FREDERICK THESIGER, BARON CHELMSFORD, LORD CHANCELLOR.
Lord Erskine's punning upon legal terms has already been noticed, but no better quip is recorded than that of Lord Chelmsford, when as Sir Frederick Thesiger, and a leader at the Bar, he took exception to the irregular examination of a witness by a learned serjeant. "I have a right," maintained the serjeant, "to deal with my witness as I please."—"To that I offer no objection," retorted Sir Frederick. "You may deal as you like, but you shan't lead."
On all occasions Samuel Warren, the author of Ten Thousand a Year, was given to boasting, at the Bar mess, of his intimacy with members of the peerage. One day he was saying that, while dining lately at the Duke of Leeds, he was surprised at finding no fish of any kind was served. "That is easily accounted for," said Thesiger; "they had probably eaten it all upstairs."
Walking down St. James's Street one day, Lord Chelmsford was accosted by a stranger, who exclaimed, "Mr. Birch, I believe."—"If you believe that, sir, you'll believe anything," replied his lordship as he passed on.
SIR ALEXANDER COCKBURN, BART., LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.
In the recently published Cockburn Family Records the following is told of the Chief Justice's ready wit: