One story which was really true of Mr, Justice Grantham, was fastened upon Mr. Justice Swift, One winter night the judge had been sitting in his lodgings on circuit writing letters. Heavily muffled against the cold, he went out to post them.
As he passed the policeman on duty at the gate, the constable muttered: "What? Hasn't the old——gone to bed yet?"
The judge posted his letters, returned to the house, and went to his bedroom. Before getting into bed he opened the window and called to the policeman:—"Constable! It's all right now, the old has gone to bed."
A woman was claiming damages at Birmingham Assizes for injuries which had resulted in double vision, While Mr, Arthur Ward, her, counsel, was making a speech, his clerk entered to say. he was needed in another court, But Mr, Ward was disinclined to interrupt his flow of oratory.
The judge turned to the woman and asked: "Do I understand that you are suffering from double vision?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Can you see two of everything?" "Yes, my Lord."
"Two of Mr, Ward?"
"Yes, my Lor: "That's lucky," said the judge. "One of him is wanted in the other court."
During a legal argument in court Mr. Justice Swift heard a newspaper rustling, and asked: "Is there a public library near by?"
On being told there was one quite close, he said sternly: "Then that is a more convenient place to read a newspaper than my court. Let that man at the back go there!"
The man went, In dealing with breach of promise actions, Mr. Justice Swift often spoke what was in his mind, Once when it was urged that because the Woman in the case was bad tempered the defendant was justified in breaking the promise of marriage, he was angered.
"No doubt, members of the jury," he said, "you know what it is to have courted an angel and found out after marriage that she was a mere human woman like the rest."
Another utterance of his: "Very few people in this world who become engaged to marry do come up to the expectations that the other party has formed."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.