PREFACE. THESE pages do not profess to be a complete record of the jokes or humorous anecdotes connected with the English Bench and Bar. They are confined to those which appear to contain some of the elements of Wit and Wisdom, and rather to such incidents as are at once witty and wise than to those which come under only one of these heads. The field is immensely wide, and it is by no means easy in so small a compass to do anything like justice to it; for where there is so much which is admirable, the task of selection is a difficult one. On the other hand, it is not pretended that anything like a comprehensive outline of the subject is laid before the reader. Certain divisions have been selected, and under them there have been arranged what cannot be called more than specimens of the wealth of material which the diligent student |