CURRAN'S GRATITUDE.

He

AMONG the great number of anecdotes related of Curran, there is none that better bespeaks the excellence of his nature than the following-often printed, it is true, but admirable in its spirit and object—to keep in men's minds what they are too prone to forget, a due sense of gratitude to their friends in early life :— "Allow me, gentlemen," said Curran, one evening, to a large party, "to give you a sentiment. When a boy, I was one morning playing at marbles in the village of Ball-alley, with a light heart, and lighter pocket. The gibe and the jest went gladly round, when suddenly among us appeared a stranger, of a remarkable and very cheerful aspect; his intrusion was not the least restraint upon our merry little assemblage. was a benevolent creature, and the days of infancy (after all, the happiest we shall ever see) perhaps rose upon his memory. Heaven bless him! I see his fine form, at the distance of half a century, just as he stood before me, in the little Ball-alley, in the day of my childhood. His name was Boyse; he was the rector of Newmarket. To me he took a particular fancy. I was winning, and full of waggery; thinking everything that was eccentric, and by no means a miser of my eccentricities; every one was welcome to a share of them, and I had plenty to spare, after having freighted the company. Some sweetmeats easily bribed me home with him. I learned from Boyse my alphabet and my grammar, and the rudiments of the classics. He taught me all he could, and then he sent me to a

VOLUMINOUS BAXTER.

29

school at Middleton. In short, he made me a man. I recollect it was about thirty-five years afterwards, when I had risen to some eminence at the bar, and when I had a seat in Parliament, on my return one day from the Court, I found an old gentleman seated alone in my drawing-room, his feet familiarly placed on each side of the Italian marble chimney-piece, and his whole air bespeaking the consciousness of one quite at home. He turned round-it was my friend of Ball-alley. I rushed instinctively into his arms, and burst into tears. Words cannot describe the scene which followed. You are right, sir-you are right. The chimney-piece is yours the pictures are yours—the house is yours. You gave me all I have-my friend-my benefactor!' He dined with me; and in the evening I caught the tear glistening in his fine blue eye, when he saw poor little Jack, the creature of his bounty, rising in the House of Commons to reply to a right honourable. Poor Boyse! he is now gone; and no suitor had a longer deposit of practical benevolence in the Court above. This is his wine-let us drink to his

VOLUMINOUS BAXTER.

memory!"

IN the reign of James II., Richard Baxter, the nonconformist, who had written a library, was committed prisoner to the King's Bench, by a warrant from that execrable Judge Jefferies, who treated this worthy man at his trial in the most brutal manner, and reproached him with having written a cart-load of books, "every one as full of sedition and treason as an egg is full of meat."

CURRAN AND THE FARMER.

am

A FARMER attending a fair with a hundred pounds in his pocket, took the precaution of depositing it in the hands of the landlord of the public-house at which he stopped. Next day he applied for the money, but the host affected to know nothing of the business. In this dilemma the farmer consulted Curran. "Have patience, my friend," said the counsel; "speak to the landlord civilly, and tell him you are convinced you must have left your money with some other person. Take a friend with you, and lodge with him another hundred, and then come to me." The dupe doubted the advice; but, moved by the authority or rhetoric of the learned counsel, he at length followed it. "And now, sir," said he to Curran, "I don't see as I ar to be better off for this, if I get my second hundred again; but how is that to be done?" "Go and ask him for it when he is alone," said the counsel. "Ay, sir, but asking won't do, I'ze afraid, without my witness, at any rate." “Never mind, take my advice," said Curran; "do as I bid you, and return to me.” The farmer did so, and came back with his hundred, glad at any rate to find that safe again in his possession. Now, sir, I suppose I must be content; but I don't see as I am much better off." 66 Well, then," said the counsel, 66 now take your friend with you, and ask the landlord for the hundred pounds your friend saw you leave with him." It need not be added, that the wily landlord found that he had been taken off his guard, whilst the farmer returned exultingly to thank his counsel, with both hundreds in his pocket.

(6

ERSKINE'S TEMPER.

31

"NO JUDGE."

A CERTAIN learned judge having somewhat hastily delivered judgment in a particular case, a king's counsel observed, in a tone loud enough to reach the bench, "Good heavens! every judgment of this court is a mere toss-up." "But heads seldom win," observed a learned barrister sitting behind him. On another occasion, this wit proposed the following riddle for solution:-"Why does (the Judge in question) commit an act of bankruptcy every day ?" The answer was, "Because he daily gives a judgment without consideration."

ERSKINE'S TEMPER.

ERSKINE, the distinguished Scottish lawyer, is characterized by Lord Brougham as one “in all respects, the charms of whose social converse were unbounded, of a demeanour that every instant showed his noble birth; in manners, of perfect ease, polish, and grace; of a temper the most sweet, and of spirits the most joyous and gay, without ever being boisterous, turbulent, or obtrusive; of conversation the most various, never refusing a serious turn, though delighting in every species of mirth, from refined comedy to broad farce. He was the life and soul of every circle in which he mixed. Affable to those below him-full of firmness and independence to his superiors-altogether without a particle of envy, or jealousy, or gall, in his whole composition-no wonder that he was the darling of the age and the country in which he lived. He was most happily and most justly described, by one who knew

him well, as the best beloved man in all Scotland.' This was said by the late Lord Kinnaird, in the House of Commons, himself amongst the most quiet and delightful, as well as honourable, of men."

A READY ANSWER.

WHEN Lord Ellenborough was chief justice, a labouring bricklayer was one day called as a witness in an action. When he came up to be sworn, his lordship said to him, "Really, witness, when you have to appear before this court, it is your bounden duty to be more clean and decent in your appearance." "Upon my life," replied the witness, "if your lordship comes to that, I'm thinking I'm every bit as well dressed as your lordship." "How do you mean ?” said the judge, angrily. Why, faith," said the labourer, "you come here in your working clothes, and I'm come in mine."

66

THE LONGEST LAWSUIT.

THIS is related to have been the famous "Berkeley suit," which lasted upwards of 190 years, having commenced shortly after the death of Thomas, fourth Lord Berkeley, in the reign of Henry V., (1416,) and terminated in the seventh of James I., (1609.) It arose out of the marriage of Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of the above baron, with Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick,-their descendants having continually sought to get possession of the castle and lordship of Berkeley, which not only occasioned the famous lawsuit in question, but was often attended