non-resident, all of a sudden the lawyer
recollected himself. »Poor Dunover, we must not forget him;« and the landlord
was despatched in quest of the pauvre honteux, with an earnestly civil
invitation to him for the rest of the evening. I could not help asking the young
gentlemen if they knew the history of this poor man; and the counsellor applied
himself to his pocket to recover the memorial or brief from which he had stated
his cause.
    »He has been a candidate for our remedium miserabile,« said Mr. Hardie,
»commonly called a cessio bonorum. As there are divines who have doubted the
eternity of future punishments, so the Scotch lawyers seem to have thought that
the crime of poverty might be atoned for by something short of perpetual
imprisonment. After a month's confinement, you must know, a prisoner for debt is
entitled, on a sufficient statement to our Supreme Court, setting forth the
amount of his funds, and the nature of his misfortunes, and surrendering all his
effects to his creditors, to claim to be discharged from prison.«
    »I had heard,« I replied, »of such a humane regulation.«
    »Yes,« said Halkit, »and the beauty of it is, as the foreign fellow said,
you may get the cessio, when the bonorums are all spent - But what, are you
puzzling in your pockets to seek your only memorial among old play-bills,
letters requesting a meeting of the Faculty, rules of the Speculative Society,
syllabus' of lectures - all the miscellaneous contents of a young advocate's
pocket, which contains everything but briefs and bank-notes? Can you not state a
case of cessio without your memorial? Why, it is done every Saturday. The events
follow each other as regularly as clock-work, and one form of condescendence
might suit every one of them.«
    »This is very unlike the variety of distress which this gentleman stated to
fall under the consideration of your judges,« said I.
    »True,« replied Halkit; »but Hardie spoke of criminal jurisprudence, and
this business is purely civil. I could plead a cessio myself without the
inspiring honours of a gown and three-tailed periwig - Listen. - My client was
bred a journeyman weaver - made some little money - took a farm - (for
conducting a farm, like driving a gig, comes by nature) - late severe times -
induced to sign bills with a friend, for which he received no value - landlord
sequestrates - creditors accept a composition - pursuer sets