As I proceeded the attorney fidgeted, puffed out his cheeks, blew out his breath, twirled his thumbs as I twirled his figures, and grated his teeth as he looked at me sideways, while I concluded a little peroration I had got up for him, which was merely to this effect, that if railway companies yielded to such extortionate demands as were made by this attorney on behalf of the poulterers’ company, they would not leave their shareholders a feather to fly with.

The attorney looked very much like moulting himself, and the end of it was that he got two thousand pounds less than we had offered him in the morning, and consequently had to pay all the costs.

As I have stated, John Horatio Lloyd was my principal opponent in these great public works cases, and I remember him with every feeling of respect.  He was an advocate whom no opponent could treat lightly, and was uniformly kind and agreeable.

Of course I had a very large experience in those times—­I suppose, without vanity, I may say the very largest.  I was retained to assess compensation for the immense blocks of buildings acquired for the space now occupied by the Law Courts.  In the very early cases the law. officers of the Crown were concerned, but after that the whole of the business was entrusted to my care, although for reasons best known to themselves the Commissioners declined to send me a general retainer, which would have been one small sum for the whole, but gave instead a special retainer on every case.  If my memory serves me, on one occasion I had ninety-four of these special retainers delivered at my chambers.  This was in consequence of their refusing to retain me generally for the whole, which would have been a nominal fee of five guineas.

CHAPTER XXVI.

ELECTION PETITIONS.

Another class of work which gave me much pleasure and interest was that of election petitions.  These came in such abundance that I had to put on, as I thought, a prohibitory fee, which in reality increased the volume of my labour.

One day Baron Martin asked me if I was coming to such and such an election petition.

“No,” I answered, “no; I have put a prohibitory fee on my services; I can’t be bothered with election petitions.”

“How much have you put on?”

“Five hundred guineas, and two hundred a day.”

The Baron laughed heartily.  “A prohibitory fee!  They must have you, Hawkins—­they must have you.  Put on what you like; make it high enough, and they’ll have you all the more.”

And I did.  It turned out a very lucrative branch of my business, and my electioneering expenses were a good investment.  My experience at Barnstaple, to be told hereafter, repaid the outlay, and no feature of an election ever came before me but I recognized a family likeness.

Amongst the earliest was that of W.H.  Smith, who had been returned for Westminster.  The petitioner endeavoured to unseat him on the ground of bribery, alleged to have been committed in paying large sums of money for exhibiting placards on behalf of the candidate.  It was tried before Baron Martin.