NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15775, 16 December 1916, Page 7

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

— ♦ - LEGAL LIFE AND HUMOUR. It is perhaps only natural that lawyers should be able to take a more humorous view of life than their unfortunate clients, but whatever may be the reason, it is undoubtedly the fact that the dreariness of legal proceedings is frequently enlivened by flashes of wit, not only from members of the Bar, but also from the Bench. Mr Justice Darling has written: "It is a common error to supposo that our law has no sense of humour because,, for the most part, tho judges who expound it have none." But surely, the author of "Scintillas Juris" should be tho last man to disavow Jiumour on tho part of the Judicial Bench. As to the Bar, Sir F. K. Smith is credited with the statement that the chief essential of success is plenty of animal spirits, but that if in addition tho young aspirant can manage to read up a little law, it will not stand in the wav of his advancement. In "Legal Life and Humour Mr Joseph Heighten has proved himself a public benefactor by collecting some of tho best legal stories and presenting them to the public at a time when anything which tends to divert attention from the horrors of war is of considerable value. Beginning with tho Bench, he refers in terms of affection to Judge Parry, wit, author, dramatist, as well as to Mr Justice Eve, genial humorist and wit, Justices Bucknill, Bargrave Deanc, Itcntoul, and Channell, whose anecdotes are the delight of the Bar. He admits that as humorists they may not have such a wide reputation as Mr Justice Darling, but this, ho unkindly adds, is probably due to tho fact that "they do not air their jocularity quite so much as he does." Years ago, he was playfully called "My Little Darling" by the late Lord Brampton, and we are told that "there are times when, he looks acts like a boy, never more so than when ho leans back in his chair and joins in hearty laughter at somo naive remark from tho Bar or tho witness box." On one occasion Mr Justice Darling had occasion, to remonstrate with a barrister for his reading of a technical point.

"You will pardon me, my Lord," said the latter, "but perhaps I may remind you that you argued the caso in a similar way youreelf when you were at tho Bar-'' . "I admit it," said his Lordship, in that suave way which he has made his own, "but that was tho fault of the Judge who allowed it." And 110 one appreciated the j°feo more, although it was against himself, than Mr Danckwerts, K.C.. who, when he was asked in a certain caso who made the translation from the German of a document to which, ho had referred, replied: "God knows. I-don't." "Are you quite sure, Mr Danck•wcrts," Mr Justice T>arling quietly remarked, with a twinklo in his eye, "that what is not known by you, is known at all?" He also once had a sly dig at Sir F. E. Smith, K.C. The Judge, on getting out of a taxi-cab at the Law Courts on© day, grazed his shin against the door, and having to send for some ointment, was consequently lato in taking his seat upon tho Bench. On entering the Court ho apologised to tho jury for having kept them waiting, on which Mr Smith, as ho then was, expressed the hop© that it was "nothing scrious 4 " to which the Judge replied:

"Thank you, Mr Smith, no; there • will bo no vacancy at present." Among London magistrates, tho late Mr Plowden was a princc of humorists. A little old man crnco appeared at tho Marylebone Court, and said he was a travelling poet: "I have," he said, "seen and heard all the famous men of the present generation. I have come to see and hear tho far-famed Mr Plowden." Mr Plowden: "What is your legal complaint?" . The Poet: "What is my oheapest and quickest mode, as I am not a millionaire, of suing the Great Western Railway for giving up my bag at Gloucester?" Mr Plowden: "You must go to a solicitor if you want advice on that Poet: "I have achieved my object. I have seen all the sights of London, and now I have seen you, and this is sufficient. lam going back to tho American Continent. Hoorah!" Tt aopears, however, that Mr Plowden has a rival in Mr J. A. Symons, tho Magistrate of Greenwich. He it wts who gave the famous definition of "Xagging." Mr Symons was defending a man charged with hitting his wife on" the head with a chopper. His remark that the prisoner had been the victim of persistent "nagging" drew a request from the judge for a definition of that "Nagging," said Mr Symons readily, "is the constant reiteration of unpleasant truths. 5 ' "We must put that in the next edition of Walker's Dictionary," said the judge, with an approving smile. It was Baron Bramwell, it appears, who invented the well-known classification of perverter s of the truth, "Liars, j d- d liars, and expert witnesses." At a later date he added a fourth class «' my brother Frederick," meaning, of coarse, Sir Frederick Bramwell, perhaps the best-known expert engineer witness of his day, who survived the. .\udgo many years.

His most entertaining judgment was delivered in a dreary equity case in the Court of Appeal, and it was in the following terms: — "I havo listened for two days to the learned and lucid arguments of the very eminent counsel, without, unfortunately, being able to understand ono of them; and I have listened to the -profound and luminous judgments of my learned brethren with still greater attention, but I regret to say, with no better result. I am, therefore, of tho same opinion as they are, and for the same reasons."* But Mr Heighten gives not only the humours of the Bench and Bar, but of the jury box and tho prisoners' dock. The excuse of the man who has drunk well, but not too wisely, and has in consequence fallen into tho hands of the police, occasionally provides much amusement. Hero is a question propounded at York by a defendant. "Isn't the real case this? "When I'm drunk, and know I'm drunk, then I'm sober; but when I'm drunk and think I'm sober, then I'm drunk?" an incident which recalls the case of the man charged with drunkenness at Lambeth, who stated that he -walked into Brixton police-station for protection, explaining that "he was sober enough to know he was drunk.' ? The following definition of being drunk was given by a labourer in a Melbourne police 'court: —"I go on drinking till I think I'm drunk. Then I drink more tUI I believe I am sober. Then I am sure that I am drunk." It has been laid down, however, at Sonthwark, that when a man falls in the gutter, and thinks he is in bed, ho can fairly be considered drunk, a proof which few will dispute. The following incident regarding police evidence is not without humour: An inspector, giving evidence in the official staccato fashion, 6aid: "I went to No. 27, where I saw prisoner in bed. I said, 'I have a warrant for your arrest for burglariously entering the premises at etc., etc.' "Any questions?" said the magistrate. "Yes. sir," said the prisoner. "I'm sure Mr Jackson don't want to say only what is true. Didn't you come to my room and say, Wow then, Ginger, 'op out of it; I want yer'?" However, it would not be fair to extract any moro of Mr Heighton's plums. We have simply picked out one here and there at haphazard, without taking especial c&Te to select the best. Our readers can rely on finding some diverting and cheering reading whenever they choose to dip into it on their own account. (London: Hodder and Stoughton.) . SOME RECENT FICTION. The heroine of "The Average Woman," by W. Dane Banks, is delightful to read of from tho first moment we hear of her, in the remark "Emmie Bollins fancies herself," to her own last enquiry, "I remember Aunt Maria once (telling me I was just an average woman —do you think I am?" Emmie is beautiful, and she works as a trimmer, earning excellent wago, in a Lancashire hat factory. How she enjoys her life, and dislikes her life, is shown in a series of lively chapters, which lead up to the grand event of marriage with, the owner's son. It is partly her beauty, and partly her womanly wisdom, which makes her an immense success in tho changed environment, when proud new relatives look down upon her, and strange grandeurs of circumstance have to be faced. Emmie rises to all emergencies, even in that tragic timo when her young husband's death leaves her to learn new duties, as mistress of tho works. Trouble meets her, too, in the coming of her second romance. Through all, she is simple, sensible, vigorous, and.. competent— "marching bravely and "brightly with the years." Subordinate characters arc life-like enough for the most part ; though tho author chiefly fails in depicting the manners of the well-born. But small flaws may be forgiven in the setting of such a jewel as Emmie. (London: Hodder and Stoughton. 65.)

C. M. Matheson can write a good and thoughtful story, but "Children of the Desolate" has one bad fault. It is almost impossible to keep in any sympathy with tho heroine. As a child, sho is interesting enough—the misunderstood, artistic child with a temperament, and a temper! As a young woman 6he becomes a minx, -who kisses and is kissed by every chance young man she meets at a dance; and she marries suddenly, for no particular reason, the most absolutely unattractive of those young men. Having married, she hates him heartily, and behaves with much indiscretion when a friend's husband appeals more to her inner depths. "We are to suppose her a complex creature, iu whom the artist, the soul, and the woman are constantly at war. With this outside 'life there is mixed a mystic strain, a. visionary influence from the Madonna, which is finally to guide her to peace through caring for children. Tho moral is "that no woman can have so muddled her life that sho cannot do her bit in caring for the children of sorrow." Desolate, through her own foolishness and fault, she gathers little rescued lives around her, and grows happy and good. Naomi, however, can never become an agreeable heroine. There is something slightly hysterical about the character, and occasionally, about tho author's style. (London: T. Fisher Unwin, Ltd., Gs.).

Algernon Blackwood, in "The Wave —an Egyptian Aftermath," gives us a full-grown novel, instead of his usual fantasy concerning child souls. The theme, however, shows much of the fantastic and tho occult, and the hero and heroine are first introduced as children. The haunting dream which oppresses tho small boy Tommy, has its origin far back in an Egyptian past, .and is to be fulfilled in nis grown-up future. Mr Blackwood's work always oounts, and no conscientious follower of modern novelists should miss this highly interesting compound of mysticism and romance. (London: Macmillan's Empire Libraries, 3s 6d.).

"Redwings" by Constance Smedley, may be described as a story of unusual people. Mimsey Holman, an interestin» little person with quantities of hair, finds life a trial through being too easily affectionate and too easily frightened. Franklin Scott, who is "like an antelope, Dale fawn-coloured hair, skin, and eyes, f ' has many out-of-the-way gifts, and involves himself in unusual difficulties; and the Navarro family, father, mother, and son, are all eccentrics of differing types. <rR«dwing," the hero, at fourteen, is afflicted by his mother with the companionship of a governess. Mimsey, having gained the post at seventeen, by pretending to be twenty, is alarmed to discover that the "small boy" of previous description is only three years younger than her ignorant self. Their early association, however, makes a very good foundation for a grown-up romance, when the three years' difference becomes absolutely negligible, and towards this happv end all the excitements move. Hiss Smedley's characters have the merit of being very much alive, and her incidental touches are often brilliant. ■ One may question, perhaps, whether the very thinly veiled ir Lyceum" will quite enjoy her sketches bf social Kfe in a ladies' club. (London: George Allen and TJnwin, Ltd-, 65.).