teady, and all will go well.' I need not say it required all
his persuasion to enable me to pluck up sufficient courage to fight
the battle, deserted as I now found myself by my leader; still, I
resolved to make the attempt. Presently the awful moment arrived, and
I rose in a state of intense trepidation. The judge seeing a stranger
about to conduct the case, put his glass up to his eye, in order the
better to make himself acquainted with my features, and at the same
time demanded my name. I shall never forget the agitation of that
moment. I literally shook as I heard the sound of my own voice
answering his question. I felt that a hundred eyes were upon me, ready
to ridicule any blunder I might commit, and even now half enjoying my
nervousness. For a minute, I was so dizzy and confused, that I found
it utterly impossible to proceed; but, warned by the deep-toned voice
of the magistrate that the court was waiting for me, I made a
desperate effort at self-control, and commenced. A dead quiet
prevailed as I opened the case, and for a few minutes I went on
scarcely knowing what I was about, when I was suddenly interrupted by
the vice-chancellor asking me a question. This timely little incident
in some measure tended to restore my self-possession, and I found I
got on afterwards much more comfortably; and, gradually warming with
the subject, which I thoroughly understood, finally lost all
trepidation, and brought my speech to a successful close. It occupied
at least two hours; and when I sat down, the judge smiled, and paid a
compliment to the ability with which he was pleased to say I had
conducted the process, whilst at least a dozen hands were held out to
congratulate on his success the poor lawyer whom they had passed by in
silent contempt a hundred times before. So runs life. Had I failed
through nervousness, or any other accident, derisive laughter would
have greeted my misfortune. As it was, I began to have troops of
friends. To be brief, I won the day, and from that lucky circumstance
rose rapidly into practice.

Years rolled on, and I gradually became a marked man in the
profession, gaining in due time that summit of a junior's ambition--a
silk gown. I now began to live in a style of considerable comfort, and
was what the world calls a very rising lawyer, when I one day happened
to be retained as counsel in a political case then creating much
excitement. I chanced to be on the popular side; and, from the
exertions