Indeed the consequences of it were sometimes ludicrous enough. When, for
instance, one of those syrens who perambulate our fashionable streets
after the sun has gone down, happened to be brought up to answer some
charge that came under his jurisdiction, Sir Spigot's custom always was
to put his glass to the safe eye, and peer at her in the dock; which
act, when taken in connection with the grin and the droop of the glass
eye, seemed to the spectators as if he and she understood each other,
and that the wink in question was a kind of telegraphic dispatch sent
to let her know that she had a friend on the bench. Sir Spigot was deaf,
too, a felicitous circumstance, which gave him peculiar facility in the
decision of his cases.
The name of his brother on the bench was Coke, who acted in the capacity
of what is termed a law magistrate. It is enough, however, to say, that
he was a thin man, with a long, dull face, a dull eye, a dull tongue, a
dull ear, and a dull brain. His talents for ambiguity were surprising,
and it always required a hint from the senior of the office, Darby,
to enable him to understand his own decisions.
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