FORENSIC COSTUME.
THE Irish bar has been distinguished by its talent, but it would appear to be degenerating ; for black cravats have made an inroad upon the forensic neck, and the profession has fallen so low even as coloured waistcoats. The Judges, however, make a firm stand against these enormities. In the Dublin Cou.4 of Queen's Bench, last week, the Lord Chief Justice rebuked the coloured waistcoats and other aberrations of costume, and "hoped that he might not have to advert to the subject again," and Mr. Justice Crampton, specially denounced the black cravats. There are obvious uses in costume. Not only does the black robe help to mark out the class that has a right to speak in (*net, and so at once to prevent unprofessional obtrusion and to concen- trate the judicial attention, but it helps also to maintain other more sacred parts of the institution intact. Let the horse-hair fall into disuse on the ground of its being practically valueless, and who shall say how fast fees may not follow P '
But if coloured waistcoats disturb the traditional etiquette Of the court, there is something still More burlesque in this devoted defence of superficialities and trivialities. Courts-of law have not been equally obstinate in resisting worse innovations. The sub- serviency to techniCalities like demurrers and special pleas has en- croached upon common sense to a ludicrous and discreditable ex- tent, but it has provoked no rebuke so sharp as this upon the coloured waistcoats. It is said that the standard of education among barristers has fallen considerably, but then the standard ef wig is preserved. A man may appear with little sense and less learning inside his head, but the want of the horse-hair outside is not to be tolerated. The opinion on subjects of equity or con- struction of law may vary and fluctuate, but when you come down to the man-mercer branch of affairs the firmness is unclualified. The court may have its doubts on principles and law, but it has no doubt as to the enormity of plaid-waistcoats; it fearlessly main- tains that there must not be black silk round the throat, and that there must be a covering of horse-hair over the natural hair. Jus- tice between man and man is an optional or arbitrary matter ; the black colour or the horse-hair is the sine qua non. -Yet we smile or sneer at the Chinese for their ko-tou and honorary buttons. '
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