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NOTES AND REMINISCENCES.

BY THE LATE W. H. HARRISON.

(Continued from Vol. I. page 712.)

THE DUKE OF SUSSEX WAS famous for having the finest collection of old Bibles and tobacco pipes in Europe. Sir Henry Ellis, of the British Museum, was a great avourite with him in general, but H.R.H. would occasionally "take tiff," and in these fits of pique always ignored Sir Henry's christian name and called him "Sir Ed-dard." Sir Henry once dined at the Duke's, meeting Captain Marryat, whom H.R.H. introduced as "his friend who had been engaged in one hundred and twentyeight actions" (I am not quite sure as to the number). In the course of the dinner the Duke, by way of making conversation, asked Marryat where he got some curious article which he had presented to the Duke. "Oh!" said the Captain, "I met a sailor with it, and gave him a knock on the side of his head and took it from him." There was a quiet modest little clergyman at table who was heard to say, " And was that, Captain Marryat, one of your hundred and twenty-eight actions?" Forgetful of the Royal presence the Captain flew into a furious passion with the poor parson, who had no idea that his mild joke would have produced such an explosion, and was really greatly distressed; so much so, that when coffee was served in the gallery he begged the Duke to

make his peace with the exasperated hero. This, I believe, was with some difficulty effected. The Duke appears to have been the only one of the sons of George III. who extended anything like encouragement to literary and scientific men, or cared to have them about his person. Sir Henry always spoke of him as a very kind man,

ROYAL VISITS TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

I am indebted to my friend Sir Henry Ellis for these anecdotes, for the truth of which he was able to vouch.

Queen Charlotte sent one of her household to arrange for her visit to this wonder of the world, and when he had settled preliminaries, he desired to be shown through the rooms which Her Majesty would pass. When he was conducted through the gallery of Greek and Roman antiquities, which the Queen specially desired to see, he exclaimed "O, this will never do! Her Majesty will be shocked beyond measure. Can nothing be done? The authorities, after a long consultation, sent for a tinman in Oxford-street, and gave him an order for the requisite number of tin fig-leaves which were to be painted green. painted green. It unfortunately happened that the Queen arrived before the whole of the order was

executed, and the only resource in such a dilemma was to tie on the fig leaves to as many statues on each side as there were leaves, and as Her Majesty passed a statue the fig-leaf was detached and carried further down the line, and this was so dexterously managed by persons stationed behind each line of statues that Her Majesty's delieacy was preserved from the shock it would otherwise have sustained.

In later days her present Majesty Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort paid the existing building a visit. While they were in the department now presided over by Professor Owen, the attention of the Royal pair was directed to an iethyosaurus; which, it will be remembered, was displayed on the wall. Just at that moment Mr König entered the room, when Sir Henry presented him, as the then head of the department, to the Queen and the Prince. The latter, whose ear was struck by the German name, desired to know from whence in Germany he came, and asked

From what part?" König, supposing the inquiry to refer, not to himself but to the fossil, replied "From the blue lias at Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, your Royal Highness." Sir Henry said that the Queen was especially diverted at the mal apropos reply, and laughed heartily.

Some years ago the King of Saxony came on a visit to Queen Victoria, and was of course shown all the lions, among which was included, of course, the British Museum. There was one object, I forget which, though Sir Henry mentioned it at the time, which the King wished to examine, and a chair was brought to him that he might do so more conveniently. His Majesty appeared to be an unusually long time examining the object, and at last one of the gentlemen approached him, and dis

covered that the King was fast asleep, doubtless tired out by the rapidity with which he was taken from sight to sight lest he should miss any worth visiting. He might well exclaim in the words of the Haynes Bayley ballad

From place to place they hurry me.

JUSTICE

HALIBURTON— SAM SLICK.

Although I had often met him on public occasions, and once was in the unenviable position of having to speak after him at a grand dinner at Stationers' Hall, and that on a toast to which I had supposed he would have had to respond, I first made his personal acquaintance at a large outdoor party in the lovely grounds of Mr W. S. Lindsay, of Shepperton Manor. Rural sports formed a part of the programme for the edification of the rustics, and I was greatly amused by the deep interest taken by the Justice (who, with myself and Sir Fenwick Williams, of Kars, were together on the spot), in the contest for a pig, the prize of the man who could cross an arm of the Thames, which ran into the grounds, on a soaped pole. I think I hear him say "Now that fellow's going to do it."

He told me that he was at the hotel at the Falls at Niagara at the time when Blondin was about to cross them on a rope with a man on his back. The Prince of Wales was there at the time, but with right good taste and feeling refused to witness the exhibition. A tall lanky American was pointed out to Haliburton as the man who was to be carried, and who was lounging in front of the hotel evidently under the influence of drink. The Justice ventured to suggest to the man that he was scarcely in a fit state for the experiment, to which the other said that he had screwed

up his courage to the sticking point and it was very unfair in the other to damp his spirits. Haliburton turned away, and strolled away from the hotel; and about half an hour afterwards a turn in the road brought Blondin and his living burthen full upon his view. The justice told me that, although he would not on any account have gone to witness the exploit, he was so fascinated by the sudden spectacle that he could not withdraw his gaze, but continued to watch their progress with the most painfully absorbing interest. Once one of the gyes-the small ropes extended from the great one across the river to the shore-gave way, and produced a visible vibration. Blondin knelt down on the rope, under his load, until the vibration ceased, and then successfully completed his perilous task.

Haliburton was once persuaded to take a Turkish bath, and his description to me of his sufferings while under the manipulations of the attendant was very rich. He was always, in my recollection, stout, and latterly he grew so corpulent that he was induced to try the Banting system; and I never met him that he did not tell me of the success of the experiment, informing me how much he had diminished in girth; and on the last occasion he mentioned to me in great triumph that he could pick up his spectacles.

He was dining one day with the Leander Club at the Star and Garter at Putney. It was a fine day in summer, and the window towards the river immediately over the towpath was open. The Justice was returning thanks for the toast to his health; and, being interrupted by the loud barking of a dog, paused, and said that when the member for Bark-shire had finished his speech, he (the Justice) would finish his.

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I was on the point of quitting my office to keep a dinner engagement with my friend Admiral (then Lieutenant) Allen, when a gentleman mentioned the death of a literary man of some eminence, by which a rather valuable and important editorship became vacant. knew that many competitors would be in the field; but, on the mere chance, I immediately wrote a letter to the publishers, offering myself for the post. It then occurred to me, it being Saturday, that they would not get my letter until Monday; and, therefore, although it would make me late for dinner, I trusted to the indulgence of my gallant friend, and took my letter to the publishers myself. They were both out, but I saw their managing man; and, explaining to him the purport of my letter, asked him to tell me if the appointment had been made. He assured me it had not. I then repaired to my friend's, and arrived

a quarter of an hour too late. I explained the cause, and he drank success to my application. On Monday I had a note from the publishers requesting to see me, and stating that they would explain to me how they were circumstanced with regard to the editorship. I went, and, to my great surprise, they put the papers of the deceased editor into my hands, and gave me the appointment, which I held for six years.

ON THE HOME CIRCUIT.

Some of the brightest hours of my life were spent on the Circuit, either at Guildford or Croydon, whither, for many years, at the Summer Assizes I was invited by my dear and fast friend Patrick Colquhoun, and where I had a hearty welcome from the brother barristers with whom he set up housekeeping on these occasions, and very nice housekeeping it was. I shall always remember, with the profoundest gratitude, the care and devoted attention I experienced from these young men, on whom I can pronounce no higher eulogy than adducing the fact that, with but one or two exceptions, they were all raised to the bench either at home or in the colonies. Our breakfasts were not late ones, as my friends had to attend the courts. Luncheon was laid about one o'clock, and remained on the table for an hour or two; but at seven we were all expected to assemble at dinner. I should mention, however, that we were early risers, the whole party bathing before breakfast, except myself; nevertheless, I always went with them, and was called, in consequence, the "Companion of the Bath." Among the party one summer was Morgan John O'Connell, the nephew of the agitator, and son of John O'Connell. He had the ready wit

of his country in a remarkable degree. We were walking by the Wey one day when an Oxford graduate, a Mr. White, who had a taste for botany, plucked a flower (Balsamum impatiens) from the river, remarking that "it was a rare plant." "It is an out of the Wey one, at any rate," was the instantaneous reply. Speaking of Charles Dickens, he remarked, "He is more intolerant than the Puritanism he denounces. He sees only the scum thrown by the system to the surface, and which is bitter to the taste and unpleasant to look at; and does not see the under-current of good which it hides." We were talking of Louis Napoleon, some of us agreeing that it was not to his interest to invade England, and that it would be his last card. True," said O'Connell ; "but, as we do in Ireland sometimes, he may play his last card first." He told us a story of a duel, premising, what I knew already, that duels in Ireland in former years were commonly attended by a crowd of spectators, the affair to come off being no secret, and the police, if any existed, never thinking of interference. result was fatal, and the survivor was, of course, brought to trial for his life, and the judge in summing up concluded by saying, "Gentlemen of the Jury, I am bound in justice to the prisoner to say that it was the fairest duel I ever saw in my life."

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He quoted a story from Sir Frank Barrington which is worth repeating, if it be only as a specimen of the style of that renowned racconteur. Two Irishmen were returning from mowing, with their scythes on their shoulders, when one of them saw a salmon in the river. "That's an illigant salmon under the bank there," said he. "That's true for you, Mick," said the other; wouldn't we spare him

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At the commencement of the assize the bathers borrowed ladder, which they let down into the river, by the bank, for the convenience of landing, the part of the river in which they bathed being nearly a mile from the town. On the last morning of the assize the ladder was withdrawn, placed on two sticks, and thus borne by four of the party; while one, which

on the occasion referred to was myself, stalked in front of the procession with a towel, by way of tabard, in the character of herald, O'Connell bringing up the rear and enacting the chief mourner, while another of the party chanted a solemn dirge, which he did in a remarkably rich bass. As we neared the town the tabard was discarded, but the order of procession was otherwise preserved, and the dirge continued sotto Much eloquence was wasted in the endeavour to persuade me to "take a header," backed by the assurance that if I got into difficulty they would have me out in a moment; indeed, one of them requested me as a personal favour to take the plunge, in order that he might save me and get the Humane Society's medal.

voce.

Much of my time was spent in the court, and I was much interested by occasional passages of arms between counsel and witness. Here is an instance in which the former endeavoured to elicit a fact from a Dorking innkeeper, the most coolly

impracticable character I ever met with:

Counsel: The horse which was taken from the common was afterwards sold to the plaintiff ?

Witness: Was it? (With the minutest possible note of interrogation after the word.)

Counsel: And this occurred in the month of August, 1857?

Witness: You say so. I didn't. Counsel: When the horse was taken back to his companion, did they know each other? (A laugh.)

Adverse Counsel: My learned friend means-Did they kiss and hug each other?

The Counsel, Montagu Chambers, gave up the Dorking Boniface as impracticable.

The following was reported to me as having occurred in another court:

Counsel: And when, do you say, did this happen?

Witness: Three years since. Counsel: Why, you told me just now that it was only a year and a half.

Witness: Did I? Then I'll stick to it.

Judge: Could the horse, which is the subject of this action, draw?

Witness (A bucolic but shrewd one): Draa? Bless your heart, my lord, he wouldn't draa a sprat off a gridiron.

Edwin James was inapproachable at an operation on a roguish or refractory witness. Hawkins was a great ally of his; and, therefrom had acquired the title of James the Second. They were bathing one morning, and while in the water a rampant bull came from the other end of the meadow and mounted guard over their clothes, which they were unable to regain until some rustics came to the rescue.

Among the privileges I owed to the kindness of my forensic friends was admission to the hospitalities

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