I Without wishing to detract from the originality of my friend, I may observe that this and the next stanza can hardly fail to remind the reader of the well-known lines of lord Byron, beginning

"When late I saw thy favorite child," &c.

Singular Incident in the Professional Life of a Lawyer. The following incident was related to us by a professional friend of high standing, and in whose veracity we have entire confidence. We give it, as nearly as we can recollect, in his own language.

In the year 1832, I was applied to by a respectable farmer, who resided in an adjoining town, to commence an action for him against four persons whom he named, for shearing his horse's mane and tail, and smearing the animal with tar. My client had so little evidence to produce in his favor, that, after much entreaty on his part, I finally refused altogether to bring his action. He strongly insisted that I should do so, and declared that with or without evidence, he felt perfectly certain of a judgment in his favor. Perceiving that my mind was made up not to have any thing to do with his case, upon the insufficient evidence, which he was able to produce, notwithstanding his confidence of a recovery, he at length told me the ground upon which his confidence rested.

Some days after the mischief done to his horse, being unable in the mean time to discover the perpetrators, he went and con

"wise woman sulted a or fortune teller, of great reputation in her line, who lived a few miles distance, in a neighboring state. When he had arrived within three or four miles of her residence, in order that the appearance of the horse might not furnish a clue to the object of his visit, he left his horse and wagon, at a place where four roads met, and made the rest of his journey on foot. He found the old lady at home and was courteously received. After talking with her for a short time, she inquired what brought him there. He answered, that if she were truly what she was supposed to be, she need not ask him such a question, for she must know as well as he did himself, what was his business with her. She then took a pack of cards, shuffled them several times, looked at them carefully, and after making marks on a slate, proceeded in the following strain. "Why," said she, "did you leave your horse and wagon at the four corners? Your horse's mane and tail have been shaved and the horse tarred, and you have come to me to find out who did it. It was done by four men (naming them) on such a night, in such a pasture. One of the men held the horse by the head, a second shaved the mane and tail, and put on the tar, and the two others kept watch at a little distance. When you return home, you will find that your wife has been dyeing black, during your absence. By the side of the third fence north of your house, you will find a board, and, under it, the tar pot which was used, and a quantity of horse hair. All you have to do is to bring an action against the four men and you will certainly recover."

On returning home, my client had found every thing precisely as the "wise woman" had told him. His wife had been dyeing black; the tar pot and the hair were in the place indicated; and, though he had little or no legal evidence to adduce in his favor, he had come to me to bring an action for him as the witch had directed. This statement was so extraordinary and my client's faith so strong, that, not to stand in the way of fate, I at once consented to bring his action, and made a writ for him accordingly.

My client's demand for damages being moderate, I stated the amount at twenty dollars, the extent of the jurisdiction of a justice

of the peace, and made a writ returnable before a justice in the neighborhood. It so happened, that by the mere accident of neglecting to fill one of the blanks in the printed form of the writ, I omitted to mention the town where the justice lived; so that the writ merely commanded the defendants to appear before such a justice, at his dwelling-house in (blank) within the county.

On the return day of the writ, my client appeared before the justice, prepared as well as he was able, with some few circumstances of suspicion, but without any legal and sufficient evidence. The defendants also appeared with two learned counsel. The latter soon discovered the flaw in our writ, and to avoid going to trial on the merits, attempted to take advantage of the formal defect. For this purpose, instead of pleading in abatement, or moving to quash the writ, in which case, if the decision had been against them, they might have gone to trial afterwards and defeated the action for want of proof, they demurred specially to the declaration, and thereby put the event of the cause upon the sufficiency of the declaration. We argued the point at length, and the justice being clearly of opinion, that the defect in the writ could not be taken advantage of by a special demurrer to the declaration, the plaintiff had judgment without any further ceremony, for the twenty dollars at which he had alleged his damages, and for his costs of suit. Execution was regularly issued on the judgment and satisfied by a payment of the money.

Thus, by a slip of the pen, on my part, in making the plaintiff's writ, and the oversharpness of the defendant's counsel, in demurring specially to a defect, which might have been reached by a plea in abatement, the prediction of the old woman was literally fulfilled, and the plaintiff recovered judgment without any legal evidence against the defendants, who, however, I ought to add, I verily believe were actually guilty. My client exacted of me a solemn promise, that during his life, I would not mention the circumstance of his consulting the witch. I have religiously kept my word. He died about a year since.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS.

UNITED STATES.

Treatise on the Contract of Sale, by R. J. Pothier. Translated from the French, by L. S. Cushing. Boston: C. C. Little & James Brown.

A Digest or Abridgment of the American Law of Real Property. By Francis Hilliard. Same.

Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery, from 1757, to 1766; from the manuscripts of Lord Chancellor Northington. Collected &c. by the Honorable Robert Henley Eden, of Lincoln's Inn, Barrister at Law. 2 volumes in one. Philadelphia: R. H. Small.

[See page 241.]

Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Chancery in Ireland, during the time of Lord Chancellor Manners, from 1807 to 1814. By Thomas Ball and Francis Beatty, Esqrs., Barristers at Law. 2 volumes in one. Philadelphia:

R. H. Small.

[See page 239.]

A Practical Treatise on the Law of Contracts not under Seal; and upon the usual defences to actions thereon. By Joseph Chitty, Jun. 4th Am. Ed. with notes, by J. C. Perkins, Esq. Springfield, G. & C. Meriam.

[See page 244.]

Reports of Cases argued and determined in the English Courts of Common Law, with tables of the cases and principal matters. Edited by the Hon. Thomas Sergeant, of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and the Hon. Thomas M'Kean Pettit, President of the district court for the city and county of Philadelphia. Vol. XXXII. Philadelphia: P. H. Nicklin and T. Johnson, 1838.

A Treatise on the Law of Obligations or Contracts. By M. Pothier. Translated from the French, with an introduction, appendix and notes, illustrative of the English Law on the subject. By

William David Evans, Esq. Barrister at Law. 2 volumes. Second American edition. Philadelphia: R. H. Small, 1839.

The Writings of John Marshall, late chief justice of the United States, upon the Federal Constitution; being the opinions of the supreme court of the United States, delivered by him upon points of law arising under that constitution. With an appendix containing the opinions upon like points, delivered in that court, by other judges, prior to the death of chief justice Marshall. By James H. Perkins, of Cincinnati. Boston: James Munroe & Co., 1839.

A Statement of Facts in relation to the delays and arrears of business in the court of chancery of the state of New York, with some suggestions for a change in its organization. By Theodore Sedgwick, Jr. New York: A. S. Gould, 1838.

[See page 232.]

Report and Opinion of the Attorney General (of Massachusetts) on the subject of the expenses of Criminal Justice, made to the Senate, under an order passed Feb. 15, 1839.

Opinion of the Court of Appeals of Maryland in the Case of the University of Maryland, delivered by Buchanan, Chief Justice. Baltimore Lucas & Deaver, 1839.

Preliminary Report of the Commissioners for a Revision and Codification of the Criminal Law of Massachusetts, made to the Legislature, February, 1839.

[We shall probably republish this report in our next number.]

Reports of Cases argued and determined in the Supreme Court of North Carolina, in Law and Equity, June Term, 1838. By Thomas P. Devereux and William H. Battle. Vol. III. No. 1.

ENGLAND.

A Compendium of Mercantile law. By John William Smith, 2d edition.

Precedents in Pleading: with copious notes on Practice, Pleading and Evidence. By Joseph Chitty, Jr. Esq. Part 2. Edited by Henry Pearson, Esq. and Simpson Chitty, Esq.

An Inquiry into the Principles of Pleading the General Issue since the promulgation of the New Rules, &c. By Alfred J. P. Lutwyche.

Commentaries on Equity Pleadings and the Incidents thereto, according to the practice of the Courts of equity of England and