mployed by the counsel on both sides. The learned Thebans,
that would have been sick in a ferry-boat, spoke as if they had
circumnavigated the globe. Stay-sails, braces, top-gallants, clews,
and capstans they hurled at each other like _bon bons_ at a carnival;
and this naval engagement lasted from daylight to dark. Once only,
when the judge "made it noon," for a little refection, did they cease
conflict, to renew the strife afterwards with more deadly daring, till
at last so confused were the witnesses--the plaintiff, defendant, and
all, that they half wished, they had gone to the bottom, before they
thought of settling the differences in the Admiralty Court. This was
no common occasion for the display of these powers so peculiarly the
instinctive gift of the bar, and certainly they used it with all the
enthusiasm of a _bonne bouche_.

How I trembled for the Aurora, when an elderly gentleman, with a wart
on his nose, assured the court that the Durham had her top-sail backed
ten minutes before the anchor fell; and then, how I feared again for
the Durham, as a thin man in spectacles worked the Prussian about in a
double-reefed mainsail, and stood round in stays so beautifully. I
thought myself at sea, so graphic was the whole description--the waves
splashed and foamed around the bulwarks, and broke in spray upon the
deck--the wind rattled amid the rigging--the bulkheads creaked, and
the good ship heaved heavily in the trough of the sea, like a mighty
monster in his agony. But my heart quailed not--I knew that Dr.
Lushington was at the helm, and Dr. Haggard had the look-out a-head--I
felt that Dr. Robinson stood by the lee braces, and Dr. Addison
waited, hatchet in hand, to cut away the mainmast. These were
comforting reflections, till I was once more enabled to believe myself
in her Majesty's High Court of Admiralty.

Alas! ye Coopers--ye Marryats--ye Chamiers--ye historians of storm and
sea-fight, how inferior are your triumphs compared with the
descriptive eloquence of a law court. Who can pourtray the broken
heart of blighted affection, like Charles Phillips in a breach of
promise? What was Scott compared to Scarlett?--how inferior is Dickens
to Counsellor O'Driscoll?--here are the men, who, without the trickery
of trade, ungilt, unlettered, and unillustrated, can move the world to
laughter and to tears. They ask no aid from Colburn, nor from
Cruikshank--they need not "Brown" nor Longman. Heaven-born warriors,
doctor