Evidence

29 June 1805

Introd

Ch. un-limitness[?]

''. Quid

I am a father of a family. My son Thomas is with me, I wish to see /want to speak with/ my son John, and do not want to speak with my son William. I give orders accordingly to Thomas, saying /I address myself to Thomas, and say/ to him, go and tell John to come to me. What room is there in this for art or science? Observe how a business of this extreme simplicity has been converted by English Judges into art and Science.

Suppose /On the same occasion/ an English judge instead of proceeding in his domestic functional capacity came to proceed as he does every day in his official character. Wishing to see John, he would say to Thomas go and tell William to come to me at two o'clock. When William conveys accordingly what does the Judge in consequence? In the first place he refuses to see William; in the next place he punishes him for not commissioning John to come in his stead. In any private house this would be insanity; in Westminster Hall it constitutes art and science. It is a matter of science[?] for the Counsel to know that in this case William means John; it is matter of art for an Attorney to know how to come in proper form when William has been unfortunate enough to be obliged to commission him for that purpose.