ded to they had heard just nothing at all,
"you have heard from my learned friend, that this is an action for Breach
of Promise of Marriage, in which the damages are laid at 1,500 pounds.
But you have _not heard from my learned friend_, _inasmuch as it did not
lie within my learned friend's province to tell you_, what are the facts
and circumstances of the case." This rich bit of circumlocution is
simple nonsense, in rotund phrase, and meant to suggest the imposing
majesty of legal process. The Jury knew perfectly beforehand what they
were going to try: but were to be impressed by the magnifying agency of
legal processes, and would be awe stricken accordingly. The passage,
"inasmuch as it did not lie within my learned friend's province to tell
you," is a delightful bit of cant. In short, the Jury was thus admitted
to the secret legal arena, and into community with the learned friends
themselves, and were persuaded that they were very sharp fellows indeed.
What pleasant satire is here, on the mellifluous "openings" of Counsel,
the putting a romantic gloss on the most prosaic incidents.

A sucking Barrister might well study this speech of Buzfuz as a guide to
the conducting of a case, and above all of rather a "shaky" one. Not
less excellent is his smooth and plausible account of Mrs. Bardell's
setting up in lodging letting. He really makes it "interesting." One
thinks of some fluttering, helpless young widow, setting out in the
battle of life.

He describes the poor innocent lady putting a bill in her window, "and
let me entreat the attention of the Jury to the wording of this
document--'Apartments furnished for a single gentleman!' Mrs. Bardell's
opinions of the opposite sex, gentlemen, were derived from a long
contemplation of the inestimable qualities of her lost husband. She had
no fear--she had no distrust--she had no suspicion--all was confidence
and reliance. 'Mr. Bardell,' said the widow: 'Mr. Bardell was a man of
honour--Mr. Bardell was a man of his word--Mr. Bardell was no
deceiver--Mr. Bardell was once a single gentleman himself; to single
gentlemen I look for protection, for assistance, for comfort, and for
consolation--in single gentlemen I shall perpetually see something to
remind me of what Mr. Bardell was, when he first won my young and untried
affections; to a single gentleman, then, shall my lodgings be let.'
Actuated by this beautiful and touching impulse (among the best impulses
of our impe