The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 368: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ED Cee: aE» THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. ristersa—there was the witness-box—and there was a perticular table set exclusively apart for the accom- modation of those acting as jurymen. The door of this room was kept by an usher wearing the official robe, and whose aspect was as grave and serious as _ delisted the fanetions he hed to fulAil. At the numerous tables in this apartment, the the liquors suited to their respective means or tastes. Some were indulging in wine—others were paying their respecta to the various compounds of which Brena: gin, ras and whisky severally formed the chief ingrediente—while others, again, were dlaking their thirst with the excellent malt liquor dispensed at that house. There was a general air of blithe- nese—a roaking up of the mind to enter into the enjoyments ef the evening—and a pervasive feeling of certainty that these would prove of the richeat himself at a table near the judicial bench, and called for a bottle of order which was 357 cannot possibly subdue even when putting on the gravity of the judge: at all events if he were a real judge, and presided at the Old Bailey, it would need but a single glance at his countenance to convince the culprit brought before him that justice would assuredly be tempered with mercy. But to return to our narrative: the Lord Chief Baron entered the apartment which we have above described; and with moasured steps he ascended to the judicial bench. There he bowed to the bar, and the bar bowed to him: ao that if it wero not for the evidences of conviviality abounding upon the several tables, the spectators might really have fancied themselves in the presence of all the real ceremony and grave formality of a court of justice. Having deposited himself upon the bench, the Lord Chief Baron exclaimed, “ Waiter !” “Yes, my lord,” replied one of his own tavern- fanctionaries. “A glass of brandy-and-water and a cigar,” said the great legal luminary :—and thereupon a general highly satisfactory to the waiter, and convinced the ; laugh ensued throughout the room. gueste who heard it, that the new-comer was “a cut above the generality of them.” When the judicial wants were duly supplied, and the havannah in the judicial lips was emitting its announced Three or four individuals in gowns, wigs, and | fragrant vapours, the clerk of the court white bands, and looking as if they had just arrived from Westminster Hall, now entered the apartment and took their seats at the table appropriated to the barristers. Thoy carried in their hands bundles of papers duly tied round with red tape, and having as y the air of “ briefs” aa if their connexion with John Doe and Richard Roe were an actual fact instead of an agreeable fiction. In a most lawyer-like style, too, did these gentlemen who per- formed the part of barristers, untic the range their papers before them—take great dips of ink with long feathery pens—and make endoree- ments upon their pseudo-briefs, writing down fees in real figures. Presently the usher of the court threw the door wide open, shouting in a stentorian voice, “Silence and hate off, for the Lord Chief Baron !” These mandates were at ance complied with: but there was a general sensation as the object of this ceremony, ascending the stairs, made his appear- ance, if not as a real judge, at least in the garb and with the gravity of one. This was Mr. Nicholson— the landlord of the tavern, and the presiding genius of the Judge and Jury Society. No ordinary cha- racter in his way, is the personage just introduced. He isa man of good intellectual acquirements, of ' agreeable manners, and of great conversational powers. He has a readiness of wit, a facility of good-natured sarcasm, and a tact in seizing upon the case that was for trial. It was a civil action that was thus to occupy attention; and a number of the guests having been sworn in as jurymen, one of the gentlemen officiating as: the barristers opened the proceedings. It is not our purpose to give any description of the subject-matter of the trial; because in a mere narrative form it would lose the greater portion of its interest. But we must observe that the persons officiating as bar- ristera, acquitted themselves with no ordinary de- gree of talent—delivering speeches which for their easy and continuous flow, might have made the orators the subject of envy on the part of many s stammoering, stuttering, thick-pated practitioner at Westminster Hall. Witnesses were oxamined; and these xept the company in a continual roar From time to time the Lord Chief witty interjections, which added to the general mer- riment. But the cream of the whole affair was the judicial summing up. Sparkling wit, exquisite humour, sly sarcasm, and a perfect ,assumption of the air and manner of the real judge, characterised the Lord Chief Baron’s part of the performance. There was one incident that tuld admirably. It happened that the indivi- | duals acting as jurymen, drank somewhat more than was guod for them; and in plain terms, grew very intoxicated. The Lord Chief Baron addressed any passing incident to render it available for his | them as an intelligent and enlightened body of men purposes—which admirably qualify him for the |—men representing the wisdom of the country— judicial part which he thus enacts. He is a really | men who indeed for the time being constituted “the clever man, and as ready at his pen as with his country,” the matter at issue between the plaintiff tongue. In private life he bears the character of a and defendant being, in legal parlance, “ tried by liberality, a generosity, and a kindness of heart, ' God and their country.” The solemn gravity with which have often made him lose sight of his own which the Lord Chief Baron thus addressed his interests in ministering to the wants of others. | drunken jury—and the vacant stare as well as the Lord Chief Baron Nicholson is therefore not only , tipsy swaying to and fro with which the said jury- “ a capital fellow” in the man-about-town ateeptance ; men listened to the great fanctionary—formed by of the term, but in ite most true and literal meaning. no means the least ludicrous portion of the comedy. In personal appearance he is short and stout—a| When we observe that though these p living evidence of the good qualities of his own lasted two hours and a half, without for e single larder. Of convivial disposition, his ample coun- moment flagging into dullnces or ing into insi- tenance beams with a natural benhommie which he | pidity—aeud when we add that frou first to last the ete nee > wanine o— eee Ep eee ee e -_ on = 2 SS = Oakes eee eee COMIC LOO CO