"A hundred and fifty pounds, at least.”

"A hundred and fifty pounds, Sir! a hundred and fifty pounds, Mr. Sharpe!!! No information for me on such terms. So because a man is a public man, he may be libelled, scandalized, vilified, and can only purchase redress by utter ruin! Oh, how little does the world imagine what we must endure who devote ourselves to the public good!"

"You may bring an action, Mr. Bedworth." "And get a farthing damages for my pains; for a man in my station cannot expect to find twelve men together, without a political enemy among them!"

"Then you may indict."

"What will that cost me?"

"A trifle comparatively-fifty or sixty

pounds."

"Do you call that a trifle?”

"Yes; for such a luxury as law."

"Well, I don't know: I am so committed to my friends and with my party: I must do something. Can't you say forty pounds?"

"It may be no more: I can not pledge myself." "'Tis a hard case, a very hard case, a cruel case; but I must stick to principle: so indict."

To cut short a long story, though not wanting in instruction, the bill was preferred six times, before it was returned a true bill; the press caught scent of the proceedings, and rcvenged themselves by new libels that piqued my wrong-headed client into renewed exertion; and finally his costs swelled up to three hundred and sixty pounds. He then libelled me for having deceived him: paid me with a bill at twelve months, which was dishonored; and at the end of some three years, and not before, my costs were paid, and my public-spirited client forever lost to me, not less, however, to my satisfaction than to his.

CHAPTER VII.

"Emit domum-prope dimidio carius, quam æstimabat."
Cic. pro Dom.

ONE axiom on the question of costs is so Coviously true, that we can not avoid surprise at our clients so often losing sight of it. If they wish only to pay their attorney like a shoeblack, they will soon have only shoe-blacks for their attorneys. No man can limit himself as to the extent of costs, without cramping his exertions to a degree that may prove highly injurious to his client's interests. The casualties and accidents of litigation are so frequent, and sometimes so expensive, that they occasion more expenditure than even the whole of the proceedings that go on in the accustomed course; and if the cause of action is not of sufficient importance to warrant costs out of the ordinary routine, if necessary, it is wiser

and more honest to advise the client to submit to his loss. This maxim must be received cum grano, certainly; but in cases where character is not involved, or rights ultra the subject-matter of the litigation, it is invariably true. In ordinary actions to recover debts, or damages for pecuniary injury, the expense resolves itself into mere matter of arithmetical calculation; such actions, however, form by no means the staple commodity in the business of an eminent attorney. A curious instance of this accidental expenditure to a small extent, once occurred to myself.

I was engaged in a cause at the assizes about fifty miles from London. It stood first in the paper for the day following my arrival. I had traveled from town in a post-chaise with two of my witnesses, one of whom was a surveyor of eminence, who had been subpoenaed to produce his report of certain dilapidations. This gentleman was one of the convivial corps, remarkably corpulent, jolly, and good-humored. On arriving at the assize town about seven o'clock in the evening, I placed him in the post that he had been anxiously coveting for some three or four hours previously, at a table en

sconced in a snug box in the coffee-room, with his favorite dish before him, a bottle of the best port, and such a fire by his side as one views with pleasure in a raw, cold evening in March. He had been up with me all the preceding night, discussing evidence. I now told him to discuss his steak, make himself comfortable, and go to bed, while I attended the consultation. Mr. Baron Gurney was my counsel; a man that no flaw in evidence could escape.

"Has Mr. Gubble been served with a duces tecum, Mr. Sharpe?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Where is his report?"

"Here, Sir," (producing it.)

"This!" said Gurney. "This can never be the original: it is too neat and methodical. Where are the memorandums from which he prepared it?"

It had quite escaped me to ask for them; yet it was obvious that the non-production of them would seem suspicious, and insure the rejection of the copy as evidence. I hastily returned to Gubble, and found him wrapt in full enjoyment: the cloth removed; the bottle