SIR H. COZENS HARDY on board a cross-channel steamer. 1900.
THE VERY REV. THE DEAN OF CHRISTCHURCH, FRANCIS PAGET. 1894.
SIR RODERICK MURCHESON coming from a levee. 1868.
Mr. Justice Mellor and Mr. Justice Lush, both Judges in the Tichborne case, came under my pencil at the same period.
Justice Lush wore the oddest round wig with the suspicion of a dent on the top. He always reminded me of a champagne bottle, with this queerly shaped wig like a cork on his head, and his shoulders sloping down like a bottle. As a judge Mr. Lush attempted humour. Vanity Fair labelled him "a little Lush," because when he was told that the toast had been changed from "Women and Wine" to "Lush and Shea," he said, "A spell of sobriety will do the Bar no harm, and a little Lush may do the Bench some good."
Sir John Mellor was noted for his unwearied patience and extreme impartiality on the Bench. When I caught him, he sat sucking his little finger and listening carefully to the counsel for the claimant stating his case as he watched the Court from under his heavy-lidded eyes, over which his eyebrows slanted with sudden fine lines to his big nose, while his humorous mouth seemed ready for a wry smile.
A trial with which I was indirectly associated, and which aroused at the time a furore only to be equalled by the sensation created by the Tichborne case, was the Druce-Portland case. For the benefit of those readers who have forgotten the facts, I will give a slight outline of the extraordinary story.