NORTHALLERTON SESSIONS 239 



had been kept going for generations. When I used to go, 

 there was a great deal more of 1847 vintage than could 

 be consumed, in the ordinary way, and the corks were 

 getting a little doubtful. Much of it was turned over to 

 wine merchants for wines of later vintages, and thus the 

 cellar was kept in proper order for the future as well as 

 for the then present. 



I am not sure whether it was in my first year at the Bar 

 or the second and it does not matter which that I had 

 a curious experience of work at Northallerton. I had 

 to judge fox-terriers at the Crystal Palace, with the Hon. 

 Tom Fitzwilliam as a colleague, and I had to be at North- 

 allerton for the Sessions the following morning. That 

 may not seem a very difficult job, but the classes to be 

 judged were big ones very different from what they are 

 nowadays and it took us from about n A.M. to 4 P.M. 

 to finish them. No judge whom I ever met was so com- 

 pletely at one with me as he was, and there was no difficulty 

 on that score. Still, the task was a tiring one, and when I 

 got back to town there was only just time to dine hastily 

 and get away by the night train. Most people could have 

 slept peacefully, but not so I. I had been strung up by 

 that judging and sleep would have been quite out of the 

 question. I had a catalogue and kept worrying over it 

 and wondenng whether all our awards had been right. 



The train arrived at York at 2 A.M. and theie was an 

 interval of four hours before there was one which would 

 stop at Northallerton. Again the idea of sleep was out 

 of the question, and as I had four briefs I went into the 

 Station Hotel to read them. This was better than reading 

 the catalogue, and in the run between York and North- 

 allerton the time passed quite easily. I arrived there in 

 plenty of time to get into shape for breakfast with the 

 others, and then we went into court. 



I did my work in the way of prosecuting sundry alleged 

 criminals, and if the afternoon brought on a feeling of 

 drowsiness, it was only because the proceedings were 

 devoid of interest. That evening after dinner I sat with 



