkind +act or refused to do a kind one. He instantly complied with my +request, and did not listen for a moment to the "public interest," +as the foolish fetish is called which sometimes does duty for its +neglect. The "public interest" on this occasion was the interests of +all those who had entrusted their business to my keeping. The public +interests are the interests of the suitors. + +My illness threatened to be fatal. I had been overworked; and nothing +but the greatest care and skill brought me round. One never knows what +friendship is and what friends are till one is ill. + +At length there was a consultation, Drs. Addison, Charles Johnson, +Duplex, and F. Hawkins, my cousin, being present. + +It was a kind of medical jury which sat upon me. I will pass over +details, and come to the conclusion of the investigation. After +considering the case, Dr. Addison, who acted as foreman of the jury, +said,-- + +"We find a verdict of 'Guilty,' under mitigating circumstances. The +prisoner has not injured himself with intent to do any grievous bodily +or mental harm, but he has been guilty of negligence, not having taken +due care of himself, and we hope the sentence we are about to pass +will act as a warning to him, and deter others from following a like +practice. The prisoner is released on bail, to come up for judgment +when called upon; and the meaning of that is," said Dr. Addison, "that +if you behave yourself you will hear no more of this; but if you +return to your former practice without any regard to the warning you +have had, you will be promptly called up for judgment, and I need not +say the sentence will be proportioned to the requirements of the case. +You may now go." + +To carry on Dr. Addison's joke, I heartily thanked him for taking my +good character into consideration, and practically acquitting me of +all evil tendencies. Acting upon his good advice, from that time to +this I have never been in trouble again. + +Watson, Q.C., afterwards Baron Watson, advised me to take a long rest; +but as he was not a doctor of medicine, I did not act upon his advice. +A long rest would have killed me much faster than any amount of work, +so I worked with judgment; and although my business went on increasing +to an extent that would not have pleased Dr. Addison, I suffered no +evil effects, but seemed to get through it with more ease than ever, +and was soon in a fair way to achieve the greatest goal of human +endeavour--a comfortable independence. The reason of getting through +so much work was that I had to reject a great deal, and, of course, +had my choice of the best, not only as to work, but as to clients. To +use a sporting phrase, I got the best "mounts," and therefore was at +the top of the record in wins. + +Good cases are easy--they do not need winning; they will do their +own work if you only leave them alone. Bad cases require all your +attention; they want much propping, and your only chance is that, if +you cannot win, your opponent may _lose_. + +But nothing in the chatter about the Bar is more erroneous than the +talk of the tremendous incomes of counsel. A man is never estimated +at his true worth in this world, certainly not a barrister, actor, +physician, or writer; and as for incomes, no one can estimate his +neighbour's except the Income-tax Commissioners. They get pretty near +sometimes, however, without knowing it. + +One morning I was riding in the Park when old Sam Lewis, the great +money-lender, a man for whom I had much esteem, and about whom I will +relate a little story presently, came alongside. We were on friendly +and even familiar terms, although I never borrowed any money of him in +my life. + +"Why, Mr. Hawkins," said he, "you seem to be in almost everything. +What a fortune you must be piling up!" + +"Not so big as you might think," I replied. + +"Why, how many," he rejoined, "are making as much as you? A good many +are doing twenty thousand a year, I dare say, but--" + +Here I checked his curiosity by asking if he had ever considered what +twenty thousand a year meant. + +He never had. + +"Then I will tell you, Lewis. _You_ may make it in a day, but to us it +means five hundred golden sovereigns every week in the working year!" + +It somewhat startled him, I could see, and it effected my object +without giving offence. What did it matter to Sam Lewis what my income +was? + +"There are men who make it," he answered. + +"Some men have made it," I said; "and I know some who make more, but +will never own to it, ask who may." + +I may say I liked Sam Lewis, and having told the story of the Queen's +Counsel who _borrowed_ my money in so dishonest a manner, I will tell +one of Sam, the professional money-lender. + +He never was known to take advantage of a man in difficulties, and he +never did, nor to charge any one exorbitant interest. I have known him +lend to men and allow them to fix their own time of payment, their own +rate of interest, and their own security. He often lent without any at +all. He knew his men, and was not fool enough to trust a rogue at any +amount of interest. He was known and respected by all ranks, and never +more esteemed than by those who had had pecuniary transactions with +him. He was the soul of honour, and his transactions were world-wide; +business passed through his hands that would have been entrusted +nowhere else; so that he was rich, and no one was more deservedly so. + +Here is an incident in Lewis's business life that will show one phase +of his character. + +He held a number of bills, many of which were suspected by him to be +forged--that is to say, that the figures had been altered after the +signature of the acceptor had been written. + +They were all in the name of Lord ----. + +One day Lewis met his lordship in the Park, and mentioned his +suspicion, at the same time inviting him to call and examine the +bills. The noble lord was a little amazed, and proceeded at once to +Lewis's office. Seating himself on one side of the table with his +lordship on the other, Lewis handed to him the bills one by one and +requested him to set aside those that were forged. + +The separation having been made, it appeared that over _twenty +thousand-pounds' worth of the bills were forged_! The noble lord was a +little startled at the discovery, but his mind was soon eased by Lewis +putting the whole of the forged bills into the fire. + +"There's an end of them, my lord," said he. "We want no prosecution, +and I do not wish to receive payment from you. I ought to have +examined them with more care, and you ought not to have left space +enough before the first figure to supplement it by another. The rogue +could not resist the temptation." + +So ended this monetary transaction, creditable alike to the honour and +generosity of the money-lender. + +The most steady of minds will sometimes go on the tramp. This was +never better illustrated than when the young curate was being married, +and the officiating clergyman asked him the formal question, "Wilt +thou have this woman to thy wedded wife?" + +The poor bridegroom, losing self-control, and not having yet a better +half to keep him straight, answered, "That is my desire," anticipating +by a considerable period a totally different religious ceremony of the +Church--namely, the Baptism of Infants. In his anticipation the young +man had overreached the necessities of the situation. + +This momentary digression leads me to the following story. I was +staying at the house of an old friend, a wealthy Hebrew, while another +of the guests was Arthur A'Becket. As will sometimes happen when +you are in good spirits, the conversation took a religious turn. We +drifted into it unconsciously, and our worthy host was telling us +that he was in the habit of praying night and morning. Being in a +communicative mood, I said, "Well, since you name it, I sometimes say +a little prayer myself." The Hebrew was attentive, and seemed not a +little surprised. "This is especially the case in the morning," I +added. "But once upon a time my mind wavered a little between business +and prayer, and I found myself in the midst of my devotional exercise +saying, 'Gentlemen of the jury.'" + +"Thank God!" cried A'Becket, "our friend Hawkins is not a Unitarian." + +I often wonder how I was able to get through the amount of business +that pressed upon me and retain my health, but happily I did so. One +great factor in my fortunate condition of health was, perhaps, that I +had no ridiculous ambition. What was to come would come as the result +of hard work, for I was born to no miraculous interpositions or +official friendships. + +Having dropped gambling, I set to work, and after a long spell of +_nisi prius_, in all its phases, had engaged my attention, a new +sphere of action presented itself in the shape of Compensation +Cases--an easy and lucrative branch, which seemed to be added to, +rather than have grown out of, our profession; but whatever was its +connection, it was a prolific branch, hanging down with such good +fruit that it required no tempter to make you taste it. + +Railway, Government, and Municipal authorities were everywhere taking +land for public improvements, and where they were, as a rule, my +friend Horace Lloyd and myself were engaged in friendly rivalry as to +the amount to be paid. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE PRIZE-FIGHT ON FRIMLEY COMMON. + + +I must now describe a remarkable event that occurred a great many +years ago, and which caused no little amusement at the time; indeed, +for years after Baron Parke used to tell the story with the greatest +pleasure. + +In those old days there was a prize-fight on Frimley Common, and it +was known long after as the "Frimley Common Prize-Fight," although +many a battle had taken place on Frimley Ridges before that time, +and many a one since. This particular fight was the more celebrated +because one of the combatants was killed, and I remember the events +connected with it as clearly as if they had taken place only +yesterday. At the following Kingston Assizes the victorious pugilist +was indicted for manslaughter. It was an awful charge, especially +before the Judge who was then presiding. The man, however, escaped for +the moment, and a warrant was issued for his apprehension. + +At a later period I was at Guildford, where the Assizes were being +held. Even at that time the man "wanted" for the manslaughter could be +easily identified, for he still bore visible signs of the punishment +he had undergone in the encounter. + +I was sitting in court one afternoon when a country sporting attorney +of the name of Morris quietly sidled up to me. I ought to mention that +at these Assizes Lord Chief Justice Erie was sitting, and it was well +known that he also detested the Prize Ring, and had therefore, no +sympathy with any of its members. He was consequently a dangerous +Judge to have anything to do with in a case of this kind. His +punishment would be sure to be one of severity, and a conviction a +dead certainty. There was a sparkle in the sporting solicitor's eye, +as he glanced at me over his shoulder, which plainly intimated that he +had something good to communicate. + +As he came in front of the seat where I was, he said, in a subdued +whisper, that he had been instructed by Lord ---- to defend the +accused prize-fighter; that the man was at that moment in the town, +and would like to have my opinion as to whether it would be prudent +to surrender at these Assizes--surrender, that is to say, to the +constables who were on the lookout for him; or whether it would be +better, as they were ignorant of his whereabouts, to delay his trial +until the next Assizes, when he would be better prepared to face the +tribunal, as by that time he would have recovered from the punishment +he had received. + +It is certain the jury would have taken his battered appearance as +evidence of the damage he had inflicted on his adversary, whom he +had unfortunately killed; and even more likely that Erle should +have regarded his injuries in the same light, and punished him more +severely for having received them. I had a perfect right to answer the +question put to me, and felt that it was my duty to the accused to +answer frankly. So I said there was little doubt, as the man was dead, +and the accused still bore unmistakable signs of the contest, there +would be pretty clear evidence of identity; that as Erle was not a +fool, he would most certainly convict him; while, being opposed to +everything connected with the "noble art of self-defence," he might +send him to penal servitude for a number of years. + +I had no need to say more. The solicitor, who was a ready-witted and +voluble man, was anxious to amalgamate his opinion with mine. He +was shrewd, and caught an idea before you could be sure you had one +yourself. + +"The most prudent thing, sir," he said, "would be to surrender at the +next Assizes, and not at these. That is just what I thought, sir, and +so I told him, advising in the meantime that he should carefully avoid +putting himself in the way of the police." + +I have no doubt he acted on this opinion, for I heard that he left the +town immediately, and was neither seen nor heard of again till the eve +of the Spring Assizes, which were to be held at Kingston, and at which +Baron Parke was to preside. The Baron was one of the shrewdest of men, +as any one would discover who attempted to deceive him. + +On the Commission day the attorney for the accused presented himself +to me again, and once more sought my opinion with regard to the trial +and the surrender of the accused. + +"Would it be proper," he asked, "for my client to show his respect for +the court and dress in a becoming manner; or should he appear in his +everyday clothes as a working bricklayer, dirty and unwashed?" + +Again I advised, as was my duty, that he should scrupulously regard +the dignity of the Bench, and show the greatest respect to the learned +Judge who presided; that he ought not to come in a disgraceful costume +if he could help it, but appear as becomingly attired as possible. +That was all I said. Let me also observe, what perhaps there is no +occasion to say, that I impressed upon the attorney that his client +should abstain from any appearance of attempting to deceive the Judge, +and informed him, as the fact was, that his lordship was scrupulously +particular in all points of etiquette and decorum. Moreover, I added +as a last word, "The Judge is too shrewd to be taken in." + +After thus duly impressing upon him the importance of a quiet +behaviour, I suggested that any costume other than that of the man +when actually engaged in the fight _might_ throw some difficulty in +the way of a young and inexperienced country constable identifying +him. It was never too late for even a bricklayer to mend his garments +or his manners and adjust them to the occasion. The policeman who +alone could identify the Frimley champion had not seen him for many +months--not since the fight, in fact; and the prisoner ought not to +appear in the dock in fighting costume, as the young Surrey constable +saw him on that one occasion. Moreover, Baron Parke would not like him +to appear in that dress. + +This was, as nearly as I can remember, all that took place between us. +Judge, now, of my surprise, if you can, when the case was called +on, to see the prisoner appear in the dock looking like a _young +clergyman_, dressed in a complete suit of black, a long frock coat, +fitting him up to the neck and very nearly down to the heels. He had +the appearance of a very tame curate. His hair, instead of being short +and stumpy, as when the young policeman saw him, was now long, shiny, +and carefully brushed over both sides of his forehead, which gave him +the appearance so fashionable amongst the saints of the Old Masters. + +I was utterly astounded at the change from the rude, rough bricklayer, +scarred all over the face, to the clergyman-like appearance of this +gentlemanly prisoner. I dared not laugh, but it was difficult to +maintain my countenance. Deceive Baron Parke! I thought; he would +deceive the devil himself, who knew a great deal more about parsons +than Parke did. + +The learned Judge looked at him for a considerable time, as though he +had never seen a prize-fighter before, and was determined to make the +most of him. If the ghost of Hamlet had stood in the dock instead of +the prisoner, he would not have surprised dear old Parke more than the +prisoner did. + +It was a masterpiece of deception, notwithstanding my serious warning. + +On the jury, it so happened, was an elderly Quaker, in his full array +of drab coat, vest, and breeches, with the regulation blue stockings. +He had long whitish hair, and a Quaker hat in front of him on the +ledge of the jury-box. He was what might be called a "factor" in the +situation, which it was no easy matter to know in a moment how to deal +with. He would be against prize-fighting to a certainty, but how far +he might be inclined to convict a prize-fighter was another matter. +At last I made up my mind in what way to deal with him, and it was +this--not on the merits of the noble art itself, but on those of the +case. If I could convince this conscientious juror that there _might +be_ (that would be good enough) a doubt as to identity, it would be +sufficient for my purpose; so I mainly addressed myself to _him_, +after disposing of the young policeman pretty satisfactorily, +leaving only his bare belief to be dealt with in argument. The young +policeman's belief that _that there_ was the man showed what a strong +young policeman he was. + +I asked the Quaker to allow me to suggest, for the sake of argument +only, that _he_, the Quaker, should imagine himself putting off his +Quaker dress, and assuming the costume of a prize-fighter, his hair +cut so short that it would present the appearance of an aged rat; +"then," said I, "divest yourself of your shirt and flannel--strip +yourself, in fact, quite to the skin above your belt--and with only a +pair of cotton drawers of a sky blue, or any other colour you might +prefer, and, say, a bird's-eye _fogle_ round your waist, your lower +limbs terminating in cotton socks and high-lows--with the additional +ornamentation to all this elegant drapery of a couple of your front +teeth knocked out--and I will venture to ask you, sir, and any one of +the gentlemen whom I am addressing, whether you think your own good +and respectable wife herself would recognize the partner of her joys?" + +The burst of laughter which this little transformation of the +respectable, stout old Quaker occasioned I was in no way responsible +for; but even Old Parke fell back in his seat, and said,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins! Mr. Hawkins!" + +I knew what that meant, and when the usher, by dint of much clamour, +secured me another hearing, I continued,-- + +"Nay, sir, and if you looked at yourself in a looking-glass you would +not be able to recognize a single feature you possessed, had you been +battered about the face as the unfortunate man was. Why, the young +policeman says in his evidence his nose was flattened, his, eyes were +swollen black, blue, and red, his cheeks gashed and bloody! But it is +enough: if that is a correct description, although a mild one, of the +man as he appeared after the scene of the conflict, how can you expect +the young constable to recognize such an individual months afterwards, +or any of the witnesses, although to their dying day they would not +forget the terrible disfigurement of the poor fellow whom you are +supposed to be trying?" + +All this time there was everywhere painfully suppressed laughter, and +even the jury, all of them Epsom men, and many of whom I knew well +enough, were hardly able to contain themselves. + +His lordship, after summing up the case to the jury, looked down +quietly to me, as I was sitting below him, and murmured,-- + +"Hawkins, you've got all Epsom with you!" + +"Yes," I answered, "but you have got the Quaker; he was the only one I +was afraid of." + +"You have transformed him," said the Judge. + +In a few minutes the verdict showed the accuracy of his lordship's +observation, for the jury returned a verdict of "Not guilty." + +I must say, however, that Parke did his utmost to obtain a conviction, +but reason and good sense were too much for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +SAM WARREN, THE AUTHOR OF "TEN THOUSAND A YEAR." + + +Amongst the illustrious men whom I have met, the name of Sam Warren +deserves remembrance, for he was a genial, good-natured man, full +of humour, and generally entertained a good opinion of everybody, +including himself. He not only achieved distinction in his profession +and became a Queen's Counsel, but wrote a book which attained a +well-deserved popularity, and was entitled "Ten Thousand a Year." + +He was a member of the Northern Circuit, and I believe was as popular +as his book. That he did not become a Judge, like several of his +friends, was not Sam's fault, for no man went more into society, +cultivated acquaintances of the best style, or had better +qualifications for the honour than he. + +But although he did not achieve this distinction, he was made a little +lower than that order, and became in due time a _Master in Lunacy_, a +post, as it seemed from Sam's description, of the highest importance +and no little fun. + +A part of his duties was to visit lunatic asylums and other places +where these patients were confined, with a view to report to the +authorities his opinion of the patients' mental condition. No doubt +to a man of Sam's observant mind this work presented many studies of +interest, as well as situations of excitement, and at times of no +little humour. He found, for instance, that many of these poor +creatures were possessed of a much larger income than ten thousand a +year. Some of them were Dukes and some supernatural beings, who were +just on a visit to this little clod of a world to see how things were +going. + +Soon after his appointment, and before he had become used to the work, +he told me of a singular experience he once had with a particular +gentleman whom he was intending to report as having perfectly +recovered from any mental aberration with which he might have been +afflicted. Sam wondered how it was possible that a gentleman of such +culture and understanding should be considered a fit subject +for confinement, for he had several pleasant and intellectual +conversations with him, and found him quite agreeable and refined, and +of a perfectly balanced mind. + +"I had been told," said the Master, "that the peculiar form of +derangement with this gentleman was that he had aspired to distinction +in the English Church; and on one memorable occasion when I called +he received me, not with the usual familiarity, but with a certain +stiffness and solemnity of bearing which was hardly in keeping with +his courteous demeanour on other occasions. One had to be on one's +guard at all times, or he might get a knife plunged into him without +notice. I chatted for some time in a kind and easy manner, hoping to +find that the mild restraint and discipline had done the poor fellow +good. Alas! how deceived I was, when, in a sudden rage, he turned upon +me, and asked _who the devil I thought I was talking to_?" + +"I told him a gentleman of a kind nature, I was sure, and of an +amiable disposition. + +"'Yes,' said he, 'but that is no reason why you should not treat me +with proper deference and with due respect for my exalted position.' + +"I bowed politely, and expressed a hope that I should never forget +what was due from one gentleman to another. + +"'No, no,' said he, 'that kind of excuse will not do. One gentleman to +another, indeed! Whom are you talking to? I insist on your treating +me with reverence and respect. Perhaps you do not know that I am _St. +Paul_?' + +"'Indeed!' said I, 'I was not aware that I was speaking to that holy +Apostle, to one whom I hold in extreme reverence, and whose writings I +have made my study.'" + +After that, it seems, they got on very well together for the rest of +the interview. Warren was able to delight him with his knowledge of +Cappadocia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, and the little incident of leaving +his cloak at Troas, his shipwreck, and a vast number of things which +the Apostle seemed very pleased to hear, while he conducted himself +with that pious dignity which well deserved the obsequious reverence +of the official visitor. On parting, St. Paul said,-- + +"You are rather _mixed in your Scriptures_; the only thing you are +accurate about is _leaving my cloak at Troas_." + +On Warren's next visit he resolved to conduct himself with more +reverence. St. Paul was looking much the same as on the previous +occasion. Sam genuflected, and held down his head, putting his hands +devoutly together, and making such other manifestations of reverence +as he thought the case required. + +St. Paul looked at Warren with wonderment, and was evidently by no +means satisfied with his salutations. + +"Who the devil," said the madman, "do you think you are making those +idiotic signs to? Whom do you take me for?" + +"St. Paul, your holiness." + +"'St. Paul, your holiness,' he repeated. 'My ----, you ought to be put +into a lunatic asylum and looked after. You must be stark mad to think +I am the holy Apostle St. Paul. What put that into your silly brains? +Down on your knees, villain, at once, and prostrate yourself before +_the Shah of Persia_--the dawn of creation and the light of the +universe!' + +"I thought this was coming it pretty strong," continued Sam, "but as +it was all in my day's work, I conformed as well as I could to my +instructions. The difficulty was in knowing how to address His +Majesty, so I stammered, 'Dread potentate!' and seeing it pleased him, +'Light of the universe,' I cried, 'it is morning! May I rise?' + +"'I perceive,' said the Shah, 'you are a genius,'" + +"What did you think of his state of mind after that?" I asked. + +Sam laughed and answered: "I thought he was getting better, more +rational, and thanked him for his good opinion. 'Mighty potentate,' +said I, 'monarch of the universe, I apologize for my mistake, but I +was at _St. Luke's_ yesterday,' + +"'My faithful Luke!' said he, and clapped his hands. I knew once more +where he was. + +"'The last time,' said I (thinking I would rather have him the amiable +Paul than the savage Shah), 'your Majesty informed me that you were +the holy Apostle St. Paul!' + +"'So I am,' answered the Shah. + +"'I am at a loss, your Majesty, I humbly confess, to understand how +your immortal Highness can be at one and the same time the blessed +Apostle St. Paul and the Shah of Persia,' + +"'Because you are such a damned fool!' replied His Highness. + +"Here was the fierceness of the Shah, but immediately the gentleness +of the Apostle restored him to a more amiable mood, and coming towards +me with a smile, he said,-- + +"'The explanation, my dear sir, is simple;' and then, in a quiet, +confidential tone, he added: '_It was the same mother, but two +fathers_!'" + +"I had another experience not long after in the same asylum," +continued Warren. "One of my patients told me he had married the +devil's daughter when I was asking him about his relations. 'She was +a nice girl enough,' he said, 'and although my people thought I had +married beneath me, I was satisfied with her rank, seeing she was a +Prince's daughter. We went off on our honeymoon in a chariot of fire +which her father lent us for the occasion, and had a comfortable time +of it at Monte Carlo, where all the hotels are under her father's +special patronage.' + +"'I hope,' said I, 'your marriage was a happy one.' + +"'Yes,' said he with a sigh, '_but we don't get on well with the old +folks_!'" + + * * * * * + +No writer was ever more solicitous of fame than Sam Warren. It was +a proud moment whenever there was the remotest allusion to his +authorship, and I always loved to compliment him on his books. + +In the famous case of Lord St. Leonards's will, which had been lost, I +supported the lost will, and proved its contents from the evidence of +Miss Sugden and others. + +Sam Warren had been in the habit of visiting Lord St. Leonards at +Boyle Farm, Ditton. He gave evidence as to what Lord St. Leonards had +told him respecting his intentions as to the disposal of his property. + +After examining him, I said with a polite bow: "Mr. Warren, I owe you +an apology for bringing you into the Probate Court. I am sure no +one will ever dream of disputing _your_ will, because you have left +everybody '_Ten Thousand a Year_!'" + +Whereupon Warren bowed most politely to me in acknowledgment of the +compliment; then bowed to the _Judge_, and received his lordship's bow +in return; then bowed to the _jury_, then to the _Bar_, and, lastly, +to the _gallery_. + +Writing of the Probate and Divorce Court reminds me of a curious +application for the postponement of a trial made by George Brown, who +was as good a humorist as he was a lawyer. + +I have said that Judges in those days were more strict in refusing +these applications than in ours, and Cresswell was no exception to the +rule. He disliked them, and rarely yielded. But Brown was a man of +a very persuasive manner, and it was always difficult to refuse him +anything. I was sitting in Cresswell's court when George rose as +soon as the Judge had taken his seat, and asked if a case might be +postponed which would be in the next day's list. + +"Have you an affidavit, Mr. Brown, as to the reason?" + +"Yes, my lord; but I can hardly put the real ground of my application +into the affidavit. I have communicated with the other side, and they +are perfectly agreeable under the circumstances." + +"I cannot agree to postpone without some adequate cause being stated," +said Cresswell. + +"I am very sorry, my lord, but it will be very inconvenient to me to +be here to-morrow." + +There was a laugh round the Bar, which Cresswell observing, asked what +the real reason was. + +Brown smiled and blushed; nothing would bring him to state plainly +what the reason of his application was. At last, however, he +stammered,-- + +"My lord, the fact is I am going to take the first step towards a +divorce." + +The appeal touched the Judge; the reason was sufficient. Every step in +a divorce was to be encouraged, especially the first. The application +was granted, and Brown was married the next day. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THE BRIGHTON CARD-SHARPING CASE. + + +From the courts of justice to the prize-ring is an easy and sometimes +pleasant transition, especially in books. I visited from time to time +such well-known persons as "Deaf Burke," Nat Langham, "Dutch Sam," and +Owen Swift, all remarkable men, with constitutions of iron, and made +like perfect models of humanity. Their names are unknown in these +days, although in those of the long past gentlemen of the first +position were proud of their acquaintance; and these men, although +their profession was battering one another, were as little inclined +to brutality as any. And when it is remembered that they played their +game in accordance with strict rules and on the most scientific +principles, it will be seen that cruelty formed no part of their +character. + +The true sportsmen of the period, amongst whom were the highest in the +social and political world, took the same interest in contests in the +ring as they did on the turf or in the cricket-field, and for the same +reason. Whether Jem Mace would beat Tom Sayers had as much interest +at fashionable dinner-tables as whether Lord Derby would dispose +of Aberdeen or Palmerston. Lords and dukes backed their opinion +in thousands, and the bargee and the ostler gave or took the odds +according to the tips, in shillings. The gentleman of the long robe, +therefore, was not to be supposed as altogether out of his element +in sporting circles any more than the gentleman who had not a rag to +cover him. + +Nor was it uncommon to meet what was called the cream of society +at the celebrated rendezvous of Ben Caunt, which was the Coach and +Horses, St. Martin's Lane, or at the less pretentious resort of the +Tipton Slasher; and what will our modern ladies think of their fair +predecessors, who in those days witnessed the drawing of a badger or a +dog-fight on a Sunday afternoon? + +All mankind will attend exhibitions of skill and prowess, and although +prize-fights are illegal, you never can suppress the spirit which +engendered that form of competition. + +I spent sometimes, with many eminent spectators, a quiet hour or two +at Tom Spring's in Holborn, and met many of the best men there in all +ranks and professions, always excepting the Church. After one of these +entertainments I was travelling with John Gully, once a formidable +champion of the ring, and at that time a great bookmaker, as well +as owner of racehorses--afterwards presented at Court to her most +gracious Majesty the late Queen--and Member of Parliament. We were +travelling on our way to Bath, and as we approached a tunnel not far +from our destination, Gully pointed out a particular spot "where," +said he, "I won my first fight;" and so proud was he of the +recollection that he might have been in a picture like that of +Wellington pointing out the Field of Waterloo to a young lady. + +This knowledge of the world, seen as I saw it, was of the greatest use +in my profession. If you would know the world, you must not confine +yourself to its virtues. There _is_ another side, and it is well to +look at it. I thought on one particular occasion how useful a little +of this knowledge would have been during a certain cross-examination +of Arthur Orton in Chancery by a member of the Chancery Bar. He put +this question and many others of a similar kind,-- + +"Do you swear, sir, that you were on board the _Bella_?" in a very +severe tone. + +"Yes, sir," says the Claimant, "I do." + +"Stop," says the advocate; "I'll take that down;" and he did, with a +great deal besides, his cross-examination materially assisting the man +in prolonging his fraudulent claim. + +I was engaged in the Brighton card-sharping case, upon which so much +stress was laid by the Claimant as proving his identity with Roger +Tichborne, Roger not having been in the matter at all. I was counsel +for one of the persons, the notorious Johnny Broom, who was indicted +for fraud, and whose trial ought to have come on before Lord Chief +Justice Jervis. He was not a good Judge, so far as the _defendant_ was +concerned, to try such a case, and that being Johnny's opinion, he +absconded from his bail. The Lord Chief Justice had a great knowledge +of card-sharping and of all other rogueries, so that he was an apt man +to deal with delinquents who practised them. Conviction before him +would have been certain in this case. He was, in fact, waiting for +Johnny, as it was a case of great roguery, and intended to deal +severely with him. + +You may imagine, then, how angry he was when he heard that his man had +flown. But there was one consolation: the Broom gang consisted of a +number of men who acted on all occasions as confederates when the +frauds were practised. Two of these rogues were also indicted, and +placed on their trial at this assize. + +A Mr. Johnson appeared for the prosecution, and in opening the +case for the Crown, in order to show his uncommon fairness, was so +impartial as to state that he could find no ground of complaint in +respect of the _cards_, which, he said, had been most carefully +examined by the Brighton magistrates. + +Who these Brighton magistrates were I never heard, but probably they +were gentlemen who knew nothing of sharpers and their ways, and whose +only experience of cards was a quiet rubber with the ladies of their +household. However, such was their unanimous opinion, and upon it the +counsel for the Crown informed the Lord Chief Justice that he had no +case so far as the fairness of the cards was concerned. + +The Lord Chief Justice saw in a moment the importance of that +admission on the part of the prosecution. If that were accepted the +case was gone, since the fraud for which these men were indicted could +not have been perpetrated by honest cards. + +"The Brighton magistrates!" said the Chief Justice, with becoming +emphasis. "Give me the cards; I should like to have a look at them." + +They were handed up, and then a little scene took place which was +picturesque and instructive. The Judge took up the cards one by one +after carefully wiping and adjusting his glasses to his nose, while +his confidential clerk leant over his shoulder with clerk-like +familiarity. Having scrutinized them with the minutest observation, +Jervis packed them up, and, turning to Mr. Johnson, said,-- + +"Mr. Johnson, I will show you how the trick was done. If you will take +that card"--handing him one from the pack "--you will see that to +the ordinary eye there is nothing to attract your attention. That is +precisely as it should be in all games of cheating, for if every +fool could see the private marks the rogues could not carry on their +calling." + +Johnson took the card, and, instructed by the Lord Chief Justice, +carefully looked it over, but saw nothing. His face was a perfect +blank, and his mind could not have been much more picturesque. + +"Turn it over," said his lordship. Johnson obeyed. Still the cryptic +hierograph did not appear. The Judge stared at his pupil. "Do you +see," asked his lordship, "a tiny mark on the corner of the card at +the back?" + +"Oh, I see it!" says Johnson, with a face beaming with delight and +simplicity. + +"That means _the ace of diamonds_" said the Chief--"ace of diamonds, +Mr. Johnson!" And thus, after a while, the cards and their secret +signs were explained to the counsel for the Crown, who, on the +intelligence of the Brighton magistrates, declared that, so far as the +_cards_ were concerned, he must acquit these card-sharping rogues of +all intention to deceive. + +In all cases the back of the card showed what was on the face; that +was the simple secret of the whole contrivance, although the Brighton +magistrates could not discover it, as the whole of them combined had +not a hundredth part of the intelligent cuteness of Lord Chief Justice +Jervis. + +Two of this gang were standing near me, and I heard one of them say to +the other,-- + +"Joey, how would you like to play blind hookey with that ---- old +devil?" + +"O my G----!" exclaimed Joey. + +The prisoners were convicted principally upon the evidence of the Lord +Chief Justice, and sentenced to long terms of imprisonment. My client +Johnny got away. He read about Jervis and this trial in the papers, +and declared he would sooner abandon his profession than be tried by +such an old thief. "Why," said he, "that old bloke knows every trick +on the board." + +His escape was rather interesting. He came into Lewes fully intending +to take his trial, and went out of Lewes with the determination not +to be tried at those assizes, for the simple reason, as he said, that +Jervis was too heavy weight for his counsel. + +He took a room and showed himself publicly; but at night the +police--those stalwart county men--paid a tiptoe visit to his bedroom. +They had no right to this privilege, but perhaps Harry thought it +would be better for his brother if they did so. Why they went on +tiptoe was that Harry told them his brother was in so weak a state +that he woke up with the least noise. The police very kindly believed +him, and paid their first and second visit on tiptoe. + +When they went the third time, however, their bird had flown. Johnny +had let himself down by the window, and, evading the vigilance of +those who may have been on the lookout, escaped. + +But he did not go without providing a substitute. Harry was to answer +all inquiries, and waited the arrival of his watchers, lying in +Johnny's bedroom. When the officers came he opened the door in his +night apparel, and said, "Hush! don't disturb him; poor Johnny ain't +slept hardly for a week over this 'ere job. But you can have a peep at +him, only don't make a noise. There he is!" and he pointed to a fancy +nightcap of his brother's, which only wanted Johnny's head to make the +story true. + +The good constables, having seen it as they saw it the night before, +left the house as quietly as mice, still on tiptoe. + +Harry described this performance to me himself. + +Jervis had the whole country scoured for him, but unless he had +scoured it himself, there was little chance of any one else finding +the culprit. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +THE KNEBWORTH THEATRICAL ENTERTAINMENTS--SIR EDWARD +BULWER--LYTTON--CHARLES DICKENS, CHARLES MATHEWS, MACREADY, DOUGLAS +JERROLD, AND MANY OTHERS. + + +Among my pleasantest reminiscences were the partly amateur and partly +professional entertainments that took place at the celebrated seat of +the distinguished author, Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, about the year +185-. + +At that time a gentleman of position usually sought to enhance the +family dignity by a seat in Parliament. The most brilliant mediocrity +even could not succeed without the patronage of the great families, +while the great families were dependent upon those who had the +franchise for the seats they coveted. + +Forty-shilling freeholders were of some importance in those days; +hence these theatrical performances at Knebworth Park, for Sir Edward +wanted their suffrages without bribery or corruption. + +Those who were the happy possessors of what they called the +"frankise" were also distinguished enough, to be invited to the great +performances at the candidate's beautiful estate. + +It was a happy thought to give a succession of dramatic +entertainments, amongst which "Every Man in his Humour" was one. Sir +Edward knew his constituents and their tastes; it would be better +than oratory at some village inn to ask them to the stately hall of +Knebworth, and give them one of our fine old English plays. + +I have already said that I had made up my mind in my earliest days to +go to the Bar or on the Stage, and that love for the histrionic art +(sometimes called the footlights) never left me. + +For some reason or other I was invited to join the illustrious company +which assembled on those eventful evenings, although I was cast for a +very humble part in the performance. Nor is there much to wonder at +when I tell you who my colleagues were. + +First comes that most distinguished comedian of his day, Charles +Mathews. I had known him for many a year, and liked him the better, if +that was possible, the longer I knew him. + +Mathews was the leader of the company; next was another illustrious +man whose name will live for ever, and who was not only one of the +greatest authors of his time, but also the most distinguished of the +non-professional actors. Had he been on the stage, Mathews himself +could not have surpassed him. This was Charles Dickens. + +After him comes a great friend of Sir Edward, John Foster, a barrister +of Lincoln's Inn, and author of the "Life of Goldsmith," as well as +editor of the _Examiner_ newspaper. + +I am not quite sure whether Macready was present on this particular +occasion, but I think he was; there were really so many illustrious +names that it is impossible at this distance of time to be sure of +every one. Macready was a great friend of Bulwer, and with Dickens +and others was engaged in giving stage representations for charitable +purposes in London and the provinces, so that it is at least possible +I may be confounding Knebworth with some other place where I was one +of the company. + +Amongst us also was another whose name will always command the +admiration of his countrymen, Douglas Jerrold. There were also Mark +Lemon, Frank Stone, and another Royal Academician, John Leech, +Frederick Dickens, Radcliffe, Eliot Yorke, Henry Hale, and others +whose names escape my memory at the present moment. + +No greater honour could be shown to a young barrister than to invite +him to meet so distinguished a company, and what was even more +gratifying to my vanity, asking me to act with them in the +performance. There were many ladies, some of them of the greatest +distinction, but without the leave of those who are their immediate +relatives, which I have no time now to obtain, I forbear to mention +their names in this work. + +The business--for business it was, as well as the greatest +pleasure--was no little strain on my energies, for I was now obtaining +a large amount of work, and appearing in court every day. I had the +orthodox number of devils--at least seven--to assist me, and every +morning they came and received the briefs they were to hold. + +Alas! of the illustrious people I have mentioned all are dead, all +save one lady and myself. + +When will such a company meet again? + +I was no sooner in the midst of Knebworth's delightful associations +than I was anxious to return to the toilsome duties of the Law Courts, +with their prosaic pleadings and windbag eloquence. I was wanted in +several consultations long before the courts met, so that it was idle +to suppose I could stay the night at Knebworth. But what would I have +given to be able to do so? + +Not my briefs! They were the business of my life, without which the +Knebworth pleasures would not have been possible. I never looked with +any other feeling than that of pleasure on my work, and whenever the +question arose I decided without hesitation in favour of the more +profitable but less delightful occupation. + +But I managed a compromise now and then. For instance, after I had +done my duty in the consultations, and seen my work fairly started in +court, I contrived to take the train pretty early to Knebworth, in +order to attend rehearsals as well as perform in the evening. + +Sir Edward's good-nature caused him much distress at my having to +journey to and fro. What _could_ he do? He offered me the sole use of +his library during the time I was there if I could make it in any way +helpful, and said it should be fitted up as a bedroom and study. But +it was impossible to do other than I did. The rehearsals were nearly +always going on--we had audiences as though they were _matinees_--and +they afforded much amusement to us as well as the spectators when we +made our corrections or abused one another for some egregious blunder. +This, of course, did not include Mathews, who coached us from an +improvised royalty box, where he graciously acted as George IV., got +up in a wonderful Georgian costume for the occasion. George was so +good that he diverted the attention of the audience from us, and made +a wonderful hit in his new character. + +I will not say that at our regular performances we always won +the admiration, but I will affirm that we certainly received the +forbearance, of our audience, which says a great deal for them. This +observation, however, does not, of course, apply to the professional +artists, but only to myself, who, luckily, through all the business +still kept my head. + +And it will be easily understood that this was the more difficult, +especially if I may include my temper with it, when the good-natured +Baronet actually invited several of his Hertford friends and +neighbours to take part in the performances, some of them being +friends of my own and members of my profession. + +So that at this electioneering time the whole of that division was +alive with theatricals and "Every Man in his Humour," which was +exactly what Sir Edward wanted. + +It was an ordeal for some of us to rehearse with the celebrities of +the stage, but I need not say their good-humour and delight in showing +how this and that should be done, and how this and that should be +spoken, was, I am sure, reciprocated by all the amateurs in studying +the corrections. Never were lessons more kindly given, or received +with more pleasurable surprise. Some could scarcely conceive how they +could so blunder in accent and emphasis. However, most things require +learning, even advocacy and acting. + +Eliot Yorke was stage-manager, and wrote a very excellent prologue. It +must have been good, it was so heartily applauded, and the same may be +said of all of us. I think Radcliffe studied the part of Old Knowell, +while I played Young Knowell. Speaking after this interval of many +years, I believe we were all word-perfect and pretty well conscious of +our respective duties. Charles Dickens arranged our costumes, while +Nathan supplied them. He arranged me well. I was quite satisfied with +my Elizabethan ruff wound round my throat, but must confess that it +was a little uncomfortable for the first three or four hours. My hose +also gave me great satisfaction and some little annoyance. + +I thought if I could walk into court without changing my costume, what +a sensation I should create! What would Campbell or Jervis say to +_Young Knowell_? + +My father, as I have mentioned, lived at Hitchin, about six miles from +Knebworth, and my professional duties calling me so early to town, I +arranged to sleep at Hitchin, and go to London by an early train in +the morning. Sir Edward was much concerned at all this, and again +wondered whether his library could not be appropriated. But the other +was the only practicable plan, and was adopted. Every day I was in +court by nine o'clock, sometimes worked till five, then went by +rail to Stevenage and drove to Knebworth, three miles. That was the +routine. It was then time to put on my Elizabethan ruff and hose. +After the play I once more donned my private costume, and supped +luxuriously at a round table, where all our splendid company were +assembled. + +After supper some of us used to retire to Douglas Jerrold's room in +one of the towers, and there we spent a jovial evening, prolonging the +entertainment until the small hours of the morning. + +Then my fly, which had been waiting a long time, enabled me to reach +Hitchin and get three hours' sleep. + +All this was hard work, but I was really strong, and in the best of +health, so that I enjoyed the labour as well as the pleasure. One +cannot now conceive how it was possible to go through so much without +breaking down. I attribute it, however, to the attendant excitement, +which braced me up, and have always found that excitement will enable +you to exceed your normal strength. + +I had very many theatrical friends, all of them delightful in every +way. Amongst them Wright and Paul Bedford. Such companions as these +are not to be met with twice, each with his individuality, while the +two in combination were incomparable. They kept one in a perpetual +state of laughter. Paul was irresistible in his drollery, and whether +it was mimicry or original humour, you could not but revel in its +quaint conceits. + +Such men are benefactors; they brighten the darkest hours of +existence, turn sorrow into laughter, and enable men to forget their +troubles and live a little while in the sunshine of humour. Banish +philosophy if you please, banish ambition if you must banish +something, but leave us _humour_, the light of the social world. All +who have experienced its beautiful influence can appreciate its value, +and understand it as one of the choicest blessings conferred on our +existence. + +The dullest company was enlivened when Wright entered upon the scene. +I remember Paul being told one day at the Garrick Club that a certain +poor barrister, who had been an actor, was going to marry the +daughter of an old friend. "Ah!" said he, "yes, he's _a lover without +spangles_." + +Who but Paul would have thought of so grotesque a simile? And yet its +applicability was simply due to the language of the stage. + +I remember Robson, too, and his wonderful acting; he had no rival. +Nature had given him the talent which Art had cultivated to the +highest perfection. Next come the Keelys' impersonations of every +phase of dramatic life--originals in acting, and actors of originals. + +But I must not linger over this portion of my story. It would occupy +many pages, and time and space are limited; I therefore take my leave +of one of the pleasantest chapters in my reminiscences. + +All, alas! have passed away--all I knew and loved, all who made +that time so happy; and reluctantly as I say it, it must be said: +"Farewell, dear, grand old. Knebworth, with all thy glories and all +the glad faces and merry hearts I met within your walls--a long, long, +farewell!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +CROCKFORD'S--"THE HOOKS AND EYES"--DOUGLAS JERROLD. + + +"Crockford's" has become a mere reminiscence, but worthy, in many +respects, of being preserved as part of the history of London. It was +historic in many of its associations as well as its incidents, and men +who made history as well as those who wrote it met at Crockford's. It +was celebrated alike for high play and high company. + +As I never had a real passion for gambling, it was to me a place of +great enjoyment, for there were some of the celebrated men of the +day amongst its invited guests--wits, poets, novelists, playwrights, +painters--in fact, all who had distinguished themselves in art +or literature, law, science, or learning of any kind were always +welcomed. + +It was as pleasant a lounge as any in London, not excepting +Tattersall's, which has equal claims on my memory. At Crockford's I +met Captain H----, a wonderful gamester; he died early, but not too +early for his welfare, seeing that all the chances of life are against +the gambler. Padwick, too, I knew; he entertained with refined and +lavish hospitality. He was one of the winners in the game of life who +did not die early. He told good stories and put much interest into +them. He knew Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner--a sporting man of the +first water, who poisoned John Parsons Cook for the sake of his +winnings, and his wife and mother, it was said, for the sake of the +insurance on their lives. Padwick knew everybody's deeds and misdeeds +who sought to increase his wealth on the turf or at the gaming-table. +He was a just and honourable man, but without any sympathy for fools. + +Others I could recall by the score, men of character and of no +character. Some I knew afterwards professionally, and especially one, +who, although convicted of crime, escaped by collusion the sentence +justly passed upon him. Another was a man of position without +character, whose evil habits destroyed the talent that would have made +him famous. + +But I need not dwell on the manifold characters and scenes of +Crockford's. There has been nothing like it either in its origin or +its subsequent history. There will never be anything like it in an +age of refinement and laws, which have been wisely passed for the +protection of fools. + +The founder of this fashionable gambling place was at one time a small +fishmonger in either the Strand or Fleet Street, I forget which, and +lived there till he removed to St. James's Street, where he became a +fisher of men, but never in any other than an honourable way. + +"His Palace of Fortune" was of the grandest style of architectural +beauty. It was one in which the worshippers of Fortune planked down +the last acre of their patrimonial estates to propitiate the fickle +goddess in the allurements of the gaming-table. But how _can_ Fortune +herself give two to one on all comers? Some _must_ lose to pay the +winners. + +At this palatial abode the most sumptuous repasts were prepared by the +most celebrated _chefs_ the world could produce, and were eaten by the +most fastidious and expensive gourmands Nature ever created; gamblers +of the most distinguished and the most disreputable characters; +gentlemen of the latest pattern and the oldest school, the worst +of men and the best, sporting politicians and political sportsmen, +place-hunters, Ministers, ex-Ministers, scions of old families and +ancient pedigrees, as well as men of new families and no pedigrees, +who purchased, as we do now, a coat of arms at the Heralds' tailoring +shop, and selected their ancestors in Wardour Street. + +Only the wealthy could be members of this club, for only the wealthy +could lose money and pay it. Landscape painters might be guests, but +it was only the man who belonged to the landscape who could belong to +the body that gambled for it. Young barristers might visit the place, +possibly with an eye to business, but only members of large practice +or Judges could be members of this society. + +Lord Palmerston defended it manfully before the committee appointed +really for its destruction. He said it did a great deal of good--much +more good than all the gambling hells of London did harm. Whether his +lordship contended that there was no betting carried on at Crockford's +I am not prepared to say, but when evidence is given before +Parliamentary Committees it is sometimes difficult to understand its +exact meaning. Palmerston, however, positively said, without any doubt +as to his meaning, that candidates were not elected in order that they +might be plucked of every feather they possessed, and that any one who +maintained the contrary was slandering one of the most respectable +clubs in London. Some men would rather have pulled down St. Paul's +than Crockford's. + +It was the very perfection of a club, said the statesman, and its +principal game was chicken hazard. What could be stronger evidence +than that of its usefulness and respectability? At this game they +usually lost all they had, of little consequence to those who could +not do better with their property, and perhaps the best thing for the +country, because when it got into better hands it stood some chance of +being applied to more legitimate purposes. + +After a while Crockford quarrelled with his partner, and they +separated. + +Whatever men may say in these days against an institution which +flourished in those, ex-Prime Ministers, Dukes, Earls, and ex-Lord +Chancellors, as well as future Ministers of State and future Judges, +belonged to it, or sought eagerly for admission to its membership. To +be under the shadow of the fishmonger was greatness itself. + +At the mention of the name of Crockford's a procession of the greatest +men of the day passes before my eyes; their name would be legion as to +numbers, but an army of devoted patriots I should call them in every +other sense, for they were English to the backbone, whether gamblers +or saints. + +Of course there were some amongst them, as in every large body of men, +who were not so desirable to know as you could wish; but they were +easy to avoid and at all times an interesting study. + +There were wise men and self-deluded fools, manly, well-bred men, and +effeminate, conceited coxcombs, who wore stays and did up their back +hair, used paint, and daubed their cheeks with violet powder. These +men, while they had it, planked down their money with the longest +possible odds against them. There was one who was the very opposite +to these in the person of old Squire Osbaldistone. True, he had +squandered more money than any one had ever seen outside the Bank of +England, but he had done it like a gentleman and not like a fool. A +real grand man was the old squire, and I enjoyed many a walk with +him over Newmarket Heath, listening to his amusing anecdotes, his +delightful humour and brilliant wit. His manner was so buoyant that no +one could have believed he had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds, +but he had, without compunction or regret. + +The novelist and the painter could artistically describe Squire +Osbaldistone. I can only say he was a "fine old English gentleman, one +of the olden time." It was in a billiard-room at Leamington where I +first met him, and as he was as indifferent a player as you could +meet, he thought himself one of the best that ever handled a cue. + +I neither played chicken hazard nor any other game, but enjoyed myself +in seeing others play, and in picking up crumbs of knowledge which I +made good use of in my profession. + +The institution was not established for the benefit of science or +literature, except that kind of literature which goes by the name +of bookmaking. Its founder was a veritable dunce, but he was the +cleverest of bookmakers, and made more by it in one night than all the +authors of that day in their lives. One hundred thousand pounds in +one night was not bad evidence of his calculation of chances and his +general knowledge of mankind. + +To be a member of this club, wealth was not the only qualification, +because in time you would lose it; you had to be well born or +distinguished in some other way. The fishmonger knew a good salmon +by its appearance; he had also a keen respect for the man who had +ancestors and ancestral estates. + +I ought not to omit to mention another celebrated bookie of that +day; he was second only to Crockford himself, and was called "The +Librarian." He was also known as "Billy Sims." + +Billy lived in St. James's Street, in a house which has long since +been demolished, and thither people resorted to enjoy the idle, witty, +and often scandalous gossip of the time. It was as easy to lose your +reputation there as your money at Crockford's, and far more difficult +to keep it. The only really innocent conversation was when a man +talked about himself. + +From that popular gossiping establishment I heard a little story told +by the son of Sydney Smith. His father had been sent for to see an old +lady who was one of his most troublesome parishioners. She was dying. +Sad to say, she had always been querulous and quarrelsome. It may have +been constitutional, but whatever the cause, her husband had had an +uncomfortable time with her. When Sydney Smith reached the house the +old lady was dead, and the bereaved widower, a religious man in his +way, and acquainted with Scripture, said,-- + +"Ah, sir, you are too late: my poor dear wife has gone to _Abraham's +bosom_." + +"Poor Abraham!" exclaimed Sydney; "she'll tear his inside out." + +As all these things pass through my memory, I recall another little +incident with much satisfaction, because I was retained in the case. +It was a scandalous fraud in connection with the gaming-table. An +action was brought by a cheat against a gentleman who was said to have +lost L20,000 on the cast of the dice. I was the counsel opposed to +plaintiff, who was said to have cheated by means of _loaded dice_. I +won the case, and it was generally believed that the action was the +cause of the appointment of the "Gaming Committee," at which tribunal +all the rascality of the gaming-tables was called to give evidence, +and the witnesses did so in such a manner as to shock the conscience +of the civilized world, which is never conscious of anything until +exposure takes place in a court of law or in some other legal inquiry. + +Diabolical revelations were brought to light. However, as I have said, +Lord Palmerston effectually cleared Crockford's, and it almost seemed, +from the evidence of those who knew Crockford's best, that they never +played anything there but old-fashioned whist for threepenny points, +patience, and beggar-my-neighbour. + +His Royal Highness the then Prince of Wales came into court during the +trial I refer to, and seemed interested in the proceedings. I wonder +if his Majesty now remembers it! + +In those days Baron Martin and I met once a year, he on the Bench and +I in court, with a hansom cab waiting outside ready to start for the +Derby. It is necessary for Judges to sit on Derby Day, to show that +they do not go; but if by some accident the work of the court is +finished in time to get down to Epsom, those who love an afternoon +in the country sometimes go in the direction of the Downs. There is +usually a run on the list on that day. + +There was another club to which I belonged in those old days, called +"The Hooks and Eyes," where I met for the last time poor Douglas +Jerrold. He was one of the Eyes, and always on the lookout for a good +thing, or the opportunity of saying one. He was certainly, in my +opinion, the wittiest man of his day. But at times his wit was more +hurtful than amusing. Wit should never leave a sting. + +He was sometimes hard on those who were the objects of his personal +dislike. Of these Sir Charles Taylor was one. He was not a welcome +member of the Hooks and Eyes, and Jerrold knew it. There was really no +reason why Sir Charles should not have been liked, except perhaps that +he was dull and prosaic; rather simple than dull, perhaps, for he was +always ready to laugh with the rest of us, whether he understood the +joke or not. And what could the most brilliant do beyond that? + +Sir Charles was fond of music. He mentioned in Jerrold's company on +one occasion "that 'The Last Rose of Summer' so affected him that it +quite carried him away." + +"Can any one hum it?" asked Jerrold. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +ALDERSON, TOMKINS, AND A FREE COUNTRY--A PROBLEM IN HUMAN NATURE. + + +Alderson was a very excellent man and a good Judge. I liked him, and +could always deal with him on a level footing. He was quaint and +original, and never led away by a false philanthropy or a sickly +sentimentalism. + +Appealed to on behalf of a man who had a wife and large family, +and had been convicted of robbing his neighbours, "True," said +Alderson--"very true, it is a free country. Nothing can be more proper +than that a man should have a wife and a large family; it is his +due--as many children as circumstances will permit. But, Tomkins, +you have no right, even in a free country, to steal your neighbour's +property to support them!" + +I liked him where there was a weak case on the other side; he was +particularly good on those occasions. + +In the Assize Court at Chelmsford a barrister who had a great criminal +practice was retained to defend a man for stealing sheep, a very +serious offence in those days--one where anything less than +transportation would be considered excessive leniency. + +The principal evidence against the man was that the bones of the +deceased animal were found in his garden, which was urged by the +prosecuting counsel as somewhat strong proof of guilt, but not +conclusive. + +It must have struck everybody who has watched criminal proceedings +that the person a prisoner has most to fear when he is tried is +too often his own counsel, who may not be qualified by nature's +certificate of capacity to defend. However, be that as it may, in this +case there was no evidence against the prisoner, unless his counsel +made it so. + +"Counsel for the defence" in those days was a wrong description--he +was called the _friend_ of the prisoner; and I should conclude, from +what I have seen of this relationship, that the adage "Save me from my +friends" originated in this connection. + +The friend of this prisoner, instead of insisting that there was no +evidence, since no one could swear to the sheep bones when no man had +ever seen them, endeavoured to explain away the cause of death, and +thus, by a foolish concession, admitted their actual identity. It was +not Alderson's duty to defend the prisoner against his own admission, +although, but for that, he would have pointed out to the Crown how +absolutely illogical their proposition was in law. But the "friend" of +the prisoner suggested that sheep often put their heads through gaps +or breakages in the hurdles, and rubbed their necks against the +projecting points of the broken bars; and that being so, why should +the jury not come to a verdict in favour of the prisoner on that +ground? It was quite possible that the constant rubbing would +ultimately cut the sheep's throat. If it did not, the prisoner +submitted to the same operation at the hand of his "friend." + +"Yes," said Baron Alderson, "that is a very plausible suggestion to +start with; but having commenced your line of defence on that ground, +you must continue it, and carry it to the finish; and to do this +you must show that not only did this sheep in a moment of temporary +insanity--as I suppose you would allege in order to screen it--commit +suicide, but that it skinned itself and then buried its body, or what, +was left of it after giving a portion to the prisoner to eat, in the +prisoner's garden, and covered itself up in its own grave. You must go +as far as that to make a complete defence of it. I don't say the jury +may not believe you; we shall see. Gentlemen, what do you say--is the +sheep or the prisoner guilty?" The sheep was instantly acquitted. + +There was another display of forensic ingenuity by the same counsel in +the next case, where he was once again the "friend" of the prisoner. + +A man was charged with stealing a number of gold and silver +coins which had been buried a few hours previously under the +foundation-stone of a new public edifice. + +The prisoner was one of the workmen, and had seen them deposited for +the historical curiosity of future ages. Antiquity, of course, would +be the essence of the value of the coins, except to the thief. The +royal hand had covered them with the stone, duly tapped by the silver +trowel amidst the hurrahs of the loyal populace, in which the prisoner +heartily joined. But in the night he stole forth, and then stole the +coins. + +They were found at his cottage secreted in a very private locality, +as though his conscience smote him or his fear sought to prevent +discovery. His legal friend, however, driven from the mere outwork of +facts, had taken refuge in the citadel of law; he was equal to the +occasion. Alas! Alderson knew the way into this impregnable retreat. + +Counsel suggested that it was never intended by those who placed the +coins where they were found that they should remain there till the end +of time; they were intended, said he, to be taken away by somebody, +but by whom was not indicated by the depositors, and as no time or +person was mentioned, they must belong to the first finder. It was all +a mere chance as to the time of their resurrection. Further, it was +certain they were not intended to be taken by their owners who had +placed them there--they never expected to see them again--but by any +one who happened to come upon them. Those who deposited them where +they were found parted not only with the possession, but with all +claims of ownership. Nor could any one representing him make any +claim. + +All this was excellent reasoning as far as it went, and the only thing +the prosecution alleged by way of answer was that they were intended +to be brought to light as antiquities. + +"Very well," said the prisoner's counsel; "then there is no felonious +intent in that case--it is merely a mistake. Antiquity came too soon." + +And so did the conviction. + +I was instructed, with the Hon. George Denman, son of my old friend, +whom I have so often mentioned, to defend three persons at the +Maidstone Assizes for a cruel murder. Mr. Justice Wightman was the +Judge, and there was not a better Judge of evidence than he, or of law +either. + +The prisoners were father, mother, and son, and the deceased was a +poor servant girl who had been engaged to be married to another son of +the male prisoner and his wife. + +The unfortunate girl had left her service at Gravesend, and gone to +this family on a visit. The prisoners, there could be no doubt, were +open to the gravest suspicion, but how far each was concerned with the +actual murder was uncertain, and possibly could never be proved. + +The night before the trial the attorney who acted for the accused +persons called on me, and asked this extraordinary question,-- + +"Could you secure the acquittal of the father and the son if the woman +will plead guilty?" + +It is impossible to conceive the amount of resolution and +self-sacrifice involved in this attempt to save the life of her +husband and son. It was too startling a proposal to listen to. I +could advise no client to plead guilty to wilful murder. It was so +extraordinary a proposition, look at it from whatever point I might, +that it was perfectly impossible to advise such a course. I asked him +if the woman knew what she was doing, and that if she pleaded guilty +certain death would follow. + +"Oh yes," said he; "she is quite prepared." + +"The murder," I said, "is one of the worst that can be +conceived--cruel and fiendish." + +He agreed, but persisted that she was perfectly willing to sacrifice +her own life if her husband and son could be saved. + +This woman, so full of feeling for her own family, had thought so +little of that of others that she had held down the poor servant girl +in bed while her son strangled her. + +"If," said I, "she were to plead guilty, the great probability is that +the jury would believe they were all guilty--very probably they are; +and most certainly in that case they would all be hanged." I therefore +strongly advised that the woman should stand her trial "with the +others," which she did. In the end they all _got off_! the evidence +not being sufficiently clear against any. + +It was a strange mingling of evil and good in one breast--of +diabolical cruelty and noble self-sacrifice. + +I leave others to work out this problem of human nature. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +CHARLES MATHEWS--A HARVEST FESTIVAL AT THE VILLAGE CHURCH. + + +The sporting world has no greater claim on my memory than the +theatrical or the artistic. I recall them with a vividness that brings +back all the enjoyments of long and sincere friendships. For instance, +one evening I was in Charles Mathews's dressing-room at the theatre +and enjoying a little chat when he was "called." + +"Come along," said he; "come along." + +Why he should "call" me to come along I never knew. I had no part in +the piece at that moment. But he soon gave me one. I followed, with +lingering steps and slow, having no knowledge of the construction of +the premises; but in a moment Mathews had disappeared, and I found +myself in the middle of the stage, with a crowded house in front of +me. The whole audience burst into an uproar of laughter. I suppose it +was the incompatibility of my appearance at that juncture which made +me "take" so well; but it brought down the house, and if the curtain +had fallen at that moment, I should have been a great success, and +Mathews would have been out of it. In the midst of my discomfiture, +however, he came on to the stage by another entrance as "cool as a +cucumber." He told me afterwards that he had turned the incident to +good account by referring to me as "Every man in his humour," or, "A +bailiff in distressing circumstances!" + +I was visiting the country house of a respectable old solicitor, who +was instructing me in a "compensation case" which was to be heard at +Wakefield. + +"I don't know, Mr. Hawkins," said he on Sunday morning, "whether you +would like to see our little church?" + +"No, thank you," I answered; "we can have a look at it to-morrow when +we have a 'view of the premises.'" + +"I thought, perhaps," said Mr. Goodman, "you might like to attend the +service." + +"No," said I, "not particularly; a walk under the 'broad canopy' is +preferable on a beautiful morning like this to a poky little pew; +and I like the singing of the birds better than the humming of a +clergyman's nose. + +"Very well," he said; "we will, if you like, take a little walk." + +With surprising innocence he inflicted upon me a pious fraud, leading +me over fields and meadows, stiles and rustic bridges, until at last +the cunning old fox brought me out along a by-path and over a +plank bridge right into the village. Then turning a corner near a +picturesque farmhouse, he smilingly observed, "This is our church." + +"It's a very old one, and looks much more picturesque in the distance. +Shall we have a view a little farther off?" + +"St. Mary's," said he; "1694 is the date--" + +"St. Mary's?" said I. "Fancy! And what is the date--1694?" + +"It has some fine tablets, Mr. Hawkins, if you'd like to look in--" + +"I don't care for tablets," I answered; "if I go to church it is not +to stare at tablets." + +At last my host summed up courage to say,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, this is our little harvest festival of thanksgiving, and +I should not like to be absent." + +"Why on earth, Mr. Goodman," I answered, "did you not say that before? +Let us go in by all means. I like a good harvest as well as any +Christian on earth." + +The pew was the family pew--the _whole family pew_, and nothing but +the family pew; bought with the estate, with the family estate; and +was in an excellent situation for the congregation to have a fine view +of Mr. Goodman. Indeed, his cheery face could be seen by everybody in +church. + +I must say the little edifice looked very nice, and had been adorned +with the most artistic taste by the young ladies of the Vicarage +and the Hall. Mr. Goodman was "the Hall." There were bunches of +neatly-arranged turnips and carrots, with potatoes, barley, oats, +and mangel-wurzel, and almost every variety of fruit from the little +village; and every girl had barley and wheat-ears in her straw hat. +It was an affecting sight, calculated to make any one adore the young +ladies and long for dinner. + +The sermon was an excellent one so far as I could pronounce an +opinion, but would have been considerably improved had it been +three-quarters of an hour shorter. It contained, however, the usual +allusions to harvest-homes, gathering into barns, and laying up +treasures; which last observation reminded Mr. Goodman that he had +_left his purse at home_, and had come away without any money. + +I saw him fumbling in his pocket. Now, thought I, the time has come +for showing my devotion to Mr. Goodman. As soon, therefore, as he +had whispered to me, I handed him all I had, which consisted of a +five-pound note. He gratefully took it, and although about five times +as much as _he_ intended to give, when the bag was handed to him in +went the five-pound note. + +I knew my friend was chuckling as soon as we got into his family pew +at the way in which he had lured me step by step, till we walked the +last plank over the ditch, so I was not sorry to return good for evil +and lend him my note. + +He stared somewhat sideways at me when the bag passed, but I bore it +with fortitude. I took particular notice that the crimson bag passed +along the front of our family pew at a very dilatory pace, and tarried +a good deal, as if reluctant to leave it. To and fro it passed in +front of my nose as if it contained something I should like to smell, +and at last moved away altogether. I was glad of that, because +it prevented my following the words of the hymn in my book, and, +unfortunately, it was one of those harvest hymns I did not know by +heart. + +On our way home over the meadows, where the grasshoppers were +practising for the next day's sports, and were in high glee over +this harvest festival, Mr. Goodman seemed fidgety; whether +conscience-stricken for the Sabbath fraud he had practised upon me or +not, I could not say, but at last he asked how I liked their little +service. + +I said it was quite large enough. + +"You"--he paused--"you did not, I think"--another pause--"contribute +to our little gathering?" + +"No," I said, "but it was not my fault; I lent you all I had. The +fund, however, will not suffer in the least, and you have the +satisfaction of having contributed the whole of our joint +pocket-money. It does not matter who the giver is so long as the fund +obtains it." I then diverted his mind with a story or two. + +Cockburn, I said, was sitting next to Thesiger during a trial +before Campbell, Chief Justice, in which the Judge read some French +documents, and, being a Scotsman, it attracted a good deal of +attention. Cockburn, who was a good French scholar, was much annoyed +at the Chief Justice's pronunciation of the French language. + +"He is murdering it," said he--"_murdering_ it!" + +"No, my dear Cockburn," answered Thesiger, "he is not killing it, only +Scotching it." + +Sir Alexander was at a little shooting-party with Bethell and his son, +one of whom shot the gamekeeper. The father accused the son of the +misadventure, while the son returned the compliment. Cockburn, after +some little time, asked the gamekeeper what was the real truth of the +unfortunate incident--who was the gentleman who had inflicted the +injury? + +The gamekeeper, still smarting from his wounds, and forgetting the +respect due to the questioner, answered,-- + +"O Sir Alexander--d--n 'em, it was _both_!" + +A remark made by Lord Young, the Scotch Judge, one of the wittiest men +who ever adorned the Bar, and who is a Bencher of the Middle Temple, +struck me as particularly happy. There was a conversation about the +admission of solicitors to the roll, and the long time it took before +they were eligible to pass from their stage of pupilage to that of +solicitor, amounting, I think, to seven years; upon which Lord Young +said, "_Nemo repente fuit turpissimus_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +COMPENSATION--NICE CALCULATIONS IN OLD DAYS--EXPERTS--LLOYD AND I. + + +As my business continued to increase, it took me more and more from +the ordinary _nisi prius_, and kept me perpetually employed in special +matters. I had a great many compensation cases, where houses, lands, +and businesses had been taken for public or company purposes. They +were interesting and by no means difficult, the great difficulty +being to get the true value when you had, as I have known, a hundred +thousand pounds asked on one side and ten thousand offered on the +other. + +Railway companies were especially plundered in the exorbitant +valuation of lands, and therefore an advocate who could check the +valuers by cross-examination was sought after. Juries were always +liable to be imposed upon, and generally gave liberal compensation, +altogether apart from the market value. Experts, such as land agents +and surveyors, were always in request, and indeed these experts in +value caused the most extravagant amounts to be awarded. Even the mean +sum between highest and lowest was a monstrously unfair guide, for one +old expert used to instruct his pupils that the only true principle in +estimating value was to ask at least twice as much as the business or +other property was worth, because, he said, the other side will be +sure to try and cut you down one-half, and then probably offer to +split the difference. If you accept that, you will of course get +one-quarter more than you could by stating what you really wanted. No +one could deal with the real value, because there was no such thing +known in the Compensation Court. + +On one occasion I was travelling north in connection with one of these +cases, retained, as usual, on behalf of a railway company. In my +judgment the claim would have been handsomely met by an award of +L10,000, and that sum we were prepared to give. + +On my way I observed in my carriage a gentleman who was very busy +in making calculations on slips of paper, and every now and again +mentioning the figures at which he had arrived--repeating them to +himself. When we got to a station he threw away his paper, after +tearing it up, and when we started commenced again, but at every +stoppage on our journey he increased his amount. After we had +travelled 250 miles, the property he was valuing had attained the +handsome figure of L100,000. + +He evidently had not observed me. I was very quiet, and well wrapped +up. The next day, when he stepped into the witness-box he had not the +least idea that I had been his fellow-traveller of the previous +night. He was not very sharp except in the matter of figures; but his +opinion, like that of all experts, was invincible. His name was Bunce. + +"When did you view this property, Mr. Bunce? I understand you come +from London." + +"I saw it this morning, sir." + +"Did you make any calculation as to its value _before_ you saw it?" + +This puzzled him, and he stared at me. It was a hard stare, but I held +out. + +He said, "No." + +"Not when you were travelling? Did it not pass through your mind +when you were in the train, for instance--'I wonder, now, what that +property is worth?'" + +"I dare say it did, sir." + +"But don't _dare say_ anything unless it's true." + +"I did, then, run it over in my mind." + +"And I dare say you made notes and can produce them. Did you make +notes?" After a while I said, "I see you did. You may as well let me +have them." + +"I tore them up." + +"Why? What became of the pieces?" + +"I threw them away." + +"Do you remember what price you had arrived at when you reached +Peterborough, for instance?" + +The expert thought I was some one whom we never mention except when in +a bad temper, and he was more and more puzzled when he found that at +every stoppage I knew how much his price had increased. + +As the case was tried by an arbitrator and not a jury, my task was +easy, arbitrators not being so likely to be befooled as the other form +of tribunal. This arbitrator, especially, knew the elasticity of an +expert's opinion, and therefore I was not alarmed for my client. The +amount was soon arrived at by reducing the sum claimed by no less +than L90,000. Thus vanished the visionary claim and the expert. He +evidently had not been trained by the cunning old surveyor whose +experience taught him to be moderate, and ask only twice as much as +you ought to get. + +In another claim, which was no less than L10,000, the jury gave L300. +This was a state of things that had to be stopped, and it could only +be accomplished at that time by counsel who appeared on behalf of the +companies. + +Sir Henry Hunt was one of the best of arbitrators, and it was +difficult to deceive him. It took a clever expert to convince him that +a piece of land whose actual value would be L100 was worth L20,000. + +Sir Henry once paid me a compliment--of course, I was not present. + +"Hawkins," said he, "is the very best advocate of the day, and, +strange to say, his initials are the same as mine. You may turn them +upside down and they will still stand on their legs" (H.H.). + +Sir Henry was sometimes a witness, and as such always dangerous to the +side against whom he was called, because he was a judge of value and a +man of honour. + +One instance in which I took a somewhat novel course in demolishing a +fictitious claim is, perhaps, worth while to relate, although so many +years have passed since it occurred. + +It was so far back as the time of the old Hungerford Market, which the +railway company was taking for their present Charing Cross terminus. +The question was as to the value of a business for the sale of medical +appliances. + +Mr. Lloyd, as usual, was for the business, while I appeared for the +company. My excellent friend proceeded on the good old lines of +compensation advocacy with the same comfortable routine that one plays +the old family rubber of threepenny points. I occasionally finessed, +however, and put my opponent off his play. He held good hands, but if +I had an occasionally bad one, I sometimes managed to save the odd +trick. + +Lloyd had expatiated on the value of the situation, the highroad +between Waterloo Station and the Strand, immense traffic and grand +frontage. To prove all this he called a multitude of witnesses, who +kissed the same book and swore the same thing almost in the same +words. But to his great surprise I did not cross-examine. Lloyd was +bewildered, and said I had admitted the value by not cross-examining, +and he should not call any more witnesses. + +I then addressed the jury, and said, "A multitude of witnesses may +prove anything they like, but my friend has started with an entirely +erroneous view of the situation. The compensation for disturbance of +a business must depend a great deal on the nature of the business. If +you can carry it on elsewhere with the same facility and profit, the +compensation you are entitled to is very little. I will illustrate +my meaning. Let us suppose that in this thoroughfare there is a good +public-house--for such a business it would indeed be an excellent +situation; you may easily imagine a couple of burly farmers coming up +from Farnham or Windlesham to the Cattle Show, and walking over the +bridge, hot and thirsty. 'Hallo!' says one; 'I say, Jim, here's a nice +public; what d'ye say to goin' in and havin' a glass o' bitter? It's a +goodish pull over this 'ere bridge." + +"'With all my heart,' says Jim; and in they go. + +"There you see the advantage of being on the highroad. But now, let +us see these two stalwart farmers coming along, and--instead of the +handsome public and the bitter ale there is this shop, where they sell +medical arrangements--can you imagine one of them saying to the other, +'I say, Jim, here's a very nice medical shop; what d'ye say to going +in and having a truss?'" + +The argument considerably reduced the compensation, but what it lacked +in money the claimant got in laughter. + +Sometimes I led a witness who was an expert valuer for a claimant to +such a gross exaggeration of the value of a business as to stamp the +claim with fraud, and so destroy his evidence altogether. + +Sir Henry Hunt used to nod with apparent approval at every piece of +evidence which showed any kind of exaggeration, but every nod was +worth, as a rule, a handsome reduction to the other side. + +I shall never forget an attorney's face who, having been offered +L10,000 for a property, stood out for L13,000. + +It was a claim by a poulterers' company for eight houses that were +taken by a railway company. I relied entirely on my speech, as I often +did, because the threadbare cross-examinations were almost, by this +time, things of course, as were the figures themselves mere results of +true calculations on false bases. + +This attorney, who had, perhaps, never had a compensation case before, +was quite a great man, and took the arbitrator's assenting nods as so +much cash down. + +So encouraged, indeed, was he that he became almost impudent to me, +and gave me no little annoyance by his impertinent asides. At last I +looked at him good-humouredly, and politely requested him, as though +he were the court itself, to suspend his judgment while I had the +honour of addressing the arbitrator for twenty minutes, "at the end of +which time I promise to make you, sir," said I, "the most miserable +man in existence." + +I was supported in this appeal by the arbitrator, who hoped he would +not interrupt Mr. Hawkins. + +As I proceeded the attorney fidgeted, puffed out his cheeks, blew out +his breath, twirled his thumbs as I twirled his figures, and grated +his teeth as he looked at me sideways, while I concluded a little +peroration I had got up for him, which was merely to this effect, that +if railway companies yielded to such extortionate demands as were made +by this attorney on behalf of the poulterers' company, they would not +leave their shareholders a feather to fly with. + +The attorney looked very much like moulting himself, and the end of it +was that he got _two thousand pounds_ less than we had offered him in +the morning, and consequently had to pay all the costs. + +As I have stated, John Horatio Lloyd was my principal opponent in +these great public works cases, and I remember him with every feeling +of respect. He was an advocate whom no opponent could treat lightly, +and was uniformly kind and agreeable. + +Of course I had a very large experience in those times--I suppose, +without vanity, I may say the very largest. I was retained to assess +compensation for the immense blocks of buildings acquired for the +space now occupied by the Law Courts. In the very early cases the law. +officers of the Crown were concerned, but after that the whole of the +business was entrusted to my care, although for reasons best known to +themselves the Commissioners declined to send me a general retainer, +which would have been one small sum for the whole, but gave instead +a special retainer on every case. If my memory serves me, on one +occasion I had ninety-four of these special retainers delivered at +my chambers. This was in consequence of their refusing to retain me +generally for the whole, which would have been a nominal fee of five +guineas. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +ELECTION PETITIONS. + + +Another class of work which gave me much pleasure and interest was +that of election petitions. These came in such abundance that I had to +put on, as I thought, a prohibitory fee, which in reality increased +the volume of my labour. + +One day Baron Martin asked me if I was coming to such and such an +election petition. + +"No," I answered, "no; I have put a prohibitory fee on my services; I +can't be bothered with election petitions." + +"How much have you put on?" + +"Five hundred guineas, and two hundred a day." + +The Baron laughed heartily. "A prohibitory fee! They must have you, +Hawkins--they must have you. Put on what you like; make it high +enough, and they'll have you all the more." + +And I did. It turned out a very lucrative branch of my business, and +my electioneering expenses were a good investment. My experience at +Barnstaple, to be told hereafter, repaid the outlay, and no feature of +an election ever came before me but I recognized a family likeness. + +Amongst the earliest was that of W.H. Smith, who had been returned for +Westminster. The petitioner endeavoured to unseat him on the ground of +bribery, alleged to have been committed in paying large sums of money +for exhibiting placards on behalf of the candidate. It was tried +before Baron Martin. + +About the payments there was no element of extravagance, but there +were undoubtedly many cases of payment, and these were alleged to be +illegal. + +Ballantine was my junior. One of the curious matters in the case was +that these payments had been principally made by, or under, the advice +of my old friend, whom I cannot mention too often, the Hon. Robert +Grimston. + +Ballantine, as I thought, most injudiciously advised me not to call +"that old fool;" but believing in Grimston, and having charge of the +case, I resolved to call him. Baron Martin knew Grimston as well as I +did, and believed in him as much. + +"Who is this?" asked the Judge. + +"Another bill-sticker, my lord." + +Grimston gave his evidence, and was severely cross-examined by my +friend, J. Fitzjames Stephen. He fully and satisfactorily explained +every one of the questioned items, evidently to the satisfaction of +Martin, who dismissed the petition, and thus Mr. Smith retained his +seat. + +The learned Judge said, in giving judgment, that without Grimston's +evidence the seat would have been in great danger, but that he had put +an innocent colour on the whole case, and that, knowing him to be an +honourable man and incapable of saying anything but the truth, he had +implicitly trusted to every word he spoke. + +Mr. Smith, whom I met some days after, said he was perfectly assured +that if I had not had the conduct of the case, and Grimston had not +been called, his seat would have been lost. + +In the petition against Sir George Elliot for Durham there was nothing +of any importance in the case, except that Sir George gave a very +interesting history of his life. + +He had been a poor boy who had worked in the cutting of the pit, lying +on his back and picking out from the roof overhead the coal which was +shovelled into the truck. From this humble position literally and +socially he had proceeded, first to his feet, and then step by step, +until, from one grade to another, he had amassed a large fortune, and +sufficient income to enable him to incur, not only the expenses of +an election and a seat in Parliament, but also those of a bitterly +hostile election petition, enormously extravagant in every way. I +succeeded in winning his case, and never was more proud of a victory. +It had lasted many days. + +There is one matter almost of a historical character, which I mention +in order to do all the justice in my power to a man who, although +deserving of reprobation, is also entitled to admiration for the +chivalry of his true nature. I speak of it with some hesitation, and +therefore without the name. Those who are interested in his memory +will know to whom I allude, and possibly be grateful for the tribute +to his character, however much it may have been sullied by his +temporary absence of manly discretion. + +He was charged with assaulting a young lady in a railway train between +Aldershot and Waterloo. There was much of the melodramatic in the +incidents, and much of the righteous indignation of the public before +trial. There was judgment and condemnation in every virtuous mind. The +assault alleged was doubtless of a most serious character, if proved. +I say nothing of what might have been proved or not proved; but, +speaking as an advocate, I will not hesitate to affirm that +cross-examination may sometimes save one person's character without in +the least affecting that of another. + +But this was not to be. Whatever line of defence my experience might +have suggested, I was debarred by his express command from putting a +single question. + +I say to his honour that, as a gentleman and a British officer, he +preferred to take to himself the ruin of his own character, the +forfeiture of his commission in the army, the loss of social status, +and _all_ that could make life worth having, to casting even a doubt +on the lady's veracity in the witness-box. + +My instructions crippled me, but I obeyed my client, of course, +implicitly in the letter and the spirit, even though to some extent he +may have entailed upon himself more ignominy and greater severity of +punishment than I felt he deserved. + +He died in Egypt, never having been reinstated in the British army. +I knew but little of him until this catastrophe occurred; but the +manliness of his defence showed him to be naturally a man of honour, +who, having been guilty of serious misconduct, did all he could to +amend the wrong he had done; and so he won my sympathy in his sad +misfortune and misery. + +In the days when burglary was punished with death, there was very +seldom any remission, I was in court one day at Guildford, when a +respectably-dressed man in a velveteen suit of a yellowy green colour +and pearl buttons came up to me. He looked like one of Lord Onslow's +gamekeepers. I knew nothing of him, but seemed to recognize his +features as those of one I had seen before. When he came in front of +my seat he grinned with immense satisfaction, and said,-- + +"Can I get you anything, Mr. Orkins?" + +I could not understand the man's meaning. + +"No, thank you," I said. "What do you mean?" + +"Don't you recollect, sir, you defended me at Kingston for a burglary +charge, and got me off., Mr. Orkins, in flyin' colours?" + +I recollected. He seemed to have the flying colours on his lips. "Very +well," I said; "I hope you will never want defending again." + +"No, sir; never." + +"That's right." + +"Would a _teapot_ be of any use to you, Mr. Orkins?" + +"A teapot!" + +"Yes, sir, or a few silver spoons--anything you like to name, Mr. +Orkins." + +I begged him to leave the court. + +"Mr. Orkins, I will; but I am grateful for your gettin' me off that +job, and if a piece o' plate will be any good, I'll guarantee it's +good old family stuff as'll fetch you a lot o' money some day." + +I again told him to go, and, disappointed at my not accepting things +of greater value, he said,-- + +"Sir, will a sack o' taters be of any service to you?" + +This sort of gratitude was not uncommon in those days. I told the +story to Mr. Justice Wightman, and he said,-- + +"Oh, that's nothing to what happened to the Common Serjeant of London. +He had sent to him once a Christmas hamper containing a hare, a brace +and a half of pheasants, three ducks, and a couple of fowls, which _he +accepted_." + +I sometimes won a jury over by a little good-natured banter, and often +annoyed Chief Justice Campbell when I woke him up with laughter. And +yet he liked me, for although often annoyed, he was never really +angry. He used to crouch his head down over his two forearms and go to +sleep, or pretend to, by way of showing it did not matter what I said +to the jury. I dare say it was disrespectful, but I could not help on +these occasions quietly pointing across my shoulder at him with my +thumb, and that was enough. The jury roared, and Campbell looked up,-- + +"What's the joke, Mr. Hawkins?" + +"Nothing, my lord; I was only saying I was quite sure your lordship +would tell the jury exactly what I was saying." + +"Go on, Mr. Hawkins--" + +Then he turned to his clerk and said,-- + +"I shall catch him one of these days. Confine yourself to the issue, +Mr. Hawkins." + +"If your lordship pleases," said I, and went on. + +The eccentricities of Judges would form a laughable chapter. Some of +them were overwhelmed with the importance of their position; none were +ever modest enough to perceive their own small individuality amidst +their judicial environments; and this thought reminds me of an +occurrence at Liverpool Assizes, when Huddlestone and Manisty, the two +Judges on circuit, dined as usual with the Lord Mayor. The Queen's +health was proposed, of course, and Manisty, with his innate good +breeding, stood up to drink it, whereupon his august brother Judge +pulled him violently by his sleeve, saying, "Sit down, Manisty, you +damned fool! _we_ are the Queen!" + +I was addressing a jury for the plaintiff in a breach of promise +case, and as the defendant had not appeared in the witness-box, I +inadvertently called attention to an elderly well-dressed gentleman +in blue frock-coat and brass buttons--a man, apparently, of good +position. The jury looked at him and then at one another as I said +how shameful it was for a gentleman to brazen it out in the way the +defendant did--ashamed to go into the witness-box, but not ashamed to +sit in court. + +Here the gentleman rose in a great rage amidst the laughter of the +audience, in which even the ushers and javelin-men joined, to say +nothing of the Judge himself, and shouted with angry vociferation,-- + +"Mr. Hawkins, I am _not_ the defendant in this case, Sir ----" + +"I am very sorry for you," I replied; "but no one said you were." + +There was another outburst, and the poor gentleman gesticulated, if +possible, more vehemently than before. + +"I am not the def--" + +"Nobody would have supposed you were, sir, if you had not taken so +much trouble to deny it. The jury, however, will now judge of it." + +"I am a married man, sir." + +"So much the worse," said I. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +MY CANDIDATURE FOR BARNSTAPLE. + + +Although the House of Commons dislikes lawyers, constituencies love +them. The enterprising patriots of the long robe are everywhere sought +after, provided they possess, with all their other qualifications, the +one thing needful, and possessing which, all others may be dispensed +with. + +Barnstaple was no exception to the rule. It had a character for +conspicuous discernment, and, like the unseen eagle in the sky, could +pick out at any distance the object of its desire. + +Eminent, respectable, and rich must be the qualification of any +candidate who sought its suffrages--the last, at all events, being +indispensable. + +Up to this time I had not felt those patriotic yearnings which are +manifested so early in the legal heart. I was never a political +adventurer; I had no eye on Parliament merely as a stepping-stone to a +judgeship; and probably, but for the events I am about to describe, I +should never have been heard of as a politician at all. There were so +many candidates in the profession to whom time was no object that I +left this political hunting-ground entirely to them. + +In 1865 I was waited upon at Westminster by a very influential +deputation from the Barnstaple electors--honest-looking electors as +any candidate could wish to see--bringing with them a requisition +signed by almost innumerable independent electors, and stating that +there were a great many more of the same respectable class who would +have signed had time been permitted. Further signatures were, however, +to be forwarded. It was urged by the deputation that I should make my +appearance at Barnstaple at the earliest possible date, as no time was +to be lost, and they were most anxious to hear my views, especially +upon topics that they knew more about than I, which is generally the +case, I am told, in most constituencies. I asked when they thought I +ought to put in an appearance. + +"Within a week at latest," said the leading spirit of the deputation. +"Within a week at latest," repeated all the deputation in chorus." +Because," said the leading personage, "there is already a gentleman of +the name of Cave" (it should have been pronounced as two syllables, so +as to afford me some sort of warning of the danger I was confronting) +"busily canvassing in all directions for the Liberal party, and +Mr. Howell Gwynne and Sir George Stukely will be the Conservative +candidates. However, it would be a certain seat if I would do them the +honour of coming forward. There would be little trouble, and it would +almost be a walk-over." + +A walk-over was very nice, and the tantalizing hopes this deputation +inspired me with overcame my great reluctance to enter the field of +politics; and in that ill-advised moment I promised to allow myself to +be nominated. + +It was arranged that I should make my appearance by a specified +afternoon train on a particular day in the week (apparently to be set +apart as a public holiday), so that I had little time for preparation. +By the next day's post I received a kind of official communication +from "our committee," stating that a very substantial deputation from +the general body would have the honour to meet me at the station, and +accompany me to the committee-rooms for the purpose of introduction. + +Down, therefore, I went by the Great Western line, and in due time +arrived at my destination, as I thought. + +I found, instead of the "influential body of gentlemen" who were to +have the honour of conducting me to the headquarters of the Liberal +party, there was only a small portion of it, almost too insignificant +to admit of counting. But he was an important personage in uniform, +and dressed somewhat like a commissionaire. + +After much salutation and deferential hemming and stammering, he said +I had better proceed to a _little station only a few miles farther +on and dine_, "and if so be I'd do that, they would meet me in the +evening." + +Not being a professional politician, nor greatly ambitious of its +honours, I was somewhat disconcerted at such extraordinary conduct on +the part of my committee, and would have returned to town, but that +the train was going the wrong way, and by the time I reached the +little station I had argued the matter out, as I thought. It _might_ +be a measure of precaution, in a constituency so respectable as +Barnstaple, to prevent the least suspicion of _treating_ or corrupt +influence. Had I dined at Barnstaple it might have been suggested +that some one dined with me or drank my health. Whatever it was, the +revelation was not yet. + +I was to return "as soon as I had dined." Everything was to be ready +for my reception. + +All these instructions I obeyed with the greatest loyalty, and +returned at an early hour in the evening. But if I was disappointed at +my first reception, how was I elated by the second! All was made up +for by good feeling and enthusiasm. We were evidently all brothers +fighting for the sacred cause, but what the cause was I had not been +informed up to this time. + +At the station was a local band of music waiting to receive me, and +to strike up the inspiring air, "See the conquering hero comes;" but, +unfortunately, the band consisted only of a drum, of such dimensions +that I thought it must have been built for the occasion, and a +clarionet. + +Before the band struck up, however, I was greeted with such +enthusiastic outbursts that they might have brought tears into the +eyes of any one less firm than myself. "Orkins for ever!" roared +the multitude. It almost stunned me. Never could I have dreamt my +popularity would be so great. "Orkins for ever!" again and again +they repeated, each volley, if possible, louder than before. "Bravo, +Orkins! Let 'em 'ave it, Orkins! don't spare 'em." I wish I had known +what this meant. + +I must say they did all that mortals could do with their mouths to +honour their future member. + +Hogarth's "March to Finchley" was outdone by that march to the +Barnstaple town hall. An enormous body of electors, "free and +independent" stamped on their faces as well as their hands, was +gathered there, and it was a long time before we could get anywhere +near the door. + +Again and again the air was rent with the cries for "Orkins," and it +was perfectly useless for the police to attempt to clear the way. +They had me as if on show, and it was only by the most wonderful +perseverance and good luck that I found myself going head first along +the corridor leading to the hall itself. + +When I appeared on the platform, it seemed as if Barnstaple had never +seen such a man; they were mad with joy, and all wanted to shake hands +with me at once. I dodged a good many, and by dint of waving his arms +like a semaphore the chairman succeeded, not in restoring peace, but +in moderating the noise. + +I now had an opportunity of using my eyes, and there before me in one +of the front seats was the redoubtable Cave--the great canvassing +Cave--who instantly rose and gave me the most cordial welcome, trusted +I was to be his future colleague in the House, and was most generous +in his expressions of admiration for the people of Barnstaple, +especially the voting portion of them, and hoped I should have a very +pleasant time and never forget dear old Barnstaple. I said I was not +likely to--nor am I. + +Of course I had to address the assembled electors first after the +introduction by the chairman, who, taking a long time to inform us +what the electors _wanted_, I made up my mind what to say in order to +convince them that they should have it. I gave them hopes of a great +deal of legal reform and reduction of punishments, for I thought +that would suit most of them best, and then gladly assented to a +satisfactory adjustment of all local requirements and improvements, as +well as a determined redress of grievances which should on no account +be longer delayed. ("Orkins for ever!") + +Then Cave stood up--an imposing man, with a good deal of presence and +shirt-collar--who invited any man--indeed, _challenged_ anybody--in +that hall to question him on any subject whatever. + +The challenge was accepted, and up stood one of the rank and file of +the electors--no doubt sent by the Howell Gwynne party--and with a +voice that showed at least he meant to be heard, said,-- + +"Mr. Cave, first and foremost of all, I should like to know _how your +missus is to-day_?" + +It was scarcely a political or public question, but nobody objected, +and everybody roared with laughter, because it seemed at all political +meetings Cave had started the fashion, which has been adopted by many +candidates since that time, of referring _to his wife_! Cave always +began by saying he could never go through this ordeal without the help +and sympathy of his dear wife--his support and joy--at whose bidding +and in pursuit of whose dreams he had come forward to win a seat in +their uncorruptible borough, and to represent them--the most coveted +honour of his life--in the House of Commons. + +Of course this oratory, having a religious flavour, took with a very +large body of the Barnstaple electors, and was always received with +cheers as an encouragement to domestic felicity and faithfulness to +connubial ties. + +When this gentleman put the question, Cave answered as though it was +asked in real earnest, and was cheered to the echo, not merely for his +domestic felicity, but his cool contempt for any man who could so far +forget connubial bliss as to sneer at it. + +For a few days all went tolerably well, and then I was told that a +very different kind of influence prevailed in the borough than that +of religion or political morality, and that it would be perfectly +hopeless to expect to win the seat unless I was prepared to purchase +the large majority of electors; indeed, that I must buy almost every +voter. (That's what they meant by "Give it 'em, Orkins! Let 'em 'ave +it!") + +This I refused to believe; but it was said they were such free and +independent electors that they would vote for _either_ party, and you +could not be sure of them until the last moment; in fact, _if I would +win I must bribe_! to say nothing of all sorts of subscriptions to +cricket clubs and blanket clubs, as well as friendly societies of all +kinds. + +I declined to accept these warnings, and looked upon it as some kind +of political dodge got up by the other side. + +I resolved to win by playing the game, and made up my mind to go to +the poll on the political questions which were agitating the public +mind, as I was informed, by a simple honest candidature, thinking that +in political as in every other warfare honesty is the best policy. On +that noble maxim I entered into the contest, believing in Barnstaple, +and feeling confident I should represent it in Parliament. + +To indulge in bribery of any sort would, I knew, be fatal to my own +interests even if I had not been actuated by any higher motive. I +placed myself, therefore, in the hands of my friend and principal +agent, Mr. Kingston, as well as the other agents of the party. + +We did not long, however, remain true to ourselves. There was a hitch +somewhere which soon developed into a split; and it was certain some +of us must go to the wall. I could not, however, understand the reason +of it; we professed the same politics, the same "cause," the same +battle-cry, the same enemies. But, whatever it was, we were so much +divided that my chances of heading the poll were diminishing. + +I had been cheered to the echo night after night and all day long, so +that there was enough shouting to make a Prime Minister; my horses had +time after time been taken from my carriage, and cheering voters drew +me along. These unmistakable signs of popular devotion to my interests +had been most encouraging; and as they shouted themselves hoarse for +me, I talked myself hoarse for them. We had a mutual hoarseness for +each other. Everything looked like success; everything _sounded_ like +success; and night after night out came drum and clarionet to do their +duty manfully in drumming me to my hotel. + +It had been a remarkable success; everybody said so. Most of them +declared solemnly they had never seen anything like it. They +pronounced it a record popularity. I thought it was because the good +people had selected me as their candidate on independent and purity of +election principles. This explanation gave them great joy, and they +cheered with extra enthusiasm for their own virtue. Judge, then, +my surprise a short while after, when, notwithstanding the firm +principles upon which we had proceeded, and by which my popularity +was secured, I began to perceive that _money was the only thing they +wanted_! Their uncorruptible nature yielded, alas! to the lowering +influence of that deity. + +It was at first a little mysterious why they should have postponed +their demands--secret and silent--until almost the last moment; but +the fact is, a large section of my party were dissatisfied with the +voluntary nature of their services; they declined to work for nothing, +and having shown me that the prize--that is, the seat--was mine, they +determined to let me know it must be paid for. A large number of +my voters would do nothing; they kept their hands in their pockets +because they could not get them into mine. + +This was no longer a secret, but on the eve of the election was boldly +put forward as a demand, and I was plainly told that L500 distributed +in small sums would make my election sure. + +As, however, in no circumstances would I stoop to their offer, this +demand did not in the least influence me--I never wavered in my +resolution, and refused to give a farthing. Furthermore, showing the +web in which they sought to entangle me, the same voice that suggested +the L500 also informed me that I was closely watched by a couple of +detectives set on by the other side. + +I was well aware that the "other side" had given five-pound notes for +votes, but I could neither follow the example nor use the information, +as it was told me "in the strictest confidence." + +I was therefore powerless, and felt we were drifting asunder more +and more. At last came the polling day, and a happy relief from an +unpleasant situation it certainly was. + +A fine bright morning ushered in an exciting day. There was a great +inrush of voters at the polling-booth, friendly votes, if I may call +them so--votes, I mean to say, of honest supporters; these were my +acquaintances made during my sojourn at Barnstaple; others came, a few +for Cave as well as myself. Cave did not seem to enjoy the popularity +that I had achieved. Still, he got a few votes. + +Now came an exciting scene. About midday, the working man's dinner +hour, the tide began to turn, for the whole body of _bribed_ voters +were released from work. My majority quickly dwindled, and at length +disappeared, until I was in a very hopeless minority. Everywhere it +was "Stukely for ever!" Some cried, "Stukely and free beer!" Stukely, +who till now had hardly been anybody, and had not talked himself +hoarse in their interests as I had, was the great object of their +admiration and their hopes. + +The consequence of this sudden development of Stukely's popularity +was that Cave united his destiny with the new favourite, and such an +involution of parties took place that "Stukely and Cave" joined hand +in hand and heart to heart, while poor Howell Gwynne and myself were +abandoned as useless candidates. At one o'clock it was clear that I +must be defeated by a large majority. + +The Cave party then approached me with the modest request that, as it +was quite clear that I could not be returned, would I mind attending +the polling places and give my support to Cave? + +This piece of unparalleled impudence I declined to accede to, and +did nothing. The election was over so far as I was interested in its +result; but I was determined to have a parting word with the electors +before leaving the town. I was mortified at the unblushing treachery +and deception of my supporters. + +I was next asked what I proposed to do. It was their object to get +me out of the town as soon as possible, for if unsuccessful as a +candidate, I might be troublesome in other ways. Such people are not +without a sense of fear, if they have no feeling of shame. + +I said I should do nothing but take a stroll by the river, the day +being fine, and come back when the poll was declared and make them a +little speech. + +The little speech was exactly what they did not want, so in the +most friendly manner they informed me that a fast train would leave +Barnstaple at a certain time, and that probably I would like to catch +that, as no doubt I wished to be in town as early as possible to +attend to my numerous engagements. If they had chartered the train +themselves they could not have shown greater consideration for my +interests. But I informed them that I should stop and address the +electors, and with this statement they turned sulkily away. + +At the appointed hour for the declaration of the poll I was on the +hustings--well up there, although the lowest on the poll. Stukely and +Cave were first and second, Howell Gwynne and myself third and _last_! + +When my turn came to address the multitude, I spoke in no measured +terms as to the conduct of the election, which I denounced as having +been won by the most scandalous bribery and corruption. + +All who were present as unbiassed spectators were sorry, and many of +them expressed a wish that I would return on a future day. + +"Not," said I, "until the place has been purged of the foul corruption +with which it is tainted." + +I had resolved to leave by the mail train, and was actually +accompanied to the station by a crowd of some 2,000 people, including +the Rector, or Vicar of the parish, who gave me godspeed on my journey +home. + +This kind and sincere expression of goodwill and sympathy was worth +all the boisterous cheers with which I had been received. + +On the platform at the railway station I had to make another little +speech, and then I took my seat, not for Barnstaple, but London. As +the train drew out of the station, the people clung to the carriage +like bees, and although I had not even honeyed words to give them, +they gave me a "send-off" with vociferous cheers and the most cordial +good wishes. + +Thus I bade good-bye to Barnstaple, never to return or be returned, +and I can only say of that enlightened and independent constituency +that, while seeking the interests of their country, they never +neglected their own. + +I need not add that I learnt a great deal in that election which +was of the greatest importance in the conduct of the Parliamentary +petitions which were showered upon me. + +Before I accepted the candidature of Barnstaple, a friend of mine said +he had been making inquiries as to how the little borough of Totnes +could be won, and that the lowest figure required as an instalment to +commence with was L7,000. + +After this I had no more to do with electioneering in the sense of +being a candidate, but a good deal to do with it in every other. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE TICHBORNE CASE. + + +[The greatest of all chapters in the life of Mr. Hawkins was the +prosecution of the impostor Arthur Orton for perjury, and yet the +story of the Tichborne case is one of the simplest and most romantic. +The heir to the Tichborne baronetcy and estates was shipwrecked while +on board the _Bella_ and drowned in 1854. In 1865 a butcher at Wagga +Wagga in Australia assumed the title and claimed the estates. But the +story is not related in these reminiscences on account of its romantic +incidents, but as an incident in the life of Lord Brampton. It is so +great that there is nothing in the annals of our ordinary courts of +justice comparable with it, either in its magnitude or its advocacy. I +speak particularly of the trial for perjury, in which Mr. Hawkins led +for the prosecution, and not of the preceding trial, in which he was +junior to Sir John Coleridge. + +It is impossible to give more than the _points_ of this strange story +as they were made, and the real _facts_ as they were elicited in +cross-examination and pieced together in his opening speech and his +reply in the case for the Crown. What rendered the task the +more difficult was that his predecessors had so bungled the +cross-examination in many ways that they not only had not elicited +what they might have done, but actually, by many questions, furnished +information to the Claimant which enabled him to carry on his +imposture.] + +The Tichborne trials demand a few words by way of introduction, for +although there were two trials, they were of a different character, +the first being an ordinary action of ejectment in which the Claimant +sought to dispossess the youthful heir, whose title he had already +assumed, under circumstances of the most extraordinary nature. + +The action of ejectment was tried before Chief Justice Bovill at the +Common Pleas, Westminster. Ballantine and Giffard (now Lord Halsbury) +led for the plaintiff, the butcher, while on behalf of the trustees +of the estate (that is, the real heir) were the Solicitor-General +Coleridge, myself, Bowen (afterwards Lord Bowen), and Chapman Barber, +an _equity_ counsel. + +I must explain how it was that I, having been retained to lead +Coleridge, was afterwards compelled to be led by him; and it is an +interesting event in the history of the Bar as well as of the Judicial +Bench. + +The action was really a Western Circuit case, although the venue +was laid in London. Coleridge led that circuit and was retained. I +belonged to the Home Circuit, and had no idea of being engaged at +all for that side. I had been retained for the Claimant, but the +solicitor, with great kindness, withdrew his retainer at my request. + +I was brought into the case for the purpose of leading, and no other; +but by the appointment of Coleridge to the Solicitor-Generalship in +1868, I was displaced, and Coleridge ultimately led. His +further elevation happened in this way: Sir Robert Collier was +Attorney-General, and it was desired to give him a high appointment +which at that moment was vacant, and could only be filled by a Judge +of the High Court. Collier was not a Judge, and therefore was not +eligible for the post. The question was how to make him eligible. +The Prime Minister of the day was not to be baffled by a mere +technicality, and he could soon make the Attorney-General a Judge of +the High Court if that was a condition precedent. + +There was immediately a vacancy on the Bench; Collier was appointed to +the judgeship, and in three days had acquired all the experience +that the Act of Parliament anticipated as necessary for the higher +appointment in the Privy Council. + +Instead of leading, therefore, in the case before Chief Justice +Bovill, I had to perform whatever duties Coleridge assigned to me. My +commanding position was gone, and it was no longer presumable that I +should be entrusted with the cross-examination of the plaintiff. I was +bound to obey orders and cross-examine whomsoever I was allowed to. + +[The one thing Mr. Hawkins was retained for was the cross-examination +of the plaintiff. Lord Chief Justice Cockburn said, "I would have +given a thousand pounds to cross-examine him." It would have been an +excellent investment of the Tichborne family to have given Hawkins ten +thousand pounds to do so, for I am sure there would have been an end +of the case as soon as he got to Wapping. + +Coleridge acknowledged that the Claimant cross-examined him instead of +his cross-examining the Claimant. + +When that shrewd and cunning impostor was asked, "Would you be +surprised to hear this or that?" "No," said he, "I should be surprised +at nothing after this long time and the troubles I have been through; +but, now that you call my attention to it, I remember it all perfectly +well." Coleridge said: "I am leader by an accident." "Yes," said +Hawkins, "a colliery accident."] + +I had also been retained by the trustees of the Doughty estate. Lady +Doughty was an aunt of Sir Roger Tichborne, and it was her daughter +Kate whom the heir desired to marry. Had the Claimant succeeded in the +first case, he would have brought an action against her also. + +No copy of the proceedings had been supplied to me, and I was informed +that at this preliminary cross-examination they would not require my +assistance; that their learned Chancery barrister was merely going +to cross-examine the Claimant on his affidavits--a matter of small +consequence. So it was in one way, but of immeasurable importance +in many other ways. But they said _I might like to hear the +cross-examination as a matter of curiosity_. + +I did. + +The Claimant had it all his own way. I was powerless to lend any +assistance; but had I been instructed, I am perfectly sure I could +then and there have extinguished the case, for the Claimant at +that time knew absolutely nothing of the life and history of Roger +Tichborne. + +So the case proceeded, with costs piled on costs; information picked +up, especially by means of interminable preliminary proceedings, until +the impostor was left master of the situation, to the gratification of +fools and the hopes of fanatics. + +I was, however, allowed in the trial to cross-examine some witnesses. +Amongst them was a man of the name of Baigent, the historian of the +family, who knew more of the Tichbornes than they knew of themselves. +The cross-examination of Baigent, which did more than anything to +destroy the Claimant's case, occupied ten days. He was the real +Roger's old friend, and knew him up to the time of his leaving England +never to return. I drew from him the confession that he did not +believe he was alive, but that he had encouraged the Dowager Lady +Tichborne to believe that the Claimant was her son; and that her +garden was lighted night after night with Chinese lanterns in +expectation of his coming. + +Admissions were also obtained that when he saw the Claimant at +Alresford Station neither knew the other, although Baigent had never +altered in the least, as he alleged. + +There was another witness allotted to me, and that was Carter, an old +servant of Roger whilst he was in the Carabineers. This man supplied +the plaintiff with information as to what occurred in the regiment +while Roger belonged to it; but he only knew what was known to the +whole regiment. He did _not_ know private matters which took place at +the officers' mess, and it was upon these that my cross-examination +showed the Claimant to be an impostor. I "had him there." + +As Parry and I were sitting one morning waiting for the Judges, I +remarked on the subject of the counsel chosen for the prosecution: +"Suppose, Parry, you and I had been Solicitor and Attorney-General, in +the circumstances what should we have done?" + +"Plunged the country into a bloody war before now, I dare say," said +Parry, elevating his eyebrows and wig at the same time. + +I confess when I undertook the responsibility of this great trial +I was not aware of the immense labour and responsibility it would +involve; nor do I believe any one had the smallest notion of the +magnitude of the task. + +Instead of the work diminishing as we proceeded, it increased day by +day, and week by week; one set of witnesses entailed the calling +of another set. The case grew in difficulty and extent. It seemed +absolutely endless and hopeless. + +Within a few weeks of the start, a necessity arose for procuring the +testimony of a witness from Australia, a matter of months; and the +trial being a criminal one, the defendant was entitled to have the +case for the prosecution concluded within a reasonable time. If we had +no evidence, it was to his advantage, and we had no right to detain +him for a year while we were trying to obtain it. + +However, the Australian evidence came in time. Numbers of witnesses +had to be called who not only were not in our brief, but were never +dreamed of. For instance, there was the Danish perjurer Louie, who +swore he picked up the defendant at sea when the _Bella_ went down. + +Instead of this man going away after he had given his evidence, he +remained until two gentlemen from the City, seeing his portrait in the +Stereoscopic Company's window in Regent Street, identified him as a +dishonest servant of theirs, who was undergoing a sentence of penal +servitude at the time he swore he picked Roger up. He received five +years' penal servitude for his evidence. + +I had pledged myself to the task, which extended over many months more +than I ever anticipated. At every sacrifice, however, I was bound to +devote myself to the case, and did so, although I had to relinquish a +very large portion of my professional income. + +What made things worse, there was not only no effort made to curtail +the business, but advantage was taken of every circumstance to prolong +it. The longer it was dragged out the better chance there was of an +acquittal. Had a juryman died after months of the trial had passed, +the Government must have abandoned the prosecution. It would have been +impossible to commence again. This was the last hope of the defence. + +[The trial before Bovill ended at last, as it ought to have done +months before, in a verdict for the defendants and the order for the +prosecution of the Claimant for perjury. It was this prosecution that +occupied the attention of the court and of the world for 188 days, +extending over portions of two years. + +There is no doubt that Coleridge would a second time have deprived +the country of Mr. Hawkins's services, but higher influences than his +prevailed, and the distinguished counsel was appointed to lead for the +Crown, with Mr. Serjeant Parry as his leading junior. It is not too +much to say that no one knew the case so well as Mr. Hawkins, and none +could have done it so well. Bowen and Mathews were also his juniors. + +The whole case, from the commencement of the Chancery proceedings down +to the commencement of this trial, had been a comedy of blunders. The +very claim was an absurdity, every step in the great fraud was an +absurdity, and every proceeding had some ridiculous absurdity to +accompany it. It was not until the cross-examination of Baigent by Mr. +Hawkins that the undoubted truth began to appear. + +"You are the first," said Baron Bramwell, "who has let daylight into +the case." It will be seen presently what the simple story was which +the learned counsel at last evolved from the lies and half-truths +which had for so many years imposed upon a great number even of the +intelligent and educated classes of the community. And I would observe +that until nearly the end of the trial the case was never safe or +quite free from doubt; it was only what was elicited by Mr. Hawkins +that made it so. No Wonder the advocate said to Giffard, who was +opposed to him on the first trial: "If you and I had been together +in that case in the first instance, we should have won it for the +Claimant." Being on the other side, this is how the case stood when he +had completed it:-- + +The real heir to the family was a fairly well-formed, slender youth of +medium height. The personator of this youth was a man an inch and a +half or two inches taller, and weighing five-and-twenty stone. His +hands were a great deal larger than those of Roger, and at least an +inch longer; his feet were an inch and a half longer. He was broader, +deeper, thicker, and altogether of a different build. The lobes of his +ears, instead of being pendent like Roger's, adhered to his cheeks. +But he was not more unlike in physical outline than in mental +endowment, taste, character, pursuits, and sentiment, in manners and +habits, in culture and education, connection and recollection. + +Roger had been educated at Stonyhurst, with the education of a +gentleman; this man had never had any education at all. Roger had +moved in the best English society; this man amongst slaughtermen, +bushrangers, thieves, and highwaymen. Roger had been engaged to a +young lady, his cousin, Kate Doughty; this man had been engaged to a +young woman of Wapping, of the name of Mary Ann Loader, a respectable +girl in his own sphere of life. + +Roger's engagement to this young lady, his cousin, was disapproved of +by the Tichborne family, and was the cause of his leaving England. But +before he went he gave her a writing, and deposited a copy of it with +Mr. Gosford, the legal adviser of the family. + +This document was one of the most important incidents in the history +of the case, and upon it, if the cross-examination had been conducted +by Mr. Hawkins in Chancery, the case would have been crushed at the +outset. It is not my task to show how, but to state what it all came +to when the learned counsel left it to the jury to say whether the +claimant _was_ the Roger Tichborne he had sworn himself to be, or +whether he was Arthur Orton, the butcher of Wapping, whom he swore he +was not. + +This document forms the subject of the "sealed packet" left with Mr. +Gosford, and contained in effect these words: "If God spares me to +return and marry my beloved Kate within a year, I promise to build a +church and dedicate it to my patron saint." + +Till his cross-examination in Chancery he had never heard of this +packet, and when he was informed of it his solicitor naturally +demanded a copy. Gosford had destroyed the original, and of course +there was no end of capital out of it; a concocted original was made, +which was to the effect that this gentleman, "so like Roger," _had +seduced his cousin_, and that if she proved to be _enceinte_, Gosford +was to take care of her. Luckily "Kate Doughty" had her original +preserved with sacred affection. But such was the memory of this man's +early life, contrasted with what _would_ have been the memory of Sir +Roger Tichborne. + +He did not recollect being "at Stonyhurst, but said positively he was +at Winchester, where certainly Roger never was. He did not remember +his mother's Christian names, and could not write his own. + +He came to England to see his mother, and then would not go to her; +she went to see him, and he got on to the bed and turned his face to +the wall. She did not see his face, but recognized him by his ears, +because they were like his uncle's, then ordered the servant to undo +his braces for fear he should choke. + +Such a piece as this on the stage would not have lasted one night; +in real life it had a run for many years. But then there never was a +rogue that some fool would not believe in. How else was it possible +that millions believed in this man, who had forgotten the religion he +had been brought up in, and was married by a Wesleyan minister at a +Wesleyan church, he being, as his mother informed him, a strict Roman +Catholic from his birth? However, he did his best to reform his error +by getting married again by a Roman priest, although he made another +blunder, and forgetting he was Sir Roger Tichborne, married as Arthur +Orton, the son of the Wapping butcher. When his dear mother reminded +him of his being a Catholic, he wrote and thanked her for the +information, and hoped the Blessed Maria would take care of her for +evermore, little dreaming that the "Black Maria" would one day take +particularly good care of himself. + +So that he forgot the place of his birth, the seat of his ancestors, +the friends of his youth, the face, features, and form of his mother, +his education and religion, his brother officers in the regiment, the +regiment itself, and the position he occupied, thinking he had been a +private for fifteen days instead of a painstaking, studious, diligent +officer, who was beloved by his fellows. He had forgotten all his +neighbours, servants, dependants, as well as the family solicitor who +made his will and was appointed his executor. He forgot his life in +Paris, the village church of his ancestral seat--nay, the ancestral +seat itself--and the very road that led to it. He forgot his old +friend and historian, who swore he had never altered the least in +appearance since Roger left--historian and picture-cleaner to the +family. In short, there was not one single thing in the life of Roger +that he knew. He forgot what any but a born fool would remember while +he was in poverty and bankruptcy for a couple of hundred pounds; the +real Roger had written home on hearing of the death of his uncle, from +whom he derived his title and estates, saying, "Pray go to Messrs. +Glyn's and exchange my letter of credit for L2,000 for three years for +one for L3,000." + +Imagine a man forgetting he had L3,000 a year and an estate in England +worth L30,000, and earning his bread in a slaughter-house and in the +Bush, borrowing money from a poor woman and running away with it. + +But now another singular thing stamps this fraudulent impostor who +makes so many believe in him. He, alleged by his supporters to be Sir +Roger Tichborne, recollected all about a place that he had never been +to; people he had never heard of, far less seen; events that he could +_not_ know and which never happened to him, but did happen to Arthur +Orton. He knew Wapping well--every inch of it; Old Charles Orton, the +father of Arthur; Charles Orton the brother, the sisters, the people +who kept this shop and that; so that when on his return to England he +went to the Wapping seat of his ancestors instead of Ashford, he asked +all about them, and reminded them so faithfully of the little events +of Arthur's boyhood, and resembled that person so much in the face, +that they said, "Why, you are Arthur Orton yourself!" True, he paid +some of them to swear he was not, but the impression remained. + +Mr. Hawkins told the jury how he picked up his second-hand knowledge +of the things he spoke about concerning the Tichbornes, for it was +necessary to be able to answer a good many questions wherever he went, +especially when he went into the witness-box. + +There was an old black servant, quite black, who had been a valet in +the Tichborne family. His name was Bogle; and the Claimant was told by +the poor old dowager that if he could meet with him, Bogle could tell +him a good many things about himself. + +Bogle was an excellent diplomatist, and no sooner heard from Lady +Tichborne that her son Roger was in Australia than the two began to +look for one another, the one as black inside as the other was out. +Bogle announced that he was the man before he saw him, on the mother's +recommendation, and became and was to the end one of his principal +supporters--so much so that "Old Bogle" spread the Claimant's +knowledge of the Tichbornes abroad, and, like everybody else, believed +in him because he knew so much which he could not have known unless he +had been the veritable Roger, all which Bogle had told him. + +But in the interests of justice "Old Bogle" and Mr. Hawkins became +acquainted, much to the advantage of the latter, as he happened to +meet Bogle in the witness-box, a place where the counsel unravelled +the trickster's most subtle of designs. The advocate liked "Old +Bogle," as he called him, because, said he, Bogle, having white hair, +was so like a Malacca cane with a silver knob, white at the top and +black below. + +Bogle had sworn that Roger had no tattoo marks when he left England. +In point of fact he had, and Bogle had to fit them to the Claimant, +who had had tattoo marks of a very different kind from Roger's. The +Claimant had removed his, and therefore was presented to the court +without any. + +"How do you know Roger had no tattoo marks?" asked Mr. Hawkins. + +"I saw his arms on three occasions." This was a serious answer for +Bogle. + +"When and where, and under what circumstances?" followed in quick +succession, so that there was no escape. The witness said that Roger +had on a pair of black trousers tied round the waist, and his shirt +buttoned up. + +"The sleeves, how were they?" + +"Loose." + +"How came you to see his naked arms?" + +"He was rubbing one of them like this." + +"What did he rub for?" + +"I thought he'd got a flea." + +"Did you see it?" + +"No, of course." + +"Where was it?" + +"Just there." + +"What time was this?" + +"Ten minutes past eleven." + +"That's the first occasion; come to the second." + +"Just the same," says Bogle. + +"Same time?" + +"Yes." + +"Did he always put his hand inside his sleeve to rub?" + +"I don't know." + +"But I want to know." + +"If your shirt was unbuttoned, Mr. Hawkins, and you was rubbin' your +arm, you would draw up your sleeve--" + +"Never mind what I should do; I want to know what you saw." + +"The same as before," answers Bogle angrily. + +"A flea?" + +"I suppose." + +"But did you see him, Bogle?" + +"I told you, Mr. Hawkins, I did not." + +"Excuse me, that was on the first occasion." + +"Well, this was the same." + +"Same flea?" + +"I suppose." + +"Same time--ten minutes past eleven?" + +"Yes." + +"Then all I can say is, he must have been a very punctual old flea." + +Exit Bogle, and with him his evidence. + +After the trial had been proceeding for some time, Baigent was giving +evidence of the family pedigree. + +Honeyman whispered, "We might as well have the first chapter of +Genesis and read that." + +"Genesis!" said Hawkins; "I want to get to the last chapter of +Revelation." + +One day Mr. J.L. Toole came in, and was invited to sit next to Mr. +Hawkins, which he did. + +At the adjournment for luncheon the Claimant muttered as they passed +along, "There's Toole come to learn actin' from 'Arry Orkins." + +There was one witness who ought not to be forgotten. It was Mr. +Biddulph, a relation of the Tichborne family, a good-natured, amiable +man, willing to oblige any one, and a county magistrate--"one of +the most amiable county magistrates I have ever met, a man of the +strictest honour and unimpeachable integrity." + +He had been asked by the dowager lady to recognize her son. + +"I don't see how I can," said he. "I am willing to oblige, but not at +the expense of truth. Better get some one else who knew him better +than I did. This man bears no resemblance to the man I knew. I cannot +do it." And so he resisted all entreaties with that firmness of +purpose for which he was remarkable. + +"He was then invited," said Mr. Hawkins, "to a little dinner at +another supporter of the Claimant's, and one somewhat shrewder than +the rest." The Claimant described this party as consisting of a county +magistrate, a money-lender, a lawyer, and a humbug. + +This is how the advocate dealt with this little party in his address +to the jury:-- + +"Gentlemen, can't you imagine the scene? Perkins, the lawyer, says +to Biddulph, 'Come, now, Mr. Biddulph, you know you have had great +experience in cross-examining as a county magistrate at Petty +Sessions; now, cross-examine this man _firmly_, and you'll soon find +he knows more than you think. If he's not the man, he's nobody else, +you may be quite sure of that. But first of all,' says Perkins, 'what +did you know of Roger? That's the first thing; let's start with that.' + +"'Oh, not very much,' says Biddulph. 'He stayed at Bath once for a +fortnight, while his mother was there.' + +"'Pass Mr. Biddulph the champagne,' says Perkins. (Laughter.) + +"'Now,' he adds, 'how did you amuse yourselves, eh?' + +"'Well,' says Biddulph, 'we used to smoke together at the +hotel--the--the--White something it was called.' + +"'Did you smoke pipes or cigars?' + +"'Well, I remember we had some curious pipes.' + +"'Another glass of champagne for Mr. Biddulph,' (More laughter.) 'What +sort of pipes?' asks the Claimant; 'death's-head pipes?' + +"The magistrate remembered, opened his eyes, and lifted his hands. +Thus the amiable magistrate was convinced, although he said, candidly +enough, 'I did not recognize him by his features, walk, voice, or +twitch in his eye, but I was struck with his recollection of having +met me at Bath.' The death's-head pipes settled him. + +"As for Miss Brain the governess, she was of a different order from +Mr. Biddulph. She told us she had listened to the defendant when he +solemnly swore that he had seduced her former pupil, that he had +stood in the dock for horse-stealing, and had been the associate of +highwaymen and bushrangers, and had made a will for the purpose of +fraud; and yet this woman took him by the hand, and was not ashamed of +his companionship. His counsel described her as a ministering angel. +Heaven defend me from ministering angels if Miss Brain is one!" + +The Claimant, while in Australia, being asked what kind of lady his +mother (the dowager Lady Tichborne) was, answered, "Oh, a very stout +lady; and that is the reason I am so fond of Mrs. Butts of the +Metropolitan Hotel, she being a tall, stout, and buxom woman; and like +Mrs. Mina Jury (of Wapping), because she was like my mother." + +A witness of the name of Coyne was called to give evidence of the +recognition of the Claimant by the mother in Paris, and the solicitor +said to Coyne, "You see how she recognizes him." + +"Yes," said Coyne; "he's lucky." + +There was no cross-examination, and Mr. Hawkins said to the jury, +"They need not cross-examine unless they like; it's a free country. +They may leave this man's account unquestioned if they like, but if it +is a true account, what do you say to the recognition?" + +Louie, the Dane, said that while the Claimant was on board his ship he +amused himself by picking oakum and reading "The Garden of the Soul." + +There were several _Ospreys_ spoken to as having picked up the +Claimant after the wreck of the _Bella_, and the defendant had not the +least idea which one was the best to carry him safely into harbour. +The defendant's counsel, notwithstanding, had told the jury that he, +Hawkins, had not ventured to contradict one or other of the stories of +the wreck, and had not called the captain of the _Osprey_ which had +picked him up. + +Comment on such a proposition in advocacy would be ridiculous. Mr. +Hawkins dealt with it by an example which the reader will remember as +having occurred in his early days:-- + +"'We don't know which _Osprey_ you mean.' 'Take any one,' says the +defendant's counsel, reminding me of the defence of a man charged with +stealing a duck, and having given seven different accounts as to how +he became possessed of it, his counsel was at last asked which he +relied on. 'Oh, never mind which,' he answered; 'I shall be much +obliged if the jury will adopt any one of them.' + +"You remember, gentlemen, the touching words in which the defendant's +counsel spoke of Bogle: 'He is one of those negroes,' said he, +'described by the author of "Paul and Virginia," who are faithful to +the death, true as gold itself. If ever a witness of truth came into +the box, that witness was Bogle.' + +"Well, you have seen him--Old Bogle! What do you think of him? Was +there ever a better specimen of feigned simplicity than he? 'Bogle,' +cries the defendant, after all those years of estrangement, 'is that +_you_?' 'Yes, Sir Roger,' answered Bogle; how do you do?' + +"'Do you remember giving me a pipe o' baccy?' asks a poor country +greenhorn down at Alresford. 'Yes,' answers the Claimant. 'Then +you're the man,' says the greenhorn. Such was the way evidence was +manufactured. + +"A poor lady--you remember Mrs. Stubbs--had a picture of her +great-great-grandfather's great-grandfather. In goes the Claimant, and +in his artful manner shows his childhood's memory. 'Ah, Mrs. Stubbs,' +says he, looking at another picture, 'that is not the _old_ picture, +is it?' (Somebody had put him up to this.) No, sir,' cries Mrs. +Stubbs, delighted with his recollection--'no, sir; but please to walk +this way into my parlour,' And there, sure enough, was the picture he +had been told to ask for. + +"'Ah!' he exclaims, 'there it is; there's the old picture!' + +"How could Mrs. Stubbs disbelieve her own senses?" + +One, Sir Walter Strickland, declined to see the Claimant and be +misled, and was roundly abused by the defendant's counsel. One of +the jury asked if _he was still alive_. "Yes," said the Lord Chief +Justice, although the defendant expressed a hope that they would all +die who did not recognize him.... + +"In a letter to Rous, my lord, where he said, 'I see I have one enemy +the less in Harris's death. Captain Strickland, who made himself so +great on the other side, went to stay at Stonyhurst with his +brother, and died there. He called on me a week before and abused me +shamefully. So will all go some day'--this," said Mr. Hawkins, "was +not exhibiting the same Christian spirit which he showed when he said, +'God help those poor _purgured_ sailors!'" + +"Why should the defendant," asked Mr. Hawkins at the close of one +of the day's speeches, "if he were Sir Roger, avoid Arthur Orton's +sisters? Why, would he not have said, 'They will be glad indeed to +see me, and hear me tell them about the camp-fire under the canopy of +heaven,' as his counsel put it, 'where their brother Arthur told me +all about Fergusson, the old pilot of the Dundee boat, who kept the +public-house at Wapping, and the Shetland ponies of Wapping, and +the Shottles of the Nook at Wapping, and wished me to ask who kept +Wright's public-house now, and about the Cronins, and Mrs. MacFarlane +of the Globe--all of Wapping.'" + +The Judges fell back with laughter, and the curtain came down, for +these were the questions with many more the Claimant asked on the +evening of his landing. + +"I shall attack the noble army of Carabineers," said Mr. Hawkins on +another occasion. He did so, and conquered the regiment in detail. + +One old Carabineer was librarian at the Westminster Hospital. His name +was Manton, and he was a sergeant. He told Baigent something that had +happened while Roger was his officer, and Baigent told the Claimant. +Manton afterwards saw the huge man, and failed to recognize him in any +way. But when the Claimant repeated to him what he had told Baigent, +Manton opened his eyes. This looked like proof of his being the man. +He was struck with his marvellous recollection, and was at once pinned +down to an affidavit:-- + +"The Claimant's voice is stronger, and has less foreign accent," +he swore; "but I recognized his voice, and found his tone and +pronunciation to be _the same as Roger Tichborne's_, whom I knew as an +officer." + +Truly an affidavit is a powerful auxiliary in fraud. + +While Mr. Hawkins was replying one afternoon, Mr. Whalley, M.P., came +in and sat next to the Claimant. He was from the first one of his most +enthusiastic supporters. + +"Well," he said, "and how are we getting on to-day? How are we getting +on, eh?" + +"Getting on!" growled the Claimant; "he's been going on at a pretty +rate, and if he goes on much longer I shall begin to think I am Arthur +Orton after all." + +I will conclude this chapter with the following reminiscences by Lord +Brampton himself.] + + * * * * * + +I had a great deal to put up with from day to day in many ways during +this prolonged investigation. The Lord Chief Justice, Cockburn, +although good, was a little impatient, and hard to please at times. + +My opponent sought day by day some cause of quarrel with me. At times +he was most insulting, and grew almost hourly worse, until I was +compelled, in order to stop his insults, to declare openly that I +would never speak to him again on this side the grave, and I never +did. My life was made miserable, and what ought to have been a quiet +and orderly performance was rendered a continual scene of bickering +and conflict, too often about the most trifling matters. + +With every one else I got on happily and agreeably, my juniors loyally +doing their very utmost to render me every assistance and lighten my +burden. + +Even the Claimant himself not only gave me no offence from first to +last, but was at times in his manner very amusing, and preserved his +natural good temper admirably, considering what he had at stake on +the issue of the trial, and remembering also that that issue devolved +mainly upon my own personal exertions. + +Nor was the Claimant devoid of humour. On the contrary, he was +plentifully endowed with it. + +One morning on his going into court an elderly lady dressed in deep +mourning presented him with a religious tract. He thanked her, went +to his seat, and perused the document. Then he wrote something on the +tract, carefully revised what he had written, and threw it on the +floor. + +The usher was watching these proceedings, and, as soon as he could do +so unobserved, secured the paper and handed it to me. + +The tract was headed, "Sinner, Repent!" + +The Claimant had written on it, "Surely this must have been meant for +Orkins, not for me!" + +Louie's story of picking him up in the boat must have amused him +greatly. If he was amused at the ease with which fools can be +humbugged, he must also have been astounded at the awful villainy of +those who, perfect strangers to him, had perjured themselves for the +sake of notoriety. + +I did what I could to shorten the proceedings. My opening speech was +confined to six days, as compared with twenty-eight on the other side; +my reply to nine. But that reply was a labour fearful to look back +upon. The mere classification of the evidence was a momentous and +necessary task. It had to be gathered from the four quarters of the +world. It had to be sifted, winnowed, and arranged in order as +a perfect whole before the true story could be evolved from the +complications and entanglements with which it was surrounded. + +And when I rose to reply, to perform my last work and make my last +effort for the success of my cause, I felt as one about to plunge into +a boundless ocean with the certain knowledge that everything depended +upon my own unaided efforts as to whether I should sink or swim. +Happily, for the cause of justice, I succeeded; and at the end, +although nattering words of approval and commendation poured upon +me from all sides, from the highest to the humblest, I did Hot +then realize their value to the extent that I did afterwards. The +excitement and the exertion had been too great for anything to add to +it. + +But I afterwards remembered--ay, and can never forget--the words of +the Lord Chief Justice himself, the first to appreciate and applaud, +as I was passing near him in leaving the court: "Bravo! Bravo, +Hawkins!" And then he added, "I have not heard a piece of oratory like +that for many a long day!" And he patted me cordially on the back as +he looked at me with, I believe, the sincerest appreciation. + +Lord Chelmsford, too, who years before had given me my silk gown, was +on the Bench on this last day, and I shall never forget the compliment +he paid me on my speech. It was of itself worth all the trouble and +anxiety I had undergone. + +Beyond all this, and more gratifying even still, my speech was liked +by the Bar, from the most eminent to the briefless. + +But greatest of all events in that eventful day was one which went +deeper to my feelings. My old father, who had taken so strong a view +against my going to the Bar, and who told me so mournfully that after +five years I must sink or swim; my old father, who had never once seen +me in my wig and gown from that day to this, the almost closing scene +in my forensic career, came into court and sat by my side when I made +successfully the greatest effort of my life. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +A VISIT TO SHEFFIELD--MRS. HAILSTONE'S DANISH BOARHOUND. + + +The remembrance of my Sessions days will never vanish from my mind, +although at the period of which I am speaking they had long receded +into the distant past. Even _Nisi Prius_ was diminishing in +importance, although increasing in its business and fees. + +Solicitors no longer condescended to deliver their briefs, but +competed for my services. I say this without the smallest vanity, +and only because it was the fact, and a great fact in my life. I was +wanted to win causes by advocacy or compromise; and the innumerable +compensation cases which continually came in with so steady and +so full a tide were a sufficient proof that, at all events, the +solicitors and others thought my services worth having. So did my +clerk! + +Those were the days of the golden harvest, the very gleanings of which +were valuable to those who came after. + +Lloyd must have made L20,000 a year with the greatest ease. What my +income was is of no consequence to any one; suffice it to say that no +expectations of mine ever came up to its amount, and even now when +I look back it seems absolutely fabulous. I will say no more, +notwithstanding the curiosity it has excited amongst the members of +the profession. + +Of course it was a step for me from the humble "_one three six_;" but +I have had a more lively satisfaction from that little sum than from +many a larger fee. + +In the midst of all this rush of London business I still found time +to run down to country places in cases of election petitions or +compensation. + +One day I found myself on my way to Sheffield to support the member +against an attempt to deprive him of his seat in Parliament. I went +with the Hon. Sir Edward Chandos Leigh, my distinguished junior on +that memorable occasion. + +The journey was pleasant until we got near the end of it, and then +the smoke rolled over and around in voluminous dense clouds, for a +description of which you may search in vain through "Paradise Lost." +We were met at the station with great state, and even splendour, and +treated with almost boundless hospitality. + +To keep up our spirits, we were taken for a drive by the sitting +member a few miles out, into what they call "the country" in those +parts. The suburban residence was situated in a well-wooded park, if +that can be called well-wooded where there are no woods, but only +stunted undergrowths sickening with the baleful fumes that proceed +from the city of darkness in the distance, and black with the soot +of a thousand chimneys. The member apologized politely enough for +bringing us to this almost uninhabitable and Heaven-forsaken region; +but I begged him not to mind: it was only a more blasted scene than +the heath in "Macbeth." + +"Yes," said he, still apologetically; "it _is_ very bad, I admit. You +see, the fumes and fires from those manufactories make such havoc of +our woods." + +This was apparent, but the question was how to pass the time amidst +this gloom and sickening atmosphere. + +I found his residence, however, to my great joy, was farther than I +expected from the appalling city of darkness, and hope began to revive +both in my junior's heart and mine. + +Our friend and host, seeing our spirits thus elated, began, to talk +with more life-like animation. + +"The fumes from the factories, Mr. Hawkins, have so played the devil +with our trees that the general impoverishment of nature has earned +for the locality of Sheffield the unpleasant title of the 'Suburbs of +Hell.'" + +"I don't wonder," I answered; "no name could be more appropriate or +better deserved; but if it were my fate to choose my locality, I +should prefer to live in _the city itself_." + +A curious incident happened to us during this Yorkshire visit. An +excursion was arranged to see Warburton's, situated some few miles +off, and notable for many oddities. + +We were driven over, and when we arrived were by no means disappointed +by the singularities of the mansion. It was enclosed within a high +wall, which had been built, not for the purpose, as you might suppose, +of preventing the house from getting away, but for that of keeping +out rats and foxes; for there were birds to be preserved from these +destructive animals. Next, this portion of the estate was surrounded +by water, which afforded an additional security to its isolation, +access to the island being attainable only by means of a bridge. + +The mansion was occupied by a Mrs. Hailstone, whose duty it was to +show visitors over the house and explain everything as she went along, +ghost stories as well; and being a remarkably affable lady, with a +great gift of language, we had a very intelligent and edifying lecture +in every room we passed through, now upon ornithology, now chronology, +next on pisciculture and the habits of stuffed pike and other +fish. But this was not all. Our guide was wonderfully well read in +architecture, and displayed no end of knowledge in pointing out the +different orders and sub-orders, periods of, and blendings of the +same, so that we were quite ready for lunch as soon as that period +should mercifully arrive. + +But it was not exactly yet. There were many other curiosities to be +shown. For instance, we had not done the Warburton Library, which was +a most singular apartment, as we were informed, I don't know how +many stories high, at the top of a very singular tower, with as many +languages in it as the Tower of Babel itself, and very nearly as tall. +One only wished the whole thing would topple down before we could come +to it. + +At last, however, we climbed to this lofty eminence and revelled +as well as we could amongst the musty old books, which themselves +revelled in the dust of ages. + +Having seen all the shelves and the backs of the books, and heard all +the accounts of them without receiving any information, we commenced +our descent by means of the winding staircase towards the garden. On +our way a curious circumstance took place. There was an enormously +great Danish boarhound, which had, unperceived by us, followed Mrs. +Hailstone from the library; it pushed by without ceremony, and +proceeded until it reached the lady, who was some distance in advance. +He then carefully took the skirt of her dress with his mouth and +carried it like an accomplished train-bearer until she reached the +bottom of the stairs and the garden, when he let go the dress and +gazed as an interested spectator. We were now in the midst of a very +beautiful and well-kept garden, with a lawn like velvet stretching far +away to the lake, where ultimately we should have to wait for a +boat to ferry us along its placid water. This was part of our +entertainment, and a very beautiful part it was. + +But before we parted from Mrs. Hailstone, and while I was talking to +her, I felt my hand in the boarhound's mouth, and a pretty capacious +mouth it was, for I seemed to touch nothing but its formidable fangs. + +It was not a pleasant experience, but I preserved sufficient presence +of mind to make no demonstration. Dogs know well enough when a man or +woman loves their kind, and I am sure this one was no exception, or he +would never have behaved with such gentlemanly politeness. So soft was +the touch of his fangs that I was only just conscious my hand was in +his mouth by now and then the gentlest reminder. I knew animals too +well to attempt to withdraw it, and so preserved a calm more wonderful +than I could have given myself credit for. + +While I was wondering what the next proceeding might be, Mrs. +Hailstone begged me to be quite easy, and on no account to show any +opposition to the dog's proceedings, in which case she promised that +he would lead me gently to the other side of the lawn, and there leave +me without doing the least harm. + +All this was said with such cool indifference that I wondered whether +it was a part of the day's programme, and rather supposed it was; but +it turned out that she said it to reassure me and prevent mischief. I +also learned that it was not by any means the first occasion when this +business had taken place. It was the first time in my life that I had +been in custody, and if I had had my choice I should have preferred a +pair of handcuffs without teeth. + +As I was being led away Mrs. Hailstone said,-- + +"Do exactly as he wishes; he is jealous of your talking to me, and +leads any one away who does so to the other side of the garden." + +Having conducted me to the remotest spot he could find, he opened his +huge jaws and released my hand, wagged his tail, and trotted off, much +pleased with his performance. He returned to his mistress and put his +large paws on her arms--a striking proof, I thought, of the dog's +sagacity. + +There will be in this history some stories of my famous "Jack," but as +he belonged to me after I became a Judge, they are deferred until that +period arrives. The reminiscences of Jack are amongst my dearest and +most pleasant recollections. + +The changeful nature of popular clamour was never more manifested than +on this visit. + +The Claimant had been convicted and sentenced to penal servitude, but +to deprive a man of his title and estate because he was a butcher's +son did not coincide with the wishes of a generous democracy, who +lingered round the Sheffield court, where the fate of their sitting +member was to be tried. They believed in their member, and, not +knowing on which side I was retained, when I went along the corridor +into the court they "yah! yah'd!" at me with lungs that would have +been strong enough to set their furnaces going or blow them out. + +After the petition was tried, and I had been successful, they changed +their minds and their language. This same British public, which not +long before had "yah! yah'd!" at me, now came forward with true +British hoorays and bravos. "'Orkins for ever!" "Hooray for Orkins!" +"Bravo, Orkins!" "Hooray! a ---- hooray! Hooray for Wagga Wagga!" + +This last cry had reference to a village in Australia where the great +Tichborne fraud had its origin; where the first advertisement of the +dowager seeking her lost son was shown to the butcher in his own +little shop, the son of the respectable butcher of Wapping. + +The number of people who professed to believe in the Claimant long +after he was sent to penal servitude was prodigious, although not +one of them could have given a reason for his faith, or pointed to +a particle of unimpeachable evidence to support his opinion. It had +never been anything other than feeling in the dark for what never +existed. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +AN EXPERT IN HANDWRITING--"DO YOU KNOW JOE BROWN?" + + +I always took great interest in the class of expert who professed to +identify handwriting. Experts of all classes give evidence only as to +opinion; nevertheless, those who decide upon handwriting believe +in their infallibility. Cross-examination can never shake their +confidence. Some will pin their faith even to the crossing of a T, +"the perpendicularity, my lord," of a down-stroke, or the "obliquity" +of an upstroke. + +Mr. Nethercliffe, one of the greatest in his profession, and a +thorough believer in all he said, had been often cross-examined by +me, and we understood each other very well. I sometimes indulged in a +little chaff at his expense; indeed, I generally had a little "fling" +at him when he was in the box. + +It is remarkable that, at the time I speak of, Judges, as a rule, had +wonderful confidence in this class of expert, and never seemed to +think of forming any opinion of their own. A witness swore to certain +peculiarities; the Judge looked at them and at once saw them, too +often without considering that peculiarities are exactly the things +that forgers imitate. + +"You find the same peculiarity here, my lord, and the same peculiarity +there, my lord; consequently I say it is the same handwriting." + +In days long gone by the eminent expert in this science had a great +reputation. As I often met him, I knew _his_ peculiarities, and how +annoyed he was if the correctness of his opinion was in the least +doubted. + +He had a son of whom he was deservedly proud, and he and his son, in +cases of importance, were often employed on opposite sides to support +or deny the genuineness of a questioned handwriting. On one occasion, +in the Queen's Bench, a libel was charged against a defendant which he +positively denied ever to have written. + +I appeared for the defendant, and Mr. Nethercliffe was called as a +witness for the plaintiff. + +When I rose to cross-examine I handed to the expert six slips of +paper, each of which was written in a different kind of handwriting. +Nethercliffe took out his large pair of spectacles--magnifiers--which +he always carried, and began to polish them with a great deal of care, +saying,-- + +"I see, Mr. Hawkins, what you are going to try to do--you want to put +me in a hole." + +"I do, Mr. Nethercliffe; and if you are ready for the hole, tell +me--were those six pieces of paper written by one hand at about the +same time?" + +He examined them carefully, and after a considerable time answered: +"No; they were written at different times and by different hands!" + +"By different persons, do you say?" + +"Yes, certainly!" + +"Now, Mr. Nethercliffe, you are in the hole! I wrote them myself this +morning at this desk." + +He was a good deal disconcerted, not to say very angry, and I then +began to ask him about his son. + +"You educated your son to your own profession, I believe, Mr. +Nethercliffe?" + +"I did, sir; I hope there was no harm in that, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Not in the least; it is a lucrative profession. Was he a diligent +student?" + +"He was." + +"And became as good an expert as his father, I hope?" + +"Even better, I should say, if possible." + +"I think you profess to be infallible, do you not?" + +"That is true, Mr. Hawkins, though I say it." + +"And your son, who, as you say, is even better than yourself, is he as +infallible as you?" + +"Certainly, he ought to be. Why not?" + +Then I put this question; "Have you and your son been sometimes +employed on opposite sides in a case?" + +"That is hardly a fair question, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Let me give you an instance: In Lady D----'s case, which has recently +been tried, did not your son swear one way and you another?" + +He did not deny it, whereupon I added: "It seems strange that two +infallibles should contradict one another?" + +The case was at an end. + + * * * * * + +One evening, after a good hard day's work, I was sitting in my +easy-chair after dinner, comfortably enjoying myself, when a man, who +was quite a respectable working man, came in. I had known him for a +considerable time. + +"What's the matter, Jenkins?" I inquired, seeing he was somewhat +troubled. + +"Well, Mr. Hawkins, it's a terrible job, this 'ere. I wants you to +appear for me." + +"Where?" I inquired. + +"At Bow Street, Mr. Hawkins." + +"Bow Street! What have you been doing, Jenkins?" + +"Why, nothing, sir; but it's a put-up job. You knows my James, I +dessay. Well, sir, that there boy, my son James, have been brought up, +I might say, on the Church Catechism." + +"There's not much in that," I said, meaning nothing they could take +him to Bow Street for. "Is that the charge against him?" + +"No, sir; but from a babby, sir, his poor mother have brought that +there boy up to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the +truth. And it's a curious thing, Mr. Hawkins--a very curious thing, +sir--that arter all his poor mother's care and James's desire to speak +the truth, they've gone and charged that there boy with perjury! 'At +all times,' says his mother, 'James, speak the truth, the whole truth, +and nothing but the truth;' and this is what it's come to--would +anybody believe it, sir? _Could_ anybody believe it? It's enough to +make anybody disbelieve in Christianity. And what's more, sir, that +there boy was so eager at all times to tell the whole truth that, to +make quite sure he told it all, he'd go a little beyond on the other +side, sir--he would, indeed." + +When he heard my fee was a hundred guineas to appear at the police +court, I heard no more of truthful James. + + * * * * * + +In dealing with a case where there is really no substantial defence, +it is sometimes necessary to throw a little ridicule over the +proceedings, taking care, first, to see what is the humour of the +jury. I remember trying this with great success, and reducing a +verdict which might have been considerable to a comparatively trifling +amount. + +[In illustration of this Mr. Cecil A. Coward has given an incident +that occurred in an action for slander tried at the Guildhall many +years ago, in which Mr. Hawkins, Q.C., was for the defendant, and Mr. +Joseph Brown, Q.C., for the plaintiff. The slander consisted in the +defendant pointing his thumb over his shoulder and asking another man, +"Do you know him? That's Joe Smith." + +Mr. Joseph Brown, Q.C., had to rely upon his innuendo--"meaning +thereby Joe Smith was a rogue"--and was very eloquent as to slander +unspoken but expressed by signs and tone. After an exhausting speech +he sat down and buried his head in his bandana, as his habit was. + +Hawkins got up, and turned Mr. Joseph Brown's speech to ridicule in +two or three sentences. + +"Gentlemen," he almost whispered, after a very small whistle which +nobody could hear but those close around, at the same time pointing +his thumb over his shoulder at his opponent, "do you know him--do you +know Joe Brown?" There was a roar of laughter. Joe looked up, saw +nothing, and retired again into his bandana. + +Again the performance was gone through. "Do you know Joe Brown, the +best fellow in the world?" + +Brown looked up again, and was just in time to hear the jury say +they had heard quite enough of the case. No slander--verdict for the +defendant. + +It was one of the best pieces of acting I ever saw him do.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +APPOINTED A JUDGE--MY FIRST TRIAL FOR MURDER, + + +No sooner was the Tichborne case finished than I was once more in the +full run of work. + +One brief was delivered with a fee marked twenty thousand guineas, +which I declined. It would not in any way have answered my purpose +to accept it. I was asked, however, to name my own fee, with the +assurance that whatever I named it would be forthcoming. I promised to +consider a fee of fifty thousand guineas, and did so, but resolved not +to accept the brief on any terms, as it involved my going to Indie, +and I felt it would be unwise to do so. + +In 1874 I was offered by Lord Cairns the honour of a judgeship, which +I respectfully declined. It was no hope of mine to step into a puisne +judgeship, or, for the matter of that, any other judicial position. +I was contented with my work and with my career. I did not wish to +abandon my position at the Bar, and my friends at the Bar, and take up +one on the Bench with no friends at all; for a Judge's position is one +of almost isolation. This refusal gave great dissatisfaction to many, +and a letter I have before me says, "I got into a great row with +my editor by your refusal." Another said he lost a lot of money in +consequence: "I thought it was any odds upon your taking it." + +Sir Alexander Cockburn gave me a complimentary side-cut in a speech he +made to some of his old constituents. + +"The time comes," said he, "when men of the greatest eminence are +called upon to give up their professional emoluments for the interests +of their country. In my opinion they have no right to refuse their +services; no man has this right when his country calls for them." + +But these animadversions did not affect me. I held on to the course +which I had deliberately chosen, and which I thought my labours and +sacrifices in the Tichborne case on behalf of my country entitled me +to enjoy. Let any one who has the least knowledge of advocacy consider +what it was to carry that case to a successful issue, and then condemn +me for not taking a judgeship if he will. I was entitled to freedom +and rest. A judgeship is neither, as one finds out when once he puts +on the ermine. But it requires no argument to justify the course I +took. I was entitled to decline, and I did. There is nothing else to +be said; all other considerations are idle and irrelevant. + +A judgeship was, however, a second time offered by Lord Cairns in +1876. This, after due consideration, I accepted, and received my +appointment as a Judge of the Exchequer Court on November 2 of that +year. + +The first and most sensational case that I was called upon to preside +over was known as the Penge case. Sir Alexander Cockburn had appointed +himself to try it, on account of its sensational character; but as it +came for trial at a time when the Lord Chief Justice could not attend, +it fell to the junior Judge on the Bench. + +I am not going to relate the details of that extraordinary case,[A] +which are best left in the obscurity of the newspaper files; but I +refer to it because it cannot well be passed over in the reminiscences +of my life. I shall, however, only touch upon one or two prominent +points. + +[Footnote A: The great sensation of the case was almost overpowered by +the great sensation that "a new power had come upon the Bench." These +are, as nearly as I can give them, the words of one of our most +distinguished advocates, and one of the most brilliant who was in the +Penge case:-- + +"We felt, and the Bar felt, that a great power had come upon the +Bench; he summed up that case as no living man could have done. Every +word told; every point was touched upon and made so clear that it was +impossible not to see it." + +Another distinguished advocate said there was no other Judge on +the Bench who could have summed that case up as Sir Henry Hawkins +did.--R.H.] + +"Every person," I said in my summing up, "who is under a legal duty, +whether such duty was imposed by law or contract, to take charge of +another person must provide that person with the necessaries of life. +Every person who had that legal duty imposed upon him was criminally +responsible if he culpably neglected that duty, and the death of the +person for whom he ought to provide ensued. If the death was the +result of mere carelessness and without criminal intent, the offence +would be manslaughter, provided the jury came to the conclusion that +there had been culpable neglect of the duty cast upon the individual +who had undertaken to perform it." + +With regard to the evidence of one of the witnesses who was said to +be an accomplice, so that it was necessary that she should be +corroborated, I said a jury might convict without it, but recommended +them strongly not to take for granted her evidence unless they found +there was so much corroboration of her testimony as to induce them to +believe she was telling the truth. + +As to one of the accused, I said: "If she had no legal object to +fulfil in providing the deceased with the necessaries of life, the +mere omission to do so would not render her guilty; but if she did an +act wrongfully which had a tendency to destroy life, but which was not +clone with that intention, she would be guilty of manslaughter." + +The jury found a verdict of guilty against all, but with a strong +recommendation in favour of one, in which I joined. + +When a verdict of guilty of wilful murder is returned, a Judge, +whatever may be his opinion of its propriety or justice, has no +alternative but to deliver the sentence of death, and in the very +words the law prescribes. It is not _his_ judgment or decision, but +it is so decreed that the sentence shall in no way depend upon the +sympathy or opinion of the Judge. Whatever mitigating circumstances +there may be must be considered by the Secretary of State for the Home +Department as representing the Sovereign, and upon his advice alone +the Sovereign acts. + +But the Home Secretary never allows a sentence of death to be executed +without the fullest possible inquiry as to mitigating circumstances, +and it is at this stage that the opinion of the Judge is almost +all-powerful. + +My judgment in this case was the result of much anxious thought and +consideration. The responsibility cast upon me was great. The case was +as difficult as it was serious; but my line of duty was plain, and it +was to leave the facts as clearly as I could possibly state them, with +such explanation of the law applicable to each case as my ability +would allow, and then leave the jury to find according to their honest +belief. No duty more arduous has ever since been imposed upon me, and +I performed it in my honest conscience, without swerving from what I +believed, and believe still, to be my strict line of duty. + +I have had many opportunities of reconsidering the whole +circumstances, but I have never changed or varied my opinion after all +these years, and am certain I never shall--namely, that I did my duty +according to the best of my judgment and ability. + +A Judge may go wrong in many ways, and often does in one way or +other, especially if he does not know his own mind--the worst of all +weaknesses, because it usually leads to an attempt to strike a medium +line between innocence and guilt. + +One great weakness, too, in a Judge is not having the faculty of +setting out the facts in language which is intelligible to the jury, +or in not setting them out at all, but repeating them so often and in +so many forms that they are at last left in an absolutely hopeless +muddle. A Judge once kept on so at the jury about "if you find +burglarious intent, and if you don't find burglarious intent," that at +last the jury found nothing except a verdict of not guilty, giving the +"benefit of the doubt as to what the Judge meant." + +As an illustration of the necessity of giving the jury a clear idea +of the evidence in the simplest case, I will state what took place at +Exeter. Juries are unused to evidence, and have very often to be told +what is the bearing of it. In a case of fowl-stealing which I +was trying, there was a curious defence raised, which seemed too +ridiculous to notice. It was that the fowls had crept into the +nose-bag in which they had been found, and which was in the prisoner's +possession, in order to shelter themselves from the east wind. + +Forgetting that possibly I had an unreasoning and ignorant jury to +deal with, I thought they would at once see through so absurd a +defence, and did not insult their common sense by summing up. I merely +said,-- + +"Gentlemen, do you believe in the defence?" + +They put their heads together, and kept in that position for some +time, and at last, to my utter amazement, said,-- + +"We do, my lord; we find the prisoner _not guilty_." + +It was a verdict for the prisoner and a lesson for me. + +It was always my practice, founded on much calculation of the +respective and relative merits and demerits of prisoners, to do what +no other Judge that I am aware of ever did, which was to put convicted +prisoners back until the whole calendar had been tried, then to bring +them up and pass sentence after deliberate consideration of every +case. I thus had the opportunity of reading over my notes and forming +an opinion as to whether there were any circumstances which I could +take into consideration by way of mitigation, or, in the same manner, +as to whether there were matters of aggravation, such as cruelty or +deliberate, wilful malice. The result of this plan on one occasion at +Stafford Assizes, which I remember very well, was this. Two men were +convicted of bigamy. The offence was the same in law as to both the +prisoners. The one was altogether, physically and morally, a brute, +cruel and merciless. The other man found guilty had been a bad husband +to his wife before he went through the form of the second marriage; +but as he had been already punished for his misconduct in that +respect, I thought it fair that he should not be punished again for +the same offence. Such is my idea of the law of England, although I +fear it is sometimes forgotten. I therefore treated this man's crime +as one of a very mitigated character, no harm having been done to the +second woman, and released him on his own recognizances to come up for +judgment if he should be called upon. I would not revisit upon him +his past misdeeds. The other man I sent into penal servitude for five +years. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +ON THE MIDLAND CIRCUIT. + + +"That's Orkins hover there," said a burly-looking sportsman as I +arrived one day at Newmarket Heath--"'im a-torkin' to Corlett. See +'im? Nice bernevolent old cove to look at, ain't 'e? Yus. That didn't +stop 'is guvin' me _five of his wery best_, simply becorze by accident +I mistook someb'dy else's 'ouse and plate-chest for my own. Sorter +mistake which might 'appen a'most to henybody. There 'e is; see 'im? +That's Orkins!" + +I need not say I was frequently spoken of in this complimentary manner +by persons who had been introduced to me at the Bar. I was once +leading a little fox terrier with a string, because on several +occasions he had given me the slip and caused me to be a little late +in court. I led him, therefore, in the leash until he knew his duty. + +On this day, however, as the crowd was waiting for me on the little +platform of a country station, my fox terrier jumped out in front of +me while I was holding him by the string. + +"Good ----!" cried a voice from a gentleman to whom I had previously +given a situation under Government, livery and all found; "why, blow +me if the old bloke ain't blind! Lookee there, 'is dawg's a-leadin' +'im; wot d'ye think o' that?" + +But persons in much higher station were no less at times fond +of chaff, which I always took good-humouredly. A story of Lord +Grimthorpe, who, many years after, had some fun with me at times over +my little Jack, will appear in his reminiscences a little farther on. +I used to lead Jack with a string in the same manner as I had done the +other, for educational purposes, and Lord Grimthorpe jocularly called +me Jack's prisoner. But I must let him tell his own story in his own +way when his turn comes. + +The Midland Circuit was always famous for its ill accommodation of her +Majesty's Judges, and of late years even in the supply of prisoners +to keep them from loitering away their days in idleness or lonely +diversions. + +I always loved work and comfortable lodgings, and may say from the +first to the last of my judicial days set myself to the improvement of +both the work and the accommodation. + +Some Judges in their charges used to discourse with the grand jury of +our foreign relations, turnips, or the state of trade; but I took a +more humble theme at Aylesbury, when I informed that august body +that the quarters assigned to her Majesty's Judges were such that an +officer would hardly think them good enough to billet soldiers in. + +"My rest, gentlemen, has been rudely disturbed," said I, "in the +lodgings assigned to me. My bedroom was hardly accessible, on account +of what appeared to be a dense fog which was difficult to struggle +through. I sought refuge in the dressing-room. Being a bitterly cold +night and a very draughty room, some one had lighted a fire in it; +but, unfortunately, all the smoke came down the chimney after going +up a little way, bringing down as much soot as it could manage to +lay hold of. All this is the fault of the antiquated chimneys and +ill-contrived building generally. My marshal was the subject of equal +discomfort; and I think I may congratulate you, gentlemen, not only on +there being very few prisoners, but also on the fact that you are not +holding an inquest on our bodies." + +The grand jury were good enough to say that there was "an institution +called the Standing Joint Committee, who will, no doubt, inquire into +your lordship's subject of complaint." The "Standing Joint Committee" +sounded powerfully, but I believe no further notice was taken, and the +question dropped. + +"That's a nice un," said one of the javelin-men at the door when a +friend of his came out. "Did yer 'ear that, Jimmy? Orkins is a nice +un to talk about lodgings. Let him look to his own cirkit--the 'Orne +Cirkit--where my brother told me as at a trial at Guildford the tenant +of that there house wouldn't pay his rent. For why? Because they +was so pestered wi' wermin. And what do you think Orkins told the +jury?--He was counsel for the tenant.--'Why,' he says, 'gentlemen, +you heard what one of the witnesses said, how that the fleas was so +outrageous that they ackshally stood on the backs o' the 'all chairs +and barked at 'em as they come in.' That's Orkins on his own circuit; +and 'ere he is finding fault with our lodgings." + +It was not long after my arrival at Lincoln, on the first occasion of +my visiting that drowsy old ecclesiastical city, that I was waited +upon, first by one benevolent body of gentlemen, and then another, all +philanthropists seeking subscriptions for charitable objects. + +One bitterly cold morning I was standing in my robes with my back to +the fire at my lodgings, waiting to step into the carriage on my way +to court, when a very polite gentleman, who headed quite a body of +other polite gentlemen, asked "if his lordship would do them the +honour of receiving a deputation from the L. and B. Skating Club." +I assented--nothing would give me more pleasure; and in filed the +deputation, arranging themselves, hats in hand, round me in a +semicircle. + +"We have the honour, my lord, to call upon your lordship in pursuance +of a resolution passed last night at a special meeting of our club--" + +"What is the name of your club?" + +"The L. and B. Skating Club, my lord." + +"What is its object?" + +"_Our_ object, my lord?" + +"No, the object of your _society_. I can guess your object." + +The leader answered with a smile of the greatest satisfaction,-- + +"Er--skating, my lord." + +"Your own amusement?" + +The head of the deputation bowed. + +"Do you want _me_ to skate?" + +"No, my lord; but we take the liberty of asking your lordship to +kindly support our club with a subscription." + +"When I see," I replied, "so much poverty and misery around me which +needs actual relief, and when I look at this inclement weather and +think how these poor creatures must suffer from the cold, it seems +to me that _they_ are the people who should apply to those who have +anything to bestow in charity; not those who are the only people, as +it would appear, who can take pleasure in this excruciating weather. +See if your club cannot do something for these poor sufferers instead +of collecting merely for your own personal amusement; contribute to +their necessities, and then come and see me again. I shall be here +till Monday." + +The head of the deputation stared, but it did not lose its presence of +mind or forget its duty. The deputation made a little speech "thanking +me heartily for the kind manner in which they had been received." + +I never saw anything more of them from that day to this. + +[In a case at Devizes Sir Henry showed in a striking manner the +character he always bore as a humane Judge. He was not humane where +cruelty was any part of the culprit's misdeeds, for he visited that +with the punishment he thought it deserved, and his idea of that was +on a somewhat considerable scale.] + +I was down upon cruelty, and always lenient where there were any +mitigating circumstances whatever, either of mental weakness, great +temptation, provocation, or unhappy surroundings. + +A woman was brought up before me who had been committed to take her +trial on a charge of concealing the birth of a child. For prisoners +in these circumstances I always felt great sympathy, and regarded the +moral guilt as altogether unworthy of punishment. The law, however, +was bound to be vindicated so far as the legal offence was concerned. +She had already been in prison for three months, because she was too +poor and too friendless to find bail. I am always pointing out that +if magistrates would send more cases to the Judges than they do, they +would get some precedents as to the appropriate measure of punishment, +which they seem badly to need. This woman had already been punished, +without being found guilty, with three times the punishment she ought +to have received had she been found guilty. A month's imprisonment +would have been excessive. + +Prisoners should always be released on their own recognizances where +there is a reasonable expectation that they will appear. + +The result was that the unhappy woman, who had been punished severely +while in the eye of the law she was innocent, was discharged when she +was found to be guilty. + +We have seen how Mr. Justice Maule examined a little boy as to his +understanding the nature of an oath. I once examined a little girl +upon a preliminary point of this kind, before she had arrived at that +period of mental acuteness which enables one to understand exactly the +meaning of the words uttered in the administration of the oath. The +child was called, and after allowing the form of "the evidence you +shall give," etc., and "kiss the book," to be gabbled over, I said, +before the Testament could reach the child's lips,-- + +"Stop! Do you understand what that gentleman has been saying?" + +"No, sir." + +I think it is a great farce to let little children be sworn who cannot +be expected to understand even the language in which the oath is +administered, to say nothing of the oath itself. How can they +comprehend the meaning of the phrases employed? And many grown-up +uneducated people are in the same situation. Surely a simple form, +such as, "_You swear to God to speak the truth_"--or, even better +still, to make false evidence punishable without any oath at +all--would be far better. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +JACK. + + +I was always fond of dogs, and never cease to admire their +intelligence and sagacity. + +My little Jack was given to me when quite a puppy by my old and very +dear friend Lord Falmouth. He was brought to me by Lady Falmouth, and +from that time his history was my history, for his companionship was +constant and faithful; in my hours of labour and of pleasure he was +always with me, and I believe, if I had had any sorrows, he would have +shared them as he did my pleasures--nay, these he enhanced more than I +can tell. + +Of course he invariably came circuit, and sat with me in my lodgings +and on the Bench, where he would patiently remain till the time came +to close my notebook for the day. Whether he liked it or not I am +unable to say, but he seemed to take an interest in the proceedings. +About this, however, his reminiscences will speak for themselves. He +always occupied the seat of honour in the Sheriff's carriage, and +walked to it with a dignity worthy the occasion. I am glad to say the +Judges all loved Jack, and treated him most kindly, not for my sake, +but, I believe, for his own--although, I may add in passing, he +sometimes gave them a pretty loud rebuke if they showed any approach +to ill-humour on an occasional want of punctuality in coming into +court. Some of them were exceedingly particular in being up to time to +a _moment_; and I should have equal to the occasion at all times, but +that I had to give Jack a run before we started for the duties of the +day. It was necessary for his health and good behaviour. On circuit, +of course, whenever there was little to do--I am speaking of the +Midland particularly, although the Western was quite as pleasant--I +gave him longer runs. For instance, in Warwick Park nothing could be +more beautiful than to loiter there on a summer morning amongst the +cedars on the beautiful lawn. + +It may seem unreasonable to say so, but Jack almost seemed to be +endowed with human instincts. He was as restless as I was over long, +windy speeches and cross-examinations that were more adapted for +the smoking-room of a club than a court of justice; and in order to +repress any tendency to manifest his displeasure I gave him plenty of +exercise in the open air, which made him sleep generally when counsel +began to speak. + +Having mentioned the commencement of my companionship with Jack, which +in these reminiscences I would on no account omit, I shall let him +hereafter tell his own experience in his own way. + +JACK'S REMINISCENCES. + +I was born into the family of my Lord Falmouth, and claim descent from +the most well bred of my race in this kingdom, the smooth fox terrier. +All my ancestors were noted for their love of sport, their keen sense +of humour, and hatred of vermin. + +At a very early period of my infancy I was presented to Sir Henry +Hawkins, one of Her Majesty's Judges of the High Court, who took a +great fancy to me, and, if I may say so without appearing to be vain, +at once adopted me as his companion and a member of his family. + +Sir Henry, or, as I prefer to call him, my lord, treated me with the +sweetest kindness, and I went with him wherever it was possible +for him to take me. At first my youthful waywardness and love of +freedom--for that is inherent in our race--compelled him to restrain +me by a string, which I sometimes pulled with such violence that my +lord had to run; and on seeing us so amusing ourselves one morning, +old Lord Grimthorpe, I think they called him, who was always full of +good-natured chaff, cried out,-- + +"Halloa, Hawkins! What, has Jack made you his prisoner? Ha! ha! Hold +him, Jack; don't let him get away!" + +Well, this went on for several weeks, what I think you call chaff, and +at last I was allowed to go without the string. It happened that on +the very first morning when I was thus given my liberty, whom should +we meet but this same old Lord Grimthorpe. + +"Halloa!" he cries again--"halloa, Hawkins! Does your keeper let you +go without being attached to a string?" + +"No, no," says my lord--"no, no; Jack's attached to _me_ now." + +Thereupon dear old Grimthorpe, who loved a joke, laughed till his +elbows rested on his knees as he stooped down. + +"Well," said he, "that's good, Hawkins, very good indeed." + +On one occasion one of those country yokels who always met us at +Assize towns, and got as close up to our javelin-men as they could, so +that we could not only see them but indulge our other senses at the +same time, seeing us get out of our carriage, said to another yokel, +"I say, Bill, blarmed if the old bloke ain't brought his dawg +again--that there fox terrier--to go a-rattin'." + +I did not know what "rattin'" meant at that time, and did not learn +it till we got to Warwick. I thought it was rude to call my lord a +"bloke," especially in his red robes; but did not quite know what +"bloke" meant, for I had seen so little of mankind. + +One morning before we opened the Commission at Warwick--I may as well +come to it at once--my lord and I went for a walk along the road that +leads over the bridge by Warwick Castle towards Leamington. There is a +turning to a village which belonged to the old days, but does not +seem now to belong to anything, and looks something like a rural +watering-place, quiet and unexciting. We turned down this quiet road, +and came alongside a beautiful little garden covered with flowers of +all kinds. + +I had occasion afterwards to learn whom they belonged to; but I +will tell you before we go further, so as to make the situation +intelligible. He was a countryman who used to make it his boast that +he never had a day's schooling in his life (so that he ought to have +been leader of the most ignorant classes), and this made him the +independent man he was towards his betters. Then my Lady Warwick used +to take notice of him, and this also gave him another lift in his own +estimation. He learnt to read in the long run, for he really had +a good deal of native talent for a man, and set himself up for a +politician and a something they call a philosopher, which any man can +be with a pint pot in front of him, I am told, especially at a village +alehouse. + +He was a great orator at the Gridiron beershop in the lane which runs +round one part of my Lord Warwick's park, and it was said that old +Gale--such was his name--had picked up most of his education from his +own speeches. Gale was also the lawyer of the village--he could tell +everybody what his rights were, if anybody had any besides Gale; but +he declared he had been done out of _his_ rights by a man who had lent +his old father some money on the bit of land I am coming to. + +As we went along, what should we see but a rat! I knew what he was in +a moment, although I had never seen such a thing before, and knew I +had to hunt him. My lord cries, "_Cis_!--_rat, Jack_--_rats_!" + +Away I went after the rat--I did not care what his name was--and Sir +Henry after me, with all the exuberance he used to show when he was +following the "Quorn." Presently we heard the dreadful orator's voice +using language only uttered, I am glad to say, amongst men. + +"Where the h--l are you coming to like this?" he cried. + +I forgot to say that our marshal was with us, and of course he took +upon himself to explain how matters stood; indeed, it was one of his +duties when Judges went out a-ratting to explain _who_ they were. So +when we arrived at the place where they were talking together, I heard +the dreadful man say,-- + +"Judge o' th' land! He ain't much of a judge o' th' land to tear my +flowers to pieces like that. Look at these 'ere toolips." + +The marshal explained how that it was for the improvement of Sir Henry +Hawkins's health that a little fresh air was taken every morning. + +"Lookee 'ere," says Gale, "I didn't know it wur the Judge doin' me the +honour to tear my flower-beds to pieces. I bin workin' at these 'ere +beds for months, and here they are spilt in a minit; but I tell +ee what, Orkins or no Orkins, he ain't gwine to play hell with +my flower-beds like that 'ere. If he wants the ground for public +improvement, as you call it, well, you can take it under the Act. +There's room enough for improvement, I dessay." + +Now, instead of his lordship sending the man to prison, as I thought +to be sure he must do, he speaks to him as mild as a lamb, and tells +him he commends his spirit, and actually asks him what he valued the +flowers at. A Judge condescending to do that! This mollified the old +man's temper, and turned away his flowery wrath, so he said at once he +wasn't the man to make a profit out o' the circum_starnce_; but right +was right, and wrong worn't no man's right, with a great many other +proverbs of a like nature, which are as hard to get rid of amongst men +and women as precedents amongst Judges; and then the old man, much +against his will and inclination, had a sovereign forced upon him by +our marshal, which he put into his pocket, and then accompanied us to +the gate. + +Now came this remarkable circumstance. When we got back to our +lodgings after being "churched," what should we find but a beautiful +nosegay of cut flowers in our drawing-room from old Gale, and every +morning came a similar token of his good-nature and admiration while +we were there, and the same whenever we went on that circuit. + +One of our servants was kind enough to make me a set of robes exactly +like my lord's, which I used to wear in the Court of Crown Cases +Reserved and at high functions, such as the Queen's Birthday or +Chancellor's breakfast. In court I always appeared in mufti on +ordinary occasions--that is to say, I did not appear at all +ostentatiously, like some men, but sat quietly on my lord's robe close +to his chair. + +I well remember one occasion while we were at Hereford, a very pompous +and extremely proper town, as all cathedral cities are; my lord and I +were robed for the reception of the High Sheriff (as he is called) and +his chaplain, who were presently coming with the great carriage to +take us to be churched before we charged the grand jury. + +Hereford is a very stately place, and enjoys a very high opinion of +its own importance in the world. It is almost too respectable to admit +of the least frivolity in any circumstances. You always seemed to +be going to church at Hereford, or just coming out--the latter was +nicest--so that there was, in my time, a sedateness only to be +equalled by the hardness of a Brazil nut, which would ruin even my +teeth to crack. I don't know if that is a proper way in which to +describe a solid Herefordian; but if so, judge of the High Sheriff's +surprise, as well as that of the chaplain, when I walked by the side +of my lord into our drawing-room! I never saw a clergyman look so +glum! We were both in robes, as I observed, and my lord was so pleased +with my appearance that he held me up for the two dignitaries to +admire. But Hereford does not admire other people; they confine their +admirations within their own precincts. + +On our way from the station to our lodgings, I ought to have said, +both these gentlemen were full of praises. Who would not admire a +Judge's companion? + +Although Sheriff and chaplain were highly proper, the former could not +restrain a hearty laugh, while the latter tightened his lips with a +reproving smile. But then the chaplain, with a proper reverence for +the State function, afterwards looked very straight down his nose, +and, hemming a little, ventured to say,-- + +"My lord, are you _really_ going to take the little dog to divine +service in the cathedral?" + +My lord looked quite astonished at the question, and then put his face +down to me and pretended to whisper and then to listen. Afterwards he +said,-- + +"No. Jack says not to-day; he doesn't like long sermons." + +The chaplain would much rather I had gone to church than have heard +such a reprimand. + +But this is not quite the end of my reminiscence. I heard on the best +authority that the sermon of the chaplain on that morning was the +_shortest he had ever preached_ as an Assize discourse, and my lord +attributed it entirely to my supposed observation on that subject, so +that my presence, at all events, was useful. + +I have always observed that lesser dignitaries are more jealous of +their dignity than greater ones. Here was an excellent example of it. +The chaplain looked very severe, but when this little story reached +the ears of the good Bishop Atlay he was delighted, and wished to see +me. I was becoming famous. I made my call in due course, and let him +see that a Judge's dog was not to be put down by a mere chaplain, and +came away much gratified with his lordship's politeness. After this, +during our stay in the city, the Bishop gave me the run of his +beautiful new garden along the riverside. And there my lord and I used +to gambol for an hour after our duties in court were over. This lovely +garden was an additional pleasure to me, because I was relieved from a +muzzle. There was only one thing wanting: the Bishop kept no rats. + +After this his lordship never saw my lord without asking the question, +"How's dear Jack?" which showed how much a Bishop could respect a +little dog, and how much superior he was to a chaplain. I heard him +say once we were all God's creatures, but that, of course, I was not +able to understand at the time. I did not know if it included the +chaplain. + +I think I must now tell a little story of myself, if you will not +think me conceited. It is about a small matter that happened at +Cambridge. One day a very amiable but dreadfully noisy advocate was +cross-examining a witness, as I thought, rather angrily, because the +man would not say exactly what he wanted him to say. My lord did not +take notice of this, and it went on until I thought I would call +his attention to the counsel's manner, and, accordingly, gave a +growl--merely a growl of inquiry. Brown--which was the counsel's +name--was a little startled at this unexpected remonstrance, and +paused, looking up at the Judge. + +"Go on," said my lord--"go on, pray," pretending not to know the cause +of the interruption. + +He went on accordingly for a considerable time, with a very noisy +speech--so noisy that one could not hear one's self bark, which I did +two or three times without any effect. However, at last I made one of +my best efforts. + +But this was bad policy, inasmuch as it attracted too much attention +to myself, who had been hitherto unseen. + +My lord, however, thanks to his presence of mind, had the kindness to +say,-- + +"Dear me! I wish people would not bring their dogs into court." Then +turning to our marshal, he said, "Take Jack into Baron Pollock's +room"--the Baron had just gone in to lunch, for he was always punctual +to a minute--"and ask him to give him a mutton-chop." + +And when, five minutes later, my lord came in, the Baron was enjoying +his chop, and I was eating my lord's. + +In another court the Judge administered a well-timed rebuke to a +flippant and very egotistical counsel, and I could hardly restrain +myself from administering another. During the progress of a dreadfully +long address to the jury for the defence, he said,-- + +"Why, gentlemen, there is not sufficient evidence against the prisoner +_on which to hang a dog_." + +"And how much evidence, Mr. ----, would you consider sufficient to +hang a dog?" + +"That would depend, my lord, as to whom the dog belonged." + +I thought how like human nature that young man was. + +I used to have a very good view of all that took place in court, +and could tell some very funny as well as interesting stories about +persons I have seen. + +One day I was amused _so_ much that, had I not remembered where I was, +I must, like my friends mentioned by Robert Burns in his "Twa Dogs," +have "barked wi' joy," because I thought it so strange. Here was a +Queen's Counsel, a man of so proper a countenance that I do not think +it ever smiled in its life, and so very devoted to his profession that +he would never think of leaving it to go to a racecourse. I should +have as soon expected to meet him in our dogs' home looking for a +greyhound to go coursing with on Primrose Hill,--and here he was +standing up on his hind legs, and making an application to the court +which my lord was never in his life known to grant. + +It was the night before the Derby, and we always took care to have a +full list of cases for that Wednesday, for _fear_ the public should +think we went to the Derby and left the work to look after itself. +We generally had about a dozen in pretty early in the afternoon of +Tuesday, so that the suitors and witnesses, solicitors and all others +whom it concerned, might know where they were, and that _they_ could +not go to the Derby the following day. + +What a scene it was as soon as this list was published! I used to sit +and watch the various applicants sidle into their seats with the +most sheepish faces for men I ever saw. In came the first gentleman, +flustered with excitement. + +"Would your lordship allow me to make an application?" + +"Yes," said my lord--"yes; I see no objection. What is your +application, Mr. ----?" I will not give his name. + +"There is a case, my lord, in to-morrow's list--number ten. It is +quite impossible, seeing the number of cases before it, that that case +can be reached." + +"If that is so," said my lord, "there is no necessity for making any +application--if you know it is impossible to reach it, I mean to +say--" + +"It is _ex abundanti cautela_, my lord." + +I think that was the expression, but, as it is not dog-Latin, I am not +sure. + +"It is a good horse to run, I dare say," said my lord, "but I don't +think he'll win this time." + +The counsel shook his head and would have smiled, I could see that, +only he was disappointed. I felt sorry for him, because his clients +had made arrangements to go to the Derby. As he was turning +disconsolately away my lord spoke with a little more encouragement in +his tone and a quiet smile. + +"We will see later, Mr. ----. Is your client _unable_ to appear +to-morrow?" + +"I'm afraid so, my lord, quite." + +"Have you a doctor's certificate?" + +"I am afraid not, my lord; he is not ill." + +"Then you can renew the application later; but understand, I am +_determined to get through the list_." + +That was so like my lord; nothing would turn him from his resolution, +if he sat till midnight, and I nearly barked with admiration. + +Then came number six on the list, with the same complaint that it was +not likely to be reached. + +"I'm not so sure," said Sir Henry. "I have just refused number ten; +yours is a long way before that. Some of the previous ones may go off +very soon; there does not seem to be anything _very long_ in front of +you, Mr. ----. What's your difficulty about being here?" + +"The real difficulty, my lord--" And as he hesitated the Judge said,-- + +"You want to be elsewhere?" + +"Frankly, my lord, that is so." + +"Very well; if both sides are agreed, I have no objection. If I am not +trying your case I shall be trying some one else's, and it is a matter +of perfect indifference to me whose case it is." + +An hour after in came a brisk junior stating that his leader was +unavoidably absent. + +"What is the application, Mr. Wallsend?" + +"There's a case on your lordship's list for to-morrow, my lord." + +"Yes. What number?" + +"Number seven, my lord. I am told number six is a long case, and sure +to be fought. My application is that, as that case will last over +Friday--" + +"Friday? Why Friday?" + +There was a little laughter, because it happened to be the Oaks day. + +"I'm told it's a long case, my lord." + +"Yes, but number six has gone, so that you will stand an excellent +chance of coming on about two o'clock, perhaps a little before. What +is the nature of your case?" + +"Illegal imprisonment, my lord." + +"Very well; if it is any convenience to you, Mr. Wallsend, I will take +it last." + +By the look of the young man it seemed of no great convenience. + +"That will give your witnesses time to be here, I hope." + +The counsel shook his head, and then began to say that the fact was +that his client had an engagement, and his lordship would see it was +the great race of the year. + +"I do not like these applications made in this random manner. I +am willing to oblige the parties in all cases if I can, but these +constant motions to postpone interfere very much with the public +convenience, and I mean to say that the public are to be considered." + +Now came the gentleman who never attended races, and devoted himself +to business. He could not have told you the name of a horse to save +his life. But he also made his application to postpone a case +until Thursday. Delightful day, Thursday; such a convenient day, +too--between the Derby and the Oaks. + +Said my lord, who was very friendly to the learned counsel, and liked +him not only as a member of his old circuit, but as a brother Bencher +and a clever advocate,-- + +"Oh, I see; I see where _you_ want to be to-morrow." + +"My lord!" + +It was no use; in spite of the gentleman's remonstrance and +protestations, he said,-- + +"You may go, Mr. ----, and I hope you will enjoy yourself." + +I need hardly say nothing was left of the list by twelve o'clock the +next day, and Sir Henry had the honour of going in the royal train and +dining at Marlborough House in the evening. + +I ought, perhaps, to mention that there was a case proceeding when all +these interruptions took place. I don't know the name, but two counsel +were in it, one of whom was remarkable for the soul of wit which is +called _brevity_, and the other was not. One was Frank Lockwood, Q.C., +a very amusing counsel, whom I always liked, because he often sketched +me and my lord in pen and ink. + +Mr. Jelf, Q.C., was the other learned counsel. Although I liked most +of the barristers, I often wished I could teach them the invaluable +lesson _when to leave off_. It would have saved many a verdict, and +given me the opportunity of hearing my own voice. + +Lockwood was cross-examining, and appeared to me dealing rather +seriously with Jelf's witnesses, who were a pious body of gentlemen, +and prided themselves, above all things, on speaking the truth, as +though it was a great credit not to commit perjury. + +At last Mr. Jelf, tired with being routed in so ruthless a manner, +cried in a lamentable voice,-- + +"Pray, pray, Mr. Lockwood!" + +"So I do," said Lockwood--"so I do, Mr. Jelf, at fitting and proper +times." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +TWO TRAGEDIES. + + +[The _Daily Telegraph_, speaking of the necessity for Justice +sometimes "to strip the bandage from her eyes and look into the real +merits of a case, mentions the following case as showing Sir Henry's +unequalled knowledge of human nature and the sound equity of his +decrees:-- + +"A young, respectable woman had been led away by a villain, who was +already married, and under a promise of marriage had betrayed her. He +induced her to elope with him, and suggested that she should tear +a cheque out of her father's cheque-book and forge his name. So +completely was she under his influence that she did so. He sent her to +different banks to try and cash it, but it was not till she got to +a local bank, where she was known, that this was accomplished. The +cheque was for L200. But the seducer never obtained the money; the +girl was apprehended before she reached him. + +"Sir Henry openly expressed his strong sympathy for the unhappy girl, +and ordered her to be bound over in her own recognizance of L20, to +come up for judgment when called upon."] + +During the early years of my tenure of office as a criminal Judge I +became, and still am, firmly impressed with the belief that to enable +one filling that office to discharge the twofold duty attached to +it--namely, that of trying the issue whether the crime imputed to +the prisoner has been established by legal evidence, and if so, +what punishment ought to be imposed upon the prisoner, assuming the +presiding Judge to be the person to determine it--it is absolutely +essential that he should keep the whole of the circumstances in his +mind and carefully weigh every fact which either forms an element in +the constitution of the offence itself or has a substantial bearing as +affecting the aggravation or mitigation of the punishment; for it +is not only essential that these matters should be known to and +appreciated by the Judge who tried the case, but that they may be also +presented for the information of the Home Secretary, who ought to be +acquainted with them, so that he may form a satisfactory view of the +whole of the circumstances surrounding the case. + +A strange story that will ever stand out in my memory as one of +the most dramatic of my life was that of a young lady who was a +professional nurse at the General Hospital at Liverpool. She was +young, clever, and, I believe, beautiful, as well as esteemed and +loved by all who knew her. + +She had become engaged to an engineer, and it had been arranged that +she should pay a visit to her mother in Nottingham on a Friday, so as +to acquaint her with their engagement, the intended husband having +arranged to come on the following Monday. + +The parents were poor, respectable people, and the girl herself +was poor, so that she had no change of attire, but went in her +professional nurse's dress. It was her intention, however, to buy an +ordinary dress at Nottingham. + +There was a dressmaker in that city whom her mother knew, and +with whose children in their early days her daughter had played. +Accordingly in the evening the nurse with a younger sister went to the +cottage to make the necessary arrangements. + +While she was there the son of the dressmaker came in, and was at once +attracted by the beauty and the manner of the girl. As they had known +one another in childhood, it was not surprising that they should talk +with more familiarity than would have been the case had they been +strangers. + +When the nurse rose to go, the young man asked permission to accompany +her to her mother's. She declined, but he persisted in his request. + +This man was a clever mechanic, and had invented a machine for making +chenille. Sad to say, this invention he used for the purpose of +inveigling the girl into his workshop, which was situated on the +second floor of an extensive range of warehouses in a yard at +Nottingham. He asked her to come on the Monday morning, and when +she informed him that her lover was to come by the 12.30 train at +Nottingham Station, he said if she came at eleven she would have +plenty of time to see his invention, and then meet him. She at last +consented. + +I now come to a series of facts of a sensational character. On the +Monday morning she went, according to the appointment, and was seen to +go with this man up a flight of steps which led from the yard to the +first floor. The door opened on to the landing outwardly. In about a +quarter of an hour after she was seen staggering down the steps, and +crossing the yard in the direction of the street. In the street she +fell, and was conveyed to a neighbouring house. She was afterwards +taken to a hospital. + +In the course of some minutes the man himself came down the steps, +and was informed that a girl had been seen coming out of his premises +bleeding, and had been taken to a cottage. + +"Was there?" said he, and walked away. + +In the afternoon he was apprehended. He said he was very sorry, but +that he was showing the girl a little toy pistol, and that it had gone +off: quite accidentally. He wished to be taken to the hospital where +she was. + +The magistrate in the meanwhile had been informed of the occurrence, +and with his clerk attended at the hospital to take her dying +deposition. + +There was an amount of skill and ability about the prisoner which was +somewhat surprising to me, who am seldom surprised at anything. + +"Did you not think it was an accident?" he asked. + +The dying girl answered, "Yes." + +In re-examination by the magistrate's clerk at the end of the +business, the following answer was elicited,-- + +"I thought it was an accident before the second shot was fired." + +The extraordinary part of this story, to my mind, is that the able +counsel--and able he indeed was who defended him--treated the matter +as the most frivolous prosecution that was ever instituted. I know +that he almost laughed at the idea of murder, and, further, that the +junior counsel for the prosecution treated the charge in the same +manner, and said that, in his opinion, there was no case. + +The man was indicted for wilful murder, and I am bound to say, after +reading the depositions, I could come to no other conclusion than +that he was guilty of the most cruel and deliberate murder, if the +depositions were correct. + +I went with the counsel on both sides to view the scene of the +tragedy, and it was agreed that the counsel for the prosecution should +indicate as well as he could the case for the Crown by merely stating +undisputed facts in connection with the premises. + +The flight of steps, as I have said, led from the courtyard to the +first landing. + +The door opened outwards, and the first visible piece of evidence was +that some violence had been exercised in forcing open the door on the +occasion of some one making his or her escape from the building, for +the staple into which the bolt of the lock had been thrust showed that +the door had been locked on the inside, and that the person coming +from the premises must have used considerable force in breaking +through. + +The key was not in the lock, neither had it fallen out, or it would +have been found somewhere near. It had evidently been taken out and +secreted, because it was found at the bottom of a dustbin a long way +off from the staircase and in the room occupied by the prisoner. + +There was one additional fact at this part of the view which I must +mention. A bullet was picked up near the door. It had struck the +opposite wall, and then glanced off and hit the other wall close to +the door. + +The bullet had been fired from the landing above; this was indicated +by the direction as it glanced along the wall, and, further, by the +mark it had left of its line of flight from the landing above, for it +had struck against the low ceiling of that spot as though the person +firing had fired in a hurry and had not taken sufficient aim to avoid +it. It might be taken, therefore, that the person firing was not +used to firearms, or he would not have hit what might be called the +ceiling. + +The bullet was produced by the chief constable. + +On reaching the second landing, the mark of the bullet in the lintel +showed clearly that it had been fired in the direction of some object +below--some one, probably, descending the stairs. + +On turning into the factory on this floor, which was quite empty, I +saw on the wall near the doorway the mark of another bullet which had +rested near and was found by the police. It was a bad aim, and showed, +therefore, that the person who fired it was unused to firearms. + +We went to the next room, into which we ascended by six steps; it was +clear that it was from the head of these stairs that the course of the +bullet was directed; its elevated position and the angle of incidence +showed this. But as neither of these bullets had struck the deceased, +for there was no mark of any kind to prove it, there was another +bullet to be accounted for, and as the prisoner said that the pistol +went off by accident, two or three matters had to be considered. Where +was the spot where the accident occurred? and was aim actually taken? + +The bullet had entered the hinder part of the neck, had taken a +downward direction, and lodged in the spine. It did not, therefore, go +off while he was explaining the pistol to her, otherwise it would have +struck her at any other place than where it did. + +Moreover, she had run in a state of intense fright the moment she was +wounded--had commenced to run before, in fact, having escaped from the +clutches of her murderer, for the skirt of her dress was torn from the +gathers. It was proved that the prisoner had bought the pistol on the +Saturday night, that he was unused to firearms, for he had to ask +the man who sold it to explain the mode of using it. He was heard +practising with it on Sunday, and when the accident occurred it was +proved that the interval between the first and second shots exactly +accounted for the space which intervened between the respective spots +where the firing must have taken place. + +Much was made of the fact that the poor girl had said she thought it +was an accident, but I had to call the learned counsel's attention +to the statement at the end of her examination, which was this: "I +thought at first it was an accident, for I could not believe he could +be so cruel, but after the _second shot_ I believed he meant to kill +me." + +A somewhat novel incident occurred during the examination for the +prosecution. + +A wire stand had been dressed with the girl's clothes to show where +the lower part of the dress had been torn from the gathers. It was +placed on the table, and no doubt exactly resembled the girl herself. +The prisoner was so much affected that he shuddered, and had to be +supported. + +He was condemned to death. + +In the House of Commons and out of it sympathy was, of course, +aroused, not for the unhappy girl who had been sent suddenly to her +account, but for the lustful brute who had murdered her. A question +was asked of the Secretary of State for the Home Department as to the +prisoner being insane, and whether there was not abundant evidence of +insanity at the trial. + +The counsel for the prosecution wrote to the Home Secretary and +requested him to lay his letter before the prisoner's counsel to +ascertain whether he agreed with it. The letter was to this effect: +"Not only was there no evidence of insanity, but the prisoner's +counsel based his defence entirely upon the fact that there was no +suggestion that the man was or ever had been insane. He must have been +insane, argued the counsel, if he had committed a brutal murder of +that kind; there was no insanity, and therefore it was an accident." + +The humane questioner of the Home Secretary left the prisoner after +that statement to his well-deserved fate. + + * * * * * + +I recollect at one Gloucester Assize a man was tried before me for the +murder of a woman near Bristol. + +The prisoner had given his account of the tragedy, and said he had +made up his mind to kill the first woman he met alone and unprotected; +that is to say, he had made up his mind to kill somebody when there +was no witness of the deed. Humanitarians for murderers might call +this insanity. + +He went forth on his mission, and saw a woman coming towards him with +a baby. + +He instantly resolved to kill both, and probably would have done so +but for the fact that some one was seen coming towards him in the +distance. + +The woman and child therefore escaped, the person he had seen in the +distance also passed by, and then he waited in the lane alone. In a +little time a poor woman came along. + +The ruffian instantly seized her, cut her throat, and killed her on +the spot. + +No sooner had he accomplished his purpose than a young farmer drove +along in his cart, and seeing the dead body in the road, and the +murderer a little way off, jumped out of his cart and arrested him. + +A little farther on the road there was a labouring man, who had not +been visible up to this moment, breaking stones. + +"Look after this man," said the farmer; "he has committed murder. Keep +him safe while I go to the village and get a constable." + +"All right," said the labourer; "I'll keep un." + +As soon as the farmer was gone the labourer and the murderer got into +conversation, for they had to while away the time until the farmer had +procured the constable. + +"Why," asked the stone-breaker, "what have you been a-doin' of?" + +"Killin' a woman," answered the murderer. + +"Killin' a woman!" said the mason. "Why, what did you want to kill a +woman for? She warn't your wife, was she?" + +"Nay," answered the murderer, "or I should ha' killed her afore." + +The want of motive is always a strong argument with humanitarians, who +pity the murderer and not the victim. I heard no particle of sympathy +expressed for the poor woman, but there was abundance of commiseration +for the fiend who had perpetrated the terrible deed. + +There never was any _adequate_ motive for murder, but there was never +a deed committed or any act performed without motive. + +Insanity on the ground of absence of motive was set up as a matter of +course, but insanity should be based on proof apart from the cruelty +of the act itself. It was a premeditated crime, a bloodthirsty desire +to wreak his malice on some one; but beyond the act, beyond the +malignant disposition of the man, there was no evidence whatever of +insanity. + +I refused to recommend him to the Royal clemency on that ground, or on +any ground, for there was not the smallest pretence for saying it was +not a deliberate cold-blooded murder. And the man was rightly hanged. + +Society should be protected from murderers. This may be hard dealing +with the enemies of society, but it is just to society itself. I was +never hard on a prisoner. The least circumstance in mitigation found +in me a hearty reception, but cruelty in man or woman an unflinching +Judge. + +Take another case. In Gloucestershire a man was convicted of killing a +girl by stabbing her in no less than thirty-eight places. + +Again the humanitarians besieged the Home Secretary. "No man in his +senses would have been so cruel; and there was his conduct in the +dock: he was so wild, so incoherent. There was also his conduct in the +field where he had committed the deed: he called the attention of the +passers-by to his having killed her." And, last of all, "there was the +doctor whom the Home Secretary had consulted after the trial." + +I was appealed to, and stated my opinion honestly: that I had closely +watched the man at the trial, and was satisfied that he was shamming +insanity. + +And he shammed it so awkwardly that there was no doubt whatever that +he was sane. + +Another Judge was asked about the case who saw only the evidence, and +he came to the same conclusion; and I was compelled to report that the +doctor who certified that he was insane did so _without having seen +him_ as the doctors for the prosecution had at the trial and before. + +He was hanged. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE ST. NEOTS CASE. + + +This is the last trial for murder that I presided over. The object is +not to show the horrible details of the deed, but my mode of dealing +with the facts, for it is in the elimination of the false from the +true that the work of a Judge must consist, otherwise his office is a +useless form. I shall give this case, therefore, more in detail than I +otherwise should. + +The case was that of Horsford, in the year 1898, at Huntingdon +Assizes. I say now, long after the event, the murderer was not +improperly described by the _Daily News_ as the greatest monster of +our criminal annals, and yet even in that case some kind-hearted +people said I had gone quite _to the limits of a Judge's rights_ in +summing up the case. Let me say a word about circumstantial evidence. +Some writers have spoken of it as a kind of "dangerous innovation in +our criminal procedure." It is actually almost the only evidence +that is obtainable in all great crimes, and it is the best and most +reliable. + +You may draw wrong impressions from it, I grant, but so you may from +the evidence of witnesses where it is _doubtful_; but you cannot fail +to draw the right ones where the facts are not doubtful. If it is +capable of a wrong inference, a Judge should be absolutely positive in +his direction to the jury not to draw it. + +I have witnessed many great trials for murder, but do not remember one +where there was an eye-witness to the deed. How is it possible, +then, to bring home the charge to the culprit unless you rely on +circumstantial evidence? Circumstantial evidence is the evidence of +circumstances--facts that speak for themselves and that cannot be +contradicted. Circumstances have no motive to deceive, while human +testimony is too often the product of every kind of motive. + +The history of this case is extremely simple. The accused, Walter +Horsford, aged thirty-six, was a farmer of Spaldwick. The person +murdered, Annie Holmes, was a widow whose age was thirty-eight years. +She had resided for several months at St. Neots, where she died on +the night of January 7. She had been married, and lost her husband +thirteen years ago. On his death he left two children, Annie and +Percy. The latter was sixteen years of age and the girl fourteen. +The prisoner was a cousin of the deceased woman. While she lived at +Stonely the man had been in the habit of visiting her, and had become +an intimate member of the family. + +In the month of October the prisoner was married to a young woman +named Bessie ----. The widow with her two children, and a third, which +it would be idle affectation to suggest was the offspring of her late +husband, went to reside at St. Neots in a cottage rented at about L8 a +year. The prisoner wrote to Annie Holmes on at least two occasions. + +Towards the close of the year Annie Holmes suspected herself to be +pregnant. She was anxious not to bring another child into the world, +and had some communication with the prisoner on the subject. + +On January 5 he wrote to her that he would come and make some +arrangement. The woman was deceived as to her condition, but that made +no difference with regard to the crime. The letter went on to state: +"You must remember I paid you for what I done.... Don't write any more +letters, for I don't want Bessie to know." + +On December 28 he purchased from a chemist to whom he was a stranger, +and who lived at Thrapston, a quantity of poison, alleging that he +wanted to poison rats. Prisoner called in a gentleman as a reference +to his respectability, as the chemist had refused to sell him the +poison without. At last a small parcel was supplied. It was entered in +a book with the prisoner's name, and he signed the book, as did also +the gentleman who was his introducer. The poison was strychnine, +arsenic, prussic acid, and carbolic acid. No less than 90 grains of +strychnine were supplied. He had written to say he would come over on +the Friday which followed January 5. There is no reason to suppose he +did not fulfil his promise. On the Friday the woman was suffering from +neuralgia. In the evening, however, she was in her usual health and +spirits, and did her ironing up to eight o'clock. She went to bed +between half-past nine and ten, and took with her a tumbler of water. +In ten minutes the little girl and her brother went upstairs. They +went to the mother, who was in bed with her child. The tumbler was +nearly empty. The mother asked for a "sweet," which the little girl +gave. After this Annie got into bed; the mother began to twitch her +arms and legs, and seemed in great pain. Dr. Turner was sent for, as +she got worse. His assistant, Dr. Anderson, came, and, watching the +patient, noticed that the symptoms were those of strychnine poisoning. +She was dying. Before he could get to the surgery and return with an +antidote the woman was dead. She who had been well at half-past nine +was dead before eleven! + +The police were communicated with, and a constable searched the house. +Turning up the valances of the bed, he found a piece of paper crumpled +up; this was sent to an analyst on the following day. An inquest was +held and a post-mortem directed. + +Horsford at the inquest swore that he had never written to the +deceased or visited her. + +On the evening of Saturday the 8th, after the post-mortem, Mrs. +Hensman and another woman found between the mattress and the bed a +packet of papers. These were also submitted for analysis. One of them +contained 35 grains of strychnine; another had crystals of strychnine +upon it. There was writing on one of the packets, and it was the +handwriting of the prisoner; it said, "Take in a little water; it is +quite harmless. Will come over in a day or two." On another packet was +written: "One dose; take as told," also in the prisoner's handwriting. + +The body had been buried and was exhumed. Three grains of strychnine +were found by the county analyst in such parts of the stomach as were +submitted to him. Dr. Stevenson took other parts to London, and the +conclusion he came to was that at least 10 grains must have been in +the body at the time of death, while 1/2 grain has been known to be +fatal. + +There was a singular circumstance in the defence of this case, one +which I have never heard before or since, and that was a complaint +that the counsel for the prisoner was "twitted" by the Crown because +he had not called _evidence for the defence_. The jury were solemnly +asked to remember that if one jot or tittle of evidence had been put +forward, or a single document put in by him, the prisoner's counsel, +he would _lose the last word on behalf of the prisoner_! Of course, +counsel's last word may be of more value than some evidence; but the +smallest "jot or tittle" of evidence, or any document whatever that +even _tends_ to prove the innocence of the accused, is of more value +than a thousand last words of the most powerful speaker I have ever +listened to. And I would go further and say that evidence in favour of +a prisoner should never be kept back for the sake of the last word. +It is the bounden duty of counsel to produce it, especially where +evidence is so strong that no speech could save the prisoner. Neither +side should keep back evidence in a prisoner's favour. I said to the +jury,-- + +"We are assembled in the presence of God to fulfil one of the most +solemn obligations it is possible to fulfil, and I will to the best of +my ability assist you to arrive at an honest and just conclusion. + +"The law is that if a man deliberately or designedly administers, or +causes to be administered, a fatal poison to procure abortion, whether +the woman be pregnant or not, and she dies of it, the crime is wilful +murder. + +"You have been asked to form a bad opinion of this deceased woman, but +she had brought up her children respectably on her slender means, and +there was no evidence that she was a loose woman. It more than +pained me when I heard the learned counsel--_instructed by the +prisoner_--cross-examine that poor little girl, left an orphan by the +death of the mother, with a view to creating an impression that the +poor dead creature was a person of shameless character. + +"Again, counsel has commented in unkind terms on the deceased woman, +and said the prisoner _had no motive_ in committing this crime on a +woman whom he valued at half a crown. + +"He might not, it is true, care half a crown for her. It is not a +question as to what he valued the woman at; we are not trying that at +all; but it showed there _was_ a motive. + +"I have not admitted a statement which the woman made while in her +dying state, because she may not fully have realized her condition. +Probably you will have no doubt that, by whomsoever this fatal dose +was administered, there is only known to medical science one poison +which will produce the symptoms of this woman's dying agonies. One +thing is surprising at this stage--that immediately after death the +door of the house was not locked, and while the body was upon the +bed a paper of no importance was found, and that afterwards several +relatives went in. The object of the cross-examination was to show +that some evil-disposed person had entered the house and placed things +there _without any motive_. But whoever may have gone into that house, +there was one person who _did not go_--one who, above all others, owed +deceased some respect--and that is the prisoner; and unless you can +wipe out the half-crown letter from your mind, you would have expected +a man on those intimate terms with the poor woman to have gone and +made some inquiries concerning her death. He did not go; he was at the +Falcon Hotel at Huntingdon, and a telegram was sent telling him to +fail not to be at the inquest. + +"At the inquest he told a deliberate lie, for he swore he had never +written to the woman, or sent her anything, or been on familiar terms +with her. He had written to her, and if his letter did not prove +familiar terms, there was no meaning in language. + +"With regard to the prisoner's alleged handwriting on the packets and +papers found under the woman's bed and elsewhere, I must point out to +you that here is one on which is written, 'Take in a little water; it +is quite harmless. Will come over in a day or two.' + +"This was written on a buff paper, which Dr. Stevenson said must have +contained 35 grains of strychnine, sufficient to kill thirty-five +persons, and the direction written was, 'One dose; take as told.' + +"These inscriptions were sworn to by experts as being in the +prisoner's handwriting." + +Here I pointed out the alleged resemblances in the characters of the +letters, so that the jury might judge if the prisoner wrote them. + +"If the prisoner wrote the words 'take as told,' you must ask +yourselves the meaning of it. + +"Also, you will ask whether it was not a little strange that the death +occurred on that very Friday night when he said he would go over and +see her. Again, the word 'harmless' is of the gravest character, +seeing that within the folds of that paper were 35 grains of a deadly +powder, which even for rat-powder would be mixed with something else. + +"Again, as to motive, upon which so much stress has been laid by the +defendant's counsel. If the prisoner had no motive, who else had? Is +there a human being on earth who had ill-will towards her, or anything +to gain by her death? The learned counsel carefully avoided suggesting +any one; nor could he suggest that any one in the neighbourhood wrote +the same handwriting as the prisoner. I will dismiss the theory that +some one had imitated the prisoner's writing in order to do him an +injury, and ask if you can see any reason for any one else giving the +woman the powder. + +"There is one fact beyond all dispute: in December the prisoner bought +a shilling's worth of strychnine. He said he bought it for rats, but +no one on the farm had been called to prove it. What has been done +with the rest of the powder? + +"Where was he on that Friday? His counsel said he could not prove an +_alibi_. But if he was at Spaldwick after saying he was going to St. +Neots to see this poor woman, he _could_ have proved it. + +"The prisoner's counsel said that the accused did not speak of the +woman's murder after the inquest, and said it was not necessary; he +did not understand the 'familiar jargon' of the Law Courts. + +"The familiar jargon of the Law Courts, gentlemen, is not quite the +phrase to use with reference to our judicial proceedings. The Law +Courts are the bulwark of our liberties, our life, and our property. +Our welfare would be jeopardized, indeed, if you dismiss what takes +place in them as 'familiar jargon.' + +"The question is whether the charge has been so reasonably brought +home to the prisoner as to lead you in your consciences to believe +that he is guilty. If so, it is your duty to God, your duty to +society, and your duty to yourselves, to say so." + +Such was the summing up that was arraigned by the humanitarian +partisans of the prisoner. If a Judge may not deal with the fallacies +of a defence by placing before the jury the true trend of the +evidence, what other business has he on the Bench? And it was for thus +clearly defining the issue that some one suggested a petition for a +reprieve, on the ground that the evidence was _purely circumstantial_, +and that my "summing up was against _the weight of the evidence_." +Truly a strange thing that circumstances by themselves shall have no +weight. + +But there was another strange incident in this remarkable trial: _the +jury thanked me for the pains I had taken in the case_. I told them I +looked for no thanks, but was grateful, nevertheless. + +I have learnt that the jury, on retiring, deposited every one on a +slip of paper the word "Guilty" without any previous consultation--a +sufficient indication of their opinion of the _weight_ of the +evidence. + +This was the last case of any importance which I tried on circuit, and +if any trial could show the value of circumstantial evidence, it was +this one. It left the identity of the prisoner and the conclusion of +fact demonstrable almost to mathematical certainty. + +A supposed eye-witness might have said: "I saw him write the paper, +and I saw him administer the poison." It would not have added to the +weight of the evidence. The witness might have lied. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +A NIGHT AT NOTTINGHAM. + + +Ever since the establishment of itinerant justices, now considerably +over seven hundred years, going circuit has been an interesting and +important ceremony, attended with great pomp and circumstance. I had +intended to give a sketch of my own drawing of this great function, +but an esteemed friend, who is a lover of the picturesque, has sent me +an interesting description of one of my own itineraries, and I insert +it with the more pleasure because I could not describe things from +his point of view, and even if I could, might lay myself open to the +charge of being egotistical. + +"When Sir Henry Hawkins stepped into the train with his marshal, he +felt all the exuberance which a Judge usually experiences on going +circuit. + +"Going circuit is a pleasant diversion, and may be a delightful +holiday when the weather is fine and cases few. I am not speaking of +those northern towns where hard labour is the portion of the judicial +personage from the time he opens the Commission to the moment when he +turns his back upon his prison-house, but of rural Assize towns like +Warwick and Bedford or Oakham, where the Judge takes his white gloves, +smiles at the grand jury, congratulates them on the state of the +calendar, and goes away to some nobleman's seat until such time as he +is due to open the Commission in some other circuit paradise where +crime does not enter. + +"At Lincoln station on this present occasion there is a goodly crowd +outside and in, some well dressed and some slatternly, some bareheaded +out of respect to the Judge, and others of necessity, but all with a +look of profoundest awe. + +"But as they wait the arrival of the train, all hearts are beating to +see the Judge. Alas for some of them! they will see him too soon and +too closely. + +"Most conspicuous is the fat and dignified coachman in a powdered wig +and tam-o'-shanter cap, and the footman with the important calves. +Clustered along the platform, and pushing their noses between the +palisade fencing, seem gathered together all the little boys of +Lincoln--that is to say, those who do not live at the top of Steep +Hill; for on that sacred eminence, the Mount Zion of Lincolnshire, are +the _cloisters_ and the closes, where are situated the residences of +Canons, Archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical divinities. The top of +this mountain holds no communion with the bottom. + +"On the platform--for the signal has been given that the judicial +train is entering the station--ranged in due order are the Sheriff of +Lincoln, in full robes, his chaplain in full canonicals, and a +great many other worthy dignities, which want of space prevents my +mentioning in detail. All are bareheaded, all motionless save those +bosoms which heave with the excitement of the occasion. + +"Although the chaplain and the Sheriff hold their hats in their hands, +it is understood in a well-bred town like Lincoln there will be no +cheers, only a deep, respectful silence. + +"And so, amid a hush of expectation and a wondering as to whether it's +_Orkins_, some saying one thing and some another, the train draws +slowly in; a respectful porter, selected for the occasion, opens the +door, and out leaps--Jack. + +"Then bursts from the crowd a general murmur. 'There 'e is! See 'im, +Bill!' cries one. 'There's Orkins! See 'im? There 'e is; that's Orkins +behind that there long black devil!' + +"He was wrong about the black devil, for it was the Sheriff's +Chaplain, who will preach the Assize Sermon next Sunday in the +Cathedral." + +[A somewhat humorous scene once took place at Nottingham. An +indefatigable worker on circuit, Sir Henry seemed to have the +constitution of the Wandering Jew and the energy of radium. No doubt +he had much more patience than was necessary, for it kept him sitting +till the small hours of the morning, and jurors-in-waiting and +attendants were asleep in all directions. He was the only one wide +awake in court. + +Even javelin-men fell asleep with their spears in their hands; the +marshal dozed in his chair, ushers leaned against the pillars which +supported the gallery, while witnesses rubbed their eyes and yawned as +they gave their evidence. + +A case of trifling importance was proceeding with as steady a pace as +though an empire's fate, instead of a butcher's honour, were involved. +One butcher had slandered another butcher. + +The art of advocacy was being exercised between an Irishman and a +Scotchman, which made the English language quite a hotch-potch of +equivocal words and a babel of sounds. + +The slander was one that seemed to shake the very foundations of +butcherdom throughout the world--namely, an insinuation that the +plaintiff had sold Australian mutton for Scotch beef; on the face of +it an extraordinary allegation, although it had to find its way for +the interpretation of a jury as to its meaning. Amidst this costly +international wrangle the Judge kept his temper, occasionally cheering +the combatants by saying in an interrogative tone, "Yes?" and in the +meanwhile writing the following on a slip of paper which he handed to +a friend:-- + +"GREAT PRIZE COMPETITION FOR PATIENCE. + + Hawkins First prize. + Job Honourable mention." + +Much earlier in the evening an application had been made by way of +finding out how far the Judge "would go," as the man tests the wheels +of an express. Every wheel had a good ring. He was prepared for a long +run. Every case was to be struck out if the parties were not there. + +After a while a feeling of compunction seemed to come over him. + +"One moment," said he, after the case in hand had proceeded for an +hour or so. "This case seems as if it will occupy some time; it is the +last but three of the common jury cases, and--I mean to say--if the +gentlemen of the special jury like to go till--seven o'clock this +evening, they may do so, or they may amuse themselves by sitting in +court listening to this case." + +There was a shuffling of feet and a murmur like that of bees. + +"Gentlemen," he said, "do whatever will be most agreeable to +yourselves. I only wish to consider your comfort and convenience." + +"A damned pretty convenience," said a special juryman, "to be kept +here all night!" + +"Return punctually at seven, gentlemen, please; you are released till +then." + +Any person who knows Nottingham and has to spend in that city two +weary hours, between 5 o'clock and 7 p.m., wandering up and down that +vast market-place, will understand the state of mind to which those +special jurymen were reduced when they indulged in audible curses. + +There was, however, an element in this condition of things which his +lordship had not taken into consideration, and that was the _Bar_. + +Several members were unnecessarily detained by this order of the +court. Their mess was at the George Hotel; at seven they must be in +court or within its precincts; at seven they dined. They chose the +precincts, and sending for their butler, ordered the mess to be +brought to the vacant Judge's room, the second Judge having gone away. + +At seven the mess was provided, and those who were not engaged in +court sat down with a good appetite and a feeling of delightful +exultation. + +Meanwhile his lordship proceeded with his work, while the temperature +was 84 deg.. Juries wiped their faces, and javelin-men leaned on their +spears. + +Now and then the sounds of revelry broke upon the ear as a door was +opened. + +At ten his lordship rose for a few moments, and on proceeding along +the corridor towards his room for his cup of tea, several champagne +bottles stood boldly in line before his eyes. He also saw two pairs +of legs adorned with yellow stockings--legs of the Sheriff's footmen +waiting to attend his lordship's carriage some hours hence. + +The scene recalled the scenes of other days, and the old times of the +Home Circuit came back. Should he adjourn and join the mess? No, no; +he must not give way. He had his tea, and went back to court. He +was not very well pleased with the cross-examination of the Irish +advocate. + +"Do you want the witness to contradict what he has said in your +favour, Mr.----?" + +"No, my lord." + +"Why do you cross-examine, then?" + +Now the catch of an old circuit song was heard. + +"Call your next witness, Mr. Jones. Why was not this case tried in the +County Court?" + +(Sounds of revelry from the Bar mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut!" + +"May the witnesses go in the third case after this, my lord?" + +"I don't know how long this case will last. I am here to do the work +of--" + +("_Jolly good fellow_!" from the mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut!" + +"What is your case, Mr.----?" + +"It's slander, my lord--one butcher calling another a rogue; similar +to the present case." + +"Does he justify?" + +"Oh no, my lord." It was now on the stroke of twelve. + +"I don't know at what time your lordship proposes to rise." + +"Renew your application by-and-by." + +("_We won't go home till morning_!" from the mess-room.) + +"Keep that door shut! How many more witnesses have you got, Mr. +Williams?" + +Mr. Williams, counting: "About--ten--eleven--" + +"And you, Mr. Jones?" + +"About the same number, my lord." + +It was twenty minutes to one. + +"I shall not sit any longer to oblige any one," said Sir Henry, +closing his book with a bang. + +The noise woke the usher, and soon after the blare of trumpets +announced that the court had risen, as some wag said, until the day +after yesterday.] + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +HOW I MET AN INCORRIGIBLE PUNSTER. + + +As the Midland Circuit was perhaps my favourite, although I liked them +all, there would necessarily be more to interest me there than on any +other, and at our little quiet dinners, for which there was no special +hour (it might be any time between eight o'clock in the evening or +half-past one the next day), there were always pleasant conversations +and amusing stories. With a large circle of acquaintances, I had +learnt many things, sometimes to interest and sometimes to instruct. +Although I never sat down to open a school of instruction, a man +should not despise the humblest teaching, or he may be deficient in +many things he should have a knowledge of. + +There was once an old fox-hunting squire whose ambition was to be +known as a punster. There never was a more good-natured man or a more +genial host, and he would tell you of as many tremendous runs he had +had as Herne the hunter. After-dinner runs are always fine. + +The Squire loved to hunt foxes and make puns. + +We were sitting on a five-barred gate one evening in his paddocks, +and while I was admiring the yearlings, which were of great beauty, I +suddenly saw looking over his left shoulder the most beautiful head of +a thoroughbred I ever beheld, with her nose quite close to his ear. + +"Halloa, my beauty!" said he. "What, _Saltfish_, let me see if I've a +bit of sugar, eh, _Saltfish_?--sugar--is it?" + +His hand dived into the capacious pocket of his shooting-coat and +brought out a piece of sugar, which he gave to the mare, and then +affectionately rubbed her nose. + +"There, _Saltfish_--there you are; and now show us your heels." + +I knew by his mentioning the mare's name so often that there was a pun +in it, so I waited without putting any question. After a while he said +(for he could contain his joke no longer),-- + +"Judge, do you know why I call her _Saltfish_?" + +"Not the least idea," said I. + +"Ha!" he explained, with a prodigious stare that almost shot his blue +globular eyes out of his head: "because she is such a capital mare for +a _fast day_! Ha, ha!" + +Suddenly he stopped laughing from disappointment at my not seeing the +joke. He repeated it--"fast day, fast day"--then _glared at me_, and +his underlip fell. At last the old man tossed his head, and whipped +his boot with his crop. I have no doubt I deprived that man of a great +deal of happiness; for if anything is disappointing to a punster, it +is not seeing his joke. He had not done with me yet, however, and +before abandoning me as an incorrigible lunatic, asked if I would like +to see Naples. + +"Naples! By all means, but not at this time of year." + +"Oh, I don't mean the town--no, no; but if you don't mind a little +mud, I'll show you Naples. Come along this lane." + +"Watercourse, you mean. I don't mind a little mud," said I; "it washes +off, whoever throws it"--and I looked to see what he thought of that, +knowing he would tell it at dinner. + +"Good!" said he; "devilish good! Wash off, no matter who throws +it--devilish good!" + +Down we came off the gate, and through the mud we went, he leading +with a fat chuckle. + +"You don't see the joke, Hawkins--you don't see the joke about that +fast day;" and he gave me another look with his great blue eyes. + +I didn't know it was a joke; I thought it was the mare's name, and I +heard him mutter "Damn!" + +"This is the way," he said angrily. We seemed to travel through an +interminable cesspool, but at last reached the open, and coming to +another gate, he extended his arms on it, after the manner of a +squire, and said,-- + +"There, there's _Naples_. Isn't she lovely?" + +"Where?" I asked. + +"There; and a prettier mare you never saw. Look at her!" + +"She's a beauty--a real beauty!" I exclaimed. + +He breathed rather short, and I felt easy. His manner, especially the +distending of his cheeks, showed me that he was about to bring forth +something--a pun of some sort. + +"Do you know," he asked, with another turn of his eyes, "_why_ I call +her _Naples_?" + +"No, I haven't the faintest idea. Naples? no." + +"Well," he said, "I've puzzled a good many. I may say nobody has ever +guessed it. I call that mare _Naples_ because she's such a beautiful +_bay_." + +I was glad I was not sitting on the gate, for I might have fallen +and broken my neck. As I felt his eyes staring at me I preserved a +dignified composure, and had the satisfaction of hearing him mutter +again, "Damn!" + +"This is our way," said he. + +I have no doubt he thought me the dullest fool he ever came near. + +Our adventures were not ended. We went on over meadow and stile until +we came to "The Park," a tract of land of great beauty and with trees +of superb growth. He was sullen and moody, like one whose nerves had +failed him when a covey rose. + +I saw it coming--his last expiring effort. In the distance was a +beautiful black mare, such as might have carried Dick Turpin from +London to York. He was watching to see if I observed her, but I did +not. + +"Look," he said, in his most coaxing manner, "don't you see that mare +yonder--down there by the spinny?" + +"What," I said, "on the left?" + +"Down there! There--no, a little to the right. Look! There she is." + +"Oh, to be sure, a pretty animal." + +"Pretty! Why, there's no better bred animal in the kingdom. She's by +---- out of ----." + +"She ought to win the Oaks." + +"Come, now, _isn't_ she superb?" + +"A glory. A novelist would call her a _dream_." + +"Ah, I thought you would say so. You know what a horse is." + +"When I _see_ one," I said. "I thought you said this was a mare." + +This is what the Squire thought,-- + +"Well, of all the dull devils I ever met, you are the most utterly +unappreciative!" + +He was at his wits' end, although you must be clever if you can +perceive the wits' end of a punster. + +"That's _Morning Star_," said he. "Now do you know _why_ I call her +_Morning Star_?" + +I answered truthfully I did not. + +"Why," he said, with a merry laugh, "_because she's a roarer_." + +"What a pity!" I exclaimed. "But I don't wonder at it if she has to +carry you and your jokes very far." + +He took it in good part, and we had a pleasant evening at the Hall. +He discharged a good many other puns, which I am glad to say I have +forgotten. But there was a man present who was a good story-teller. +Some I had heard before, but they were none the less welcome, while +one or two I related were as good as new to my host and old Squire +Fullerton, who had once been High Sheriff, and was supposed to know +all about circuit business. He prefaced almost everything he said +with, "When I was High Sheriff," so I asked him innocently enough +how many times he had been High Sheriff, on which my host, being a +quick-witted man, looked at him with a broad grin, while he balanced +the nutcrackers on his forefinger. + +"Well," said Fullerton, "it was in Parke's time." + +"Yes; but which of them?" I asked. "Are you alluding to Sir Alan? They +did not both come together, surely." + +"Now, lookee, Fullerton," said my old friend, tapping the mahogany +with the nutcrackers, as though he was about to say something +remarkably clever; "one of 'em, Jemmy, had a kind of a cast in one of +his eyes--didn't he, Judge?" + +"Yes," said I; "but their names were not spelt alike." + +"No, no!" cried the squire; "I'm coming to that. One eye was a little +troublesome at times, I believe--at least they said so in my time +when _I_ was High Sheriff--and that made him a little ill-tempered +at times. Now, that Judge's name was spelt P-a-r-k-e" (tapping every +letter with his nutcrackers), "so the Bar used to call him '_Parke +with an "e"_;' and what do you think they used to call the other, +whose name was Park?--Come, now, Judge, you can guess that." + +I suppose I shook my head, for he said, "Why, you told me the story +yourself four years ago--ah! it must be five years ago--at this very +table, when old Squire Hawley had laid two thousand on Jannette for +the Leger. 'This is it,' said you; 'they call one of them Parke with +an "e," and the other Park with an "i."'" + +"Very well," I said, after they had done laughing at the way in which +my host had caught me; "now I'll tell you what the Duke of Wellington +said one morning. You recollect his Grace met with an accident and +lost an eye, which was kept in spirits of wine. On asking him how he +was, the Duke answered,-- + +"'Oh, Lord Cairns asked me yesterday the same question; and I said, +"I am rather depressed, but I believe my eye is in pretty good +spirits."'" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +THE TILNEY STREET OUTRAGE--"ARE YOU NOT GOING TO PUT ON THE BLACK CAP, +MY LORD?" + + +One evening, while sitting with some friends in Tilney Street, there +was one of the most tremendous explosions ever heard. It seemed as if +the world was blown up. But as nothing happened, we did not leave the +room, and went on with the conversation. + +It was not until the next day it was ascertained that an attempt had +been made to blow in Reginald Brett's front door, which was a few +houses off, and that it had been perpetrated by some Fenians, whose +friends had been awarded penal servitude for life for a similar +outrage with dynamite. Why their anger was directed against Mr. +Reginald Brett--a most peaceful and excellent man--it was difficult +to say, for he was very kind-hearted, and, above all, the son of the +Master of the Rolls, who never tried prisoners at all, only counsel. + +Having made inquiries the next morning--I don't know of whom, there +were such a number of people in Tilney Street--I was astonished to +hear some one say, "They meant to pay _you_ that visit, Sir Henry." + +"Then _they knocked at the wrong door_," said I. + +The stranger seemed to know me, and I had a little further +conversation with him. It turned out he was a Chancery barrister, and +a friend of Brett's. + +"Why," I asked, "do you think they meant the visit for me?" + +"Well," he answered, "it was." + +"If it was intended for me," I replied, "I can only say they, were +most ungrateful, for I gave their friends all I could." + +"Yes--penal servitude for life." + +"Very well," I added; "if they think they'll frighten me by blowing in +Reginald Brett's front door, they are very much deceived." + +Lord Esher, I believe, always considered that _he_ was the object of +this attack, and as I had no wish to disturb so comforting an idea, +took no further notice, and the Fenians took no further notice of +me. Years after, however, my name was mentioned in Parliament in +connection with this case; nor was my severity called in question. + +There were no more explosions in Tilney Street, but a singular +circumstance occurred, which placed me in a position, if I had desired +it, to deprive Lord Esher of the satisfaction of believing that he was +the object of so much Fenian attention. But if it was a comfort to him +or a source of pride, I did not see why I should take it away. + +A reverend father of the Roman Church told me that a long while ago +a man in confession made a statement which he wished the priest +to communicate to me. It was under the seal of confession, and he +refused, as he was bound to do, to mention a word. The man persisted +in asking him, and he as persistently declined. + +Some considerable time, however, having elapsed, the same man went +to the priest, not to confess, but to repeat his request in ordinary +conversation. This the father could have no objection to, and the +culprit told him that he had undertaken to throw the bomb at the front +door of Number 5, but that through having in the gas-light misread +the figure, he had placed it against that of Number 2. He begged the +priest as a great favour to assure me on his word that the bomb was +certainly intended for me, and not for Brett. + +On this subject the _Kent Leader_ had some interesting remarks on the +anarchists as well as their Judge. + +"Speaking of dynamite," it said, "we have serious cause for alarm in +our free land. The wretches concerned in the abominable outrage of +Tuesday last cannot be too severely dealt with. It is evident that +their intent was against Justice Hawkins, and the fact that Sir Henry +was the presiding Judge at the recent anarchists' trial points the +connection between the outrage and other anarchists.... + +"Justice Hawkins has been spoken of as a harsh Judge. Ever since the +'Penge mystery' trial many have termed him the hanging Judge. We have +sat under him on many eventful occasions, and venture the opinion +that no one who has had equal opportunity would come to any other +conclusion than that he was painstaking and careful to a degree, and +particularly in criminal cases formed one of the most conscientious +Judges on the Bench. Hanging Judge! Why, we have seen the tears +start to his eyes when sentencing a prisoner to death, and, owing to +emotion, only by a masterful effort could his voice be heard. Above +all, he is a just Judge." + +[Many persons were not aware, and thousands are not at the present +time, that when a verdict of "Wilful murder" is pronounced a Judge has +no alternative but to read the prescribed sentence of death. If this +were not so, the situation would be almost intolerable, for who would +not avoid, if possible, deciding that the irrevocable doom of the +prisoner should be delivered? In many cases the feelings of the Judges +would interfere with the course of justice, and murderers would +receive more sympathy than their victims, while fiends would escape to +the danger of society. + +And yet that Judges have sympathy, and that it can be, and is, in +these days properly exercised, the following story will testify. I +give the story as Lord Brampton told it.] + +In a circuit town a poor woman was tried before me for murdering her +baby. The facts were so simple that they can be told in a few words. +Her baby was a week old, and the poor woman, unable to sustain the +load of shame which oppressed her, ran one night into a river, holding +the baby in her arms. She had got into the water deep enough to drown +the baby, while her own life was saved by a boatman. + +The scene was sad enough as she stood under a lamp and looked into the +face of the policeman, clutching her dead child to her breast, and +refusing to part with it. + +At the trial there was no defence to the charge of wilful murder +except _one_, and that I felt it my duty to discountenance. I think +the depositions were handed to a young barrister by my order, and that +being so, I exercised my discretion as to the mode of defence. In +other words, I defended the prisoner myself. + +In order to avoid the sentence that would have followed an acquittal +_on the ground of insanity_, which would have entailed perhaps +lifelong imprisonment, I took upon myself to depart from the usual +course, and ask the jury whether, _without being insane in the +ordinary sense, the woman might not have been at the time of +committing the deed in so excited a state as not to know what she was +doing_. + +I thus avoided the technical form of question sane or insane, and +obtained a verdict of guilty, but that the woman at the time was not +answerable for her conduct, together with a strong recommendation +to mercy. This verdict, if not according to the strictest legal +quibbling, was according to justice. + +I was about to pronounce sentence in accordance with the law, which it +was not possible for me to avoid, however much my mind was inclined to +do so, when the pompous old High Sheriff, all importance and dignity, +said,-- + +"My lord, are you not going to put on the black cap?" + +"No," I answered, "I am not. I do not intend the poor creature to be +hanged, and I am not going to frighten her to death." + +Addressing her by name, I said, "Don't pay any attention to what I am +going to read. No harm will be done to you. I am sure you did not know +in your great trouble and sorrow what you were doing, and I will take +care to represent your case so that nothing will harm you in the way +of punishment." + +I then mumbled over the words of the sentence of death, taking care +that the poor woman did not hear them--much, no doubt, to the chagrin +of the High Sheriff and to the lowering of his high office and +dignity. Nothing so enhances a Sheriff's dignity as the gallows. + +[There was a great deal of unlooked-for appreciation of his merits, +and from quarters where, had he been a hard Judge, one could never +have expected it. + +There was even the observation of the costermonger leaning over his +barrow near the Assize Court when one morning Sir Henry was going in +with little Jack. + +"Gorblime, Jemmy! see 'im? The ole bloke's been poachin' agin. See +what he's got?" + +It was a brace of pheasants, and not going into court with his gun, +but only his dog, it was taken for granted he had been out all night +on an unlawful expedition. + +Some one once asked Sir Henry what was the most wonderful verdict he +ever obtained. + +He answered: "It depends upon circumstances. Do you mean as to value?" + +"And amount." + +"Well, then," he said, "_half a farthing_." + +Some of the company were a little disconcerted. + +"I'll tell you," said the Judge. "There was in our Gracious Majesty's +reign a coinage of _half a farthing_. It was soon discountenanced +as useless, but while it was current as coin of the realm I had the +honour of obtaining a verdict for that amount, and need not say, had +it been paid in _specie_ and preserved, it would in value more than +equal at the present time any verdict the jury might have given in +that case."] + +One of the most remarkable trials in which as a Judge I have presided +was what was known as the Muswell Hill tragedy. It was a brutal, +commonplace affair, and with its sordid details might make a +respectable society novel. I should have liked Sherlock Holmes to +have been in the case, because he would have saved me a great deal of +sensational development, as well as much anxiety and observation. + +Burglars are usually crafty and faithless to one another. They never +act alone--that is, the real professionals--and invariably, while in +danger of being convicted, betray one another. Such, at all events, is +my experience. Each fears the treachery of his companion in guilt, and +endeavours to be first in disclosing it. In the case I am now speaking +of, this experience was never more verified than in the attempt on the +part of these two murderers each to shift the guilt on to the other. + +The ruffians, Milsome and Fowler, resolved to commit a burglary in +the house of an old man who led a lonely life at the suburb known as +Muswell Hill, near Hornsey. + +The sole occupant of the cottage slept in a bedroom on the first +floor. In his room was an iron safe, in which he kept a considerable +sum of money, close by the side of his bed. + +In the dead of night the two robbers found their way into the kitchen, +which was below the bedroom. They made, however, so much noise as to +arouse the sleeper in the room above. The old man rose, and went down +into the kitchen, where he found the two prisoners preparing to search +for whatever property they might carry away. Instantly they fell upon +their victim, threw him on to the floor, and with a tablecloth, +which they found in the room, and which they cut into strips for the +purpose, bound the poor old man hand and foot, and struck him so +violently about the head that he was killed on the spot, where he was +found the following morning. The prisoners failed to obtain the booty +they were in search of, and made off with some trifling plunder, the +only reward for a most cruel murder. They escaped for a time, but were +at last traced by a singular accident--one of the prisoners having +taken a boy's toy lamp on the night of the burglary from his mother's +cottage and left it in the kitchen of the murdered man. The boy +identified one of the prisoners as the man who had been at his +mother's and taken the lamp. + +The men were jointly charged with the murder before me. Each tried +to fix the guilt on the other, knowing--or, at all events, +believing--that he himself would escape the consequences of wilful +murder if he succeeded in hanging his friend. I knew well enough that, +unless it could be proved that _both_ were implicated in the murder, +or if it should be left uncertain which was the man who actually +committed it, or that they both went to the place with the joint +intention of perpetrating it if necessary for their object, they might +both avoid the gallows. I therefore directed my attention closely to +every circumstance in the case, and after a considerable amount of +evidence had been given without much result, so far as implicating +both prisoners in the actual murder was concerned, an accidental +discovery revealed the whole of the facts of the tragedy as plainly as +if I had seen it committed. + +I have said that the tablecover had been _cut_ into strips to +accomplish their purpose; and it was clear that a penknife had been +used, for one was found on the floor. Suddenly my attention was called +to the fact that _two_ penknives, which no one had hitherto noticed, +were produced. They belonged, not to the prisoners, but to the +deceased man, and were usually placed on the shelf in the kitchen. But +it came out in evidence, quite, as it seemed, accidentally, that they +had been taken from that place, and were found on the floor where +the cutting up of the tablecover had been performed, at some little +distance from one another; but each knife _by the side of and not far +from the deceased man_. They were at my wish handed to me; I also +asked for some of the shreds which had bound the dead man. Upon +examination it seemed that these were the knives that had been used to +cut the tablecloth into shreds, and if so, the jury might well assume +that _each_ prisoner had used one of the knives for that purpose, for +one man could not at the same time use two. + +The tablecloth had jagged or hacked edges, which satisfied the jury +that the knives had been used hurriedly, and that each man had been +doing his share of the cutting. It was thus clearly established that +both the men were engaged in the murder and equally guilty, and so the +jury found by their verdict. + +Whilst they were considering, the bigger of the two, a very powerful +man, made a murderous attack upon the other, whom he evidently looked +upon as his betrayer, and tried to kill him in the dock. The struggle +was a fearful one, but the warders at last separated them. + +They were both sentenced to death and hanged. + +[The fact of these men making a noise in entering the house was +strongly against them on a question of intent. Burglars work silently, +and at the least noise decamp, as a rule. In the present case, there +being only one old man to contend against, it was easy to silence him +as they did, and as they doubtless intended, when they went to the +house.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +SEVERAL SCENES. + + +I think I have said that I had a favourite motto, which was, "Never +fret." It has often stood me in good stead and helped me to obey it. +I was once put to it, however, on my way to open the Commission at +Bangor on the Welsh Circuit. The Assizes were to commence on the +following day. It was a very glorious afternoon, and one to make you +wish that no Assize might ever be held again. + +I had engaged to dine with the High Sheriff, who lived three or four +miles away from the town, in a very beautiful part of the country; so +there was everything to make one glad, except the Assizes. Added to +all this pleasurable excitement, the Chester Cup was to be run for in +the meanwhile, and I had many old friends who I knew would be there, +and whom I should have been glad to meet had it been possible. + +The Sheriff had made most elaborate calculations from his Bradshaw and +other sources as to the times of departure and arrival by train. I did +not know what to do, so arranged with the stationmaster at Chester to +shunt my carriage till the afternoon, having no doubt I should be able +to fulfil my engagements easily. + +It so happened, however, that the racing arrangements of the railway +had been completely disturbed by the great crowds of visitors, and the +result was that I did not reach Carnarvon at the proper time, and my +arrival in that place was delayed for nearly an hour. + +Nevertheless, I opened the Commission, and the High Sheriff asked me +if I would allow him to go on to his house to receive his guests, whom +he had invited to meet me, and permit the chaplain to escort me in the +performance of my duties. + +Having dressed in full uniform, I got into the carriage with the +chaplain, who was quite a lively companion, of an enterprising turn of +mind, and desirous of learning something of the world. I could have +taught him a good deal, I have no doubt, had I allowed myself to be +drawn. My friend had no great conversational powers, but was possessed +of an inquiring mind. After we had ridden a little way, to my great +amusement he asked me if I had any favourite _motto_ that I could tell +him, so that he might keep it in his memory. + +"Yes," said I, "I have a very good one," and cheerfully said, "Never +fret." + +This, when I explained it to him, especially with reference to my +business arrangements, seemed to please him very much. It was as good +as saying, "Don't fret because you can't preach two sermons from two +pulpits at the same time." + +He asked if he might write it down in his pocket-book, and I told him +by all means, and hoped he would. + +"Excellent!" he murmured as he wrote it: "Never fret." + +He then asked modestly if I could give him any other pithy saying +which would be worthy of remembrance. + +"Yes," said I, thinking a little, "I recollect one very good thing +which you will do well to remember: Never say anything you think will +be disagreeable to other persons." + +He expressed great admiration for this, as it sounded so original, and +was particularly adapted to the clergy. + +"Oh," said he, "that's in the real spirit of Christianity." + +"Is that so?" I asked, as he wrote it down in his book; and he seemed +to admire it exceedingly after he had written it, even more than the +other. + +Then he said he really did not like to trouble me, but it was the +first time he had had the honour of occupying the position of +Sheriff's chaplain, etc.; but might he trouble me for another motto, +or something that might go as a kind of companion to the others in his +pocket-book? + +This a little puzzled me, but I felt that he took me now for a sage, +and that my reputation as such was at stake. I had nothing in stock, +but wondered if it would be possible to make one for him while he +waited. + +"Yes," said I, "with the greatest displeasure: Never do anything which +you feel will be disagreeable to yourself." + +"My lord!" he cried in the greatest glee, "that is by far the best of +all; that must go down in my book, it is so practical, and of everyday +use." + +I was, of course, equally delighted to afford so young a man so much +instruction, and thought what a thing it is to be young. However, here +was an opportunity not to be lost of showing him how to put to the +practical test of experience two at least, if not all three, of the +little aphorisms, and I said so. + +"I should be delighted, my lord, to put your advice into practice at +the earliest opportunity," he answered. + +"That will be on Sunday," said I, "at twelve o'clock. Don't preach a +long sermon!" + +In due time we arrived at the Sheriff's house, and there found all the +guests assembled and waiting to meet me. I was quite quick enough to +perceive at a glance that they had been planning some scheme to entrap +me--at all events, to cause me embarrassment. The ladies were in it, +for they all smiled, and said as plainly by their looks as possible, +"We shall have you nicely, Judge, depend upon it, by-and-by." + +The Sheriff was the chief spokesman. No sooner had we sat down to +table than he addressed me in a most unaffected manner, as if the +question were quite in the ordinary course, and had not been planned. +I answered it in the same spirit. + +"My lord, could you kindly tell us which horse has won the Cup?" +evidently thinking that I had been to the course. + +There was a dead silence at this crucial question--a silence that +you could feel was the result of a deep-laid conspiracy--and all the +ladies smiled. + +Fortunately I was not caught; nor was I even taken aback; my presence +of mind did not desert me in this my hour of need; and I said, in the +most natural tone I could assume,-- + +"Yes, I was sure that would be the first question you would ask me +when I had the pleasure of meeting this brilliant company, as you knew +I must pass through Chester Station; so I popped my head out of the +window and asked the porter which horse had won. He told me the Judge +had won by a length, Chaplain was a good second, and Sheriff a bad +third." + +The squire took his defeat like a man. + +I was reminded during the evening of a singular case of bigamy--a +double bigamy--that came before me at Derby, in which the simple story +was that an unfortunate couple had got married twenty years before the +time I speak of, and that they had the good luck to find out they did +not care for one another the week after they were married. It would +have been luckier if they had found it out a week before instead of +a week after; but so it was, and in the circumstances they did the +wisest thing, probably, that they could. They separated, and never met +again until they met in the dock before me--a trysting-place not of +their own choosing, and more strange than a novelist would dream of. + +But there they were, and this was the story of their lives:-- + +The man, after the separation, lived for some time single, then formed +a companionship, and, as he afterwards heard that his wife had got +married to some one else, thought he would follow her example. + +Now, if a Judge punished immorality, here was something to punish; but +the law leaves that to the ecclesiastical or some other jurisdiction. +The Judge has but to deal with the breach of the law, and to punish in +accordance with the requirements of the injury to society--not even to +the injury of the individual. + +I made inquiries of the police and others, as the prisoners had +pleaded guilty, and found that all the parties--the four persons--had +been living respectable and hard-working lives. There was no fault +whatever to be found with their conduct. They were respected by all +who knew them. + +I then asked how it was found out at last that these people, living +quietly and happily, had been previously married. + +"O my lord," said a policeman, "there was a hinquest on a babby, which +was the female prisoner's babby and what had died. Then it come out +afore Mr. Coroner, my lord, and he ordered the woman into custody, and +then the man was took." + +I thought they had had punishment enough for their offence, and gave +them no imprisonment, but ordered them to be released on their own +recognizances, and to come up for judgment if called upon. + +Now came _my_ sentence. The clergyman of the parish in which this +terrible crime had been discovered evidently felt that he had been +living in the utmost danger for years. Here these people came to his +church, and for aught he knew prayed for forgiveness under the very +roof where he himself worshipped. + +He said I had done a fine thing to encourage sin and immorality, and +what could come of humanity if Judges would not punish? + +He denounced me, I afterwards learned, in his pulpit in the severest +terms, although I did not hear that he used the same vituperative +language towards the poor creatures I had so far absolved. Luckily I +was not attending the reverend gentleman's ministration, but he seemed +to think the greatest crime I had committed was disallowing the costs +of the prosecution. That was a direct _incentive to bigamy_, although +in what respect I never learned. + +It sometimes suggested to my mind this question,-- + +What would this minister of the gospel have said to the Divine Master +when the woman caught "in the very act" was before Him, and He said, +in words never to be forgotten till men and women are no more, +"Neither do I condemn thee"? + +I thought those who loved a prosecution of this kind--whoever it may +have been--_ought_ to pay for the luxury, and so I condemned _them_ in +the costs. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +DR. LAMSON[A]--A CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY--A WILL CASE. + +[Footnote A: In this and one or two other cases I am pleased to +acknowledge my thanks to my esteemed friend Mr. Charles W. Mathews, +the distinguished advocate, for refreshing my memory with the +incidents.] + + +One of the most diabolical cases which came before me while a Judge +was one which, although it occupied several days, can be told in +the course of a few minutes. I mention it, moreover, not so much on +account of its inhuman features as the fact that, in my opinion, Dr. +Lamson led the prosecutors--that is, the Government solicitors--into a +theory which was calculated by that cunning murderer to save him from +a conviction, and it nearly did so. + +The story is this:--There was in the year 1873 a family of five +children, one of whom died that year and another in 1879, leaving +two daughters and a poor cripple boy of eighteen. He was partially +paralyzed, and had a malformation of the spine, so that he was +an object of great commiseration. He was of a kind and cheerful +disposition, and, excepting his spinal affliction, in good health. He +seems to have been loved by everybody. His playmates wheeled him about +in his chair so that he might enjoy their pastimes, and even carried +him up and down stairs. One of this boy's sisters married a Mr. +Chapman; the other married a man who was a doctor, or passed as one, +of the name of Lamson. He was a man of idle habits, luxurious tastes, +and a wicked heart. He was in debt, had fraudulently drawn cheques +when he had nothing at the bank to meet them, and was so reduced +to poverty that he had pawned his watch and his case of surgical +instruments. + +By the death of the brother in 1879, the two sisters received each +a sum of L800. This boy, Percy, received the like amount, and if he +should live to come of age would have a further sum of L3,000; but if +he died before that period, one-half would go to Mrs. Chapman and the +other half to Mrs. Lamson, the doctor's wife. + +Lamson had bought a medical practice at Bournemouth in 1880, but very +soon after writs and executions were issued against him. + +For three years before Percy's death he had been at school at Blenheim +House, Wimbledon. + +It appeared from his statement while dying that he felt just "the same +as I did once before, when I was at Shanklin with my brother-in-law," +the doctor, "after he had given me a quinine pill." "My throat is +burning, and my skin feels all drawn up." This pill, however, did not +kill him, but it showed, as subsequent events proved, the murderous +design of Dr. Lamson. + +On December 3 the boy, being still at school and in good health, was +amusing himself with his schoolfellows when his brother-in-law, the +prisoner, called. Percy was taken into the room to see him. "Well, +Percy, old boy," said the doctor, "how fat you are looking!" The +doctor sat down, and Percy was seated near him. The visitor then took +out of a little bag a Dundee cake and some sweets, and cut a small +slice of the cake with his penknife. About fifteen minutes afterwards +he said to Mr. Bedbury, the master, "I did not forget you and your +boys: these capsules will be nice for them to take nauseous medicines +in;" and he took several boxes of capsules from the bag and placed +them on the table. One box he pushed towards Mr. Bedbury, asking him +to try them. + +No one had seen Lamson take a capsule out of the box, but he was seen +to fill one with sugar and give it to the boy, saying, "Here, Percy, +you are a swell pill-taker." Within five minutes after that the doctor +excused himself for going so soon, saying if he did not he would lose +his train. + +Not long after his departure--that is, between eight and nine--the boy +was taken ill and put into bed with all the violent symptoms which +are invariably produced by that most deadly of vegetable poisons, +aconitine, and he died at twenty minutes past eleven the same night. + +Aconitine was found in the stomach; aconitine had been purchased by +the doctor before the boy's death, and being well and having been +well, the brother-in-law gave him the last thing he swallowed before +the dreadful symptoms of the poison betrayed its presence. At that +time no chemical test could be applied to aconitine, any more than it +could to strychnine in the time of Palmer. But its symptoms were, in +the one case as well as in the other, unmistakable, and such as no +other cause of illness would produce. + +Two pills were found in the boy's play-box, one of which was said to +contain aconitine. + +Such was the simple case which occupied six days to try. The jury were +not long in coming to a conclusion, and returned into court with a +verdict of "Guilty." + +My awful duty was soon concluded. I told the prisoner the law +compelled me to pass upon him the sentence of death; but gave him, +both by voice and manner, to understand that in this world there could +be no hope for such a criminal. I said, as I thought it right to say, +that it was no part of my duty to admonish him as to how he was to +meet the dread doom that awaited him, but nevertheless I entreated +him to seek for pardon of his great sin from the Almighty. It was my +opinion, and I believe that of the counsel for the defence, that, +although so much stress was laid upon the _capsule_ and the +administration of the poison by that means, it was not so +administered, but that the capsule was an artifice, designed to +hoodwink the doctors and Treasury solicitors. + +To have poisoned the boy in such a manner would have been a clumsy +device for so keen and artful a criminal as Lamson; and I knew it +was conveyed in another manner. It should be stated that in Lamson's +pocket-book were found memoranda as to the symptoms and effect of +aconitine, and as to there being no test for its discovery. Lamson +therefore had made the poisoning of this boy a careful and particular +study. He was not such a clumsy operator as to administer it in the +way suggested. The openness of that proceeding was to blind the eyes +of detectives and lawyers alike; the aconitine was conveyed to the +lad's stomach _by means of a raisin in the piece of Dundee cake which +Lamson cut with his penknife and handed to him_. He knew, of course, +the part of the cake where it was. + +My attention was directed to the artifice employed by Lamson, by the +shallowness of the stratagem, and by the one circumstance that almost +escaped notice--namely, the Dundee cake and the curious desire of the +man to offer the boy a piece in so unusual a manner. So eager was he +to give him a taste that he must needs cut it with his _penknife_. +I was sure, and am sure now, although there is no evidence but that +which common sense, acting on circumstances, suggested, that the +aconitine was conveyed to the deceased by means of the piece of cake +which Lamson gave him, and being carefully placed in the interior of +the raisin, would not operate until the skin had had time to digest, +and he the opportunity of getting on his journey to Paris, whither +he was bound that night, to await, no doubt, the news of the boy's +illness and death. + +If the poison had been conveyed in the capsule, its operation would +have been almost immediate, and so would the detection of the +aconitine. As I have said, the contrivance would have been too clumsy +for so crafty a mind. A detective would not expect to find the secret +design so foolishly exposed any more than a spectator would expect to +see the actual trick of a conjurer in the manner of its performance. + +I was not able to bring the artifice before the jury; the Crown +had not discovered it, and Lamson's deep-laid scheme was nearly +successful. His plan, of course, was to lead the prosecution to +maintain that he gave the poison in the capsule, and then to compel +them to show that there was no evidence of it. The jury were satisfied +that the boy was poisoned by Lamson, and little troubled themselves +about the way in which it was done. + +A singular case of mistaken identity came under my notice during the +trial of a serious charge of wounding with intent to do grievous +bodily harm. _Five_ men were charged, and the evidence showed that a +most brutal mutilation of a gamekeeper's hand had been inflicted. The +men were notorious poachers, and were engaged in a poaching expedition +when the crime was committed. One of the accused was a young man, +scarcely more than a youth, but I had no doubt that he was the +cleverest of the gang. The men were convicted, but this young man +vehemently protested his innocence, and declared that he was not with +the gang that night. His manner impressed me so much that I began to +doubt whether some mistake had not been made. The injured keeper, +however, whose honesty I had no reason to doubt, declared that this +youth was really the man who knelt on his breast and inflicted the +grievous injury to his hand by nearly severing the thumb. He swore +that he had every opportunity of seeing him while he was committing +the deed, as his face was close to his own, and _their eyes met_. + +Moreover, the young man's cap was found _close by the spot where the +assault took place_. About this there was no dispute and could be no +mistake, for the prisoner confessed that the cap was his, adding, +however, that he _had lent it on that night to one of the other +prisoners_. The youth vehemently protested his innocence after the +verdict was given. + +So far as he was concerned I was _not_ satisfied with the conviction. +"Is it possible," I asked myself, "that there can have been a +mistake?" I did not think that in the excitement of such a moment, and +during so fearful a struggle with his antagonist, with their faces _so +close together_ that they stared into each other's eyes, there was +such an opportunity of seeing the youth's face as to make it clear +beyond any doubt that he was the man who committed the crime. The +jury, I thought, had judged too hastily from appearances--a mistake +always to be guarded against. + +I invited the prosecuting counsel to come to my room, and asked him, +"Are you satisfied with that verdict so far as the _youngest prisoner_ +is concerned?" + +"Yes," he said; "the jury found him 'Guilty,' and I think the evidence +was enough to justify the verdict." + +"I _do not_," I said, "and shall try him again on another indictment." +There was another involving the same evidence. + +I considered the matter very carefully during the night, and weighed +every particle of evidence with every probability, and the more I +thought of it the more convinced I was that injustice had been done. + +First of all, to prevent the men who I was convinced were rightly +convicted from entertaining any doubt about the result of their +conviction, I sentenced them to penal servitude. + +I then undertook to watch the case on behalf of the young man myself, +and did not, as I might have done, assign him counsel. + +The prisoner was put up for trial, and the second inquiry commenced. +It had struck me during the night that there was a point in the case +which had been taken for granted by the _counsel on both sides_, and +that that point was _the_ one on which the verdict had gone wrong. As +I have said, I did not doubt the honest belief of the keeper, but I +doubted, and, in fact, disbelieved altogether in, the power of any man +to identify the face of another when their eyes were close together, +as he had no ordinary but a distorted view of the features. In order +to test my theory on this matter, I took the real point in the case, +as it afterwards turned out to be. It was this: _Five men_ were taken +_for granted_ to have been in the gang and in the field on that +occasion. The difficulty was to prove that there were only _four_, and +then to show that the young man was not one of the four. These two +difficulties lay before me, but I resolved to test them to the utmost +of my ability. The Crown was against me and the Treasury counsel. + +I knew pretty well where to begin--which is a great point, I think, +in advocacy--and began in the right place. I must repeat that the +prisoner boldly asserted, when the evidence was given as to the +finding of his cap close to the spot where the outrage was committed, +that it _was_ his cap, but that he had not worn it on that night, +having lent it to one of the other men, whom he then named. This was, +to my mind, a very important point in this second trial, and I made +a note of it to assist me at a later period of the case. If this was +true, the strong corroboration of the keeper's evidence of identity +was gone. Indeed, it went a good deal further in its value than that, +for it may have been the finding of the prisoner's cap that induced +the belief that the man whose face he saw was the prisoner's! + +I asked the accused if he would like the other men called to prove +his statements, warning him at the same time that it was upon his own +evidence that they had been arrested, and pointing out the risk he ran +from their ill-will. + +"My lord," said he, "they will owe me no ill-will, and they will not +deny what I say. It's true; I'm one of 'em, and I know they won't deny +it." + +Without discarding this evidence I let the case proceed. I asked the +policeman when he came into the witness-box if he examined carefully +the footprints at the gate where the men entered. He said he had, +and was _quite positive_ that there were the footprints of _four men +only_, and further, that these prints corresponded with the shoes +of the four men who had been sentenced, and _not_ with those of the +prisoner. + +It shows how fatal it may be in Judge, counsel, or jury to take +anything for granted in a criminal charge. It had been taken for +granted at the former trial that _five_ men had entered the field, and +how the counsel for the defence could have done so I am at a loss to +conceive. It was further ascertained that the same number and the +_same footprints_ marked the steps of those coming _out_ of the field. +It went even further, for it was proved that _no footprints of a fifth +man were anywhere visible on any other part of the field_, although +the most careful search had been made. + +If this was established, as I think it was beyond all controversy, +it clearly proved that only _four men_ were in the field when the +injuries were inflicted. But it might, nevertheless, be that the young +man identified was one of the four. Whether he was or not was now the +question at issue; it was reduced to that one point. To disprove this +the prisoner said he would like the men to be called. I cautioned him +again as to the danger of the course he proposed, feeling that he was +pretty safe as it was in the hands of the jury. They could hardly +convict under my ruling in the circumstances. + +"No, my lord," he said; "I am _sure they will speak the truth about +it_. They will not swear falsely against me to save themselves." + +The man who was alleged to have borrowed the cap was then brought up, +and I asked him if it was true that he wore the prisoner's cap on the +night of the outrage. He said, "It is true, my lord; I borrowed it." + +"Then are you the man who inflicted the injury on the keeper?" + +His answer was, "Unhappily, my lord, I am, and I am heartily sorry for +it." + +When asked, "Was this young man with you that night?" + +"No, my lord," was the answer. + +The jury at once said they would not trouble me to sum up the case; +they were perfectly satisfied that the prisoner was not guilty, and +that what he said was true--that he was not in the field that night. +They accordingly acquitted him, to my perfect satisfaction. + +Of course, I instantly wrote to the Home Secretary, Mr. H. Matthews +(now Viscount Llandaff), who at once procured a free pardon on the +former conviction, and the prisoner was restored to liberty. + +This case strikingly points to the imperative demand of justice that +every case shall be investigated in its minutest detail. The broad +features are not by any means sufficient to fix guilt on any one +accused, and it is in such cases that circumstantial evidence is often +brought in question, while, indeed, the _real_ circumstances are too +often not brought to light. Circumstantial evidence can seldom fail if +the real circumstances are brought out. Nobody had thought of raising +a doubt as to there being _five_ persons in the field. + +Upon such small points the great issue of a case often depends. + +Another curious case came before me on the Western Circuit. A +solicitor was charged with forging the will of a lady, which devised +to him a considerable amount of her property; but as the case +proceeded it became clear to me that the will was signed after +the lady's death, and then with a dry pen held in the hand of the +deceased, by the accused himself whilst he guided it over a signature +which he had craftily forged. A woman was present when this was done, +and as she had attested the execution of the will, she was a necessary +witness for the prisoner, and in examination-in-chief she was very +clear indeed that it was by the _hand of the deceased_ that the will +was signed, and that she herself had seen the deceased sign it. +Suspicion only existed as to what the real facts were until this woman +went into the box, and then a scene, highly dramatic, occurred in the +course of her cross-examination by Mr. Charles Mathews, who held the +brief for the prosecution. + +The woman positively swore that she saw the testatrix sign the will +_with her own hand_, and no amount of the rough-and-ready, inartistic, +and disingenuous "Will you swear this?" and "Are you prepared to swear +that?" would have been of any avail. She _had_ sworn it, and was +prepared to swear it, in her own way, any number of times that any +counsel might desire. + +The only mode of dealing with her was adopted. She was asked,-- + +"Where was the will signed?" + +"On the bed." + +"Was any one near?" + +"Yes, the prisoner." + +"How near?" + +"Quite close." + +"So that he could hand the ink if necessary?" + +"Oh yes." + +"And the pen?" + +"Oh yes." + +"_Did he hand the pen_?" + +"He did." + +"_And the ink_?" + +"Yes." + +"There was no one else to do so except you?" + +"No." + +"Did he put the pen into her hand?" + +"Yes." + +"And assist her while she signed the will?" + +"Yes." + +"How did he assist her?" + +"_By raising her in the bed and supporting her when he had raised +her_." + +"Did he guide her hand?" + +"No." + +"Did he touch her hand at all?" + +"_I think he did just touch her hand_." + +"When he did touch her hand _was she dead_?" + +At this last question the woman turned terribly pale, was seen to +falter, and fell in a swoon on the ground, and so _revealed the truth_ +which she had come to _deny_. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +MR.J.L. TOOLE ON THE BENCH. + + +Sir Henry Hawkins was sitting at Derby Assizes in the Criminal Court, +which, as usual in country towns, was crowded so that you could +scarcely breathe, while the air you had to breathe was like that of a +pestilence. There was, however, a little space left behind the dock +which admitted of the passage of one man at a time. + +Windows and doors were all securely closed, so as to prevent draught, +for nothing is so bad as draught when you are hot, and nothing makes +you so hot as being stived by hundreds in a narrow space without +draught. + +He happened to look up into the faces of this shining but by no means +brilliant assembly, when what should he observe peeping over the +shoulders of two buxom factory women with blue kerchiefs but the _head +of J.L. Toole_! At least, it looked like Mr. Toole's head; but how it +came there it was impossible to say. It was a delight anywhere, but it +seemed now out of place. + +The marshal asked the Sheriff, "Isn't that Toole?" + +The answer was, "It looks like him." + +We knew he was in the town, and that there was to be a bespeak night, +when her Majesty's Judges and the Midland Circuit would honour, etc. +Derby is not behind other towns in this respect. + +Presently the Judge's eyes went in the direction of the object which +excited so much curiosity, and, like every one else, he was interested +in the appearance of the great comedian, although at that moment he +was not acting a part, but enduring a situation. + +In the afternoon the actor was on the Bench sitting next to the +marshal, and assuming an air of great gravity, which would have +become a Judge of the greatest dignity. There was never the faintest +suggestion of a smile. He looked, indeed, like Byron's description of +the Corsair:-- + + "And where his frown of hatred darkly fell, + Hope, withering, fled, and Mercy sighed farewell." + +A turkey-cock in a pulpit could not have seemed more to dominate the +proceedings. + +One very annoying circumstance occurred at this Assize. It was the +cracking, sometimes almost banging, of the _seats_ and wainscoting, +which had been remade of oak. Every now and again there was a loud +squeak, and then a noise like the cracking of walnuts. To a sensitive +mind it must have been a trying situation, as Toole afterwards said, +when you are trying prisoners. + +Meanwhile Sir Henry pursued the even tenor of his way, speaking +little, as was his wont, and thinking much about the case before him, +of a very trumpery character, unless you measured it by the game laws. +But no one less liked to be disturbed by noises of any kind than Sir +Henry when at work. Even the rustling of a newspaper would cause him +to direct the reader to study in some other part of the building. + +Suddenly there was a squeaking of another kind distinguishable from +all others--it was the squeaking of _Sunday boots_. In the country no +boots are considered Sunday boots unless they squeak. At all events, +that was the case in Derbyshire at the time I write of. + +The noise proceeded from a heavy farmer, a juror-in-waiting, who was +allowed to cross from one side of the court to the other for change of +air. His endeavour to suppress the noise of his boots only seemed to +cause them the greater irritation. There was a universal titter as the +crowd looked up to see what line the Judge would take. + +Sir Henry reproved quietly, and just as the farmer, who was prancing +like an elephant, had got well in front of the Bench, he said,-- + +"If that gentleman desires to perambulate this court, he had better +take off his boots." + +The gravity of the situation was disturbed, but that of the farmer +remained, unhappily for him, for, with one foot planted firmly on the +ground, and the other poised between heaven and earth, he was afraid +to let it come down, and there he stood. "We will wait," said the +Judge, "until that gentleman has got to the door which leads into the +street." The juryman, Toole told us afterwards, was delighted, for he +escaped for the whole Assize. + +Although there was much laughter, Toole knew his position and dignity +too well to join in it; but he did what any respectable citizen would +be expected to do in the circumstances--tried to suppress it, yet made +such faces in the attempt that the whole house came down in volleys. +But now he was resolved to set matters right, and prevent any further +repetition of unseemly conduct. The way he did so is worthy of note. +He took a pen, dipped it in the ink, and then, spreading his elbows +out as one in great authority, and duly impressed with the dignity of +the situation, wrote these words on a sheet of paper, which had the +royal arms in the centre, his tongue meanwhile seeming to imitate the +motion of his pen: "I have had my eye on you for a long time past, +and if I see you laugh again I will send you to prison. Be warned in +time." + +"Just hand that," said he, giving it to a javelin-man, "to the +gentleman there in the _green blouse_ and red hair." + +The paper was stuck into the slit of the tapering fishing-rod-like +instrument, and placed under the nose of the man who had been +laughing. It was some time before he could believe his eyes, but +a thrust or two of the stick acted like a pair of spectacles, and +convinced him it was intended for his perusal. The effect was +instantaneous, and he handed the document to his wife. It was +interesting to watch the face of Toole, suffused with good-humour +and yet preserving its elastic dignity, in contrast with that of +the farmer, which was almost white with terror as they interchanged +furtive glances for the next half-hour. However, it all ended happily, +for the man never laughed again. Toole was invited to dine at the +Judge's dinner, but being himself on circuit, and not at liberty till +_eleven_, when he took supper, an invitation to "look in" was accepted +instead, if it were not too late. + +After supper he accordingly went for his "look in," and arriving at +half-past eleven, was in time for dinner, which did not take place +till half-past twelve, the court having adjourned at 12.15. However, +we spent a very pleasant evening, Toole telling the story of his going +to see Hawkins in the Tichborne trial related elsewhere, and Sir Henry +that of the Queen refusing once upon a time to accept a box at Drury +Lane Theatre while E.T. Smith was lessee, which made Smith so angry +that he could hardly bring himself to propose her Majesty's health +at a dinner that same evening at Drury Lane. Nothing but his loyalty +prevented his resenting it in a suitable and dignified manner. When +one sovereign is affronted by another, the only thing is to consider +their respective _commercial_ values, for that, as a rule, is the test +of all things in a commercial world. But the sequel was that E.T. +said, "_Although me and her Majesty have had a little difference, I +think on the whole I may propose the Queen_!" Fool is he who neglects +his Sovereign, and gets in exchange Sovereign contempt. Such was +Toole's observation. + +It was at this little entertainment that Sir Henry told the story of +the banker's clerk and the bad boy--a true story, he said, although it +may be without a moral. The best stories, said Toole, like the best +people, have no morals--at least, none to make a song about--any more +than the best dogs have the longest tails. + +A gentleman who was a customer at a certain bank was asked by a bank +clerk whether a particular cheque bore his signature. + +The gentleman looked at it, and said, "That is all right." + +"All right?" said the bank clerk. "Is that really your signature, +sir?" + +"Certainly," said the gentleman. + +"Quite sure, sir?" + +"As sure as I am of my own existence." + +The clerk looked puzzled and somewhat disconcerted, so sure was he +that the signature was false. + +"How can I be deceived in my own handwriting?" asked the supposed +drawer of the cheque. + +"Well," said the clerk, "you will excuse me, I hope, but I have +_refused to pay on that signature_, because I do not believe it is +yours." + +"_Pay_!" said the customer. "For Heaven's sake, do not dishonour my +signature." + +"I will never do that," was the answer; "but will you look through +your papers, counterfoils, bank-book, and accounts, and see if you can +trace this cheque?" + +The customer looked through his accounts and found no trace of it or +the amount for which it was given. + +At last, on examining the _number_ of the cheque, he was convinced +that the signature could not be his, _because he had never had +a cheque-book with that number in it_. At the same time, his +astonishment was great that the clerk should know his handwriting +better than he knew it himself. + +"I will tell you," said the clerk, "how I discovered the forgery. A +boy presented this cheque, purporting to have been signed by you. I +cashed it. He came again with another. I cashed that. A little while +afterwards he came again. My suspicions were then aroused, not by +anything in the signature or the cheque, but by the circumstance of +the _frequency of his coming_. When he came the third time, however, +I suspended payment until I saw you, because the _line under your +signature with which you always finish was not at the same angle_; it +went a trifle nearer the letters, and I at once concluded it was a +FORGERY." And so it turned out to be. + +"That boy," said Toole, "deserves to be taken up by some one, for he +has great talent." + +"And in speaking of this matter," said Sir Henry, "I may tell you that +bankers' clerks are the very best that ever could be invented as +tests for handwriting. Their intelligence and accuracy are perfectly +astonishing. They hardly ever make a mistake, and are seldom deceived. +The experts in handwriting are clever enough, and mean to be true; but +every _expert_ in a case, be he doctor, caligrapher, or phrenologist, +has some unknown quantity of bias, and must almost of necessity, if he +is on the one side or the other, exercise it, however unintentional it +may be. The banker speaks _without this influence_, and therefore, if +not more likely to be correct, is more reasonably supposed to be so. + +"Do you remember, Sir Henry," asked Toole, "what the clever rogue +Orton wrote in his pocket-book? 'Some has money no brains; some has +brains no money; them as has money no brains was made for them as has +brains no money.'" + +"Just like Roger," said Sir Henry. This was a catch-phrase in society +at the time of the trial. + +Some one recited from a number of _Hood's Comic Annual_ the following +poem by Tom Hood:-- + +A BIRD OF ANOTHER FEATHER.[A] + +[Footnote A: These lines appeared about 1874, and I have to make +acknowledgments to those whom I have been unable to ask for permission +to reproduce, and trust they will accept both my apologies and +thanks.] + + "Yestreen, when I retired to bed, + I had a funny dream; + Imagination backward sped + Up History's ancient stream. + A falconer in fullest dress + Was teaching me his art; + Of tercel, eyas, hood, and jess, + The terms I learnt by heart. + + "He flew his falcon to attack + The osprey, swan, and hern, + And showed me, when he wished it back, + The lure for its return. + I thought it was a noble sport; + I struggled to excel + My gentle teacher, and, in short, + I managed rather well. + + "The dream is o'er, and I to-day + Return to modern time; + But yet I've something more to say, + If you will list my rhyme. + I've been a witness in a case + For seven long mortal hours, + And, cross-examined, had to face + The counsel's keenest powers. + + "With courteous phrase and winning smiles + He led me gently on; + I fell a victim to his wiles-- + But how he changed anon! + 'Oh, you're prepared to swear to that!' + And, 'Now, sir, just take care!' + And, 'Come, be cautious what you're at!' + With questions hard to bear. + + "And when he'd turned me inside out, + He turned me outside in; + I knew not what I was about-- + My brain was all a-spin, + I'm shaking now with nervous fright, + And since I left the court + I've changed my dream-opinion quite-- + I don't think Hawkins sport!" + +Before concluding the evening, Toole said,-- + +"You remember your joke, Sir Henry, about Miss Brain and her black +kids?" + +"Not for the world, not for the world, my dear Toole!" + +"Not for the world, Sir Henry, not for the world; only for us; not +before the boys! You said it was the best joke you ever made." + +"And the worst. But I was not a Judge then."] + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A FULL MEMBER OF THE JOCKEY CLUB. + + +I knew a great many men connected with the Turf, from the highest +to the humblest; but although I have spent the most agreeable hours +amongst them, there is little which, if written, would afford +amusement: everything in a story, a repartee, or a joke depends, like +a jewel, on its setting. At Lord Falmouth's, my old and esteemed +friend, I have spent many jovial and happy hours. He was one of the +most amiable of hosts, and of a boundless hospitality; ran many +distinguished horses, and won many big races. I used to drive with him +to see his horses at exercise before breakfast, and in his company +visited some of the most celebrated men of the day, who were also +amongst the most distinguished of the Turf. Amongst these was Prince +B----, whose fate was the saddest of all my reminiscences of the Turf. +I almost witnessed his death, for it took place nearly at the moment +of my taking leave of him at the Jockey Club. There was a flight of +stairs from where I stood with him, leading down to the luncheon-room, +and there he appears to have slipped and fallen. + +I don't know that it was in consequence of this accident, or whether +it had anything to do with it, but I seemed after this sad event to +have practically broken my connection with the Turf, and yet perhaps I +was more intimately attached to it than ever, for Lord Rosebery asked +me (I being an honorary member of the Jockey Club) whether there was +any reason, so far as my judicial position was concerned, why I should +not be elected a _full member_. I said there was none. So his lordship +proposed me, and I was elected. + +The only privilege I acquired by "full membership" was that I had +to pay ten guineas a year subscription instead of nothing. I almost +regularly had the honour of being invited, with other members of the +club, to the entertainment given by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales on the +Derby night--a festivity continued since his Majesty's accession to +the throne. Nor shall I forget the several occasions on which I have +had the honour to be the guest of his gracious Majesty at Sandringham; +and I mention them here to record my respectful gratitude for the +kindness and hospitality of their Majesties the King and Queen +whenever it has been my good fortune to be invited. + +Speaking, however, of racing men, I have always thought that the +passion for gambling is one of the strongest propensities of our +nature, and once the mind is given to it there is no restraint +possible, either from law or pulpit. Its fascination never slackens, +and time never blunts the keen desire of self-gratification which it +engenders, while the grip with which it fastens upon us is as fast in +old age as in youth. It will absorb all other pleasures and pastimes. +I will give an instance of what I mean. There was a well-known +bookmaker of my acquaintance whose whole mind was devoted to this +passion; his lifetime was a gamble; everything seemed to be created +to make a bet upon. Do what he would, go where he would, his thoughts +were upon horse-racing. + +I was staying with Charley Carew, the owner and occupier of Beddington +Park, with a small party of guests invited for shooting. One morning +there was to be a rabbit-killing expedition, and after a pretty good +morning's walk, I had a rest, and then leisurely went along towards +the trysting-place for lunch. It was a large oak tree, and as I came +up there was Hodgman, the bookie, who did not see me, walking round +the rabbits, which lay in rows, counting them, and muttering, +"_Two--four--twenty_," and so on up to a hundred. He then paused, and +after a while soliloquized, "Ah! fancy a hundred! One hundred _dead +uns_! What would I give for such a lot for the Chester Cup!" + +His mind was not with the rabbits except in connection with his +betting-book on the Chester Cup. He was by no means singular except in +the manner of showing his propensity. The devotees of "Bridge" are all +Hodgmans in their way. + +At the Benchers' table I was speaking of Clarkson in reference to the +Old Bailey. He had been with me in consultation in a very bad case. We +had not the ghost of a chance of winning it, and indicated our opinion +to that effect to the unhappy client. + +He turned from us with a sad look, as if desperation had seized him, +and then, with tears in his eyes, asked Clarkson if he thought it +advisable for him to _surrender_ and take his trial. + +"My good man," said Clarkson, "it is my duty as a loyal subject to +advise you to surrender and take your trial, _but, if I were in your +shoes_, I'll be damned if I would!" + +The man, however, for some reason or other, _did_ surrender like a +good citizen, and the man who did not appear was his own leading +counsel Clarkson. He never even looked in, and the conduct of the +case, therefore, devolved on me. I did my best for him, however, and +succeeded. The man was acquitted. + +Not content with this piece of good fortune, for such indeed it +was, he was ill-advised enough to bring an action for _malicious +prosecution_. Lord Denman tried it, and told him it was a most +impudent action, and he was astonished that he was not convicted. + +During this conversation another, of no little importance, took place, +and Lord Westbury is reported to have said,-- + +"I did not assert that the House of Lords had abolished hell with +costs, although I have no doubt that the large majority would gladly +assent to any such decree--all, in fact, except the Bishops." + +As I never listen to after-dinner theology, I forbear comment on this +subject; but before this time there had been a curious action brought +by a churchwarden against his vicar for refusing to administer the +Sacrament to him, on the ground that he did not believe in the +personality of the devil. After the decisions in the courts below, it +was finally determined by the House of Lords that the vicar was wrong. +Hence it was that Westbury was reported to have said that the House of +Lords had abolished hell with costs. "What I did say," said Westbury, +"was that the poor churchwarden who did not at one time believe in the +personality of the devil returned to the true orthodox Christian faith +when he received his attorney's bill." + +Turning to me, his lordship said,-- + +"My dear Hawkins, you shall write your reminiscences, and, what is +more, they shall be printed in good type, and, what is more, the first +copy shall be directed to me." + +And so it should be, if I only knew his address. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE LITTLE MOUSE AND THE PRISONER. + + +I come now to a small event which occurred during my judgeship, and +which I call my little mouse story. + +I was presiding at the Old Bailey Sessions, and a case came before me +of a prisoner who was undergoing a term of two years' imprisonment +with hard labour for some offence against the Post Office. + +The charge against him on the present occasion was attempting to +murder or do grievous bodily harm to a prison warder. This officer was +on duty in the prisoner's cell when the assault took place. + +The facts relied on by the Crown were simple enough. The warder +had gone into the cell to take the man's dinner, when suddenly the +prisoner seized the knife brought for his use, and made a rush at the +warder with it in his hand, at the same time uttering threats and +imprecations. + +Believing his life to be in danger, the warder ran to the door and got +outside into the adjoining corridor, pulling the cell door to after +him and closing it. + +He had no sooner escaped than the prisoner struck a violent blow in +the direction the warder had gone, but the door being closed, it fell +harmlessly enough. It left such a mark, however, that no doubt could +be entertained as to the violence with which it was delivered and the +probable result had it reached the warder himself. + +Thus presented, the case looked serious. Mr. Montagu Williams, who was +counsel for the Crown, felt it to be, as it undoubtedly was, his duty +in common fairness to present not only the bare facts necessary +for his own case, but also those which might be relied upon by the +prisoner as his defence, or at all events in mitigation of punishment. +In performing this duty, he elicited from his witness a very touching +little history of the origin and cause of the crime. It was this:-- + +A poor little mouse had, somehow or other, managed to get inside the +prisoner's cell; and one day, while the unhappy man was eating his +prison fare, he saw the mouse running timidly along the floor. At last +it came to a few crumbs of bread which the prisoner had purposely +spread, and ran away with one of them into its hiding-place. The next +day it came again, and found more crumbs; and so on from day to day, +the prisoner relieving the irksomeness and the weary solitude of his +confinement by tempting it to trust him, and become his one companion +and friend, till at last it became so tame that it formed a little +nest, and made its home in the sleeve of the prisoner's jail clothes. +During the long hours of the dreary day it was his companion and pet; +played with him, fed with him, and mitigated his solitude. It even +slept with him at night. + +All this was, of course, against the prison rules. But the mouse had +no reason to obey them. + +One unhappy day a warder came into the cell, when the poor mouse +peeped out from his tiny hiding-place, and the officer, I presume, as +a matter of duty, seized the little intruder on the spot and captured +it. + +God help the world if every one did his strict duty in it! But--what +to the prisoner seemed inexcusable barbarity--he killed the poor +little mouse in the sight of the unhappy man whose friend and +companion it had been. + +This infuriated him to such an extent that, having the dinner-knife in +his hand--the knife which would have assisted at the mouse's banquet +as well as his own--he rushed at the warder, who fortunately escaped +through the open door of the cell, the prisoner striking the knife +into the door. + +In the result the prisoner was indicted on the charge of attempting +to murder the warder. The defence was that, as murder in the +circumstances was impossible, _the attempt could not be established_, +and on the authority of a case (which has, however, since been +overruled) I felt bound to direct an acquittal; and I confess _I was +not sorry_ to come to that conclusion, for it would have been a sad +thing had the prisoner been convicted of an offence committed in a +moment of such great and not unnatural excitement, and one for which +penal servitude must have been awarded. + +The poor fellow had suffered enough without additional punishment. I +can conceive nothing more keen than the torture of returning to his +cell to grieve for the little friend which could never come to him +again. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE LAST OF LORD CAMPBELL--WINE AND WATER--SIR THOMAS WILDE. + + +Life, alas! must have its sad stories as well as its mirthful. I have +told few of the former, not because they have not been present to my +mind, but because I think it useless to perpetuate them by narration. +But for its occasional gleams of humour, life would indeed be dull, +and ever eclipsed by the shadow of sorrow. + +One of the stories the Chief Baron told me is as indelibly fixed on +my memory as it was on his. Lord Campbell had been so long and so +prominently before the country that his death would be a theme of +conversation in the world of literature, science, law, and fashion. +But it was not his death that impressed me; it was the incidents that +immediately attended it. + +"His lordship"--thus was the event related--"had been entertaining +a party at dinner, and amongst them was his brother-in-law, Colonel +Scarlett. In its incidents the dinner had been as lively and agreeable +as those events in social and refined life usually are. Scarlett had +an important engagement with Campbell in the city on the following +Monday, this being Saturday night. As he rose to go Scarlett wished +his host good-night with a hearty shake-hands. + +"'Good-night--good-night; we shall meet again on Monday.'" + +Alas! Campbell died that night suddenly, and by a singular +interposition of Providence, Scarlett died suddenly the next day, +Sunday. They met no more in this world. + + * * * * * + +In the course of my life I have suffered, like many others, from +nameless afflictions--nameless because they do not exist. No one can +localize this strange infirmity or realize it. You only know you have +a sensation of depression. In every other respect I was perfectly +well, yet I thought it was necessary to see a doctor. So it was, if I +wished to be ill. + +Being in this unhappy condition, I consulted Sir James Paget, then in +the zenith of his fame. + +It did not take him very long to test me. I think he did it with a +smile, for I felt a good deal better after it. + +"Just tell me," said he, "do you ever drink any water?" + +"Now it's coming," I thought; "he's going to knock me off my wine." I +thought, however, I would be equal to the occasion, and said,-- + +"I know what you are driving at: you want to know if I ever mix a +little water in my wine." + +"No, no, I don't," said he; "you are quite wrong, for if your water is +good and your wine bad, you spoil your water; and if your wine is good +and your water bad, you spoil your wine." + +I took his advice--which was certainly worth the fee--and never mixed +my wine with water after that, although I have some doubt as to +whether I had ever done so before. + +I came away in good heart, because I was so delighted that there was +not a vestige of anything the matter with me. + +With a view to enable me to give each case due consideration before +fixing the poor wretch's doom after conviction, I invariably ordered +the prisoner to stand down until all were tried. + +I then spent a night in going through my notes in each case, so that +if there were any circumstances that I could lay hold of by way of +mitigation of the sentence, I did so. + +I do not mean to say that I did this in trifling cases, such as a +magistrate could dispose of, but in all cases of magnitude possibly +involving penal servitude. + +Once, however, I had made up my mind as to what was, in accordance +with my judgment, the sentence to be passed, I took care never to +alter it upon any plea in mitigation whatever. + +For this line of conduct I had the example of Sir Thomas Wilde, when, +as Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, he travelled the +Home Circuit. He was a marvellous and powerful judge in dealing with +the facts of a case. He had tried a prisoner for larceny in stealing +from a house a sack of peas. The prisoner's counsel had made for him +a very poor and absurd defence, in which, over and over again, he had +reiterated that one pea was very like another pea, and that he would +be a bold man who would swear to the identity of two peas. + +This miserable defence made the Lord Chief Justice angry, and he +summed up the case tersely but crushingly to this effect: "Gentlemen, +you have been told by the learned counsel very truly that one pea is +very like another pea, and if the only evidence in this case had been +that one pea had been taken from the house of the prosecutor, and a +similar pea had been found in the prisoners house, I for one should +have said it would have been insufficient evidence to justify the +accusation that the prisoner had taken it. + +"But such are _not_ the facts of this case; and when you find, as was +the fact here, that on March 30 a sack appears in a particular place, +marked with the prosecutor's initials, safe in his house at night, +where it ought to have been but was not, on the morning of the 31st; +and when you find that on that morning a sack of peas of precisely +similar character was in the house of the prisoner in a precisely +similar sack behind the door, the question very naturally arises, _How +came_ those peas in that man's house? He says he found them; do you +believe him? Did it ever occur to you, gentlemen, to find a similar +sack of peas in the dead of the night on any road on which you chanced +to be travelling? + +"The prosecutor says the prisoner stole them, and that is the question +I ask you to answer. Did he or not, in your opinion, steal them?" + +I need not say what the verdict was. The man was _put back for +sentence_. That is the point I am upon. + +On the following morning the Lord Chief Justice, still a bit angry +with the prisoner's counsel for the miserable imposture he had +attempted upon the jury, said,-- + +"God forbid, prisoner at the bar, that the defence attempted by your +counsel yesterday should aggravate the punishment which I am about to +inflict upon you; and with a view to dispel from my mind all that was +then urged on your behalf, I have taken the night to consider what +sentence I ought to pronounce." + +Having said thus much about the speech for the defence, he gave a very +moderate sentence of two or three months' imprisonment. Every +sentence that this Chief Justice passed had been well thought out and +considered, and was the result of anxious deliberation--that is to +say, in the serious cases that demanded it. Of course, I do not claim +for my adopted system an infallibility which belongs to no human +device, but only that during some years, by patiently following it, I +was enabled the better to determine how I could combine justice with +leniency. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +HOW I CROSS-EXAMINED PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON. + + +I have been often questioned in an indirect manner as to the amount of +my income and the number of my briefs. I do not mean by the Income Tax +Commissioners, but by private "authorities." I was often _told_ how +much I must be making. Sometimes it was said, "Oh, the Associates' +Office verdict books show this and that." "Why, Hawkins, you must +be making thirty thousand a year if you are making a penny. What a +hard-working man you are! How _do_ you manage to get through it?" + +Well, I had no answer. It is a curious inquisitiveness which it would +do no one any good to gratify. I did not think it necessary to the +happiness of my friends that they should know, and if it would afford +_me_ any satisfaction, it was far better that they should name the +amount than I. They could exaggerate it; I had no wish to do so. It is +true enough in common language I worked hard, but working by system +made it easy. Slovenly work is always hard work; you never get through +it satisfactorily. It was by working easily that I got through so +much. "Never fret" and "_toujours pret_" were my mottoes, as I told +the chaplain; I hope he remembers them to this day. If they would not +help him to a bishopric, nothing would. But I will say seriously that +nothing is so great a help in our daily struggles as _good temper_, +and with that observation I leave my friends still to wonder how I got +through so much. + +Judges often talk over their experiences at the Bar. Sometimes I +talked of mine, and on one occasion told the following curious +incident in my long career. + +I mention this circumstance as a curiosity only so far as the incident +is concerned, but as more than a curiosity so far as the legality of +evading the substance of the law by a technicality is concerned. + +All men are not privileged to cross-examine royalty, and especially +future emperors. + +On July 1, 1847, which was not very long after my call to the Bar, +Prince Louis Napoleon, who afterwards became Emperor of the French, +was residing in England. + +Of course, in looking back upon a man who afterwards became an +Emperor, the proportions seem to have altered, and he looks greater +than his figure actually was. He is more important in one's eyes, and +therefore from this point of view the event seems to be of greater +magnitude than the mere police-court business that it was. When a man +becomes great, the smallest details of his career increase in value +and importance. + +The Prince had given a man of the name of Charles Pollard into custody +for stealing and obtaining by fraud two bills of exchange for L1,000 +each. + +I was instructed by one Saul (not of Tarsus) to defend, and old Saul +thought it would be judicious to cross-examine the Prince into a +cocked hat, little dreaming what kind of a cocked hat our opponent +would one day wear. + +But Saul, not content with this ordinary drum-beating kind of Old +Bailey performance, in which there is much more alarm than harm, +instructed me to make a few inquiries as to the Prince's private life, +and so _show him up_ in public. Saul loved that kind of persecution. +To him the witness-box was a pillory, notwithstanding there was +more mud attaching to the throwers than to the mere object of their +attention. + +Young as I was in my profession, I had sense enough to know that to +dip into a prosecutor's private history, and the history of his father +and grandfather, and a succession of grandmothers and aunts, was +hardly the way to show that the prisoner had not stolen that +gentleman's property, but was a good way to prevent the Prince from +recommending him to mercy. + +I therefore, in my simplicity, asked old Saul what the uncle of the +Prince and his voyage in the _Bellerophon_, etc., had to do with this +man's stealing these two bills of exchange. + +"Never mind, Mr. Hawkins, you do it; it has a great deal to do with +it." + +However, I made up my own mind as to the course I should pursue, and +having carefully read my "instructions," found that the man had been +unjustly accused by this Napoleon--there never was a man so trampled +on--and every word of the whole accusation was false. _So_ did some +solicitors instruct young counsel in those days. + +I started my business of cross-examination, accordingly, with a few +tentative questions, testing whether the ice would bear before I took +the other foot off dry land. It did not seem to be very strong, I +thought. Some of them were a little bewildering, perhaps, but that, +doubtless, was their only fault, which the Prince was desirous of +amending, and he graciously appealed to me in a very sensible manner +by suggesting that if I would put a question that he _could_ answer, +he would do so. + +I thought it a fair offer, even from a Prince, if I could only trust +him. I kept my bargain, and definitely shaped my examination so that +"Yes" and "No" should be all that would be necessary. + +We got on very well indeed for some little time, his answers coming +with great readiness and truth. He was perfectly straightforward, and +so was I. + +"Yes, sir," "No, sir;" that was all. + +As I have said, at this time I had not had much experience in +cross-examination, but I had some intuitive knowledge of the art +waiting to be developed. Napoleon gave me my first lesson in that +department. + +"I am afraid, sir," said his Highness, "you have been sadly +misinstructed in this case." + +"I am afraid, sir, I have," said I. "One or the other of us must be +wrong, and I am much inclined to think it's my solicitor." + +It was a nice little bull, which the Prince liked apparently, for he +laughed good-humouredly, and especially when I found, as I quickly +did, that my strength was to sit still, which I also did. + +I had learned by this exhibition of forces that there _was_ a defence, +if I could only keep it up my sleeve. To expose it before the +magistrate would simply enable Clarkson, who was opposed to me, to +bring up reinforcements, and knock me into a cocked hat instead of +Napoleon. Old Saul knew nothing whatever about my intended manoeuvre, +nor did Clarkson or his solicitor. + +I knew the man would be committed for trial; the magistrate had +intimated as much. I therefore said nothing, except that I would +reserve my defence. + +Had I said a word, Clarkson would have shaped his indictment to +meet the objection which I intended to make; the man, however, was +committed to the Old Bailey in total ignorance of what defence was to +be made. + +The case was tried before Baron Alderson, as shrewd a Judge, perhaps, +as ever adorned the Bench. + +When I took my point, he at once saw the difficulty Napoleon was +in--a difficulty from which no Napoleon could escape even by a _coup +d'etat_. + +It was, in fact, this--simple as A B C:-- + +When the bills of exchange were received by Pollard, although he +intended to defraud, they were _neither drawn nor accepted_, and so +were not bills of exchange at all; another process was necessary +before they could become so even in appearance, and that was forgery. + +Moreover, there was included in this point another objection--namely, +that the _stamps_ signed by the Prince having been handed to him with +the intention that they _should be subsequently filled up_, they were +not _valuable securities_ (for stealing which the ill-used Pollard was +indicted) at the time they were appropriated, and could not therefore +be so treated. + +In short, the legal truth was that Pollard neither stole nor obtained +either _bill of exchange_ (for such they were not at that time) or +valuable security. + +Such was the law. I believe Napoleon said the devil must have made it, +or worked it into that "tam shape!" + +There were many technicalities in the law of those days, and justice +was often defeated by legal quibbles. But the law was so severe in its +punishments that Justice herself often connived at its evasion. At +the present day there is a gradual tendency to make punishment more +lenient and more certain--to remove the entanglements of the pleader, +and render progress towards substantial instead of technical justice +more sure and speedy. Napoleon's defeat could not have occurred at the +present day--not, at all events, in that "tam shape." + +In a case in which the member of St. Ives was petitioned against on +the ground of treating, before Lush, J., I was opposed by Russell +(afterwards Lord Chief Justice and Lord Russell of Killowen). A.L. +Smith was my junior, and I need not say he knew almost everything +there was to be known about election law. There was, however, no law +in the case. No specific act of treating was proved, but we felt that +general treating had taken place in such a wholesale manner that +our client was affected by it. So we consented to his losing +his seat--that is to say, that the election should be declared +_void_--merely void. As the other side did not seem to be aware that +this void could be filled by the member who was unseated, they did not +ask that our client should not be permitted to put up for the vacancy, +although this was the real object of my opponent's petition. He wanted +the seat for himself, but knew that he had not the remotest chance +against his unseated opponent. + +His surprise, therefore, must have been as great as his chagrin when, +the very night of the decision which unseated him, he came forward +once more as a candidate. The petition had increased his popularity, +and he won the seat with the greatest ease, and without any subsequent +disturbance by the former petitioner. + +I have told you of a curious trial before a Recorder of Saffron +Walden, and my memory of that event reminds me of another which took +place in that same abode of learning and justice. Joseph Brown, Q.C., +and Thomas Chambers, Q.C., were brother Benchers of mine, and when we +met at the Parliament Chamber after dinner it was more than likely +that many stories would be told, for we often fought our battles over +again. + +At the time I speak of Knox was the Recorder of that important +borough, and was possessed of all the dignity which so enhances a +great officer in the eyes of the public, whether he be the most modest +of beadles in beadledom, or the highest Recorder in Christendom. To +give himself a greater air of importance, Knox always carried a _blue +umbrella_ of a most blazing grandeur. He was looked up to, of course, +at Saffron Walden, as their greatest man, especially as he occupied +the best apartments at the chief brimstone shop in the town. When I +say _brimstone_, I mean that it seemed to be its leading article; +for there were a great many yellow placards all over and about the +emporium, which, perhaps, ought to have been called a "general shop." + +There were three men up before Knox for stealing malt; a very serious +offence indeed in Saffron Walden, where malt was almost regarded as a +sacred object--until it got into the beer. + +"Tom" Chambers (afterwards Recorder of London) was defending these +prisoners, and I have no doubt, from the conduct of Knox, acquired a +great deal of that discrimination of character which afterwards so +distinguished him in the City of London. The degrees of guilt in these +persons ought to be noted by all persons who hold, or hope to hold, a +judicial position. As to the first man, the actual thief, there could +be no doubt about his crime, for he was actually wheeling the two or +three shovelfuls of malt in a barrow; so there was not much use in +defending him. + +About the second man there was not the same degree of certainty, for +he had never touched the malt or the barrow, and there was no evidence +that he knew the first man had stolen it. The only suspicion--for +it was nothing more--against him was that he was seen to be walking +_along the highway_ near the man who was wheeling the barrow, and as +it was daytime, many others were equally guilty. + +The third man was still less implicated, for all that appeared against +him was that _at some time or other_ he had been seen, either on the +day of the theft or just before, to be in a public-house with the +thief and asking him to have a drink. + +If it had not been at Saffron Walden, where they are so jealous of +their malt and such admirers of their maltsters, there would have been +no case against any one but the actual thief; and if the Recorder had +known the law as well as he knew Saffron Walden, or half as much as +Saffron Walden admired him, he would have ruled to that effect. + +However, he pointed out to the jury the cases one by one with great +care and no stint of language. + +"Against the first," said he, "the case is clear enough: he is +caught with the stolen goods in his possession. In the second case, +_perhaps_, it is not quite so strong, you will think; but it is +for _you_, gentlemen, not for _me_, to judge. You will not forget, +gentlemen, he was walking along by the side of the actual thief, and +it is for you to say what that means." Then, after clearing his throat +for a final effort, he said,-- + +"Now we come to the third man. Where was he? I must say there is a +slight difference between his case and that of the other two men, who +might be said to have been caught in the very act; but it's for _you_, +gentlemen, not for _me_. It is difficult to point out item by item, +as it were, the difference between the three cases; but you will say, +gentlemen, whether they were not all mixed up in this robbery--it's +for _you_, gentlemen, not for _me_." + +The jury were not going to let off three such rogues as the Recorder +plainly thought them, and instantly returned a verdict of guilty +against all. + +"I agree with the verdict," said the Recorder. "It is _a very bad +case_, and a mercantile community like Saffron Walden must be +protected against such depredators as you. No doubt there are degrees +of guilt in your several cases, but I do not think I should be doing +my duty to the public if I made any distinction in your sentences: you +must all of you undergo a term of five years' penal servitude." + +Whereupon Tom Chambers was furious. Up he jumped, and said,-- + +"Really, sir; really--" + +"Yes," said Knox, "really." + +"Well, then, sir, you can't do it," said the counsel; "you cannot +give penal servitude for petty larceny. Here is the Act" (reading): +"'Unless the prisoner has been guilty of any felony before.'" + +"Very well," said the Recorder; "you, Brown, the actual thief, and +you, Jones, his accessory in the very act, not having been convicted +before, I am sorry to say, cannot be sentenced to more than two years' +imprisonment with hard labour, and I reduce the sentence in your cases +to that; but as to you, Robinson, yours is a very bad case. The jury +have found that you were _mixed up_ in this robbery, and I find that +you have been convicted of stealing apples. True, it's a good many +years ago, but it brings you within the purview of the statute, and +therefore your sentence of five years will stand." + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +THE NEW LAW ALLOWING THE ACCUSED TO GIVE EVIDENCE--THE CASE OF DR. +WALLACE, THE LAST I TRIED ON CIRCUIT. + + +I should like to make an observation on the recent Act for enabling +prisoners to go into the witness-box and subject themselves, after +giving their evidence, to cross-examination. + +It must be apparent to every one, learned and unlearned in its +mysteries, that no evidence can be of its highest value, and often is +of no value, until sifted by cross-examination. I was always opposed +to this process as against an accused person, because I know how +difficult it is under the most favourable circumstances to avoid the +pitfalls which a clever and artistic cross-examiner may dig for the +unwary. + +It did not occur to me in that early stage of the discussion on the +Bill that a really true story _cannot_ be shaken in cross-examination, +and that only the _false_ must give way beneath its searching effect. + +I had to learn something in advocacy; indeed, I was always learning, +and the best of us may go on for ever learning, as long as this +wonderful and mysterious human nature exists. + +However, I am not writing philosophical essays, but relating the facts +of my simple life, and I confess that the case that came before me on +this occasion totally upset my quiet repose in all the comfortable +traditions of the past. Human nature had something which I had not +seen: it arose in this way. A doctor was accused of a terrible +crime against a female patient. I need not give its details; it +is sufficient to say that if the girl's statement was true penal +servitude for life was not too much, for he was a villain of the very +worst character. Taking the ordinary run of evidence, if I may use the +word, and the ordinary mode of cross-examination, which, in the +hands of unskilled practitioners, generally tends to corroborate the +evidence-in-chief, the case was overwhelmingly proved, and how sad and +painful it was to contemplate none can realize who do not understand +anything below the surface of human existence. + +I had watched the case with the anxious care that I am conscious +should be exercised in all inquiries, and especially criminal +inquiries, that come before one. I watched, and, let me say, +_especially watched_, for any point in the evidence on which I could +put a question in the prisoner's favour. + +Upon that subject I never wavered throughout the whole of my career, +and the testimony of the letters which I received from the most +distinguished members of the criminal Bar--not to say that they are +not equally distinguished in the civil--will, I am sure, bear out my +little self-praise upon a small matter of infinite importance. + +Everything in this case seemed to be overwhelmingly against the +unhappy doctor. No one in court, except himself, _could_ believe on +the evidence but that he was guilty. + +I, who through my whole life had been studying evidence and the mode +in which it was delivered, believed in the man's guilt, and felt that +no cross-examination, however subtle and skilfully conducted, could +shake it. + +I felt for the man--a scholar, a scientist--as one must feel for the +victim of so great a temptation. But I felt also that he was entitled, +on account of all those things which aroused my sympathy, to the +severest sentence, which I had already considered it would be my duty +to award him. + +Then, under the New Act, which I had spoken against and written +against, as one long associated with all the bearings of evidence +given in the witness-box, the poor doctor stepped into that terrible +trap for the untruthful. + +Let me now observe that, even before he was sworn, his _manner_ made a +great impression on my mind. And on this subject I would like to say +that few Judges or advocates sufficiently consider it. + +The greatest actor has a manner. The man who is not an actor has a +manner, and if you are only sufficiently read in the human character, +it cannot deceive you, however disguised it may be. A witness's +evidence may deceive, but his manner is the looking-glass of his mind, +sometimes of his innocence. It was so in this case. + +The man was not acting, and he was not an actor. + +This made the first impression on my mind, and I knew there _must_ +be something beneath it which only _he_ could explain. I waited +patiently. It was much more than life and death to this man. + +The next thing that impressed me was that there was not the least +confusion in his evidence or in himself. His tone, his language, could +only be the result of conscious innocence. + +It was not very long before I gathered that he was the victim of +a cruel and cowardly conspiracy. It was absolutely a case of +_blackmailing, and nothing else_. + +I believed every word the man said, and so did the jury. His evidence +_acquitted him_. He was saved from an ignominious doom by the new Act, +and from that moment I went heart and soul with it: however much it +may be a danger to the guilty, it is of the utmost importance to the +innocent. + +This case was not finished without a little touch of humour. When +half-past seven arrived--an hour on circuit at which I always +considered it too early to adjourn--the jury thought it looked very +like an "all-night sitting," although I had no such intention, and one +of their body or of the Bar, I forget which, raised the question on a +motion for the adjournment of the house. + +I was asked, I know, by some impatient member of the Bar whether a +case in which _he_ was engaged could not go over till the morning. + +This gave immense encouragement to an independent juryman, who +evidently was determined to beard the lion in his den, and possibly +shake off "the dewdrops of his British indignation." + +I never believed in British lions, except on his Majesty's +quarterings; and although they look very formidable in heraldry, I +never found them so in fact. Indeed, if the British lion was ever a +native of the British Isles, he must have become extinct, for I have +never heard so much as an imitation growl from him except in Hyde Park +on a Sunday. + +The British lion, however, in this case seemed to assert himself in +the jury-box, and rising on his hind legs, said in a husky voice, +which appeared to come from some concealed cupboard in his bosom,-- + +"My lord!" + +"Yes?" I said in my blandest manner. + +"My lord, this 'ere ---- is a little bit stiff, my lord, with all +respect for your lordship." + +"What is that, sir?" + +"Why, my lord, I've been cramped up in this 'ere narrer box for +fourteen hours, and the seat's that hard and the back so straight up +that now I gets out on it I ain't got a leg to stand on." + +"I'm sorry for the chair," I said. + +He was a very thick-set man, and the whole of the jury burst into a +laugh. Then he went on, with tears in his eyes,-- + +"My lord, when I went home last night arter sittin' here so many hours +I couldn't sleep a wink." + +I could not help saying,-- + +"Then it is no use going to bed; we may as well finish the business." + +That was all very well for him, but another juryman arose, amidst +roars of laughter, and lifted up a hard, wooden-bottomed chair, and +beat it with his heavy walking-stick. + +The chair was perfectly indifferent to the treatment it was receiving +after supporting the juryman for so many hours without the smallest +hope of any reward, and I then asked,-- + +"Is that to keep order, sir?" + +The excitement continued for a long time, but at last it subsided, and +I suggested a compromise. + +I said probably the gentlemen in the next case would not speak for +more than one hour each, and if they would agree to this I would +undertake to sum up in _five minutes_. + +The husky lion sat down, and so did the musician. The jury acquitted +and went home. + +These are some of the caprices of a jury which a Judge has sometimes +to put up with, and it has often been said that Judges are more tried +than prisoners. Perhaps that is so, especially when, if they do not +get the kind of rough music I have mentioned from the jury-box, +they sometimes receive a by no means complimentary address from the +prisoner. One occurs to my mind, with which I will close this chapter. + +I had occasion to sentence to death a soldier for a cruel murder by +taking the life of his sergeant. It was at Winchester, and after I had +uttered the fatal words the culprit turned savagely towards me, and in +a loud, gruff voice cried, "Curse you!" + +I made no remark, and the man was removed to the cells. Very humanely +the chaplain went to the prisoner and endeavoured to bring him to a +proper state of mind with regard to his impending fate. + +On the day appointed for the execution I received by post a long +letter from the clergyman, enclosing another written on prison paper. + +The letter was to tell me that for ten days he could make no +impression on the condemned man; but on the tenth or twelfth day he +expressed his sincere sorrow that he had cursed me for passing on him +the sentence he had so well deserved, and his great desire was to +make a humble apology to me in person. He was told that that was +impossible, as I could not come to him, nor could he go to me. +Whereupon he begged to be allowed to write this humble apology. This +he was permitted to do, and the letter from the culprit, who was +hanged that morning, I was reading at the very moment of his +execution. It contained, I believe, sincere expressions of contrition +for the cruel deed he had done, but was mostly taken up with apologies +to me for having cursed me after advising him to prepare for the doom +that awaited him. He begged my forgiveness, which, I need not say, I +freely gave. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII + +A FAREWELL MEMORY OF JACK. + + +Poor little Jack is dead! + +It is a real grief to me. A more intelligent, faithful, and +affectionate creature never had existence, and to him I have been +indebted for very many of the happiest hours of my life. + +Poor dear little Jack! he lived with me for many years; and at last, I +believe, some miscreant poisoned him, for he was taken very ill with +symptoms of strychnine, and died in a few hours in the early morning +of May 24, 1894. I was with him when he died. + +I never replaced him, and to this hour have never ceased to be sad +when I think of the merciless and cruel fate by which the ruffian put +an end to his dear little life. + +He was buried under some shrubs in Hyde Park, where I hope he sleeps +the sleep of good affectionate dogs. + +It is ten years ago, and yet there is no abatement of my love for +him, hardly any of my sorrow. He always occupied the best seat in the +Sheriff's carriage on circuit, and looked as though he felt it was his +right. He slept by my side on a little bed of his own. At Norwich, I +think, he made his first appearance in state. The moment he entered +the house he appropriated to himself the chair of state, which had +been provided by the local upholsterer for the express use of Queen +Alexandra, then Princess of Wales, on her first visit to Norwich +to confer honour and happiness on Queen Victoria's subjects in the +eastern counties. + +Nobody, however, molested Jack in his seat, and, I believe, had it +been one of the seats for the county there would have been no petition +to disturb him. He would have been as faithful a member as the +immortal Toby, M.P. for Barkshire, of Mr. Punch, to whom ever my best +regards. Jack considered himself entitled to precedence wherever he +went, and maintained it. He was a famous judge of upholstery, and the +softest chair or sofa, hearthrug or divan, was instantly appropriated. +This sometimes made the local dignitaries sit up a little. They might +be accustomed to the dignity of one of her Majesty's Judges, but +the impudence of her Majesty's "Jack"--for so he deemed himself on +circuit--was a little beyond their aldermanic natures. + +I was much and agreeably surprised to find that the Press everywhere +sympathized with my loss of Jack, and many an extract I made +containing their very kind remarks. My room might have been one of +Romeike's cutting-rooms. Here is one I will give as a sample. I am +sorry I cannot positively state the name of the journal, but I am +almost sure it is from the _Daily Telegraph_. + + "An item of judicial intelligence, which may not everywhere be + duly appreciated, is the death of Mr. Justice Hawkins's fox + terrier Jack. Jack has been his lordship's most constant friend + for many years. With some masters such a useful dog as he was + would have found going on circuit a bore; but with Sir Henry + Hawkins, who knows what kind of life suits a dog, and likes to see + that he enjoys it, going on circuit was a career of adventure. The + Judge was always out betimes to give Jack a long morning walk, and + when his duties took him to small county towns he often rose with + the farmers for no other purpose." + +Here is another paragraph; and I should like to be able to give the +writer's name, for it is very pleasant at all times to find expression +of true love for animals, whose devotion and faithfulness to man +endear them to us:-- + + "Sir Henry Hawkins has my sincere sympathy in his great + bereavement. Jack, the famous fox terrier who accompanied his + master everywhere, is dead. Innumerable are the things told of + Jack's devotion to Sir Henry, and of Sir Henry's devotion to Jack. + I first made their acquaintance at Worcester Railway Station some + years ago, when I saw Jack marching solemnly in the procession + of officials who had come with wands and staves and javelins to + receive Sir Henry Hawkins at the opening of the Assizes. Jack was + on one or two special occasions, I believe, accommodated with a + seat on the Bench; and at Maidstone, when the lodgings caught + fire, Sir Henry rushed back at the risk of his life to save his + faithful little dog." + +These are small memories, perhaps, but to me more dear than the +praises too often unworthily bestowed on actions unworthy to be +recorded. + +But here I pause. Jack rests in his little grave in Hyde Park, and +I sometimes go and look on the spot where he lies. Many and many an +affectionate letter was written to me bewailing the loss of our little +friend. + +Only one of these I shall particularly mention, because it shows how +immeasurably superior was Jack to the lady who wrote it, in that true +and sincere feeling which we call friendship, and which, to my mind, +is the bond of society and the only security for its well-being. +She was a lady who belonged to what is called "Society," the +characteristic of which is that it exists not only independently of +friendship, but in spite of it. + +After condoling with me on my loss and showing her sweet womanly +sympathy, she concluded her letter by informing me that she had "one +of the sweetest pets eyes ever beheld, a darling devoted to her with +a faithfulness which would really be a lesson to 'our specie,'" and +that, in the circumstances, she would let me have her little darling +for _five pounds_. I was so astonished and angry at the meanness of +this "lady of fashion" that I said--Well, perhaps my exact expression +had better be buried in oblivion. + +BALLAD OF THE UNSURPRISED JUDGE, 1895.[A] + +[Footnote A: It was a well-known expression of Sir Henry Hawkins when +on the Bench, "I should be surprised at nothing;" and after the long +and strange experiences which these reminiscences indicate, the +literal truth of the observation is not to be doubted. This clever +ballad, which was written in 1895, seems sufficiently appropriate +to find a place in these memoirs, and I wish I knew the name of the +writer, that my thanks and apologies might be conveyed to him for this +appropriation of them.] + +("Mr. Justice Hawkins observed, 'I am surprised at nothing,'"--_Pitts +v. Joseph, "Times" Report, March 27_.) + + All hail to Sir Henry, whom nothing surprises! + Ye Judges and suitors, regard him with awe, + As he sits up aloft on the Bench and applies his + Swift mind to the shifts and the tricks of the law. + Many years has he lived, and has always seen clear things + That Nox seemed to hide from our average eyes; + But still, though encompassed with all sorts of queer things, + He never, no, never, gives way to surprise. + + When a rogue, for example, a company-monger, + Grows fat on the gain of the shares he has sold, + While the public gets lean, winning nothing but hunger + And a few scraps of scrip for its masses of gold; + When the fat man goes further and takes to religion, + A rascal in hymn-books and Bibles disguised, + "It's a case," says Sir Henry, "of rook _versus_ pigeon, + And the pigeon gets left--well, I'm hardly surprised." + + There's a Heath at Newmarket, and horses that run there; + There are owners and jockeys, and sharpers and flats; + There are some who do nicely, and some who are done there; + There are loud men with pencils and satchels and hats. + But the stewards see nothing of betting or money, + As they stand in the blinkers for stewards devised; + Their blindness may strike Henry Hawkins as funny, + But he only smiles softly--he isn't surprised. + + So here's to Sir Henry, the terror of tricksters, + Of law he's a master, and likewise a limb; + His mind never once, when its purpose is fixed, errs: + For cuteness there's none holds a candle to him. + Let them try to deceive him, why, bless you, he's _been_ there, + And can track his way straight through a tangle of lies; + And though some might grow gray at the things he has seen there, + He never, no, never, gives way to surprise. + +By the courtesy of Sir Francis Burnand, who most kindly obtained +permission from Messrs. Bradbury and Agnew, I insert the following +poem, which appeared in a February number of _Punch_ in the year +1887:-- + +THE WOMAN AND THE LAW. + +(A true story, told before Mr. Justice Hawkins at the recent Liverpool +Assizes--_vide Daily Telegraph_, February 8.) + + In the criminal dock stood a woman alone, + To be judged for her crime, her one fault to repair, + And the man who gave evidence sat like a stone, + With a look of contempt for the woman's despair! + For the man was a husband, who'd ruined a life, + And broken a heart he had found without flaw; + He demanded the punishment due to the wife, + Who was only a Woman, whilst his was the Law! + + A terrible silence then reigned in the Court, + And the eyes of humanity turned to the dock; + Her head was bent down, and her sobbing came short, + And the jailer stood ready, with hand on the lock + Of the gate of despair, that would open no more + When this wreckage of beauty was hurried away! + "Let me speak," moaned the woman--"my lord, I implore!" + "Yes, speak," said the Judge. "I will hear what you say!" + + "I was only a girl when he stole me away + From the home and the mother who loved me too well; + But the shame and the pain I have borne since that day + Not a pitying soul who now listens can tell! + There was never a promise he made but he broke; + The bruises he gave I have covered with shame; + Not a tear, not a prayer, but he scorned as a joke! + He cursed at my children, and sneered at my fame! + + "The money I'd slaved for and hoarded he'd rob; + I have borne his reproaches when maddened with drink. + For a man there is pleasure, for woman a sob; + It is he who may slander, but she who must think! + But at last came the day when the Law gave release, + Just a moment of respite from merciless fate, + For they took him to prison, and purchased me peace, + Till I welcomed him home like a wife--at the gate! + + "Was it wrong in repentance of Man to believe? + It is hard to forget, it is right to forgive! + But he struck me again, and he left me to grieve + For the love I had lost, for the life I must live! + So I silently stole from the depths of despair, + And slunk from dark destiny's chastening rod, + And I crept to the light, and the life, and the air, + From the town of the man to the country of God! + + "'Twas in solitude, then, that there came to my soul + The halo of comfort that sympathy casts; + He was strong, he was brave, and, though centuries roll, + I shall love that one man whilst eternity lasts! + O my lord, I was weak, I was wrong, I was poor! + I had suffered so much through my journey of life, + Hear! the worst of the crime that is laid at my door: + I said I was widow when, really a wife! + + "Here I stand to be judged, in the sight of the man + Who from purity took a frail woman away. + Let him look in my face, if he dare, if he can! + Let him stand up on oath to deny what I say! + 'Tis a story that many a wife can repeat, + From the day that the old curse of Eden began; + In the dread name of Justice, look down from your seat! + Come, sentence the Woman, and shelter the Man!" + + A silence more terrible reigned than before, + For the lip of the coward was cruelly curled; + But the hand of the jailer slipped down from the door + Made to shut this sad wanderer out from the world! + Said the Judge, "My poor woman, now listen to me: + Not one hour you shall stray from humanity's heart + When thirty swift minutes have sped, you are free + In the name of the Law, which is Mercy, depart!" + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +OLD TURF FRIENDS. + + +An announcement in the morning papers of the death of Mr. Richard +C. Naylor of Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire, at the age of eighty-six, +carried me back to the far-off days when, tempted by the hospitality +and kind friendship of Lord Falmouth, I became a regular visitor of +Newmarket Heath--an _habitue_ during the splendid dictatorship of +Admiral Rous! + +I would like to mention the names of some of the celebrities of the +Turf of those days, many of them my frequent companions, and no less +my real and sincere friends. Time, however, fails. But in looking +through the piles of letters with which the kindness of my friends has +favoured me from time to time, I come across many a relic of the past +that recalls the pleasantest associations. Even a telegram, most +prosaic of correspondence, which I meet with at this moment, is a +little poem in its way, and brings back scenes and circumstances over +which memory loves to linger. + +It is nothing in itself, but let any one who has loved country +life and enjoyed its sports and its many friendships consider what +forgotten pleasures may be brought to mind by this telegram. + +_Telegram_. + +DORCHESTER, _November_ 2, '97. + +Handed in at QUORN at 9.10 a.m. + +Received here at 11.1 a.m. + +_To_ SIR H. HAWKINS, The Judges' House, Dorchester. + +Just returned from Badminton to find the most charming present from +you, which I shall always regard with the greatest value, and think +you are too kind, in giving me such a present. Am writing.--LONSDALE. + +"At _Quorn_," I repeat, and then I find the letter which Lord Lonsdale +was writing. This is it:-- + + CHURCHILL COTTAGE, + QUORN, + LOUGHBOROUGH, + _Tuesday, November_ 2, '97. + +MY DEAR SIR HENRY,--How can I thank you enough for your magnificent +present? It is, indeed, kind of you thinking of me, and I can assure +you that the spurs shall remain an "heirloom" to decorate the +dinner-table (a novel ornament) and match the silver spur poor old +White Melville gave me. Why you should have so honoured me I do not +know, but that I fully value your kindly thought I do know. + +Is there any chance of your being in these parts? If so, _do_ pay me a +visit. + +And with many, many thanks for your extreme kindness, + +Believe me + +Yours very truly, + +(_Signed_) LONSDALE. + +Alas! almost all of them have passed away, yet they will live while +the memory of the generation lasts which called them friends. They +have vanished from the scenes in which they played so prominent a +part, and yet their influence remains. + +There was the old Admiral himself, the king of sportsmen and good +fellows. Horse or man-o'-war, it was all one to him; and although +sport may not be regarded as of the same importance with politics, who +knows which has the more beneficial influence on mankind? I would have +backed Admiral Rous to save us from war, and if we drifted into it to +save us from the enemy, against any man in the world. Then there +was his bosom friend George Payne, and the old, old Squire George +Osbaldeston, Lord Falmouth, W.S. Crawfurd, the Earl of Wilton, Lord +Bradford, Lord Rosslyn, Lord Vivian, the Duke of Hamilton, George +Brace, General Mark Wood, Alexander, Lord Westmorland, the Earl of +Aylesbury, Clare Vyner, Dudley, Milner, Sir John Astley ("The Mate"), +Lords Suffolk and Berkshire, Coventry and Clonmell, Manton, Ker +Seymer--the names crowd upon my memory; then, alas! a long, long while +after, Henry Calcraft, Lord Granville, Lord Portsmouth, and "Prince +Eddy," Lord Gerard, the Earl of Hardwicke, Viscount Royston, Sam +Batchelor, and Tyrwhitt Wilson. + +These are some of those whom I remember, and, by the way, I ought to +add the Duke of Westminster and Tom Jennings, names interesting +and distinguished, and indicative of a phase of life ever full of +enjoyment such as is not known out of the sporting world, where +excitement lends to pleasure the effervescence and sparkle which make +life something more than animal existence. + +This is true in hunting, racing, cricket, and I should think +intensified in the highest degree in a charge of cavalry. Take +Balaclava, for instance: the very fact of staking life at such odds +must have compressed into that moment a whole life of ordinary +pleasure. + +I will mention a few more names, and then close another chapter of my +memory. There was Mr. J.A. Craven, the Duke of St. Albans, the Duke +of Beaufort, Montagu Tharp, Major Egerton, General Pearson, Lord +Calthorpe, Henry Saville, Douglas Gordon (Mr. Briggs), Oliver Montagu, +Henry Leeson, the Earl of Milltown, Sir Henry Devereux, Johnny Shafto, +Douglas Phillips, Randolph Churchill, Lord Exeter, Lord Stamford. + +Of the famous jockeys and trainers there were John Scott, Mat Dawson, +Fred Archer. There were also James Weatherby, Judge Clark, and +Tattersall. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +LEAVING THE BENCH--LORD BRAMPTON. + + +At length the time came when I was to bid good-bye to the Queen's +Bench and the Court No. 5 in which I had so long presided, where I had +met and made so many friends, all more or less learned in the law. I +had been a Judge since the year 1876, and Time, in its never-ceasing +progress, had whispered to me more than once, "Tarry not too long upon +the scene of your old labours, where your presence has made you a +familiar object to all the members of every branch of your great and +responsible profession; and while health and vigour and intelligence +still, by God's blessing, remain to you, apparently unimpaired by +lapse of years, take some of that rest and repose which you have +earned, ere it be too late." + +Thereupon, without any needless ceremony of leave-taking, at the close +of the year 1898 I took my leave of the Bench with a simple bow. +Silently, but with real affection for all I was leaving behind me, I +quitted my occupation on the Bench. I considered this to be a far more +dignified way of making my exit than meeting face to face the whole of +the court and its practitioners and officers, and leaving it to the +eloquent and friendly speech of the Attorney-General to flatter me far +beyond my deserts in the customary farewell address which he would +have offered to me. I thought it better to rely upon the expressions +and conduct of those who knew me well, and to feel that they +appreciated the discharge of the many arduous duties which I had been +called on to perform. As some evidence of this, I would point to the +good wishes from all kinds and classes of people which have followed +me into private life, and the numerous letters which every post +brought me, and which would fill a volume in themselves. + +But the crowning honour was graciously conferred upon me by her late +Majesty Queen Victoria on January 1, 1899, through the then Marquis of +Salisbury, who signified that her Majesty intended to raise me to the +peerage. His lordship's letter announcing the gracious act I recall +with feelings of pleasure and gratitude, and I need not say that it +will, while life lasts, be my greatest pride. I was subsequently sworn +of her Majesty's Privy Council, and for more than two years attended +pretty regularly in the Final Court of Appeal. + +It does not behove me to say more on this subject than that the +acknowledgment of my long services by the Sovereign must ever be my +greatest pride and satisfaction. + +On February 7, 1899, I was introduced to the House of Peers, and took +my seat. + +I chose for my name and designation the title of Baron Brampton, which +her Majesty was pleased to approve. My little property, therefore, +which I mentioned earlier in my reminiscences, conferred on me what +was more valuable than its income--the title by which I am now known. + +Speaking with reference to those long years ago when I was dissuaded +from my career by those who doubtless had the most affectionate +interest in my welfare, and to whose advice I proved to be so +undutiful, I cannot help, whether vanity be attributed to me or not, +contrasting the position of the penniless articled clerk in the +attorney's office and the situation which came to me as the result of +unremitting labour. + +Let me state it with pride as well as humility that my rewards have +been beyond my dreams and far above my deserts. + +On February 7, in a committee room of the House, I was met by my +supporters and those whose duties made them a portion of the ceremony, +and realized the ambition that came to me only in my later life. + +Some members of my family would have preferred the family name to be +associated with the title. I must confess I had some attachment for +it, as it had rendered me such good service, and it was somewhat hard +to give it up. + +If, however, I had had any hesitation, it would have been removed +when one afternoon Lord ---- called on me, and in his chaffing manner +said,-- + +"Well, I hear you are to be Lord '_Awkins_ of '_Itchin_, 'Erts." + +"Be ---- if I will!" said I; "Brampton's the only landed estate I have +inherited, and although the old ladies who are life-tenants kept me +out of it as long as they could, I shall take my title from it as the +only thing I am likely to get out of it." + +"Bravo!" said he. "I don't like 'Awkins of 'Itchin, 'Erts. _Brampton_ +sounds like a title; and so my hearty congratulations, and may you and +her ladyship live long to enjoy it!" + +"Mr. Punch" was good enough to furnish me with a beautiful and +humorous coat of arms, done by that very talented artist Mr. E.T. +Reed. + + * * * * * + +Since the commencement of this volume many of the old friends +mentioned in it with affectionate remembrance have gone to their rest, +and I am steadily approaching my own end. Trusting to the mercy and +goodness of God, I patiently await my summons. I can but humbly add +that to the best of my poor ability I have ever conscientiously +endeavoured in all things to do my duty. + +And now, as I lay down my pen, dreamily thinking over old names, old +friends, and old faces of bygone years, I live my life over again. +Everything passes like a picturesque vision before my eyes. I can see +the old coach which brought me from my home--a distance of thirty +miles in eight hours--a rapid journey in those days. This was old +Kirshaw's swift procedure. Then there was the "Bedford Times" I +travelled with, which was Whitehead's fire-engine kind of motor; but +generally in that district John Crowe was the celebrated whip. + +Then passes before me the old Cock that crew over the doorway in Fleet +Street, a Johnsonian tavern of mighty lineage and celebrity for chops +and steaks. And I see the old waiter, with his huge pockets behind, in +which he deposited the tons of copper tips from the numberless diners +whom he attended to during his long career. + +Then I observe the Rainbow, by no means such a celebrity, although +more brilliant than the Mitre by its side; and in the Mitre I see (but +only in imagination) Johnson and Goldsmith talking over the quaint +philosophy of wine and letters till three o'clock in the morning, +finishing their three or four bottles of port, and wondering why they +were a little seedy the next day. + +And there sits at my side, enjoying his chop, Tom Firr, described as +the king of huntsmen--a true and honest sportsman, simple, respectful, +and respected, whose name I will not omit from my list of celebrities, +for he is as worthy of a place in my reminiscences as any M.F.H. you +could meet. + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +SENTENCES. + + +There is no part of a Judge's duty which is more important or +more difficult than apportioning the punishment to the particular +circumstances of a conviction. As an illustration of this statement I +would take the offence of bigamy, where in the one case the convicted +person would deserve a severe sentence of imprisonment, while in +another case he or she might be set at liberty without any punishment +at all. Such cases have occurred before me. + +The sentence of another Judge upon another prisoner ought not to be +followed, for each prisoner should be punished for nothing but the +particular crime which he has committed. For this reason the case of +each individual should be considered by itself. + +I dislike, also, the practice of passing a severe sentence for a +trifling offence merely because it has been a common habit in other +places or of other persons. For instance I have known five years of +penal servitude imposed for stealing from outside a shop on a second +conviction, when one month would have been more than enough on a first +conviction, and two or three months on a second conviction. For +small offences like these the penalty should always be the same +in character--I mean not excessive imprisonment, and never penal +servitude. As often as a man steals let him be sent to prison, and it +may be for each offence the time of imprisonment should be somewhat +slightly increased, but not the character of the punishment. + +Years ago, in my Session days, I remember a poor and, I am afraid, +dishonest client of mine being _transported for life_ (on a second +conviction for larceny) for stealing _a donkey_; but I doubt if that +could happen nowadays. It seems incredible. + +Nobody who has carefully noted the innumerable phases of crime which +our criminal courts have continually to deal with, and the infinite +shades of guilt attached to each of those crimes, will fail to come +to the conclusion that one might as well attempt to allocate to its +fitting place each grain of sand, exposed to the currents of a desert +and all other disturbing influences, as endeavour by any scheme or +fixed rule to determine what is the fitting sentence to be endured for +every crime which a person can be proved, under any circumstances, to +have committed. + +The course I adopted in practice was this. My first care was never to +pass any sentence inconsistent with any other sentence passed under +similar circumstances for another though similar offence. Then I +proceeded to fix in my own mind what ought to be the outside sentence +that should be awarded for that particular offence had it stood +alone; and from that I deducted every circumstance of mitigation, +provocation, etc., the balance representing the sentence I finally +awarded, confining it purely to the actual guilt of the prisoner. + +I have noticed that burglaries with violence are rarely committed +by one man alone, and that when two or more men are concerned in a +murder, one or more of them being afraid that some one, in the hope of +saving himself from the treachery of others, is anxious to shift the +whole guilt of the robbery, with its accompanying violence, on to the +shoulders of his comrades. It is well that this should be so, and that +such dangerous criminals should distrust with fear and hatred their +equally guilty associates. + +Except for special peremptory reasons, I never passed sentence until I +had reconsidered the case and informed my own mind, to the best of +my ability, as to what was the true magnitude and character of the +offence I was called upon to punish. + +The effect of such deliberation was that I often mitigated the +punishment I had intended to inflict, and when I had proposed my +sentence I do not remember ever feeling that I had acted excessively +or done injustice. I am now quite certain that no sentence can be +properly awarded unless after such consideration. I speak, of course, +only of serious crimes. + +It has more than once happened that even after all the evidence in the +case was before the jury, as was supposed, I have discovered that an +accused man, in _mitigation of sentence_, has pleaded that which would +have been a _perfect defence to the charge made against him_! One +of these instances was very remarkable. It happened at some country +racecourse. + +A man was charged with robbing another who was in custody in charge +of the police for "welshing." The prisoner had undoubtedly, while the +prosecutor, as I will call him, was in custody, and being led along +the course, rushed up to him, after jumping the barriers, and put +his hand in his coat-pocket, pulling out his pocket-book and other +articles. He then made off, but was pursued by the police and +arrested. He was indicted for the robbery, and the facts were +undisputed. + +There was no defence set up, and I was about to ask the jury for their +opinion on the case, which certainly had a very extraordinary aspect. + +Suddenly the prisoner blurted out, as excusing himself,-- + +"Well, sir, _he asked me to take the things_. I was a stranger to him, +and the mob was turning his pockets inside out and ill-treating him +for welshing." + +I immediately asked the prosecutor, "Is that true?" and he answered, +"Yes." The prisoner said, "I only did it to protect his things for +him." + +Of course I instantly stopped the case and directed an acquittal. +I then gave both parties a little advice. To the prosecutor (the +welsher) I said, "Don't go welshing any more;" and to the prisoner, +"If you ever again see a welsher in distress, don't help him." + +I should like to say one word more. It should not be supposed that +a man, when sentenced, is altogether bad because he uses insulting +language to the Judge. He may not be utterly bad and past all hope of +redemption on that account. + +The want of even an approach to uniformity in criminal sentences is +no doubt a very serious matter, and is due, not to any defect in +the criminal law (much as I think that might be improved in many +respects), but is owing to the great diversity of opinion, and +therefore of action, which not unnaturally exists among criminal +Judges, from the highest to the humblest, numbering, as they do, +at least 5,000 personages, including Judges of the High Courts, +commissioners, recorders, police magistrates, and justices of the +peace. + +When one considers the conditions under which the criminal law is +administered in England, and remembers that no fixed principles upon +which punishments should be awarded have been authoritatively laid +down, and that the law has stated only a maximum (but happily at the +present time not a minimum), and each Judge is left practically at +liberty to exercise his own unfettered discretion so long as he +confines himself within the limit so prescribed, it is no matter for +wonder that so great a diversity of punishment should follow so great +a variety of opinion. + +Even in the most accurate and useful books of practice to which all +look for guidance and assistance during every stage of the criminal +proceedings, down to the conviction of the offender, no serious +attempt has been made to deal, even in the most general way, with the +mode in which the appropriate sentence should be arrived at. + +The result of this state of things is extremely unsatisfactory, and +the most glaring irregularities, diversity, and variety of sentences +are daily brought to our notice, the same offence committed under +similar circumstances being visited by one Judge with a long term of +penal servitude, by another with simple imprisonment, with nothing +appreciable to account for the difference. + +In one or the other of these sentences discretion must have been +erroneously exercised. I have seen such diversity even between Judges +of profound learning in the law who might not unreasonably, _prima +facie_, be pointed to as safe examples to be followed; and so they +were, so far as regarded their legal utterances. Experience, however, +has told us that the profoundest lawyers are not always the best +administrators of the criminal law. + +Practically there are now no criminal offences which can be visited +with the penalty of death. Treason and murder still remain. For the +latter offence the Judge is _bound to pronounce sentence of death_, +which is imperatively fixed and ordained by Act of Parliament, and any +other sentence would be illegal. + +There are certain principles which I consider ought never to be lost +sight of. + +In the first place, it must be remembered that for mere immorality, +not made criminal by the common or statute law of the land, no +punishment can be legally inflicted, and, in my opinion, no crime +ought to be visited with a heavier punishment merely because it is +also against the laws of God. + +Take, for example, the crime of unlawfully knowing a girl under +the age of sixteen years, even with consent. Assume that with her +invitation the man committed himself. Go further, and establish the +sin of incest. The latter sin ought to be _totally ignored_ in dealing +with the _statutory_ offence. + +I must not, however, be understood as intending my observations to +apply to cases where the immorality is in itself an _element_ of the +crime. My view is that the rule ought to apply only in cases where +the immorality is only a sin against God, and is severable from the +_crime_ committed against the laws of the land. + +The case I have suggested is an illustration of what I mean. + +Secondly, a sentence ought never to be so severe as to create in the +mind of reasonable persons, having knowledge of the circumstances, a +sympathy with the criminal, for that tends to bring the administration +of the law into discredit, and while giving a Judge credit for having +acted with the strictest sense of justice, it might give rise to a +suspicion of his fitness and qualifications for the administration of +the criminal law--a state of things which ought to be avoided. + +The same observations apply, but not with equal force, to sentences +which may to reasonable persons acquainted with all the circumstances +appear to be ridiculously light, for it is more consistent with our +laws to err on the side of mercy than on the side of severity. + +The object of criminal sentences is to compel the observance by all +persons, high and low, rich and poor, of those public rights and +privileges, both as regards the persons and property common to all +their fellow-subjects, the infringement of which is made criminal. + +For the infringement of other rights of a private character the law +has provided civil remedies with which we are not at this moment +concerned. + +Punishments, then, should be administered only as a necessary sequence +to the breach of a _criminal_ law, with the object of deterring the +offender from repeating his offence. + +Of necessity it operates to some extent as a warning to others; but +that is not its primary object, for no punishment ought to exceed in +severity that which is due to the particular offence to which it is +applied. To add to a sentence for a very venial offence for which +a nominal punishment ought to suffice an extra fine or term of +imprisonment by way of example or warning to others would be +unreasonable and unjust. Vengeance, or the infliction of unnecessary +pain, especially for the sake of others, should never form part of a +criminal sentence. + +Reformation of the criminal by and during his imprisonment should +be one chief object of his punishment, but a just sentence for the +offence is not to be prolonged either for education or reformation, +unless expressly sanctioned by law, as in the case of reformatories. + +With regard to crimes of violence, it sometimes happens that long +periods of restraint and imprisonment are imperative--where, for +instance, the criminal is persistent in his threats, or has made +it evident by his actions or words that on his liberation from +imprisonment for criminal violence he intends to resume his criminal +course, and will do so unless restrained. + +Take, for instance, the case of a persistent burglar, the great +majority of whose robberies are committed under circumstances +calculated to create terror and alarm, and upon whom imprisonment, +however long, has no restraining effect after his liberation. Take the +confirmed highway robber, who to secure his booty does not scruple to +use deadly violence upon his victim. It is rare that one short term +of imprisonment, or the fear of another, induces him to abandon his +criminal course. In such cases it is essential for the protection +of the public that he should no longer be at liberty to pursue his +dangerous and alarming course of life. For him, therefore, a much +longer term of restraint is necessary than in the case of mere +pilferers, whose thefts, although causing loss and vexation, are not +productive of personal injury. + +Lastly, I am strongly averse from abolishing the sentence of death in +cases of deliberate murder. Even when the crime is committed under the +influence of jealousy, I should take little pains to save the life +of one who had cruelly and deliberately murdered another for the +gratification of revenge or the purpose of robbery. + +In the case of poor creatures who make away with their illegitimate +offspring in the agony of their trouble and shame, there were, in +my experience, almost always to be found very strong reasons for +commutation, even to very limited periods of imprisonment. + + + + +CHAPTER LI. + +CARDINAL MANNING--"OUR CHAPEL." + + +Cardinal Manning was a real friend to me, and I often spent an hour +with him on a Sunday morning or afternoon discussing general topics. +At my request, when I had no thought of being converted to his Church, +he marked in a book of prayers which he gave me several of his own +selections, which I have carefully preserved; but I can truly say he +never uttered one word, or made the least attempt, to proselytize me. +He left me to my own free, uncontrolled, and uncontrollable action. My +reception into the Church of Rome was purely of my own free choice and +will, and according to the exercise of my own judgment. I thought for +myself, and acted for myself, or I should not have acted at all. + +I have always been, and _am_, satisfied that I was right. + +As to Cardinal Manning, his extreme good sense and toleration were my +admiration at all times, and I shall venerate his memory as long as I +live. His kindness was unbounded. + +It was after his death, which was a great shock to me, that I was +received into the Church by the late Cardinal Vaughan. + +When the latter was showing Lady Brampton and myself over that +beautiful structure, the new Westminster Cathedral, I thought I should +like to erect a memorial chapel, and made a proposal to that effect. +We resolved to dedicate it to St. Gregory and St. Augustine. It was +afterwards called "Our Chapel." + +The stonework was accordingly proceeded with, and afterwards the plans +for decoration were submitted to the Archbishop and myself. For these +decorations I subscribed a portion. The rest of the work was our own, +and we have the satisfaction of feeling that Our Chapel is erected to +the honour and glory of God. + +The style of decoration adopted is Byzantine. The walls are +embellished with many and various beautiful marbles. The eastern side +has a representation of Pope Gregory sending St. Augustine with his +followers to preach the gospel in England. Another scene is St. +Augustine's reception by King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha in the Isle +of Thanet. + +The panels of the reredos contain pictures of St. Gregory and St. +Augustine, with their four contemporaries, St. Paulinus, St. Justus +(Bishop of Rochester), St. Laurentius, and St. Mellitus (Bishop of +London). + +On the north are figures of St. Edmund, St. Osbald, and the Venerable +Bede; while opposite are St. Wilfred, St. Cuthbert, and St. Benedict. + +On the west are St. John the Baptist and St. Augustine, and below +these, figures of women pouring water from pitchers, symbolical of the +river Jordan. + +Under the arch of this side are most artistically designed panels +containing the names of the four rivers of Paradise. + +The floor is inlaid, and the windows, which are of opalescent glass, +throw over the structure a soft white light, admitting of the perfect +harmony of colours which everywhere adorn this very beautiful chapel. + + * * * * * + +Almost all whose names I have mentioned in these reminiscences are +gone. There are many others equally dear about whom I cannot for want +of time and space write here; most of them have also passed away. + +They can no longer sing the old songs, or tell the old tales, but +their memory remains, and the pleasant melody of their lives. I enjoy +their companionship now in the quietude of my home, and their memory +brightens even the sweet twilight of the evening hours. But it all +reminds me that the signal has been given to ring the curtain down. + +I therefore make a last and momentary appearance in the closing drama, +only to bid all and every one with whom I have been associated in +times past and in times recent, as the curtain falls, + +AN AFFECTIONATE FAREWELL. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +THE CROWN CALENDAR FOR THE LINCOLNSHIRE LENT ASSIZES. + +_Holden at the Castle of Lincoln on Saturday the 7th of March 1818, +before the Right Honorable Sir Vicary Gibbs and the Honorable Sir +William Garrow_. + +JOHN CHARLES LUCAS CALCRAFT, ESQ., SHERIFF. + +1. William Bewley, aged 49, late of Kingston upon Hull, pensioner from +the 5th Regt. of foot, committed July 29, 1817, charged on suspicion +of having feloniously broken into the dwelling house of James Crowder +at Barton, no person being therein, and stealing 1 bottle green coat, +1 velveteen jacket, 3 waistcoats, &c. Guilty--Death. + +2. John Giddy, aged 22, late of Horncastle, tailor, com. Aug. 5, 1817, +charged with stealing a silver watch with a gold seal and key, from +the shop of James Genistan of Horncastle. Six Months Imprisonment. + +3. George Kirkhan, aged 25, } + } both late of Stickney, +4. John Colston Maynard, aged 19, } + +laborers, com. Aug. 22, 1817, charged on suspicion of feloniously +entering the dwelling house of W'm Bell of Stickney, between 9 and +10 o'ck in the morning, and stealing one L5 note and 8 L1 notes. +Acquitted. + +5. George Crow, aged 15, late of Frith Ville, com. Sept. 23, 1817, +charged on suspicion of having entered the dwelling house of S. Holmes +of Frith Ville, about 7 o'ck in the morning, breaking open a desk, +and stealing three L1 notes, 3s. 6d. in silver, and a purse. +Guilty--Death. + +6. Thomas Young, aged 17, late of Firsby, laborer, com. Sept. 23, +1817, charged with having, about 11 o'ck at night, entered the +dwelling house of John Ashlin of Firsby, with intent to commit a +robbery. Guilty--Death. + +7. Robert Husker, aged 28,} + } both late of Glamford Briggs, +8. John Robinson, aged 28,} + +laborers, com. Oct. 13, 1817, charged with burglariously breaking into +the dwelling house of Chas. Saunby, of South Kelsey, and stealing +therefrom several goods and chattels. Guilty--Death. + +9. John Marriott, aged 19, late of Osgodby, laborer, com. Oct. 18, +1817, charged with maliciously and feloniously setting fire to an oat +stack, the property of Thomas Marshall of Osgodby. Guilty--Death. + +10. Sarah Hudson, alias Heardson, aged 25, late of Newark, +Nottinghamshire, com. Oct. 24, 1817, charged on suspicion of +feloniously stealing from the cottage of James Barrell of Aisthorpe, +in the day time, no person being therein, 6 silver tea-spoons and a +pair of silver sugar tongs. Discharged by proclamation. + +11. Elizabeth Firth, aged 14, late of Burgh cum Girsby, spinster, com. +Nov. 22, 1817, charged with twice administering a quantity of vitrol +or verdigrease powder, or other deadly poison, with intent to murder +Susanna, the infant daughter of George Barnes of Burgh cum Girsby. No +true Bill. + +12. John Moody, aged 28, late of Stallingborough, laborer, com. Dec. +24, 1817, charged with having committed the odious and detestable +crime and felony called sodomy. Indicted for misdemeanor. Two years +imprisonment. + +13. William Johnson, aged 28, late of Bardney, laborer, com. Dec. 29, +1817, charged with having burglariously entered the dwelling house +of W'm Smith, of Bardney, and wilfully and malliciously beating and +wounding, with intent to murder and rob Wm. Kirmond, a lodger therein. +Seven Years Transportation. + +14. Richard Randall, aged 27,} + } both late of Lutton, +15. John Tubbs, aged 29, } + +laborers, com. Dec. 29, 1817, charged with feloniously assaulting Wm. +Rowbottom of Holbeach Marsh, between 11 and 12 o'ck in the night, in +a field near the king's highway, and stealing from his person 3 +promissory L10 notes, 8 or 10 shillings in silver, one silver stop +and seconds watch, and various other goods and chattels. Both +guilty--Death. + +16. William Hayes, aged 20, late of Braceby, weaver, com. Jan. 6, +1818, charged with feloniously stealing a mare, together with a saddle +and bridle, the property of Ed. Briggs of Hanby. Guilty--Death. + +17. Thomas Evison, aged 24, } + } both late of Alnwick, +18. Thomas Norris, aged 28, } + +laborers, com. Jan. 21, 1818, charged with feloniously setting fire to +a thrashing machine and a hovel, containing a quantity of oats in the +straw, the property of Thos. Faulkner, jun. of Alnwick, which were all +consumed. Guilty--Death. + +19. William Walker, aged 20, laborer, } + } both late of Boston, +20. Elizabeth Eno, aged 19, spinster, } + +com. Jan. 28, 1818, charged with burglariously entering the dwelling +house of Wm. Trentham, and stealing a sum of money in gold and +silver, several country bank notes, and a red morocco pocket-book. +Guilty--Death. + +21. William Bell, alias John Brown, aged 30, late of Alvingham, +laborer, com. Feb. 19, 1818, charged with burglariously breaking into +the shop of Wm. Goy of Alvingham, and stealing 1 pair of new shoes, 1 +half boot, and 1 half boot top. Guilty--Death. + +22. John Hoyes, aged 48, late of Heckington, com. Feb. 24, 1818, +charged with feloniously stealing 2 pigs of the value of L3, the +property of John Fairchild of Wellingore. Acquitted. + +23. Christiana Robinson, aged 24, } + } both late of Glamford +24. Mary Stewart, aged 26, } + +Briggs, com. March 7, 1818, charged with breaking into Chas. Saunby's +shop, &c. (same as Nos. 7 and 8). Not prosecuted. + +PRISONERS UNDER SENTENCE. + +George Houdlass, convicted at Lammas Assizes, 1815, of mare +stealing.--Ordered to be transported for the term of his natural life. +(The Prince Regent, in the name of His Majesty, having graciously +extended the Royal Mercy to the said convict, his said sentence is +commuted to two years imprisonment, commencing July 1, 1817.) + +Martin Dowdwell, convicted at the Lent Assizes, 1817, of +perjury.--Ordered to be impillored once and imprisoned for two years. + +Susanna Pepper, convicted at the Lammas Assizes, 1817, of secreting +the birth of her bastard child.--Ordered to be imprisoned for one +year. + +William Whitehead (the younger); at the Summer Assizes, 1817, was +found by a jury to be of unsound mind.--Ordered to be imprisoned until +His Majesty's pleasure be known. + +Edward Croft, convicted at the Louth quarter sessions, held Jan. 12, +1815, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +John Caminack, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, Jan. 17, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Busbey, convicted at the same sessions of a felony.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +William Nubert, convicted at the Lent Assizes, 1817, of +burglary.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Patchett, convicted at the same Assizes of burglary.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +Richard Clarke, convicted at the Summer Assizes, 1817, of having +forged bank notes in his possession.--Ordered to be transported for +fourteen years. + +Thomas Maddison, convicted at the same Assizes of burglary.--Ordered +to be transported for seven years. + +James Donnington, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +lamb.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +Samuel Brown, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +mare.--Ordered to be transported for the term of his natural life. + +Joseph Greenfield, convicted at the same Assizes of stealing a +heifer.--Ordered to be transported for fourteen years. + +William Johnson, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, July 25, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Willson, convicted at the Kirton quarter sessions, Oct. 17, +1817, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +Henry Thorpe, convicted at the Bourn quarter sessions, Jan. 13, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +George Croft, convicted at the Boston quarter sessions, Jan. 13, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +William Betts, alias Bungs, convicted at the Spalding quarter +sessions, Jan. 16, 1818, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for +seven years. + +James Tidwell, convicted at the same sessions of a felony.--Ordered to +be transported for seven years. + +Samuel Chapman, convicted at the Spilsby quarter sessions, Jan. 16, +1818, of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +David Jones, convicted at the Kirton quarter sessions, Jan. 20, 1818, +of a felony.--Ordered to be transported for seven years. + +IN HIS MAJESTY'S GAOL IN THE CITY OF LINCOLN. + +1. Daniel Elston, aged 34, late of Waddington, cordwainer, com. Sep. +22, 1817, charged with feloniously stealing from the dwelling house +of Rd. Blackbourn, of Waddington, one silver watch, and a pair of new +quarter boots.--Guilty of stealing only--7 years transportation. + +2. William Kehos, aged 22, a private soldier in the 95th Regt. of +foot, com. Nov. 17, 1817, charged with feloniously slaughtering +and stealing from the close of Matthew White of Lincoln one wether +hog.--Guilty--Death. + + +Printed by DRURY & SONS, Lincoln. + +THE END. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins +(Baron Brampton), by Henry Hawkins Brampton + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR HENRY HAWKINS *** + +***** This file should be named 10392.txt or 10392.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/9/10392/ + +Produced by Eric Hutton, Juliet Sutherland, Josephine Paolucci and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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