SMALL DAMAGES 151 



dragged him to the door, downstairs into the street, but 

 not without some little trouble. When there, he showed 

 fight, and we both rolled in the road together, and, upon 

 one or two of the others coming to see the result, he 

 walked mutterino- away. 



A few days after this unpleasant affair (for I never got 

 my five pounds), I Avas presented with a writ, at the suit 

 of this said Israelite, for assault and battery, in which he 

 laid his damages at £100. This gave me not the least 

 uneasiness, as I knew that my friends would make common 

 cause with me. 



The trial came off at the next ensuing summer assizes, 

 at ^Vinchester, before Mr. Justice Gazelee, a Portsmouth 

 man. We had engaged the leading counsel on the circuit. 

 The case was called on, and the court was crowded. 

 After the usual argument by counsel on both sides, and 

 the examination of witnesses, the judge summed up ; and 

 adverting to the trivial nature of the case, and dwelling 

 with emphasis on the provocation given by the plaintiff's 

 calling the defendant a smock-faced boy, his Lordship told 

 the jury the smallest coin in the King's dominions would 

 be sufficient remuneration. The jury, mthout retiring, 

 returned a verdict, damages sixpence. I was standing in 

 an elevated position, directly opposite the judge, and at 

 the moment threw a sixpence on the green cloth, round 

 which the counsellors sat, which elicited a loud laugh 

 from the whole court. We then celebrated our victory 

 at the " George," over an excellent dinner, at which the 

 volubility and antics of a London waiter added amuse- 

 ment to our carousals. 



It was full twenty years after this occurrence when. 



