ery one attending courts knows, this is an almost intuitive movement
in a witness; he thinks it corroborates him somehow.

But how good Skimpin and how ready--

"'Pray attend to me, Mr. Winkle, and _never mind your friends_,' with
another expressive look at the jury; '_they must tell their stories
without any previous consultation with you_, if none has yet taken
place,' another expressive look. 'Now Sir, tell what you saw,' etc.
'_Come_, _out with it_, _sir_, _we must_ have it sooner or later.'" The
assumption here that the witness would keep back what he knew is adroit
and very convincing.

A REVELATION.

But now we come to a very critical passage in Mr. Pickwick's case: one
that really destroyed any chance that he had. It really settled the
matter with the jury; and the worst was, the point was brought out
through the inefficiency of his own counsel.

But let us hear the episode, and see how the foolish Phunky muddled it.

Mr. Phunky rose for the purpose of getting something important out of
Mr. Winkle in cross-examination. Whether he did get anything
important out of him, will immediately appear.

[Picture: Mr. Phunky]

'I believe, Mr. Winkle,' said Mr. Phunky, 'that Mr. Pickwick is not a
young man?'

'Oh no,' replied Mr. Winkle, 'old enough to be my father.'

'You have told my learned friend that you have known Mr. Pickwick a
long time. Had you ever any reason to suppose or believe that he was
about to be married?'

'Oh no; certainly not;' replied Mr. Winkle with so much eagerness,
that Mr. Phunky ought to have got him out of the box with all
possible dispatch. Lawyers hold out that there are two kinds of
particularly bad witnesses, a reluctant witness, and a too willing
witness; it was Mr. Winkle's fate to figure in both characters.

'I will even go further than this, Mr. Winkle,' continued Mr. Phunky,
in a most smooth and complacent manner. 'Did you ever see any thing
in Mr. Pickwick's manner and conduct towards the opposite sex to
induce you to believe that he ever contemplated matrimony of late
years, in any case?'

'Oh no; certainly not,' replied Mr. Winkle.

'Has his behaviour, when females have been in the case, always been
that of a man, who having attained a pretty advanced period of life,
content with his own occupations and amusements, treats them only as