ustice of Ely, who is fit only to _rule_ a
copybook."

One of the best 'legal' puns on record is unanimously attributed by the
gossipers of Westminster Hall to Lord Chelmsford. As Sir Frederick
Thesiger he was engaged in the conduct of a cause, and objected to the
irregularity of a learned sergeant who in examining his witnesses
repeatedly put leading questions. "I have a right," maintained the
sergeant, doggedly, "to _deal_ with my witnesses as I please." "To that
I offer no objection," retorted Sir Frederick; "you may _deal_ as you
like, but you shan't _lead_." Of the same brilliant conversationalist
Mr. Grantley Berkeley has recorded a good story in 'My Life and
Recollections.' Walking down St. James's Street, Lord Chelmsford was
accosted by a stranger, who exclaimed "Mr. Birch I believe?" "If you
believe that, sir, you'll believe anything," replied the ex-Chancellor,
as he passed on.

When Thelwall, instead of regarding his advocate with grateful silence,
insisted on interrupting him with vexatious remarks and impertinent
criticisms, Erskine neither threw up his brief nor lost his temper, but
retorted with an innocent flash of merriment. To a slip of paper on
which the prisoner had written, "I'll be hanged if I don't plead my own
cause," he contented himself with returning answer, "You'll be hanged if
you do." His _mots_ were often excellent, but it was the tone and joyous
animation of the speaker that gave them their charm. It is said that in
his later years, when his habitual loquaciousness occasionally sank into
garrulity, he used to repeat his jests with imprudent frequency,
shamelessly giving his companions the same pun with each course of a
long dinner. There is a story that after his retirement from public life
he used morning after morning to waylay visitors on their road through
the garden to his house, and, pointing to his horticultural attire and
the spade in his hand assure them that he was 'enjoying his otium cum
_digging a tatie_.' Indeed the tradition lives that before his fall from
the woolsack, pert juniors used to lay bets as to the number of times he
could fire off a favorite old pun in the course of a sitting in the
Court of Chancery, and that wily leaders habitually strove to catch his
favor by giving him opportunities for facetious interruptions during
their arguments. If such traditions be truthful, it is no matter for
surprise that Erskine's court-jokes have come down to us with so many
var