learned judge in bitter jest to a counsel who was floundering hopelessly in the midst of a mass of dates; and every one who has at tended the law courts must have witnessed judicial bewilderment quite as painful, if less emphatically and sarcastically expressed. Mr. Huddleston possessed the gift of exposi tion in larger measure than any of his con temporaries with the exception of Sir Alex ander Cockburn; and he rose rapidly into wide and highly lucrative practice. He was marvellously successful in defending prisoners. Those cases in the law reports which commence with " Huddleston for the accused " usually close with the words " con viction quashed." His advocacy vindicated the character of Mrs. Firebrace, and helped Cockburn to secure the condemnation of Palmer. In 1857 he took silk. We may pause here conveniently to con sider Mr. Huddleston's parliamentary ca reer, which was extremely checkered. He stood in the Conservative interest unsuccess fully for the following constituencies : Wor cester (1852), Shrewsbury (1857), Kidder minster (1859 and 1861). In 1865 he was returned for Canterbury, which rejected him at the general election of 1868. Two years later he was defeated at Norwich. In Feb ruary, 1874, he was elected M. P. for the last-named constituency by a majority of 47 over the Liberal candidate Mr. Tillett. In the beginning of 1875 Sir John Karslake resigned the Attorney-Generalship in favor of Sir Richard Baggallay, and Mr. Huddle ston received the offer of the Solicitor-Gen eralship. But he remembered the majority of 47; and loyalty to his party, and possibly a pious determination like that of King Charles II. " not to set out on his travels again," induced him to decline the tempting prize. The Conservative Government did not forget Mr. Huddleston's self-denial. He was appointed a puisne judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and in May, 1875, became a Baron of the Court of Exchequer. Mr. Baron Huddleston, perhaps uncon sciously, but none the less certainly, intro
duced into English law a new theory as to the mutual relations of judge and jury. According to the old legal tradition which Charles Dickens caricatured in the person of Mr. Justice Stareleigh, the judge presiding at a trial had simply to present to the jury a clear but perfectly colorless summary of the evidence. " If you believe so and so, you will find for the defendant; if not, your ver dict will be for the plaintiff." Lord Camp bell, Lord Cockburn, and many other judges who might easily be named, had modified this rule to a certain extent. They seem to have believed that in complex cases it may be the duty of the judge, not only to assist but practically to advise the jury. Mr. Baron Huddleston held this belief without limitation. In his opinion the legal expert who sits upon the bench is not paid £5,000 a year simply to do for the jury what they can do for themselves, or to apply the musty rules of evidence, or to act the chairman at a public debate who preserves silence, and calls an angry disputant to order. Very different in his Lordship's view were the purposes of such appointments. He deemed it to be the bounden duty of a judge not only to form an opinion, but to express it; and he acted throughout upon this theory with a boldness and an ability of which contemporary legal history can furnish no parallel. To sit in Queen's Bench Court No. 4, and hear Baron Huddleston try a libel action with a special jury of the City of London was an intellectual banquet of the highest quality. Let us try to picture the scene. Before his lordship entered the court, the temperature was raised to 680; one of the two doors was locked, and heavy curtains were drawn round the judge's chair so as to banish the very pos sibility of a draught. Counsel took their seats, the well of the court was filled with witnesses, the passages were crammed with spectators, and in half an hour the thermometer stood at 750 in the shade. Then the ushers called, "Silence! " and pulled back the curtains. The judge entered, bowed to the bar, and took his seat on the bench. The curtains were re
