A learned counsel (Mr. Brougham, as some say), when the judges had retired for a few minutes in the midst of his argument, in which, from their interruptions and objections, he did not seem likely to be successful, went out of court, too, and on his return stated he had been drinking a pot of porter. Being asked whether he was not afraid that this beverage might dull his intellect, he replied: “That is just what I want it to do, to bring me down, if possible, to the level of their lordships’ understanding. (Text.)—James Croake, “Curiosities of Law and Lawyers.”
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See [Greatness]; [Personality, Influence of].
Conditions Before the Advent of Missionaries—See [Missionary Work, Value of].
Conditions Modify Rules—See [Devotion to the Helpless].
CONDITIONS SUGGEST COURSES
During the last years of his life a brain disease, of which he had shown frequent symptoms, fastened its terrible hold upon Swift, and he became by turns an idiot and a madman. He died in 1745, and when his will was opened it was found that he had left all his property to found St. Patrick’s asylum for lunatics and incurables. It stands to-day as the most suggestive monument of his peculiar genius.—William J. Long, “English Literature.”
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CONDUCT, CANONS OF
Coleridge lays down three canons of criticism in literature, which hold equally in conduct and endeavor: