judges. He gave his Dorsetshire estates to Lord Encombe for life, remainder to Lord Encombe's first and every other son successively in tail male; and for default of such issue, they are settled in moieties upon the testator's two daughters, Lady Elizabeth and Lady Frances,-with remainders in tail to sons in succession, and then to daughters as tenants in common in tail,-and cross-remainders in tail between the families of Lady Frances and Lady Elizabeth. The Durham estates, subject to the settlements of them before made on the marriage of Lord Encombe and on other occasions-under which they were settled upon Lord Encombe for life, with remainders to his first and every other son successively in tail male-are given to the same uses, in favour of Lady Elizabeth Repton and Lady Frances Bankes and their families, as the Dorsetshire property. The leasehold house in Hamilton Place is given to Lord Encombe for life, with remainder to his first and other sons successively; and, in default of issue, becomes part of the testator's personal residue. Several large sums of stock are settled upon the testator's two daughters and their issue. To Lady Elizabeth and Lady Frances are left also some specific articles; and life annuities are given to each. After the bequest of Pincher, described as "my favourite dog," to Lady Frances, he continues: “And I direct that I may be buried in the same tomb in Kingston in which my most beloved wife is buried, and as near to her remains as possible; and I desire that the ring which I wear on my finger* may be put with my body into my coffin, and be buried with me." He adds various legacies to servants and others. The general residue of his personal estate he directs to be invested in the purchase of lands, to be settled to the same uses as the Dorsetshire estates. A schedule is annexed, enumerating various articles, which the will directs to descend with the estate in the nature of heir-looms, and to which the first codicil makes some additions. These heir-looms are chiefly busts, portraits painted and engraven, letters of the Royal Family, the watch, chain, and seal given to him by King George III., various snuff-boxes, the salvers having the Great Seal set therein, the tankard given to him by George IV., addresses and other testimonials and tributes to his public character, his law books, the robes and lace worn by him as a Judge and as a Peer respectively, and the service of plate which he had on his appointment as Lord Chancellor.

* The mourning-ring for his wife.

CHAPTER CCXIII.

CHARACTER OF LORD ELDON.

I CANNOT conclude this work without attempting to sketch the character of Lord Eldon.

"Extremum hunc, Arethusa, mihi concede laborem."

The task is the most difficult which has yet been imposed upon me. I am relieved from the scruples which I should otherwise have felt in writing freely of one so recently removed from among us, by the consideration that a "Life" of him, minutely describing his whole career, and professing to appreciate all his qualities, as a public man and as a private individual, has been given to the world, with the full sanction. of his family.* Thenceforth he became "historical," as much as any of his predecessors who have reposed for centuries in the tomb. As it could not be expected that elaborate encomiums were to be bestowed upon him, without the liberty of pronouncing censure till the present generation had passed away, truth sternly requires that the feelings of his surviving relations and friends should now be entirely disregarded, although it is impossible to suppress regret when pain is inflicted.

My embarrassment arises from the political principles and party connexions of the author being so different from those of the subject of this memoir. I have heard it said, that "the most delightful of all employments must be to write the life of an opponent." To me it is most distressing. I have no vengeful propensities to be gratified by warring with the dead, and I am haunted by the apprehension that, in dealing out censure, I may be supposed to be actuated by personal spleen, or by a desire to attack measures and sentiments which I disapprove by disparaging him who was their greatest champion.*

I must proceed, however, according to my own sense of duty,-taking care that I do not sacrifice the praise of being just to that of being ge

nerous.

Of course Lord Eldon excites most interest as an Equity Judge. It is very unfortunate for him, that here, where he was so eminent, it is so difficult for the biographer to convey an adequate notion of his merit. Were I to try to analyze the thirteen volumes of Vesey, junior, which record his decisions, with the camel-loads of them furnished by other reporters (Beames, Cooper, Merivale, Swanston, Jacob, Walker, Turner, Russell, Rose, Buck, Glyn, Jameson, Dow, and Bligh,) however well I might succeed in assisting the law student, or facilitating the researches

* Twiss's "Life of Lord Eldon," to which the present Earl has not only contributed his grandfather's papers, but many valuable observations of his own.

† I fear that I may be accused of imitating Dr. Johnson, who, in talking of his “DEBATES,” said, "I always took care that the Whigs should have the worst of it;" or the Whig blacksmith, who, as often as the horse of a Tory was brought to him to be shod, was sure to lame him.

of the Chancery practitioner, or marking the advance of the science of Equity during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, I should present something which would be, "caviare to the general." Delighted should I be, under favour of the Muses who inspire lawyers,—

"Quarum sacra fero ingenti percussus amore,'

to travel chronologically from Easter Term, 41 George III. (1801,) to Hilary Term, 8 George IV. (1827,) and to show how injunctions were granted and refused,-whence sprang the doctrine of illusory appointments,-when the scintilla juris is sufficient to feed uses,—what is the effect of trustees to preserve contingent remainders joining in a settlement or sale,-and whether an equitable estate tail is well barred by a fine and recovery. Such lucubrations would be more akin to my pursuits, and would please me far more than detailing parliamentary debates and political intrigues, or narrating personal anecdotes. But, if I were to indulge my legal vein, it is quite certain that my book, instead of being found on the ladies' toilettes, and being fought for at clubs, would experience the usual destination of "learned works," in the shop of the trunk-maker or the grocer,- —so that the attempt would redound as little to the advantage of my hero as of myself. Renouncing all lofty aspi rations, therefore, I must be contented with a few desultory remarks on Lord Eldon's qualifications and performances as occupier of the "marble chair."

I begin with lamenting his defects. But let it be understood at once, that I honour him as a great magistrate, and that, instead of comparing him with excellence which has actually been exhibited, I am considering how near he approaches to an imaginary standard of perfection, or the beau idéal of a Chancellor.

Although endued with wonderful acuteness and subtlety of intellect, with a retentive memory, a logical understanding, and power of unwearied application, he was utterly devoid of imagination, and of all taste for what is elegant or refined. His acquirements, even as a jurist, were very limited. He was familiarly acquainted with every nook of the municipal law of this realm; but all beyond was to him terra incognita. Could he have combined with his own stores of professional learning his brother Lord Stowell's profound knowledge of the Civil and Canon Law, of the Law of Nations, and of the Codes of the Continental States, he would have been the most accomplished judge who ever sat on any British tribunal. But while he was reading Coke upon Littleton over and over again, and becoming thoroughly versed in all the doctrines laid down by Chief Justices and Chancellors in Westminster Hall, we are not told that he ever dipped into the Code, the Pandects, or the Institutes of Justinian; or that he found any pleasure in Puffendorf or Grotius, or that he ever formed the slightest acquaintance with D'Aguesseau or Pothier. Nor, in any of his arguments at the Bar, or judgments from the Bench, does he, as far as I am aware, ever refer to the civil law, or any foreign writer, as authority, or by way of illustration.* Consider

Sir Edward Sugden, in his very valuable treatise on "The Law of Vendors

ing that our system of Equity is essentially derived from the Civil Law, when any doubtful question in it arises we rejoice to see it traced to its source. Sir William Grant-"sanctos ausus recludere fontes"-by this practice gives force and beauty to his judgments, which, in travelling through the dreary tomes of Vesey, we now and then encounter with delight, like oases in the desert.

As a misfortune to Lord Eldon's judicial reputation, I must likewise point out his utter relinquishment of literature, from the time when he began to study the law. This cost him no sacrifice; he wrote no "Farewell to his Muse;" and he never even felt a wish to resume his liberal studies. He once astonished the Bar by saying that, during the Long Vacation, he had read “Paradise Lost;" but it was shrewdly suspected that he only skimmed it over,-trying to find out "the charging part;"* and certain it is that, for many years, his reading was confined to bills, answers, depositions, affidavits, and the more trifling articles in the "John Bull" newspaper. The intellect cannot be confined to such fare without injury. I do not now speak of his loss of that caste to which the Somerses, the Cowpers, and the Talbots, the companions of Swift, Addison, and Pope, had belonged-not to his neglect of fame-but to the depravation of taste which he displayed. Having forgotten his modicum of classical lore, and remaining wholly unacquainted with modern authors, he had no images in his mind, and no turns of phraseology, beyond what he picked up from perusing deeds and equity reports. In his latter days he could neither speak nor write grammatically-insomuch that people would not believe he had gained a prize at Oxford for English composition; and he was actually compared to the roué Duke of Orleans, who said of spelling, "we quarrelled at the outset of life, and never made up our differences." This Vandalism impaired not only the grace but the efficiency of his high judicial qualities, and not only deprived him of the benefit of knowing something of public opinion and of the progress of improve

and Purchasers,"commenting on the case of Paine v. Mellor, 6 Vesey, jun.. 349, in which Lord Eldon held, that, "upon the sale of a house, if after the day for completing the contract, and after the title has been accepted, but before the conveyance has been executed, it is burnt down, the loss falls on the buyer,"says, "Lord Eldon's decision in Paine v. Mellor exactly accords with the doctrine of the civil law. Indeed, this very case is put in the Institutes. 'Cum autem emptio et venditio contracta sit, periculum rei venditæ statim ad emptorem pertinet tametsi adhuc ea res emptori tradita non sit. Itaque si aut ædes totæ vel aliquæ ex parte incendio consumptæ fuerint emptoris damnum est, cui necesse est, licet rem non fuerit nactus, pretium solvere.'"-See Inst. lib. iii. tit. 24, 3. But there is no reason to think that Lord Eldon took his doctrine from the civil law, and, indeed, he proceeds on different reasoning; for he seems to have been actuated by the consideration, that, in equity, the property had passed, although in the civil law, as well as in the Scotch law, the property remains in the seller till delivery. "Periculum rei vendita" is a very curious head in the civil law. * Jockey Bell, the famous Chancery pleader, having said that he read all the new novels, and being asked how he found time, answered, "I soon find out the charging part,"-wherein lies the virtue of a bill in Chancery.

* 2d edition, p. 333.

ment, but really hindered him from arranging and expressing his thoughts so as to do justice to the right conclusions at which he had arrived. The celebrity of Lord Mansfield and Lord Stowell, as judges, is in no small degree owing to their having continued to refresh and to embellish their professional labours by perusing the immortal productions of poets, historians, and moralists.

I am next obliged to regret that Lord Eldon, while sitting in his Court, often wasted his time, or, I should rather say, the time of the public. I know well how difficult it is to join the suavity of manner, which he ever preserved, with the energy required for the steady despatch of judicial business. The combination is, perhaps, only an ideal excellence; but although, for the popularity of the Judge with the Bar, the greater object may be never to give offence, it is most important for the suitors that their causes should be decided; and for this purpose the advocates must be kept under control, and it must be made disagreeable to them to wander from the question in hand, to repeat what has been before said, and to talk nonsense. Lord Eldon never complained of irrelevance,-he rather encouraged prolixity, and the approach to absurdity he never checked by a rebuke, a sneer, a sarcasm, or even a look of exhausted patience or of suppressed ridicule. He himself was gradually corrupted by this habit of forbearance.

If, when he took his seat in the Court of Chancery, he had followed the course which, from his great experience and authority, was easily open to him, of never hearing more than two. counsel in the same interest, and of requiring pure questions of law to be argued only by one counsel on a side, ordering a second argument if necessary-and had exercised a proper control over the discussion, while he devoted his whole attention to it, he would have done thrice as much business as he actually got through, and his decisions would not only have been more rapid, but would have been, if possible, more satisfactory. His remissness constantly grew upon him. It was utterly impossible that, when the sixth and seventh counsel for the plaintiff were going over the same arguments and authorities which had been exhausted by Sir Samuel Romilly and Mr. Leach, his attention should really be engaged, although he seemed to listen. In reality, he was writing a gossiping letter to Lady Frances, his daughter, or Mrs. Ridley, his sister-in-law.* He found this occupation very agreeable, and he was pleased to have undisturbed leisure for it,-laying the flattering unction to his soul, that while he was sitting on the bench, and counsel were speaking in his hearing, he could not be accused of neglecting his duty. When arrears were multiplied to such a degree that, upon a moderate calculation, many years would be necessary to clear them off,-like a man deep in debt, who becomes recklessly prodigal, he grew more and more indifferent respecting the efficient employment of the hours appropriated to

* When attending the Assizes and Quarter Sessions at Gloucester, where Mrs. Ridley, the wife of Dr. Ridley, a prebendary of the cathedral, resided with her husband, I have several times been shown these letters, which were written on long slips of foolscap paper, such as a Judge uses in taking notes of an argument.