, I knew _his_ peculiarities, and how
annoyed he was if the correctness of his opinion was in the least
doubted.

He had a son of whom he was deservedly proud, and he and his son, in
cases of importance, were often employed on opposite sides to support
or deny the genuineness of a questioned handwriting. On one occasion,
in the Queen's Bench, a libel was charged against a defendant which he
positively denied ever to have written.

I appeared for the defendant, and Mr. Nethercliffe was called as a
witness for the plaintiff.

When I rose to cross-examine I handed to the expert six slips of
paper, each of which was written in a different kind of handwriting.
Nethercliffe took out his large pair of spectacles--magnifiers--which
he always carried, and began to polish them with a great deal of care,
saying,--

"I see, Mr. Hawkins, what you are going to try to do--you want to put
me in a hole."

"I do, Mr. Nethercliffe; and if you are ready for the hole, tell
me--were those six pieces of paper written by one hand at about the
same time?"

He examined them carefully, and after a considerable time answered:
"No; they were written at different times and by different hands!"

"By different persons, do you say?"

"Yes, certainly!"

"Now, Mr. Nethercliffe, you are in the hole! I wrote them myself this
morning at this desk."

He was a good deal disconcerted, not to say very angry, and I then
began to ask him about his son.

"You educated your son to your own profession, I believe, Mr.
Nethercliffe?"

"I did, sir; I hope there was no harm in that, Mr. Hawkins."

"Not in the least; it is a lucrative profession. Was he a diligent
student?"

"He was."

"And became as good an expert as his father, I hope?"

"Even better, I should say, if possible."

"I think you profess to be infallible, do you not?"

"That is true, Mr. Hawkins, though I say it."

"And your son, who, as you say, is even better than yourself, is he as
infallible as you?"

"Certainly, he ought to be. Why not?"

Then I put this question; "Have you and your son been sometimes
employed on opposite sides in a case?"

"That is hardly a fair question, Mr. Hawkins."

"Let me give you an instance: In Lady D----'s case, which has recently
been tried, did not your son swear one way and you another?"

He did not deny it, whereupon I added: "It seems strange that two
infallibles should contradict one another?"

The case was at an end.

*