With these words his Lordship dismissed the grand jury; and the barristers, in their wigs and gowns, some of them with briefs and a good many with none, came streaming into the well of the court, filling up the seats specially reserved for them, and overflowing into those occupied by their colleagues of the 'lower branch.' It seems rather hard on the Bar that some mysterious rule of etiquette, which they themselves probably do not understand, should forbid them to enter the assize court till this particular stage in the proceedings. Or can it be that this rule had its origin in the wisdom of their remote predecessors, devising artful means to escape the infliction of a tedious charge without appearing disrespectful to the Bench? A lull followed. The judge, accustomed to have the eyes of men upon him, calmly betook himself to letter-writing. The high-sheriff, not so accustomed, fidgeted in his seat, looked round and counted the javelin-men in court, wondered how long the grand jury would be, and remembered, let us hope with remorse, the time when he was a grand juryman himself and wasted the time of the county by unnecessary questions to the witnesses. The fact is that the grand jury is played out. Everything for which they originally existed is now done by somebody else. Every case that comes before them now has already been investigated once by the committing magistrates. Their duty is simply to accuse the prisoner, nothing more; and it would be quite sufficient if they would just read the depositions and sign the indictment. But man, brief man, placed on a grand jury, and shut into a room without the interference of a legal authority, delights to show himself off by vain and superfluous inquiry. And hence it was that more than half an hour elapsed before the foreman was seen returning into the court with a trumpery indictment for larceny. The interval had been usefully employed by the clerk of arraigns in compiling a petty jury, something in this fashion: The Clerk of Arraigns (_taking up a ticket, rather larger than a visiting-card, from a heap before him_): 'John Henry Mullerall!' (_To his clerk, a humble person in plebeian attire, who is popularly believed to know a great deal more about the procedure than the judge and the whole court put together_): 'Did he answer?' (_The clerk hasn't heard him._) 'John--Henry' (_very loudly_) 'Mull---- Oh! I see it's Muggle'--(_at the top of his voice_) 'Mugglewrath!' (_testily_) 'Are you there?' John Henry Mugglewrath (_from a seat close by_): 'Here!' The Clerk of Arraigns: 'Oh! there you are. Why _don't_ you gentlemen answer when you hear your names? Go into the box, please.'