witnesses to prove an intention, which is inconsistent with the whole tenour of our laws." They objected to another provision, subjecting a party against whom a charge was preferred that he intended to assist in smuggling, to imprisonment without bail, though the offence in itself were in its nature bailable;-to another, which made informations for assaults upon revenue officers triable in any county in England;—and still more to the protection thrown round the same favoured class, that the justices should be bound to admit them to bail on charges of killing or wounding any one in the execution of their duty." The bill was carried, though by a small majority, and, still remaining in force, is mentioned by Mr. Hallam as an illustration how, in framing our fiscal code, a sad necessity has overruled the maxims of ancient law," so that "it is to be counted as a set-off against the advantages of the Revolution, and has, in fact, diminished the freedom and justice which we claim for our polity."

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Lord Talbot took up the prosecution of the Porteous rioters with much vigour, and expressed his hearty concurrence in the resolution of the Government to bring them to condign punishment. An order was made that the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the four Bailies, the Commander of the City Guard, and the Commander of the King's troops in the castle of Edinburgh, should attend at the bar of the House. But a great calamity was now impending over the nation.

Before the day for the attendance of the parties, arrived, Lord Talbot was no more. When apparently in the enjoyment of perfect health, when in the full possession of the confidence and esteem of his Sovereign, and of all classes in society,-while equally respected by his countrymen of all political parties, and all religious persuasions, while he was supposed to have before him a long career of usefulness and glory, he was suddenly seized with a spasm in the heart, which from the first was pronounced to be fatal. Being made sensible that his dissolution approached, he prepared for it with fortitude and serenity. He had a brief space allowed him to settle his worldly affairs, and, having received the last consolations of religion, he set a pattern of dying, as he had always lived,-like a Christian. Early in the morning of Wednesday the 14th of February, 1737, he expired at his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the fifty-third year of his age.

n Const. Hist. li. 384; Parl. Hist. ix. 1229.

A.D. 1737.

HIS DEATH.

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The news was received with consternation, not only in Westminster Hall and in the House of Lords, where he had been that day expected to preside, but a gloom was cast over the whole metropolis, as if every family had been visited with the loss of a beloved relative.

A general desire was felt that he should have a public funeral, and that his remains should be deposited in Westminster Abbey; but, according to a wish which, when dying, he had intimated, he was buried, attended only by his children and nearest connections, in the chancel of the parish church of Barrington, in Gloucestershire, where some of his ancestors reposed."

Instead of now attempting to draw a character of Lord Talbot, I shall best please my readers by introducing some of the contemporary eulogiums pronounced upon him; for every notice of him was an unqualified eulogium. Those who value him as I do can never tire of the repetition of his praise.

The obituary of the succeeding number of the "Gentleman's Magazine" contained the following statement:-" Feb. 14. Charles Talbot, Lord Talbot, &c., in whom all the qualities that can constitute a good man, or can adorn a wise one, were eminently united. No man ever arrived to his high dignity with such universal approbation, nor conducted himself in it with such universal applause; no man was ever more the delight of his country, or had a larger share of the hearts and affections of the people, and yet he never made use of any other method to please than a constant course of wisdom and virtue. He had the peculiar felicity to join together those contrary qualities so rare to be met with in the same person, the mildest disposition with the greatest firmness of mind; and at the same time that he had a heart susceptible of the strongest impressions of tenderness and compassion, he maintained inviolably the strictest justice and most inflexible integrity. He had a mind so enlightened, that no falsehood could ever

• On his coffin were engraved his arms, the purse, mace, and regalia, on a brass plate, with this inscription :

"The Right Honourable

CHARLES LORD TALBOT,

BARON OF HENSOL,

Lord High Chancellor of England,

And one of His Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council.

Died Feb. 14, 1736-7,

In the 53rd year of his age."

elude his sight, but, with inimitable sagacity, he would pursue her through all the intricate labyrinths which she took to escape him. His judgment was so clear, that he could at one view discover the most entangled points; and yet he had patience and temper to hear every thing that could be said on the most plain and obvious. He always chose to make truth appear in native simplicity, though he could have adorned it with all the graces of rhetoric. He was, in all characters and relations of life, one of the ablest, greatest, uprightest men that any age or nation has produced, and was not only an honour to his country, but an ornament to human nature.'

In another periodical work, in great circulation at the time, though long forgotten,' he was thus characterised by one who seems to have known him well in domestic life:- 66 His religion was his governing principle; it was well grounded and active; his piety was rational and manly. He was a sincere son of the Church of England, and ready to maintain her in her just rights and legal possessions. He was an enemy to persecution, and had a diffusive general and Christian charity, which made him a friend to all mankind. He had a great regard for such of the most worthy of the clergy as were distinguished by their learning, sincerity, moderation, and charity. He was a careful and indulgent father, and as no man ever deserved more of his children, no man could be more affectionately beloved by them; there was something so peculiar in this respect, that none seemed to know how to be in such friendship with his sons as my Lord Chancellor. The harmony which subsisted in his house was a very great pleasure to all who beheld it."

Another notice of him, written by a friend, said,--" He was the delight and honour of his country, both in his judicial and ministerial capacity. Eloquence never afforded greater charms from any orator than when the public attention listened to his sentiments delivered with the most graceful modesty. In apprehension he so far exceeded the common rank of men, that he instantaneously, or by a kind of intuition, saw the strength or imperfection of any argument; and so penetrating was his sagacity, that the most intricate and perplexing mazes of the law could never so involve and darken the truth as to conceal it from his discernment. So excellent was his temper, so candid his disposition in debate, that he never offended those whose arguments he opposed. When intrusted with the

P See Biogr. Brit., title "Talbot."

CHAP. CXXVIII. CONTEMPORARY CHARACTERS OF HIM.

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Great Seal, his universal affability, his easiness of access, and his great despatch of business, engaged to him the affection and almost veneration of all who approached him. By clearly delivering, with his decrees, the reasons on which they were founded, he made his court a very instructive school of equity; and his decisions were generally attended with such conviction to the parties against whose interest they were made, that their acquiescence in them prevented any further expense. When he could obtain a short interval from business, the pompous formalities of his station were thrown aside; his table was a scene where wisdom and science shone, enlivened and adorned with elegance of wit. There was joined the utmost freedom of dispute with the highest good breeding, and the vivacity of mirth with primitive simplicity of manners. When he had leisure for exercise he delighted in field sports, and even in those trifles showed that he was formed to excel in whatever he engaged. If he had relaxed more from the fatigues of office, the nation might not yet have deplored a loss it could so ill sustain. But though he was removed at a season of life when others but begin to shine, he might justly have said 'se satis et ad vitam et ad gloriam vixisse,' and his death united in one general concern a nation which scarce ever unanimously agreed in any other particular; and, notwithstanding the warmth of our political divisions, each party endeavoured to outvie the other in due reverence to his memory.'

These characters of Lord Talbot were supposed to come from men of the same political party with himself; but the "CRAFTSMAN," then under the influence of Bolingbroke and Pulteney, and in such bitter opposition to Sir R. Walpole's government as to be several times prosecuted ex officio, thus spoke of him who, when a law officer of the Crown, had assisted in these prosecutions:- "He rose, by merit, to the head of his profession, and not only supported himself in it with dignity, but adorned it, and acquired every day new praise and esteem. His prudence, moderation, and patience in the execution of his office, even amidst the highest provocations, make one shining part of his character, and are hardly to be paralleled by any instances of those who have sat before him upon that bench. Yet, notwithstanding this amiable disposition of mind, he discovered such courage and resolution upon all occasions, as could not be shaken by the tricks of

9 See Biog. Br. Chalmers, "Lord Talbot."

the wealthy, the applications of the powerful, or the tears of the distressed. In a word he possessed all the great talents of his most renowned predecessors, without any of their frailties, and hath left a noble example to all his successors; so that he was not only a blessing to the age in which he lived, but may possibly derive the same happiness to his posterity, by exciting those who follow him in that high office to an emulation of his virtues. The great increase of business in the Court of Chancery since the Seal was put into his hands is an evident proof of that confidence which the suitors reposed in him, and will do immortal honour to his memory, though it proved fatal to his life; for the constant fatigue of his employment was one of the principal causes of his death, and therefore he may be truly said to have fallen a martyr to the public good! He died full of glory, but, to the great misfortune of his country, not full of years; and the general sorrow which his death has occasioned will do his noble family more honour than the highest titles, or the most sumptuous monuments.'

Smollett, who seldom rises above a dry and uninteresting narrative of political facts, characterises Lord Talbot as possessing the spirit of a Roman senator, the elegance of an Atticus, and the integrity of a Cato."

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All subsequent historians who treat of that period, swell the note of praise. Says Tindal,-"He was an illustrious exception to the venality charged upon the profession of the law: his life was moral, his heart was good, and his head was clear; nor did ever man fill that high station with greater abilities and approbation of the public. But just as the nation was in a manner beginning to reap the benefits of his virtues he was snatched away by death."

I will only farther quote our most recent historian, who, after referring to Lord Hardwicke, says—“Lord Talbot is less conspicuous in history only because he was more brief in life; he died at the age of fifty-two, and, even amidst the strife of parties, was universally lamented as a man of the highest legal talents, of unimpeachable character, and of most winning gentleness of manners.'

The Muses likewise were invoked to do honour to the

r Craftsman, A.D. 1737.

s Vol. iii. p. 54.

t Tind. Cont. xx. 340. Tindal, in stating Lord Talbot's appointment as Chancellor, had

said "He was looked upon as one of the clearest-headed as well as the best-hearted lawyers that ever practised."

u Lord Mahon, vol. ii. 257.