490 Sketch from the Irish Bench. [Nov. 
an improper acquittal. A petition has recently been forwarded for 
presentation to parliament, praying for his removal from the bench, and 
charging him with a lethargic indulgence. of sleep while in the per- 
formance of his official duties. A story.is, currentthat Ministers, 
desiring his resignation, had ordered a certain high official personage to 
wait upon the old gentleman, and intimate their wishes. | Lord Norbury, 
it is said, aware of the circumstance, contrived to be first in the field; 
and, alluding to the current report, pointed to his pistols, as the reply he 
should make to any one daring enough to charge himself with such a 
requisition.* This of course had its effect, and the intimation remained 
within the breast of the diplomatist. How far this story is founded we 
know not: but this much is clear, that one part of the then Solicitor- 
general Bushe’s observation on the late Lord Downes, applies equally to 
Lord Norbury, namely, that he has every virtue on earth except resig- 
nation. 
With Lord Norbury’s private life the public have nothing to do; as 
we do not admit the most irreproachable private conduct. to be a valid 
plea against a charge of ministerial wrong, so we think,personal failings 
can add nothing to the reproach.., ue 
With less ambition to be eternally witty, and with less; carelessness in 
uttering whatever occurs to a fantastic imagination, Lord Norbury 
might have earned the reputation of a first-rate wit. . Many of his bon 
mots are of the highest raciness, and include not only point, but causticity 
and philosophical truth. Had Fortune made this nobleman the eldest 
son of his family, he might have passed through life with credit, as a. 
highflying Tory squire and a jolly country gentleman; but in making 
him a judge, she has done a great deal more than we have space or 
inclination to dwell upon at the end of this long articley The times are 
gone by, we believe for ever, when such men can.agaim attain to such 
distinctions: we shall not readily “ look upon:his»like. again ;’ and we 
hope his Lordship will not take it ill, if, for the sake of “'Ould Ireland,” 
we are not very sorry for it; or if, when he retires’from his public 
career, we do not say, as of his facetious prototype Falstaff, —« That we 
could have better spared a better man.” a e. 
—_———— ET OO™7DWL 
* And a manly reply, if not quite a regular one.—Eb. 
+ In conversation with one of the Lords-Lieutenant, the. Viceroy expressed his 
surprise that none of his predecessors had drained a certain pond, which made the 
Lodge damp and uncomfortable. Lord Norbury replied, that, he, could only account 
for the fact by the supposition that they had been too much occupied in draining the 
rest of the country, — 
