The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-07-18 00:00:00

011.LNR.

Jceeph Jekyll, a leading wit in society some 50 or 00
years aie, though his fatne Is now quite obsolete, MU
born in 175 d, of a good west-country family, educated at
Oxfoid, • member of the Western circuit, M.P. for Caine,
and finally • Master in Chancery, an appointment which
was wrung fmm Lord Chancellor Eldon, very much
against his will, by the Prince Regent, Jekyll flourished
and was admired in the highest circles of his day, briud-
ing that of his Royal Highness just mentioned, and died
at • good old age in IEI7. The career and character of
this once celebrated character—now • mere social footl—
e:e described in those pages with much vivacity, and
numerous examples are given of his meta. Our readers
may like to see a few specimens of wit that tickled a
former generation :
(.1 RI( V 1.01 Jeans).
An accident once occurred at Lansdowne-house, the
ceiling having fallen suddenly and scattered a dinner
party. Jekyll had escaped dining there by a prior engage-
ment to meet the judges. "1 had been asked," he said,
"to Ring Corium,' but dined instead with 'Fiat
j neti tie. _

When Lady Cork gave a Party at which she wore an
enormous plume, Jekyll said, "She was exactly a shuttle-
cork—all cork and feathers."

One of Jekylrs contemporaries at the Bar—Mr. Morgan
—had such extremely long legs and arms, that he was
always called "Frog-Morgan." In the course of an
argument in court he spoke of "our natural enemies, the
French;" and JeyklL in reply, complimented him upon
an expression so "personally appropriate!" But this
has also been attributed to Erskine.
Erskine, when at the Bar, once complained to Jekyll
that he had a pain in his bowels, for which he could get
no relief. "Fit give you an infallible specific," said
Jekyll. "Get made Attorney-General, my friend, and
than you'll have no bowels at all." This was a hit at Law
—afterwards Lord Ellenhorough—who during km Atter-
ney•Generalship prosecuted several of Jekyll s political
friends. .

--A-I;ewer having
been
drowned • Iftin one of his own veto,
r-
)1t
"Alga! poor fellow," maid Jekyll, oa gon his watery
bier!"

An Irish barrister, just arrived in England, had a bad
habit of putting Gut his tongue. "I suppose," said
Jekyll, " that he to trying to catch the English accent."
"I hear," said a frMnii, " that our friend Smith, the
is attorney, dead, and leaves scarcely any effects." "It
could scarcely be otherwise," said Jekyll, any
had so very
few causes.
An attorney turned Else, rather diminutive in his
stature, and not particularly respectable in his character,
, once met Jekyll. "Sir," said he, "I hear you have
called me a petiforging scoundrel. Have you done so,
sirr "Sir." said Jekyll, with • look of contempt,"
never said you were is pettifogger, or a scoundrel; but I
said you were 'little
In IEI4, during • welts at Hattleld-housc, Lord Grimstest
—afterwards Karl of Veridam—clumsily upset the aged
Marchioness of Salisbury, upon which Jekyll wrote the
! following upon a leaf in his pocket-book :
"Colßiervatives of Hatlleld-house

,
—Were- -su-r-ely-harum-scarum
What could reforming Whigs do worse
Than knocking down • Old Sarum.'
This is said to have been one of the earliest instances
of the use of the word Conservative as an equivalent to
a Tory.
An action was brought at Cardiff Assize by a rich
plaintiff against • poor defendant, who was unable to pay
counsel, when Abraham Moor, a barrister, of Exeter,
volunteered to defend him, upon which Jekyll wrote the
following
" Dives the Cardiff Bar retains,
And counts their learned noses,
Whilst the defendant Lazarus
On Abraham's breast reposes."
On °arrow's cross-questioning an old woman, trying to
elicit from her that a tender had been made for some
premises in dispute,"
Garrow, forbear ! That tough old jade
Can never prove • tender maid."
Again, when • dispute arose between Lord Eldon and
Sir Arthur Pigott about the correct pronunciation of the
word lien, Lord Eldon calling the word Son, and Pigott
maintaining that it was to he pronounced teen. Jekyll
produced the following
"Sir Arthur, Sir Arthur, why what do you mean
By saying the Chancellor's ho s is leaps 1
1) ye think that his kitchen's so bad as all that
That nothing within it can ever get fact.-
,
This was an alluaion to the Chancellors pwsimony.
Jekyll could be coarse and impertinent enough at times.
I A Welsh judge, notorious for his greed of office and his
I want of personal cleanliness, was once complaining of
i being neglected. "My dear sir," said Jekyll, an his most
I amiable tones, "you have asked the minister for almost
I everything else, why don't you ask him for • piece of soap
I *Lel a nail-brush r
I Of Lord Kenyon's large and gloomy home in Lincoln's--
inn-fields, he said, "All the year through it is !Ant in
the kitchen end Paasion Week in the parlour." Some
one having mentioned that although the flee was very
dull in the kitchen grate, the spits were always bright,
"It is quite irrelevant." said Jekyll, "to talk about the
I spit, for nothing turns upon them."
ILord Kenyon was very careless in his dress; but once
appeared at court in • lace waistcoat much the worse for
wear, which it was alleged by the Bar had been purchased
as a let-off garment from Lard Stormont's valet dc eAortsbre.
Jekyll asserted that the Chief Justice never used a
pocket-handkerchief in his life, until he found one in the
pocket of this waistcoat, which pocket-handkerchief he
ought to have returned, as it was not included in the
bargain for the waistcoat.
It was mentioned In Jekyll's company that the Russians
during their stay in Ingland (after the
,peace? had eaten
large quantities of tallow candles. Ah,' said he,
"had food for the liver, but good for the lights."
Jekyll, like Dr. Johnson, gloried in London. Ile was
accustomed to say that if he were compelled to live an the
country be would have the approach to his house paved
like the streets of London, and hire • hackney coach to
drive up and down all day long. It was either Jekyll or
his friend Jamess Smith who pronounced London "the
best place in summer, and the only place in winter"
One of Jekyll's meet impudent attempts to joke • jury
out of a verdict is related by hoed Eldon in the "Anecdote
Book" before quoted. At the Exeter Assize he defended
several tailors, who were charged with making a riot for
the purpose of forcing the masters to raise their wages
While he was examining a witness as to the number of
tailors present at the alleged disturbance, the presiding
judge-Lord Eldon himself -reminded him that three
persons are legally sufficient to snake a riot, whereupon
the witty advocate rejoined, "Yes, my Lord, Hale and
Hawkins lay down the law as your Lordship states it, and
I rely on your authority; for if there must be three men
to make • riot, it follows-these men being tailors—
that there must be nine times three present, and unless
the prosecution proves that there 27 joieing in
this breach of the peace, my clients are entiled to an
acquittal.' On Lord Kldon's inquiry wheher he relied
on common or statute law, Jekyll %rumored firmly, "My
Lord, I rely on a well-known maxim, as old as Magna
Charts. " Nine tailors make a man."