A.D. 1715-17. GOES THE WESTERN CIRCUIT. 165 A.D. 1715 His progress was more rapid than that of any other débutant in the annals of our profession. He was immediately pushed by old Salkeld, who himself had many briefs 1717. to dispose of, and who had great influence among his brother attorneys. Several young men with whom he had formed an intimacy while in his clerkship, now being "upon the roll," were perhaps of still greater use to him. He began his practice in the Court of King's Bench, where he enjoyed the marked favour of Lord Chief Justice Parker. It soon happened that he had to argue a special case upon an important and intricate point of law. The judgment of the Court was with his client, and he received high compliments from the Chief Justice for the research, learning, and ability which he had displayed." From that day forth he was much employed in the "special argument line," although it was some years before he acquired the reputation of a “leader.” By Mr. Salkeld's advice, he chose the Western Circuit, where, although he had no natural connection,-by means which must have excited some jealousy and distrust, but which could not be proved to be incorrect, he was suddenly in good junior business at every assize town." About two years after his start, Mr. Justice Powys, who had been eminent in his profession, but was now bending under the weight of years, went the Western Circuit, and, surprised to see so young a man in every cause, was anxious to know how he had got on so rapidly. It has been said since, that early success on the Circuit must arise from "sessions, a book, or a miracle.' The practice of barristers practising at Quarter Sessions had not then begun, and, miracles having ceased, Powys thought that young Yorke. must have written some law book, which had brought him into notice. The bar dining with the Judges at the last place on the Circuit, and the party being small on account of so proposed by Mr Offley, Mr Idle J. proposed by Mr Avery, Mr Brabant H. proposed by Sr William Whitelock, and Mr Sherwood J. proposed by M' Attorny Genall, for the Degree of the Utter Barr." On the 20th of the same month Mr. Philip Yorke was admitted to a set of chambers. The following is the only other entry relating to him in the Books of the Middle Temple : "Ad Parliament. tent. 10mo ffebij, 1720mo. -It is ordered-That St Philip Yorke, Knt, his Majties Soll' Generall, be called up to the Bench of this Society in order to his Reading." n We are not told how he received these compliments. He was probably pleased and grateful; but I once heard a young barrister, who entertained a very high, and perhaps somewhat excessive opinion of his own merits, say, under similar circumstances, "I think the Judges use a very great liberty in presuming to praise me for my argument.' • He afterwards had the satisfaction of rewarding Mr. Salkeld for all his kindness by appointing him Clerk of the Errors in the Court of King's Bench. 66 many having taken their departure for London, before the toast of "Prosperity to the Western Circuit," and "Quinden. Pasch." were given, there was a pause in the conversation, and Mr. Justice Powys, addressing the flourishing junior, who was sitting nearly opposite to him, said, "Mr. Yorke, I cannot well account for your having so much business, considering how short a time you have been at the bar: I humbly conceive you must have published something; for look you, do you see, there is scarcely a cause before the Court, but you are employed. in it, on one side or other. I should, therefore, be glad to know, Mr. Yorke, do you see, whether this is the case?' Yorke. 'Please ye, my Lord, I have some thoughts of publishing a book, but, as yet, I have made no progress in it." The Judge, smiling to think that his conjecture was not quite without foundation, became importunate to know the subject of the book, and Yorke, not being able to evade his inquiries, at last said, "I have had thoughts, my Lord, of doing Coke upon Littleton into verse; but I have gone a very little way into it."-Powys. "This is something new, and must be very entertaining; and I beg you will oblige us with a recital of a few of the verses.' Mr. Yorke long resisted, but finding that the Judge would not drop the subject, bethought himself that he could not get rid of it better than by compounding a specimen of such a translation, something in the Judge's own words, and introducing the phrases. with which his Lordship was in the habit of interlarding his discourse upon all occasions, let the subject be grave or gay. Therefore, accompanying what he intended to say with some excuses for not sooner complying with the Judge's request, he recited the following verses, as the opening of his translation :— "He that holdeth his lands in fee Need neither to quake nor to quiver, P It would appear that the present custom then prevailed of the Judges, when the barristers dine with them, giving as a toast when the party is to break up, "Prosperity to the O. Circuit," except that, at the last place on the Spring Circuit, they afterwards give "Quinden. Pasch.," being the first return of Easter Term; and on the Summer Circuit, “Cras. Animarum," being the first return of Michaelmas Term; which is as much as to say, "To our next merry meeting in West minster Hall." 9 The first section of Littleton in prose' says "Tenant in fee simple is he which hath lands or tenements to hold to him and his heirs for ever." Of which we have another metrical translation : "Tenant in fee simple is he, And needs neither to shake or shiver, Who has his lands free from demands To him and his heirs for ever." A.D. 1718. HIS MARRIAGE. 167 A knavish speech sleeps in a foolish ear. Although all others present perceived the jest, the learned Judge was not struck by the peculiarity of the diction, and was so much convinced that this was a serious attempt to impress upon the youthful mind the great truths of tenures, that, meeting Mr. Yorke a few months afterwards in Westminster Hall, he inquired "how he was getting on with the translation of Littleton ?" The wicked wag, out of revenge, turned into rhyme the Judge's last charge to the grand jury,-of which I give a specimen : "Next, libellers, gentlemen present, I thus define: it is, to wit, Not what is spoke but what is writ, Or printed upon paper sheets, And cry'd by wenches 'bout the streets. To blacken King or ministry." " But our poet continued to deal in profitable prose in the courts of justice, and was now so prosperous that he thought he might not improperly contract a matrimonial alliance. In the object of his choice he showed his usual prudence and good sense. This was a gay widow with a good jointure, the niece of Lord Somers, and the niece by marriage of Sir Joseph Jekyll, the Master of the Rolls, at whose house in Chancery Lane he became acquainted with her." Yorke was a remarkably handsome young man, and his addresses were well received by the lady, but she referred him to her father, Mr. Cocks, a Worcestershire squire. Fortified by a letter of introduction from Sir Joseph, who encouraged the match, he repaired full r Duke Wharton says, in the once popular decided in every case which Coke has relines,ported: e. g. "When honest Price shall trim and truckle under, And Powis sum a cause without a blun der; Then shall I cease my charmer to adore, Yet the simplicity of the Judge in believing "Archer, if he for life infeoff in fee, When I was in a special pleader's office, a brother pupil thus began to versify "Tidd's Practice : "" "Actions are all, and this I'll stick to, Vel ex contractu vel delicto." Her maiden name was Cocks, she being the daughter of Charles Cocks, Esq., by a sister of Lord Somers. of confidence to the residence of his intended father-in-law. The old gentleman received him politely, but learning the object of his visit asked him for his rent roll, and Mr. Lygon, his daughter's first husband, having had a very ample one, was surprised to hear that all Mr. Yorke's estate consisted of "a perch of ground in Westminster Hall.” However, in answer to a letter to the Master of the Rolls, asking "how he could think of introducing into the family a young man incapable of making a settlement," his Honour so strongly represented the brilliant prospects of the rising lawyer, that the required consent was given, and the union took place,which turned out most auspicious, for the married couple lived together till old age in uninterrupted affection and harmony, sharing the most wonderful worldly greatness, and seeing a numerous family of sons and daughters grown upall well behaved and prosperous, and as fully fixed among the high aristocracy as if they had descended from companions of the Conqueror. Mr. and Mrs. Philip Yorke began their married life in a very small house near Lincoln's Inn, the ground floor of which served him for an office, and saved him the expense of chambers in the Temple, then considered by him a very great object. In the year 1718, upon the resignation of Lord Cowper, Chief Justice Parker, shortly after created Earl of Macclesfield, received the Great Seal, and Mr. Yorke transferred himself to the Court of Chancery, still continuing to go the Western Circuit." Equity business soon flowed in upon him -partly from his own merit, and partly from the favour of his patron, testified in a manner which gave mortal offence to the seniors at the bar. Serjeant Pengelly, in particular, was so disgusted at frequently hearing the Chancellor observe— "what Mr. Yorke said has not been answered," that he one day threw up his brief, saying in a loud voice, "I will no more attend a Court where I find Mr. Yorke is not to be answered." Some have gone so far as to ascribe Lord Macclesfield's subsequent ruin to this favouritism, asserting that "Serjeant Pengelly's resentment, joined with that of others in the same situation, brought upon the Chancellor that investigation of his private management, and the abuses committed or connived t The Lord Chancellor wrote him a letter to congratulate him, "yt an affair of ye greatest importance in life was so happily over." u For more than half a century afterwards the Chancellor's sittings were so arranged as to allow the counsel practising in his Court to go circuit, and Equity men had the advantage of keeping up their common law learning. A.D. 1718. PRACTISES IN THE COURT OF CHANCERY. 169 at by him in his appointment of the officers of his Court, which terminated in his impeachment and conviction." However, there can be no doubt that the discontent of the old Chancery pleaders arose very much from the superior talent of the young common lawyer, whose invasion was so formidable to their empire. Most of them had been contented to pick up a knowledge of Chancery practice from experience, referring pro re nata to what was to be found on the subject in the Reports and Abridgments; but he entered upon a systematic course of study, qualifying him to be a great advocate or a great judge in the Court of Chancerytracing the equitable jurisdiction of the Court to its sources, and thoroughly understanding all the changes it had undergone. y In the case of Rex v. Hare and Mann, in which Sir Robert Walpole's family was interested, he had an opportunity, of which he fully availed himself, of showing that he was deeply skilled in the history and practice of this tribunal, and he raised his reputation as high among the Solicitors here as it had been among the Attorneys in the King's Bench. In his celebrated letter to Lord Kames, on the distinction between Law and Equity, written many years after, he speaks with much complacency of his argument on this occasion, and insinuates that it contributed greatly to his elevation. "It was," says he, "when I was a very young advocate, before I was Solicitor-General, but it is correctly reported; for I remember Sir John Strange borrowed my papers to transcribe, so that the faults in it are all my own. In arguing that cause, which turned upon a critical exception to the return of a writ of scire facias in Chancery, I found, or at least fancied it to be necessary to show, that all the various powers of that court were derived from, or had relation to, the Great Seal, and I endeavoured to prove that the equitable jurisdiction exercised by the Chancellor took its rise from his being the proper officer to whom all applications were made for writs to ground actions at common law, and from many cases being brought before him, in which that law would not afford a remedy, and thereby being induced through necessity or compassion to extend a discretionary one." z x Cooksey, 72. Serjeant Pengelly was certainly the most bitter manager of the impeachment. y 1 Strange, 146, Feb. 1719, 5 Geo. 2. a seemingly very trifling objection to a writ of scire facias, which required the defendant "to appear in Cancellariâ nostrâ in Octobris, &c. ubicunque tunc fuerit." Objection, that z This very learned argument arose out of it ought to have been "ubicunque eadem Can |