A Defect In the Hands

1895

A good story is told of an English lawyer who, having succeeded in making a litigant of every farmer in his county, having grown rich at their expense, and thus established a valid claim to their consideration, consented to sit for his portrait, which was to adorn the courtroom of the county town.

The picture was duly painted by a London artist, and previously to being hung was submitted to a private view. "Most uncommonlike, to be sure," was the general verdict. But one old chap, regarding the canvas critically, dissented from the prevailing opinion as follows:

"That be somewhat like his face, but it ain't the man. This man has got his hand in his own pocket, you see. Now, I have knowed him for five and thirty years, and all that time he's had his hand in somebody else's pocket. This chap ain't him." — Green Bag.