CLXXV. CHAP. to Lord Rosslyn's Scotticisms and vernacular tones, I can safely affirm to be incorrect; and I believe any one who conA. D. 1805. versed with Lord Rosslyn in his latter years (of whom some few are still alive) would bear testimony both to his intellects being perfectly clear, and his language so purely English, that no one would have perceived him to be a Scotchman."* George ing when he knew for certain Loughborough was dead. He was now to receive a sudden summons from the Angel of Death. On the last day of the year he was at a party given by their Majesties at Frogmore,--where, meeting with a very gracious reception, and being consequently in high spirits, he stayed till a late hour. Next day, being new year's day, 1805, while sitting at table, seemingly in his usual health, his head dropped on one side, he fell from his chair, and it was found that he was struck by an attack of gout in the stomach. He never spoke again, and he expired in a few hours, to the inexpressible grief of his family. I should have been glad if I could have omitted or conIII.'s say tradicted the following anecdote, but it has been too widely circulated to be suppressed, and it seems to rest on undoubted that Lord authority: Intelligence being carried to George III. early next morning of the sudden death of his "friend," the Monarch, with characteristic circumspection interrogated the messenger, as to whether this might not be a false report, as he had seen the Earl of Rosslyn himself so recently in perfect health; and the messenger having declared that the Earl had certainly died during the night of gout in the stomach, his Majesty was graciously pleased to exclaim, "Then he has not left a greater knave behind him in my dominions."† *Letter from Miss Cotes † It is related that when Thurlow was told this remark of the King, he vented his spleen against both parties by observing, with an "oath, I perceive that his Majesty is quite sane at present." The whole story is utterly denied by Miss Cotes, who thus feelingly expresses herself: — 66 I think it quite incredible that George III., whose benevolence of heart and kind feeling are admitted even by his enemies, could have made such a speech as that recorded at the end of Lord Brougham's life, on being told of the sudden death of an old and faithful friend, whom he had seen in his house not twenty-four hours before, or that so open and warm-hearted a man as his nephew, Henry Wrottesley, could have refrained from naming it at the time, had such a speech reached his ears, or that he should never at any future time have expressed to any of his own family how much he was shocked at hearing a man, to whom he was most strongly attached, spoken of in such a manner. The extreme improbability of the story is all that I can argue upon, as Mr. Henry Wrottesley was probably the only person who could really know CLXXV. neral. His remains, having been removed to his house in London, CHAP. were deposited in St. Paul's Cathedral, close to those of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Some of his biographers have stated that a A. D. 1805. monument has been there erected to his memory, with an His fuepitaph to record his virtues, but "the only memorial which St. Paul's contains of this high legal functionary is a flat stone laid over his grave in the crypt, with the following inscription, on which no human eye ever looks, and which is fast becoming illegible: "ALEXANDER Wedderburn, EARL OF ROSSLYN, Died 2nd January, 1805." * At the top of a circle inclosing the inscription are his armorial bearings, with the motto "Illæso lumine solem." Such is the information afforded respecting him to those who visit the secluded vaults of our Metropolitan Minster, and this is now with difficulty deciphered. Inscription on his grave. racter. I must try to supply the deficiency,— exercising a more im- His chapartial judgment than could be expected in a kinsman or a friend. This memoir, I am afraid, may appear to have been already extended to a disproportionate length, and I hasten to conclude it;-but the reader must bear in mind that while the greater part of those who have held the office of Chan the truth. I own to me it appears absolutely impossible." Although Miss Cotes's belief is so sincere and so strong, we must recollect that she is not supposed to have been present when the words were spoken, and that they might have been concealed from her on account of her pious respect for the memory of her uncle. I am informed, that they were often mentioned to others by Mr. Henry Wrottesley, to whose testimony she refers. The improbability of the anecdote is lessened by the consideration that George III. had always looked on Lord Loughborough with a considerable degree of suspicion; first, on account of his country, and, secondly, on account of his inconsistent conduct. So early as when he was a law officer of the Crown, his Majesty, in a confidential letter to Lord North, said, "Is Mr. A. G. really running right? I doubt all Scots, and he has been getting every thing he could.' * Letter from a Canon Residentiary of St. Paul's, who kindly made the necessary inquiry for me on this subject; and who adds, -"Of our fortyfive monuments within the cathedral, twenty-one are erected to military, and sixteen to naval heroes. The only Judge similarly honoured is one whose ashes are not with us - SIR WILLIAM JONES." CLXXV. CHAP. cellor, have either emerged from obscurity at a mature age, or have been consigned to an early tomb, Lord Loughborough was conspicuous on the stage of public life above half a century, mixing with all the most eminent men of two generations, that he lived to relish the writings of Wordsworth and of Walter Scott, after many years of personal intimacy with Robertson and Hume,—that having exulted in the glories of the first Administration of Pitt the father, he mourned over the calamities of the last Administration of Pitt the son, and that he long continued to fill a great space in the eyes of his contemporaries on both sides of the Atlantic. From his origin he might have been expected to aim no higher than being an "Advocate-depute" or the "Sherra" of a Scotch county; but, striking out a path to fortune unknown to his countrymen, he raised himself to be Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, and an Earl. - I may still be allowed to take a rapid glance at the merits and the faults of a person so distinguished. Natural abilities. His want of public principle. His changes impolitic as well as unprincipled. He received from nature talents of the first order, and, with a longing after the seemingly unattainable, an extraordinary determination of purpose, which enabled him to overcome all the difficulties which obstructed his rise. He achieved greatness, and he might have commanded the respect of mankind. But of public principle he was wholly destitute. Repeatedly going over from the Whigs to the Tories and from the Tories to the Whigs, he has been not inaptly compared to a ship at single anchor in a river, that changes the direction of her prow every time the tide ebbs and flows. Some palliation of his misconduct may be discovered in the political profligacy of the times in which he lived; but, in aggravation, it must be remembered that he had before him in his own profession the example of the virtuous Camden,amidst temptations and tergiversations ever consistent and true. To render Lord Loughborough's worldly prosperity less demoralising, I would observe, that I believe his frequent interested transfers of himself were impolitic as well as unprincipled. With his endowments, had he adhered steadily to either party, he probably would have filled the same offices, CHAP. CLXXV. He was deprofes ficient in knowledge. I must likewise censure him for not making himself better acquainted with English jurisprudence. He had a very fine legal understanding, and with proper application he was ca- sional pable of comprehending and expounding the most abstruse questions debated in our courts; but he was contented with the superficial knowledge of his profession, which enabled him, by means of a cursory examination of authorities and a cautious concealment of his ignorance of all beyond what he had got up for the occasion, decently to get through the business of the day. As a judge he was of spotless integrity, and he could deal well with the facts of every case; but he was often obliged to resort to others for those maxims on which depended the most important rights of the suitors who came before him for justice. Thurlow used to say,—“That d-d Scotchman has the gift of the gab, but he is no lawyer; in the House of Lords I get Taffy Kenyon, or some one else who does my dirty work, to start some law doctrine in such a way that the fellow must get up to answer it, and then I leave the Woolsack and give him such a thump in the bread-basket that he cannot recover his wind." Yet Loughborough, by his "gift of the gab," sometimes seems to have had the best of it. Lord Eldon used to relate that on one occasion when the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas was speaking with considerable effect on a law point which Thurlow had not sufficiently studied, the latter, as he sat on the Woolsack, was heard to mutter, "If I were not as lazy CHAP. as a toad at the bottom of a well, I could kick that fellow CLXXV. Loughborough heels over head any day in the week.”* Censure upon him for neglect ing and opposing all law re form. Letter from Mr. Pitt proposing that Lord Lough. borough should take a sinecure. Still deeper blame is to be imputed to Lord Loughborough, for not only omitting to do any thing material, during the forty years he sat in Parliament, to improve our laws, but for opposing the efforts which now began to be made by others for this great object. Having effected nothing by "Orders" to reform the abuses of the Court of Chancery, the only law bill which he ever introduced, besides that already mentioned, to prevent the dangerous accumulation of property by means of fantastical wills, was the bill requiring, under the pain of nullity, all annuities to be registered, unless secured on freehold estates. The purpose was to check the ruinous practice of expectant heirs borrowing money on extravagant terms by granting annuities, and thus evading the statutes against usury; but the measure was illframed, and has fallen into desuetude.† When a bill for Thurlow, retaining the recollection of the wounds he had received in conflicts with this formidable antagonist, when told by Lord Lauderdale of his intention to make an attack on Lord Loughborough, then Chancellor, said to him, "You had better not, sir: he will come over you with his cold tongue." † He likewise caused to be brought in the Act by which a pension of 40007. a year was provided for a retired Chancellor. Mr. Pitt, by the following letter, proposed that he should take a sinecure like his predecessors : — 66 Holwood, Sunday, March 2d, 1794. "MY DEAR LORD, "I wish to submit to your Lordship the idea of an arrangement on which I shall be happy to know your sentiments. If it strikes you as it does me, it will be a great satisfaction to me to see it carried into execution. An opportunity occurs of opening the office of Chief Justice in Eyre, now held by Mr. Villiers, the salary of which, as it stands (but subject to some possible deduction), is about 1900l. per annum. The office appears to me to be of a description which might very properly be held with your Lordship's present situation, and there is nothing to prevent an additional pension being granted out of the Civil List, dependent on the event of your ceasing to hold the Great Seal, which might make the amount, in that case, about equal to the salary of a tellership, which has been so frequently the provision for your predecessors. If your Lordship approves of this mode, it appears to be liable to no difficulty, and would render any idea of an application to Parliament unnecessary. You will, perhaps, have an opportunity of turning this in your mind, so as to let me know your opinion when I have the pleasure of meeting you to-morrow. "Ever, my dear Lord, sincerely yours, "W. PITT." I But he very properly objected to the jobbing to which such bargains were apt to give rise; and Mr. Pitt at last agreed in the propriety of a fixed retired allowance for the Chancellor, which has since been extended to all the Judges. — Stat. 39 Geo. 3. c. 110. 1 Rossl. MSS. |