Futility Closet

Poetic Justice

Posted in Language by Greg Ross on September 12th, 2008

Sir Fletcher Norton was noted for his want of courtesy. When pleading before Lord Mansfield on some question of manorial right, he chanced unfortunately to say, ‘My lord, I can illustrate the point in an instance in my own person; I myself have two little manors.’ The judge immediately interposed with one of his blandest smiles, ‘We all know it, Sir Fletcher.’

— John Timbs, A Century of Anecdote, 1873