STORIES OF VICTORIAN CHANCEL LORS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 202, 15 August 1908, Page 4

STORIES OF VICTORIAN CHANCEL LORS.

Physical strength as well as intellectual force was a predominant characteristic of the lawyers who sat on the \\ oolsnek during the reign of Queen Victoria, Lord Campbell, described by Sir James Stephen as being " thick-set as a navvy and as hard as nails," could worn twenty-four hours on end -without turning a hair. Lord Wcsthury always delighted in held .sports, ami as a young man m Ixjudon his recreation was taken' m a six-onrod boat. Lord Cairns rose at six oeoek every morning, no matter how lale ho might have sat on the previ»»s night; while Lord Selbonie, who died in 181)5, pleaded guilty to haviii" on one occasion worked from t a.m. on Monday to late on Saturday „jg ilt , villl . out seeking his couch. Lord Sclborne's power ol going without sleep, while yet retaining his mental activity at its highest level, was the wonder and despair ol those who knew hiin. J

-MISS FAXXY." Judging from Mr. ,J. B. Atlay's book - Ine \ictorian Chancellors" (.Smith, Elder) there appears to be more stories told a-boiit Lord Wcsthury—whose suave voice and whose style, described by enemies and friends respectively as " mincing" and '• refined," earned folium the nickname of ''Miss Fanny"— than any other Chancellor, fie had a scathing, rasping -wit. ''Once upon .a time a loud-voiced Chancery barrister had just concluded his speech. 'Sow that the noise in Court has subsided,' murmured Richard Bethell, for it was before his elevation to the peerage, ' 1 will tell your honour lin two sentences the gist of the ease.' lie was no more kind to his juniors than' to his opponents. '] think you have 1 made a strong impression on the Court,' said a foolish subordinate at the end of one of Bethell's speeches. ' 1 think so. too,' was the ungracious reply; 'do nothing to disturb it.'"

A CLEVER RETORT. I But he sometimes got paid back in his own coin. "'Mr. Henry Alwonh Mcrcwcther,' he said, one day after his elevation to the Woolsack, to a distinguished Parliamentary counsel, 'you are getting fat, disgustingly fat; you are fat as a porpoise.' 'ln tliat ease,' was the answer, '1 am evidently the fit companion of the (ireat Seal/" PEPPERED THE KEEPER. l'n his later years Lord Wcsthury became greatly attached to shooting, and Sir Alexander Coekburn was fond of telling how, on one occasion, a keeper received a liberal peppering, and a lively, not to say acrimonious, dispute arose between iiethell and his son. "How often, Slingsby,'' said Sir Richard, "have I remonstrated with you for handling firearms carelessly? You have now apparently shot one of the keepers, whom 1 can hear vociferating in the bushes." Prompted by curiosity Coekburn managed to inquire of the injured man which of the two had shot him. "Dang 'em, they both did," was the answer. A year or two afterwards, Sir Richard, in conversation with the Chief Justice, fixed the date of a certain discussion by the visit " when you shot my keeper, dear Coekburn."

WHAT HE TOLD THE COACHMAN. | " One of the curious contradictions in J Lord Wcstbury's character was the com-' bination of frugal and almost parsimonious halbits, contracted in early youth,, with the most liberal and profuse, expenditure on his country seats, which he was in the habit of continually changing. When lie was making an enormous income at the Bar, the mantelpiece in his chambers always displayed a little pile of fourpenny-pieees, two of which made up the statutory fare of the hackney coach -which drew him from Lincoln's Inn to Westminster. His own horses onee took it into their heads to bolt into a crowded thoroughfare. 'Drive into something cheap,' he is said to have shouted to his coachman."

A MARVELLOUS BOY. Lord Cairns, who always refused to allow his profession to encroach upon tin- Sabbath, and who rose every mornI iiiy at six o'clock to secure an hour and a half for the study of the Bible and for prayer before conducting family worship at a quarter to eight, was a marvellous boy. At eight years of age he delivered a lecture on chemistry in the Belfast Town Hall, while three years later he was writing articles for the Church Missionary Gleaner, a treatise by him on the 14th Psalm being considered to be remarkable for its insight into the meaning of the verses. LUCKY FOK THE BARRISTER. Apropos of (he patronage which Loud Cairns had at his disposal an amusing story is told, in which figures Sir John Karslake, the famous barrister, who, when he had the highest prizes of the k'gal world in his grasp, was compelled to relinquish his profession, at the age of (iftv-three, through becoming totally blind. 'A member of tl)e Common Law Bar applied to Lord Cairns for a certain appointment, and the Chancellor asked his secretary to make some inquiries. "It happened that next day the secretary found himself, at Hie same breakfasttable as Sir John Karslake, who wis then stone-blind, but in full possession of his faculties. 'Do you happen to know anything, Sir John,' said the secretary, as they were leaving the room, 'of u man on your circuit called—— ?' 'Know anything of V was the rejoinder. 'I should just think that I did. He's certainly the cleverest fellow 1 ever knew.' This was enough for flic secretary,; who 4 , e,d ! 'without waiting for further particulars of 's nihility, and in the course of the next twenty-four hours received the appointment. Meanwhile Sir John, unaware that his interlocutor had departed, went on to complete the sentence with a chuckle; '—the cleverest fellow 1 ever knew, lie's the only man who ever did my clerk out of his fees.' "

A DEVOTED HUSBAND. Lord liatherly, who became Lord Chancellor in 18(10, was passionately devoted to his wife, the daughter of a distinguished soldier. The Chancellor once declared that the day on which he became a Fellow of Trinity was the proudest and happiest of his life, save the day on which he ceased to be a Fellow—by his marriage. Apropos of this attachment a story is told that when affairs of State had summoned him to Windsor as a member of the Cabinet, he received the Royal command to " dine and sleep." With some embarrassment lie bogged to be excused, on the ground that he had never been parted from Lady liatherly for so long. The Queen freely granted the dispensation, and in the following summer his wife was included in a summons to Balmoral. : Lord Hatherlcy, by the way, wrote a sonnet every year to his wife on the anniversary of their wedding day. PARTIALLY BLIND. Apropos of the mention of Sir John Knrslake. it is a curious fact that Lord Jlathcrley was dependent upon one eye all through life, the other being so nearsighted as to be practically useless; and this in turn failed him towards the end of his life. The late Lord Coleridge, Loo, was similarly handicapped by an accidental blow given to one of his eyes at Eton.

WITH A BRIEF FOR PILLOW. Lord Halsbury, the ex-Lord Chancellor, was a glutton for work, but it was not always an easy matter to get him to read n brief, it is said that on a certain occasion, when lie was retained in an election petition, it was discovered by his juniors the evening before the commission opened that he had neglected Ibis precaution. The party were staying- in a big country house, the owner of which was an ardent politician, and I immediately after dinner Mr. (MlTard, Q. 0., as Lord Halsbury then was, was conducted to the .billiard-room in company with the brief, and the key was turned upon him. Three hours later the party returned to release him, and found him peacefully asleep on the settee, with I the brief, a remarkably bulky one, as his pillow.