It was not till I made the
application and the Court began to laugh that I remembered the Pickwick
Trial. I believe the application was quite bona fide, and not at all an
imitation of it." An interesting communication from one who might be
styled "Buzfuz's son;" and, as Judge Bompas alludes to his own likeness
to his sire, I may add that the likeness to the portrait in the court
scene, is very striking indeed. There is the same fullness of face, the
large features. Buzfuz was certainly a counsel of power and ability, and
I think lawyers will admit he managed Mrs. Bardell's case with much
adroitness. His speech, besides being a sort of satirical abstract of
the unamiable thundering boisterousness addressed to juries in such
cases, is one of much ability. He makes the most of every topic that he
thought likely to "tell" on a city jury. We laugh heartily at his
would-be solemn and pathetic passages, but these are little exaggerated.
Buzfuz's statement is meant to show how counsel, quite legitimately, can
bring quite innocent acts to the support of their case by marshalling
them in suspicious order, and suggesting that they had a connection with
the charge made. Many a client thus becomes as bewildered as Mr.
Pickwick was, on seeing his own harmless proceedings assuming quite a
guilty complexion.

Serjeant Buzfuz-Bompas died at the age of fifty-three, at his house in
Park Road, Regents Park, on February 29th, 1844. He was then,
comparatively, a young man, and must have had ability to have attained
his position so early. He was called to the Bar in 1815, and began as
Serjeant in 1827, in Trinity Term, only a year or so before the famous
case was tried.

So dramatic is the whole "Trial" in its action and characters, that it is
almost fit for the stage as it stands. There have been a great number of
versions, one by the author's son, Charles "the Younger," one by Mr.
Hollingshead, and so on. It is a favorite piece for charitable benefits,
and a number of well-known performers often volunteer to figure as
"Gentlemen of the Jury." Buzfuz has been often played by Mr. Toole, but
his too farcical methods scarcely enhanced the part. The easiness of
comedy is essential. That sound player Mr. James Fernander is the best
Buzfuz that I have seen.

There is a French translation of _Pickwick_, in which the general spirit
of the "Trial" is happily conveyed. Thus Mr. Phunky's name is given as
"M. Finge," which the little