AT A ROSE-SHOW. 275 



cially anxious to obtain an acquittal. He pre- 

 sented himself in deep mourning, and wore the 

 expression of a simple, modest citizen, who really 

 didn't know what a tandem was. He placed a 

 pile of ancient tomes by his side (Greek lexicons 

 for the most part, and Latin dictionaries lent to 

 him by the undergraduates), and with his brow 

 knit as in anxious thought, and his finger upon 

 the page (generally upside down), he consulted 

 them from time to time, during his trial, upon 

 difficult points of law. He bowed to the court at 

 intervals with a most profound respect, and he 

 addressed the Doctor as ''My Lord Judge," ''Your 

 Grace," and "Venerable Sir." But when the 

 verdict was given, and the defendant heavily fined, 

 I never saw anything in dissolving views so mar- 

 vellous as Tom Perrin. He set his hat jauntily on 

 the side of his head ; he shut his lexicons with a 

 bang, and, confronting his judge Avith a look of 

 scorn and disgust, he said — " MacBride, if this 



be law, hequity, or justice, I'm ," well, let us 



say, something which happens to a brook, when 

 its waters are arrested by a temi>orary barrier con- 

 structed across the stream. 



So does our Irascible Exhibitor now glare 

 around him with " the dragon eyes of angered 

 Eleanor." He would like a revival of those days 

 18* 



