orge III in
the days when his Majesty's mind was supposed to be not very strong. "I
took down to Kew," relates his lordship, "some Bills for his assent, and
I placed on a paper the titles and the effect of them. The king, being
perhaps suspicious that my coming down might be to judge of his
competence for public business, as I was reading over the titles of the
different Acts of Parliament he interrupted me and said: 'You are not
acting correctly, you should do one of two things; either bring me down
the Acts for my perusal, or say, as Thurlow once said to me on a like
occasion, having read several he stopped and said, "It is all d--d
nonsense trying to make you understand them, and you had better consent
to them at once."'"

* * * * *

It is not often, but it sometimes happens that a judge finds himself in
conflict with members of the public who are under no restraint of
professional privilege or etiquette. Some maintain the dignity of the
Court by fining and committing for contempt. Occasionally this may be
necessary, but it has been found that delicate ridicule is often more
effective. An attorney, pleading his cause before Lord Ellenborough,
became exasperated because the untenable points he continually raised
were invariably overruled, and exclaimed, "My lord, my lord, although
your lordship is so great a man now, I remember the time when I could
have got your opinion for five shillings." With an amused smile his
lordship quietly observed, "Sir, I say it was not worth the money."

The same judge used to be greatly annoyed during the season of colds
with the noise of coughing in Court. On one occasion, when disturbances
of this kind recurred with more than usual frequency, he was seen
fidgeting about in his seat, and availing himself of a slight
cessation observed in his usual emphatic manner: "Some slight
interruption one _might_ tolerate, but there seems to be an _industry_
of coughing."

As an illustration of figurative oratory a good story is told of a
barrister pleading before Lord Ellenborough: "My lord, I appear before
you in the character of an advocate for the City of London; my lord, the
City of London herself appears before you as a suppliant for justice. My
lord, it is written in the book of nature."--"What book?" said Lord
Ellenborough. "The book of nature."--"Name the page," said his lordship,
holding his pen uplifted, as if to note the page down.

Moore relates the