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Judge Willis, so he escaped the unpleasantness of any disedifying Court scenes with the eccentric ex-functionary. M r . Stawell was a smart, wiry, determined-looking young m a n , w h o lost no time in setting to work, leading, however, the reverse of the Anchorite's life. T h e Horatian motto of duke est desipere in loco was not displeasing to him ; and though a study of sheepskin converted into parchment was not neglected, the Templar was often more at h o m e anchored in a pigskin, astride a sprited quadruped, the livelier and wickeder the better, for though sometimes the rider would come, if not to grief, to the ground, it took a consummate "buck-jumper" to execute a deed of separation between m a n and horse. T h e first time I saw Stawell was not m a n y months after his arrival, and he was residing in a small brick cottage in Little Lonsdale Street West. I went from a newspaper office to m a k e some inquiry about a Supreme Court case in which he was retained. M y knock was answered by a thoughtful-looking young m a n , loosely garbed in a blue serge short overshirt then m u c h worn in the bush. N o t personally knowing M r . Stawell, I asked for him, and was rather taken aback by an answer informing m e that the individual wanted stood before m e . I fancied he noticed m y surprise, for he smiled, m a d e himself agreeable enough, and gave m e what I c a m e about. I was then a mere Irish stripling, but even at school had acquired some reputation as a face reader amongst m y companions. O n m y way back to the office, pondering over what I had seen, m y thoughts, if put in words, would run almost literally in this strain, "Well, if that be the n e w arrival about w h o m I have been hearing so much, he seems a careless, fair and easyish sort of fellow ; but still there is something about the lines of his mouth, an earnestness in his eyes, and an unmistakableness perched on the top of his nose, from which I should be disposed to think that he will m a k e his mark in Melbourne, and I shall hear a good deal about him before I die." T h e events of the forty years that have flown by M r . Stawell's public career, as a lawyer and politician, and his present exalted position more than vindicate the accuracy of m y impromptu soothsaying. T h e Bar was so numerically limited that a m a n like Stawell had not m u c h way to make in coming to the van, and this he did almost at a step. H e was a painstaking Advocate, with an immense capacity for work, and a sound knowledge of law. T h o u g h not a brilliant speaker, the soundness of his arguments and his seriousness of purpose always caused him to be listened to with attention. Without the eloquence of Barry,'or the technical knowledge of Williams, he was a better general m a n , and the Attornies soon learned the importance of making sure of his services. A s a rule he and Williams were in every case pro and con, and in m a n y of the actions of the time, juniors, from their non-existence, had to be dispensed with, Barry's practice was injured through his being the senior of Williams and Stawell. Raymond's stay in the province was short, and Stephen, after he joined, was not m u c h in leading business. Stawell's energy and tact at cross-examination obtained him briefs in the most important criminal cases, and his m o d e of handling a jury was a combination of skill and a knowledge of h u m a n nature. In most of the sports and pastimes, and s o m e of the more questionable amusements of the age, he was by no means loth to take a hand. Tradition accords him the distinction of being the first amateur whip to sport a four-in-hand drag at the Flemington racecourse, and his feats of equestrianism in bush ridings after hounds and cross-country formed portion of the c o m m o n town-talk for m a n y a day. In managing that cross-grained incarnation of treachery colonially known as a " buck jumper" he had few equals, and an amusing story is told of his occasional interviews with one of this tribe, for which the unfearing lawyer seemed to entertain a sort of attachment. O n a station some fifty miles from Melbourne was a stock-horse named "Sholty," as viciously perverse a brute as ever was foaled. H e was a caution not only to the station hands but acquired more than a local ill-repute for his kicking and bucking propensities. With a strong-handed, well-seated rider "Sholty" was an excellent worker; but the great difficulty was in mounting, for the horse was inaccessible by the ordinary modes of ascent, and no one could get aboard directly from the ground, at either side or head or tail. W h e n " Sholty " was to be jockeyed, the process could only be effected by the stratagem of holding the animal under the projecting bough of an old tree near the homestead, and the adventurous rider had to swing himself from this, and, dropping into the saddle, hold on by hands and knees and feet like grim death, during the preliminary