n the highest judicial
quarters, was afforded by the very first number of the Reports of the
Court of Exchequer, published after his death, where (in _Tanner_ v.
_Scovell_, 14 _Meeson and Welshy_, 37,) the Lord Chief Baron, after time
taken to consider an important question of mercantile law, delivered the
judgment of the Court in expressed conformity with the doctrine which
Mr. Smith has laid down in his "Mercantile Law," and in opposition to
the opinion of the late very learned Mr. Justice Taunton!

To retrace our steps, however, for a moment: Mr. Smith at length
despaired of getting business under the bar, and tired of sitting a
prisoner at chambers, in vain expectation of it. His rooms and mine were
directly opposite to each other, on the same floor; and rarely or never
was a knock heard at his door, except that of some friend coming either
to ask his able and willing assistance, or chat away a weary half hour.
Towards the close of 1833, he announced to his friends that he
contemplated trying his fortune at the bar, and was easily persuaded,
with that view, to commence attendance at a professional debating
society, called "The Forensic," which, confined to barristers and
students for the bar, and established so long ago as 1815, has numbered
among its members almost every lawyer of eminence who has appeared since
that year, including Sir William Follett and Mr. J.W. Smith. He entered
this society on the 29th January, 1834; and I well recollect his first
essay at addressing it. It was upon the discussion of a legal question.
He was evidently very nervous when he rose, for the colour quite
deserted his cheek. His manner was cold, dry, and formal, and
sufficiently uninteresting, and uninviting. We were all, however, soon
struck by the book-like precision of his language, the clearness and
closeness of his reasoning, and the extent of his legal knowledge. He
spoke for about ten minutes; and, having risen amidst a half-suppressed
titter, sate down amidst earnest cries of "Hear, hear, hear!" He
afterwards spoke pretty regularly, especially upon legal questions; and
those who, in due course, were appointed beforehand to argue against
him, felt it expedient to come particularly well prepared! Shortly
before he was called to the bar, he said to me, with a timid, dejected
air, "It is a bold step; but I really don't see what else is to be done.
Why should I sit any longer perishing in chambers? Besides, my
'Mercantile Law' wil