were
starved into one, and it was that of "Manslaughter." Next day the
particular juryman concerned received his promised reward, and in paying
it, the man who had arranged it for him remarked: "I suppose you had a
great deal of difficulty in getting the other jurymen to agree to a
verdict of 'Manslaughter'?"--"I should just think I did," replied the
man. "I had to knock it into them, for all the others--the whole eleven
of them--wanted to acquit him."

An Irish lawyer addressed the Court as _Gentlemen_ instead of _Your
Honours_. When he had concluded, a brother lawyer pointed out his error.
He immediately rose and apologised thus: "In the heat of the debate I
called your honours gentlemen,--I made a mistake, your honours."

CHAPTER FIVE

THE JUDGES OF SCOTLAND

"Ye Barristers of England
Your triumphs idle are,
Till ye can match the names that ring
Round Caledonia's Bar.
Your _John Doe_ and your Richard Roe
Are but a paltry pair:
Look at those who compose
The flocks round Brodie's Stair,
Who ruminate on Shaw and Tait
And flock round Brodie's Stair.

* * * * *

"But, Barristers of England,
Come to us lovingly,
And any Scot who greets you not
We'll send to Coventry.
Put past your brief, embark for Leith,
And when you've landed there,
Any wight with delight
Will point out Brodie's Stair
Or lead you all through Fountainhall
Till you enter Brodie's Stair."

OUTRAM: _Legal and other Lyrics_.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE JUDGES OF SCOTLAND

From the Institution of the Court of Session by James V of Scotland till
well into the nineteenth century, it was the custom of Scottish judges
when taking their seat on the Bench to assume a title from an estate--it
might even be from a farm--already in their own or their family's
possession. So we find that nearly every parish in Scotland has given
birth to a judge who by this practice has made that parish or an estate
in it more or less familiar to Scottish ears. Monboddo, near Fordoun, in
Kincardineshire, at once recalls the judge who gave "attic suppers" in
his house in St. John Street, Edinburgh, and held a theory that all
infants were born with tails like monkeys; but under the modern practice
of simply adding "Lord" to his surname of Burnet, we doubt if his
eccentric personality would be so readily remembered. Lord Dirleton'