Punch (14.1848)

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MR. BRIEFLESS.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.

mr. briefless takes part of a set of chambers.

Being now launched on the professional sea—a sea that was dread-
fully motion-less at my first outset—I resolved (if I may be allowed a
nautical simile) on nailing my wig to the mast, and scudding away under
as much black stuff as my gown was composed of. I should observe,

bv the way, that the purchase of a wig requires con- during the three months of my professional blockade,

chambers were declared to be in a state of siege, and the outer door
being closely shut, I had three glorious months of the barricade
at my first entrance into my profession. As it was impossible to cul-
tivate a connection through a key-hole, or give opinions in a series
of parleys, for which the chink in the letter-box was the only avail-
able medium, I did not find my clients flock to me as rapidly as I
expected. The clerk, I found, was altogether an imaginary being; but
my landlord excused the absence of this officer, by saying the last he
had, had run away and robbed him of everything. I thought the state
of the chambers might be a guarantee for the honesty of the next; but
as the subject would probably be a sore one, I allowed it to drop,

siderable "judgment, for there are various qualities of ,-----, at tlie end of which period I was glad to escape from

forensic horsehair, from the chump end of the tail of \ my most ^comfortable tenancy,

the omnibus hack, to the silken mane of the thorough-
bred racer. The eye of the keen observer will soon
detect the difference if he goes into a Court of Law or

Equitv, for he will be sure to see some of the gentle- IISR'I5^! ^ ^LEDICAL MAIDEN,

men of the bar wigged in a material exquisitely fine, An American contemporary stat es 1 hat a young lady

while others will wear on their heads stuff that you ffif g _a Miss Blackwell-is now attending as a student

might swear had been fresh plundered from the over- M | at one of the medical lecture-rooms at Boston. ■ Her

driven animal on the adjacent cab-stand. I disdained Jj | ]S 2G_for ghe has thj} gense tQ tfiU y. ag u a§

the.ropy coiffure, and selected the superior article to study medicine. She sits down at the class, and

having been assured by the artisan that the better sort JBg*i takes -ff hgr bonQet lhereby di la in considerable

of wig would be worth an extra guinea as stuffing for gffl<^g?J fc^ personal attractions ; and her presence has the remark-

an easy chair whenever I might be disposed to retire IiBM;¥ \ able effect of producing decorum in an assembly of

Irom the profession. EHN?'<$ 1 medical students. We admire Miss Black well,

My next care was to secure chambers, where I ||»iL V* ,'E*'~ '! though we have never seen her. She is qualifying

might make known to an expectant world the interest- flBjgsKg^p ' herself for that very important dut y of a good wife—

mg fact ot my advocacy being m the market, by having WSSr^' % tending a husband in sickness. She* is acquiring what

my name inscribed in letters of appropriate length, I§K~ 'M { to ladies would be very useful information—a knowledge

on some door and door-post. My friends had recom- mHsitflZMm-* of the distinction between real and fanciful ailments :

mended, and my purse—which never stood my friend BBB»P^I«K^h also, of the consequences of want of exercise, damp

to any amount worth speaking of—echoed the advice, M^tl^mim^ ' feet, and tight lacing. As a mother, she will have

that I should take chambers in conjunction with some flW llE learned better than to dose her children with Dally

a

the clerk's desk; and a couple of hundred of coals
occupying the other half of the apartment, must have
formed the stool for the clerk to sit down upon.
As the enjoyment of this room, though mutual, was
to be by deputy, I did not demur to the accommo-
dation, for I supposed my landlord knew more than I
did of the arrangements necessary for keeping a clerk,
which seemed to be about on a par with those required

for keeping a cat, or any other domestic animal. me- j0hn bullafter an attack

We rapidly came to terms, and my name figured
in due time on the outer door and at the bottom

women.

other barrister. I repaired to the hair-dresser s in the MWnWflffl and Dalby, or to take her monthly nurse's advice

iemple, and commenced the perusal of all those notices «K+1111111$ instead of the doctor's. America is certainly going

which make his window almost as amusing as the «|lllli3l^ a-head of us in respect of the medical profession, for

advertising columns of a newspaper. I read how <W§^~W'? in that country it contains at least one young lady;

chambers were to be had in entire sets, demi-sets, and WSm^WTi which is better than, as in England, including many old
aemi-semi-sets, with undivided moieties of clerks, and
occasionally " the use of a cat," or " half a laundress."
I was soon tempted by a notification that a gentleman

who had " no use for the whole of his chambers,"- l^pT W LIVERY OE SEISIN,

or, indeed, tor anything at all, as I subsequently found JB?- (jj ; JK\

out—" was willing to share the accommodation" with fljr; *y§o When it was understood, a fortnight or so back,
any one who was disposed to pay for the right to WMF^k/^ nf, Mons. Guizot had escaped from Paris in the
participate. Wm ^f^^ ft ' disguise of a servant, there was not a flunkey in livery
Having carefully copied the address, I hastened to JKft R jo. who arrived at any one of the English ports, who was
the advertiser's abode, and found in it a gentleman BSn . M /111/ not waited upon by the landlord with peculiar respect,
without a coat, and without a waistcoat; but by way ffiSm yII\v lift ant^ wno ^ no* rece^ve most corulial greetings from
of making up for the deficiency, he wore a pair of very Iffillr A N II I ^'ie tradesmen of the neighbourhood. We under-
massive spectacles. The room was redolent of tobacco: EH^M^ 1*1 stand that several footmen, taking advantage of the
but, supposing that my intended landlord might have Ntt^ iBr P mistake, availed themselves largely of loans placed at
a great cigar case among the other cases in his IIB/lK1 ll\ \ ^'tie'r serv^ce °y the noodles in the provinces; and
chambers, 1 took little note of the scent; and, recol- *UJ» VW^ltv'^ there is still an unprincipled scamp going about
lecting that " the rose by any other name would smell ^^wS fl VrKjj Margate in a magnificent suit of livery, borrowing
as sweet," I fancied that the reverse of the maxim HJ BJ money in all directions as the Ex-Premier of France,
would hold good, and that the business might be IKS Bo uPon tne strength of his velveteen smalls, and a tre-
very flourishing, though the chambers were in bad JPk mendous aiguilette made out of a bell-rope pulled
odour. II1-1 | Br IS down from the coffee-room of the Sow and Sauce-
I bargained for the occupation of a small cabinet, 5 J| I II boat, from which he decamped, quitting the family in
intending to remain there till I had time to turn myself || &J ^ whose service he was, for the prospect open to him in
round, though really there was scarcely space for such f \ | || |[ O assuming the character of Guizot
^ pirouette. I was informed that the use of the clerk's
room would be oommon to both myself and my in-
tended landlord. On looking at the " room" I found P ~SZ tltlo - chacun a son gout.
it to consist of a small cupboard, half blocked up bv ^ § ' , , , . „ .,
a^itchen dresser, which I presume was intended for ^ ^^H^^ 1 . An advertisement we have read in all the papers,

The Great Unburdened.

Great complaints some time ago were made re-
specting the burdens on the landed interest; but we
. - .. - have heard little about them lately. The less that, is

of the staircase. As my occupancy was destined to said on this subject the better. Whilst a tradesman's

of income-tax.

informs us of an invention, called " Dr. Radcliffe's medi-
cated pad for the gout." _ We presume that the article
alluded to, must be a medicated footpad—a phenomenon
with which we should like an interview.

be short, I shall be very brief in my remarks upon it; nor could
i be content to dwell on such a subject, for to say the truth, it
was by no means inviting as a dwelling-place. I found that my
landlord was so beset by duns from morning till night, that the

widow pays a probate tax of £30 on £1000 worth of her husband's stock-
in-trade the heir to £100,000 worth of freehold property has to pay no
legacy duty at all. The landlords made the laws. Whatever may be the
burdens upon the landed interest, that of a conscience is not one of them.