presses that it has been granted upon a - side-bar" motion To recur to the engraving, which exhibits Westminster-hall at no distant period, in a state very dissimilar to its more late appearance. The original print by Mosley bears the following versified inscription: When fools fall out, for ev'ry flaw, They run horn mad to go to law, A hedge awry, a wrong plac'd gate, Will serve to spend a whole estate, Your case the lawyer says is good, And justice cannot be withstood; By tedious process from above From office they to office move; The FIRST OF TERM, the fatal day, The advocate, whose subornation of perjury is hinted at, is in the foremost group; he is offering money to one of Wreathock's gang." This Wreathock was a villainous attorney, who received sentence of death for his criminal practices, and was ordered to be transported for life in 1736. It is a notorious fact, that many years ago wretches sold themselves to give any evidence, upon cath, that might be required; and some of these openly walked Westminster-hall with a straw in the shoe to signify that they wanted employment as witnesses; such was one of the customs of the "good old times," which some of us regret we were not born in. The "choirister" in a surplice, bearing a torch, was probably one of the choir belonging to Westminsterabbey. To his right hand is the "limping serjeant" with a stick; his serjeantship being denoted by the coif, or cap, he wears; the coif is now diminished into a small circular piece of black silk at the top of the wig, instead of the cap represented in the engraving. The first shop, on the left, is occupied by a bookseller; the next by a mathematical instrument maker; then there is another bookseller; beyond him a dealer in articles of female consumption; beyond her a bookseller again; and, last on that side, a second female shopkeeper. Opposite to her, on the right of the hall, stands a clock, with the hands signifying it to be about one in the afternoon; the first shop, next from the clock, is a bookseller's; then comes a female, who is a map and printseller; and, lastly, the girl who receives the barrister's hat into her care, and whose line appears to sustain the "turnovers worn by the beaus of those days with ruffles," which, according to Ned Ward, the sempstresses of Westminster-hall nicely "pleated," to the satisfaction of the " young students" " learned in the law. 66 Enough has, probably, been said of the engraving, to obtain regard to it as an object worth notice. The first day of term is occupied, in the common law courts, by the examination of bail for persons who have been arrested, and whose opponents will not consent to the bail justifying before a judge at his chambers. A versified exemplification of this proceeding in the court of King's Bench, was written when lord Mansfield was chief, and Mr. Willes a justice of the court; a person named Hewitt was then cryer, Mr. Mingay, a celebrated counsel, still remembered, is represented as opposing the bail proposed by Mr. Baldwin, another counsel: KING'S-BENCH PRACTICE. CHAP. 10. OF JUSTIFYING BAIL. To Duke's-place, as he was directed Mingay. (Signed) William Priddle. Sworn at my chambers. Francis Buller. Mingay. No affidavit can be fuller. Well, friend, you've heard this affidavit, What do you say? 2d Bail. Is all a lie. -Sir, by your leave, it Mingay. And, pray, sir, were you never found Iankrupt? 2d Bail. I'm worth a thousand pound. Mingay. A thousand pound, friend, boldly said In what consisting? 2d Bail. Stock in trade. learning was extensive; his abilities great his application unwearied; his integrity unimpeached. In religious principles he was an Unitarian Christian and Protestant; in political principles the friend of the civil liberties of mankind, and the genuine constitution of his country. He died August 4, 1787, and was buried on the 9th in Bunhill-fields' burying-ground, near to the grave of Dr. Jebb," his tutor at college: "the classical hand of Dr. Parr" commemorated him by an epitaph. One of the best papers in Mr. Knight's late "Quarterly Magazine," of good articles, is so suitable to this day, legally considered, that any one sufficiently interested to sympathize with "the cares and the fears" of a young lawyer, or, indeed, any one who dares to admit that a lawyer may have bowels, as well as an appetite, will suffer the Confessions of a Barrister to be recorded here. MY FIRST BRIEF "A lawyer," says an old comedy which I once read at the British Museum, "is an odd sort of fruit-first rottenthen green-and then ripe." There is too much of truth in the homely figure. The first years of a young barrister are Mingay. And, pray, friend, tell me,-do spent, or rather worn out, in anxious you dwell. 1st Bail. Sir, I have liv'd in Clerkenwell These ten years. Mingay.- Half-a-guinea dead. (Aside.) Willes. Take till to morrow. Call the paper. The preceding pleasantry came from the of the late John Baynes, Esq. a pen Yorkshire gentleman, who was born in April, 1758, educated for the law at Trinity college, Cambridge, obtained prizes for proficiency in philosophy and classical attainments, was admitted of Gray's-inn, practised in his profession, and would probably have risen to its first honours. Mr. Nichols says "his leisure. His talents rust, his temper is injured, his little patrimony wastes away, and not an attorney shows a sign of remorse. He endures term after term, and circuit after circuit, that greatest of all evils-a rank above his means of supporting it. He drives round the country in a post-chaise, and marvels what Johnson found so exhilarating in its motion—that is, if he paid for it himself. He eats venison, and drinks claret; but he loses the flavour of both when he reflects that his wife (for the fool is married, and married for love too!) has perhaps just dined for the third time on a cold neck of mutton, and has not tasted wine since their last party-an occurrence beyond even legal memory. He leaves the festive board early, and takes a solitary walk-returns to his lodgings in the twilight, and sees on his table a large white rectangular body, which for a moment he supposes may be a brief-alas! it is only a napkin. He is vexed, and rings to have it removed, when up comes his clerk, who is drunk and insolent: he is about to kick him down stairs, but stays his foot on recollecting the arrears of the fellow's wages; and contents himself with wondering where the fellow finds the means of such extravagance. Then in court many are the vexations of the briefless.-The attorney is a cruel person to them-as cruel as a rich coxcomb in a ball-room, who delights in exciting hopes only to disappoint them. Indeed I have often thought the communications be tween the solicitors and the bar have no slight resemblance to the flirtation between the sexes. Barristers, like ladies, must wait to be chosen. The slightest overture would be equally fatal to one gown as the other. The gentlemen of the bar sit round the table in dignified composure, thinking just as little of briefs as a young lady of marriage. An attorney enters not an eye moves; but somehow or other, the fact is known to all. Calmly be draws from his pocket a brief: practice enables us to see at a glance that the tormentor has left a blank for the name of his counsel. He looks around the circle as if to choose his man; you cannot doubt but his eye rests on you; he writes a name, but you are too far off to read it, though you know every name on your circuit upside down. Now he counts out the fee, and wraps it up with slow and provoking formality. At length all being prepared, he looks towards you to catch (as you suppose) your eye. You nod, and the brief comes flying; you pick it up, and find on it the name of a man three years your junior, who is sitting next you: you curse the attorney's impudence, and ask yourself if he meant to insult you." Perhaps not," you say, "for the dog squints." I received my maiden brief in London. How well do I recollect the minutest circumstances connected with that case! The rap at the door! I am a connoisseur in raps-there is not a dun in London who could deceive me: I know their nicks but too well; they have no medium between the rap servile, and the rap impudent. This was a cheerful touch; you felt that the operator knew he should meet with a face of welcome. My clerk, who is not much under the influence of sweet sounds, seemed absolutely inspired,and answered the knock with astonishing velocity. I could hear from my inner room the murmur of inquiry and answer; and though I could not distinguish a word, the tones confirmed my hopes;-I was not long suffered to doubt-my client en tered, and the roll of pure white paper VOL. I. tied round with the brilliant red tape, met my eye. He inquired respectfully and with an appearance of anxiety, which marked him to my mind for a perfect Chesterfield, if I was already retained in -? The rogue knew well enough that I had never had a retainer in my life. I took a moment to consider; after making him repeat the name of his case, I gravely assured him I was at perfect liberty to receive his brief. He then laid the papers and my fee upon the table; asked me if the time appointed for a consultation with the two gentlemen who were " with me" would be convenient; and finding that the state of my engagements would allow me to attend, made his bow and departed. That fee was sacred, and I put it to no vulgar use. Many years have now elapsed since that case was disposed of, and yet how fresh does it live in my memory! how perfectly do I recollect every authority to which he referred! how I read and re-read the leading cases that bore upon the question to be argued! One case I so bethumbed that the volume has opened at it ever since, as inevitably as the prayer-bock of a lady's maid proffers the service of matrimony. My brief related to an argument before the judges of the King's Bench, and the place of consultation was Ayles's coffee-house, adjoining Westminster-hall. There was I before the clock had finished striking the hour; my brief I knew by heart. I had raised an army of objections to the points for which we were to contend, and had logically slain every one of them. I went prepared to discuss the question thoroughly; and I generously determined to give my leaders the benefit of my cogitationsthough not. without a slight struggle at the thought of how much reputation I should lose by my magnanimity. I had plenty of time to think of these things, for my leaders were engaged in court, and the attorney and I had the room to ourselves. After we had been waiting about an hour, the door flew open, and in strode one of my leaders, the second in command, less in haste (as it appeared to me) to meet his appointment, than to escape from the atmosphere of clients in which he had been just enveloped, during his passage from the court. Having shaken off his tormentors, Mr. - walked up to the fire-said it was cold-nodded kindly to me and had just asked what had been the last night's division in the housewhen the powdered head of an usher was protri.ded through the half open door to every wig of the white inclined plane, at LEGAL GLEE. It is affirmed of sir William Blackstone, that so often as he sat down to the composition of his Commentaries on the Laws of England, he always ordered a bottle of wine wherewith to moisten the dryness of his studies; and in proof that other professional men sometimes solace their cares by otherwise disporting themselves, there is a kind of catch, the words of which, having reference to their art or mystery, do so marvellously inspire them, that they chant it with more glee than gravity, to a right merry tune : A woman having settlement, Married a man with none; In 1711, the ninth year of queen Anne's reign, a charter of incorporation was granted to a company trading to the South Seas; and the South Sea company's affairs appeared so prosperous, that, in 1718, king George I. being chosen governor, and a bill enabling him to accept the office having passed both houses, on the 3d of February, his majesty in person attended the house of lords, and gave the royal assent to the act. A brief history of the company's subsequent progress is interesting at any time, and more especially at a period when excess of speculation may endanger private happiness, and disturb the public welfare. On the 27th of January, 1719, the South Sea company proposed a scheme to parliament for paying off the national debt, by taking into its funds al. the debt which the nation had incurred before the year 1716, whether redeemable or irredeemable, amounting in the whole to the Sum of 31,664,551. 18. 14d. For this the company undertook to pay to the use of the public the sum of 4,156,3061.; besides four years and a half's purchase for all the annuities that should be subscribed into its fund, and which, if all subscribed, would have amounted to the sum of 3,567,5031.; mounting, with the abovementioned sum, to 7,723,8097.: in case all the annuities were not subscribed, the company agreed to pay one per cent. fo such unsubscribed annuities. To this arrangement parliament acceded, and an act was passed to ratify this contract, and containing full powers to the company accordingly. In March following South Sea stock rose from 130 to 300, gradually advanced to 400, declined to 330, and on the 7th of April was at 340. This so encouraged the directors, that on the 12th they opened books at the South Sea house for taking in a subscription for a portion of their stock to the amount of 2,250,000l. every 100l. of mediately subscribed for at that price, to which they offered at 3007.: it was imbe paid for by nine instalments within court of the company resolved, that the twelve months. On the 21st, a general Midsummer dividend should be 10 per and all other additions to their capital cent., and that the aforesaid subscription, before that time, should be entitled to the said dividend. This gave so favourable a view to the speculation, that on the 28th the directors opened a second subscription for another million of stock, which was presently taken at 4001. for every 1007., and the subscribers had three years allowed them for payment. On the 20th of May, South Sea stock rose to 550. So amazing a price created a general infatuation. Even the more prudent, who had laughed at the folly and madness of others, were seized with the mania; they borrowed, mortgaged, and sold, to raise all the money they could, in order to hold the favourite stock; while a few quietly sold out and enriched themselves. Prodigious numbers of people resorted daily from all parts of the kingdom to 'Change-alley, where the assembled speculators, by their excessive noise and hurry, seemed like so many madmen just escaped from cells and chains. All thoughts of commerce were laid aside for the buying and selling of estates, and traffic in South Sea stock. Some, who had effected sales at high premiuins, were willing to ay out the money on real property, which consequently advanced beyond its actual value: cautious landowners justly concluded that this was the time to get money without risk, and there |
