CLXII. CHAP chief, Walter de Wedderburn, signed the Ragman Roll, and (I am ashamed to say) along with the chief of the Campbells, did homage to Edward I.—a disgrace which they redeemed at Bannockburn. His ancestors. In the year 1640, the Chancellor's ancestor, Mr. Alexander Wedderburn of Chesterhall, was deputed by the Scots, along with the Earl of Dunfermline, and Sir Patrick Hepburn, to settle several important points with the English parliament, shortly before the commencement of the civil war, and Sir Peter, his great-grandfather, was appointed by Charles II., first a commissioner of the royal revenue in Scotland, and afterwards a Judge of the Court of Session. * Peter, his father, was likewise elevated to the bench by George II. in July, 1756, under the title of Lord Chesterhall, but had a very short enjoyment of his dignity, dying while his hopeful son was still practising at the Scottish bar although dreaming of conquests in Westminster Hall. I have only picked up one anecdote of young Alexander's infant years. This bears some resemblance to an occurrence which befell Lord Somers about the same age, and was supposed to foretell that Chancellor's future greatness, but the omen of the Scottish boy might have been interpreted as marking him out for outrage and disgrace - from which he was barely to escape with his life. When he was between boy nearly three and four years old, having provoked a fierce Turkey cock, by hallooing to him, When a killed by a turkey cock. The animal flew at the child, laid him flat on the ground, and seemed disposed to peck his eyes out, when he was saved * See Branston and Haig's "Historical Account of the Senators of the College of Justice," pp. 394. 521. My readers are probably aware that these titles are enjoyed merely by courtesy with the office of Judge, without conferring any privileges of peerage. I know not the meaning of this nursery rhyme; but I have myself, when a child, often heard it applied to turkey cocks. by his nurse, who rushed in to the rescue with a broom in her hand. A young lad, then acting in the family as assistant to the gardener, having witnessed this scene, and many years afterwards, when passing through London, having been carried into the Court of Chancery to see Lord Loughborough in all his glory, instead of being, as was expected, overwhelmed with admiration and awe,- after he had coolly contemplated him for some time, at length exclaimed, "Weel! Weel! he may be a great man noo, but I mind fine he was aince sair hadden doon by his mither's bubbly jock!" This lady, celebrated for the care which she took in the rearing of her children as well as of her poultry, was born an Ogilvie, was descended from the Earls of Airlie, and was possessed of a taste for literature rare among the females of that day. While the "Laird" was absorbed in the business of the Parliament House at Edinburgh, or the farm at Chesterhall, she not only taught little Alec to read, but early inspired him with a love of books, so that he made wonderful progress in his studies, and displayed a precocity in his intellect as well as his acquirements which (as we shall see) excited the admiration of the literati of Scotland. When about six years old he was sent to a school at Dalkeith, then kept by Mr. James Barclay, a very able and successful teacher. Here he met the famous Harry Dundas, afterwards Lord Viscount Melville, and a friendship was established between them, which, in spite of political differences, lasted for life. I have not ascertained whether they were in the same form, or whether either of them was "Dux," or whether they were often subjected to the discipline of the "tawse,"-in those times considered a necessary instrument for the inculcation of learning; but they are both said to have been remarkable boys, Dundas being distinguished for vigour and rough jocularity, and Wedderburn for dexterity and cunning. While here they acquired a considerable * The Scottish ferula. CLXII. CHAP. knowledge of the Greek language, which was and is shamefully neglected at most Scotch grammar schools. A.D. 1745. Edinburgh. * In his fourteenth year, Wedderburn was removed to the At the uni- University of Edinburgh. The rebellion of 1745 had susversity of pended the scholastic pursuits of this learned body, Prince Charles being for a considerable time in possession of the city, while the Castle stood out for King George, and the professors, according to their inclinations, actively assisting the opposite sides. But after the battle of Culloden lectures were resumed, and the studies of the place proceeded as peaceably as if a highland claymore had never been brandished in the Canongate, nor a cannon shot boomed from the battlements of the Castle. At this juncture, young Wedderburn began his academical career. He was matriculated on the 18th of March, 1746. Our young collegian had no taste for mathematics, which Maclaurin had at this time rendered rather popular in Scotland; nor did he even show much of the metaphysical turn for which his countrymen were beginning to be distinguished; but he devoted himself sedulously to classics, political science, and modern belles-lettres. The university could not yet boast of such instructors as Robertson, Blair, Munro, Black, and Dugald Stewart; but a general ardour for study prevailed, and the development of genius, which soon after displayed itself, was quietly advancing. I have not been able to obtain any particulars of young Wedderburn's demeanour in the "Humanity Class," with which he began, or in any of the others during the "philosophy curriculum." The degrees of B. A. and M. A. had then fallen into desuetude at Edinburgh, and there were no public examinations or honours to excite emulation, or to reward proficiency. But much * Sacred as well as civil functions gave way to arms; and Dr. Robertson, the historian, then minister of Gladsmuir, carried a musket as a private in the Edinburgh Volunteers. Such a proceeding, sanctioned by many precedents in the Old Testament, gives no offence to pious Presbyterians. I remember, when a French invasion was expected, my father, the Rev. Dr. George Campbell, one of the most venerated of the clergy of the Church of Scotland, while he preached with unction every Sabbath day, on week days was drilled in the ranks of the Cupar Volunteers. CHAP. CLXII. A. D. 1746. Robertson, Smith, and more depends on the spirit of the time and of the place, than on positive institutions; and there can be no doubt that Wedderburn's mental cultivation and attainments (setting aside a minute skill in "longs and shorts") were superior to His early those of most young men of his years, who had all the ad- proficiency. vantages of Westminster or Eton, of Oxford or Cambridge. He was even then in daily intercourse, and on a footing of perfect equality, with several of the most distinguished literary characters whom Scotland has ever produced. Dr. His intiRobertson, deeply engaged in preparing his history of Scot-macy with land, delighted to see him at Gladsmuir, and foretold his Adam future eminence. When a child he had been noticed by Adam Smith who, filling the Moral Philosophy chair at Glasgow, frequently corresponded with him.* But his greatest friend and admirer was David Hume, now Librarian to the Faculty of Advocates, and after the publication of his philosophical works, employed on his "Apology for the Stuarts." With such men to direct his studies, and to reward him by their praise, we can hardly wonder that our Edinburgh student worked with as much enthusiasm and effect as if he had had before his eyes the glory of a “double first," or of being at once "Senior Wrangler and Senior Medallist." David Hume. to the bar. Being of a famille de robe, an order long well known Destined in Scotland as in France (of whom the Dundases, Hopes, and Wedderburns were distinguished branches), he was early destined to the bar, and in his seventeenth year he began his professional training — which did not consist, as in England, *Dugald Stewart, in his Life of Adam Smith, says: "In the year 1748 he fixed his residence in Edinburgh; and during that and the following years read lectures on Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres, under the patronage of Lord Kaimes. About this time, too, he contracted a friendship, which continued without interruption till his death, with " Mr. Alexander Wedderburn, now Lord Loughborough." Wedderburn, in 1748, was only fifteen; and as Smith went to Glasgow in 1751, this enduring friendship must have been settled on its foundation, at the latest, when our hero was verging to eighteen. This does strike me as a remarkable proof of his early development. Perhaps no subsequent honour which he attained raises him more in our opinion than the consideration that before his manhood he was respected and cherished by Robertson, Smith, and Hume. CHAP. His study of the law. While still a student of law at he contemplates going to the English bar. in eating a certain number of dinners in the hall of an Inn of Court, but required that he should attend courses of lectures on the Roman civil law, and the different departments of municipal jurisprudence, and that he should undergo private and public examinations to test his progress and proficiency, before being authorised to practise as an advocate, or being qualified to preside as a judge. It had been under deliberation whether he should not, according to a custom which had long prevailed in Scotland, be sent to study the civil law at Leyden; but the reputation of this once famous university had been for some time declining, while that of Edinburgh was rising as a school of law, as well as of medicine, and the advantage of studying under the laborious and accurate Erskine, afterwards the author of the "Institutes," was thought too considerable to be sacrificed.* Wedderburn now laid in the chief stock of law on which he traded for the rest of his days for he never again studied this science systematically; and afterwards he was contented to make himself acquainted with particular questions as they arose pro re nata· aiming at the character rather of a dexterous practitioner than of a profound jurist. - He felt within him very early not only the stings of ambition, but a consciousness of his own powers, and a sanguine Edinburgh, anticipation of success if opportunity were afforded to him. It has been supposed, even by such diligent inquirers as Lord Brougham†, that Wedderburn had no thought of trying his fortune in England till his famous quarrel with Lockhart in the Parliament House; whereas, it is quite certain that, while still a stripling" from the time he could look about him, and compare himself with others," he he had become dissatisfied with the prospect of spending his life before Lords Ordinary and in the Inner House, without the hope of earning 1000l. a year at the bar or on the bench, and that he had listened with rapture to the almost incre * Boswell, the biographer, seems to have been the last Scotch advocate sent to study at Leyden. † Statesmen, in Reign of George III., 1st series, p. 70. His own words. |