Yatton, the recovery of which was the object of these secret and
formidable movements and preparations, not to say machinations, was all
this while the scene of deep affliction. The lamentable condition of his
mother plunged Mr. Aubrey, his wife, and sister, into profounder grief
than had been occasioned by the calamity which menaced them all in
common. Had he been alone, he would have encountered the sudden storm of
adversity with unshrinking, nay, cheerful firmness; but could it be so,
when he had ever before him those whose ruin was involved in his
own?--Poor Mrs. Aubrey, his wife, having been two or three weeks
confined to her bed, during which time certain fond hopes of her husband
had been blighted, was almost overpowered, when, languid and feeble,
supported by Mr. Aubrey and Kate, she first entered the bedroom of the
venerable sufferer. What a difference, indeed, was there between the
appearance of all of them at that moment, and on the Christmas day when,
a happy group, they were cheerfully enjoying the festivities of the
season! Kate was now pale, and somewhat thinner; her beautiful features
exhibited a careworn expression; yet there was a serene lustre in her
blue eye, and a composed resolution in her air, which bespoke the
superiority of her soul. What had it not cost her to bear with any
semblance of self-possession, or fortitude, the sad spectacle now
presented by her mother! What a tender and vigilant nurse was she, to
one who could no longer be sensible of, or appreciate her attentions!
How that sweet girl humored all her venerated and suffering parent's
little eccentricities and occasional excitement, and accommodated
herself to every varying phasis of her mental malady! She had so
schooled her sensibilities and feelings, as to be able to maintain
perfect cheerfulness and composure in her mother's presence, on
occasions which forced her brother to turn aside with an eye of
agony--overcome by some touching speech or wayward action of the
unconscious sufferer, who constantly imagined herself, poor soul! to be
living over again her early married life; and that in her little
grandchildren she beheld Mr. Aubrey and Kate as in their childhood! She
would gently chide Mr. Aubrey, her husband, for his prolonged absence,
asking many times a day whether he had returned from London. Every
morning old Jacob Jones was shown into her chamber, at the hour at which
he had been accustomed, in happier days, to attend upon her. The
faithful old man's eyes would be blinded with tears, and his voice
choked, as he was asked how Peggy got over her yesterday's journey; and
listened to questions, messages, and directions, which had been familiar
to him twenty years before, about villagers and tenants who had long
lain mouldering in their humble graves--their way thither cheered and
smoothed by Mrs. Aubrey's Christian charity and benevolence! 'Twas a
touching sight to see her two beautiful grandchildren, in whose company
she delighted, brought, with a timorous and half-reluctant air, into her
presence. How strange must have seemed to them the cheerfulness of the
motionless figure always lying in the bed; a cheerfulness which, though
gentle as gentle could be, yet sufficed not to assure the little things,
or set them at their ease. Though her mild features ever smiled upon
them, still 'twas from a prostrate figure, which never moved, and was
always surrounded by mournful persons, with sorrowful constraint in
their countenances and gestures! Charles would stand watching her, with
apprehensive eye--the finger of one hand raised to his lip, while his
other retained the hand which had brought him in, as if fearful of its
quitting hold of him; the few words he could be brought to speak were in
a subdued tone and hurried utterance;--and when, having been lifted up
to kiss his grandmamma, he and his sister were taken out of the chamber,
their little breasts would heave a sigh which showed how sensibly they
were relieved from their recent constraint!
How wofully changed was everything in the once cheerful old Hall! Mr.
Aubrey sitting in the library, intently engaged upon books and
papers--Mrs. Aubrey and Kate now and then, arm in arm, walking slowly up
and down the galleries, or one of the rooms, or the hall, not with their
former sprightly gayety, but pensive, and often in tears, and then
returning to the chamber of their suffering parent. All this was sad
work, indeed, and seemed, as it were, to herald coming desolation!
But little variation occurred, for several weeks, in the condition of
Mrs. Aubrey, except that she grew visibly feebler. One morning, however,
about six weeks after her seizure, from certain symptoms, the medical
men intimated their opinion that some important change was on the eve of
taking place, for which they prepared the family. She had been very
restless during the night. After frequent intervals of uneasy sleep, she
would awake with evident surprise and bewilderment. Sometimes a peculiar
smile would flit over her emaciated features; at others, they would be
overcast with gloom, and she would seem struggling to suppress tears.
Her voice, too, when she spoke, was feeble and tremulous; and she would
sigh, and shake her head mournfully. Old Jacob Jones, not being
introduced at the accustomed hour, she asked for him. When he made his
appearance, she gazed at him for a moment or two, with a perplexed eye,
exclaiming, "Jacob! Jacob! is it you?" in a very low tone; and then she
closed her eyes, apparently falling asleep. Thus passed the day; her
daughter and daughter-in-law sitting on either side of the bed, where
they had so long kept their anxious and affectionate vigils--Mr. Aubrey
sitting at the foot of the bed--and Dr. Goddart and Mr. Whately in
frequent attendance. Towards the evening, Dr. Tatham also, as had been
his daily custom through her illness, appeared, and in a low tone read
over the service for the visitation of the sick. Shortly afterwards Mr.
Aubrey was obliged to quit the chamber, in order to attend to some very
pressing matters of business; and he had been engaged for nearly an
hour, intending almost every moment to return to his mother's chamber,
when Dr. Tatham entered, as Mr. Aubrey was subscribing his name to a
letter, and, with a little earnestness, said--"Come, my friend, let us
return to your mother; methinks she is on the eve of some decisive
change: the issue is with God!" Within a very few moments they were both
at the bedside of Mrs. Aubrey. A large chamber-lamp, standing on a table
at the farther end of the room, diffused a soft light, rendering visible
at a glance the silent and sad group collected round the bed, all with
their eyes directed towards the venerable figure who lay upon it. Mr.
Aubrey sat beside his wife close to his mother; and taking her white
emaciated hand into his own, gently raised it to his lips. She seemed
dozing: but his action appeared to rouse her for a moment. Presently she
fixed her eye upon him--its expression, the while, slowly but
perceptibly changing, and exciting strange feelings within him. He
trembled, and removed not his eye from hers. He turned very pale--for
the whole expression of his mother's countenance, which was turned full
towards him, was changing. Through the clouded windows of the falling
fabric, behold! its long-imprisoned tenant, THE SOUL, had arisen from
its torpor, and was looking at him. Reason was re-appearing. It was,
indeed, his mother, and _in her right mind_, that was gazing at him. He
scarcely breathed. At length surprise and apprehension yielded before a
gush of tenderness and love. With what an unutterable look was his
mother at that moment regarding him! His lip quivered--his eye
overflowed--and, as he felt her fingers very gently compressing his own,
his tears fell down. Gently leaning forward, he kissed her cheek, and
sank on one knee beside the bed.
"Is it you, my son?" said she, in a very low tone, but in _her own_
voice, and it stirred up instantly a thousand fond recollections, almost
overpowering him. He kissed her hand with fervent energy, but spoke not.
She continued gazing at him with mingled solemnity and fondness. Her eye
seemed brightening as it remained fixed upon him. Again she spoke, in a
very low but clear voice--every thrilling word being heard by all around
her: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken,
or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the
cistern,--Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the
spirit shall return unto God who gave it." It would be in vain to
attempt to describe the manner in which these words were spoken; and
which fell upon those who heard them as though they were listening to
one from the dead.
"My mother!--my mother!" at length faltered Aubrey.
"God bless thee, my son!" said she, solemnly. "And Catherine, my
daughter--God bless thee"---- she presently added, gently turning round
her head towards the quarter whence a stifled sob issued from Miss
Aubrey, who rose, trembling, and leaning over, kissed her mother.
"Agnes, are you here--and your little ones?--God bless"---- Her voice
got fainter, and her eyes closed. Mr. Whately gave her a few drops of
ether, and she presently revived.
"God hath been very good to you, Madam," said Dr. Tatham, observing her
eye fixed upon him, "to restore you thus to your children."
"I have been long absent--long!--I wake, my children, but to bid you
farewell, forever, upon earth."
"Say not so, my mother--my precious mother!" exclaimed her son, in vain
endeavoring to suppress his emotions.
"I do, my son! Weep not for me; I am old, and am summoned away from
among you"--She ceased, as if from exhaustion; and no one spoke for some
minutes.
"It may be that God hath roused me, as it were, from the dead, to
comfort my sorrowful children with words of hope," said Mrs. Aubrey,
with much more power and distinctness than before. "Hope ye, then, in
God; for ye shall yet praise him who is the health of your countenance,
and your God!"
"We will remember, my mother, your words!" faltered her son.
"Yes, my son--if days of darkness be at hand"--She ceased. Again Mr.
Whately placed to her white lips a glass with some reviving
fluid--looking ominously at Mr. Aubrey, as he found that she continued
insensible. Miss Aubrey sobbed audibly; indeed all present were
powerfully affected. Again Mrs. Aubrey revived, and swallowed a few
drops of wine and water. A heavenly serenity diffused itself over her
emaciated features.
"We shall meet again, my loves!--I can no longer see you with the eyes
of"--Mr. Whately observing a sudden change, came nearer to her.
"Peace! peace!" she murmured almost inarticulately. A dead silence
ensued, interrupted only by smothered sobs. Her children sank on their
knees, and buried their faces in their hands, trembling.
Mr. Whately made a silent signal to Dr. Tatham, that life had
ceased--that the beloved spirit had passed away. "The Lord gave, and the
Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord!" said Dr. Tatham,
with tremulous solemnity. Mrs. Aubrey and Miss Aubrey, no longer able to
restrain their feelings, wept bitterly; and overpowered with grief, were
supported out of the room by Dr. Tatham and Mr. Aubrey.
As soon as it was known that this venerable lady was no more, universal
reverence was testified for her memory, and sympathy for the afflicted
survivors, by even those, high and low, in the remoter parts of the
neighborhood who had no personal acquaintance with the family. Two or
three days afterwards, the undertaker, who had received orders from Mr.
Aubrey to provide a simple and inexpensive funeral, submitted to him a
list of more than thirty names of the nobility and gentry of the
country, who had sent to him to know whether it would be agreeable to
the family for them to be allowed to attend Mrs. Aubrey's remains to the
grave. After much consideration, Mr. Aubrey accepted this spontaneous
tribute of respect to the memory of his mother. 'Twas a memorable and
melancholy day on which the interment took place--one never to be
forgotten at Yatton. What can be more chilling than the gloomy bustle of
a great funeral, especially in the country; and when the deceased is one
whose memory is enshrined in the holiest feelings of all who knew her?
What person was there, for miles around, who could not speak of the
courtesies, the charities, the goodness of Madam Aubrey?
"_When the ear heard her, then it blessed her; and when the eye saw
her, it gave witness to her:_
_"Because she delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless,
and him that had none to help him_.
_"The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon her, and
she caused the widow's heart to sing for joy_.
_"She was eyes to the blind, and feet was she to the lame_.
_"She was a mother to the poor_."----
Pale as death, the chief mourner, wrapped in his black cloak, is
stepping into the mourning-coach. No one speaks to him; his face is
buried in his handkerchief; his heart seems breaking. He thinks of her
whose dear dust is before him;--then of the beloved beings whom he has
left alone in their agony till his return--his wife and sister. The
procession is moving slowly on--long, silent rows of the tenantry and
villagers, old and young, male and female--not a dry eye among them, nor
a syllable spoken--stand on each side of the way; no sound heard but of
horses' feet, and wheels crushing along the wet gravel--for the day is
most gloomy and inclement. As they quit the gates, carriage after
carriage follows in the rear; and the sorrowful crowd increases around
them. Many have in their hands the Bibles and prayer-books which had
been given them by her who now lies in yonder hearse; and a few can
recollect the day when the late lord of Yatton led her along from the
church to the Hall, his young and blooming bride--in pride and joy--and
they are now going to lay her beside him again! They are met at the
entrance of the little churchyard, by good Dr. Tatham, in his surplice,
bareheaded, and with book in hand; with full eye and quivering lip he
slowly precedes the body into the church. His voice frequently trembles,
and sometimes he pauses while reading the service. Now they are standing
bareheaded at the vault's mouth--the last sad rites are being performed;
and probably, as is thinking the chief mourner, over the last of his
race who will rest in that tomb!
Long after the solemn ceremony was over, the little churchyard remained
filled with mournful groups of villagers and tenants, who pressed
forward to the dark mouth of the vault, to take their last look at the
coffin which contained the remains of her whose memory would live long
in all their hearts. "Ah, dear old Madam," quoth Jonas Higgs to himself,
as he finished his dreary day's labors, by temporarily closing up the
mouth of the vault, "they might have turned thee, by-and-by, out of
yonder Hall, but they shall not touch thee _here_!"
Thus died, and was buried, Madam Aubrey; _and she is not yet forgotten_.
How desolate seemed the Hall, the next morning, to the bereaved inmates,
as, dressed in deep mourning, they met at the cheerless breakfast-table!
Aubrey kissed his wife and sister--who could hardly answer his brief
inquiries. The gloom occasioned throughout the Hall, for the last ten
days, by the windows being constantly darkened--now that the blinds were
drawn up--had given way to a staring light and distinctness, which
almost startled and offended the eyes of those whose hearts were dark
with sorrow as ever. Every object reminded them of the absence of
_one_--whose chair stood empty in its accustomed place. There, also, was
her Bible, on the little round table near the window! The mourners
seemed relieved by the entrance, by-and-by, of the children; but they
also were in mourning! Let us, however, withdraw from this scene of
suffering, where every object, every recollection, every association,
causes the wounded heart to bleed afresh.
Great troubles seem coming upon them; and now that _they have buried
their dead out of their sight_, and when time shall have begun to pour
his balm into their present smarting wounds, I doubt not that they will
look those troubles in the face, calmly and with fortitude, not
forgetful of the last words of her for whom they now mourn so bitterly,
and whom, beloved and venerable being! God hath mercifully taken away
from evil days that are to come.
After much consideration, they resolved to go, on the ensuing Sunday
morning, to church, where neither Mrs. Aubrey nor Kate had been since
the illness of her mother. The little church was crowded; almost every
one present, besides wearing a saddened countenance, exhibited some
outward mark of respect, in their dress--some badge of mourning--such as
their little means admitted of. The pulpit and reading-desk were hung in
black, as also was Mr. Aubrey's pew--an object of deep interest to the
congregation, who expected to see at least _some_ member of the family
at the Hall. They were not disappointed. A little before Dr. Tatham took
his place in the reading-desk, the well-known sound of the
family-carriage wheels was heard as it drew up before the gate; and
presently Mr. Aubrey appeared at the church door, with his wife and
sister on either arm; all of them, of course, in the deepest
mourning--Mrs. and Miss Aubrey's countenances concealed beneath their
long crape veils. For some time after taking their seats, they seemed
oppressed with emotion, evidently weeping. Mr. Aubrey, however,
exhibited great composure, though his countenance bore traces of the
suffering he had undergone. Mrs. Aubrey seldom rose from her seat; but
Kate stood up, from time to time, with the rest of the congregation; her
white handkerchief, however, might have been seen frequently raised to
her eyes, beneath her black veil. As the service went on, she seemed to
have struggled with some success against her feelings. To relieve
herself for a moment from its oppressive closeness, she gently drew
aside her veil; and thus, for a few minutes, exhibited a countenance
which, though pale and agitated, was inexpressibly beautiful. She could
not, however, long bear to face a congregation, every one of whom she
felt to be looking on her, and those beside her, with affectionate
sympathy; and rather quickly drew down her veil, without again removing
it. There was one person present, on whom the brief glimpse of her
beauty had produced a sudden, deep, and indelible impression. As he
gazed at her, the color gradually deserted his cheek; and his eye
remained fixed upon her, even after she had drawn down her veil. He
experienced emotions such as he had never known before. _So that was
Miss Aubrey!_
Mr. Gammon--for he it was, and he had gone thither under the expectation
of seeing, for the first time, some of the Aubrey family--generally
passed for a cold-blooded person; and in fact few men living had more
control over their feelings, or more systematically checked any
manifestations of them; but there was something in the person and
circumstances of Miss Aubrey--for by a hurried inquiry of the person
next to him he learned that it was she--which excited new feelings in
him. Her slightest motion his eye watched with intense eagerness; and
faint half-formed schemes, purposes, and hopes, passed in rapid
confusion through his mind, as he foresaw that circumstances would
hereafter arise by means of which--
"Good heavens! how very--_very_ beautiful she is!" said he to himself,
as, the service over, her graceful figure, following her brother and his
wife with slow sad step, approached the pew in which he was standing, on
her way to the door. He felt a sort of cold shudder as her black dress
rustled past, actually touching him. What was he doing and meditating
against that lovely being? And for whom--disgusting reptile!--for
Titmouse? He almost blushed from a conflict of emotions, as he followed
almost immediately after Miss Aubrey, never losing sight of her till
her brother, having handed her into the carriage, got in after her, and
they drove off towards the Hall.
The reader will not be at a loss to account for the presence of Mr.
Gammon on this occasion, nor to connect it with an impending trial at
the approaching York assizes. As he walked back to Grilston to his
solitary dinner, he was lost in thought; and on arriving at the inn,
repaired at once to his room, where he found a copy of the _Sunday
Flash_, which had, according to orders, been sent to him from town,
under his assumed name, "Gibson." He ate but little, and that
mechanically; and seemed to feel, for once, little or no interest in his
newspaper. He had never paid the least attention to the _eulogia_ upon
Miss Aubrey of the idiot Titmouse, nor of Snap, of whom he entertained
but a very little higher opinion than of Titmouse. One thing was clear,
that from that moment Miss Aubrey formed a new element in Mr. Gammon's
calculations; and for aught I know, may occasion very different results
from those originally contemplated by that calm and crafty person.
As it proved a moonlight night, he resolved at once to set about the
important business which had brought him into Yorkshire; and for that
purpose set off about eight o'clock on his walk to Yatton. About ten
o'clock he might have been seen gliding noiselessly into the churchyard,
like a dangerous snake. The moon continued to shine--and at intervals
with brightness sufficient for his purpose, which was simply to
reconnoitre, as closely as possible, the little sequestered locality--to
ascertain what it might contain, and _what were its capabilities_. At
length he approached the old yew-tree, against the huge trunk of which
he leaned with folded arms, apparently in a revery. Hearing a noise as
of some one opening the gate by which he had entered, he glided farther
into the gloom behind him; and turning his head in the direction whence
the sound came, he beheld some one entering the churchyard. His heart
beat quickly; and he suspected that he had been watched: yet there was
surely no harm in being seen, at ten o'clock at night, looking about him
in a country churchyard!--It was a gentleman who entered, dressed in
deep mourning; and Gammon quickly recognized in him Mr. Aubrey--the
brother of her whose beautiful image still shone before his mind's eye.
What could he be wanting there?--at that time of night? Gammon was not
kept long in doubt; for the stranger slowly bent his steps towards a
large high tomb, in fact the central object, next to the yew-tree, in
the churchyard--and stood gazing at it in silence for some time.
"That is, no doubt, where Mrs. Aubrey was buried the other day," thought
Gammon, watching the movements of the stranger, who presently raised his
handkerchief to his eyes, and for some moments seemed indulging in great
grief. Gammon distinctly heard the sound of deep sighing. "He must have
been very fond of her," thought Gammon. "Well, if we succeed, the
excellent old lady will have escaped a great deal of trouble--that's
all! _If we succeed_," he inwardly repeated after a long pause! That
reminded him of what he had for a few moments lost sight of, namely, his
own object in coming thither; and he felt a sudden chill of remorse,
which increased upon him till he almost trembled, as his eye continued
fixed on Mr. Aubrey, and he thought also of Miss Aubrey--and the
misery--the utter ruin into which he was seeking to plunge them
both--the unhallowed means which they--which--if
necessary--he--contemplated resorting to for that purpose.
Gammon's condition was becoming every moment more serious; for VIRTUE,
in the shape of Miss Aubrey, began to shine momentarily in more and more
radiant loveliness before him--and he almost felt an inclination to
sacrifice every person connected with the enterprise in which he was
engaged, if it would give him a chance of winning the favor of Miss
Aubrey. Presently, however, Mr. Aubrey, evidently heaving a deep sigh,
bent his steps slowly back towards the old gate, and quitted the
churchyard. Gammon watched his figure out of sight, and then, for the
first time since Mr. Aubrey's appearance, breathed freely. Relieved from
the pressure of his presence, Gammon began to take calmer and juster
views of his position; and he reflected, that if he pushed on the
present affair to a successful issue, he should be much more likely,
than by prematurely ending it, to gain his objects. He therefore resumed
his survey of the scene around him; and which presented appearances
highly satisfactory, judging from the expression which now and then
animated his countenance. At length he wandered round to the other end
of the church, where a crumbling wall, half covered with ivy, indicated
that there had formerly stood some building apparently of earlier date
than the church. Such was the fact. Gammon soon found himself standing
in a sort of enclosure, which had once been the site of an old chapel.
And here he had not been long making his observations, before he
achieved a discovery of so extraordinary a nature; one so unlikely,
under the circumstances, to have happened; one so calculated to baffle
ordinary calculations concerning the course of events, that the reader
may well disbelieve what I am going to tell him, and treat it as
absurdly improbable. In short, not to keep him in suspense, Gammon
positively discovered evidence of the death of Harry Dreddlington in his
father's lifetime; by means of just such a looking tombstone as he had
long imaged to himself; and as he had resolved that old Quirk should
have got prepared, before the cause came into court. He almost stumbled
over it. 'Twas an old slanting stone, scarcely a foot above the ground,
partly covered with moss, and partly hid by rubbish and long damp grass.
The moon shone brightly enough to enable Gammon, kneeling down, to
decipher, beyond all doubt, what was requisite to establish that part of
the case which had been wanting. For a moment or two he was disposed to
imagine that he was dreaming. When, at length, he took out pencil and
paper, his hands trembled so much that he felt some difficulty in making
an exact copy of the inestimable inscription. Having done this, he drew
a long breath as he replaced the pencil and paper in his pocket-book,
and almost fancied he heard a whispering sound in the air--"Verdict for
the plaintiff." Quitting the churchyard, he walked back to Grilston at a
much quicker rate than that at which he had come, his discovery having
wonderfully elated him, and pushed all other thoughts entirely out of
his mind. But, thought he, doubtless the other side are aware of the
existence of this tombstone--they can hardly be supposed ignorant of it;
they must have looked up their evidence as well as we--and their
attention has been challenged to the existence or non-existence of proof
of the time of the death of Harry Dreddlington:--well--if they are aware
of it, they know that it cuts the ground from under them, and turns
their conveyance, on which, doubtless, they are relying, into waste
paper; if they are _not_, and are under the impression that that deed is
valid and effectual, our proof will fall on them like a thunderbolt.
"Gad,"--he held his breath, and stopped in the middle of the road--"how
immensely important is this little piece of evidence! Why, if they knew
of it--why in Heaven's name is it there still? What easier than to have
got rid of it?--why, they may still: what can that stupid fellow
Parkinson have been about? Yet, is it because it has become
unimportant, on account of their being in possession of other evidence?
What _can_ they have to set against so plain a case as ours is, with
this evidence? Gad, I'll not lose one day's time; but I'll have half a
dozen competent witnesses to inspect, and speak to that same tombstone
in court." Such were some of the thoughts which passed through his mind
as he hastened homeward; and on his arrival, late as it was--only the
yawning hostler having sat up to let him in--he wrote off a letter to
Mr. Quirk, and made it into a parcel to go by the mail in the morning,
acquainting him with the amazing discovery which he had just made, and
urging Mr. Quirk to set about getting up the briefs, for the trial,
without delay; he himself--Gammon--purposing to stop at Grilston a day
or two longer, to complete one or two other arrangements of an important
nature. As soon as Mr. Quirk had read this letter, he devoutly thanked
God for his goodness; and, hurrying to his strong-box, unlocked it, took
out a small sealed packet, and committed it to the flames.
Mr. Aubrey, as soon as he had recovered from the first shock occasioned
by Mr. Parkinson's communication of the proceedings against him, set
about acquainting himself, as minutely as he could, with the true state
of the case. He had requested that gentleman to obtain from one of the
counsel in London, Mr. Crystal, a full account of the case for his--Mr.
Aubrey's--own guidance; and on obtaining a remarkably clear and luminous
statement, and also consulting the various authorities cited in it--such
at least as could be supplied to him by Mr. Parkinson--the vigorous
practical understanding of Mr. Aubrey, aided by his patient application,
soon mastered the whole case, and enabled him to appreciate his perilous
position. Since he could derive no title through the conveyance of Harry
Dreddlington (which had been got in by Geoffrey Dreddlington,) owing to
the death of the former in his father's lifetime,[29] as he (Mr.
Aubrey) understood from his advisers could be easily proved by the
present claimant of the property; the right of accession of Geoffrey
Dreddlington's descendants depended entirely upon the fact whether or
not Stephen Dreddlington had really died without issue; and as to that,
certain anxious and extensive inquiries instituted by Messrs. Runnington
and Mr. Parkinson, in pursuance of the suggestions of their able and
experienced counsel, had led them to entertain serious doubts concerning
the right of Geoffrey's descendants to have entered into possession. By
what means his opponents had obtained their clew to the state of his
title, neither Mr. Aubrey nor any of his advisers could frame a
plausible conjecture. It was certainly possible that Stephen
Dreddlington, who was known to have been a man, like his uncle Harry, of
wild and eccentric habits, and to have been supposed to leave no issue,
might have married privately some woman of inferior station, and left
issue by her, who, living in obscurity, and at a distance from the seat
of the family property, could have no opportunity of inquiring into or
ascertaining their position with reference to the estates, till some
acute and enterprising attorneys, like Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap,
happening to get hold of them, and family papers in their possession,
had taken up their case. When, with impressions such as these, Mr.
Aubrey perused and re-perused the opinions of the conveyancer given on
the occasion of his (Mr. Aubrey's) marriage, he was confounded at the
supineness and indifference which he had even twice exhibited, and felt
disposed now greatly to overvalue the importance of every adverse
circumstance. The boldness, again, and systematic energy with which the
case of the claimant was prosecuted, and the eminent legal opinions
which were alleged, and with every appearance of truth, to concur in his
favor, afforded additional grounds for rational apprehension. He looked
the danger, however, full in the face, and as far as lay in his power,
as a conscientious man, prepared for the evil day which might so soon
come upon him. Certain extensive and somewhat costly alterations which
he had been on the point of commencing at Yatton, he abandoned. But for
the earnest interference of friends, he would at once have given up his
establishment in Grosvenor Street, and applied for the Chiltern
Hundreds, in order to retire from political life. Considering the
possibility of his soon being declared the wrongful holder of the
property, he contracted his expenditure as far as he could, without
challenging unnecessary public attention; and paid into his banker's
hands all his Christmas rents, sacredly resolving to abstain from
drawing out one farthing of what might soon be proved to belong to
another. At every point occurred the dreadful question--if I am declared
never to have been the rightful owner of the property, how am I to
discharge my frightful liabilities to him who is? Mr. Aubrey had nothing
except the Yatton property. He had but an insignificant sum in the
funds; Mrs. Aubrey's settlement was out of lands at Yatton, as also was
the little income bequeathed to Kate by her father. Could anything be
conceived more dreadful, under these circumstances, than the mere
danger--the slightest probability--of their being deprived of
Yatton?--and with a debt of at the very least SIXTY THOUSAND POUNDS, due
to him who had been wrongfully kept out of his property? That was the
millstone which seemed to drag them all to the bottom. Against _that_,
what could the kindness of the most generous friends, what could his own
most desperate exertions, avail? All this had poor Aubrey constantly
before his eyes, together with--his wife, his children, his sister. What
was to become of _them_? It was long before the real nature and extent
of his danger became known among his friends and neighbors. When,
however, they were made aware of it, an extraordinary interest and
sympathy were excited throughout almost the whole county. Whenever his
attorney, Mr. Parkinson, appeared in public, he was besieged by most
anxious inquiries concerning his distinguished client, whose manly
modesty and fortitude, under the pressure of his sudden and almost
unprecedented difficulty and peril, endeared him more than ever to all
who had an opportunity of appreciating his position. With what intense
and absorbing interest were the ensuing assizes looked for!---- At
length they arrived.
The ancient city of York exhibited, on the commission day of the spring
assizes for the year 18--, the usual scene of animation and excitement.
The High Sheriff, attended by an imposing retinue, went out to meet the
judges, and escorted them, amid the shrill clangor of trumpets, to the
Castle, where the commission was opened with the usual formalities. The
judges were Lord Widdrington, the Lord Chief-Justice of the King's
Bench, and Mr. Justice Grayley, a puisne judge of the same court--both
admirable lawyers. The former was possessed of the more powerful
intellect. He was what may be called a great scientific lawyer,
referring everything to _principle_, as extracted from precedent. Mr.
Justice Grayley was almost unrivalled in his knowledge of the _details_
of the law; his governing maxim being _ita lex scripta_. Here his
knowledge was equally minute and accurate, and most readily applied to
every case brought before him. Never sat there upon the bench a more
painstaking judge--one more anxious to do right equally in great things
as in small. Both were men of rigid integrity: 'tis a glorious thing to
be able to challenge the inquiry--when, for centuries, have other than
men of rigid integrity sat upon the English Bench? Lord Widdrington,
however, in temper was stern, arbitrary, and overbearing, and his
manners were disfigured not a little by coarseness; while his companion
was a man of exemplary amiability, affability, and forbearance. Lord
Widdrington presided at the Civil Court, (in which, of course, would
come on the important cause in which we are interested,) and Mr. Justice
Grayley in the Criminal Court.
Soon after the sitting of the court, on the ensuing morning--"Will your
Lordship allow me," rose and inquired the sleek, smiling, and portly Mr.
Subtle, dead silence prevailing as soon as he had mentioned the name of
the cause about which he was inquiring, "to mention a cause of _Doe on
the demise of Titmouse v. Jolter_--a special jury cause, in which there
are a great many witnesses to be examined on both sides--and to ask that
a day may be fixed for it to come on?"
"Whom do you appear for, Mr. Subtle?" inquired his Lordship.
"For the plaintiff, my Lord."
"And who appears for the defendant?"
"The Attorney-General leads for the defendant, my Lord," replied Mr.
Sterling, who, with Mr. Crystal, was also retained for the defendant.
"Well, perhaps you can agree between yourselves upon a day, and in the
mean time similar arrangements may be made for any other special jury
causes that may require it." After due consultation, Monday week was
agreed upon by the parties, and fixed by his Lordship, for the trial of
the cause.--During the Sunday preceding it, York was crowded with
persons of the highest distinction from all parts of the county, who
felt interested in the result of the great cause of the assizes. About
mid-day a dusty travelling carriage and four dashed into the streets
from the London road, and drove up to the principal inn; it contained
the Attorney-General (who just finished reading his brief as he entered
York) and his clerk. The Attorney-General was a man of striking and
highly intellectual countenance; but he looked, on alighting, somewhat
fatigued with his long journey. He was a man of extraordinary natural
talents, and also a first-rate lawyer--one whose right to take the
woolsack, whenever it should become vacant, was recognized by all the
profession. His professional celebrity, and his coming down "_special_"
on the present occasion, added to the circumstance of his being well
known to be a personal friend of his client, Mr. Aubrey--whence it might
be inferred that his great powers would be exerted to their utmost--was
well calculated to enhance the interest, if that were possible, of the
occasion which had brought him down at so great an expense, and to
sustain so heavy a responsibility as the conduct of a cause of such
magnitude as this.
He came to lead against a formidable opponent. Mr. Subtle was the leader
of the Northern circuit, a man of matchless tact and practical sagacity,
and consummately skilful in the conduct of a cause. The only thing _he_
ever looked at, was THE VERDICT; to the gaining of which he directed all
his energies, and sacrificed every other consideration. As for display,
he despised it. A _speech_, as such, was his aversion. He entered into a
friendly, but exquisitely crafty _conversation_ with the jury; for he
was so quick at perceiving the effect of his address on the mind of each
of the twelve, and dexterous in accommodating himself to what he had
detected to be the passing mood of each, that they individually felt as
if they were all the while reasoning with, and being convinced by him.
His placid, smiling, handsome countenance, his gentlemanly bearing and
insinuating address, full of good-natured cheerful confidence in his
cause, were irresistible. He flattered, he soothed, he fascinated the
jury, producing an impression upon their minds which they often felt
indignant at his opponent's attempting to efface. In fact, as a _nisi
prius_ leader he was unrivalled, as well in stating as in arguing a
case, as well in examining as cross-examining a witness. It required no
little practical experience to form an adequate estimate of Mr. Subtle's
skill in the management of a cause; for he did everything with such a
smiling, careless, unconcerned air, equally in the great pinch and
strain of a case, as in the pettiest details, that you would be apt to
suspect that none but the easiest and most straightforward cases fell to
his lot!
Titmouse, Titmouse, methinks the fates favored you in assigning to you
Mr. Subtle!
Next came Mr. QUICKSILVER, who had received what may be called a
_muffling_ retainer. What a contrast was he to Mr. Subtle! Reckless,
rhetorical, eloquent, ready, witty--possessing a vast extent of general
knowledge, but rather slenderly furnished with law--he presented to the
jury, _himself_--not his client, or his client's case; infinitely more
anxious to make a splendid figure in public, than to secure, by watchful
activity, the interests of his clients. Why, then, was such a man
retained in the cause? 'Twas a fancy of Quirk's, a vast political
admirer of Quicksilver's, who had made one or two most splendid speeches
for him in libel cases brought against the _Sunday Flash_. Gammon most
earnestly expostulated, but Quirk was inexorable; and himself carried
his retainer to Mr. Quicksilver. Gammon, however, was somewhat consoled
by the reflection, that this wild elephant would be, in a manner, held
in check by Mr. Subtle and Mr. Lynx, who, he hoped, would prevent any
serious mischief from happening. Lynx possessed the qualities which his
name would suggest to you. I have partly described him already. He was a
man of minute accuracy; and "got up" every case in which he was engaged
as if his life had depended on the result. Nothing escaped him. He kept
his mind constantly even with the current of the cause. He was a man to
_steer_ a leader, if ever that leader should get, for an instant, on the
wrong tack, or be uncertain as to his course. His suggestion and
interference--rare, indeed, with such a man as Mr. Subtle, incessant
with Mr. Quicksilver--were always worth attending to, and consequently
received with deference.
For Mr. Aubrey also was retained a formidable "BAR." Mr.
Attorney-General was a man much superior, in point of intellect and
legal knowledge, to Mr. Subtle. His mind was distinguished by its
tranquil power. He had a rare and invaluable faculty of arraying before
his mind's eye all the facts and bearings of the most intricate case,
and contemplating them, as it were, not successively, but
simultaneously. His perception was quick as light; and, at the same
time--rare, most rare accompaniment!--his judgment sound, his memory
signally retentive. Inferior, possibly, to Mr. Subtle in rapid and
delicate appreciation of momentary advantages, he was sagacious, where
Mr. Subtle was only ingenious. Mr. Attorney-General had as much weight
with the judge as Mr. Subtle with the jury. With the former there was a
candor and straightforwardness--a dignified simplicity--which insensibly
won the confidence of the judge; who, on the other hand, felt himself
obliged to be ever on his guard against the slippery sophistries of Mr.
Subtle, whom he thus got to regard with constant suspicion.
Mr. STERLING, the second counsel for the defendant, was a king's
counsel, and a rival of Mr. Subtle upon the circuit. He was a man of
great power; and, on important occasions, no man at the bar could acquit
himself with more distinction. As a speaker, he was eloquent and
impressive, perhaps deficient in vivacity; but he was a man of clear
and powerful intellect; prompt in seizing the bearings of a case; a
capital lawyer; and possessing, even on the most trying occasions,
imperturbable self-possession.
Mr. CRYSTAL, with some faults of manner and bearing, was an honorable
high-minded man; clear-sighted and strong-headed; an accurate and ready
lawyer; vigilant and acute.
See, then, the combatants in this memorable encounter; for
_Titmouse_--Mr. SUBTLE, Mr. QUICKSILVER, Mr. LYNX; for _Mr. Aubrey_--Mr.
ATTORNEY-GENERAL, Mr. STERLING, Mr. CRYSTAL.
The consultation of each party was long and anxious.
About eight o'clock on the Sunday evening, at Mr. Subtle's lodgings,
Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, accompanied by Mr. Mortmain, whom they
had brought down to watch the case, made their appearance shortly after
Mr. Quicksilver and Mr. Lynx.
"Our case seems complete, _now_" said Mr. Subtle, casting a penetrating
and most significant glance at Messrs. Quirk and Gammon, and then at his
juniors, to whom, before the arrival of their clients and Mr. Mortmain,
he had been mentioning the essential link which, a month before, he had
pointed out as missing, and the marvellous good fortune by which they
had been able to supply it at the eleventh hour.
"That tombstone's a godsend, Subtle, isn't it?" said Quicksilver, with a
grim smile. Lynx neither smiled nor spoke. He was a very matter-of-fact
person. So as the case came out clear and nice in court, he cared about
nothing more; at that moment he felt that he should be _functus
officio_!--But whatever might be the insinuation or suspicion implied in
the observation of Mr. Subtle, the reader must, by this time, be well
aware how little it was warranted by the facts.[30]
"I shall open it very quietly," said Mr. Subtle, putting into his pocket
his penknife, with which he had been paring his nails, while Mr.
Quicksilver had been talking very fast. "What do you think, Mr. Lynx?
Had I better allude boldly to the conveyance executed by Harry
Dreddlington, and which becomes useless as soon as we prove his death in
his father's lifetime?"
"Ah! there's that blessed tombstone again," interposed Quicksilver, with
a sarcastic smile.
--"Or," resumed Mr. Subtle, "content myself with barely making out our
pedigree, and let the conveyance of Harry Dreddlington come from the
other side?"
"I think, perhaps, that the latter would be the quieter and safer
course," replied Lynx.
"By the way, gentlemen," said Mr. Subtle, suddenly, addressing Messrs.
Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, "how do we come to know anything about the
mortgage executed by Harry Dreddlington?"
"Oh! _that_ you know," replied Quirk, quickly, "we first got scent of in
Mr."---- Here he paused suddenly, and turned quite red.
"It was suggested," said Gammon, calmly, "by one of the gentlemen whose
opinions we have taken in the case--I forget by whom--that, from some
recital, it was probable that there existed such an instrument; and that
put us on making inquiry."
"Nothing more likely," added Mortmain, "than that it, or an abstract, or
minute of it, should get into Stephen Dreddlington's hands!"
"Ah! well! well!" said Mr. Subtle, shrugging his shoulders,--"I must say
there's rather an air of mystery about the case. But--about that
tombstone--what sort of witnesses will speak"----
"Will the evidence be requisite," inquired Lynx, "in the plaintiff's
case? All _we_ shall have to do will be to prove the fact that Harry
died without issue, of which there's satisfactory evidence; and as to
the _time_ of his death, that will become material only if _they_ put in
the conveyance of Harry."
"True--true; ah! I'll turn that over in my mind. Rely upon it, I'll give
Mr. Attorney-General as little to lay hold of as possible. Thank you,
Lynx, for the hint. Now, gentlemen," said he, turning to Messrs. Quirk,
Gammon, and Snap, "one other question--What _kind of looking_ people are
the witnesses who prove the later steps of the pedigree of Mr. Titmouse?
Respectable? eh?--You know a good deal will depend on the credit which
they may obtain with the jury!"
"They're very decent creditable persons, you will find, sir," said
Gammon.
"Good, good. Who struck the special jury?"
"We did, sir."
"Well, I must say that was a _very_ prudent step for _you_ to take!
considering the rank in life and circumstances of the respective
parties! However, to be sure, if _you_ didn't, they would--so--well;
good-night, gentlemen, good-night." So the consultation broke up; and
Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap returned home to their inn in a very
serious and anxious mood.
"You're a marvellous prudent person, Mr. Quirk," said Gammon, in a
somewhat fierce whisper, as they walked along, "I suppose you would have
gone on to explain the little matter of Steggars, and so have had our
briefs thrown at our heads"----
"Well, well," grunted Quirk, "that _was_ a slip!" Here they reached
their inn. Titmouse was staying there; and in Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and
Snap's absence, he had got very drunk, and was quarrelling under the
archway with "Boots;" so they ordered him to bed, they themselves
sitting up till a very late hour in the morning.
The consultation at the Attorney-General's had taken place about three
o'clock in the afternoon, within an hour after his arrival; and had been
attended by Messrs. Sterling, Crystal, and Mansfield--by Mr. Runnington,
and Mr. Parkinson, and by Mr. Aubrey, whom the Attorney-General received
with the most earnest expressions of sympathy and friendship; listening
to every question and every observation of his with the utmost
deference.
"It would be both idle and unkind to disguise from you, Aubrey," said
he, "that our position is somewhat precarious. It depends entirely on
the chance we may have of breaking down the plaintiff's case; for we
have but a slender one of our own. I suppose they can bring proof of the
death of Harry Dreddlington in his father's lifetime?"
"Oh yes, sir!" answered Mr. Parkinson, "there is an old tombstone behind
Yatton church which establishes that fact beyond all doubt: and a week
or two ago no fewer than five or six persons have been carefully
inspecting it; doubtless they will be called as witnesses to-morrow."
"I feared as much. Then are ours no more than watching briefs. Depend
upon it, they would not have carried on the affair with so high a hand
if they had not pretty firm ground under foot! Messrs. Quirk, Gammon,
and Snap are tolerably well known in town--not _over_-scrupulous, eh,
Mr. Runnington?"
"Indeed, Mr. Attorney, you are right. I don't doubt they are prepared to
go all lengths."
"Well, we'll sift their evidence pretty closely, at any rate. So you
really have reason to fear, as you intimated when you entered the room,
that they have valid evidence of Stephen Dreddlington having left
issue?"
"Mr. Snap told me," said Mr. Parkinson, "this morning, that they would
prove issue of Stephen Dreddlington, and issue of that issue, as clean
as a whistle--that was his phrase."
"Ay, ay--but we mustn't take all for gospel that _he_ would say,"
replied the Attorney-General, smiling sarcastically.
"They've got two houses filled with witnesses, I understand," said Mr.
Runnington.
"Do they seem Yorkshire people, or strangers?"
"Why, most of them that I have seen," replied Parkinson, "seem
strangers."
"Ah, they will prove, I suppose," said the Attorney-General, "the later
steps of the pedigree, when Stephen Dreddlington married at a distance
from his native county."
They then entered into a very full and minute examination of the case;
after which,--"Well," said the Attorney-General, evidently fatigued with
his long journey, and rising from his chair, "we must trust to what will
turn up in the chapter of accidents to-morrow. I shall be expected to
dine with the bar to-day," he added; "but immediately after dinner--say
at half-past seven o'clock, I shall be here and at your service, if
anything should be required." Then the consultation broke up. Mr. Aubrey
had, at their earnest entreaty, brought Mrs. Aubrey and Kate from
Yatton, on Saturday; for they declared themselves unable to bear the
dreadful suspense in which they should be left at Yatton. Yielding,
therefore, to these their very reasonable wishes, he had engaged private
lodgings at the outskirts of the town. On quitting the consultation,
which, without at the same time affecting over-strictness, he had
regretted being fixed for Sunday--but the necessity of the case appeared
to warrant it--he repaired to the magnificent MINSTER, where the evening
prayers were being read, and where were Mrs. Aubrey and Kate. The
prayers were being chanted as he entered; and he was conducted to a
stall nearly opposite to where those whom he loved so fondly were
standing. The psalms allotted for the evening were those in which the
royal sufferer, David, was pouring forth the deepest sorrows of his
heart; and their appropriateness to Mr. Aubrey's state of mind, added to
the effect produced by the melting melody in which they were conveyed to
his ears, excited in him, and, he perceived, also in those opposite, the
deepest emotion. The glorious pile was beginning to grow dusky with the
stealing shadows of evening; and the solemn and sublime strains of the
organ, during the playing of the anthem, filled those present, who had
any pretensions to sensibility, with mingled feelings of tenderness and
awe. Those in whom we are so deeply interested, felt at once subdued and
elevated; and as they quitted the darkening fabric, through which the
pealing tones of the organ were yet reverberating, they could not help
inquiring, should they ever enter it again,--and in what altered
circumstances might it be?
To return, however--though it is, indeed, like descending from the holy
mountain into the bustle and hubbub of the city at its foot--Mr.
Parkinson, being most unexpectedly, and as he felt it unfortunately,
summoned to Grilston that afternoon, in order to send up some deeds of a
distinguished client to London, for the purpose of immediately effecting
a mortgage, set off in a post-chaise, at top-speed, in a very unenviable
frame of mind; and by seven o'clock was seated in his office at
Grilston, busily turning over a great number of deeds and papers, in a
large tin case, with the words "Right Honorable the Earl of Yelverton"
painted on the outside. Having turned over almost everything inside, and
found all that he wanted, he was going to toss back again all the deeds
which were not requisite for his immediate purpose, when he happened to
see one lying at the very bottom which he had not before observed. It
was not a large, but an old deed--and he took it up and hastily examined
it.
We have seen a piece of unexpected good-fortune on the part of Gammon
and his client; and the reader will not be disappointed at finding
something of a similar kind befalling Mr. Aubrey, even at the eleventh
hour. Mr. Parkinson's journey, which he had execrated a hundred times
over as he came down, produced a discovery which made him tremble all
over with agitation and delighted excitement, and begin to look upon it
as almost owing to an interference of Providence. The deed which he
looked at, bore an indorsement of the name of "_Dreddlington_." After a
hasty glance over its contents, he tried to recollect by what accident a
document, belonging to Mr. Aubrey, could have found its way into the box
containing Lord Yelverton's deeds; and it at length occurred to him
that, some time before, Mr. Aubrey had proposed advancing several
thousand pounds to Lord Yelverton, on mortgage of a small portion of his
Lordship's property--but which negotiation had afterwards been broken
off; that Mr. Aubrey's title-deeds happened to be at the same time open
and loose in his office--and he recollected having considerable trouble
in separating the respective documents which had got mixed together.
This one, after all, had been by some accident overlooked, till it
turned up in this most timely and extraordinary manner! Having hastily
effected the object which had brought him back to Grilston, he ordered a
post-chaise and four, and within a quarter of an hour was thundering
back, at top-speed, on his way to York, which, the horses reeking and
foaming, he reached a little after ten o'clock. He jumped out, with the
precious deed in his pocket, the instant that his chaise-door was
opened, and ran off, without saying more than--"I'm gone to the
Attorney-General's." This was heard by many passers-by and persons
standing round; and it spread far and wide that something of the utmost
importance had transpired, with reference to the great ejectment cause
of Mr. Aubrey. Soon afterwards, messengers and clerks, belonging to Mr.
Runnington and Mr. Parkinson, were to be seen running to and fro,
summoning Mr. Sterling, Mr. Crystal, Mr. Mansfield, and also Mr. Aubrey,
to a second consultation at the Attorney-General's. About eleven o'clock
they were all assembled. The deed which had occasioned all this
excitement, was one calculated indeed to produce that effect; and it
filled the minds of all present with astonishment and delight. It was,
in a word, a DEED OF CONFIRMATION by OLD DREDDLINGTON, the father of
Harry Dreddlington, of the conveyance by the latter to Geoffrey
Dreddlington, who, in the manner already mentioned to the reader, had
got an assignment of that conveyance to himself. After the
Attorney-General had satisfied himself as to the account to be given of
the deed--the custody whence it came, namely, the attorney for the
defendant; Mr. Parkinson undertaking to swear, without any hesitation,
that whatever deeds of Mr. Aubrey's he possessed, he had taken from the
muniment room at Yatton--the second consultation broke up. Mr. Aubrey,
on hearing the nature and effect of the instrument explained by the
Attorney-General and Mr. Mansfield--all his counsel, in short,
concurring in opinion as to the triumphant effect which this instrument
would produce on the morrow--may be pardoned for regarding it, in the
excitement of the moment, as almost a direct interference of Providence.
A few minutes before nine o'clock on the ensuing morning, the occasional
shrill blasts of the trumpets announced that the judges were on their
way to the Castle, the approaches to which were crowded with carriages
and pedestrians of a highly respectable appearance. As the Castle clock
finished striking nine, Lord Widdrington, in a short wig and plain
black silk gown,[31] took his seat, and the swearing of the special jury
commenced. The court was crowded almost to suffocation; all the chief
places being filled with persons of distinction in the county. The
benches on each side of the judge were occupied by ladies,
who--especially the Countess of Oldacre and Lady De la Zouch--evinced a
painful degree of anxiety and excitement in their countenances and
demeanor. The bar also mustered in great force; the crown court being
quite deserted, although "a great murder case" was going on there. The
civil court was on the present occasion the point of attraction, not
only on account of the interesting nature of the case to be tried, but
of the keen contest expected between the Attorney-General and Mr.
Subtle. The former, as he entered--his commanding features gazed at by
many an anxious eye with hope, and a feeling that on his skill and
learning depended that day the destination of the Yatton property--bowed
to the judge, and then nodded and shook hands with several of the
counsel nearest to him; then he sat down, and his clerk having opened
his bags, and taken out his huge brief, he began turning over its leaves
with a calm and attentive air, occasionally conversing with his juniors.
Every one present observed that the defendant's counsel and attorneys
wore the confident looks of winning men; while their opponents,
quick-sighted enough, also observed the circumstance, and looked, on
that account alone, a shade more anxious than when they had entered the
court. Mr. Subtle requested Gammon, whose ability he had soon detected,
to sit immediately beneath him; next to Gammon sat Quirk; then Snap; and
beside him Mr. Titmouse, with a staring sky-blue flowered silk
handkerchief round his neck, a gaudy waistcoat, a tight surtout, and
white kid gloves. He looked exceedingly pale, and dared hardly
interchange a word with even Snap, who was just as irritable and
excited as his senior partners. It was quickly known all over the court
which was Titmouse! Mr. Aubrey scarcely showed himself in court all day,
though he stood at the door near the bench, and could hear all that
passed; Lord De la Zouch and one or two other personal friends standing
with him, engaged, from time to time, in anxious conversation.
The jury having been sworn, Mr. Lynx rose, and in a few hurried
sentences, to the lay audience utterly unintelligible, intimated the
nature of the pleadings in the cause. The Attorney-General then in a low
tone requested that all the witnesses might leave the court.[32] As soon
as the little disturbance occasioned by this move had ceased, Mr. Subtle
rose, and in a low but distinct tone said, "May it please your
Lordship--Gentlemen of the Jury,--In this cause I have the honor to
appear before you as counsel for the plaintiff; and it now becomes my
duty to state as briefly as I can, the nature of his case. It is
impossible, gentlemen, that we should not be aware of the unusual
interest excited by this cause; and which may be accounted for by the
very large estates in this county which are sought this day to be
transferred to a comparative stranger, from the family who have long
enjoyed them, and of whom I am anxious to say everything respectful; for
you will very soon find that the name on the record is that of only the
nominal defendant; and although all that is _professed_ to be this day
sought to be recovered is a very trifling portion of the property, your
verdict will undoubtedly in effect decide the question as to the true
ownership and enjoyment of the large estates now held by the gentleman
who is the substantial defendant--I mean Mr. Aubrey, the member of
Parliament for the borough of Yatton; for whatever answer he might make
to an action brought to recover his whole estate, he must make upon the
present occasion." Aware of the watchful and formidable opponent who
would in due time answer him, and also of being himself entitled to the
general reply--to the last word--Mr. Subtle proceeded to state the
nature of the plaintiff's case with the utmost brevity and clearness.
Scarcely any sound was heard but that of the pens of the short-hand
writers, and of the counsel taking their notes. Mr. Subtle, having
handed up two or three copies of the pedigree which he held in his hand
to the judge, the jury, and his opponents, pointed out with distinctness
and precision every link in the chain of evidence which he intended to
lay before the jury; and having done this--having presented as few
salient points of attack to his opponent as he possibly could--he sat
down, professing his entire ignorance of what case could be set up in
answer to that which he had opened. He had not been on his legs quite
half an hour; and when he ceased--how he had disappointed every one
present, except the judge and the bar! Instead of a speech apparently
befitting so great an occasion--impressive and eloquent--here had been a
brief dry statement of a few uninteresting facts--of dates, of births,
deaths, marriages, registers, entries, inscriptions, deeds,
wills--without a single touch of feeling, or ray of eloquence. The
momentary feeling of disappointment in the audience, however--almost all
of whom, it may easily be believed, were in the interest of the
Aubreys--quickly yielded to one of satisfaction and relief; as they
thought they might regard so meagre a speech as heralding as meagre a
case. As soon as he had sat down, Mr. Quicksilver rose and called the
first witness. "We're safe!" said the Attorney-General to Mr. Sterling
and Mr. Crystal, with his hand before his mouth, and with the very
faintest whisper that could be audible to those whom he addressed; and
the witness having been sworn, they all resumed their seats and their
writing. The first and the subsequent witness established one or two
preliminary and formal points--the Attorney-General scarcely rising to
put a question to them. The third witness was examined by Mr. Subtle
with apparent unconcern, but really with exquisite anxiety. From the
earnestness and attention with which the words of the witness were
watched and taken down by both the judge and the counsel, who knew
somewhat better than the audience where the strain of the case
commenced, it must have appeared to the latter, that either Mr. Subtle
under-estimated, or his opponents over-estimated, the value of the
evidence now in process of being extracted by Mr. Subtle, in short,
easy, pointed questions, and with a bland and smiling countenance.
"Not so fast, sir," gruffly interposed Lord Widdrington, addressing the
witness.
"Take time, Mr. Jones," said Mr. Subtle, kindly, fearful of ruffling or
discomposing an important witness. The Attorney-General rose to
cross-examine; pressed him quietly but closely; varied the shape of his
questions; now he soothed, then he startled by his sternness; but sat
down, evidently having produced no impression. Thus it was with one or
two succeeding witnesses; the Attorney-General, on each occasion,
resuming his seat after his abortive efforts with perfect composure. At
length, however, by a very admirable and well-sustained fire of
cross-questioning, he completely demolished a material witness; and the
hopes of all interested in behalf of his clients rose high. Mr. Subtle,
who had been all the while paring his nails, and from time to time
smiling with a careless air, (though you might as safely have touched a
tigress suckling her cubs as attempted at that moment to disturb him, so
absorbed was he in intense anxiety,) believing that he could establish
the same facts by another and, as he thought, a better witness, did not
re-examine; but calling that other, with an air of nonchalance,
succeeded in extracting from him all that the former had failed in;
baffling all the attempts of the Attorney-General to affect his credit.
At length, another witness being in the box,--
"I object, my Lord, to that question," said Mr. Attorney-General, as Mr.
Subtle, amid many indifferent and apparently irrelevant questions,
quietly slipped in one of the greatest possible importance and advantage
to him--had it been answered as he desired. 'T was quite delightful to
see the Attorney-General and his experienced and watchful juniors all
rise at one and the same instant: showing how vain were the tricks and
ingenuity of their sly opponent. Mr. Attorney-General stated his
objection briefly and pointedly; Mr. Subtle answered him, followed by
Quicksilver and Lynx; and then Mr. Attorney-General replied, with great
force and clearness. This keen encounter of their wits over--
"I shall allow the question to be put," said Lord Widdrington, after a
pause--"But I have great doubts as to its propriety. I will therefore
take a note of Mr. Attorney-General's objection." Four or five similar
conflicts arose during the course of the plaintiff's case:--now
concerning the competency of a witness--then as to the admissibility of
a document, or the propriety of a particular question. On each of these
occasions there were displayed on both sides consummate logical skill
and acuteness, especially by the two leaders. Distinctions, the most
delicate and subtle, were suggested with suddenness, and as promptly
encountered; the most artful manoeuvres to secure dangerous admissions
resorted to, and baffled; the most recondite principles of evidence
brought to bear with admirable readiness on both sides. To deal with
them, required, indeed, the practised, penetrating, and powerful
intellect of Lord Widdrington. Some points he disposed of promptly to
the satisfaction of both parties; on others he hesitated, and at length
reserved them. Though none but the more experienced and able members of
the bar could in the least degree enter into and appreciate the nature
of these conflicts, they were watched with untiring attention and
eagerness by all present, both ladies and gentlemen--by the lowly and
the distinguished. And though the intensity of the feelings of all was
manifest by a mere glimpse round the court, yet any momentary display of
eccentricity on the part of a witness, or of petulance or repartee on
the part of counsel, would occasion a momentary merriment which, in
point of fact, served only as a sort of _relief_ to the strained
feelings of the audience, and instantly disappeared. The tombstone part
of the case was got through easily; scarcely any attempt being made on
the part of Mr. Aubrey's counsel to resist or interfere with it. But the
great--the hottest part of the fight--occurred at that point of the
case, where Titmouse's descent from Stephen Dreddlington was sought to
be established. This gentleman, who had been a very wild person, whose
movements were very difficult to be traced or accounted for, had entered
the navy, and ultimately died at sea, as had always been imagined,
single and childless. It was proved, however, that so far from such
being the case, he had married a person at Portsmouth, of inferior
station, and that by her he had a daughter, only two years before his
death. Both mother and daughter, after undergoing great privation, and
no notice being taken of the mother by any of her late husband's family,
removed to the house of a humble and distant relative in Cumberland,
where the mother afterwards died, leaving her daughter only fifteen
years old. When she grew up, she lived in some menial capacity in
Cumberland, and ultimately married one Gabriel Tittlebat Titmouse; who,
after living for some years a cordwainer at Whitehaven, found his way to
Grilston, in Yorkshire, in the neighborhood of which town he had lived
for some years in very humble circumstances. There he had married; and
about two years afterwards his wife died, leaving a son--our friend
Tittlebat Titmouse. Both of them afterwards came to London: where, in
four or five years' time, the father died, leaving the little Titmouse
to flutter and hop about in the wide world as best he could. During the
whole of this part of the case, Mr. Gammon had evinced deep anxiety; and
at a particular point--perhaps the crisis--his agitation was excessive;
yet it was almost entirely concealed by his remarkable self-control. The
little documentary evidence of which Gammon, at his first interview with
Titmouse, found him possessed, proved at the trial, as Gammon had
foreseen, of great importance. The evidence in support of this part of
the case, and which it took till two o'clock on the ensuing afternoon to
get through, was subjected to a most determined and skilful opposition
by the Attorney-General, but in vain. The case had been got up with the
utmost care, under the excellent management of Lynx; and Mr. Subtle's
consummate tact and ability brought it, at length, fully and distinctly
out before the jury.
"That, my Lord," said he, as he sat down after re-examining his last
witness, "is the case on the part of the plaintiff." On this the judge
and jury withdrew, for a short time, to obtain refreshment. During their
absence, the Attorney-General, Mr. Sterling, Mr. Crystal, and Mr.
Mansfield, might have been seen, with their heads all laid close
together, engaged in anxious consultation--a group gazed at by the eager
eyes of many a spectator, whose beating heart wished their cause
godspeed. The Attorney-General then withdrew for a few moments, also to
seek refreshment; and returning at the same time with the judge, after a
moment's pause rose, bowed to the judge, then to the jury, and opened
the defendant's case. His manner was calm and impressive; his person was
dignified; and his clear, distinct voice fell on the listening ear like
the sound of silver. After a graceful allusion to the distinguished
character of his friend and client, Mr. Aubrey, (to whose eminent
position in the House of Commons he bore his personal testimony,) to the
magnitude of the interests now at stake, and the extraordinary nature of
the claim set up, he proceeded: "On every account, therefore, I feel
sensible, gentlemen, to an unusual and most painful extent, of the very
great responsibility now resting upon my learned friends and myself;
lest any miscarriage of mine should prejudice in any degree the
important interests committed to us, or impair the strength of the case
which I am about to submit to you on the part of Mr. Aubrey; a case
which, I assure you, unless some extraordinary mischance should befall
us, will, I believe, annihilate that which, with so much pains, so much
tact, and so much ability, has just been laid before you by my learned
friend Mr. Subtle; and establish the defendant in the safe possession of
that large property which is the subject of the present most
extraordinary and unexpected litigation. But, gentlemen, before
proceeding so far as that, it is fitting that I should call your
attention to the nature of the case set up on the part of the plaintiff,
and the sort of evidence by which it has been attempted to be supported;
and I am very sanguine of being successful in showing you that the
plaintiff's witnesses are not entitled to the credit to which they lay
claim; and, consequently, that there is no case made out for the
defendant to answer." He then entered into a rigorous analysis of the
plaintiff's evidence, contrasting each conflicting portion with the
other, with singular cogency; and commenting with powerful severity upon
the demeanor and character of many of the witnesses. On proceeding, at
length, to open the case of the defendant--"And here, gentlemen," said
he, "I am reminded of the observation with which my learned friend
concluded--that he was entirely ignorant of the case which we meant to
set up in answer to that which he had opened on the part of the
plaintiff. Gentlemen, it would have been curious, indeed, had it been
otherwise--had my friend's penetrating eye been able to inspect the
contents of my client's strong-box--and so become acquainted with the
evidence on which he rests his title to the property now in dispute. My
learned friend has, however, succeeded in entitling himself to
information on that point; and he shall have it--and to his heart's
content." Here Mr. Subtle cast a glance of smiling incredulity towards
the jury, and defiance towards the Attorney-General. He took his pen
into his hand, however, and his juniors looked very anxious.
"Gentlemen," continued the Attorney-General, "I am ready to concede to
my learned friend every inch of the case which he has been endeavoring
to make out; that he has completely established his pedigree.--At all
events, I am ready to concede this for the purpose of the case which is
now under discussion before you." He then mentioned the conveyance by
Harry Dreddlington of all his interest----"You forget that he died in
his father's lifetime, Mr. Attorney-General," interposed Mr. Subtle,
with a placid smile, and the air of a man who is suddenly relieved from
a vast pressure of anxiety.
"Not a bit of it, gentlemen, not a bit of it--'tis a part of my case. My
learned friend is quite right; Harry Dreddlington _did_ die in his
father's lifetime:--but"---- Here Mr. Subtle gazed at the
Attorney-General with unaffected curiosity; and when the latter came to
mention "the _Deed of Confirmation_ by THE FATHER of Harry
Dreddlington," an acute observer might have observed a slight change of
color in Mr. Subtle. Lynx looked at the Attorney-General as if he
expected every instant to receive a musket-ball in his breast!
"What, '_confirm_' a NULLITY, Mr. Attorney-General?" interrupted Mr.
Subtle, laying down his pen with a smile of derision; but a moment or
two afterwards, "Mr. Mortmain," said he, in a hasty whisper, "what do
you think of this? Tell me--in four words"--Mortmain, his eye glued to
the face of the Attorney-General the while, muttered hastily something
about "_operating as a new grant_--_as a new conveyance_."
"Pshaw! I mean what's the _answer_ to the Attorney-General?" muttered
Mr. Subtle, impatiently; but his countenance preserved its expression of
smiling nonchalance. "You will oblige me, Mr. Mortmain," he by-and-by
whispered in a quiet but peremptory tone, "by giving your utmost
attention to the question as to the effect of this deed--so that I may
shape my objection to it properly when it is tendered in evidence. If it
really have the legal effect attributed to it, and which I suspect it
really to have, we may as well shut up our briefs. I _thought_ there
must be some such cursed point or other in the background!"
Gammon saw the real state of Mr. Subtle's mind, and his cheek turned
pale, but he preserved a smile on his countenance, as he sat with his
arms folded. Quirk eyed him with undisguised agitation, scarce daring to
look up at Mr. Subtle. Titmouse, seeing a little dismay in his camp,
turned very white and cold, and sat still, scarce daring to breathe;
while Snap looked like a terrier consciously going to have its teeth
pulled out!
At length the Attorney-General, after stating that, in addition to the
case which he had intimated, as resting mainly on the deed of
confirmation, he should proceed to prove the pedigree of Mr. Aubrey, sat
down, having spoken about two hours and a half, expressing his
conviction that when the defendant's evidence should have been closed,
the jury, under his Lordship's direction, would return a verdict for the
defendant; and that, too, without leaving the jury-box, where, by their
long and patient attention, they had so honorably acquitted themselves
of the important duty imposed upon them by the constitution.
"James Parkinson!" exclaimed Mr. Sterling, quietly but distinctly, as
the Attorney-General sat down. "You are the attorney for the defendant?"
inquired Mr. Sterling, as soon as the witness had been sworn. "Do you
produce a conveyance between Harry Dreddlington and Moses Aaron?" &c.
(specifying it.) It was proved and put in, without much opposition. So
also was another--the assignment from Moses Aaron to Geoffrey
Dreddlington.
"Do you also produce a deed between Harry Dreddlington the elder and
Geoffrey Dreddlington?" and he mentioned the date and names of all the
parties to the deed of confirmation. Mr. Parkinson handed in the
important document.
"Stay, stay; where did you get that deed, Mr. Parkinson?" inquired Mr.
Subtle, sharply, extending his hand for the deed.
"From my office at Grilston, where I keep many of Mr. Aubrey's
title-deeds."
"When did you bring it hither?"
"About ten o'clock last night, for the purpose of this trial."
"How long has it been at your office?"
"Ever since I fetched it, a year or two ago, with other deeds from the
muniment room of Yatton Hall."
"How long have you been solicitor to Mr. Aubrey?"
"For this ten years; and my father was solicitor to his father for
twenty-five years."
"Will you swear that this deed was in your office before the
proceedings in this action were brought to your notice?"
"I have not the slightest doubt in the world."
"That does not satisfy me, sir. Will you _swear_ that it was?"
"I _will_, sir," replied Mr. Parkinson, firmly. "It never attracted any
more notice from me than any other of Mr. Aubrey's deeds, till my
attention was drawn to it in consequence of these proceedings."
"Has any one access to Mr. Aubrey's deeds at your office but yourself?"
"None that I know of; I keep all the deeds of my clients which are at my
office, in their respective boxes; and allow no one access to them,
except under my immediate notice, and in my presence."
Then Mr. Subtle sat down.
"My Lord, we now propose to put in this deed," said the
Attorney-General, unfolding it.
"Allow me to look at it, Mr. Attorney," said Mr. Subtle. It was handed
to him; and he, his juniors, and Mr. Mortmain, rising up, were engaged
most anxiously in scrutinizing it for some minutes. Mortmain having
looked at the stamp, sat down, and opening his bag, hastily drew out an
old well-worn volume which contained all the stamp acts that had ever
been passed from the time of William the Third, when, I believe, the
first of those blessings was conferred upon this country. First he
looked at the deed--then at his book--then at the deed again; and at
length might be seen, with earnest gestures, putting Mr. Subtle in
possession of some opinion which he had formed on the subject. "My
Lord," said Mr. Subtle, after a pause, "I object to this instrument
being received in evidence, on account of the insufficiency of the
stamp." This produced quite a sensation in court. Mr. Subtle then
proceeded to mention the character of the stamp affixed to the deed,
and read the act which was in force at the time that the deed bore date;
and, after a few additional observations, sat down, and was followed by
Mr. Quicksilver and Mr. Lynx. Then arose the Attorney-General, having in
the mean time carefully looked at the act of Parliament, and submitted
to his Lordship that the stamp was sufficient; being followed by his
juniors. Mr. Subtle replied at some length.
"I certainly entertain some difficulty on the point," said his Lordship,
"and will mention the matter to my brother Grayley." Taking with him the
deed, and Mr. Mortmain's copy of the stamp acts, his Lordship left the
court, and was absent a quarter of an hour--half an hour--three quarters
of an hour; and at length returned.
"I have consulted," said his Lordship, as soon as he had taken his seat
amid the profoundest silence, "my brother Grayley, and we have very
fully considered the point. My brother happens, fortunately, to have by
him a manuscript note of a case in which he was counsel, about eighteen
years ago, and in which the exact point arose which exists in the
present case." He then read out of a thick manuscript book, which he had
brought with him from Mr. Justice Grayley, the particulars of the case
alluded to, and which were certainly almost precisely similar to those
then before the court. In the case referred to, the stamp had been held
sufficient; and so, his Lordship and his brother Grayley were of
opinion, was the stamp in the deed then before him. The cloud which had
settled upon the countenances of the Attorney-General and his party,
here flitted over to, and settled upon, those of his opponents. "Your
Lordship will perhaps take a note of the objection," said Mr. Subtle,
somewhat chagrined. Lord Widdrington nodded, and immediately made the
requisite entry in his notes.
"_Now_, then, we propose to put in and read this deed," said the
Attorney-General, with a smile of suppressed triumph, holding out his
hand towards Mr. Lynx, who was scrutinizing it very eagerly--"I presume
my learned friend will require only the operative parts to be
read"--here Lynx, with some excitement, called his leader's attention to
something which had occurred to him in the deed: up got Quicksilver and
Mortmain; and presently--
"Not quite so fast, Mr. Attorney, if you please," said Mr. Subtle, with
a little elation of manner--"I have another, and I apprehend a clearly
fatal objection to the admissibility of this deed, till my learned
friend shall have accounted for an ERASURE"----
"Erasure!" echoed the Attorney-General, with much surprise--"Allow me to
see the deed;" and he took it with an incredulous smile, which, however,
disappeared as he looked more and more closely at the instrument; Mr.
Sterling, Mr. Crystal, and Mr. Mansfield also looking extremely serious.
"I've hit them _now_," said Mr. Subtle to those behind him, as he leaned
back, and looked with no little triumph at his opponents--"_Was_ there
ever anything so lucky in this world before?" From what apparently
inadequate and trifling causes often flow great results! The plain fact
of the case was merely this. The attorney's clerk, in copying out the
deed, which was one of considerable length, had written eight or ten
words by mistake; and fearing to exasperate his master, by rendering
necessary a new deed and stamp, and occasioning trouble and delay, had
neatly scratched out the erroneous words, and over the erasure written
the correct ones. As he was the party who was intrusted with seeing to
and witnessing the execution of the instrument, he of course took no
notice of the alteration, and--see the result! The ownership of an
estate of ten thousand a-year about to turn upon the effect of this
erasure!
"Hand me up the deed," said the judge; and inspected it minutely for a
minute or two, holding it up, once or twice, to the light.
"Has any one a magnifying-glass in court?" inquired the
Attorney-General, with a look of increasing anxiety. No one happened to
have one.
"Is it necessary, Mr. Attorney?" said Lord Widdrington, handing down the
instrument to him with an ominous look.
"Well--you object, of course, Mr. Subtle--as I understand you--that this
deed is void, on account of an erasure in a material part of it?"
inquired Lord Widdrington.
"That is my objection, my Lord," said Mr. Subtle, sitting down.
"Now, Mr. Attorney," continued the judge, turning to the
Attorney-General, prepared to take a note of any observations which he
might offer. The spectators--the whole court--were aware that the great
crisis of the case had arrived; and there was a sickening silence. The
Attorney-General, with perfect calmness and self-possession, immediately
addressed the court in answer to this very critical and unexpected
objection. That there _was_ an erasure, which, owing to the hurry with
which the instrument had been examined, had been overlooked, was
indisputable. The Attorney-General's argument was, first, that the
erasure was in a part not material; secondly, that even if in a material
part of the deed, it would not be avoided, but the alteration would be
presumed to have taken place before the execution of the deed.[33] It
was easy to see that he spoke with the air of a man who argues _contra
spem_. What he said, however, was pertinent and forcible; the same might
be said of Mr. Sterling and Mr. Crystal; but they were all plainly
_gravelled_. Mr. Subtle replied with cruel cogency.
"Well," said Lord Widdrington, when Mr. Subtle had concluded, "I own I
feel scarcely any doubt upon the matter; but as it is certainly of the
greatest possible importance in the present case, I will just see how it
strikes my brother Grayley." With this he took the deed in his hand and
quitted the court. He touched Mr. Aubrey, in passing to his private
room, holding the deed before him! After an absence of about ten
minutes, Lord Widdrington returned.
"Silence! silence there!" bawled the crier; and the bustle had soon
subsided into profound silence.
"I think, and my brother Grayley agrees with me," said Lord Widdrington,
"that I ought not to receive this deed in evidence, unless the erasure
occurring in an essential part of it be first accounted for. Unless,
therefore, you are prepared, Mr. Attorney, with any evidence of that
kind, I shall not receive the deed." The Attorney-General bowed, in
silence, to his Lordship.
There was a faint buzz all over the court--a buzz of excitement,
anxiety, and disappointment; during which the Attorney-General consulted
for a moment or two with his juniors.
"Undoubtedly, my Lord," said he at length, "we are not prepared with any
evidence to explain a circumstance which has taken us entirely by
surprise. After this length of time, my Lord, of course"----
"Certainly--it is a great misfortune for the parties--a great
misfortune. Of course you tender the deed in evidence?" he continued,
taking a note.
"We do, my Lord, certainly," replied the Attorney-General; and sitting
down, he and his juniors took a note of the decision; Lord Widdrington
and the Attorney-General's opponents doing the same.
You should have seen the faces of Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, as
they looked at Mr. Parkinson, with an agitated air, returning the
rejected deed to the bag from which it had been lately taken with so
confident and triumphant an air!--The remainder of the case, which had
been opened by the Attorney-General on behalf of Mr. Aubrey, was then
proceeded with; but in spite of all their assumed calmness, the
disappointment and distress of his counsel were perceptible to all. They
were now dejected--they felt that the cause was lost, unless some
extraordinary good fortune should yet befall them. They were not long in
establishing the descent of Mr. Aubrey from Geoffrey Dreddlington. It
was necessary to do so; for grievously as they had been disappointed in
failing to establish the title paramount, founded upon the deed of
confirmation of Mr. Aubrey, it was yet an important question for the
jury, whether they believed the evidence adduced by the plaintiff to
show title in himself.
"That, my Lord, is the defendant's case," said the Attorney-General as
his last witness left the box; and Mr. Subtle then rose to reply. He
felt how unpopular was his cause; that almost every countenance around
him bore a hostile expression. Privately, he loathed his case, when he
saw the sort of person for whom he was struggling. All his sympathies
(he was a very proud, haughty man) were on behalf of Mr. Aubrey, whom by
name and reputation he well knew, and with whom he had often sat in the
House of Commons. Now, conspicuous before him, sat his little
monkey-client, Titmouse--a ridiculous object; and calculated, if there
were any scope for the influence of prejudice, to ruin his own cause by
the exhibition of himself before the jury. That was the vulgar idiot who
was to turn the admirable Aubreys out of Yatton, and send them beggared
into the world! But Mr. Subtle was a high-minded English advocate; and
if he had seen Miss Aubrey in all her loveliness, and knew that her
_all_ depended upon the success of his exertions, he could hardly have
exerted himself more strenuously than he did on the present occasion.
And such, at length, was the effect which that exquisitely skilful
advocate produced, in his address to the jury, that he began to bring
about a change in the feelings of most around him; even the eye of
scornful beauty began to direct fewer glances of indignation and disgust
upon Titmouse, as Mr. Subtle's irresistible rhetoric drew upon their
sympathies in that young gentleman's behalf. "My learned friend, the
Attorney-General, gentlemen, dropped one or two expressions of a
somewhat disparaging tendency," said Mr. Subtle, "in alluding to my
client, Mr. Titmouse; and shadowed forth a disadvantageous contrast
between the obscure and ignorant plaintiff, and the gifted defendant.
Good heavens, gentlemen! and is my humble client's misfortune to become
his fault? If he be obscure and ignorant, unacquainted with the usages
of society, deprived of the blessings of a superior education--if he
have contracted vulgarity, _whose fault is it_?--Who has occasioned it?
Who plunged him and his parents before him into an unjust poverty and
obscurity, from which Providence is about this day to rescue him, and
put him in possession of his own? Gentlemen, if topics like these must
be introduced into this case, I ask you _who is accountable_ for the
present condition of my unfortunate client? Is he, or are those who have
been, perhaps unconsciously, but still unjustly, so long revelling in
the wealth which is his? Gentlemen, in the name of everything that is
manly and generous, I challenge your sympathy, your commiseration, for
my client." Here Titmouse, who had been staring open-mouthed for some
time at his eloquent advocate, and could be kept quiet no longer by the
most vehement efforts of Messrs. Quirk, Gammon, and Snap, rose up in an
excited manner, exclaiming, "Bravo! bravo, bravo, sir! 'Pon my life,
capital! It's quite true--bravo! bravo!" His astounded advocate paused
at this unprecedented interruption. "Take the puppy out of court, sir,
or I will not utter one word more," said he, in a fierce whisper to Mr.
Gammon.
"Who is that? Leave the court, sir! Your conduct is most indecent, sir!
I have a great mind to commit you, sir!" said Lord Widdrington,
directing an awful look down to the offender, who had turned of a
ghastly whiteness.
"Have mercy upon me, my Lord! I'll never do it again," he groaned,
clasping his hands, and verily believing that Lord Widdrington was going
to take the estate away from him.
Snap at length succeeded in getting him out of court, and after the
excitement occasioned by this irregular interruption had subsided, Mr.
Subtle resumed:--
"Gentlemen," said he, in a low tone, "I perceive that you are moved by
this little incident; and it is characteristic of your superior
feelings. Inferior persons, destitute of sensibility or refinement,
might have smiled at eccentricities, which occasion gentlemen like
yourselves only feelings of greater commiseration. I protest,
gentlemen"---- his voice trembled for a moment, but he soon resumed his
self-possession; and, after a long and admirable address, sat down,
confident of the verdict.
"If we lose the verdict, sir," said he, bending down and whispering into
the ear of Gammon, "we may thank that execrable little puppy for it."
Gammon changed color, but made no reply.
Lord Widdrington then commenced summing up the case to the jury with his
usual care and perspicacity. Nothing could be more beautiful than the
ease with which he extricated the facts of the case from the meshes in
which they had been alternately involved by Mr. Subtle and the
Attorney-General. As soon as he had explained to them the general
principles of law applicable to the case, he placed before them the
facts proved by the plaintiff, and then the answer of the defendant:
every one in court trembling for the result, if the jury should take the
same view which he felt compelled himself to take. The judge suggested
that they should retire to consider the case, taking with them the
pedigrees which had been handed in to them; and added that, if they
should require his assistance, he should remain in his private room for
an hour or two. Both judge and jury then retired, it being about eight
o'clock. Candles were lit in the court, which continued crowded to
suffocation. Few doubted which way the verdict would go. Fatigued as
must have been most of the spectators with a two days' confinement and
excitement,--ladies as well as gentlemen,--scarce a person thought of
quitting before the verdict had been pronounced. After an hour and a
half's absence, a cry was heard from the bailiff in whose charge the
jury had retired--"Clear the way for the jury;" and one or two officers,
with their wands, obeyed the directions. As the jury were re-entering
their box, struggling with a little difficulty through the crowd, Lord
Widdrington resumed his seat upon the bench.
"Gentlemen of the jury, have the goodness," said the associate, "to
answer to your names.--_Sir Godolphin Fitzherbert_"---- and, while their
names were thus called over, all the counsel took their pens, and,
turning over their briefs with an air of anxiety, prepared to indorse on
them the verdict. As soon as all the jurymen had answered, a profound
silence ensued.
"Gentlemen of the jury," inquired the associate, "are you agreed upon
your verdict? Do you find for the plaintiff, or for the defendant?"
"FOR THE PLAINTIFF," replied the foreman; on which the officer, amid a
kind of blank dismayed silence, making at the same time some
hieroglyphics upon the record, muttered--"_Verdict for the
Plaintiff.--Damages, one shilling. Costs, forty shillings_;" while
another functionary bawled out, amid the increasing buzz in the court,
"Have the goodness to wait, gentlemen of the jury. You will be paid
immediately." Whereupon, to the disgust and indignation of the unlearned
spectators, and the astonishment of some of the gentlemen of the jury
themselves--many of them the very first men of the county--Snap jumped
up on the form, pulled out his purse with an air of wild exultation, and
proceeded to remunerate Sir Godolphin Fitzherbert and his companions
with the sum of two guineas each. Proclamation was then made, and the
court adjourned till the next morning.
NOTES.
Note 1. Page 11.
Thomas De Quincey--a man whose genius and diversified and profound
acquirements constitute him one of the most remarkable men of the age;
and the book quoted in the text is worthy of him.
Note 2. Page 20.
The legislature hath since shown many indications of agreement with the
opinion of my unhappy swell: having lately abolished arrest on _mesne_
process altogether, as affording creditors too serious a chance of
preventing the escape of a fraudulent debtor; and having still more
recently made a step towards the abolition of arrest on _final_ process!
[1844.]
Note 3. Page 60.
[Greek:Tou_ kai\ a)po\ glô/ssês me/litos glyki/ôn r(e/en au)ê/]
Note 4. Page 107.
_Blackstone's Commentaries_, vol. iv. pp. 134-5.
Note 5. Page 108.
_Blackstone_, vol. iii. p. 400, where it is stated, however, that "that
practice is now disused."
Note 6. Page 110.
_Blackstone's Commentaries_, vol. iv. p. 135.
Note 7. Page 113.
By a very recent statute (6 and 7 Vict. c. 73, §§ 37, 43)--passed in
1843--salutary alterations have been made in the law regulating the
taxation of the bills of attorneys and solicitors. Except "under special
circumstances," a client cannot now have his attorney's or solicitor's
bill taxed, after the lapse of twelve months since it was delivered. If
as much as one-sixth of the bill be struck off, the attorney or
solicitor must pay the costs of the operation; if less than one-sixth,
the client will have that satisfaction.
Note 8. Page 122.
This was written about the year 1838-9.
Note 9. Page 124.
This mode of treating the remains of a _felo de se_ was (on the 8th July
1823) abolished by Act of Parliament (stat. 4 Geo. IV). The remains of a
_felo de se_ are ordered by that act to be buried privately in the
churchyard, but without the performance of any rites of Christian
burial. The Prayer-book also prohibits the "office for the burial of the
dead from being used for any that have laid violent hands upon
themselves."
Note 10. Page 160.
I suppose myself to be alluding here to a very oppressive statute,
passed to clip the wings of such gentlemen as Mr. Snap, by which it is
enacted that, in actions for slander, if the jury find a verdict under
forty shillings, _e. g._ as in the case in the text, for one farthing,
the plaintiff shall be entitled to recover from the defendant only as
much costs as damages, _i. e._ another farthing; a provision which has
made many a poor pettifogger sneak out of court with a flea in his ear.
Since this was written, a still more stringent statute hath been made,
which, 'tis to be hoped, will put down the nuisance.
Note 11. Page 196.
"Can the author of Ten Thousand a-Year," asked some anonymous person
during its original appearance--"point out any class of Dissenters who
allow their members to frequent theatres?" The author believes that this
is the case with Unitarians--and also with many of the members of other
Dissenting congregations--especially the younger members of even the
stanchest Dissenting families.
Note 12. Page 212.
This fearful-looking word, I wish to inform my lady-readers, is an
original and monstrous amalgamation of three or four Greek
words--[Greek:kyano-chait-anthrôpo-poiôn]--denoting a fluid "_which can
render the human hair black_." Whenever a barber or perfumer determines
on trying to puff off some villanous imposition of this sort, strange to
say, he goes to some starving scholar, and gives him half-a-crown to
coin a word like the above; one which shall be equally unintelligible
and unpronounceable, and therefore attractive and popular.
Note 13. Page 243.
"Vitas hinnuleo me similis, Chloë,
Quærenti pavidam----
Matrem.
---- et corde et genibus tremit."--Hor. i. 23.
Note 14. Page 264.
See _ante_, p. 138.
Note 15. Page 307.
So much curiosity has been excited among lay readers in this country and
in America, and also among professional persons in France and Germany,
as to the real nature of the species of action mentioned in the text,
that the author is induced here to give some further account of a matter
which enters so considerably into the construction of this story. The
action of Ejectment is described with minute accuracy in the text; has
been in existence for at least five hundred years, (_i. e._ since the
close of Edward II., or beginning of Edward III., A. D. 1327;) and its
venerable but tortuous fiction has been scarcely even touched by the
"amending hand," which lately (1834) cut away so many cumbrous,
complicated, and _quasi_ obsolete portions of the law of action, (see
Stat. 3 and 4 Will. 4, c. 27, § 36.) The progress of this action is
calculated to throw much light on some of our early history and
jurisprudence. See an interesting sketch of it in the first chapter of
Mr. Sergeant Adams' Treatise on Ejectment. It was resorted to for the
purpose of escaping from the other dilatory, intricate, and expensive
modes of recovering landed property anciently in existence. The
following is the description given of it by Lord Mansfield--and is
equally terse and correct, and applicable to the present mode of
procedure. "An EJECTMENT is an ingenious _fiction_ for the Trial of
Titles to the possession of Land. In _form_ it is a trick between two,
to dispossess a third by a sham suit and judgment. The artifice would be
criminal, unless the _Court_ converted it into a _fair_ trial with the
_proper_ party. The control the Court have over the judgment against the
Casual Ejector, enables them to put any _terms_ upon the plaintiff which
are _just_. He was soon ordered to give _notice_ to the _tenant in
possession_. When the tenant in possession _asked_ to be admitted
defendant, the Court was enabled to add CONDITIONS; and therefore
obliged him to _allow_ the fiction, and go to Trial on the _real
merits_."--(_Fair Claim_ v. _Sham Title_,[*] 3 Burr. 1294.) This action
is now, in effect, the only direct common-law remedy for the recovery of
land in England and Ireland; in many of the United States of America the
action of Ejectment is retained--"with its harmless, and--as matter of
history--curious and amusing English fictions."--(4 _Kent's Comment_. p.
70, note _e_:) but in New York, the action of Ejectment is "stripped of
all its fictitious parts."--(_Id. ib._)
[*] These fantastical names are now almost invariably abandoned for
those of "John Doe" and "Richard Roe."
Note 16. Page 309.
_Blackstone's Commentaries_, vol. iii. App. pp. ix. x.
Note 17. Page 310.
"A warranty will not extend to guard against defects which are plainly
and obviously the object of one's senses: as if a horse be warranted
perfect, and wants either a _tail_, or an _ear_: unless the buyer in
this case be blind."--3 _Blackst. Comm_. 166.
Note 18. Page 310.
On the 22d August, 1843, (since the publication of this work,) a brief
but most important statute (6 and 7 Vict. c. 85) was enacted, "for
improving the Law of Evidence"--the chief object of which was, to remove
all such difficulties as that which formed the subject of Mr.
Parkinson's inquiries. Witnesses are now no longer "incompetent" to give
evidence by reason of _crime_ or of any _interest_ which they may have
in, or in respect of, the subject-matter of the action.
Note 19. Page 346.
Whether Mr. Aubrey was _justified_ in doing this, under his
circumstances, is a question which the author has seen, and heard,
several times keenly discussed. It is surprising how much may be said on
both sides of the question, by ingenious casuists.
Note 20. Page 405.
For this glorious and inestimable safeguard of the liberty of the
subject, we are indebted to the ancient common law of England,
strengthened from time to time by the legislature, and now made secure
against the insidious encroachments of tyranny. The chief statute passed
with this view is known as _The Habeas Corpus Act_ (31 Car. II. c. 2),
and "has been incorporated into the jurisprudence of every state in the
Union" in America.--STORY, _Commentaries on the Constitution of the U.
S._, vol. iii. p. 208.
"It is a very common mistake," says Mr. Hallam, and the Lord
Chief-Justice of the Queen's Bench had occasion, during Michaelmas Term
1844, publicly to make a similar observation, "not only among
foreigners, but many from whom some knowledge of our constitutional laws
might be expected, that the statute of Charles II. enlarged in a great
degree our liberties, and forms a sort of epoch in their history; but
though a very beneficial enactment, it introduced no new principle, nor
conferred any right upon the subject.... It was not to bestow an
immunity from arbitrary imprisonment, which is abundantly provided in
Magna Charta (if, indeed, not much more ancient,) that the statute of
Charles II. was enacted; but to cut off the abuses by which the
government's lust of power, and the servile subtlety of crown lawyers,
had impaired so fundamental a privilege."--3 HALL. _Const. Hist._, pp.
16, 17.
Note 21. Page 421.
The general character of the Newspaper Press, both in London and the
country, has so greatly improved of late years, as (with a very few
despicable exceptions) to render the appearance now-a-days, of such a
paragraph as that in the text, exceedingly rare. The Press is now, in
most instances, presided over by educated and gifted _gentlemen_. It was
far otherwise in 18--(the period named in the text.)
Note 22. Page 433.
Before perusing this opinion, the reader should refer to the pedigree,
_post_ 441; without which the opinion will not be fully understood.
Note 23. Page 435.
See the note on page 437.
Note 24. Page 437.
Till within a few years before the period in question, the law of
England regarded the act done by Mr. Steggars as amounting only to a
_breach of trust_, and consequently subjecting him to no _criminal_
liability; on the ground that the £700 _never having been actually in
his master's possession_, could not be the subject of a _felonious
taking_. The alarming consequences of this doctrine led to the passing
of stat. 39 Geo. III. c. 85, [passed on the 12th July 1799,] which
declared such an act of embezzlement to be felony, punishable with
fourteen years' transportation: this was lately repealed, but re-enacted
by stat. 7 and 8, Geo. IV. c. 29, § 47, [passed on the 21st June, 1827,]
on the occasion of consolidating that branch of the criminal law.--See 4
COLERIDGE'S _Blackst. Comment._ p. 231 (_note_).
Note 25. Page 442.
The popular maxim that "possession is nine-tenths of the law," is
founded on the salutary and reasonable doctrine of the law, that the
party _in possession_ of property is presumed to be the owner until the
contrary shall have been proved. Consider how intolerable, and, in fact,
destructive of civil society would be an opposite rule--if every one in
the enjoyment of property were liable to be called upon to explain to
any one challenging his right, how that right had been acquired! By the
operation of the rule laid down in the text, a defendant in ejectment
may (except in the case of landlord and tenant) always defeat the
action, simply by showing the real title to be in _some third
party_--without showing that the defendant holds possession with the
consent, or under the authority of the real owner.--(_Roe_ v. _Harvey_,
4 Burr. 2484; _Doe_ v. _Barber_, 2 T. R. 749.) The defendant's evidence
is thus altogether confined to falsifying his adversary's proofs, or
rebutting the presumptions which arise out of them.--ADAMS _on
Ejectment_, p. 319.--(3d Ed.)
Note 26. Page 443.
See the note to Vol. II., Chapter V.
Note 27. Page 443.
Lynx is here glancing at a rule of the Roman law on a point of great
difficulty, interest, and importance--_i. e._ where two persons above
the age of puberty perished by the same accident, the younger was
presumed to have been the survivor; but if one was _under_ the age of
puberty, the other was presumed to have been the survivor.--(Dig. lib.
34, tit. 5, §§ 9, 22, 23.) It is very curious to see how this question
is dealt with in modern times. The _Code Civile_ (in France) adjusts the
presumption to specific periods of life. If those who perished were all
under 15 years of age, the eldest is presumed to have survived; if all
above 60 years, the youngest. If some under 15, and others above 60, the
former shall be presumed to have survived. If all were between 15 and 60
years of age, the male, (when the ages are equal, or within a year of
being so) shall be presumed the survivor. If of the same sex, that
presumption shall be admitted which opens the succession in the order of
nature--of course the younger being presumed to have survived the
elder.--(_Code Civ_. §§ 720-722.) It has been objected, that, though
these rules are generally equitable, they are imperfect: for a man above
sixty ought surely to be held to have survived a mere infant; and no
provision is made for the case of persons under 15, and under 60 years
of age perishing together. By the _Mohammedan law of India_, "when
relations perish together, it is to be presumed that they all died at
the same moment, and the heir of each immediately succeeds." The
difficulty of the case arises, of course, from the circumstance of there
being no evidence whatever as to the _actual fact_ of survivorship. Our
English law has not adopted any definite rule on the subject, but leans
in favor of the survivorship of the party possessed of the property in
dispute; and _some_ regard seems to be had to the probability of the
survivorship of the stronger party. Several very interesting cases of
this kind have arisen in this country; and, generally speaking, our
courts appear to have required some evidence of the _fact_. A singular
case occurred in Queen Elizabeth's time, (1596.) Father and son were
hanged at the same time, in one cart; being joint tenants of property,
which, on their death, was to go to the _son's_ heirs. According to one
report (Noy) the _father's_ feet were seen moving after the son's
death; but other witnesses swore to the son's "shaking his legs" after
his father's death. This the jury believed; found that the son survived;
and his widow was therefore held entitled to her dower!--(_Broughton_ v.
_Randall_, Cro. El., p. 502.)
Note 28. Page 443.
Chapter X., _ante_, p. 411.
Note 29. Page 470.
See the note prefixed to Chapter V. Vol. II., for a full explanation of
the above, and another important legal topic introduced into this work.
Note 30. Page 477.
Not many years ago, the fate of an important case turned upon the
existence of a tombstone: and a forged one was produced in court!--The
validity of a great Peerage case is at this moment depending upon the
genuineness of one of these dumb and gloomy witnesses. [1844.]
Note 31. Page 485.
When the Judges of Assize preside in the _Crown_ side (_i. e_. in the
Criminal Court,) they wear their scarlet and ermine robes, and
full-bottomed wigs.
Note 32. Page 486.
This is a step often taken in trials of importance, when the counsel for
either party apprehends danger to his client, from his opponent's
witnesses remaining in court and hearing all the evidence which they are
afterwards called to contradict. Either counsel has a _right_ thus to
exclude witnesses. The Court usually, in such cases, orders all the
witnesses to withdraw.
Note 33. Page 499.
See, for a discussion of this point, the preliminary note to Vol. II.
ch. v.
END OF VOL. I.
End of Project Gutenberg's Ten Thousand a-Year. Volume 1., by Samuel Warren