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dissatisfaction, which broke out into a good cry before she reached the outer door. Mr. Barry's indiscriminate " Ma-dam-ising " had a magical effect, and acted as a soothing balm to the ignorant dames of the lower grade of society. M a n y took it as a compliment for such a great m a n to speak in an unknown tongue to them. But one day, an old lady w h o kept an oyster shop in Little Bourke Street, was suing a cab-driver for an unpaid shell-fish account, and when she was treated to the eloquent infliction, misapprehending the allusion to the male sex, and the "out-stripping" propriety, she defiantly exclaimed : " Look ye here, m y nice bit of a bloke with your rigged up jasey. Y o u gab a deal about gents and unstripping, but I tell you what, m e fine cove, if I was m y Bill, and not Bill's ould ooman, so help m e Bob, if I wouldn't stack m y duds there foreninst you on theflure,and have a go into you slick off. C o m e now, that's the chat, and I don't care that for you " (snapping her fingers). T h e bland Commissioner was horrified, but what could he d o ? H e could not under any circumstances take up the gage of battle half thrown down ; and it wouldn't look well to have the pugilistic termagant locked up. H e was obliged to swallow the retort which he did with a ludicrously austere grimace, and by his directions the "lady "was bundled out; but the laugh at him was such as he must have remembered for m a n y a long day after. In addition to the regular Court staff, there was a " small fry " k n o w n as sub-bailiffs taken on when business was brisk, and they were often the cause of m u c h worry to the urbane Commissioner. S o m e were arrant rascals, and used to harass the poorer people by the manner in which they levied under distress warrants. N o w and then one or other of these fellows got well thrashed by some ill-treated defendant, and on the fracas being reported to the Commissioner, if he found that the bailiff in any way deserved what he complained of, he not only did not sympathise with the official, but dismissed him to boot. O n the other hand, where his legal minions were unjustly maltreated, he took the offenders into the Police Court, and appeared there himself to obtain satisfaction for the wounded feelings or contused head of his deputy. S o m e of the " Little-Go" bailiffs did well out of their business, not in the way of pickings or perquisites, but in small usurious transactions, justifiable according to the strict letter of the law, but most certainly on the shady side of equity. Having saved up a nest-egg in dry money, they put their shillings and pounds out to hatch amongst the hard-up, though not insolvent, customers of the Court, and m a n y clutches of golden chicks were multiplied therefrom. Sometimes a glaring case of something verging on gross extortion would come to light, and though the Commissioner would see a technical difficulty to his actively interposing, he would censure, and caution, and wasfinallydriven to issue a prohibition against any of the officers of his Court engaging in such generally lucrative, though sometimes hazardous, speculations. In one notable instance he was cooly defied by an underling w h o had landed m a n y a good haul of the goldfish,and the consequence was that the recusant was obliged to disconnect himself from the establishment, but he little cared about the consequences, for he died one of the wealthiest m e n of his time. M u c h dissatisfaction was felt at the smallness of the jurisdiction of the Court of Requests, as both expense and delay were entailed by the recovery of debts in the Supreme Court, wherein all claims exceeding ,£10 (except servants' wages) were determined; and on 26th May, 1846, a public meeting was held with the Mayor (Dr. Palmer) presiding, to petition the Government for an extension of the jurisdiction of the Court from ,£10 to £30. A memorial was prepared, numerously signed, and transmitted to Sydney. T h e Superintendent strongly recommended its prayer, and the result was that by the commencement of the ensuing year the favour asked for was granted. In 1847 the Commissioner's pay was raised from ,£100 to ,£250 ; T h e Registrar's from ,£100 to ,£200 ; and the Bailiffs' (two) from ,£40 to ,£70 each, with an extra hand at ,£30 per annum. T h efirst,£30 sitting of the Court was held on the 7th April, 1847, before the Commissioner and two Assessors (Messrs. Isaac Buchanan and Charles Bradshaw). T h e only member of the Bar present was Mr. Stawell, and thefirstcase on the list was Boursiquot v. Fulton, for the recovery of £2$ 7s. 9d., for advertising in the Melbourne Daily Netvs, and there was a verdict for the defendant. As the Court acquired additional powers and importance it decreased in fun. Nearly all the spontaneous drollcy of the "Little-Go" had disappeared, and a solemn sameness ruled in its place. T h e Commissioner sat enthroned, as lugubrious-looking as an undertaker on duty, and the Assessors were as staid and silent as a pair of mutes. Even the voluble tongue of the inharmonious crier had lost m u c h of its intermittent elasticity. T h e ,£30 -jurisdiction communicated this [despondency to the ,£10 branch, and all was dull as ditchwater during the residue of the Barry reign, O f course there were exceptions, when a strayflashof