court-house. And if eloquence has been justly described as existing " in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion," we can easily imagine why the legal profession af fords it such frequent and extensive scope. There is a peculiar kind of impudence ex hibited by the lawyer — it is sometimes called "badgering a witness " — which consists essentially of a mean abuse of that power which is legally vested in judge and advo cate, whereby they can, at pleasure, insult and torment each other, and all exposed to their queries, with impunity. It is easy to imagine the relish with which unprofessional victims behold the mutual exercise of this legal tyranny. A venerable justice in one of our cities was remarkable for the frequent reproofs he administered to young practi tioners in his court, and the formal harangues with wrjich he wore out the patience of those so unfortunate as to give testimony in his presence. On one occasion it happened that he was summoned as a witness in a case to be defended by one of the juvenile members of the bar, whom he had often called to order with needless severity. This hopeful limb of the law was gifted with more than a common share of the cool assurance so requisite in the profession, and deter mined to improve the opportunity to make his " learned friend " of the bench feel the sting he had so often inflicted. Accordingly, when His Honor took the stand, the counsel gravely inquired his name, occupation, place of residence, and sundry other facts of his personal history. The queries were put in a voice and with a manner so exactly imi tated from that of the judge himself as to convulse the audience with laughter; every unnecessary word the hampered witness used was reprimanded as " beyond the question;" he was continually adjured to " tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth;" his expressions were captiously objected to; he was tantalized with repetitions and crossquestioning about the veriest trifles; and finally his tormentor, with a face of the ut most gravity, pretended to discover in the
witness a levity of bearing, and equivocal replies, which called for a lecture on " the responsibility of an oath; " this was deliv ered with a pedantic solemnity, in words, accent, and gesture so like one of his own addresses from the bench, that judge, jury, and spectators burst forth into irresistible peals of laughter; and the subject of this clear retaliation lost all self-possession, grew red and pale by turns, fumed, and at last pro tested, until his young adversary wound up the farce by a threat to have him committed for contempt of court. Genius for the bar is as varied in its char acter as that for poetry or art. In one man the gift is acuteness; in another, felicity of language; here extraordinary perspicuity of statement, there singular ingenuity of argu ment. It is rhetoric, manner, force of pur pose, a glamour that subdues, or a charm that wins; so that no precise rules, irre spective of individual endowments, can be laid down to secure forensic triumph. Doubtless, however, the union of a sympa thetic temperament and an attractive manner with logical power and native eloquence form the ideal equipment of the pleader. Erskine seems to have combined these qual ities in perfection, and to have woven a spell both for soul and sense. He magnetized physically and intellectually his audience. The advocate, like the poet, is occasionally born, not made, notwithstanding the maxim, orator fit. A mind fertile in expedients, warmed by a temperament which instinc tively seizes upon and, we had almost said, incarnates a cause, is a phenomenon that sometimes renders law an inspiration in stead of a dogma. Such instances, however, are exceptional; few are the lawyers thus constituted. Whoever, in the freshness of youthful emotions, has been present at the tribunal of a free country, where the character of the judge, the integrity of the jury, and the learn ing and eloquence of the advocates have equalled the moral exigencies and the ideal dignity of the scene, and the case has pos
