provide himself
with authorities on every point which he thought it in the least
probable might be started against him by either the bench or the bar. I
told him, on one of these occasions, that I thought "he need not give
his enemy credit for such far-sighted astuteness."--"Oh," said he
quickly, "never undervalue an opponent: besides, I like turning up
law--I don't forget it, and, as Lord Coke says, it is sure to be useful
at some time or another." In court, he was absorbed in his case,
appearing to be sensible of the existence of nothing else but his
opponent and the bench. He was very calm, quiet, and silent, rarely, if
ever interrupting, and then always on a point proving to be of adequate
importance. He did not take copious or minute notes on his brief, but
never missed any thing of the least real significance or moment. When he
rose to speak, his manner was formal and solemn, even to a degree of
eccentricity calculated to provoke a smile from the hearers. His voice
was rather loud and hard, his features were inflexible, his utterance
was exceedingly deliberate, and his language precise and elaborate. His
motions were very slight, and, such as he had, ungraceful: for he would
stand with his right arm a little raised, and the hand hanging down
passively by his side for a long time together, except when a slight
vertical motion appeared--he, the while, unconscious of the
indication--to show that he was uttering what he considered very
material. When a question was put to him by the judges, he always paused
for a moment or two to consider how best he should answer it; and if it
_could_ be answered, an answer precise and pointed indeed he would give
it. He afforded, in this instance, a contrast to the case of a gentleman
then at the bar, about whom he has often laughed heartily with me.
"Whenever," said he, "the judges put a question to ----, however subtle
and dangerous it may be, and though he evidently cannot in the least
degree perceive the drift of it, before the words are out of their
mouths, he, as it were, thrusts them down again with a confident
good-humoured volubility, a kind of jocular recklessness of law and
logic, which often makes one wonder whether the judges are more inclined
to be angry or amused; nay, I have once or twice seen one of them lean
back and laugh outright, poor ---- looking upon that as an evidence of
his own success!" How different was the case with Mr. Smith, is known to
every one who ha