The Sun.
London, England, 1832-09-01 00:00:00

FRASER'S MAGAZINE.

" Elizabeth Brownrigge" forms the conclud-
ing half of an amusing, though not particularly
brilliant, squib on Mr. Bulwer's Eugene Arqm.
Its greatest recommendation is, that there is no-
thing ill-natured about it. " Mundy's Sports
and Pastimes in the East" is a smart, spirited,
desultory notice of one of the most agreeable
books of travels that have appeared during the
last season. " The Mountain Dew Men" is a
rough, homely sort of tale, which, from its ex-
cessive use of the northern Doric dialect, is, to
our unpractised southern ears, nearly, if not
quite, unintelligible. It is, however, not de-
void of incident, containing, inler Mira, two
smugglers, a hobgoblin, and a snow-storm.
" Condition of the Welch Peasantry " ends, as
it begins, without an aim, and apparently without
a motive, except that of filling a certain quan-

N,

tity of paper. The subject would have been
interesting had it been well treated. " Lord
Byron's Juvenile Poems" is an eloquent, feeling
criticism, abounding, however, too much in
metaphysical fantasies. " Nly Cotemporaries "
is a delightful bit of legal gossip ; we take an
extract descriptive of Mr. Justice Willes—a
name long since forgotten :

" The retirement of Lord Mansfield left Mr. Justice
WiPea in possession of the place of senior puisne judge of
the Court of King's Bench. He seemed to be held in
very moderate estimation by the bench, the bar, and the
public. There was a flippancy of manner and a levity of
deportment about him, wholly at variance with the dig-
nity of his situation and the becoming gravity of the judi-
cial character. To the personal appearance connected
with it he showed equal indifference, and he was distin-
guished by a slovenly neglect of the costume appropriated
to his station as a judge. The ermine which covered his
shoulders had long ceased to he white ; his scarlet robes
hid assumed a dingy brick colour ; and his wig seemed to
have gone a seven-years' May-day circuit with a chimney-
sweeper. These were the ornaments of a fat, unwieldy
figure, endowed with a face of smirking fatuity.
" Little attention seemed to be paid to his opinions by
Lord Man-field or by the rest of the judges. He appeared
to feel it; and to be anxious to indemnify himself against
what he could not avoid seeing was slight; he felt it with
wrath, and sought to show his resentment of it without
judgment. I draw this conclusion from his ludicrous
conduct when the case of Jones v. Smart was before the
Court. It was a question as to the right of the son of an
esquire to kill game, though the father had no qualifica.
tion in respect of estate, and whether a derivative title
uld be conferred without an original one. Mr. Justice
Willes in that case differed from Lord Mansfield and the
other judges. He delivered his opinion to that effect, in
direct opposition to that which Lord Mansfield, to whom
he sat next, had pronounced, and whose arguments he
seemed to think be had successfully combated. When he
had concluded, with an air of the most ludicrous triumph
and self-satisfaction at the display which he had made, he
turned quickly round on the old lord, and, in a manner
tie most burlesque, stared full in his face. This was ac-
companied with a vulgar and significant nod of the head,
which conveyed to the spectators his meaning as fully as
if he had expressed himself in the identical words to which
the refined taste of Mr. Hume has given a classical cur-
rency which till that time they did not possess, of " Take
your change out of that !" They are certainly not of a
phraseology of the best taste, but they are most signifi.
cantly expressive.
"From the first day of Michaelmas Term, 1786, Lord
Mansfield had discontinued to take his seat on the bench.
The dufes of the Chief Justice then devolved upon Mr.
Justice Willes. He enjoyed the pre-eminence which the
place bestowed on him but for a short period. He died
in January 1787. The decisions of the Court during that
period were not marked by any extent of legal learning,
and were undistinguished by importance."