didn't, either, by the way. Come, come, ladies! On with your bonnets and shawls!" Thus rattled on worthy little Dr Tatham, in order to prevent any thing being said which might disturb those whom he came to see, or cause his own highly-charged feelings to give way. The sight of Mrs and Miss Aubrey, however, who greeted him in silence as they hastily drew on their bonnets and shawls, overcame his ill-assumed cheerfulness; and before he could bustle back, as he presently did, to the street door, his eyes were obstructed with tears, and he wrung the hand of Mr Aubrey, who stood beside him, with convulsive energy. They soon set off, and at a rapid pace, Dr Tatham riding along beside the carriage. Yatton was about twelve miles off. For the first few miles they preserved a tolerable show of cheerfulness; but as they perceived themselves nearing Yatton, it became plainly more and more of an effort for any of them to speak. Dr Tatham, also, talked to them seldomer through the windows. At one time he dropped considerably behind; at another, he rode as much ahead.

"Oh, Charles, don't you dread to see Yatton?" said Miss Aubrey suddenly, as they turned,a familiar corner of the road. Neither of them replied to her.

"When you come to the village," said Mr Aubrey, presently, to the postilion, "drive through it, right up to the hall, as quickly as you can." He was obeyed. As they passed through the village, with their windows up, none of them seemed disposed to look through, but leaned back, in silence, in their seats.

"God bless you; God bless you; I shall call in the evening!" exclaimed Dr Tatham; as, having reached the vicarage, he hastily waved his hand, and turned off. Soon they had passed the park gates: when had they entered it before with such heavy hearts with eyes so dreading to encounter every familiar object that met them? Alas! the spacious park was no longer theirs; not a tree, not a shrub, not a flower, not an inch of ground; the trees all putting forth their fresh green leaves-nothing was theirs: the fine old turreted gateway, an object always, hitherto, of peculiar pride and attachment, their hearts seemed to tremble as they rattled under it.

Cou

"Courage, my sweet loves! rage! courage!" exclaimed Mr Aubrey, grasping each of their hands, and then they burst into tears. Mr Aubrey felt his own fortitude grievously shaken as he entered the old hall, no longer his home, and reflected that he had been hitherto the wrongful occupant of it; that he must forthwith proceed to "set his house in order," and prepare for a dreadful reckoning with him whom the law had declared to be the true owner of Yatton.

The formal result of the trial at York, was, as has been already intimated, to declare Mr Titmouse entitled to recover possession of only that insignificant portion of the estates held by Jacob Jolter: and that, too, only in the event of the first four days of the ensuing term elapsing, without any successful attempt being made to impeach, before the court, the propriety of the verdict of the jury. It is a principle of our English law, that the vers diet of a jury is, in general, irreversible and conclusive: but, inasmuch as that verdict may have been improperly obtained as, for instance, either through the misdirection of the judge, or his erroneous admission or rejection of evidence; or may have no force in point of law, by reason of the pleadings of the party for whom it has been given, being insufficient to warrant the court to award its final judgment upon, and according to, such verdict, or by reason of the discovery of fresh evidence subsequently to the trial: therefore, the law hath given the party who failed at the trial, till the end of the first four days of the term next ensuing, to show the court why the verdict obtained by his opponent ought to go for nothing, and matters remain as they were before the trial, or a new trial be had. So anxious is our law to afford the utmost scope and opportunity for ascertaining what ought to be its decision, which, when obtained, is, as hath been said, solemnly and permanently conclusive upon the subject; such the effectual and practical corrective of any error or miscarriage, in the working of that noble engine, trial by jury. Thus, then, it appears, that the hands of Mr Titmouse and his advisers were at all events stayed till the first four days of Easter term should have elapsed. During the considerable interval thus afforded to the advisers of Mr Aubrey,

his case, as it appeared upon the notes of his counsel, on their briefs, with the indirect assistance and corroboration derived from the shorthand writer's notes, underwent repeated and most anxious examination in all its parts and bearings, by all his legal advisers. It need hardly be said, that every point in the case favourable to their client had been distinctly and fully raised by the Attorney-General, assisted by his very able juniors, Mr Stirling and Mr Crystal; and so was it with the counsel of Mr Titmouse, as, indeed, the result showed. On subsequent examination, none of them could discover any false step, or any advantage which had been overlooked, or taken inefficiently. Independently of various astute objections taken by the Attorney-General to the reception of several important portions of the plaintiff's evidence, the leading points relied on in favour of Mr Aubrey were the impropriety of Lord Widdrington's rejection of the deed of confirmation on account of the erasure in it; the effect of that deed, assuming the erasure not to have warranted its rejection; and several questions arising out of the doctrine of adverse pos. session, by which alone, it had been contended at the trial, that the claim of the descendants of Stephen Dreddlington had been peremptorily and finally barred. Two very long consultations had been held at the Attorney-General's chambers, attended by Mr Stirling, Mr Crystal, Mr Mansfield, the three partners in the firm of Runnington and Company, Mr Parkinson, and Mr Aubrey-who had come up to town for the purpose alone. Greatly to the surprise of all of them, he stated most distinctly and emphatically, that he insisted on no ground of objection being taken against his opponent, except such as was strictly just, equitable, honourable, and conscientious. Rather than defeat him on mere technicalities-rather than avail himself of mere positive rules of law, while the RIGHT, as between man and man, was substantially in favour of his opponent-Mr Aubrey declared, however absurd or Quixotic he might be thought, that he would-if he had them-lose fifty Yattons. Fiat justitia ruat cælum. "You mean to say, Aubrey," interrupted the Attorney General mildly, after listening for some time to his friend and client with

evident interest, and admiration of his pure and high-minded character

that it would be unconscientious of you to avail yourself of a fixed and beneficial rule of law, established upon considerations of general equity and utility-such, for instance, as that of adverse possession in order to retain possession, while"

"Pray, Mr Attorney-General, if I had lent you five hundred pounds seven or eight years ago, would you set up the statute of limitations against me when I asked for repayment?"

"Excuse me, Aubrey," replied the Attorney-General, with a faint flush upon his handsome and dignified features; "but how idle all this is! One would imagine that we were sitting in a school of casuistry! What are we met for, in the name of common sense? For what, but to prevent the rightful owner of property from being deprived of it by a trumpery accidental erasure in one of his title-deeds, which time has deprived him of the means of accounting for?" He then, in a very kind way, but with a dash of peremptoriness, requested that the case might be left in their hands, and that they might be given credit for resorting to nothing that was inconsistent with the nicest and most fastidious sense of honour. This observation put an end to so unprecedented an interference; but if Mr Aubrey supposed that it had had any effect upon the AttorneyGeneral, he was mistaken; for of course that learned and eminent person secretly resolved to avail himself of every conceivable means, great and small, available for overturning the verdict, and securing the Aubreys in the possession of Yatton. He at the same time earnestly endeavoured to moderate the expectations of his client, declaring that he was by no means sanguine as to the issue; that Lord Widdrington's rulings at Nisi Prius were very formidable things; in fact, rarely assailable; and then, again, the senior puisne judge of the court--Mr Justice Grayley-had been consulted by Lord Widdrington at the trial, and concurred with him in his principal ruling, now sought to be moved against. At the close of the second consultation, on the night of the first day in Easter term, (the Attorney-General intending to move on the ensuing morning,) after having finally gone over the case in all its bearings, and

agreed upon the exact grounds of moving the Attorney-General called back Mr Runnington for a moment, as he was walking away with Mr Aubrey, and whispered to him, that it would be very proper to assume at once that the motion failed; and consider the best mode of negotiating concerning the surrender of the bulk of the property, and the payment of the mesne profits.

"Oh, Mr Aubrey has quite made up his mind to the worst, Mr Attor. -General."

ney

Ah, well!" replied the AttorneyGeneral with a sigh; and about five minutes after Mr Runnington's departure, the Attorney. General stepped into his carriage, which had been standing for the last hour opposite his chambers. He drove down to the House of Commons, where he almost immediately after delivered a long and luminous speech on one of the most important and intricate questions that had been discussed during the session. The first four days of term are an awkward interval equally to incompetent counsel and incompetent judgeswhen such there are. The slips of both then come to light; both have to encounter the keen and vigilant serutiny of a learned, acute, and independent body-the English bar. If a judge should happen to be in any degree unequal to the exigencies of his important station-incompetent for the due discharge of his difficult functions at Nisi Prius—what a store of anxiety and mortifications accumulates at every circuit town against the ensuing term; where his misrulings are distinctly and boldly brought under the notice of the full court and the assembled bar! What must be his feelings, as he becomes aware that all interested in the matter look out for a plentiful crop of new trials from the circuit which he has selected to favour with his presence. Great causes lost, verdicts set aside, and new trials ordered, at an enormous, often a ruinous expense, entirely on account of his inability to seize the true points and bearings of a case, and present them properly to a jury, to apply accurately the principles of evidence! How exquisitely painful to suspect that as soon as his name is announced, the anxious attorneys withdraw records and postpone the trials of their chief causes, in all directions trying no more

than they can possibly help, in the hope that a more competent judge will take the circuit after! to become, every now and then, aware that counsel boldly speculate at the trial upon his inexperience and ignorance by impudent experiments, in flagrant violation of elementary principles! And then for incompetent counsel; is not his a similar position? Set to lead a cause, before a host of keen rivals, watching his every step with bitter scrutiny-feeling himself entirely at sea; bewildered among details; forgetting his points; losing his presence of mind; with no fixed principles of law to guide him; laid prostrate by a sudden objection, of which, when too late and the mischief is done and irretrievable, he sees, or has explained to him the fallacy, and absurdity, and even audacity; discovering from indignant juniors, on sitting down, that he has gone to the jury on quite the wrong tack, and in effect thrown the cause away; and although he creeps into court on the first four days of term, to endeavour to retrieve the false step he took at the trial; but in vain, and he dare not look his attorney in the face, as he is refused his rule! These and similar thoughts may perhaps, on such occasions, be passing through the mind of a snarling sarcastic cynic, disappointed in his search for business, distanced in the race for promotion, as he sees the bench occupied with graceful dignity by men of acknowledged fitness chosen from among the flower of the bar,those most qualified by experience, learning, intellect, and moral charac

ter.

I would say to an inquirer, go now into any one of the superior courts of your country-to any court of Nisi Prius in the kingdom; and if you are able to observe and appreciate what you shall see, you will acknow ledge that in no single instance has the precious trust of administering justice been committed to unworthy or incompetent hands, whatever may have occasionally been the case in a former day.

And in like manner may we rebuke our cynic, in respect of his disparaging estimate of the leading bar.

The spectacle presented by the court in banc, to a thoughtful ob. servar, is interesting and imposing. Here, for instance, was the Court of King's Bench, presided over by Lord Widdrington, with three puisne judges

before him, to take a note of the grounds on which he moved.

"Does any other gentleman move?" inquired Lord Widdrington, looking over the court. He received no an

swer.

66

Mr Attorney General," said he; and the Attorney-General rose

"If your Lordship pleases,-in a case of DOE on the Demise of TITMOUSE against JOLTER, tried before your Lordship at the last assizes for the county of York, I have humbly to move your Lordship for a rule to show cause why a nonsuit should not be entered, or why the verdict entered for the plaintiff should not be set aside, and a NEW TRIAL had." He proceeded to state the facts of the case, and what had taken place at the trial, with great clearness and brevity. In like manner-with infinite simplicity and precision-he stated the various points arising upon the evidence, and the general grounds of law which have been already specified; but I am so grateful to the reader for his patience under the infliction of so much legal detail as was contained in the last part of this history, that I shall now content myself with the above general statement of what took place before the court. As soon as he had sate down, the court consulted together for a minute or two; and then

"You may take a rule to show cause, Mr Attorney-General," said Lord Widdrington.

"On all the grounds I have mentioned, my Lord?"

"Yes. Mr Solicitor-General, do you move?"

Up rose, thereat, the Solicitor-General.

"I shall discharge your rule," whispered Mr Subtle to the Attorney-Gen

eral.

"I'm afraid you will," whispered the Attorney-General, leaning his head close to Mr Subtle, and with his hand before his mouth. Then his clerk removed the battery of books which stood before him, together with his brief; and, taking another out of his turgid red bag, the Attorney-General was soon deep in the details of an important shipping case, in which he was going to move when next it came to his turn.

Thus the court had granted a rule nisi, as it is called, (i. c., it commanded a particular thing to be done

"unless" sufficient" cause" could be thereafter shown to the court why it should not be done,) for either entering a nonsuit, or having a new trial. Now, had this rule been obtained in the present day, at least two years must have elapsed, owing to the immense and perhaps unavoidable arrear of business, before the other side could have been heard in answer to it; so, at least, it has been reported to me, in this green old solitude where I am writing, pleasantly recalling long-past scenes of the bustling professional life from which I am thankful for having been able, with a moderate competence, years ago to retire. Now, had such been the state of business at the time when the Rule in Doe d. Titmouse v. Jolter was moved for, see the practical effect of it: had Mr Aubrey, instead of the high-minded and conscientious man he undoubtedly was, been a rogue, he might have had the opportunity of getting in twenty thousand pounds, and setting off with it to spend upon the Continent, as soon as he found that the court had decided against him: or, if the tenants should have been served with notice not to pay their rents to any one but Mr Titmouse-at all events not to Mr Aubrey-how was Mr Aubrey and his family to have subsisted during this interval?-and with the possibility that, at the end of the two years, Mr Aubrey might be declared to be the true owner of Yatton, and consequently all the while entitled to those rents, &c., the non-payment of which might have entailed upon him most serious embarrassments. During the same interval, poor Mr Titmouse, heartsick with hope deferred, might have taken to liquor, as a solace under his misery, and drunk himself to death before the rule was discharged-or brought his valuable life to a more sudden and abrupt conclusion: which affecting event would have relieved the court from deciding several troublesome points of law, and kept the Aubreys in possession of the Yatton estates. If what I am informed of as to the accumulation of arrears in the Court of King's Bench in the present day, in spite of the anxious and unprecedented exertions of its very able and active judges, be correct, I suspect that I shall not be believed, when I inform the reader that within ten or twelve days after the rule nisi, in the present case, had