Alfred felt disgust and indignation for this parade of vice. There was one officer in company who strongly sympathized in his feelings; this led to farther acquaintance and mutual esteem. This officer soon afterwards married Lady Harriet ----, a beautiful young woman, with whom he lived happily for some time, till, unfortunately, while her husband was abroad with his regiment, chance brought the wife, at a watering-place, into the company of French Clay, and imprudence, the love of flattery, coquetry, and self-confidence, made her a victim to his vanity. Love he had none--nor she either--but her disgrace was soon discovered, or revealed; and her unhappy and almost distracted husband immediately commenced a suit against Clay. He chose Alfred Percy for his counsel. In this cause, where strong feelings of indignation were justly roused, and where there was room for oratory, Alfred spoke with such force and pathos that every honest heart was touched. The verdict of the jury showed the impression which he had made upon them: his speech was universally admired; and those who had till now known him only as a man of business, and a sound lawyer, were surprised to find him suddenly display such powers of eloquence. Counsellor Friend’s plain advice to him had always been, “Never harangue about nothing: if your client require it, he is a fool, and never mind him; never speak till you’ve something to say, and then only say what you have to say. ‘Words are like leaves, and where they most abound, Much fruit of solid sense is seldom found.’” Friend now congratulated Alfred with all his honest affectionate heart, and said, with a frown that struggled hard with a smile, “Well, I believe I must allow you to be an orator. But, take care--don’t let the lawyer merge in the advocate. Bear it always in mind, that a mere man of words at the bar--or indeed any where else--is a mere man of straw.” The chief justice, who knew how to say the kindest things in the most polite manner, was heard to observe, that “Mr. Percy had done wisely, to begin by showing that he had laid a solid foundation of law, on which the ornaments of oratory could be raised high, and supported securely.” French Clay’s _affair_ with Lady Harriot had been much talked of in the fashionable world; from a love of scandal or a love of justice, from zeal in the cause of morality or from natural curiosity, her trial had been a matter of general interest to the ladies, young and old. In consequence Mr. Alfred Percy’s speech was _prodigiously_ read, and, from various motives, highly applauded. When a man begins to rise, all hands--all hands but the hands of his rivals--are ready to push him up, and all tongues exclaim, “‘Twas I helped!” or, “‘Twas what I always foretold!”