PART VII.-COSTUME AND TOILET. (Continued). CHAPTER XLIII. BAGS AND GOWNS. N a collection of notes on legal costume, the lawyer's bag IN a collection of notes on le On the stages of the Caroline theatres the lawyer is found with a green bag in his hand; the same is the case in the literature of Queen Anne's reign; and until a comparatively recent date green bags were generally carried in Westminster Hall and in provincial courts by the great body of legal practitioners. From Wycherley's "Plain Dealer," it appears that in the time of Charles II. angry clients were accustomed to revile their lawyers as green-bag carriers." When the litigious Widow Blackacre upbraids the barrister who declines to argue for her, she exclaims-" Impertinent again, and ignorant to me! Gadsboddikins! you puny upstart in the law, to use me so, you green-bag carrier, you murderer of unfortunate causes, the clerk's ink is scarce off of your fingers." In the same drama, making much play with the green bag, Wycherley indicates the Widow Blackacre's quarrelsome disposition by decorating her with an enormous green reticule, and makes her son, the lawstudent, stagger about the stage in a gown, and under a heavy burden of green bags. So also in the time of Queen Anne, to say that a man intended to carry a green bag, was the same as saying that he meant to adopt the law as a profession. In Dr. Arbuthnot's "History of John Bull," the prevalence of the phrase is shown by the passage, "I am told, Cousin Diego, you are one of those that have undertaken to manage me, and that you have said VOL. II. B you will carry a green bag yourself, rather than we shall make an end of our lawsuit. I'll teach them and you too to manage." It must, however, be borne in mind that in Queen Anne's time green bags, like white bands, were as generally adopted by solicitors and attorneys as by members of the bar. In his "character of a pettifogger" the author of "The London Spy" observes-"His learning is commonly as little as his honesty, and his conscience much larger than his green bag.” Some years have elapsed since green bags altogether disappeared from our courts of law; but the exact date of their disappearance has hitherto escaped the vigilance and research of Colonel Landman. "Causidicus" and other writers who in the pages of that useful and very entertaining publication, Notes and Queries, have asked for information on that point and kindred questions. Evidence sets aside the suggestion that the colour of the lawyer's bag was changed from green to red because the proceedings at Queen Caroline's trial rendered green bags odious to the public, and even dangerous to their bearers; for it is matter of certainty that the leaders of the Chancery and Common Law bars carried red bags at a time considerably anterior to the inquiry into the queen's conduct. But though that investigation did not give birth to the red bag, it is not improbable that it contributed to the final and universal disuse of green bags. On other questions concerning lawyers' bags there is no less uncertainty. In a letter addressed to the editor of Notes and Queries, a writer who signs himself "Causidicus" observes-" When I entered the profession (about fifty years ago) no junior barrister presumed to carry a bag in the Court of Chancery, unless one had been presented to him by a King's Counsel; who, when a junior was advancing in practice, took an opportunity of complimenting him on his increase of business, and giving him his own bag to carry home his papers. It was then a distinction to carry a bag, and a proof that a junior was rising in his profession. I do not know whether the custom prevailed in other courts." From this it appears that fifty years since the bag was an honourable distinction at the Chancery bar, giving its bearer some such professional status as that which is |