udge, one of the wittiest men
who ever adorned the Bar, and who is a Bencher of the Middle Temple,
struck me as particularly happy. There was a conversation about the
admission of solicitors to the roll, and the long time it took before
they were eligible to pass from their stage of pupilage to that of
solicitor, amounting, I think, to seven years; upon which Lord Young
said, "_Nemo repente fuit turpissimus_."

CHAPTER XXV.

COMPENSATION--NICE CALCULATIONS IN OLD DAYS--EXPERTS--LLOYD AND I.

As my business continued to increase, it took me more and more from
the ordinary _nisi prius_, and kept me perpetually employed in special
matters. I had a great many compensation cases, where houses, lands,
and businesses had been taken for public or company purposes. They
were interesting and by no means difficult, the great difficulty
being to get the true value when you had, as I have known, a hundred
thousand pounds asked on one side and ten thousand offered on the
other.

Railway companies were especially plundered in the exorbitant
valuation of lands, and therefore an advocate who could check the
valuers by cross-examination was sought after. Juries were always
liable to be imposed upon, and generally gave liberal compensation,
altogether apart from the market value. Experts, such as land agents
and surveyors, were always in request, and indeed these experts in
value caused the most extravagant amounts to be awarded. Even the mean
sum between highest and lowest was a monstrously unfair guide, for one
old expert used to instruct his pupils that the only true principle in
estimating value was to ask at least twice as much as the business or
other property was worth, because, he said, the other side will be
sure to try and cut you down one-half, and then probably offer to
split the difference. If you accept that, you will of course get
one-quarter more than you could by stating what you really wanted. No
one could deal with the real value, because there was no such thing
known in the Compensation Court.

On one occasion I was travelling north in connection with one of these
cases, retained, as usual, on behalf of a railway company. In my
judgment the claim would have been handsomely met by an award of
L10,000, and that sum we were prepared to give.

On my way I observed in my carriage a gentleman who was very busy
in making calculations on slips of paper, and every now and again
mentioning the figures at which he