MICHAEL O'LOGHLIN. "COUNSELLOR O'LOGHLIN, my motion is on, in the Rolls!" "Oh, Counsellor, I'm ruined for the want of you in the Common Pleas !" "For God's sake, Counsellor, step up for a moment to Master Townsend's office!" 66 Counsellor, what will I do without you in the King's Bench!" "Counsellor O'Loghlin, Mr. O'Grady is carrying all before him in the Court of Exchequer !" Such were the simultaneous exclamations, which, upon entering the Hall of the Four Courts, at the beginning of last term, I heard from a crowd of attorneys, who surrounded a little gentleman, attired in a wig and gown, and were clamorously contending for his professional services, which they had respectively retained, and to which, from the strenuousness of their adjurations, they seemed to attach the utmost value. Mr.. O'Loghlin stood in some suspense in the midst of this riotous competition. While he was deliberating to which of the earnest applicants for his attendance he should addict himself, I had an opportunity to take notes of him. He had at first view a very juvenile aspect. His figure was lighthis stature low, but his form compact, and symmetrically put together. His complexion was fresh and healthy, and intimated a wise acquaintance with the morning sun, more than a familiarity with the less salubrious glimmerings of the midnight lamp. His hair was of sanded hue, like that of his Danish forefathers, from whom his name, which in Gaelic signifies Denmark, as well as his physiognomy, intimates his descent. Although at first he appeared to have just passed the boundaries of boyhood, yet upon a closer inspection all symptoms BAR ASSIZE COSTUME. 107 of puerility disappeared. His head is large, and, from the breadth and altitude of the forehead, denotes a more than ordinary quantity of that valuable pulp, with the abundance of which the intellectual power is said to be in measure. His large eyes of deep blue, although not enlightend by the flashings of constitutional vivacity, carry a more professional expression, and bespeak caution, sagacity, and slyness, while his mouth exhibits a steadfast kindliness of nature, and a tranquillity of temper, mixed with some love of ridicule, and, although perfectly free from malevolence, a lurking tendency to derision.* An enormous bag, pregnant with briefs, was thrown over his shoulder. To this prodigious wallet of litigation on his back, his person presented a curious contrast. At the moment I surveyed him, he was surrounded by an aggregate meeting of attorneys, each of whom claimed a title paramount to "the Counsellor," and vehemently enforced their respective rights to his exclusive appropriation. He seemed to be at a loss to determine to which of these amiable expostulators his predilections ought to be given. I thought that he chiefly hesitated between Mr. Richard Scott, the protector ers. * Mr. O'Loghlin's appearance was very distinguished. He had clear blue eyes, which almost seemed to smile, if I may so express it. His light hair curled closely and crisply on a head which was beautifully set upon his shouldHis figure was compact and light, and, as much as any one whom I recollect on the Munster Circuit, his neatness of attire evidenced that he cultivated the graces. In those days, barristers wore neither wigs nor gowns in the Assize Courts, on circuit, and thus every one could notice their "human face divine," without the professional accompaniments which so much change its expression. Mr. O'Connell very frequently wore a green sporting jacket, in the Assize Court-but his usual attire was the "customary suit of solemn black." He was careful, and rather felicitous, in the tie of his white cravat, but, when he warmed in a speech, he used to seize this article of his dress and pull it on one side or the other, occasionally varying the action, by twitching his black wig from right to left, and back again, as if to adjust it properly on his head. Mr. Wolfe, who subsequently became Chief Baron of the Exchequer, presented a marked contrast to O'Loghlin and O'Connell. He was careless in his attire, wore his garments as if he never had consulted a mirror, and had a habit of thrusting his long hands through his dark hair. He was tall in stature, awkward and angular in his movements, and swarthy in complexion. His voice, like that of most Irish barristers, was clear and strong; his utterance good; and his occasional emphacising very effective with juries.— M. of the subject in Ennis, and Mr. Edward Hickman, the patron of the crown, upon the Connaught circuit. Ned, a loyalist of the brightest water, had hold of him by one shoulder, while Dick, a patriot of the first magnitude, laid his grasp upon the other. Between their rival attractions, Mr. O'Loghlin stood with a look, which, so far from intimating that either of "the two charmers" should be away, expressed regret at his inability to apportion himself between these fascinating disputants for his favors. Mr. Scott, whose countenance was inflamed with anxiety for the numerous clients, exhibited great vehemence and emotion. His meteoric hair stood up, his quick and eager eye was on fire, the indentations upon his forehead were filled with perspiration, and the whole of his strongly Celtic visage was moved by that honorable earnestness, which arises from a solicitude for the interest of those who intrust their fortunes to his care. Ned Hickman, whose countenance never relinquishes the expression of mixed finesse and drollery for which it is remarkable, excepting when it is laid down for an air of profound reverence for the Attorney-General, was amusingly opposed to Mr. Scott; for Ned holds all emotion to be vulgar, and, on account of its gentility, hath addicted himself to self-control. Mr. O'Loghlin, as I have intimated, seemed for some time to waver between them, but at length Mr. Hickman, by virtue of a whisper, accompanied by a look of official sagacity (for he is one of the crown solicitors), prevailed, and was carrying Mr. O'Loghlin off in triumph, when a deep and rumbling sound was heard to issue from the Court of Exchequer, and shortly after, there was seen descending its steps, a form of prodigious altitude and dimensions, in whose masses of corpulency, which were piled up to an amazing height, I recognised no less eminent a person than Bumbo Green.* He came like an ambula * The individual known as "Bumbo" Green, was well known, in the Irish law-Courts, some five-and-twenty years ago. I saw him once and to see was to remember. He was an attorney in good practice; hailing, I believe, from the west of Ireland. He knew the private affairs of three fourths of the estated gentlemen in the counties of Galway and Clare, and no lawsuit of any importance was entered into, in that part of the world, without Mr. Green being em tory hill. This enormous heap of animation approached to put in his claim to Mr. O'Loghlin. Bumbo had an action, which was to be tried before Chief Baron O'Grady against the proprietor of the mail-coach to Ennis, for not having provided a vehicle large enough to contain him. Mr. O'Loghlin was to state his case. Bumbo had espied the capture which Ned Hickman had made of his favorite counsel. It was easy to perceive, from the expression of resolute severity which sat upon his vast and angry visage, that he was determined not to acquiesce in this unwarrantable proceeding. As he advanced, Ned Hickman stood appalled, and, conscious of the futility of remonstrance, let loose the hold which he had upon the Counsellor, while the latter, with that involuntary and somewhat reluctant, but inevitable submission, which is instinctively paid to great by little men, obeyed the nod of his enormous employer, and, with the homage which the Attorney-General for Lilliput might be supposed to entertain for a solicitor from Brobdignag, passively yielded to the do Το ployed, on one side or the other. He was "a noticeable man" (to use Coleridge's phrase)- but chiefly on account of his immense size. The great Daniel Lambert died before my time, so that I can not personally compare him with Bumbo Green;-I suspect that in corporeal extent there could not have been much difference. Mr. Green was the biggest man I ever saw. He was tall, but, from his obesity, appeared below the ordinary stature. He had a smiling, winning manner, and was liked, for his good temper and fun, by every one. see him attempt to sit down on the attorney's narrow bench was ludicrous in the extreme. What is called "the small of the back" he was not possessor of, and therefore to rest upon a narrow seat was as hopeless a task for him, as it would have been for a cherub-but from quite a different cause, "Bumbo" Green having a redundancy of what cherubs are so deficient in, that it is evident they never can sit for their portraits! Bumbo Green flourished in the anterailway era, and, on a journey, had to occupy and pay for two seats in the stage-coach. On one occasion, he ordered his servant to take two seats for him in the mail-coach from Ennis to Dublin. The man executed the command, but, being a rather green hand, only a few days in Green's employment, committed a trifling mistake. When Bumbo Green went to the coach-office, he found all the inside seats occupied, except one. His servant not knowing his habit, had taken the seats-one outside, and the other within! - Bumbo Green, like nearly all very stout men whom I have ever known, was fond of dancing, and danced lightly too. He had a great many good qualities, and the perpetual sunshine of good temper gleamed brightly over them all.-- M. minion, and followed into the Exchequer the gigantic waddle of Bumbo Green. But a truce to merriment. The merits of Mr. O'Loghlin, with whom I open this continuation of the Sketches of the Catholic Bar, are of a character which demand a serious and most respectful consideration. He is not of considerable standing, and yet is in the receipt of an immense income, which the most jealous of his competitors will not venture to insinuate that he does not deserve. He is in the utmost demand in the Hall of the Four Courts, and is among the very best of the commodities which are to be had in that staple of the mind. He is admitted, upon all hands, to be an excellent lawyer, and a master of the practice of the courts, which is of far greater importance than the black and recondite erudition, to which so many barristers exclusively devote so many years of unavailing labor. The questions to which deep learning is applicable are of frequent occurrence, while points connected with the course and forms of legal proceedings arise every day, and afford to a barrister, who has made them his study, an opportunity of rendering himself greatly serviceable to his clients. It is not by displays of research upon isolated occasions, that a valuable and money-making reputation is to be established. "Practice," as it is technically called, is the alchemy of the Bar. When it is once ascertained that a lawyer is master of it, he becomes the main resource of attorneys, who depend upon him for their guidance through the mazes of every intricate and complicated case. Mr. O'Loghlin has Tidd at his fingers' ends, and is, besides, minutely acquainted with that unwritten and traditional practice which governs Irish justice; and which, not having been committed to books, is acquired by an unremitting attention to what is going on in court.* * Mention has been made, in a previous note, of the rates of payment to the judges, varying from eight hundred to one thousand pounds sterling a year (the salaries of Irish Assistant-Barristers, Scottish Sheriffs, and English County Court Judges), to ten thousand pounds sterling per annum, the amount fixed, by Act of Parliament, as the Lord-Chancellor's official income. Those who are accustomed to the present very small remuneration allowed to the occupants of judicial seats in the United States may consider the British payment |