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The celebrated Lord
Gardenstone once performed on Mr. Crosbie a practical joke of a very
humorous nature. His lordship, in the course of a walk from Morningside
where he resided, met a rustic going to Edinburgh in order to hear his
cause pleaded that forenoon, in which Mr. Crosbie had been retained as
counsel. The facetious judge directed the man to procure a dozen or two
of farthings at a snuff shop in the grass market, to wrap them
separately up in white paper under the disguise of guineas, and to
present them, as occasion served, in the capacity of fees. Crosbie not
being particularly interested in the case frequently flagged in his
eloquence. His treacherous client, however, kept close behind his back,
and ever and anon, as he perceived him bringing his voice to a cadence
for the purpose of closing the argument, slipped the other farthing into
his hand. The repeated application of this silent encouragement so far
stimulated Mr. Crosbie in his exertions that he strained every nerve in
grateful zeal, and precisely at the fourteenth farthing gained the
cause. The denouement of the conspiracy which took place over a bottle
of wine with which Mr. Crosbie had treated Lord Gardenstone from the
profits of the pleadings can only be imagined. |
