e bowed Glossin, and each time more profoundly than before; once in
honour of the knight who stood upright before him, once in respect to the
quiet personages who patiently hung upon the wainscot, and a third time
in deference to the young gentleman who was to carry on the name and
family. Roturier as he was, Sir Robert was gratified by the homage which
he rendered, and proceeded in a tone of gracious familiarity: 'And now,
Mr. Glossin, my exceeding good friend, you must allow me to avail myself
of your knowledge of law in our proceedings in this matter. I am not much
in the habit of acting as a justice of the peace; it suits better with
other gentlemen, whose domestic and family affairs require less constant
superintendence, attention, and management than mine.'

Of course, whatever small assistance Mr. Glossin could render was
entirely at Sir Robert Hazlewood's service; but, as Sir Robert
Hazlewood's name stood high in the list of the faculty, the said Mr.
Glossin could not presume to hope it could be either necessary or useful.

'Why, my good sir, you will understand me only to mean that I am
something deficient in the practical knowledge of the ordinary details of
justice business. I was indeed educated to the bar, and might boast
perhaps at one time that I had made some progress in the speculative and
abstract and abstruse doctrines of our municipal code; but there is in
the present day so little opportunity of a man of family and fortune
rising to that eminence at the bar which is attained by adventurers who
are as willing to plead for John a' Nokes as for the first noble of the
land, that I was really early disgusted with practice. The first case,
indeed, which was laid on my table quite sickened me: it respected a
bargain, sir, of tallow between a butcher and a candlemaker; and I found
it was expected that I should grease my mouth not only with their vulgar
names, but with all the technical terms and phrases and peculiar language
of their dirty arts. Upon my honour, my good sir, I have never been able
to bear the smell of a tallow-candle since.'

Pitying, as seemed to be expected, the mean use to which the Baronet's
faculties had been degraded on this melancholy occasion, Mr. Glossin
offered to officiate as clerk or assessor, or in any way in which he
could be most useful. 'And with a view to possessing you of the whole
business, and in the first place, there will, I believe, be no difficulty
in proving the mai