Sir Charles Mathews, whom I also number amongst my old friends, is one of the kindest-hearted men I know, in spite of the fact that he could, if it was necessary in Court, make the most cutting observations in the least unpleasant way. He was, by the way, the bosom friend of the late Lord Chief Justice, Lord Russell of Killowen, and is the Public Prosecutor.
When I made a drawing of Mr. Birrell, I was much amused by his telling me that Mrs. Birrell was particularly pleased with the portrait, because it would be a continual reminder to him to pin his tie down, which I had depicted in its usual place, somewhere above his collar.
I observed Mr. Plowden (who was not exactly an advocate of Woman Suffrage) at a dinner held by one of the Women's Societies, where I sat opposite to him, and was much amused to watch his face as a speaker alluded to magistrates in a manner that can hardly be termed polite. As Mr. Plowden was a man of humour, the reference evidently appealed to him, if one might judge from his expression.
Lord Alverstone I met in a similar way as the guest of the evening at the Punch Bowl Club, when I had the honour of being in the chair and the pleasure of hearing the Lord Chief Justice sing the Judge's Song from "Trial by Jury." It is noteworthy that he was a teetotaller and a great Churchman. He was always willing to preside or give his patronage to any occasion when he could aid athleticism in any shape or form, for he had been a great athlete and runner in his day.
The present Lord Chief Justice, Lord Reading, (Sir Rufus Isaacs) is one of the most delightful men I have ever met. He is, as everybody knows, a great worker, and I remember he told me that, after his strenuous sittings, he went away for three months' holiday every year, and during that time, nothing, not even the lawyer's brief, could induce him to remember that he was a K.C., or lure him away from his well-earned rest. He thoroughly believed that only by this method of holiday-making was he enabled to work as hard as he did at other times.
Mr. Marshall Hall (to whom I am related by marriage) is one of the most versatile of my legal subjects, for besides being a K.C. and a late member of Parliament, he has the advantage of being a fine shot, a good golfer, a clever mimic, and a wonderful judge of precious stones, of old silver and of objets d'art generally—of which he has a very exceptional collection. As a raconteur he is unsurpassed, and in consequence most amusing company.
My friend, Mr. H. C. Biron, the magistrate, who is also a lover of art and a delightful host, is still a bachelor, and lives in a gem of a house in Montpelier Square, where my drawing of him is placed on the walls. As the son of an eminent "beak," he was born into the very atmosphere of the law, and the Starchfield case was perhaps the most sensational that has as yet come before him.
Nor must I forget to mention the very popular K.C. member for Cambridge, Mr. P. P. Rawlinson.
SIR ALBERT DE RUTZEN. 1909.