flesh and to blood much may be forgiven,
But I've searched all the Scriptures and text I find none
That the same is extended to skin and to bone."

Erskine's brother, the extremely eccentric Lord Buchan, who thought
himself as great a jester as his two younger brothers, the Lord
Chancellor of England and the Dean of Faculty of Advocates, one day
putting his head below the lock of a door, exclaimed: "See, Harry,
here's Locke on the Human Understanding."--"Rather a poor edition, my
lord," replied the younger brother.

Sir James Colquhoun, Baronet of Luss, Principal Clerk of Session,
towards the close of the eighteenth century was one of the odd
characters of his time, and was made the butt of all the wags of the
Parliament House. On one occasion, whilst Henry Erskine was in the Court
in which Sir James was on duty, he amused himself by making faces at the
Principal Clerk, who was greatly annoyed at the strange conduct of the
tormenting lawyer. Unable to bear it longer, he disturbed the gravity of
the Court by rising from the table at which he sat and exclaiming, "My
lord, my lord, I wish you would speak to Harry, he's aye making faces at
me." Harry, however, looked as grave as a judge and the work of the
Court proceeded, until Sir James, looking again towards the bar,
witnessed a new grimace from his tormentor, and convulsed Bench, Bar,
and audience by roaring out: "There, there, my lord, see he's at it
again."

Hugo Arnot's eccentricity took various forms. In his house in South St.
Andrew Street, in the new town of Edinburgh, he greatly annoyed a lady
who lived in the same tenement by the violence with which he kept
ringing his bell for his servant. The lady complained; but what was her
horror next day to hear several pistol-shots fired in the house, which
was Arnot's new method of demanding his valet's immediate attendance.

In his professional capacity, however, he was guided by a high sense of
honour and of moral obligation. In a case submitted for his
consideration, which seemed to him to possess neither of these
qualifications, he with a very grave face said to his client: "Pray what
do you suppose me to be?"--"Why, sir," answered the client, "I
understood you to be a lawyer."--"I thought, sir," replied Arnot, "you
took me for a scoundrel." On another occasion he was consulted by a
lady, not remarkable either for youth or beauty or for good temper, as
to the best method of getting rid of the importuniti