the stealing of a pig was the case in point, that at last he got to
"coruscating rays." The judge (who appeared equally metaphorical--
himself) thought proper to pull him up by saying:--"Mr --, I wish you
would take the feathers from the wings of your imagination, and put them
into the tail of your judgment."

Extract from an American paper:--

"Scene.--A Court-house not fifty miles from the city of Louisville.
Judge presiding with great dignity. A noise is heard before the door.
He looks up, fired with indignation.--`Mr Sheriff, sir, bring them men
in here; this in the temple of liberty--this in the sanctuary of
justice, and it shall not be profaned by the cracking of nuts and the
eating of gingerbread.'"--_Marblehead Register_.

I have already observed that there is a great error in the office of the
inferior and district judges being elective, but there are others
equally serious. In the first place the judges are not sufficiently
paid. Captain Hamilton remarks:--

"The low salaries of the judges constitute matter of general complaint
among the members of the bar, both at Philadelphia and New York. These
are so inadequate, when compared with the income of a well-employed
barrister, that the state is deprived of the advantage of having the
highest legal talent on the bench. Men from the lower walks of the
profession, therefore, are generally promoted to the office; and for the
sake of a wretched saving of a few thousand dollars, the public are
content to submit their lives and properties to the decision of men of
inferior intelligence and learning.

"In one respect, I am told, the very excess of democracy defeats itself.
In some states the judges are so inordinately underpaid, that no lawyer
who does not possess a considerable private fortune can afford to accept
the office. From this circumstance, something of aristocratic
distinction has become connected with it, and a seat on the bench is now
more greedily coveted than it would be were the salary more commensurate
with the duties of the situation."

The next error is, that political questions are permitted to interfere
with the ends of justice. It is a well-known fact that, not long ago,
an Irishman, who had murdered his wife, was brought to trial upon the
eve of an election; and, although his guilt was undoubted, he was
acquitted, because the Irish party, which were so influential as to be
able to turn the election, had declared that, if their count