tory hill. This enormous heap of animation approached to
put in his claim to Mr. O'Loghlin. Bumbo had an action,
which was to be tried before Chief Baron O'Grady against
the proprietor of the mail-coach to Ennis, for not having
provided a vehicle large enough to contain him. Mr. O'Logh-
lin was to state his case. Bumbo had espied the capture
which Ned Hickman had made of his favorite counsel. It
was easy to perceive, from the expression of resolute sever-
ity which sat upon his vast and angry visage, that he was de-
termined not to acquiesce in this unwarrantable proceeding.
As he advanced, Ned Hickman stood appalled, and, conscious
of the futility of remonstrance, let loose the hold which he
had
upon the Counsellor, while the latter, with that involun-
tary and somewhat reluctant, but inevitable submission, which
is instinctively paid to great by little men, obeyed the nod
of his enormous employer, and, with the homage which the
Attorney-General for Lilliput might be supposed to entertain
for a solicitor from Brobdignag, passively yielded to the do-

To

ployed, on one side or the other. He was a noticeable man" (to use Cole-
ridge's phrase)—but chiefly on account of his immense size. The great Dan-
iel Lambert died before my time, so that I can not personally compare him with
Bumbo Green;-I suspect that in corporeal extent there could not have been
much difference. Mr. Green was the biggest man I ever saw. He was tall,
but, from his obesity, appeared below the ordinary stature. He had a smiling,
winning manner, and was liked, for his good temper and fun, by every one.
see him attempt to sit down on the attorney's narrow bench was ludicrous in
the extreme.
What is called "the small of the back" he was not possessor of,
and therefore to rest upon a narrow seat was as hopeless a task for him, as it
would have been for a cherub-but from quite a different cause, "Bumbo"
Green having a redundancy of what cherubs are so deficient in, that it is evident
they never can sit for their portraits! Bumbo Green flourished in the ante-
railway era, and, on a journey, had to occupy and pay for two seats in the
stage-coach. On one occasion, he ordered his servant to take two seats for
him in the mail-coach from Ennis to Dublin. The man executed the command,
but, being a rather green hand, only a few days in Green's employment, com-
mitted a trifling mistake. When Bumbo Green went to the coach-office, he
found all the inside seats occupied, except one. His servant not knowing his
habit, had taken the seats-one outside, and the other within! — -Bumbo
Green, like nearly all very stout men whom I have ever known, was fond of
dancing, and danced lightly too. He had a great many good qualities, and
the perpetual sunshine of good temper gleamed brightly over them all.-M.

minion, and followed into the Exchequer the gigantic waddle of Bumbo Green.

But a truce to merriment. The merits of Mr. O'Loghlin, with whom I open this continuation of the Sketches of the Catholic Bar, are of a character which demand a serious and most respectful consideration. He is not of considerable standing, and yet is in the receipt of an immense income, which the most jealous of his competitors will not venture to insinuate that he does not deserve. He is in the utmost demand in the Hall of the Four Courts, and is among the very best of the commodities which are to be had in that staple of the mind. He is admitted, upon all hands, to be an excellent lawyer, and a master of the practice of the courts, which is of far greater importance than the black and recondite erudition, to which so many barristers exclusively devote so many years of unavailing labor. The questions to which deep learning is applicable are of frequent occurrence, while points connected with the course and forms of legal proceedings arise every day, and afford to a barrister, who has made them his study, an opportunity of rendering himself greatly serviceable to his clients. It is not by displays of research upon isolated occasions, that a valuable and money-making reputation is to be established. "Practice," as it is technically called, is the alchemy of the Bar. When it is once ascertained that a lawyer is master of it, he becomes the main resource of attorneys, who depend upon him for their guidance through the mazes of every intricate and complicated case. Mr. O'Loghlin has Tidd at his fingers' ends, and is, besides, minutely acquainted with that unwritten and traditional practice which governs Irish justice; and which, not having been committed to books, is acquired by an unremitting attention to what is going on in court.*

* Mention has been made, in a previous note, of the rates of payment to the judges, varying from eight hundred to one thousand pounds sterling a year (the salaries of Irish Assistant-Barristers, Scottish Sheriffs, and English County Court Judges), to ten thousand pounds sterling per annum, the amount fixed, by Act of Parliament, as the Lord-Chancellor's official income. Those who are accustomed to the present very small remuneration allowed to the occu pants of judicial seats in the United States may consider the British payment

BRITISH SYSTEM OF JUDICATURE.

111

It is not to be considered, from the praise bestowed upon. Mr. O'Loghlin in this most useful department of his profession, that he does not possess other and very superior qualifications. as extravagant-especially, as the offices (with the exception of the Chancellorship, which is political as well as legal) are held for life, or during good be havior, which is the same. Added to this is the system of granting pensions or retiring allowances to the judges-amounting to nearly two thirds of their annual salaries—after fifteen years' service or in the event of earlier retirement from ill health. The British plan is based upon a very broad principle — namely, that of tempting the very best lawyers to become judges, by making it worth their while to surrender the great incomes which they can earn at the bar. In Great Britain and Ireland, a lawyer in full practice may earn from three thousand to twelve thousand pounds sterling per annum―some have obtained more. To tempt any of these men, in the prime of life and the fullness of profitable labor, to assume the ermine of the judge instead of the gown of the barrister, there are three or four conjunct inducements. There is a permanent station of honorable rank secured to him who becomes a judge. There is a certain income, which, though far lower than he may have previously earned, is obtained in comparative ease and repose. There is the removal of all doubt as to the future for a failure of health may assail the most active lawyer, and speedily incapacitate him from future exertion, whereas, when a judge, he may retire after a certain length of public service, provided for, during the residue of life, by the bountiful gratitude of the public, which also provides for his future, in case of his health breaking up. On the bench, it is true, a lawyer does not wholly enjoy "otium cum dignitate," for the judge, if he do his duty, has no sinecure. But he is removed from the cares, the bustle, the struggles, which are inseparable from the active life of a busy lawyer, and which form the wear and tear of his mind, and he assumes a position of dignified and honorable labor, in the discharge of duties more important than those of an advocate, while they are of a different and less mind-oppressing order. A seat upon the judicial bench, therefore, is the object of a British lawyer's honorable ambition, for which he strives and competes—not by linking himself with any political party, not by descending to canvassing or solicitation, but by knowledge of the laws, by industry, and by unimpeachable conduct. These judicial appointments are virtually held for life, because the becoming entitled to a pension after fifteen years' service, does not necessarily cause a judge to retire at the expiration of that period. For the most part, we find the judges continuing in office to the end. Of late years there have been only two retirementsErskine (son of the Chancellor) from ill health, and, more recently, Patteson, from deafness. It is to the credit of George III. (who had the good sense, amid much obtuseness, sometimes to take advice) to commence his reign, in 1760, by recommending Parliament to enact that the judges should not be removable, as before, by the demise of the Sovereign cancelling their Commissions. It had been the custom to issue new Commissions, in such cases, and then a judge who had rendered himself obnoxious by independence, might be displaced, as

He is familiar with every branch of the law, and has his knowledge always at command. There are many whose learning lies in their minds, like treasure in rusty coffers which it is a toil to open, or masses of bullion in the vaults of the Bank of Ireland, unfit for the purposes of exchange, and difficult to be put into circulation. Mr. O'Loghlin bears his wealth about him he can immediately apply it—and carries his faculties like coined money, “in numerato habet." He is not a maker of sentences, and does not impress his phrases on the memory of his hearers; but he has what is far better than what is vulgarly designated as eloquence. He is perfectly fluent, easy, and natural. His thoughts run in a smooth and clear current, and his diction is their appropriate channel. His perceptions are exceedingly quick, and his utterance is, therefore, occasionally rapid; but, although he speaks at times with velocity, he never does so with precipitation. He is extremely brief, and indulges in no useless amplification. matter of routine, on the accession of a new sovereign. The result has been that, since this independence has thus been established, we have had some remarkable instances where a judge has acted directly in opposition to the desires and interests of the Government. For example, Lord Camden (when Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, in 1763) decided that the Secretary of State had acted illegally, in arresting John Wilkes, on a general warrant which ought not to be issued except in the urgent case of high treason. So, a few years ago, Lord Chief Justice Denman's denial, as a constitutional lawyer (in re Stockdale v. Howard) that either House of Parliament had a right to publish libels, as part of their proceedings, and to authorize their public sale. In England, there are few instances of a judge soiling his ermine by truckling to Power. I recollect only two instances in my own time. Once, on the trial of William Hone for publishing parodies on parts of the Bible (his real offence being that he had ridiculed the Prince Regent) when Lord Ellenborough actually desired the jury to bring in a verdict of guilty, which they declined doing. The other, during the trial of the Chartist rioters, when Lord Abinger, who tried the case, acted more like the prosecuting counsel than the judge, and roundly abused the prisoners on account of their politics. But in Ireland, where there are corrupt sheriffs and packed juries, partisan judges have not been so rare. That class did not cease with Lord Norbury: it still exists. In questions between man and man, the bulk of the Irish judges have shown praiseworthy impartiality. When it was the Government against the subject, the case sometimes became different. The State Trials of 1844 and 1848, were conducted in a manner which reminded us of 1798, and which would have almost driven England into insurrection, had occurred there.-M.

There is not the smallest trace of affectation in anything which he either does or says; and it is surprising with what little appearance of exertion he brings all the powers of hig mind into play. His points are put with so much brevity, simplicity, and clearness, that he has, of necessity, become a great favorite with the Judges, who give him a willing audience, because he is sure to be pertinent and short; and having said all that is fitting to be said, and no more, has immediately done. He is listened to the more readily, because he is apparently frank and artless; but he merely puts on a show of candor, for few possess more suppleness and craft.

No man adapts himself with more felicity to the humors and the predispositions of the judges whom he addresses. Take, for example, the Exchequer, where, both on the law and equity sides of the court, he is in immense business. He appeals to the powerful understanding, and sheer common-sense, of Standish O'Grady,* in whom Rhadamanthus and Sancho

* Of Standish O'Grady, Chief-Baron of the Irish Exchequer, from 1803 to 1831, a notice has already been given (vol i., p. 135), but an anecdote can scarcely be out of place here. He had a caustic wit, which was the more keen because ever unobtrusive. The quiet manner in which the Chief-Baron would insult a man, barbed the shaft. For example, a certain Mr. Burke Bethell was at the Irish bar. He had ability, learning, eloquence, and industry, but was one of the men who appeared as if born under an evil star, and never could get on. It was stated, and believed, that he took business at any rate-that is, he would initial a brief marked two, five, or ten guineas, as if he had received that amount (for without such proof of payment the taxingmaster would strike the item out of the attorney's bill of costs), and accept a fourth of the nominal sum. This had reached the ears of O'Grady, who had never known the want of money, and had a lofty idea of what is called "the dignity of the profession.' On one occasion, Burke Bethell had the luck, by some accident, to receive a brief in some small case in which the Crown was seeking penalties, under the Excise laws, from some fiscal delinquent. The Court of Exchequer was the tribunal before which the case was to be tried, Bethell, determined to cut a figure, had somewhat Adonized his attire, and presented himself before the Chief-Baron, who, affecting not to recognise him (wearing the unusual disguise of a clean shirt), surveyed him through his eyeglass, and, stooping down, asked who the gentleman was- with an air like that which Brummell must have worn when he asked his companion, who stopped to speak to George IV., "Who is your fat friend?"--Bethel, with an air of great importance, thus commenced: "My Lord, on this occasion, I have the honor to appear for the Crown." The Chief-Baron, interrupting him, in his