THE BIRTH OF LORD CHANCELLOR LOUGHBOROUGH, IN 1733, ΤΟ THE DEATH OF LORD CHANCELLOR ELDON, IN 1838.] VOL. VI. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. I NOW complete my engagement with the public. I regret that the work should be extended to a Seventh Volume, but I could not further condense my narrative without injuring the symmetry of execution at which I have aimed. The Lives in this Series, although few in number, are intimately connected with the history of the country for a century, and it should be recollected that my latest Chancellor held the Great Seal nearly as long as Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Nottingham, Lord Guildford, Lord Jeffreys, Lord Commissioner Maynard, Lord Commissioner Trevor, and Lord Somers, put togetherhaving been the principal artificer in the construction of five different administrations*, one of which, by his management, lasted fifteen years. I have derived great assistance from the labours of preceding biographers, and my particular acknowledgments are due to Mr. Townsend † and Mr. Twiss. Their superiority I am the first to acknowledge, and instead of entering into rivalry with them I only venture on Lives which they have written so ably, because I feel myself bound to finish the plan which I had long ago announced,― because on many constitutional questions which we have to discuss my views are very different * 1801, 1804, 1807, 1809, 1812. † Lives of Twelve Eminent Judges, by W. C. Townsend, Esq. Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, by Horace Twiss, Esq. |