SECOND YEAR--THESIGER AND PLATT--MY FIRST BRIEF.
In my second year I made fifty pounds, the sweetest fifty pounds
I ever made. I had no longer any weary waiting, for there was no
weariness in it, and I confess at this time my sole idea, and I may
add my only ambition, was to relieve myself of all obligations to my
father. If I could accomplish this, I should have vindicated the step
I had taken, and my father would have no further right, whatever
reason he might think he had, to complain.
My third year came, and then, to my great joy, finding that I was
earning more than the hundred pounds he allowed me, I wrote and
informed him, with all proper expressions of gratitude, that I should
no longer need his assistance, and from that time I never had a single
farthing that I did not earn.
I am sure I was prouder of that than of my peerage, for I experienced
for the first time the joyous pride of independence. There is no fruit
of labour so sweet as that.
But I no sooner began to obtain a little success than my rivals
and others tried to deprive me of the merit of it, if merit there
was--"Oh, of course his father and uncle are both solicitors in the
county;" while one of the local newspapers years after was good enough
to publish a paragraph which stated that I owed all my success to my
father's office.
This, of course, does not need contradiction. An occasional small
brief from Hitchin was the beginning and the end of my father's
influence, while sessions practice was not the practice I hoped to
finish my career with, although I had little hopes of eminence.
Certainly if I had I should have known that eminence could not come
from Hitchin.
I chose the Home Circuit, and did not leave it till I was made a
judge. It is impossible to forget the kindness I received from its
members throughout my whole career. There was a brotherly feeling
amongst us, which made life very pleasant.
There were several celebrated men on the Home Circuit when I joined.
Amongst them were Thesiger and Platt.
This was long before the former became Attorney-General, which took
place in 1858. He afterwards was Lord Chancellor, and took his title
from the little county town where probably he obtained his start in
the career which ended so brilliantly.
Platt became a Baron of the Exchequer.
Thesiger was a first-rate advocate, and, I need not say, was at all
times scrupulously fair. He had a high sense of honour, and was
replete with a quiet, subtle humour, which seemed to come upon you
unawares, and, like all true humour, derived no little of its pleasure
from its surprise. In addition to his abilities, Thesiger was ever
kind-hearted and gentle, especially in his manner towards juniors. I
know that he sympathized with them, and helped them whenever he had an
opportunity. It did not fall to my lot to hold many briefs with him,
but I am glad to say that I had some, because I shall not forget the
kindness and instruction I received from him.
Platt was an advocate of a different stamp. He also was kind, and in
every way worthy of grateful remembrance. He loved to amuse especially
the junior Bar, and more particularly in court. He was a good natural
punster, and endowed with a lively wit. The circuit was never dull
when Platt was present; but there was one trait in his character as an
advocate that judges always profess to disapprove of--he loved
popular applause, and his singularly bold and curious mode of
cross-examination sometimes brought him both rebuke and hearty
laughter from the most austere of judges.
He dealt with a witness as though the witness was putty, moulding him
into any grotesque form that suited his humour. No evidence could
preserve its original shape after Platt had done with it. He had a
coaxing manner, so much so that a witness would often be led to say
what he never intended, and what afterwards he could not believe he
had uttered.
Thesiger, who was his constant opponent, was sometimes irritated with
Platt's manner, and on the occasion I am about to mention fairly lost
his temper.
It was in an action for nuisance before Tindal, Chief Justice of the
Common Pleas, at Croydon Assizes.
Thesiger was for the plaintiff, who complained of a nuisance caused by
the bad smells that emanated from a certain tank on the defendant's
premises, and called a very respectable but ignorant labouring man to
prove his case.
The witness gave a description of the tank, not picturesque, but
doubtless true, and into this tank all kinds of refuse seem to have
been thrown, so that the vilest of foul stenches were emitted.
Platt began his cross-examination of poor Hodge by asking him in
his most coaxing manner to describe the character and nature of the
various stenches. Had Hodge been scientific, or if he had had a little
common sense, he would have simply answered "_bad_ character and
_ill_-nature;" but he improved on this simplicity, and said,--
"Some on 'em smells summat _like paint_."
This was quite sufficient for Platt.
"Come now," said he, "that's a very sensible answer. You are aware,
as a man of undoubted intelligence, that there are various colours of
paint. Had this smell any _particular colour_, think you?"
"Wall, I dunnow, sir."
"Don't answer hurriedly; take your time. We only want to get at the
truth. Now, what colour do you say this smell belonged to?"
"Wall, I don't raightly know, sir."
"I see. But what do you say to _yellow_? Had it a yellow smell, think
you?"
"Wall, sir, I doan't think ur wus yaller, nuther. No, sir, not quite
yaller; I think it was moore of a blue like."
"A blue smell. We all know a blue smell when we see it."
Of course, I need not say the laughter was going on in peals, much to
Platt's delight. Tindal was simply in an ecstasy, but did all he could
to suppress his enjoyment of the scene.
Then Platt resumed,--
"You think it was more of a blue smell like? Now, let me ask you,
there are many kinds of blue smells, from the smell of a Blue Peter,
which is salt, to that of the sky, which depends upon the weather. Was
it dark, or--"
"A kind of sky-blue, sir."
"More like your scarf?"
Up went Hodge's hand to see if he could feel the colour.
"Yes," said he, "that's more like--"
"Zummut like your scarf?"
"Yes, sir."
Then he was asked as to a variety of solids and liquids; and the man
shook his head, intimating that he could go a deuce of a way, but that
there were bounds even to human knowledge.
Then Platt questioned him on less abstruse topics, and to all of his
questions he kept answering,--
"Yes, my lord."
"Were fish remnants," asked Platt, "sometimes thrown into this
reservoir of filth, such as old cods' heads with goggle eyes?"
"Yes, my lord."
"_Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_?"
"Yes, my lord."
Thesiger could stand it no longer. He had been writhing while the
court had been roaring with laughter, which all the ushers in the
universe could not suppress.
"My lord, my lord, there must be some limit even to cross-examination
by my friend. Does your lordship think it is fair to suggest a
classical quotation to a respectable but illiterate labourer?"
Tindal, who could not keep his countenance--and no man who witnessed
the scene could--said,--
"It all depends, Mr. Thesiger, whether this man understands Latin."
Whereupon Platt immediately turned to the witness and said,--
"Now, my man, attend: _Rari nantes in gurgite vasto_. You understand
that, do you not?"
"Yes, my lord," answered the witness, stroking his chin.
Tindal, trying all he could to suppress his laughter, said:
"Mr. Thesiger, the witness says he understands the quotation, and as
you have no evidence to the contrary, I do not see how I can help
you." Of course, there was a renewal of the general laughter, but
Thesiger, in his reply, turned it on Platt.
This was my first appearance on circuit, and my first lesson from a
great advocate in the art of caricature.
* * * * *
No man at the Bar can forget the joy of his first brief--that
wonderful oblong packet of white papers, tied with the mysterious
pink tape, which his fourth share of the diminutive clerk brings him,
marked with the important "I gua."
I speak not to stall-fed juniors who have not to wait till their
merits are discovered, and who know that whosoever may watch and wait
and hope or despair, they shall have enough. All blessings go with
them; I never envied them their heritage. They are born to briefs
as the sparks fly upwards. I tell my experience to those who will
understand and appreciate every word I say--to men who have to make
their way in the world by their own exertions, and live on their own
labour or die of disappointment. There is one consolation even for the
wretched waiters on solicitors' favours, and that is, that the men who
have never had to work their way seldom rise to eminence or to any
position but respectable mediocrity. They never knew hope, and will
never know what it is to despair, or to nibble the short herbage of
the common where poorer creatures browse.
A father never looked on his firstborn with more pleasure than a
barrister on his first brief. If the Tower guns were announcing the
birth of an heir to the Throne, he would not look up to ask, "What is
that?"
It was the turning-point of my life, for had there been no first brief
pretty soon, I should have thought my kind relations' predictions were
about to be verified. But I should never have returned home; there was
still the Stage left, on which I hoped to act my part.
Strange to say, my first brief, like almost everything in my life, had
a little touch of humour in it.
I was instructed to defend a man at Hertford Sessions for stealing a
wheelbarrow, and unfortunately the wheelbarrow was found on him; more
unfortunate still--for I might have made a good speech on the subject
of the _animus furandi_--the man not only told the policeman he stole
it, but pleaded "Guilty" before the magistrates. I was therefore in
the miserable condition of one doomed to failure, take what line I
pleased. There was nothing to be said by way of defence, but I learnt
a lesson never to be forgotten.
Being a little too conscientious, I told my client, the attorney, that
in the circumstances I must return the brief, inasmuch as there was no
defence for the unhappy prisoner.
The attorney seemed to admire my principle, and instead of taking
offence, smiled in a good-natured manner, and said it was no doubt a
difficult task he had imposed on me, and he would exchange the brief
for another. He kept his word, and by-and-by returned with a much
easier case--a prosecution where the man pleaded "Guilty." It was a
grand triumph, and I was much pleased.
Those were early days to begin picking and choosing briefs, for no man
can do that unless he is much more wanted by clients than in want of
them; but I learned the secret in after life of a great deal of its
success.
I was, however, a little chagrined when I saw the mistake I had made.
Rodwell was leader of the sessions, and ought to have been far above a
guinea brief; judge then of my surprise when I saw that same brief a
few minutes after accepted by that great man--the brief I had refused
because there was nothing to be said on the prisoner's behalf. My
curiosity was excited to see what Rodwell would do with it, and what
defence he would set up. It was soon gratified. He simply admitted
the prisoner's guilt, and hoped the chairman, who was Lord Salisbury,
would deal leniently with him.
I could have done that quite as well myself, and pocketed the guinea.
From that moment I resolved never to turn a case away because it was
hopeless.
I subjoin a copy of my first brief for the prosecution.
It must be remembered that in those days the gallows was a very
popular institution. They punished severely even trivial offences,
and this case would have been considered a very serious one; while
a sentence of seven years' transportation was almost as good as an
acquittal.
_Herts.
No. 10_.
Michaelmas Sessions,
1844.
Regina
_v_.
Elizabeth Norman.
Brief for the Prosecution.
Mr. Hawkins.
I Gua.
_H. Hawkins_.
Plea--Guilty.
H.H.
Oct. 14, 1844.
Transported for 7 years.
H.H.
_Cobliam_.
Ware.
These are my notes:--
_Sep_. 20.
Mr. Page.
Silk shawl.
Apprehension.
Various accounts.
Exam. before J---- J----.
Propy found.
Mrs. Stevens,}
Mr. Johnson, } Witnesses.
I made a rule throughout my professional life to note my cases with
the greatest care.