2 See the castigation he received in the Courier of Friday.
Dec. 10, 1824, for his total ignorance of the common terms
of art.
"----that trick of courts to wear
Silk at the cost of flattery."
_James Shirley's Poems_.
~359~~what I should consider the most unfair, as they are ungentlemanly
advantages. But there
"be they that use men's writings like brute beasts, to make
them draw which way they list."
_T. Nash's Lenten Stuff_, 1599.
His great success and immense practice at the bar is more owing to
the scarcity of silk-gowns{3} than the profundity of his talents. The
perpetual simper that plays upon his ruby countenance, when finessing
with a jury, has, no doubt, its artful effect; although it is as foreign
to the true feelings of the man, as the malicious grin of the malignant
satirist would be to generosity and true genius. Of his oratory, the
_aureum flumen orationis_ is certainly not his; and, if he begins a
sentence well, he seldom arrives at the conclusion on the same level:
he is always most happy in a reply, when he can trick his adversary
by making an abusive speech, and calling no witnesses to prove his
assertions. Our friend Gradus obtained a verdict, and after it the
congratulations of the court and bar, with whom Scarlett is, from his
superciliousness, no great favourite.
Pages:
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475