country where he was a stranger, and required him to make eloquent
speeches in courts which his voice had never tested. It was his custom
on reaching the town where he would have to plead on the following day,
to visit the court over-night, and examine its arrangements, so that
when the time for action arrived he might address the jury from the most
favorable spot in the chamber. He was a theatrical speaker, and omitted
no pains to secure theatrical effect. It was noticed that he never
appeared within the bar until the _cause celebre_ had been called; and
a buzz of excitement and anxious expectation testified the eagerness of
the assembled crowd to _see_, as well as to hear, the celebrated
advocate. Every article of his bar costume received his especial
consideration; artifice could be discerned in the modulations of his
voice, the expressions of his countenance, and the movements of his
entire body; but the coldest observer did not detect the artifice until
it had stirred his heart. Rumor unjustly asserted that he never uttered
an impetuous peroration which he had not frequently rehearsed in private
before a mirror. About the cut and curls of his wigs, their texture and
color, he was very particular: and the hands which he extended in
entreaty towards British juries were always cased in lemon-colored kid
gloves.
Erskine was not more noticeable for the foppishness of his dress than
was Lord Kenyon for a sordid attire. Whilst he was a leading advocate
within the bar, Lord Kenyon's ordinary costume would have disgraced a
copying clerk; and during his later years, it was a question amongst
barristers whether his breeches were made of velvet or leather. The wits
maintained that when he kissed hands upon his elevation to the
Attorney's place, he went to court in a second-hand suit purchased from
Lord Stormont's _valet_. In the letter attributed to him by a clever
writer in the 'Rolliad,' he is made to say--"My income has been cruelly
estimated at seven, or, as some will have it, eight thousand pounds per
annum. I shall save myself the mortification of denying that I am rich,
and refer you to the constant habits and whole tenor of my life. The
proof to my friends is easy. My tailor's bill for the last fifteen years
is a record of the most indisputable authority. Malicious souls may
direct you, perhaps, to Lord Stormont's _valet de chambre_, and can
vouch the anecdote that on the day when I kissed hands for my
appointment to the office of Attorney General, I appeared in a laced
waistcoat that once belonged to his master. I bought the waistcoat, but
despise the insinuation; nor is this the only instance in which I am
obliged to diminish my wants and apportion them to my very limited
means. Lady K---- will be my witness that until my last appointment I
was an utter stranger to the luxury of a pocket-handkerchief." The
pocket-handkerchief which then came into his possession was supposed to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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