dy
to take advantage of any opening as was the late Lord Bowen, when he was
junior in the Tichborne case.

[Picture: Mr. Skimpin]

On entering the Box, Mr. Winkle "bowed to the Judge," with considerable
deference, a politeness quite thrown away. "Don't look at me sir," said
the Judge sharply, "look at the Jury." This was ungracious, but judges
generally don't relish any advances from witnesses or others.

When poor Winkle was accused by the Judge of giving his name as Daniel,
he was told that "he had better be careful:" on which the ready Skimpin:
"Now, Mr. Winkle attend to me if you please: and let me recommend you,
for your own sake, to bear in mind his lordship's injunction to be
careful." Thus by the agency of Judge and counsel witness was
discredited at starting and of course flurried.

'I believe you are a particular friend of Pickwick, the defendant,
are you not?

Winkle, eager to retrieve himself by being "careful" began--

'I have known Mr. Pickwick now as well as I recollect at this moment,
nearly--'

'Pray, Mr. Winkle, don't evade the question. Are you, or are you not
a particular friend of the defendant?'

'I was just about to say that--'

'Will you, or will you not answer my question, sir?'

'If you don't you'll be committed, sir,' interposed the little Judge.

'Come, sir,' said Mr. Skimpin, '_yes or no_, _if you please_.'

'Yes, I am,' replied Mr. Winkle.

'_Yes_, _you are_. _And why couldn't you say that at once_, _sir_?'

I think there is no more happy touch of legal satire in the books than
that about "What the soldier said." It is perfect, so complete, that it
is always understood by unprofessional readers. The lawyer feels at once
that it is as true as it is happy.

'Little to do and plenty to get,' said Serjeant Buzfuz to Sam.

'O, quite enough to get, sir, as the soldier said ven they ordered
him three hundred and fifty lashes.'

'_You must not tell us what the soldier or any other man said_,
_sir_; _it's not evidence_,' interposed the Judge.

Who will forget the roar that always greeted this sally when Boz read it,
or the low and slow solemnity which he imparted to the Judge's dictum.
As an illustration it is simply admirable.

Boz himself would have been pleased to find himself quoted in two
impressive legal tomes of some 1800 pages. The great and laborious John
Pitt Taylor