y
sorry. I quite forgot it."--"Don't apologise, Mr. Ribton," was the
answer. "I forgive you; for it was a very long time ago."

A very old story is told of a highwayman who sent for a solicitor and
inquired what steps were necessary to be taken to have his trial
deferred. The solicitor answered that he would require to get a doctor's
affidavit of his illness. This was accordingly done in the following
manner: "The deponent verily believes that if the said ---- is obliged
to take his trial at the ensuing sessions, he will be in imminent danger
of his life."--"I verily believe so too," replied the judge, and the
trial proceeded immediately.

* * * * *

Some judges profess ignorance of slang terms used in evidence, and seek
explanation from counsel. Lord Coleridge in the following story had his
inquiry not only answered but illustrated. A witness was describing an
animated conversation between the pursuer and defendant in a case and
said: "Then the defendant turned and said, 'If 'e didn't 'owld 'is noise
'ed knock 'im off 'is peark.'"--"Peark? Mr. Shee, what is meant by
peark?" asked the Lord Chief Justice. "Oh, peark, my lord, is any
position when a man elevates himself above his fellows--for instance, a
bench, my lord."

Another story illustrating this alleged ignorance of every-day terms
used by the masses comes from the Scottish Court of Session. In this
instance the explanation was volunteered by the witness who used the
term. One of the counsel in the case was Mr. (now Lord) Dewar, who was
cross-examining the witness on a certain incident, and drew from him the
statement that he (the witness) had just had a "nip." "A nip," said the
judge; "what is a nip?"--"Only a small Dewar, my lord," explained the
witness.

Lord Russell of Killowen, himself a Lord Chief Justice, tells some
amusing stories of Lord Coleridge in his interesting reminiscences of
that great judge in the _North American Review_. When at the Bar he was
counsel in a remarkable case--Saurin against Starr. The pursuer, an
Irish lady, sued the Superior of a religious order at Hull for expulsion
without reasonable cause. Mr. Coleridge cross-examined a Mrs. Kennedy,
one of the superintendents of the convent, who had mentioned in her
evidence, among other peccadilloes of the pursuer, that she had been
found in the pantry eating strawberries, when she should have been
attending some class duties.

Mr. Coleridge: "Eating str