he would relate that on the circuit, stopping to bait at a place where many years before Mr. Moises had been curate, he had the curiosity to ask the landlord of the inn whether he remembered him? "Yes,' answered he with an oath, "I well remember him. I have had reason enough to remember him. It was the worst day this parish ever saw that brought him here." The lawyer, afraid of hearing something hard on the character of his old master, said, with some solemnity, Mr. Moises, I am certain, was a most respectable man. "That may be," cried Boniface," but he married me to the worst wife that ever man was plagued with." "Oh! is that all? that was your own fault; she was your own choice, not Mr. Moises'." Yes," concluded he, unconvinced-" but I could not have been married if there had not been a parson to marry us. 6 Lord Eldon had not quite as high a respect for "trial by jury" as Lord Erskine. He said, "I remember Mr Justice Gould trying a cause at York, and when he had proceeded for about two hours, he observed, 'Here are only eleven jurymen; where is the twelfth.' Please you, my lord,' said one of the eleven, he is gone away about some business, but he has left his verdict with me.'"*. *-Once, when leaving Newcastle, after a very successful assize, a farmer rode up to him, and said, "Well, lawyer Scott, I was glad that you carried the day so often; and if I had had my way, you should never once have been beaten. I was foreman of the jury, and you. were sure of my vote, for you are my countryman, and we are proud of you." Mr. Scott was now very prosperous. His "OPINIONS" contained so many "ifs" and "buts," and "thoughs," that the [A. D. 1782.] solicitors seldom laid cases before him,-while Kenyon, giving direct answers which could be acted upon, was making, by caseanswering alone, 30007. a year. He was, however, a zealous and not too scrupulous advocate, and from his circuit and town practice he began to count a yearly saving, which at length accumulated into a princely fortune. Still he was fond of grumbling. Giving an account of a sinecure of 400/. a year, which his brother William had got in Doctors' Commons, the future Chancellor despondingly adds, "As to your humble servant, I have the younger brother's portion, a life of drudgery; our part of the profession has no places for young men, and it will wear me out before I cease to be such." To relieve his melancholy at this period of his career, although he despised the sweetest warblings of Italian song, he would go on a Saturday night to witness the triumph of the histrionic art at Drury Lane Theatre. "You will see," says he, in a letter to a friend, "the papers are full of accounts of a Mrs. Siddons,† a new actress. She is beyond all idea capital. I never saw an actress before. In my notion This, after all, is pretty much like voting by proxy in a certain deliberative assembly; although there the fiction is, that the peer holding the proxy votes according to his own conscience;—and holding two proxies, if he votes on opposite sides (as he may,) he is supposed suddenly to have changed his opinion. † Sic. pro of just affecting action and elocution, she beats our deceased Roscius all to nothing."*-But excitement more congenial to him was at hand. Though he wore a stuff gown, he was rapidly getting into the lead, and was throwing worthy plodders, who were his seniors, out of business. Therefore a silk gown was offered to him without solicitation. The moving cause to the [JUNE 4, 1783.] motion which now took place was the wish to advance Erskine, who had lately so much astonished the world by his eloquence, and was a special favourite with the reigning Administration. An attempt was made to place him at the head of the batch; but Mr. Scott, who was his senior, resolutely resisted this arrangement, and obtained a patent of precedence, which preserved his relative rank among those who took their places within the bar along with him.† CHAPTER CXCIV. lord CONTINUATION OF THE LIFE OF LORD ELDON TILL HE WAS MADE SOLICITOR GENERAL. HITHERTO the successful lawyer had cautiously avoided mixing at all in party politics. He was known to be a good Oxford Tory, of genuine Church-and-King principles, which he did not seek to disguise; but in the struggles between Lord North and the Whigs, or between the dif ferent sections of the Whigs, after the death of Lord Rockingham, he had outwardly shown no interest-prudently devoting himself to his profession, without giving offence to any one. Corre sponding with his brothers during the American war, he [DEC. 1777.] showed that he had a poor opinion of the Ministry, but thought much worse of Opposition. When the intelligence arrived of the surrender of General Burgoyne and his army, he wrote to Henry: "You could not be more deeply concerned for the fate of the gallant Burgoyne, than were your two brothers and your sister. We mingled our tears for two days together, being English folks of the old stamp, and retaining, in spite of modern patriotism, some affection and reverence for the name of Old England. All people whose hearts lie in the same direction are extremely concerned. It is totally unknown, even to themselves, what the Ministry will do: I think they want common sense and common spirit, as much as the minority wants common honesty." He highly approved the sentiments, and he implicitly followed the advice, soon after communicated to him in a letter from Sir William: “ For my own part, I am sick of politics-there is so much folly on the part of Ministers, and so much villany on the other side, under the cloak of patriotism, that an honest man has nothing to do but to lament the fate of his * Surtees, p. 76. VOL. VII. † Vide ante, Vol. VI., Ch. CLXXVIII. 6 country, and butter his own bread as well as he can. And I hope you take care to do so." Thus, in great perplexity, he expresses himself on the formation of Lord Shelburne's Administration : [A. D. 1783.] “We seem here to think that Charles Fox can't get in again, and that Lord Shelburne cannot keep in, and that Lord North may rule the roast again whenever he pleases. I like the language of Lord North better than that of any other man or set of men in the House, upon the subject of peace: all parties but his seem to be struggling who can give up most of the old rights of Old England." However, when the "inglorious peace" had been censured by a vote of the House of Commons, and the "Coalition" had stormed the royal closet, Lord Thurlow, leading the Opposition, with the zealous aid of the King, urged Mr. Scott to enlist as a recruit under his banner,arguing that, on public grounds, the Crown ought to be supported,and pointing out the ambitious prospects which must open to him if he became a 66 King's friend," as soon as his Majesty should be rescued from the bondage to which his Majesty had been reduced, but which his Majesty was determined not to bear. A regard for principle and for personal advantage recommended the proposal to one so much attached to the King and to himself,-and he yielded. The ex-Chancellor undertook to procure him a seat in the House of Commons, and speedily succeeded through Lord Weymouth, owner of the borough of Weobly, -now, alas! disfranchised.* A stipulation being easily made that "his conduct in parliament should be entirely independent of Lord Weymouth's political opinions," which corresponded exactly [JUNE.] with his own, he posted down to Weobly with the congé d'élire in his pocket, and, according to ancient custom, he proceeded to the house that contained the prettiest girl in the place, and began his canvass by giving her a kiss. At the hustings, the ceremony of election was to have been quietly gone through as usual, but he was addressed by a very old man, who said, with a true Herefordshire accent, “ We hear how as you be a la'er, and if so be, you ought to tip us a speech —a thing not heard in Weobly this thirty year; and the more especially as Lord Surey has been telling the folks at Hereford as you be a Newcastle-upon-Tyne gentleman, sent down by a peer, and not having no connexion with this here place." Lord Eldon gave the following goodhumoured account of the fresh effort he was driven to make as a mob orator-when he seems to have succeeded much better than in his native town. "I got upon a heap of stones and made them as good a speech upon I have already pointed out,' and I will not again dwell upon, the palpable misrepresentation of Lord Eldon respecting Fox's wish to have had Thurlow for Chancellor to the Coalition Ministry. I must say, that on various occasions, in Lord Eldon's old age, his memory had failed him, or he conceived himself justified in using considerable liberties with truth. 1 Life of Lord Thurlow, Vol. V., Ch. CLVIII. politics in general as I could, and it had either the merit or demerit of being a long one. My audience liked it,-on account, among other things, of its length. I concluded by drawing their attention to Lord Surrey's speech. I admitted that I was unknown to them. I said that I had explained my public principles, and how I meant to act in Parliament; that I should do all I had promised; and that, though then unknown to them, I hoped I should entitle myself to more of their confidence and regard than I could have claimed, if, being the son of the first Duke in England, I had held myself out as a reformer whilst riding, as the Earl of Surrey rode, into the first town of the county, drunk, upon a cider cask, and talking, in that state, of 'reform.' My audience liked the speech, and I ended, as I had begun, by kissing the prettiest girl in the place;-very pleasant, indeed. Lord Surrey had often been my client, even at that early period of my life. He had heard of, or read, my speech; and, when I met him afterwards in town, he goodhumouredly said, 'I have had enough of meddling with you; I shall trouble you no more."" Of course he was returned without opposition. He took his seat before the prorogation of Parliament, but reserved [JULY 16.] his maiden speech till the ensuing session. Then came the most deadly struggle recorded in our party annals. As I have already had occasion to state, Scott and Erskine, the hopes of the opposite parties, spoke for the first time in the debate on Fox's India Bill,—and both egregiously failed.* The Honourable [DEC. 20.] Member for Weobly very characteristically required "more time to make up his mind upon the measure," but "was nevertheless clear to say that it seemed to him rather of a dangerous tendency; but he would not declare against it; he would rather wait till he got more light thrown upon the subject; and as he was attached to no particular party, he would then vote as justice seemed to direct. He meant hereafter to give an opinion upon the Bill; he could assure the House, he would form it elaborately, and when he gave it, it should be an honest one." Mr. Fox good-naturedly paid a compliment to the new member's professional reputation, but could not refrain from remarking on his inconsistency; for, after stating the necessity for time to deliberate on the Bill, he had immediately, without any opportunity for deliberation, ventured to pronounce a decision against it, and with a good deal of positiveness. To repair his misfortune, Scott formed the most insane scheme that ever entered the mind of a sensible man. He resolved, in the debate on the third reading of the Bill, to be re- [DEC. 1783.] venged of Fox, by imitating the manner of Sheridan, and becoming witty and sarcastic. Accordingly, from a volume of Elegant Extracts, a new edition of Joe Miller, and the Bible, he crammed himself with quotations, jokes, and texts, as laboriously as if he had been preparing * See Life of Erskine, Vol. VI. Ch. CLXVIII. † 23 Parl. Hist. 1239. to argue a case upon a contingent remainder before the twelve Judges. He began however, more suo, by alluding to certain insinuations, “that agreeably to the common conduct of lawyers, he would not scruple to espouse any cause which he should be paid to defend. In the warmest terms he reprobated such unworthy imputations: he asserted the reluctance of his nature to such practices, and he declared that on this occasion he considered it his duty to deliver his sentiments-the solemn sentiments of his heart and conscience." Then, without having at all prepared his audience for the transition, he came to his facetiæ, and, alluding to the popular caricature upon Mr. Fox as "CARLO KHAN,' he affected to speak very courteously of the Whig chief, and observed, "As Brutus said of Cæsar 'he would be crown'd! ووو 99 How that might change his nature,—there's the question.' In a moment the orator plunged into Scripture, saying, "It was an aggravation of the affliction that the cause of it should originate with one to whom the nation had so long looked up; a wound from him was doubly painful. Like Joab, he gave the shake of friendship, but the other hand held a dagger with which he despatched the Constitution." He next pulled a New Testament from his pocket; and, after a proper apology for again alluding to any thing recorded in 'sacred writ, read some verses in different chapters of the book of Revelation, which seemed to express the intended innovations in the affairs of the East India Company: "And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power to the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him? And there was given to him a mouth speaking great things; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months." ["Here," said Mr. Scott, "I believe there is a mistake of six months."*] causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their forehead." [Here places, pensions, and peerages are clearly marked out.] "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying Babylon the Great" [plainly the East India Company,]" is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, the hold of every foul spirit, and the cage of every unclean bird." Having at great length continued to read these prophecies, and to show their fulfilment, he came to Thucydides, where the Athenian Ambassadors observe to the Lacedæmonian magistrates, that men are much more provoked by injustice than by violence, inasmuch as injustice coming as from an equal, has the appearance of dishonesty, while mere violence, proceeding from one stronger, seems but the effect of inevitable necessity." Steering from grave to gay, and throwing in some Oxford puns, he anticipated that the new Kings, who were to supersede the Directors, "And he * The Bill was to be in force only for three years,-thirty-six instead of fortytwo months. |