brim, and labelled on the greasy
backs with the magic impress of the clerks of court, and the title,
PEEBLES AGAINST PLAINSTANES. This huge mass was deposited on the table,
and my father, with no ordinary glee in his countenance, began to draw
out; the various bundles of papers, secured by none of your red tape
or whipcord, but stout, substantial casts of tarred rope, such as might
have held small craft at their moorings.

I made a last and desperate effort to get rid of the impending job. 'I
am really afraid, sir, that this case seems so much complicated, and
there is so little time to prepare, that we had better move the court to
supersede it till next session.'

'How, sir?--how, Alan?' said my father--'Would you approbate and
reprobate, sir? You have accepted the poor man's cause, and if you have
not his fee in your pocket, it is because he has none to give you; and
now would you approbate and reprobate in the same breath of your mouth?
Think of your oath of office, Alan, and your duty to your father, my
dear boy.'

Once more, what could I say? I saw from my father's hurried and alarmed
manner, that nothing could vex him so much as failing in the point he
had determined to carry, and once more intimated my readiness to do my
best, under every disadvantage.

'Well, well, my boy,' said my father, 'the Lord will make your days long
in the land, for the honour you have given to your father's grey hairs.
You may find wiser advisers, Alan, but none that can wish you better.'

My father, you know, does not usually give way to expressions of
affection, and they are interesting in proportion to their rarity. My
eyes began to fill at seeing his glisten; and my delight at having given
him such sensible gratification would have been unmixed but for the
thoughts of you. These out of the question, I could have grappled with
the bags, had they been as large as corn-sacks. But, to turn what
was grave into farce, the door opened, and Wilkinson ushered in Peter
Peebles.

You must have seen this original, Darsie, who, like others in the same
predicament, continues to haunt the courts of justice, where he has made
shipwreck of time, means, and understanding. Such insane paupers have
sometimes seemed to me to resemble wrecks lying upon the shoals on the
Goodwin Sands, or in Yarmouth Roads, warning other vessels to keep aloof
from the banks on which they have been lost; or rather, such ruined
clients are like scarecrows and potato