'And did they afford the plaintiff no protection?'
'They protect! Why, Mr. Trevor, you imagine yourself in Turkey, telling your tale to a Cady, who decides according to his notions of right and wrong; and not pleading in the presence of a bench of English judges, who have twice ten thousand volumes to consult as their guides which leave them no opinion of their own. It is their duty to pronounce sentence as the statute-books direct: or, as in the case I have cited, according to precedent, time immemorial.'
'And this is what you call law?'
'Ay! and sound law too.'
'Why then, damn the—'
'You do right to stop short, sir.'
'It appears to me that I am travelling in a cursed dirty as well as thorny road,' said I, with a sigh.
'Why, to own the truth,' added Trottman, 'you must meet with a little splashing: and, unless you can turn back and look at it with unconcern, I should scarcely advise you to proceed.'
'I shall certainly reconsider the subject!'
'A pair of lawyers, like a pair of legs, are apt to bespatter each other: but they nevertheless remain good friends and brothers. If you send your spaniel into a muddy pool, you ought to take care, when he comes out, that he does not shake the filth he has collected over his master.'