Curiosities of Legal Experience. 493 



full appreciation of what those sufferings are. The case about to be 

 extracted from my journal was the one which interested me more 

 than any others which occurred to me in practice. 

 MRS. SHERBORNE. 



August 15. Went by appointment to square: shown into 



the breakfast-room, and Mrs. Sherborne not appearing immediately, 

 looked for the twentieth time at her exquisite portrait over the 

 mantelpiece. I wonder who drew that picture ; is is one of the very 

 few I ever coveted. She is seated at a round table in a sort of 

 amber-coloured dress, with some lace-work in her hand ; the pale 

 fq.ce and high clear forehead are set in a frame of dark hair, and, 

 from the way the eyes are fixed on vacancy, she seems to have just 

 laid down her work and looked up for awhile to think. The lips are 

 slightly parted; there is even a smile about the mouth, and yet, I 

 know not how, the general expression is indescribably mournful. It 

 would be no likeness otherwise, for I never saw a more unhappy- 

 looking woman. * * * 



Mein. Nearly caught soliloquizing by Mrs. S. Bad business 

 I fear. Can her husband interfere with her property or prevent it 

 going to her children ? &c. Separation, I suppose, by-and-by. It 

 was a Gretna Green trip, and, though that is the opposite way, it is 

 frequently the shortest road to Doctors' Commons. 



Aug. 27. Note from Mrs. S. : in case of separation who do children 

 go to '( &c. Ah ! it's a clear case. Best thing, I dare say. Mr. 

 Sherborne is a regular gambler, constantly at the Hells unlucky too ; 

 so Brown says, and he ought to know, poor devil ! What a 

 wretched animal that Brown is ; " a youth of gaming, an old age 

 of wine ; " red nose, cheeks, and chin, looks like a five of diamonds, 

 or a parchment MS. with red ink alterations. 



Sept. 10. Saw Mrs. Sherborne : long conversation. Mr. S. always 

 wanting money ; has been pressing her for a long time to join him 

 in raising some on her property ; threatens to make her repent 

 refusing; comes home intoxicated, and tries to frighten her; talks 

 of taking away the children. No acts of personal violence ; no 

 reason to suspect him of infidelity, &c. It won't do ; besides he may 

 keep the children. Recommended separation by mutual consent. 



Mem. Mrs. S. very interesting woman. 



[I afterwards learned that she was a Miss Winston, and had mar- 

 ried Mr. S. when very young, against the wishes of all her friends. 

 He was a man of gentlemanly exterior and plausible manners, con- 

 siderably older than herself, and a widower when the acquaintance 

 began. No doubt her fortune was the main attraction; yet there 

 must have been some mixture of better feelings, as they lived hap- 

 pily together for several years. His first wife, a Mrs. Clayton, sur- 

 vived the marriage for a few months only ; he was at that time re- 

 siding in the United States, chiefly at Philadelphia.] 



Aug. 23. Feeling interested in Mrs. S., I told Brown to bring me 

 any intelligence he could pick up of Mr. S.'s proceedings : so he 

 came to dinner yesterday. It seems S. is a constant attendant at the 



Hell in Street, and has graduated regularly in the gambling 



universities, that is, entered as pigeon, passed his little-go with the 



