Talfourd,
K.C., who carefully revised "The Trial."

Skimpin's interpretation of Mr. Pickwick's consolatory phrase, which he
evidently devised on the spur of the moment, shows him to be a very
ready, smart fellow.

'Now, Mr. Winkle, I have only one more question to ask you, and I beg
you to bear in mind his Lordship's caution. Will you undertake to
swear that Pickwick, the Defendant, did not say on the occasion in
question--"My dear Mrs. Bardell, you're a good creature; compose
yourself to this situation, for to this situation you must come," or
words to that effect?'

'I--I didn't understand him so, certainly,' said Mr. Winkle,
astounded at this ingenious dove-tailing of the few words he had
heard. 'I was on the staircase, and couldn't hear distinctly; the
impression on my mind is--'

'The gentlemen of the jury want none of the impressions on your mind,
Mr. Winkle, which I fear would be of little service to honest,
straightforward men,' interposed Mr. Skimpin. 'You were on the
staircase, and didn't distinctly hear; but you will swear that
Pickwick _did not make use_ of the expressions I have quoted? Do I
understand that?'

'No, I will not,' replied Mr. Winkle; and down sat Mr. Skimpin, with
a triumphant countenance.

This "Will you swear he did _not_," etc., is a device familiar to cross
examiners, and is used when the witness cannot be got to accept the words
or admit that they were used. It of course means little or nothing: but
its effect on the jury is that they come to fancy that the words _may_
have been used, and that the witness is not very clear as to his
recollection.

How well described, too, and satirised, is yet another "common form" of
the cross examiner, to wit the "How often, Sir?" question. Winkle, when
asked as to his knowledge of Mrs. Bardell, replied that "he did not know
her, but that he had seen her." (I recall making this very answer to Boz
when we were both driving through Sackville Street, Dublin. He had asked
"Did I know so-and-so?" when I promptly replied, "I don't know him, but I
have seen him." This rather arrided him, as Elia would say.)

Skimpin went on:

'Oh, you don't know her, but you have seen her.'

'Now have the goodness to tell the gentlemen of the jury what you
mean by _that_, Mr. Winkle.'

'I mean that I am not intimate with her, but that I have seen her
when I went