H. C. R. Cross-examines his old Schoolmaster.

present Bishop of London).* He had said that he was a schoolmaster, and the plaintiff and defendant and defendant's counsel had all been his pupils. When I rose to cross-examine him, C. J. Dallas leaned over, and in an audible whisper said, "Now, Mr. Robinson, you may take your revenge." Good-natured sparring took place between Blomfield and myself, and I got a verdict in a very doubtful case,-insisting that, if a nuisance, it must be a general one, and so the subject of an indictment. Afterwards, on an indictment, I contended that the remedy was by action, if it were a grievance, and in this I failed.

115

CHAP. III.

1818.

tice Gibbs.

Before the Summer Assizes I dined with C. J. Gibbs. Chief JusOthers of the circuit were with me. Some parts of his conversation I thought worth putting down, though not very agreeable at the time, as it was manifestly didactic, and very like that of a tutor with his pupils. He spoke with great earnestness against the "Term Reports," which he considered as ruinous to the profession in the publication of hasty decisions, especially those at Nisi Prius, and urged the necessity of arguing every case on principle. On my remarking on the great fame acquired by men who were eminently deficient, he was malicious enough to ask for an instance. I named Erskine. He was not sorry to have an opportunity of expressing his opinion of Erskine, which could not be high. He remarked on Erskine's sudden fall in legal reputation, "Had he been wellgrounded, he could not have fallen."

116

CHAP. III.

1818.

Lawyers' fees.

Judicial changes.

Fees of the Bar.

This same day, on my speaking of the talents required in an opening and reply, he said that the Lord Chancellor (Eldon) reproached Sir James Mansfield with the practice I have noticed in Sir Samuel Romilly, of leaving his argument for the reply, which was ascribed to laziness. Gibbs praised Bell, the Chancery practitioner, as a man who was always in the right. "He always gave the most satisfactory answer to a question in the fewest words."

In the winter of this year I heard from Gurney some interesting facts about fees, which within about eleven or twelve years had risen much above what was formerly known. Kaye,* the solicitor, told Gurney once that he had that day carried the AttorneyGeneral (Gibbs) 100 general retainers, that is 500 guineas. These were on the Baltic captures and insurance cases. Gibbs did not think that Erskine ever made more than 7,000 guineas, and Mingay confessed that he only once made 5,000 guineas. He observed that the great fortunes made in ancient times by lawyers must have been indirectly as the stewards of great men. Otherwise, they were unaccountable.

I must here add that all this is little compared with the enormous gains of my old fellow-circuiteer, Charles Austin, who is said to have made 40,000 guineas by pleading before Parliament in one session.

This year there were great changes in the law courts. Of the judicial promotions Jekyl said, being the professional wag, that they came by titles very different, viz.-C. J. Abbott by descent, J. Best by intrusion, and

Solicitor to the Bank of England, &c.

A Joke of Jekyll's.

Richardson by the operation of law.

117

The wit of the CHAP. III.

two first is pungent; the last, a deserved compliment. It was expected, said Jekyll, that Vaughan would come in by prescription. This was not so good. Sir Henry Halford,* the King's physician, was his brother.

I must not forget that, on Aldebert's death, his books were taken by a bookseller, but I was allowed to have what I liked at the bookseller's price. I laid out £40 in purchasing Piranesi's prints and other works of art, and had many calls from men of taste to see them.

The Colliers, with whom I used to dine, left London this year. Their place was to some extent supplied by John Payne Collier,† who took a house in Bouverie Street. It was not then foreseen that he would become a great Shakespearean critic, though he had already begun to be a writer.

* Sir Henry Halford was the son of Dr. Vaughan of Leicester, but changed his name in 1809, when he inherited a fortune from his mother's cousin, Sir Charles Halford.

† J. P. Collier wrote " History of English Dramatic Poetry to the Time of Shakespeare," 1831; "New Facts regarding the Life of Shakespeare," 1835; "Shakespeare Library; a Collection of the Romances, Novels, Poems, and Histories used by Shakespeare as the Foundation of his Dramas," 1843; and various other works.

1818.

Jekyll's

joke there

on

Aldebert's prints.

118

CHAP. IV.

1819.

Clarkson on the Emperor of Russia.

Clarkson and the

CHAPTER IV.

1819.

January 4th.-(At Bury.) I walked early up town and Emperor left with Mr. Clarkson his MS. account of his interview

Alexander.

The Em peror on slavery.

with the Emperor of Russia, at Aix-la-Chapelle, on the subject of the slave-trade. This interview must receive its explanation from future events. The Emperor talked of the Quakers and Bible Societies, of the Society against War, of which he considered himself a member, and of the slave-trade, as one might have expected a religious clergyman would have done. Mr. Clarkson is a sincere believer in the Emperor's sincerity.

THOMAS R. TO HABAKKUK R.

Bury St. Edmunds, January 6th, 1819.

The Buck party were at my house last Friday, when we were entertained, and most highly interested, by Mr. Clarkson's account of his interview with the Emperor of Russia, at Aix-la-Chapelle. His reception by the most powerful potentate in the world was extremely gracious. The Emperor took him most cordially by both his hands, drew a chair for him and another for himself, when they sat down, in Mr. Clarkson's language, "knee to knee, and face to face." The principal subject of their conversation was, of course,

Emperor Alexander on Slavery and War.

1819.

119

the abolition of the slave-trade, in which the Emperor CHAP. IV. takes an extraordinary interest, and seems to be most earnestly anxious to use his powerful interest to induce the other Powers of Europe to concur in this

The Emperor, at this meeting, professed likewise the most pacific sentiments, and spoke with great energy of the evil and sin of war, admitting that it was altogether contrary to the spirit of Christianity, and said that he desired to inculcate this sentiment in the minds of the different Powers, and should therefore propose frequent congresses to adjust disputes, without having recourse to the too common arbitration of the sword. You know, perhaps, that, for the purpose of eradicating the warlike spirit, Peace Societies have been formed both in this country and in America. (We have a small one in this town.) The Emperor assured Mr. Clarkson that he highly approved of them, and wished to be considered as belonging to them. And no longer ago than yesterday, Mr. Clarkson received a copy of a letter, written in English by the Emperor with his own hand, and addressed to Mr. Marsden, the Chairman of the London Peace Society, in which he repeats the same sentiments in favour of the principles of the Society. It is at any rate a curious phenomenon to find an advocate of such principles in such a person. There are those who doubt his sincerity, but where can be the motive to induce the Autocrat of all the Russias to flatter even such an individual, however excellent, as Mr. Clarkson, or Mr. Marsden, a stock-broker in London?

And on

war.