The Law and Lawyers of Pickwick: A Lecture — John Shaqi
The Law and Lawyers of Pickwick: A LectureLockwood, Frank, Sir
General
The Law and Lawyers of Pickwick: A Lecture
Lockwood, Frank, Sir
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870. Pickwick papers; Lawyers in literature
Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz paused in this place to see whether the jury
smiled at his joke; but as nobody took it but the greengrocer, whose
sensitiveness on the subject was very probably occasioned by his
having subjected a chaise cart to the process in question on that
identical morning, the learned Serjeant considered it advisable to
undergo a slight relapse into the dismals before he concluded.
"But enough of this, gentlemen," said Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz, "it is
difficult to smile with an aching heart; it is ill jesting when our
deepest sympathies are awakened. My client's hopes and prospects are
ruined, and it is no figure of speech to say that her occupation is
gone indeed. The bill is down--but there is no tenant. Eligible
single gentlemen pass and repass--but there is no invitation for them
to inquire within or without. All is gloom and silence in the house;
even the voice of the child is hushed--his infant sports are
disregarded when his mother weeps; his 'alley tors' and his
'commoneys' are alike neglected; he forgets the long familiar cry of
'knuckle down,' and at tip-cheese, or odd or even, his hand is out.
But Pickwick, gentlemen, Pickwick, the ruthless destroyer of this
domestic oasis in the desert of Goswell Street--Pickwick, who has
choked up the well and thrown ashes on the sward--Pickwick, who comes
before you to-day with his heartless tomato sauce and
warming-pans--Pickwick still rears his head with unblushing
effrontery, and gazes without a sigh on the ruin he has made. Damages,
gentlemen--heavy damages--is the only punishment with which you can
visit him; the only recompense you can award to my client. And for
those damages she now appeals to an enlightened, a high-minded, a
right-feeling, a conscientious, a dispassionate, a sympathising, a
contemplative jury of her civilised countrymen."
With this beautiful peroration, Mr. Serjeant Buzfuz sat down, and Mr.
Justice Stareleigh woke up.
Of the judge of this famous case we hear but little. He went to sleep,
and he woke up again, and he tried to look as though he hadn't been
asleep; in fact, he behaved very much as judges do.
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