tations of his
enemies by ridiculing his own unfitness for the office. During the
interval between his appointment and his first appearance as judge in
the Court of Chancery, he made a jocose pretence of 'reading up' for his
new duties: and whimsically exaggerating his deficiencies, he
represented himself as studying books with which raw students have some
degree of familiarity. Caught with 'Cruise's Digest' of the laws
relating to real property, open in his hand, he observed to the visitor
who had interrupted his studies, "You see, I am taking a little from my
_cruise_ daily, without any prospect of coming to the end of it."

In the autumn of 1819 two gentlemen of the United States having differed
in opinion concerning his incompetence in the Court of Chancery--the one
of them maintaining that the greater number of his decrees had been
reversed, and the other maintaining that so many of his decisions had
not endured reversal--the dispute gave rise to a bet of three dozen of
port. With comical bad taste one of the parties to the bet--the one who
believed that the Chancellor's judgments had been thus frequently
upset--wrote to Erskine for information on the point. Instead of giving
the answer which his correspondent desired, Erskine informed him in the
following terms that he had lost his wine:--

"Upper Berkley Street, Nov. 13, 1819.

"SIR:--I certainly was appointed Chancellor under the administration
in which Mr. Fox was Secretary of State, in 1806, and could have been
Chancellor under no administration in which he had not a post; nor
would have accepted without him any office whatsoever. I believe the
administration was said, by all the _Blockheads_, to be made up of
all the _Talents_ in the country.

"But you have certainly lost your bet on the subject of my decrees.
None of them were appealed against, except one, upon a branch of Mr.
Thellusson's will--but it was affirmed without a dissentient voice,
on the motion of Lord Eldon, then and now Lord Chancellor. If you
think I was no lawyer, you may continue to think so. It is plain you
are no lawyer yourself; but I wish every man to retain his opinion,
though at the cost of three dozen of port.

"Your humble servant,

"ERSKINE.

"To save you from spending your money on bets which you are sure to
lose, remember that no man can be a great advocate who is no lawyer.
The thing is impossible."

Of the many