knew was the bitterest evidence there was against me. I have since suffered by another Mr. Murray, who I must say is an honour to his country, and whose eloquence and learning is much beyond what is to be expressed by an ignorant man like me. I heard him with pleasure though it was against me; I have the honour to be his relation, though perhaps he neither knows it nor values it. I wish that his being born in the North may not hinder him from the preferment that his merit and learning deserve."

SERGEANT PRIME.

Mr. Sergeant Prime, one of the ablest lawyers of his day, was driven from the bar by Lord Thurlow, without intending it. His lordship was walking in Westminster Hall with him, while Dr. Florence Henzey was on his trial in the Court of King's Bench, for high treason. Sergeant Prime was at that time the King's Prime Sergeant, and as such had precedence of all lawyers in the king's service. But the ministers of that day wishing to pay court to Sir Fletcher Norton, although he had no other rank than that of king's counsel, entrusted the management of the trial to him. Lord Thurlow said to the sergeant," It is a little singular, sir, that I should be walking up and down Westminster Hall, with the King's Prime Sergeant, while a trial at bar for high treason is going on in that Court." The expression struck the sergeant ; he felt the affront which had been put upon him, and the next morning resigned his office, and retired from the profession.

A NICE OBJECTION.

A lawyer, who some years ago was distinguished by the epithet of the extraordinary special pleader, and was afterwards raised to the peerage, is said to have received the sum of £20,000 in one single cause, the defence of a young lady of rank, who was indicted for child murder. The principal evidence was a female accoucheur, who had been forcibly carried to the lady's house blind-folded. She swore that her guide forded a river twice in going to the house where her assistance was wanted; when, said the lawyer, it was known that there was but one straight river between the houses and supposing the guide, in order to deceive the midwife, should have made a wheel round to pass it again, she must then have forded it a third time. The ingenuity of this remark so completely puzzled the jury, that they acquitted the prisoner without going out of Court.

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RETURNING A FEE.

Some years ago, an unsuccessful candidate for the borough of Berwick upon Tweed preferred a petition to the House of Commons, and retained an eminent counsel with a fee of fifty guineas. Just before the business was about to come before the House, the barrister, who had in the interval changed his political sentiments, declined to plead. The candidate immediately waited on his advocate, mildly expostulated and remonstrated, but all in vain; he would not by any means consent either to plead or return the

money; adding, with a sneer of professional insolence, that the law was open, and he might have recourse to it, if he felt himself injured. No, no, sir," replied the spirited client, "I was weak enough to give you a fee, but I am not quite fool enough to go to law with you, as I perceive my whole fortune may be wasted in retaining fees alone, before I find one honest barrister to plead for me. I have therefore brought my advocate in my pocket!" Then taking out a brace of pistols, he offered one to the astonished counsellor; and protested that before he quitted the room, he would either have his money or satisfaction. The money was accordingly returned; but for want of so able an advocate, the justice of his cause did not prevent his losing it.

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COVETOUSNESS REQUITED.

A counsellor famed for his eloquence and covetousand who seldom considered the goodness of the cause that he undertook, provided that his client could pay him, was consulted by a notorious robber, who promised him a large reward, provided that he brought him off. The pleader managed the defence with so much ingenuity, that he saved the rogue from the gallows; and the client, to shew his gratitude to his good friend, as soon as liberated, hastened to his house and presented him with a thousand crowns. The counsellor, in return for such generosity, solicited his client to sup with him; and afterwards invited him to take a bed, both of which he accepted. In the middle of the night the robber rose, found the way to the room of his host, and without ceremony bound

and gagged him. He then re-pocketed his thousand crowns, and broke open a chest where he found plenty of silver and gold, with which he marched off in triumph.

A LAST INTERVIEW.

Mr. Wallace, and Dunning, Lord Ashburton, both very eminent lawyers, were by accident in the same inn at Bagshot, a short time before Ashburton's decease. The one was on his way to Devonshire, and the other returning to London. Both of them were conscious that their recovery from the disorders under which they laboured was desperate; they expressed a mutual wish to enjoy a last interview with each other. For that purpose they were carried into the same apartment, laid down on two sofas nearly opposite, and remained together for a long time in conversation. They then parted, as men who could not hope to meet again in this world, and Idied within a few months of each other.

ESCAPE OF A WIZARD.

A man was tried before the Lord Keeper Guilford, at Taunton, for being a wizard. The evidence against him was, that he had bewitched a girl of about thirteen years of age, for that she had strange and unaccountable fits whenever she was near the man; and that she used to discharge straight pins from her mouth. His lordship wondered at the straight pins, which could not be so well concealed in the mouth as crooked ones, and these only used to be found in

persons bewitched. He examined the witnesses very tenderly and carefully, fearing the jurymen's precipitancy. When the poor man was called upon for his defence, he clearly and sensibly declared, that the charge originated in malice, and that the girl was an impostor; and he called witnesses in support of it. The judge suspecting the in posture, and being unwilling to charge the jury until it was proved, crossexamined all the witnesses very closely. At length, he called the magistrate who had committed the man and taken his first examinations, and said to him, Sir, pray will you ingenuously declare your thoughts, if you have any, touching those straight pins, for you saw the girl in the fit?" "My lord," said the justice, "I did not know that I might concern myself in the evidence, having taken the examination, and committed the man; but since your lordship demands, I must say I think that the girl, doubling herself in the fit as if she was convulsed, bent her head down close to her stomacher, and with her mouth took pins out of it, which she afterwards put out into the hands of the persons near her." This declaration gave great satisfaction to the court, and the man was acquitted. As the judge went out of the court, a hideous old woman exclaimed, "God bless your lordship." "What's the matter, good woman?" said the judge. My lord," said she, forty years ago they would have hanged me for a witch, and they could not; and now they would have hanged my poor son."

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