up to hint that I'm afraid the noise in the court will prevent you from reading your novel in quiet.' "After O'Grady had retired from the bench some person placed a large stuffed owl on the sofa beside him. The bird was of enormous size, and it had been brought as a great curiosity from the Tropics. O'Grady looked at the owl for a moment and then said with a gesture of peevish im patience, ' Take away that owl, take away that owl. If you don't, I shall fancy that I am seated again on the exchequer bench beside Baron Foster.' Those who have seen Baron Foster on the bench can best appreciate the felicitous resemblance traced by his venerable brother judge between his lordship and an old stuffed owl. "I remember," continued O'Connell, " a witness who was called on to give evidence to the excellent character borne by a man whom O'Grady was trying on a charge of cow-stealing. The witness got on the table with the confident air of a fellow who had a right good opinion of himself. He played a small trick, too, that amused me. He had but one glove which he used sometimes to put on his right hand, keeping his left in his pocket; and, again, when he thought he was not watched, he would put it on his left hand, slipping the right into his pocket. ' Well,' said O'Grady to this genius, 'do you know the prisoner at the bar?' ' I do right well, my lord.' ' And what is his general character?' 'An honest, dacent, well-con ducted man, my lord, as any in Ireland, which all the neighbors knows, only — only — there was something about stealing a cow.' 'The very thing the prisoner is ac cused of,' cried O'Grady, interrupting the witness to character." Amongst O'Connell's professional remi niscences was the following unique instance of a client's gratitude. He had obtained an acquittal, and the fellow, in the ecstacy of his joy, exclaimed, " Ogh, counsellor, I 've no money here to show your honor in my
gratitude, but I wisht I saw you knocked down in my own parish, and maybe I wouldn't bring a faction to the rescue." Here is O'Connell's account of his con duct in the case in which he held his first brief: " There was one of the witnesses of the other party whose cross-examination was thrown upon me by the opposite coun sel. I did not do as I have seen fifty coun sel do, namely, hand over the cross-exam ination to my senior. I thought it due to myself to attempt it, hit or miss, and I cross-examined him right well. I remem ber he stated that he had his share of a pint of whiskey, whereupon I asked him whether his share was not all except the pewter. He confessed that it was, and the oddity of my mode of putting the question was very successful, and created a general and hearty laugh." "The cleverest rogue in the attorney pro fession that I ever heard of," said O'Connell, was one Checkley, familiarly known by the name of Checkley be d d. Checkley was attorney once at the Cork assizes for a fellow accused of burglary and aggravated assault committed at Bantry. The noted Jerry Keller was counsel for the prisoner, against whom the charge was made out by the clearest circumstantial evidence — so clearly that it seemed quite impossible to doubt his guilt. When the case for the prosecution closed, the judge asked if there were any witnesses for the defense. ' Yes, my lord,' said Jerry Keller, ' I have them briefed to me.' ' Call them,' said the judge. Checkley immediately bustled out of court, and returned at once leading in a very respectable-looking farmer-like man with a blue coat and gilt buttons, stretching corduroy tights and gaiters. ' This is a witness to character, my lord,' said Checkley. Jerry Keller, the counsel, forthwith began to examine the witness. After ask ing his name and residence, ' You know the prisoner in the dock?' said Keller. 'Yes, your honor, ever since he was a gossoon.'
