This penny the jury gave. When I record that in the same assizes I received seventy guineas for this joke, for briefs came in rapidly, I record a fact which proves that a lawyer may begin to acquire wealth by a little pleasantry, who might wait long before professional knowledge introduced him into notice and business."

SCOTT'S FIRST GREAT SUCCESS.

Early in the third year occurred the case of Ackroyd v. Smithson, which laid the foundation of his fame.

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Might I ask you, Lord Eldon,' said Mr. Farrer, 'whether Ackroyd v. Smithson was not the first cause in which you distinguished yourself?"

"Did I ever tell you the history of that case? Come, help yourself to a glass of Newcastle port, and give me a little. You must know,' he went on, 'that the testator in that cause had directed his real estates to be sold, and, after paying his debts and funeral and testamentary expenses, the residue of the money to be divided into fifteen parts, which he gave to fifteen persons whom he named in his will. One of these persons died in the testator's lifetime. A bill was filed by the next of kin, claiming amongst other things the lapsed share. A brief was given me to consent for the heir-at-law, upon the hearing of the cause. I had nothing then to do but to pore over this brief. I went through all the cases in the books, and satisfied myself that the lapsed share was to be considered as real estate, and belonged to my client (the heir-atlaw). The cause came on at the Rolls, before Sir Thomas Sewell. I told the solicitor who sent me the brief that I should consent for the heir-at-law so far as regarded the due execution of the will, but that I must support the title of the heir to the one-fifteenth which had lapsed. Accordingly I did argue it, and went through all the authorities. When Sir Thomas Sewell went out of court, he asked the registrar who that young man was? The registrar told him it was Mr. Scott. He has argued very well,' said Sir Thomas Sewell,' 'but I cannot agree with him.' This the registrar told me. He decided against my client.

"You see, the lucky thing was, there being two other parties, and the disappointed one not being content, there was an appeal to Lord Thurlow. In the meanwhile they had written to Mr. Johnstone, Recorder of York, guardian to the young heir-at-law, and a clever man; but his answer was, 'Do not send good money after bad let Mr. Scott have a guinea to give consent, and if he will argue, why, let him do so; but give him no more.' So I went into court, and when Lord Thurlow asked who was to appear for the heir-at-law, I rose and said modestly that I was, and as I could not

but think (with much deference to the Master of the Rolls, for I might be wrong) that my client had the right to the property, if his lordship would give me leave, I would argue it. It was rather arduous for me to rise against all the eminent counsel. Well, Thurlow took three days to consider, and then delivered his judgment in accordance with my speech; and that speech is in print, and has decided all similar questions ever since.'"

As he left the hall, a respectable solicitor, named Foster, came up to him, touched him on the shoulder, and said, "Young man, your bread-and-butter is cut for life."

SIR JOHN SCOTT'S SILK GOWN.

When the Great Seal was put into commission under the Coalition Ministry of 1783, a silk gown was offered to Mr. Scott, and, after some hesitation, accepted. Next day he learned that Erskine and Pigott, his juniors at the bar, were also to have silk gowns, and were to be sworn in the day before himself, which would have given them precedence. Scott instantly wrote to retract his acceptance, and, on being called before the Commissioners, steadily persevered in refusing to waive his professional rank for anyone. One of them said, "Mr. Pigott was senior at the bar to Mr. Erskine, and yet he had consented to let Mr. Erskine take precedence of him. I answered," says Lord Eldon, "Mr. Pigott is the best judge for himself; I cannot consent to give way either to Mr. Erskine or Mr. Pigott." Another said, "Mr. Scott, you are too proud." "My Lord, with all respect, I state it is not pride; I cannot accept the gown upon these terms." After much difficulty, the matter seems to have been arranged; for next day I received a patent, appointing me to be next in rank to Peckham, and placing Erskine and Pigott below me, though in fact both of them had been sworn in the day before me; and that patent I have to this day." Did you think,' said Mr. Farrer to him, “that it was so important to insist upon retaining your rank?” "It was everything," he replied, with great earnestness; I owed my future success to it."

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When the Solicitor-Generalship was conferred upon Mr. Scott, the story goes that he did not wish to be knighted: but the King said, "Pooh, pooh! you must be served like the rest," and knighted him.

A NARROW ESCAPE.

During the trials of Hardy, Horne Tooke, and Thelwall, in 1793, the populace were highly excited, and the Crown counsel had regularly to run the gauntlet between their own houses and the Old Bailey. One evening as the Attorney-General, Sir John Scott, was about to leave the court, Garrow said," Mr. Attorney, do not pass

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that tall man at the end of the table." "Why not pass him?" asked Law. He has been here the whole trial," replied Garrow, with his eyes constantly fixed on the Attorney-General." "I will pass him," said Law. "And so will I," said Scott; "happen what may, the King's Attorney-General must not show a white feather." The conclusion must be told in his own words:

"I went and left them, but I will not say that I did not give a little look over my shoulder at the man with the slouched hat as I passed him; however, he did me no harm, and I proceeded for some time unmolested. The mob kept thickening around me till I came to Fleet-street, one of the worst parts of London that I had to pass through, and the cries began to be rather threatening: Down with him!-Now is the time, lads!-Do for him!' and various others, horrible enough. So I stood up and spoke as loud as I could: You may do for me if you like, but remember there will be another Attorney-General before eight o'clock to-morrow morning; the King will not allow the trials to be stopped.' Upon this one man shouted out,-'Say you so? you are right to tell us; let's give him three cheers, lads!', And they actually cheered me, and I got safe to my own door. When I was waiting to be let in, I felt a little queerish at seeing close to me the identical man with the slouched hat: I believe I gave him one or two rather suspicious looks, for he came forward and said,- Sir John, you need not be afraid of me; every night since these trials commenced I have seen you safe home, before I went to my own home, and I will continue to do so until they are over; good evening, sir!' I had never seen the man before. I afterwards found out who he was (I had some trouble in doing so, for he did not make himself known), and I took care he should feel my gratitude." [It is stated in the Law Magazine that Lord Eldon had once done an act of great kindness to the man's father.]

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This was the period of Erskine's greatest triumph, and he availed himself of his popularity to come to the rescue of his antagonist. "I will not go on without the Attorney-General," was his frequent call to the mob, as they crowded round his carriage to attend him home. Some years afterwards he was relating, in Lord Eldon's presence, how his horses were taken out by the mob at the conclusion of Hardy's trial. "Yes," added Lord Eldon, "and I hear you never saw more of them." The laugh was against Erskine, though the fact may be regarded as apocryphal.

A CRYING SCENE.

At the above trial, in concluding his speech against Horne Tooke, the Attorney-General (Scott) fell into the habitual error of justifying

his character. "It is the little inheritance I have to leave to my children, and, by God's help, I will leave it unimpaired." Here he shed tears; and, to the astonishment of the Court, the SolicitorGeneral (Mitford), began to weep in concert. "Just look at Mitford," said a bystander to Horne Tooke, "what on earth is he crying for?" "He is crying to think of the little inheritance Scott's children are likely to get.'

LORD ELDON'S DOUBT.

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It has been humorously said that Eldon loved an if as much as Tristram Shandy hated one. At the Bar, he lost all his opiniongiving business, by his attachment to this little word; on the Bench, he did all that in him lay to neutralize his utility by means of it. In allusion to Lord Erskine's fondness for the first person singular, wits of the Anti-jacobin apologized for not reporting the whole of one of his speeches, because the printer had no I's left-they might have apologized for not reporting Lord Eldon's judgments for want of types to print his innumerable ifs, buts, and thoughs. As he grew older he grew worse; and, latterly, there was hardly any chance of getting him to utter a sentence without a saving clause. Sir Samuel Romilly observes that this habit was the more provoking, because Lord Eldon was hardly ever known to differ from his first impression. So well was this understood, that it was not at all unusual for parties to settle causes out of court, as soon as his impression could be collected.

LENDING BOOKS.

Lord Eldon lent two large volumes of precedents to a friend, and could not recollect to whom. In allusion to such borrowers, he observed, that "though backward in accounting, they seemed to be practised in book-keeping."

HOW JEKYLL WAS MADE A MASTER IN CHANCERY.

Lord Chancellor Eldon lived in No. 6, Bedford-square, from 1804 to 1815, and here occurred the memorable interview between his Lordship and the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV. The Prince came alone to the Chancellor's house, and, upon the servant opening the door, observed, that as his Lordship had the gout, he knew he must be at home, and therefore desired that he might be shown up to the room where the Chancellor was. The servant said he was too ill to be seen, and that he had also positive orders to show in no one. The Prince then asked to be shown the staircase, which he immediately ascended, and pointing first to one door, then to another, asking, "Is that your master's room?" The servant answered No."

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until he came to the right one; upon which he opened the door, seated himself by the Chancellor's bedside, and asked him to appoint his friend Jekyll, the great wit, to the vacant office of Master in Chancery. The Chancellor refused-there could be no more unfit appointment. The Prince, perceiving the humour of the Chancellor, and that he was firm in his determination not to appoint him, threw himself back in the chair, and exclaimed, "How I do pity Lady Eldon!" "Good heaven!" said the Chancellor, "what is the matter?" "Oh, nothing," answered the Prince, "except that she will never see you again, for here I remain until you promise to make Jekyll a Master in Chancery." Jekyll, of course, obtained the appointment.-P. Cunningham.

LORD ELDON AS A WHIP.

We obtain a vivid idea of the bigoted but kindly old Chancellor, and the vast good humour of the Solicitor-General Campbell in his new honours-which, if Lord Eldon had had his way, he would never have reached-through an anecdote related by Lord Campbell himself. Eldon and his son are walking in Piccadilly, when some one drives past them in a cabriolet, takes off his hat, and makes a low bow. "Who is that who treats me with respect now I am nobody?" inquires Lord Eldon. His son replies, "It is Sir John Campbell, the Whig Solicitor-General." "I wonder what they would have said of me," exclaimed the ex-Chancellor, "if I had driven about in a cabriolet when I was Solicitor-General ?" "I will tell you what they would have said,―There goes the greatest lawyer and the worst whip in all England."

LORD CHIEF JUSTICE TENTERDEN.

Lord Tenterden is placed in a very amiable point of view by Macready, the celebrated tragedian, in a lecture which he delivered to a Mechanics' Institute after he had retired from the stage. The lecturer gives an account of a visit paid by him to Canterbury Cathedral, under the auspices of a verger, who, by reading and observation, had acquired considerable knowledge of architecture and mediæval antiquities. Having introduced us to his guide, the ex-tragedian thus proceeds :-" He directed my attention to everything worthy of notice; pointed out with the detective eye of taste the more recondite excellence of art throughout the building, and with convincing accuracy shed light on the historical traditions associated with it. It was opposite the western front that he stood with me before what seemed the site of a small shed or stall, then unoccupied, and said, 'Upon this spot a little barber's shop used to stand. The last time Lord Tenterden came down here he brought