twenty-eight judicial personages no doubt devoted all his
faculties and experience to the discovery, discussion, and
removal of the admittedly numerous defects in the working of
the Judicature Acts! Two-and-a-half hours, which might have
been stolen from the relaxations of a Saturday afternoon!
Two-and-a-half hours, for which the taxpayers of the United
Kingdom pay some eight hundred guineas! Truly the spectacle
is eminently calculated to inspire the country with confidence
and hopes of reform."--_Extract from Letter to the Times._]

SCENE--_A Room at the Royal Courts. Lord CHANCELLOR, Lord
CHIEF JUSTICE, MASTER of the ROLLS, Lords Justices, Justices._

_L.C._ Well, I'm very glad to see you all looking so well, but can
anyone tell me why we've met at all?

_L.C.J._ Talking of meetings, do you remember that Exeter story dear
old JACK TOMPKINS used to tell on the Western Circuit?

[Illustration: Fee-simple.]

[_Proceeds to tell JACK TOMPKINS's story at great length to
great interest of Chancery Judges._

_M.R._ (_who has listened with marked impatience_). Why, my dear
fellow, it isn't a Western Circuit story at all. It was on the
Northern Circuit at Appleby.

[_Proceeds to tell the same story all over again, substituting
Appleby for Exeter. At the conclusion of story, Great laughter