modation view, is therefore the first to grandfather, James Scarlett, married indicate the limits of variation through the action of environment. the daughter of a West Indian proprietor, a kinsman of the famous General Wolfe, the hero of Quebec. Lord Abinger's mother was the daughter of Colonel Philip Anglin, who gave her a large fortune. Lord Abinger himself It would, perhaps, be desirable to conclude this very rapid, and yet long, review of a wide circle of researches by a discussion of one of the latest experiments of Julius Sachs. He has was born in Jamaica in December, made our common friend, the potato plant-an originary from dry regions -develop in a very moist atmosphere the same network of aërial roots, which is characteristic of the epiphyte plants the orchids, the aroids, the ferns, which grow on the surfaces of the trees in the moist tropical forests.1 But these researches have brought the veteran physiologist to such important and far-reaching conclusions as to variation in plants altogether, and especially as to its possible direction and limits, and the periods of plant life during which variability is greatest, that it will be preferable to return to this work on it, in being simple, plain, and unsome other occasion. The above-adorned. 1769, the very year which gave birth to the Duke of Wellington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Mehemet Ali. One of the future chief baron's earliest recollections is reading the Bible to his mother, who had a happy knack of teaching her children to read before they were old enough to understand the process by which she taught them. Till fourteen his education was conducted mainly by private tutors. His father then took him in hand, and from him young Scarlett imbibed a deep admiration for the prose style of Dean Swift. In after life his own resembled mentioned researches, and many more When in his eleventh year he learnt which could be mentioned besides, already prove that it lies, to a great extent, in man's hands to modify the shape, the structure, and the general aspect of plants -not only on the long and circuitous way of selection of casual variations, but also by the direct method of appealing to environment to produce the desired variations, and to make a start with them. This is what nature does every day and everywhere on a gigantic scale. 1 Physiologische Notizen: V. Ueber Latente Reizbarkeiten, in Flora (1893), Heft i. 1. From Temple Bar. LORD CHIEF BARON ABINGER AND THE BAR. THE Scarlett family hails from Escarlat, in Aquitaine, and traces its descent from Bernard, Viscount of Escarlat, A.D. 932. Soon after the Conquest it received a grant of broad acres in Kent, and down to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries we find branches of the family holding lands in five or six other shires. Lord Abinger's that his father meant to send him to Oxford, and thence to the bar. He did not much relish the news, as he had set his heart on going to sea. However, he bowed to parental authority, and sailed for England in June, 1785. The ship reached London on the first of August. Shortly afterwards, his name was entered on the books of the Honorable Society of the Inner Temple, and a few weeks later he matriculated - not at Oxford, but as a fellow commoner of Trinity College, Cambridge. That means, of course, that he was rich, and, indeed, we have it on his own authority that he could draw on his father's London agent for any sum he pleased. 'Tis well-for obvious reasons — - that a member of the bar should be independent of his profession; which has only within the last fifty years come to be deemed as a kind of trade. But there is moderation in all things. And it speaks volumes for the good sense of this lad of sixteen that he made no bad use of his boundless command of the sinews of war—and dissipation. In those days as before and since - eat his dinners at the Temple, in the "fearless old fashion" which reigned till some twenty years ago, he chanced to call at Baynes's rooms one Saturday evening. As they sat drinking tea, came a rap at the door, and in walked Porson, who forthwith began to pour forth a flood of Greek and Latin, and to pour in floods of tea. Sixteen cups he drained on this occasion-a feat, by the by, often exceeded by Dr. Johnson, who said to Mrs. Thrale quite truly in verse : -college tutors did their best to make | now extinct animal, a special pleader things pleasant to young men of family under the bar. And during one of and fortune. Witness what Gibbon Scarlett's periodical visits to town, to tells us in his autobiography of his own career as a gentleman commoner at Magdalen College, Oxford. In truth, those were the good old times of leisure versus learning, except for the few who hungered for knowledge. When John Scott the future Lord Chancellor Eldon took his B.A. at Oxford in 1770, he was examined in Hebrew and in history. His own pen has recorded this noteworthy "exam." It consisted of two questions - one in each subject. The Hebrew question ran "What's the Hebrew for place of a skull '?" -the history, "Who founded the University of Oxford ? " The candidate of course replied, "Golgotha," and "Alfred the Great," though he had his misgivings touching the truth of the second answer-a fiction which has 6 since been scattered to the winds by those two highly distinguished Oxonians, Professor Freeman and Mr. J. R. Green. Thou canst not pour them out so fast and, with equal truth, in prose, levelled In When port and brandy's gone and spent, The younger university - not founded by Cantaber, king of Iberia a legend invented by a Cantab to overtrump the Oxonians was not more exacting in its demands on the brain-power of its alumni. But young Scarlett studied on his own account, and heroically refused to join the True Blue Club-the tiptop club of the Cambridge of those days lest it should interfere with his reading. This act of self-denial brought Porson did not, however, teach him acquainted with a fellow of Trin- James Scarlett to tope, but Scarlett ity, named John Baynes, senior wran- taught Porson French grammar. Ingler of his year, who, hearing of deed, the great Greek scholar does not Scarlett's refusal to be True-blued, seem to have been at this stage of his sought him out, thinking there must be carcer the perpetually drunken blacksomething very unusual about him. guard depicted by Lord Byron some fifBaynes candidly owned that he won- teen years later. His memory — that dered still more when he found him marvellous memory, of which we have very much like other young men of heard so much-struck Scarlett as it his age and position. and position. This candor, could hardly fail to strike any one. But however, did not nip their budding the future chief baron judiciously refriendship, and through Baynes young marks that it was too good, since he Scarlett became acquainted with that seemed never to think for himself, but thirstiest of scholars, Richard Porson. merely to reproduce the thoughts of Baynes then occupied chambers in others. Be it always, however, reGray's Inn, where while still holding membered to his honor that besides his fellowship - he practised as that" doing" a great deal more than "something for the text of Euripides A were as far as possible from explaining to quote his own modest estimate of themselves. He acquitted himself of his own work- he resigned his fellow- this task to the satisfaction of the preship rather than subscribe the Thirty- siding judge, Lord Ellenborough, comnine Articles against his conscientious monly called "Ned Pepper." He convictions, and came to London, "a greatly enjoyed his first circuit. gentleman at large, with sixpence in his pocket." Joking apart, till appointed librarian to the London Institution in Finsbury Square, he had for many years nothing to depend on but the forty pound salary attached to his Greek professorship. young barrister with plenty of "tin " must be oddly constituted if he does not enjoy his first or any succeeding circuit. Experto crede-though, to be sure, things may have altered for the worse since we travelled the Oxford Circuit when the late Baron HuddlesMore valuable to Scarlett than the ton was still its leading Q.C., when friendship of Porson was that of Sam- Mr. Henry Matthews still wore bombauel Romilly, whom also he came to zine, and Mr. James was not yet Sir know through Baynes, though under Henry. Brieflessness to us seemed somewhat melancholy circumstances. bliss, and might well have seemed so For Baynes died on the eve of an au- to James Scarlett, who yet needed tumn tour through the West Riding, briefs, and the accompanying butter, during which Romilly and Scarlett still less than we. But he did not long were to have been his companions, and remain briefless. And, truth to tell, in which they ripened their acquaint- the bar earned its fees more easily then ance. The death of their common than now. Potations pottle deep left friend did not, however, hinder them neither time nor inclination for readfrom becoming firm friends; and their ing briefs at night. Long speeches friendship lasted till dissolved by Sir were unknown. Lord Ellenborough Samuel's mournful end in 1818. would rush through the Cause List After leaving Cambridge with an or- to quote Sir T. N. Talford — “like a dinary B.A. degree, Scarlett read law rhinoceros through a bed of sugar with a will under Romilly's guidance, canes." And cases were often reand, in 1790, entered the chambers of ferred to arbitration, willy-nilly the that renowned special pleader, Mr. persons -plaintiff and defendantWood-afterwards Baron-the owner thus saddled with double costs. Lord of that restive steed which once in Ellenborough, by the by, seems to flagrant defiance of the first principles have been a 99 "demon to refer. And of special pleading — demurred instead such a judge, backed by counsel, what of going to the country-as great a poor trembling client could be exblunder as now to deny the facts of a pected to withstand? Nay, even failstatement of claim when those facts ing a tyrannic judge, some counsel show no case in law. With Mr. Wood, were well able to supply his place in Scarlett studied for a year, and was training refractory clients. On one octhen called to the bar, leaving his seat casion the plaintiff's attorney, after a in Mr. Wood's pupil-room to be filled private consultation with his client, by no less a personage than George came into court to report to Clarke, Canning. Should he return to Ja-leading counsel for the plaintiff, that maica, where his family influence the latter would not consent to an arbiwould push him into practice forth-tration. "What?" cried Clarke, and with? That was now the question. hurried out of court. He quickly reBut, counselled by Romilly, he chose turned with the welcome tidings that to remain in England, at least for a he had conquered the plaintiff's relucwhile, and to join the Northern Circuit. tance. He held his first brief at Carlisle, where it fell to his lot as junior in the case to explain the written pleadings, which "What topics did you urge?" asked his junior. "Why, I told him he was a dd fool, and that unless he gave in at once I should be forced to use strong language." It was this speech from Crowder-who eventually same Clarke, by the way, who, as a bloomed into Mr. Justice Crowder -a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, thus worded Somerset juryman was heard to tax his his objection to the admission of Jews foreman with having napped under the to that society: "Let 'em turn Chris-infliction. "You be a liar," quoth the tians and be d-d to 'em." latter in his wrath. "I can stand as much of Crowder as any man. I've sarved" (read suffered) "in Serjeant Wilde's time." How will the mouths of those judges, jurors, or juniors out of the running, who have groaned under the full weight of a Kenealy's power of words, water at the following samples of allround brevity; where judge and advocate vied with each other in the art of "cutting it short." Mr. Taunton, who led the Oxford Circuit when this century and Lord Abinger were young, thus replied to an opening speech in an assault case: "My friend's eloquent complaint amounts in plain English to this, that his client has received a good, sound horsewhipping. My defence is, that he richly deserved it." And down he sat. This, by the way, was the Mr. Taunton who afterwards rose to the bench, and who, on his way thither, showed how he could beard the bench in the interests of his client, at a pinch. The pinch was this. His client, in support of a claim to land, produced a deed which turned out to be forged. The judge bade the usher impound it. Taunton quietly forestalled him by seizing it and slipping it into his brief-bag, where it remained, for he stood over six feet in his stockings, and was in other respects an ugly customer to tackle. In this age of Tichborne trials and six weeks' speeches, it is interesting to note that when Scarlett first joined the Northern Circuit, a three-and-a-half hour harangue by Brougham was reckoned inordinately long. Aye, and persons old enough to remember the trial of Palmer, the Rugeley poisoner, or who will take the trouble to consult the newspapers of 1856, will note that Serjeant Shee's eight-hours' speech in defence of the prisoner was, even in that comparatively recent case, reckoned a sort of prodigy. But to hark back to the embryo Lord Abinger. From his lately published autobiography we learn that it was Serjeant Wilde afterwards Lord Chancellor Truro who set the (bad) example of long speeches on the Western Circuit. He was an invalid when he joined it, rather late in life by the by; for he began it as an attorney. Somewhat contrary to etiquette, his wife travelled with him to nurse him, and he seldom dined at the Circuit mess. Instead, he spent his sober evenings poring over his briefs. It grieves one to speak of the demoralization which ensued. All had to follow my leader's lead, and read their briefs, instead of sitting over the bottle like men and gentlemen. Like the late Mr. Justice Talfourd, for instance, who loved it so well that, rather than leave it, he would carry it with Another refreshing sample of brevhim under his arm from dining-room ity by bench and bar occurs in a case to drawing-room, and hide it behind where the great Erskine appeared for the window-curtain, for a sly pull at the plaintiff, who sought to recover ten it from time to time. As for the ex-guineas lent by him to his lady-love ample of Wilde, it tamed and spoilt before they parted to meet-in court. the Western Circuit. If he read his Erskine began by remarking that when briefs, so must his brethren. Else how love was over the laconic style of lettercould they meet in court on a footing writing was most fitting. He then of perfect equality, each alike ignorant read the following letter from the deof the facts of the case ? And then fendant :the rest must vie with him in length of wind and tongue. Whereby, a tale illustrative of the infancy of this bad practice. After a deuce of a long "Sir-When convenient, you shall have your ten guineas. I despise you. - CATHARINE KEELING." Said Erskine, "I shall prove the 66 handwriting, and that is my case. ." | in every sense of the word, ought to be Asked Bearcroft, counsel for the de- free from all temptation to play into fence: "Is that all ?" "Ay," quoth the hands of a rascally attorney seeking Erskine. "Then I despise you," said only to swell his bill of costs and Bearcroft; and Mr. Justice Buller non- feather his nest at his client's expense. suited the plaintiff. After this, one This explains Lord Abinger's effort to does not much marvel at this judge's shut the doors of the Inns of Court to notion of Paradise: Playing whist all any one who lacked an independent night, and trying nisi prius cases all income of £300 a year, a measure which day." These, by the by, were the days may some day become law. In Paris of short opinions as well as of short some such law exists; in Paris, the speeches. Taunton would sometimes nominal headquarters of liberty and advise: "The question is worth try-equality. Anyhow, Lord Chancellor ing." Erskine once wrote: "The ac- Bacon's actual exclusion of persons not tion will lie if the witnesses do." "gentlemen entitled to bear arms" is Scarlett married his first wife in infinitely less defensible; for it would 1792, by which time his professional not exclude paupers, while it would exincome was large enough to enable him clude a W. H. Smith! As for Lord to keep a wife without asking his Abinger's suggestion of a pecuniary father to increase his bachelor allow-qualification, we find it forestalled, and ance. Middle-class folk who study life more than forestalled, by a dull Irish in the novels of Charles Dickens and barrister "spacious in the possession the works of the guileless Dr. Smiles of dirt." He said that no one should would do well to correct their notions be called to the bar who had not a of the bar by reading the lucubrations landed estate. Unluckily he said it in of writers who know something about the hearing of John Philpot Curran, it. Traddles is quite impossible, and who forthwith replied: "May I ask, Lord Langdale, while a sucking bar- sir, how many acres make a wiserister, did not-as Dr. Smiles coolly acre?" This is an argument in the asserts - sponge upon his friends. He lived like Scarlett and Scarlett's brethren of the gown on an allowance from his father. In 1798 Scarlett lost his father, and thereby gained a large addition to his private income, which helped him on in his profession. Barristers, if any, "Twixt 1816, when Scarlett became who rise from nowhere to the top of K.C. -- King's Counsel! and 1827, the tree by means of dirty work and when he became attorney-general, he the most brazen impudence and push, led the Northern Circuit, where he had adorn neither bar nor bench, but de- no rival as a verdict-winner, though grade both, and merit exposure, not neither a great lawyer, nor an eloquent praise. James Scarlett was the very speaker, nor-like Erskine, and Theantithesis of men of this type. He siger after Erskine-a wit. As for never stooped to "hug" an attorney. Scarlett's knowledge of law, it is fairly He rather snubbed them a fault, but well described in the punning remark : by far the smaller of the two. How-"Scarlett is not deep-read;" wherein, ever, one does not read that he ever by the by, he differed from Jock went quite the length recorded of Sir Vicary - or Vinegar"-Gibbs, who on one occasion bade an attorney point out his observations" on evidence, and then flung them into the fire. Meanwhile, it needs no ghost to tell us that a barrister ought to be independent' guise of a joke, and it points in the same direction as Juvenal's "Veniet de plebe togatâ qui juris nodos ac legum ænigmata solvat." The only answer is, that all legislation may now and then bear hardly on the one hundredth man. Campbell, who, after recovering from a |