n the ruin he has made. Damages,
gentlemen--heavy damages--is the only punishment with which you can
visit him; the only recompense you can award to my client. And for
those damages she now appeals to an enlightened, a high-minded, a
right-feeling, a conscientious, a dispassionate, a sympathising, a
contemplative jury of her civilised countrymen."

With this beautiful peroration, Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz sat down, and Mr.
Justice Stareleigh woke up.

Of the judge of this famous case we hear but little. He went to sleep,
and he woke up again, and he tried to look as though he hadn't been
asleep; in fact, he behaved very much as judges do.

Mr. Justice Stareleigh summed up in the old-established and most
approved form. He read as much of his notes to the jury as he could
decipher on so short a notice, and made running comments on the
evidence as he went along. If Mrs. Bardell were right, it was
perfectly clear that Mr. Pickwick was wrong; and if they thought the
evidence of Mrs. Cluppins worthy of credence they would believe it,
and, if they didn't, why they wouldn't. If they were satisfied that a
breach of promise of marriage had been committed, they would find for
the plaintiff, with such damages as they thought proper; and if, on
the other hand, it appeared to them that no promise of marriage had
ever been given, they would find for the defendant, with no damages at
all.

So, ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, let me point out to you how all
these types and instances of lawyers and lawyer life have received fair
and impartial consideration from Charles Dickens, for which I, at any
rate, am grateful. The public, however, to my mind, owe a deeper debt of
gratitude to the man who, by his wit, his courage, and his industry, has
brought about reforms in our legal administration for which all litigants
and honourable practitioners should alike be grateful.

Sir CHARLES RUSSELL: Ladies and gentlemen,--We have spent, I am sure you
will all think, a most enjoyable, as well as a most instructive evening,
thanks to the vivid picture of the great novelist of our generation put
before us by my friend Mr. Lockwood, who has pointed out with force and
effect the serious obligation we are under for many reforms which exist
in our day through the influence, sometimes serious, sometimes comic,
which the great Charles Dickens gave to the world. It is an interesting
occasion, and