ony should come on. It was a piece of grim
tragedy with a touch of the grotesque which impressed him greatly. 'I
never knew anyone,' says Mr. Justice Wills, 'to whom I should have gone,
if I wanted help, with more certainty of getting it.' When Fitzjames was
on the bench, he adds, and he had been himself disappointed of reaching
the same position under annoying circumstances, he had to appear in a
patent case before his friend. Fitzjames came down to look at a model,
and Wills said, 'Your Lordship will see,' &c. 'He got hold of the hand
next his own, gave me a squeeze which I did not forget in a hurry, and
whispered, "If you ever call me 'my lordship' again, I shall say
something!"' That hand-grip, indeed, as Wills remarks, was eminently
characteristic. It was like the squeeze of a vice, and often conveyed
the intimation of a feeling which shrank from verbal expression.

It is plain enough that a man of such character would not find some
difficulties smoothed for him. He could not easily learn the lesson of
'suffering fools gladly.' He formed pretty strong views about a man and
could express them frankly. The kind of person whom Carlyle called a
windbag, and to whom he applied equally vigorous epithets, was
especially obnoxious to him, however dexterous might be such a man's
manipulation of difficult arguments. His talent, too, scarcely lent
itself to the art of indirect intimations of his opinions. He remarks
himself, in one of his letters, that he is about as clever at giving
hints as the elder Osborne in 'Vanity Fair'; of whom Thackeray says that
he would give what he called a 'hint' to a footman to leave his service
by kicking the man downstairs. And, therefore, I suspect that when
Fitzjames considered someone--even a possible client--to be a fool or a
humbug, his views might be less concealed than prudence would have
dictated. 'When once he had an opportunity of showing his capacities,'
says Mr. Lushington, 'the most critical solicitor could not fail to be
satisfied of his vigour and perseverance; his quick comprehension of,
and his close attention to detail; and his gift in speaking of clear
common-sense and forcible expression, free from wearisome redundancy or
the suggestion of an irony that might strike above the heads of the
jury. He gained the confidence of clients of all sorts--some of curious,
impulsive, and not over-strict character, who might, perhaps, have
landed a weaker or less rigidly high-principled a