Lady Dalhousie was eminently distinguished for a fund of the most varied knowledge, for a clear and powerful judgment, for acute observation, a kind heart, a brilliant wit.
Her story was thus:--A Scottish judge, somewhat in the predicament of the Laird of Balnamoon, had dined at Coalstoun with her father Charles Brown, an advocate, and son of George Brown, who sat in the Supreme Court as a judge with the title of Lord Coalstoun.

The party had been convivial, as we know parties of the highest legal characters often were in those days.

When breaking up and going to the drawing-room, one of them, not seeing his way very clearly, stepped out of the dining-room window, which was open to the summer air.

The ground at Coalstoun sloping off from the house behind, the worthy judge got a great fall, and rolled down the bank.

He contrived, however, as tipsy men generally do, to regain his legs, and was able to reach the drawing-room.