" As copies of this very clever and jocose
production are not now easily obtained, and as some of my younger
readers may not have seen it, I have reprinted it in this edition.
Considered in the light of a memorial of the bench, as it was known to
a former generation, it is well worth preserving; for, as the editor of
_Kay's Portraits_ well observes, although it is a caricature, it is
entirely without rancour, or any feeling of a malevolent nature towards
those whom the author represents as giving judgment in the "Diamond
Beetle" case. And in no way could the involved phraseology of Lord
Bannatyne, the predilection for Latin quotation of Lord Meadowbank, the
brisk manner of Lord Hermand, the anti-Gallic feeling of Lord Craig, the
broad dialect of Lords Polkemmet and Balmuto, and the hesitating manner
of Lord Methven, be more admirably caricatured.
FULL COPY OF THE FINDING OF THE COURT IN
THE ONCE CELEBRATED "DIAMOND BEETLE
CASE[47]."
_Speeches taken at advising the Action of Defamation and
Damages,_ ALEXANDER CUNNINGHAM, _Jeweller in
Edinburgh, against_ JAMES EUSSELL, _Surgeon there_.
"THE LORD PRESIDENT (Sir ILAY CAMPBELL).--Your Lordships
have the petition of Alexander Cunningham against Lord
Bannatyne's interlocutor. It is a case of defamation and
damages for calling the petitioner's _Diamond Beetle_ an
_Egyptian Louse_.
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