Mr. Bethell, a barrister at the time of the Union of Ireland and Great Britain, like many of his brethren, published a pamphlet on that much-vexed subject. Mr. Lysaght, meeting him, said: "Bethell, you never told me you had published a pamphlet on the Union. The one I saw contained some of the best things I have ever seen in any of these publications."—"I am proud you think so," rejoined the other eagerly. "Pray what was the thing that pleased you so much?"—"Well," replied Lysaght, "as I passed a pastry-cook's shop this morning, I saw a girl come out with three hot mince-pies wrapped up in one of your productions!"
"Pleasant Ned Lysaght," as his familiar friends called him, meeting a Dublin banker one day offered himself as an assistant if there was a vacancy in the bank's staff. "You, my dear Lysaght," said the banker; "what position could you fill?"—"Two," was the reply. "If you made me cashier for one day, I'll become runner the next."
And it was Lysaght who made a neat pun on his host's name at a dinner party during the Munster Circuit. The gentleman, named Flatly, was in the habit of inviting members of the Bar to his house when the Court was held in Limerick. One evening the conversation turned upon matrimony, and surprise was expressed that their host still remained a bachelor. He confessed that he never had had the courage to propose to a young lady. "Depend upon it," said Lysaght, "if you ask any girl boldly she will not refuse you, Flatly."
O'Flanagan, author of The Lord Chancellors of Ireland, writes of Holmes, an Irish barrister: "He made us laugh very much one day in the Queen's Bench. I was waiting for some case in which I was counsel, when the crier called, 'Pluck and Diggers,' and in came James Scott, Q.C., very red and heated, and, throwing his bag on the table within the bar, he said, 'My lords, I beg to assure your lordships I feel so exhausted I am quite unable to argue this case. I have been speaking for three hours in the Court of Exchequer, and I am quite tired; and pray excuse me, my lords, I must get some refreshment.' The Chief Justice bowed, and said, 'Certainly, Mr. Scott.' So that gentleman left the Court. 'Mr. Holmes, you are in this case,' said the Chief Justice; 'we'll be happy to hear you.'—'Really, my lord, I am very tired too,' said Mr. Holmes. 'Surely,' said the Chief Justice, 'you have not been speaking for three hours in the Court of Exchequer? What has tired you?'—'Listening to Mr. Scott,' was Holmes' sarcastic reply."
Although rivals in their profession, C. K. Bushe had a great admiration for Plunket's abilities, and would not listen to any disparagement of them. One day while Plunket was speaking at the Bar a friend said to Bushe, "Well, if it was not for the eloquence, I'd as soon listen to ——," who was a very prosy speaker. "No doubt," replied Bushe, "just as the Connaught man said, ''Pon my conscience if it was not for the malt and the hops, I'd as soon drink ditch water as porter.'"
There is an impromptu of Bushe's upon two political agitators of the day who had declined an appeal to arms, one on account of his wife, the other from the affection in which he held his daughter:
"Two heroes of Erin, abhorrent of slaughter,
Improved on the Hebrew command—
One honoured his wife, and the other his daughter,
That 'their' days might be long in 'the land.'"