OLD NORFOLK CIRCUIT. 225 



town, the seclusion and exclusiveness of barristers when 

 on circuit was brought to an end, and barristers as well 

 as solicitors began to occupy the hotels, both for lodging 

 and meals, except indeed the leaders, who still kept to 

 their private lodgings. 



Between the years 1835 and 1840, Fitzroy Kelly and 

 his friend, Mr. Dasent, were convicted of bribery or 

 some other irregularity in connection with the elections 

 of Yarmouth and Norwich ; for this they were fined 

 and imprisoned, and a split ensued amongst certain 

 members of the Circuit, which separated it into two 

 parties, one clique going by the name of " Kelly's," and 

 the other " the Serjeant's " ; this latter group being 

 headed by Serjeant Storks, with Serjeant Byles, of 

 " Byles on Bills" fame, as coadjutor. The White Hart 

 was selected for the Bar mess of the Serjeant's party, 

 which eventually swallowed up the rival faction. Ayles- 

 bury came first on the Circuit, and in the charming 

 grounds of the hotel the members of the Bar were 

 accustomed to meet the magistracy and solicitors and 

 their friends. 



Of course at the Bar and Quarter Sessions dinners 

 many a good story was told. A woman was tried at 

 Quarter Sessions one day for robbing a man at Aston 

 Clinton. They were at a public-house together, when 

 the female picked the pocket of the man, who bore the 

 aristocratic name of Montague. Mr. Mordaunt Wells 

 (afterwards Mr. Serjeant and finally Sir Mordaunt, and 

 a Judge in India) cross-examined the prosecutor, en- 

 deavouring to prove to the best of his ability that the 

 man was drunk. He questioned him as to his con- 



Q 



