“With courteous phrase and winning smiles
    He led me gently on;
  I fell a victim to his wiles—­
    But how he changed anon! 
  ‘Oh, you’re prepared to swear to that!’
    And, ‘Now, sir, just take care!’
  And, ‘Come, be cautious what you’re at!’
    With questions hard to bear.

  “And when he’d turned me inside out,
    He turned me outside in;
  I knew not what I was about—­
    My brain was all a-spin,
  I’m shaking now with nervous fright,
    And since I left the court
  I’ve changed my dream-opinion quite—­
    I don’t think Hawkins sport!”

Before concluding the evening, Toole said,—­

“You remember your joke, Sir Henry, about Miss Brain and her black kids?”

“Not for the world, not for the world, my dear Toole!”

“Not for the world, Sir Henry, not for the world; only for us; not before the boys!  You said it was the best joke you ever made.”

“And the worst.  But I was not a Judge then.”]

CHAPTER XLII.

A FULL MEMBER OF THE JOCKEY CLUB.

I knew a great many men connected with the Turf, from the highest to the humblest; but although I have spent the most agreeable hours amongst them, there is little which, if written, would afford amusement:  everything in a story, a repartee, or a joke depends, like a jewel, on its setting.  At Lord Falmouth’s, my old and esteemed friend, I have spent many jovial and happy hours.  He was one of the most amiable of hosts, and of a boundless hospitality; ran many distinguished horses, and won many big races.  I used to drive with him to see his horses at exercise before breakfast, and in his company visited some of the most celebrated men of the day, who were also amongst the most distinguished of the Turf.  Amongst these was Prince B——­, whose fate was the saddest of all my reminiscences of the Turf.  I almost witnessed his death, for it took place nearly at the moment of my taking leave of him at the Jockey Club.  There was a flight of stairs from where I stood with him, leading down to the luncheon-room, and there he appears to have slipped and fallen.

I don’t know that it was in consequence of this accident, or whether it had anything to do with it, but I seemed after this sad event to have practically broken my connection with the Turf, and yet perhaps I was more intimately attached to it than ever, for Lord Rosebery asked me (I being an honorary member of the Jockey Club) whether there was any reason, so far as my judicial position was concerned, why I should not be elected a full member.  I said there was none.  So his lordship proposed me, and I was elected.