led a _Tales_ was prayed for, and two common
jurors were pressed into the service: and "a greengrocer and a chemist
were caught directly."

It is impossible to say too much of the completeness with which the legal
scene is put forward. Everything is dealt with. We have perfect
sketches of the judge, the ushers, the jury, the counsel on the case, the
witnesses, the barristers, the attorneys; we have the speeches, the
methods of examination and cross-examination.

There is nothing better or more life-like than the sketch of the court in
the chill morning, and before the actors came on the scene--the
inimitable description of the idle barristers hanging about "the Bar of
England," which is accurate to this hour.

Few could describe effectively the peculiar appearance of a crowd of
barristers assembled in a Court of Law. They are a type apart, and their
odd headgear accentuates all the peculiarities of their faces. No one
has, however, succeeded so well as Boz in touching off their
peculiarities. This sort of histrionic guise and bearing is assumed with
a view to impose on his friends and the public, to suggest an idea that
they have much or at least something to do.

'And that,' said Mr. Pickwick, pointing to a couple of enclosed seats
on his right, 'that's where the jurymen sit, is it not?'

'The identical place, my dear Sir,' replied Perker, tapping the lid
of his snuff-box.

Mr. Pickwick stood up in a state of great agitation and took a glance
at the court. There were already a pretty large sprinkling of
spectators in the gallery, and a numerous muster of gentlemen in wigs
in the barristers' seats, who presented, as a body, all that pleasing
and extensive variety of nose and whisker for which the bar of
England is so justly celebrated. Such of the gentlemen as had got a
brief to carry, carried it in as conspicuous a manner as possible,
and occasionally scratched their noses therewith, to impress the fact
more strongly on the observation of the spectators.

One of the happiest descriptions is surely that of the binding of law
books. A law library is the most repulsive and uninteresting thing in
the world. The colour of the leather is unhealthy and disagreeable, and
the necessary shading is secured at the expense of grace. Boz
characterises it as 'that under-done pie crust.'

Other gentlemen, who had no briefs to show, carried under their arms