BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 393
He was, in short, the very last specimen (Lord Balgay perhaps excepted)
of the old race of Scottish advocates. He was universally allowed to be a
“ capital lawyer ;” and, notwithstanding his hasty demeanour on the bench, and
the incautious sarcasms in which he occasionally indulged at the expense of the
advooates before him, he was a great favourite with the younger portion of the
bar, who loved him the more for the peculiarities of his manner. He was himself
enthusiastic in the recollection of bygone days, and scorned the cold and
stiff formality which the decorum of modern times has thrown over the legal
character. Of the warmth of his feelings in this respect, a very characteristic
instance is related in Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk ;-“ When Guy Mannering
came out, the Judge was so much delighted with the picture of the life of the
old Scottish lawyers in that most charming novel, that he could talk of nothing
else but Pleydell, Dandie, and the high-jinks for many weeks. He usually
carried one volume of the book about with him ; and one morning, on the bench,
his love for it so completely got the better of him, that he lugged in the subject
head and shoulders, into the midst of a speech about some most dry point of
law ; nay, getting warmer every moment he spoke of it, he at last fairly plucked
the volume from his pocket, and, in spite of all the remonstrances of all his
brethren, insisted upon reading aloud the whole passage for their edification.
He went through the task with his wonted vivacity, gave great effect to every
speech, and most appropriate expression to every joke. During the whole scene
Sir walter Scott was present, seated, indeed, in his official capacity, close under
the Judge,”
Latterly his lordship sometimes made strange mistakes. A somewhat amusing
instance of his forgetfulness occurred during one of the circuit trials. A point
of law having been started, the counsel on either side cited their authorities.
The prisoner’s counsel founded on the opinion expressed by Mr. Burnet in his
treatise on Criminal Law ; whilst the Crown counsel appealed to Mr. Baron
Hume’s authority, which happened to be the other way. Lord Hermand heard
the former very patiently ; but, when the name of Hume was mentioned, he
interrupted the barrister, saying, that during the course of a long life he had
heard many strange things, but certainly, this was the first time he had ever
heard a novel-writer quoted as a law authority. Accordingly, without farther
ceremony, to the amazement of all present, he decided the point against the
Crown. In the evening some one of the young men present at the circuit
dinner ventured to ask his lordship, who was in admirable humour, for an
explanation, when it turned out that the venerable Judge, being accustomed to
see Baron Hume and Sir Walter Scott sitting together for a series of years at
the Clerk’s table in the First Division of the Court, had, by some unaccountable,
mental process, confounded the one with the other; and the fictions of the
latter being always present in his mind, the valuable legal treatise of the former
had entirely escaped his memory.
The following assumed speech by Lord Hermand, in a supposed divorce case
3E
