nators of the meeting being defeated, and a second meeting held, when Counsellor Burne moved the counter-address, which was read and seconded by Mr. O'Connell, and carried. In the confusion Mr. Burne, however, mislaid his counter-address, and when he was searching his pockets for it, after he had finished his speech, Mr. O'Connell, who was standing near, said, "Here it is," and put a paper into his hand which was moved and adopted, as described above, and duly forwarded to the King. It was, however, a composition of Mr. O'Connell's own, very much stronger than Mr. Burne's effusion.

It was apropos to this county of Dublin meeting, that the celebrated môt of the Duke of Wellington was uttered in the House of Lords: "County meetings," said his grace, "are farces." "On this occasion," retorted the Duke of Leinster, "it was not the fault of the authorities that the farce did not turn out a tragedy."

To the Duke of Leinster, in the previous year, the Duke of Wellington, on receiving a petition in favour of Catholic Emancipation, addressed this laconic reply: "I have received," wrote the noble Duke, "your grace's letter, accompanied by a tin case."

SIR WILLIAM GRANT'S LIVING.

Sir William Grant, Master of the Rolls, was a man of simple habits and somewhat remarkable for his taciturnity and reserve. As a politician, he was more narrow-minded than even several other distinguished lawyers. With him originated the phrase of "the wisdom of our ancestors." In his time the Rolls Court sat in the evening, from six to ten; and Sir William dined after the Court rose. His servant, it is said, when he went to bed, left two bottles of wine on the table, which he always found empty in the morning. Sir William occupied two or three rooms on the ground-floor of the Rolls house; and when showing them to his successor in the Rolls, he said, "Here are two or three good rooms; this is my diningroom; my library and bedroom are beyond; and, I am told,” he added, there are some good rooms upstairs, but I was never there."

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"HONEST CHARLEY WETHERELL."

Sir Charles Wetherell was a tall man, with a considerable stoop and a swing in his gait-his face was intelligent and rather remarkable: the forehead expansive, the eyes not large, but expressive of humour; the nose straight and rather short, or appearing so from the unusual length of the upper lip and chin; his voice was good, but not musical, and his manner was sometimes calm and impres

sive; but, for the greatest part, his efforts, even upon the most important occasions, were attended with a whimsicality, which was the most distinguished feature of his manner as an advocate.

His oratory was a most curious combination of really serious and sound argument, with out-of-the-way irrelevancy of what seemed irrelevant; until he, by some odd application, which no one under heaven but himself could have thought of, contrived to connect it with his argument. His violent excitement about matters of dry equity was of itself sufficient to give a character of extreme singularity to his pleading in the Court of Chancery; but when we add to this his unusual gesticulation-his frequent use of uncommon and antiquated words-his bits of Latin so oddly and familiarly introduced, and his circumlocution, where the use of an ordinary phrase would express his meaning, we find they all combine to make his character for eccentricity as a Chancery barrister.

When he went forth into the street he was even more strange than in Court. He wore clothes that seemed to have been suddenly "grabbed" from some shop-window in Monmouth-street, without any consideration as to the fit. He scorned the appendages of suspenders, and only sometimes wore a waistcoat long enough to meet the other garment, which, for lack of the appendages aforesaid, was wont to sink below the ordinary level. His inside coat was old, his outside one of great antiquity, and commonly flew behind him in the breeze, while he strode along muttering to himself, with his hands lodged deep in the recesses of his breeches-pockets; his cravat seemed as if it had not been folded, but rolled up and tied on in the dark, by hands not of the cleanest: he wore large shoes tied with great black tapes, or what would have been black except that, like his hat, the vicissitudes of time had turned them to a hue of brown. In this costume he moved along, cheery and pleasant, nodding to many, talking to some, and recognised by others, who said, "There goes honest Charley Wetherell.

Many stories are told of the strange way in which he lived in chambers, when it was not his custom to come to Court: they say he had a bit of looking-glass fixed into the wall, which answered all the purposes of his toilet; and sometimes, when a person would come in after he had commenced shaving, he would quite forget to complete it, and perhaps be found in the evening with a crust of lather upon his face, which had remained from the morning without his being conscious of it.

Sir Charles Wetherell was the most staunch and unbending supporter of Ultra-Toryism. There was something amusing in his perseverance, to the very end, against the Reform Bill, especially as he

accompanied his hostility with much wit and humour. "This," said he, in his final address to the House of Commons on the subject, "is the last dying-speech and confession of the member for Boroughbridge."

SIR WILLIAM FOLLETT ON FREE-MASONRY.

In an agreeable volume of Sketches, published in 1846, by a Suffolk Rector, we find this storry of Sir William Follett's early life. His schoolfellow, the Rector, relates, in the course of conversation, "I inferred, from a passing remark, that Sir William had become a Mason. I asked him if my conclusion was correct. 'It is,' was his reply; 'I was initiated at Cambridge.' Light had not then beamed upon myself, and I expressed, in scoffing terms, my astonishment. In your early struggles at the Bar,' remarked he, with quiet earnestness, 'you require something to reconcile you to your kind. You see so much of bitterness, and rivalry, and jealousy, and hatred, that you are thankful to call into active agency a system which creates, in all its varieties, kindly sympathy, cordial and widespread benevolence, and brotherly love." But, surely,' said I, 'you do not go the length of asserting that Masonry does all this?" "And more! the true Mason thinks no evil of his brother, and cherishes no designs against him. The system itself annihilates parties. And as to censoriousness and calumny, most salutary and stringent is the curb which Masonic principle, duly carried out, applies to an unbridled tongue.' 'Well! well! you cannot connect it with religion : you cannot, say or do as you will, affirm of it, that Masonry is a religious system.' 'By-and-by you will know better,' was his reply. Now, I will only say this, that the Bible is never closed in a Mason's Lodge; that Masons habitually use prayer in their lodges; and in point of fact never assemble for any purpose without performing acts of religion. I gave you credit,' continued he, with a smile, for being more thoroughly emancipated from nursery trammels and slavish prejudice.'You claim too much for your system,' was my rejoinder. Not at all! But hear me. Many clergymen were and are Masons. The well-known Dr. Dodd belonged to us.' 'I presume,' said I, jestingly, 'you attach but slight weight to his name? The selection is unfortunate.' 'It occurred to me,' said Sir William, from my having recently read some very curious letters connected with his case. The Masons, both individually and as a body, made the most extraordinary efforts to save him. They were unwearied but I must break off; when I can call you brother you shall see these letters. In the meantime, is it not worth while to belong to a fraternity whose principles, if universal, would put down

at once and for ever the selfish and rancorous feelings which now divide and distract society?"

CHARACTER OF FOLLETT.

For Sir William Follett Lord Tenterden expressed great admiration. He once observed, "At my age and in my office I can have few pleasures, but I have two-the first is hearing a young lawyer named Follett argue points of law; the second is playing a rubber of whist with old friends."

Lord Campbell says of Follett: "One most remarkable circumstance should be told respecting his rise to be the most popular advocate of his day, to be Attorney-General, and to be a powerful debater in the House of Commons-that it was wholly unaccompanied by envy. Those who have outstripped their competitors have often a great drawback upon their satisfaction by observing the grudging and ill-will with which, by some, their success is beheld. Such were Follett's inoffensive manners and unquestioned superiority, that all rejoiced at every step he attained-as all wept when he was snatched away from the still higher honours which awaited

him."

"NEWLY-BORN VANITY."

After Fitzgibbon and Scott, of the Irish Bar, had been raised to the Attorney and Solicitor Generalship, they were invited to dine with an attorney who first brought them into notice in the Four Courts by giving them briefs. They both accepted his invitation, not wishing to discard an old friend; but as he lived in an unfashionable part of Dublin, they did not like to have noticed "the lowly means by which they did ascend." Fitzgibbon drove to an adjacent street, there alighted from his carriage, and walking sneakingly towards the attorney's house, he met Scott; they passed without recognition; to avoid detection, they walked to the end of the street in opposite directions, and turned; both met again, but finding they were engaged to the same host, Scott said to Fitzgibbon, "Ah! Mr. Attorney-General, I see we are both engaged to the same place, do not be ashamed; pray let me show you the way." They then took the alley which led to their old benefactor's house, which their newly-born vanity had taken such pains to conceal.

FITZGIBBON AND THE FEE.

An odd story is told of Fitzgibbon respecting a client who brought his own brief and fee, that he might personally apologise for the smallness of the latter. Fitzgibbon, on receiving the fee, looked rather discontented. "I assure you, Counsellor," said the client,

mournfully, "I am ashamed of its smallness; but, in fact, it is all I have in the world." "Oh, then," said Fitzgibbon, "you can do no more; as it's all you have in the world-why-hum-I must take it!"

DANGEROUS METAPHOR.

An Irish barrister pleading before Lord Clare, thought proper to introduce an eagle, and after vainly trying to carry out and apply his metaphor, broke down. "The next time, sir," said the Chancellor, "that "that

clip his wings, bring an eagle into court, I recommend you to

LORD NORBURY, AND HIS COURT.

Lord Norbury was at the head of an excellent company. The spirit of the judge extended itself naturally enough to the counsel; and men who were grave and considerate everywhere else, threw off all soberness and propriety, and became infected with the habits of the venerable manager of the court, the moment they entered the Common Pleas. His principal performers were Messrs. Grady, Wallace, O'Connell, and Gould, who instituted a sort of rivalry in uproar, and played against each other. With such a judge, and such auxiliaries to co-operate with him, some idea may be formed of the attractions which were held out to that numerous' class who have no fixed occupation, and by whom, in the hope of laughing hunger away, the Four Courts are frequented in Dublin.

The Chief Justice, having despatched the junior, whom he was sure to make the luckless, but sometimes not inappropriate, victim of his encomiums, he suffered the leading counsel to proceed. As he was considered to have a strong bias towards the plaintiff, experimental attorneys brought into the Common Pleas the very worst and most discreditable adventures in litigation. The statement of the case, therefore, generally disclosed some paltry ground of action, which, however, did not prevent his Lordship from exclaiming in the outset, "A very important action, indeed! If you make out your facts in evidence, Mr. Wallace, there will be serious matter for the jury." The evidence was then produced; and the witnesses often consisted of wretches whose emaciated and discoloured countenances showed their want and their depravity, while their watchful and working eyes intimated that mixture of sagacity and humour by which the lower order of Irish attestators is distinguished. They generally appeared in coats and breeches, the external decency of which, as they were hired for the occasion, was ludicrously contrasted with the ragged and filthy shirt, which Mr. Henry Deane Grady, who was well acquainted with "the inner man” of an Irish

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