leader. Occupiers of chambers in the Temple of long standing will recollect that, not many years ago, a curious anachronism on wheels, which they were told on inquiry was "the Western Circuit van," used to periodically make an appearance in the neighbourhood of King's Bench Walk and Paper Buildings, just before the commencement of each circuit. In the summer of 1874, and immediately before the Frome election, it was discovered that the circuit was in dire need of a new van, and that this could not be more conveniently or cheaply procured than from Frome! The writer, innocent of the merits of the case, thought that a van at all was a needless luxury for the circuit, especially as it cost the members far more to pay the railways for taking the van round circuit, than individual members of it would collectively have paid for the carriage of their luggage, and he, while in this state of ignorance, ventured to question the wisdom of acquiring a new circuit van. The only supporter, however, whom he was able to obtain for an amendment which he brought forward in opposition to the motion for acquiring a new van, was the son of the proprietor of a Radical newspaper at Plymouth. The latter, on the "inward significance" of the matter being properly explained to him, being himself a good fellow, promptly withdrew his seconding of the amendment. Men of all shades of political opinion then unanimously voted for acquiring the new "necessary," even the writer, and the son of the Radical newspaper proprietor, joining in this action. The van was duly ordered, through Lopes's old pupil, the then "baggage master," to be built at Frome, regardless of expense! In after days, and when the new van had fallen into decay and disuse, it used to be scoffingly said of this van, that it had once carried a Frome election, but that it had never carried anything else! At all events, the Western Circuit Van, with the assistance, probably, of his not inconsiderable local influence, at the ensuing Frome election, in 1874, got Mr. Lopes returned as member for that borough.

As an M.P., both when sitting for Launceston and subsequently for Frome, Lopes greatly interested himself in promoting legal and professional reforms-a subject in which lawyers usually shine more brilliantly, and are of more public service, than when they venture to dabble, as some have unfortunately done before now, in the troubled waters of party strife. Mr. Lopes, Q.C., M.P., greatly interested himself in (among other things) the earlier series of the Bills of Sale Acts, one of which was piloted by him through the House of Commons. He also made an attempt to pass a Bill for the reform of the Jury Laws, which was a comprehensive measure, containing over a hundred sections. But where Coleridge had failed, it was no discredit to Lopes not to succeed. The latter had, however, attracted the attention of the Government, who, as he himself told the writer, gave him nights" on which to advance measures of which he was in charge. Better still, he had achieved what is usually the sole ambition of every legal M.P. For by party fidelity and docility, as well as by a readiness to make himself useful whenever he might be wanted, he had ingratiated himself into the goodwill of the "whips" of his party.

Just at this time a terrible railway disaster at New Cross, in which numbers of persons were injured, resulted in a large crop of actions being brought against the Brighton Railway Company. The accident was fortunate for Mr. Lopes, Q.C., since it brought him into public notice just at the right moment, in consequence of his appearing for the railway company in every contested claim for compensation arising out of this calamity, and on his within a short period holding over one hundred briefs on their behalf. From this time he became recognized as the most experienced leader at the Bar in cases where the plaintiff complained of "shock to the nervous system "—a disorder which often proves curable by no known means short of a verdict for a sum sufficiently large to relieve the sufferer's mind of the tension with which

it is naturally affected, between the happening of the accident and the return of such a verdict.

The careful and subtle style of Mr. Lopes's advocacy may be learned from a single example. In the autumn of 1876 he was engaged, with a junior, as counsel, in this instance, on behalf of the claimants, on an inquiry to assess the compensation to be paid by a railway company for a local infirmary which they had taken. It was, in truth, a matter of extreme difficulty to obtain another freehold site in the town where this charity was located; indeed, the real difficulty was so great that most people, and especially a jury inquiring into a claim against a railway company, would be likely to regard it as incredible. It would have been vain to tell the latter that all the available sites were held on ninety-nine years' leases, granted by the trustees of the estate of a neighbouring nobleman, while the constitution and endowments of the infirmary made it imperative for that institution to be maintained on a freehold site. The experienced advocate well knew the smile of but half credulity with which such a statement would be received by a jury, whether it were directly made to them by the claimants' counsel, or fell from the lips of "expert" witnesses. Lopes, however, was determined that the attention of the jury should be somehow drawn to, and riveted on, this fact. He was equal to the occasion. With great ingenuity, after a solemn conference with the junior, he gravely took what he termed "a preliminary objection" to some of the formalities under the Lands' Clauses Act, which the railway company had been obliged to go through. The under sheriff, an excellent lawyer himself, but quite innocent of the nisi prius tactics which had suggested the taking of the "preliminary objection,” being more than a little puzzled by the subtle technicalities advanced by the claimants' counsel, at last asked, "Why, Mr. Lopes, don't you want to sell to the railway company? Most people do." This gave Lopes a chance to, as it were

incidentally, explain matters, an opening of which he was not slow to take advantage. With great tact, he himself afterwards said nothing to the jury about the point, leaving his skilled witnesses to explain in cross-examination (that "two-edged sword," as the late Lord Coleridge has been heard to call it) the reason why their valuations were so high! In the result, the jury returned a verdict so eminently satisfactory to the infirmary that the "preliminary objection" was not further persevered with, or ever "taken to a higher court." This fate was reserved for Lopes himself, who within a few weeks was (at the commencement of Michaelmas Term, 1876) made a Judge of the Queen's Bench Division. Long after he was on the Bench he would, with sly humour, on appropriate opportunities, ask the junior who had been with him in this case, probably his last of importance at the Bar, whether he had taken "any preliminary objection" at the trial, or, sometimes, whether he was "going to take a preliminary objection?" putting the question in the most quiet and solemn manner, with great emphasis on the first syllable, and with a merry twinkle in his eye. His judgeship was conferred upon him during the second Disraeli administration, on the recommendation of Lord Chancellor Cairns.

The appointment has been frankly acknowledged to have been mainly a political one, but the position which Lopes had attained, alike in Parliament and at the Bar, amply justified it, and so also did subsequent events.

Mr. Justice Lopes rapidly acquired a great reputation as a nisi prius judge. This was attained by his unfailing patience and courtesy, and by the tenacity with which his experience as an advocate taught him to ever keep in mind the wise declaration of Bacon:* "Let not the Judge meet the cause half way, nor give occasion to the party to say his counsel or proofs were not heard;" the same writer's remark that "It is no grace to a judge first to find that which he might have Essay on Judicature.

heard in due time from the Bar, or to show quickness of conceit in cutting off evidence or counsel too short, or to prevent information by questions, though pertinent ;" and the criticism of the same writer that "an over-speaking judge is no welltuned cymbal." Mr. Justice Lopes was never known, after the fashion of some inferior Chairmen of Quarter Sessions, to interrupt a subtle cross-examination with the remark, "I don't see what you are driving at," put in forgetfulness of the fact that if the object of the question be at once apparent to a judge, who as yet knows little about a case, it will also become obvious to a shrewd witness, who is well acquainted with the facts, and that it will consequently never receive a candid answer.

When, soon after his appointment, Mr. Justice Lopes was permitted to go his old circuit, an incident occurred upon it which well exemplifies his general demeanour on the Bench. In a case tried before him, a woman swore positively that she had entrusted a sum of some £600 to her local preacher. There was no corroboration, and the preacher asserted, with equal vehemence, that he had never had a penny of the woman's money, and that her whole story was a fabrication. In cross-examination, it soon became apparent that the weakness of the man-who on week-days acted as agent for a local bank in the small Cornish town where he was resident, while he preached and "led" prayer-meetings on Sunday -was his vanity as to his vast knowledge as a financier. The cross-examining counsel indulged this vanity, and let the witness display his knowledge of Stock Exchange matters to his heart's content, the judge meanwhile sitting apparently stolid and unmoved, but in reality closely following the cross-examination with that considerable knowledge of business which he himself possessed. The woman had incidentally mentioned that, on one occasion, the defendant had told her that he had invested her savings in "Ottawa Bonds," and had shown her some such bonds. Curiously enough, the