which
may be cited against the smart saying of Sergeant Davy, who used to
observe: "The further I journey toward the West, the more convinced I am
that the wise men come from the East." But shrewd, observant, liberal
though he was in most respects, he was on one matter so far behind the
spirit of the age that, blinded and ruled by an unwise sentiment, he
gave his parliamentary support to an abortive measure "to prevent
further building in London and the neighborhood." In support of this
measure he observed, "This building is the ruin of the gentry and ruin
of religion, as leaving many good people without churches to go to.
This enlarging of London makes it filled with lacqueys and pages. In St.
Giles's parish scarce the fifth part come to church, and we shall have
no religion at last."

Whilst justice has suffered something in respect of dignity from the
overbearing temper of judges to counsel, from collisions of the bench
with the bar, and from the mutual hostility of rival advocates, she has
at times sustained even greater injury from the jealousies and
altercations of judges. Too often wearers of the ermine, sitting on the
same bench, nominally for the purpose of assisting each other, have
roused the laughter of the bar, and the indignation of suitors, by their
petty squabbles. "It now comes to my turn," an Irish judge observed,
when it devolved on him to support the decision of one or the other of
two learned coadjutors, who had stated with more fervor than courtesy
altogether irreconcilable opinions--"It now comes to my turn to declare
my view of the case, and fortunately I can be brief. I agree with my
brother A, from the irresistible force of my brother B's arguments."
Extravagant as this case may appear, the King's Bench of Westminster
Hall, under Mansfield and Kenyon, witnessed several not less scandalous
and comical differences. Taking thorough pleasure in his work, Lord
Mansfield was not less industrious than impartial in the discharge of
his judicial functions; so long as there was anything for him to learn
with regard to a cause, he not only sought for it with pains but with a
manifest pleasure similar to that delight in judicial work which caused
the French Advocate, Cottu, to say of Mr. Justice Bayley: "Il s'amuse a
juger:" but notwithstanding these good qualities, he was often culpably
deficient in respect for the opinions of his subordinate coadjutors. At
times a vain desire to impress on the minds of