ence, and beggar-my-neighbour.

His Royal Highness the then Prince of Wales came into court during the
trial I refer to, and seemed interested in the proceedings. I wonder
if his Majesty now remembers it!

In those days Baron Martin and I met once a year, he on the Bench and
I in court, with a hansom cab waiting outside ready to start for the
Derby. It is necessary for Judges to sit on Derby Day, to show that
they do not go; but if by some accident the work of the court is
finished in time to get down to Epsom, those who love an afternoon
in the country sometimes go in the direction of the Downs. There is
usually a run on the list on that day.

There was another club to which I belonged in those old days, called
"The Hooks and Eyes," where I met for the last time poor Douglas
Jerrold. He was one of the Eyes, and always on the lookout for a good
thing, or the opportunity of saying one. He was certainly, in my
opinion, the wittiest man of his day. But at times his wit was more
hurtful than amusing. Wit should never leave a sting.

He was sometimes hard on those who were the objects of his personal
dislike. Of these Sir Charles Taylor was one. He was not a welcome
member of the Hooks and Eyes, and Jerrold knew it. There was really no
reason why Sir Charles should not have been liked, except perhaps that
he was dull and prosaic; rather simple than dull, perhaps, for he was
always ready to laugh with the rest of us, whether he understood the
joke or not. And what could the most brilliant do beyond that?

Sir Charles was fond of music. He mentioned in Jerrold's company on
one occasion "that 'The Last Rose of Summer' so affected him that it
quite carried him away."

"Can any one hum it?" asked Jerrold.

CHAPTER XXIII.

ALDERSON, TOMKINS, AND A FREE COUNTRY--A PROBLEM IN HUMAN NATURE.

Alderson was a very excellent man and a good Judge. I liked him, and
could always deal with him on a level footing. He was quaint and
original, and never led away by a false philanthropy or a sickly
sentimentalism.

Appealed to on behalf of a man who had a wife and large family,
and had been convicted of robbing his neighbours, "True," said
Alderson--"very true, it is a free country. Nothing can be more proper
than that a man should have a wife and a large family; it is his
due--as many children as circumstances will permit. But, Tomkins,
you have no right, even in a free country, to steal your neighbour's
property to support