grog before coming into Court, exclaimed loud enough to be heard by all
present: "A pretty fellow to be a judge, who don't know where abaft the
binnacle is!" Lord Mansfield, instead of threatening to commit him for
contempt, said: "Well, my friend, fit me for my office by telling me
where _abaft the binnacle is_; you have already shown me the meaning of
_half-seas over_."

On one occasion Lord Mansfield covered his retreat from an untenable
position with a sparkling pleasantry. An old witness named ELM having
given his evidence with remarkable clearness, although he was more than
eighty years of age, Lord Mansfield examined him as to his habitual mode
of living, and found he had been through life an early riser and a
singularly temperate man. "Ay," remarked the Chief Justice, in a tone of
approval, "I have always found that without temperance and early habits
longevity is never attained." The next witness, the elder brother of
this model of temperance, was then called, and he almost surpassed his
brother as an intelligent and clear-headed utterer of evidence. "I
suppose," observed Lord Mansfield, "that you are an early riser?"--"No,
my lord," answered the veteran stoutly; "I like my bed at all hours, and
special-_lie_ I like it of a morning."--"Ah, but like your brother, you
are a very temperate man?" quickly asked the judge, looking out
anxiously for the safety of the more important part of his theory. "My
lord," responded this ancient Elm, disdaining to plead guilty to a
charge of habitual sobriety, "I am a very old man, and my memory is as
clear as a bell, but I can't remember the night when I've gone to bed
without being more or less drunk."--"Ah, my lord," Mr. Dunning
exclaimed, "this old man's case supports a theory unheld by many
persons--that habitual intemperance is favourable to longevity."--"No,
no," replied the Chief Justice with a smile; "this old man and his
brother merely teach us what every carpenter knows--that Elm, whether it
be wet or dry, is a very tough wood."

* * * * *

[Illustration: JOHN SCOTT, EARL OF ELDON, LORD CHANCELLOR.]

Lord Eldon's good humour gained him the affection of all counsel who
practised before him, but there is one story--apocryphal it may be,
coming from Lord Campbell--of a prejudice he had against Lord Brougham,
who, in Scottish cases, frequently appeared before him in the House of
Lords. Lord Eldon persisted in addressing the advocate as Mr