prompted him in his dealing with the supposed professional delinquents, but it might be attributed rather to his love of mischief—an inquietude of mind, and erratic yielding to irascibility. In as many weeks he had half-a-dozen of the attornies pilloried before him for misfeasance of the most fanciful and trumpery character, and he rated them and threatened them, and promised all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not better behave themselves in the future. Facta non verba became his motto. H e fined Mr. William M e e k ,£5, for putting what he (the Judge) deemed to be a false plea on thefilesof the Court ; and he attached Mr. H . N . Carrington for refusing to produce certain accounts, and render certain explanations in an insolvency matter with which Carrington was connected. T h e latter respectfully but firmly declined to produce, for what he conceived to be strong legal reasons ; but the Judge flew into a passion, and off-hand signed Carrington's commitment. As the difficulty arose out of a civil process, the offender was permitted to confine himself within a specified area of the town, known as " T h e Rules"; but the Judge was amusingly foiled, for Carrington's house being in West Lonsdale Street, came within " T h e Rules," and the punishment simply amounted to a compulsory staying at h o m e — a joke which was pointed with much merriment against the Judge. But Willis was equal to the occasion and accordingly ordered Carrington to appear in Court, and sent him to the c o m m o n gaol for continued contumacy. " T h e Rules " it should be remarked, comprised a certain portion of the town which the Judge was empowered to proclaim a place where persons subjected to imprisonment for debt might reside upon entering into recognisances not to depart therefrom until legally released. This course was necessitated by the smallness of the gaol, which was inadequate even for criminal offenders.* Carrington was in partnership with Mr. F. L. Clay, and in the office of Carrington and Clay was, as managing clerk, a young m a n of the not u n c o m m o n n a m e of Smith. H e was ready of tongue,fluentof pen, and not deficient in pluck. H e took up the cudgels on behalf of his incarcerated employer, and printed a letter in one of the newspapers, which the Judge did not at all relish. So ever more when Mr. Smith appeared before the Judge in Chambers, the relations between the pair were not of the most pleasant nature. Once Smith was s u m m o n e d on a jury, and the Judge ordered him to give evidence in a case on trial; but Smith objected to do so, because he had not been subpoenaed. T h e Judge, however, insisted, and Smith was forced to go into the witness box; but he had his innings next day, by the publication of a smart, caustic letter. This so riled his Honor, that shortly after, seeing Mr. Clay in Court, he publicly intimated to Clay that the clerk (Smith) would in future be forbidden to transact any business in the Court, and added in a tone of scornful contempt—"that party is too insignificant for an attachment; his law is as absurd and insignificant as himself." T h e " party" so stigmatised is Mr. J. M . Smith, the well-known legal practitioner in Melbourne. M r . Smith was admitted an Attorney. Solicitor, and Proctor of the Supreme Court, and he has had a run of paying business to the present day.
Shaving an Attorney.
In the legal profession, tempore Willis, was a Mr. Edward Sewell, a dandified solicitor, who attached much importance to the adornments of the outer man. U p to 1851 whiskers were not articles of c o m m o n wear in Melbourne, and moustachios and beards were unknown, unless with passing visitors from the bush, w h o periodically burst into town for a spell, and as suddenly burst out again when their cheques were liquefied. T h e early town colonists were well content with the barefacedness which prevailed in England since the time of William III., and were loth to encumber the human face divine with hirsute protuberances. Sewell sometimes affected the exceptional, and, at the risk of being out of the fashion, aimed occasionally to be out of the c o m m o n , and took it into his head to create a slight sensation. Accordingly, going into retreat for some time, he emerged unexpectedly from his seclusion, with a fiercely luxuriant moustache, which, if it did not increase admiration of him, certainly rendered him pro tem the "observed of all observers." Making for the Supreme Court, he stalked in with the swagger of a half-daft peacock, and gazed with solemn superciliousness around him. T h e Judge was startled and stared with m u c h wonderment. H e wriggled in his seat, and with m u c h difficulty restrained himself until the business in hand was disposed of, and then Sewell, advancing towards the Bench,
- The dimensions and conditions of "The Rules" are given in the chapter on Gaols.
