When the litigious Widow Blackacre
upbraids the barrister who declines to argue for her, she
exclaims--"Impertinent again, and ignorant to me! Gadsboddikins! you
puny upstart in the law, to use me so, you green-bag carrier, you
murderer of unfortunate causes, the clerk's ink is scarce off of your
fingers." In the same drama, making much play with the green bag,
Wycherley indicates the Widow Blackacre's quarrelsome disposition by
decorating her with an enormous green reticule, and makes her son the
law-student, stagger about the stage in a gown, and under a heavy burden
of green bags.

So also in the time of Queen Anne, to say that a man intended to carry a
green bag, was the same as saying that he meant to adopt the law as a
profession. In Dr. Arbuthnot's 'History of John Bull,' the prevalence of
the phrase is shown by the passage, "I am told, Cousin Diego, you are
one of those that have undertaken to manage me, and that you have said
you will carry a green bag yourself, rather than we shall make an end of
our lawsuit. I'll teach them and you too to manage." It must, however,
be borne in mind that in Queen Anne's time, green bags, like white
bands, were as generally adopted by solicitors and attorneys, as by
members of the bar. In his 'character of a pettifogger' the author of
'The London Spy' observes--"His learning is commonly as little as his
honesty, and his conscience much larger than his green bag."

Some years have elapsed since green bags altogether disappeared from our
courts of law; but the exact date of their disappearance has hitherto
escaped the vigilance and research of Colonel Landman, 'Causidicus,' and
other writers who in the pages of that useful and very entertaining
publication, _Notes and Queries_, have asked for information on that
point and kindred questions. Evidence sets aside the suggestion that the
color of the lawyer's bag was changed from green to red because the
proceedings at Queen Caroline's trial rendered green bags odious to the
public, and even dangerous to their bearers; for it is a matter of
certainty that the leaders of the Chancery and Common Law bars carried
red bags at a time considerably anterior to the inquiry into the queen's
conduct.

In a letter addressed to the editor of _Notes and Queries_, a writer who
signs himself 'Causidicus,' observes--"When I entered the profession
(about fifty years ago) no junior barrister presumed to carry a bag in
the Court of Chancery, unless