268
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
13unct)'s Utstts to some of ti)e (Koutts of ©urope.
midst all our long acquaint-
ance with " Camps and
Courts," we recollect no-
thing that can be compared
with the County Court in
justice is being administered on the other side of the window. The
traveller now pursues his way towards the Court itself, threading a
maze of human as well as wooden barricades ; for
what with the rails put up by the carpenter, and the
still stronger obstacle of suitors, the steering is ex-
ceedingly difficult through the sea of mortality that
leads by the Ushers' Straits to the Judges' Harbour.
It would be as well for every stranger intending to
Castle" Street. "Thoutjh" we B^^f^^Rvj reconnoitre this Court, that he should take with him
have never been regularly P^^Ml a guide' ,for the PeoPle employed on the spot are
presented at this Court, we g^^^SH remarkable for their ignorance of everything connected
have succeeded in making, . . L with the locality.
our way thither ; but we Quitting the menials on the floor, let us soar up to the lofty bench,
never have yet been, and and join the Judge> wno> refreshed by a buttered biscuit, regaled
we trust never shall be, ^y the scent of a bouquet, and irrigated by a stream from an
implicated in any of its adjacent decanter, pours forth his equitable decisions with a grace
very numerous levees The and dignity worthy of a higher tribunal. " His Lordship," " His
Castle Street County'Court H°n°ur'" " Lud,""Sir," and "You, sir," as he is promiscuously
has no pretension to archi- called °y the suitors or witnesses, in their various gradations of
tectural grandeur. The resPect or familiarity, has indeed hard work of it ; and a half-crown
facade is of the plainest harometer nailed to the wall on his right hand must be a most useful
deal; but, thrown up into gnide in enabling him to preserve that coolness which marks his
relief in 'the centre of a < demeanour, however hot and angry may be the contest between
dark-green portal, is—or ought to be—a bright 'brass knocker. Time, Pontiffs, defendants and visitors. The admirable discrimination he
and the boys—those inveterate enemies of everything great as well as of j exhibits when a rush of contradictory oaths comes upon him from all
everything little—have perhaps torn it away, and plucked out by the 9-uartfrs °f the Court at once, is really something astonishing , and it
very roots that tongue to tell the arrival of a visitor—that tongue » only the quickness of his intellect, sustained by the nicety of his
which every reader of Young's Night Thoughts* will recognise as the discretion, that can enable Mb. Moylak to administer justice with the
bell in the door-post. There is something wondrously humble in the , flrm°es8 and ?aciJlt?' for whY* he standf or rat,her 8its conspicuous,
entrance to that County Court of Castle Street! Nothing marks it as The bench ltseU 18 formed by one of those folding wash-hand stands,
the abode of Justice but a board over the top of the portal, bearing the, wmc,h °Pen so as tomake three compartments and the outside
simple words, "Westminster County Court;" and, if our recollection couPle are devoted to the decanter and bouquet, by which the judge is
does not deceive us, it is bounded on one side by a tailor's, as if all: s™*&me* P arduous, du*ies- ^e centre compartment is of course
who entered the County Court might be sewed up at the shortest > hollow> **mK intended for the wash-hand basin; but the learned judge
notjce i covers the round aperture with his " pad and note-book, while under
it he keeps his bag of biscuits, as well as a bottle of scent, when the
presence of one of the unwashed, as a party or a witness, brings a very
strong case before the county tribunal.
Over the bench, but quite out of everybody's sight—except the
usher's—is a clock, which is never right; and higher up is a skylight,
which is never open. On the right and left of the bench are seats
covered with green baize, intended, we suppose, for the reception ot
royal or illustrious visitors. On the left of the judge, but far enough
off to make it difficult to get at him without tumbling over an ink-
stand, sits the associate, on whose left is a square hole in the wall,
through which he is enabled to chat with the people in the next room,
or play at catch-ball by darting papers from one apartment to the
other through the little aperture. We must confess that none of this
pastime was going on during our visit, for the associate was hard at
work as long as we stayed, except when he was interrupted by the
shouts for silence and the bad jokes of the spectacled usher.
Opposite the bench is a raised division for plaintiff and defendant,
but the partition between them is too low to prevent that interchange
of high words, which in nine cases out of ten they are sure to come to.
The witnesses seem to consist of anybody who happens to be in the
way ; for we remarked, while we remained in court, that no fact stood
a moment unsupported for want of a witness. The plaintiff and
defendant took it in turns to swear down each other as long as a witness
was left on either side; and as the judge, very properly, seemed to say,
The admittance by the passage is easy enough, and reminds us of our " What am to do ? I must take the peoples' oaths ! " the trial became
old friend the Latin quotation— a kind of game at odd man, in which the suitor who could go on
_"facilis descensus Averni, longest bringing a fresh witness to the scratch, per force obtained the
Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, judgment in his favour.
Hie labor, hoc opus est; " As every alternate witness had to be summoned from a public-house
which may be literally rendered thus .- ; hard b^ tnere may be, perhaps^ a house of call for witnesses some-
. , , , where in the neighbourhood. Whenever a fact was waiting to be
Q^°tte" »K c^TcS deP°sed t0< the Par^ had °^ t0 rUQ t0 the Public-house, -hen he
The depths and dangers of the Law's abyss would return in a few minutes with somebody perfectly prepared to
'Tis really q^iite impossible to miss ;
But to escape that atmosphere of fees,
And taste once more a purer, healthier breeze ;
To quit that Court where ushers grandly frown,
Tellingthe various " parties " to stand down ;
To quit that Court—where Phipps enacts the Snob—
Aye, that's the labour—there's, indeed, the job.
On penetrating to the end of the passage, which is ornamented with
a series of poses plastiques, in the shape of drunken witnesses lolling
against the walls, the stranger finds himself in a species of hall, where
clerks are employed at various compartments, saying as little as they
can in answer to inquiries, and doing as little as possible. At one end
of this hall is a tremendous window, the lower part of which is formed
of ground glass, but through an upper pane of the glazed aperture the
top of a forensic wig is occasionally visible. The bobbing up and
down of this venerated horse-hair reveals by glimpses the fact that
* Youno, or somebody else—but, in our multiplicity of reading and research, we
may have made a mistake—calls a church-bell the " tongue of Time."
swear to anything. It might be a saving of time to count the
witnesses on both sides at once, and begin by giving a decision in
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.
13unct)'s Utstts to some of ti)e (Koutts of ©urope.
midst all our long acquaint-
ance with " Camps and
Courts," we recollect no-
thing that can be compared
with the County Court in
justice is being administered on the other side of the window. The
traveller now pursues his way towards the Court itself, threading a
maze of human as well as wooden barricades ; for
what with the rails put up by the carpenter, and the
still stronger obstacle of suitors, the steering is ex-
ceedingly difficult through the sea of mortality that
leads by the Ushers' Straits to the Judges' Harbour.
It would be as well for every stranger intending to
Castle" Street. "Thoutjh" we B^^f^^Rvj reconnoitre this Court, that he should take with him
have never been regularly P^^Ml a guide' ,for the PeoPle employed on the spot are
presented at this Court, we g^^^SH remarkable for their ignorance of everything connected
have succeeded in making, . . L with the locality.
our way thither ; but we Quitting the menials on the floor, let us soar up to the lofty bench,
never have yet been, and and join the Judge> wno> refreshed by a buttered biscuit, regaled
we trust never shall be, ^y the scent of a bouquet, and irrigated by a stream from an
implicated in any of its adjacent decanter, pours forth his equitable decisions with a grace
very numerous levees The and dignity worthy of a higher tribunal. " His Lordship," " His
Castle Street County'Court H°n°ur'" " Lud,""Sir," and "You, sir," as he is promiscuously
has no pretension to archi- called °y the suitors or witnesses, in their various gradations of
tectural grandeur. The resPect or familiarity, has indeed hard work of it ; and a half-crown
facade is of the plainest harometer nailed to the wall on his right hand must be a most useful
deal; but, thrown up into gnide in enabling him to preserve that coolness which marks his
relief in 'the centre of a < demeanour, however hot and angry may be the contest between
dark-green portal, is—or ought to be—a bright 'brass knocker. Time, Pontiffs, defendants and visitors. The admirable discrimination he
and the boys—those inveterate enemies of everything great as well as of j exhibits when a rush of contradictory oaths comes upon him from all
everything little—have perhaps torn it away, and plucked out by the 9-uartfrs °f the Court at once, is really something astonishing , and it
very roots that tongue to tell the arrival of a visitor—that tongue » only the quickness of his intellect, sustained by the nicety of his
which every reader of Young's Night Thoughts* will recognise as the discretion, that can enable Mb. Moylak to administer justice with the
bell in the door-post. There is something wondrously humble in the , flrm°es8 and ?aciJlt?' for whY* he standf or rat,her 8its conspicuous,
entrance to that County Court of Castle Street! Nothing marks it as The bench ltseU 18 formed by one of those folding wash-hand stands,
the abode of Justice but a board over the top of the portal, bearing the, wmc,h °Pen so as tomake three compartments and the outside
simple words, "Westminster County Court;" and, if our recollection couPle are devoted to the decanter and bouquet, by which the judge is
does not deceive us, it is bounded on one side by a tailor's, as if all: s™*&me* P arduous, du*ies- ^e centre compartment is of course
who entered the County Court might be sewed up at the shortest > hollow> **mK intended for the wash-hand basin; but the learned judge
notjce i covers the round aperture with his " pad and note-book, while under
it he keeps his bag of biscuits, as well as a bottle of scent, when the
presence of one of the unwashed, as a party or a witness, brings a very
strong case before the county tribunal.
Over the bench, but quite out of everybody's sight—except the
usher's—is a clock, which is never right; and higher up is a skylight,
which is never open. On the right and left of the bench are seats
covered with green baize, intended, we suppose, for the reception ot
royal or illustrious visitors. On the left of the judge, but far enough
off to make it difficult to get at him without tumbling over an ink-
stand, sits the associate, on whose left is a square hole in the wall,
through which he is enabled to chat with the people in the next room,
or play at catch-ball by darting papers from one apartment to the
other through the little aperture. We must confess that none of this
pastime was going on during our visit, for the associate was hard at
work as long as we stayed, except when he was interrupted by the
shouts for silence and the bad jokes of the spectacled usher.
Opposite the bench is a raised division for plaintiff and defendant,
but the partition between them is too low to prevent that interchange
of high words, which in nine cases out of ten they are sure to come to.
The witnesses seem to consist of anybody who happens to be in the
way ; for we remarked, while we remained in court, that no fact stood
a moment unsupported for want of a witness. The plaintiff and
defendant took it in turns to swear down each other as long as a witness
was left on either side; and as the judge, very properly, seemed to say,
The admittance by the passage is easy enough, and reminds us of our " What am to do ? I must take the peoples' oaths ! " the trial became
old friend the Latin quotation— a kind of game at odd man, in which the suitor who could go on
_"facilis descensus Averni, longest bringing a fresh witness to the scratch, per force obtained the
Sed revocare gradum, superasque evadere ad auras, judgment in his favour.
Hie labor, hoc opus est; " As every alternate witness had to be summoned from a public-house
which may be literally rendered thus .- ; hard b^ tnere may be, perhaps^ a house of call for witnesses some-
. , , , where in the neighbourhood. Whenever a fact was waiting to be
Q^°tte" »K c^TcS deP°sed t0< the Par^ had °^ t0 rUQ t0 the Public-house, -hen he
The depths and dangers of the Law's abyss would return in a few minutes with somebody perfectly prepared to
'Tis really q^iite impossible to miss ;
But to escape that atmosphere of fees,
And taste once more a purer, healthier breeze ;
To quit that Court where ushers grandly frown,
Tellingthe various " parties " to stand down ;
To quit that Court—where Phipps enacts the Snob—
Aye, that's the labour—there's, indeed, the job.
On penetrating to the end of the passage, which is ornamented with
a series of poses plastiques, in the shape of drunken witnesses lolling
against the walls, the stranger finds himself in a species of hall, where
clerks are employed at various compartments, saying as little as they
can in answer to inquiries, and doing as little as possible. At one end
of this hall is a tremendous window, the lower part of which is formed
of ground glass, but through an upper pane of the glazed aperture the
top of a forensic wig is occasionally visible. The bobbing up and
down of this venerated horse-hair reveals by glimpses the fact that
* Youno, or somebody else—but, in our multiplicity of reading and research, we
may have made a mistake—calls a church-bell the " tongue of Time."
swear to anything. It might be a saving of time to count the
witnesses on both sides at once, and begin by giving a decision in
Werk/Gegenstand/Objekt
Titel
Titel/Objekt
Punch's Visits to some of the Courts of Europe
Weitere Titel/Paralleltitel
Serientitel
Punch
Sachbegriff/Objekttyp
Inschrift/Wasserzeichen
Aufbewahrung/Standort
Aufbewahrungsort/Standort (GND)
Inv. Nr./Signatur
H 634-3 Folio
Objektbeschreibung
Maß-/Formatangaben
Auflage/Druckzustand
Werktitel/Werkverzeichnis
Herstellung/Entstehung
Künstler/Urheber/Hersteller (GND)
Entstehungsdatum
um 1847
Entstehungsdatum (normiert)
1842 - 1852
Entstehungsort (GND)
Auftrag
Publikation
Fund/Ausgrabung
Provenienz
Restaurierung
Sammlung Eingang
Ausstellung
Bearbeitung/Umgestaltung
Thema/Bildinhalt
Thema/Bildinhalt (GND)
Literaturangabe
Rechte am Objekt
Aufnahmen/Reproduktionen
Künstler/Urheber (GND)
Reproduktionstyp
Digitales Bild
Rechtsstatus
Public Domain Mark 1.0
Creditline
Punch, 12.1847, January to June, 1847, S. 268
Beziehungen
Erschließung
Lizenz
CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication
Rechteinhaber
Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg