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dred men. The mode of life is curious as a relic of the age, and as rare even then. It is the beau-ideal of the social system, y

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The mansion was inhabited by several other families, connected by blood and marriage; and they consorted in i style of which it is now difficult to give or to form an Meal Their thornings were employed by each in their respective occupations; the culture of a large farm→→→the clothing trade, then in a flourishing state-the producing and manufacturing teasels, woad, madder, and all dyeing materials the making of bricks and tiles in immense quantities, to supply the demand occasioned by rebuilding the ruined city and suburbs. The labours of the day over, they repaired for refreshment to one common table, in the great hall of the old nunnery, where seldom fewer than twenty or thirty relations and friends of the families assembled daily, and spent their evenings in the utmost Cheerfulness and conviviality. The products of the farm, the supplies of fish and game, and viands of every kind, received constantly from their country connexions, furnished their table with abundant plenty, and entitled such contributors to a place at it without ceremony or reserve. The annual slaughter of two brawns marked the festivity

of Christmas.ltw

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Somers, was entered at the Middle Temple, and patronised by the young Earl of Shrewsbury, whose estates had been managed by his father. Introduced by the Earl to men of letters and statesmen, Somers felt the deficiencies of his education, and, at twenty-four, voluntarily returned to Oxford, where he remained for some time an assiduous student. He appears to have had the ambition of universal accomplishment. He studied the modern languages, and the art of English composition, and politics as a science. He soon became the associate of all the leading Whigs, and a distinguished politician and political writer. Lord Campbell expatiates with evident delight upon the character and literary performances of the great Whig Chancellor and statesman. He dwells fondly upon every step of his career-the unimportant, and those of the last importance, to constitutional freedom. Somers was, in brief, the author of the "Revolution Setilement," that Whig Palladium; nor can too much merit be ascribed to his sagacity, foresight, and firmness at one of the most momentous periods of English history. But Lord Campbell admits, that in bringing the sovereign authority and privileges within proper bounds, he sometimes attempted to push those of Parliament too far. Our limits will not permit even the briefest notice of half this great statesman's career. His greatest glory" his biographer considers his patronage of Addison and Steele. With Lord Campbell, the patronage of poets and men of letters makes a Chancellor as famous as ever was the Knight of old, who freely dealt forth largesses to the bards and minstrels. Thus obscure Chancellors those who died without their fame"-have themselves only to blame for lacking immortality :

"They had no poet-and they died.” Even Thurlow is redeemed by having once given money to Crabbe, when a friendless, unknown, young poet; and having, though he neglected his early and illustrious friend, Cowper, been kind to Johnson.

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"With us it is a national reproach that authorship has rather been despised and discountenanced by the great, and it has been deemed somewhat discreditable for a man to earn his bread, or to rise into celebrity, by his pen. successful lawyer, or a Parliamentary debater, may overcome all the disadvantages of an obscure origin, or of early poverty, but no degree of mere literary eminence leads to political promotion. In subsequent times Addison would not have risen to a post of higher distinction than that of editor of a journal. But although he could not open his mouth in Parliament, Somers and Montague justly appreciated his inimitable powers as a writer, and being courted and caressed by them and the other leaders of the Whig party, he became chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, a Privy Councillor, and Secretary of State. The fashion which they set was adopted by Harley and the Tories. Swift was received at the table of the Lord Treasurer with as much distinction as if he had been decorated with the Garter, and Prior was employed as an ambassador to negotiate the peace of Utrecht. literary reputation, and to discover rising genius. When Lord Somers was ever eager to do homage to established Pope, lisping in numbers,' gave his boyish compositions to the world,

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"The most curious consideration, in looking back to those times, is, that, from a general feeling among English Protestants, with respect to Roman Catholics,-resembling that which now prevails in the United States of the authors of such measures had no consciousness them America, among the whites, with respect to the negroes, selves of doing anything wrong, and did not at all thereby injure their character for liberality with the great body of their countrymen, We can only lament that Lord Somers was not, on this subject, in advance of his age. Such contemplations should make us alarmed lest some laws and practices, which seem to us very harmless, may be reprobated by our posterity."

Many scandalous stories were circulated, by party malice or policy, against this great man; and Lord Campbell always considers it a duty to refute such tales, whether he considers them worthy of credit

or not. Somers was one of the few chancellors who were not eager to amass wealth. He acquired a high reputation in his own time, and posterity has confirmed it.

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Lord Keeper Wright may be passed as one of the illustrious obscure. And, for his successor, Lord Cowper, so great a mass of materials has been obtained from the Cowper family, in letters and diaries, that we have more personal and private history than the importance of this respectable but not remarkably bright public character required.

The correspondence and diaries of the second Lady Cowper, a woman of wit and spirit, form,

The remainder of the biography of Somers, like to general readers, the most agreeable part of this

VOL. XIV.NO. CXLVII.

C

biography. The State trials which arose out of the abortive attempt of the Stuarts, in what is familiarly, in Scotland, called "Mar's Year," or 1715, are thus noticed by her, in reference to Lord Cowper passing sentence upon the "Rebel Lords" implicated in the Earl of Mar's mad enterprise :"Feb. 9th, the day of the trials.-My Lord was named Lord High Steward, by the King-to his vexation and mine; but it could not be helped, and so we must submit, though we both wished heartily it had been the Earl of Nottingham. The form of the attendance was this from hence the servants had all new liveries; ten footmen; four coaches with two horses, and one with six; eighteen gentlemen out of livery, and Garter-at-Arms and Usher of the Black Rod in the same coach-Garter carrying the wand. I was told it was customary to make fine liveries on this occasion, but had them all plain. I think it very wrong to make a parade upon so dismal an occasion as that of putting to death one's fellow-creatures, nor could I go to the trial to see them receive their sentences, having a relation among them-my Lord Widdrington. The Prince was there, and came home much touched with compassion for them. What pity it is that such cruelties should be necessary!"

Of her husband's speech on this memorable occasion, Lady Cowper afterwards says:---

"I am delighted beyond measure to hear my Lord's speech (at the pronouncing sentence) so commended by everybody, but I esteem nobody's commendation like Dr. Clarke's, who says, 'Tis superlatively good, and that it is impossible to add or diminish one letter without hurting it.' Horace Walpole thus amusingly alludes to the recollection of Lord Cowper's cloquence on this occasion: After the second Scotch rebellion Lord Hardwicke presided at the trial of the rebel Lords. Somebody said to Sir Charles Wyndham-Oh, you don't think Lord Hardwicke's speech good, because you heard Lord Cowper's.' No,' he replied, but I do think it tolerable, because I heard Serjeant Skinner's.' [Lord Campbell subjoins] I have often been tickled by George I.'s quaint saying when he heard how Lord Nithsdale had escaped:-' It was the very best thing a man in his condition could have done.' The entry in Lady Cowper's diary is very amiable: 'It's confirmed that Lord Nithsdale is escaped. I hope he'll get clear off. I never was better pleased at anything in my life, and I believe everybody is the

same.

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When the quarrel between George I. and the Prince of Wales grew violent, Lord Cowper, looking forward to the rising sun, attached himself, though not openly, to the Prince; and Lady Cowper, being, at this time, in the household of the Princess, and a great favourite, the suspicions of the King were drawn upon her husband, and paved the way for his downfall. Lady Cowper's diary, illustrating, and Lord Campbell's text in referring to, the intrigues of this period, present a complete picture of court and official life; of pitiful plottings and counter-plottings; and the vacillation, and extreme reluctance, under all circumstances, with which a great minister resigns office :

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"In October, 1715, she says, They had done a world of things to force Lord Cowper to quit, who was their superior in everything, because they were afraid of his honesty and plain dealing.' My Lord was visited by the Duke of Somerset, who repeated all the conversation he had with Lord Townshend upon his dismission. Lord Townshend came to the Duke of Somerset, and, with a sorrowful air, told him he was sorry to tell him that the King had sent him to tell his Grace that he had no farther occasion for his services. The Duke of Somerset said, Pray, my Lord, what is the reason of it? Lord Townshend answers he did not know. Then, says the Duke of Somerset, by G-, my Lord, you lie; you know that the King puts me out

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for no other cause but for the lies which you, and such as you, have invented and told of me. Lord Cowper had advised the Cabinet Council against this step, so they did not acquaint him with it when it was done.' My Lord fell ill again the Saturday following, and continued so a great while, which occasioned a report that he was going out of his place. Some said he had not health to keep in; others, more truly, said the Lords of the Cabinet Council were jealous of his great reputation, and had a mind to have him out, so were resolved to weary hin out of it; which last was very true, for they had resolved among themselves, with out acquainting Baron Bernstorff with it, to put my Lord Chief Justice Parker into his place.' 'I kept house all this time, and saw nobody, and had enough to do to keep my Lord Keeper from giving up, and I'm sure the disputes and arguments we had upon that subject were wholly the occasion of his staying in, and it was at least three weeks before I could prevail.' 'My Lord Cowper is so ill that he has a mind to quit office. I have made a resolution never to press him more to keep his place.'15th. My Lord mighty ill, and still had a mind to quit office. I told him I never would oppose any thing he had a mind to do, and after arguing calmly upon the matter, I offered him, if it would be any pleasure done him, to retire with him into the country, and quit too, and what was more, never to repine at doing it, though it was the greatest sacrifice that could be made him. I believe he will accept it.'16th. My Lord still ill. Mr. Woodford wishes I should let him hint to old Mr. Craggs that my Lord Keeper's office was too hard for him, and mention the former offer, that, if my Lord was weary, he might be Privy Seal, and that my Lord Chief Justice Parker would come into my Lord Cowper's place. 17th. My Lord better, and not so much of quitting. 18th. My Lord better, to my great joy. No talk of quitting to-day, though I fairly laid it in his way."

This hitch was got over, and Lord Cowper retained the Seals and did the State good service for three years afterwards. After he had resigned, or been forced to resign, he divided his time between his seat in the country and his public duties as a Peer; while his lady still retained her appointment and influence with the Princess of Wales.

Among the many charges which party malice brought against Lord Cowper, was being married to two wives, which gained him the nickname of "Will. Bigamy." Lord Campbell takes pains to refute a charge which might have been left to Lady Cowper's diaries, and the private correspondence of the husband with his one affectionate and very clever wife, to whom he was devotedly attached.

The life of the Tory Chancellor, Lord Harcourt, the successor of Cowper, is chiefly interesting, as it permits the reader to see the other side of the question, and the characters that performed the principal parts among the Tories or Jacobites, and also the literary men of that party, of whom Harcourt was the munificent patron. He was of a very ancient and distinguished Saxon family. Lord Campbell, who has great faith in the uses of adversity, and in every young lawyer being left to fight his own unaided way to fortune and fame, records the eminent success of Cowper, the son of a baronet, and of Lord Harcourt, as exceptions to his general rule.

We find nothing in the life of Harcourt of more interest than the account of De Foe, sent to the pillory by him, as Attorney-General, for the publication of "The shortest way with the Dissenters," a seditious and "blasphemous libel." This libel was called forth by the afterwards notorious sermons of Sacheverell; and we cannot do better

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than quote Lord Campbell's account of the whole | The mob drank the health of De Foc, and cursed the affair. Attorney-General. The culprit was pelted with roses, and covered with garlands. The people were expected to treat me very ill,' he tells us, but it was not so. On the contrary, they wished those who had set me there shouts and acclamations when I was taken down.' There placed in my room, and expressed their affections by loud was no foundation for the report that his ears were cut off. I have been reluctantly obliged to menit, but we must chiefly blame the spirit of the age in tion this prosecution, and to censure Harcourt's share in which he lived, and we should remember in mitigation that more than a century afterwards, and in our own generation, sentence of the pillory was pronounced upon Leigh Hunt, a poet admired by many, and on Lord Cochrane, admitted by all to be one of the most gallant and skilful officers who ever adorned the naval service of

England, neither of whom had committed any offence deserving punishment."

**Sacheverell, beginning to preach the course of sermens which at last brought him into such notoriety, had lately, with great applause, announced from the pulpit to the enlightened University of Oxford, that the priest could not be a true son of the Church who did not hang out the bloody flag and banner of defiance' against all who questioned her doctrines or her discipline. This discourse being hawked about in the streets for twopence, was very generally read, and was making a very deep impression on the public mind. The celebrated Daniel De Foe, one of the greatest literary genuises the island of Great Britain has ever produced, at this period of his checkered career, carrying on a prosperous trade and keeping his coach, was roused by the love of civil and religious liberty, which ever burned in his bosom, and saying that he would make an effort to stay the plague, wrote and published anonymously his celebrated tract entitled The shortest way with the Dissenters.' It affected to personate the opinions and style of the most furious of the ultra High Churchmen, and to set forth, with perfect gravity and earnestness, the extreme of the ferocious intolerance to which their views and wishes tended. A finer specimen of serious frony is not to be The Tory and Jacobite Chancellor, Harcourt, found in our language, and it may be placed by the was in his tastes and habits more like the munifiside of Swift's Argument against the Abolition of Chriscent Wolsey than the greater number of the motianity,' . Such was the existing state of society, that for some time both sides were taken in. Timid non-ney-hoarding and parsimonious persons who have conformists were struck with the dread of coming perse-held the Great Seal; as, for example, his immecution; valorous supporters of the Divine obligation of diate successor, Thomas Parker, Lord Macclesimposing episcopacy on all Christians loudly shouted field, who fought his way from the attorney his applause. A Cambridge fellow wrote to thank his Lon-father's office, in Leake in Staffordshire, to the

don bookseller for sending down such an excellent treatise,
which was considered in the combination rooms there,
next after the Holy Bible and the Church Liturgy, the
most valuable book ever printed! But when the hoax
was discovered, both parties were equally in a rage
against the unlucky author; and when his name was
discovered, there was a general cry that he should be
pilloried. In this the Presbyterian fanatics joined, be-
cause they owed him a grudge for having on former
cecasions ventured to laugh at some of their absurdities.
They pretended to say that such a pamphlet was a scur-
rilous irreverence to religion and authority, and they
would have none of it. Nay, a puritanical colonel said,
'be'd undertake to be hangman rather than the author
should want a pass out of the world.'''

The prosecution was commenced; and a verdict was obtained by craft and quibble. The Jury, being restricted in the exercise of those rights and functions, which give to Trial by Jury all its constitutional value, found the fact of publication proved; and judgment being craved by Harcourt, the Judges gave forth the law and sentence.

We have, after all, no very great reason to exult in the progress of civil government from the era of Queen Anne to that of William IV.

woolsack, from which he was precipitated on evi-
dence of the most gross and open corruption in the
sale of offices. It probably did not help the im-
peached Chancellor when on trial by his Peers,
"that noble lords" might not consider the coun-
try attorney's son their peer.
The remaining
consolation of Macclesfield was the large fortune
that remained to him after his fine of £30,000
had been paid. Lord Campbell conjectures that
his old age must have been listless and cheerless,
and that he may have regretted that he ever left
his original profession of an attorney; and thus,
with some naiveté he moralises on the ex-chan-
cellor's life and death; his last illness, and "his
pious end."

"In this state of listless existence Lord Macclesfield

languished nearly seven years. At last, on the 28th day of April, 1732, he was relieved from his sad reflections on the sale of masterships, and from the wretchedness of non-official life. While at his son's house in Soho Square he had a severe access of strangury-a complaint from which he had before often suffered, but which was now so violent and painful that he was immediately im

"Mr. Attorney-General instantly prayed judgment, and the judges who, happily for them, are forgotten, sentenced him whose name will be remembered with affection as long as our nation or language remains, to pay a fine of 200 marks, to be imprisoned during the Queen's plea-pressed with the conviction that it would prove mortal. zure, to stand three times in the pillory, and to find sureties for his good behaviour for seven years.' He returned to his cell in the firm belief that he was forthwith to be pardoned and liberated; but he was told, the next day, that he must prepare to undergo his punishment. Undismayed, he sat down, and composed his most felicitous poetical effusion, entitled, 'A llymn to the Pillory,' with a view to be reverged of his prosecutors. The following stanza is evidently aimed at the Attorney-General, whom he suspected, however unjustly, of having deceived

Tell them, the men that placed him here,
Are scandals to the times;
Are at a loss to find his guilt,

And can't commit his crimes,'

This was published, and sold in thousands the day he stood in the pillory before the Royal Exchange; and it was in everybody's mouth the two following days, when he stood in the pillory in Cheapside and at Temple Bar.

His mind being weakened to superstition, he foretold that
'as his mother had died of that disease on the eighth day,
he should do the same.' On the morning of the eighth
day he declared that he felt himself drowning inwardly,
and dying from the feet upwards.' He is said to have
received, in a very exemplary manner, the consolations of
religion, and to have taken leave of his family and house-
hold with the same calm cheerfulness as if he had been
setting out upon a journey with the prospect of a speedy
A little before midnight,
re-union with those he loved.
being informed that the physician was gone, he said
faintly and I am going also, but I will close my eyelids
myself.' He did so, and breathed no more. Thus, in
the sixty-sixth year of his age, he piously closed a career
long eminently prosperous-at last deeply disastrous.
Who can tell whether he would have made so good an
end if cut off without having experienced any reverse?

-to add greater honours to his age
Than man could give him, he died fearing God.'”

Macclesfield's successor, Lord King, the founder of a noble family, as so many English chancellors have been, was a man of very different character. He was the son of a grocer in Exeter, a man of respectable character, and a Presbyterian, who had married the sister of the philosopher, John Locke. His son, Peter King, was for some years ""in the shop," but the strong inclination which he displayed for reading induced his uncle to send the youth to the University of Leyden, whom neither Oxford nor Cambridge, by their constitutions, could have received. Law was ultimately chosen as his future profession, and he was distinguished, if not by brilliant talents, by great industry and unblemished virtue. Locke appears to have taken a constant and hearty interest in the studies and prospects of his young kinsman; and his letters addressed to his "cousin" form a delightful feature in the Life. As a necessary step in his progress, and also for great public ends, the philosopher had wished to see the young barrister in the House of Commons; and, fairly in the House, he thus wisely cautioned and congratulated him on his maiden speech:

"Feb. 29th, 1702.

"Dear Cousin,-I am very glad the ice is broke, and that it has succeeded so well; but now you have showed the House that you can speak, I advise you to let them see you can hold your peace, and let nothing but some point of law, which you are perfectly clear in, or the utmost necessity call you up again."

King, from this time, wisely attended much more to law than politics and made rapid advances in his profession. In intervals of leisure he visited his aged uncle at Oates, repaying by almost filial devotion the attention and kindness bestowed upon his education by the venerable friend who had been to him more than a father.

The lawyer, now thirty-four, and at the head of his profession, was engaged to be married to a young lady of "sense and wit," but even this tender engagement did not prevent him from obeying this pathetic summons from his dying

uncle:

"June 1st, 1704.

"I remember it is the end of a term, a busy time with you, and you intend to be here speedily, which is better than writing at a distance. Pray, be sure to order your matters so as to spend all the next week with me; as far as I can impartially guess, it will be the last week I am ever like to have with you; for, if I mistake not, I have very little time left in the world. This comfortable, and to me usually restorative, season of the year, has no effect upon me for the better: on the contrary, all appearances concur to warn me that the dissolution of this cottage is not far off. Refuse not, therefore, to help me to pass some of the last hours of my life as easily as may be, in the conversation of one who is not only the nearest but the dearest to me of any man in the world. I have a great many things to talk with you, which I can talk to nobody else about. I, therefore, desire you again deny not this to my affection. I know nothing at such a time so desirable and so useful as the conversation of a friend

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Campbell delights to heap upon the venerable philosopher.

immediate visit from the new-married pair; and on their wedding day thus wrote the author of the Essay on the Human Understanding, the Analysis of the Principles of Free Government, the Apostle of Toleration, the first intelligent advocate of useful Education, the founder of Free Trade in England:'Oates, 16th Sept., —04.

"He could not move from home, but he insisted on an

"Dear Cousin,-I am just rose from dinner, where the bride and bridegroom's health was heartily drank, again and again, with wishes that this day may be the beginning of a very happy life to them both. We hope we have hit the time right; if not, it is your fault who have misled wooden stand-dish, and the Turkish travels of the Exeter us. I desire you to bring me down twenty guineas. The man, I know you will not forget. But there are other things of more importance on this occasion, which you ought not to omit, viz. :-4 dried neat's tongues. 12 Partridges that are fresh and will bear the carriage, and I said of the partridges the same I say of the pheasants. 4 will keep a day after they are here. 4 pheasants. The same Turkey poults ready larded, if they be not out of season. 4 fresh auburn rabbits, if they are to be got. Plovers, or woodcocks, or snipes, or whatever else is good to be got at the poulterer's, except ordinary tame fowls. 12 Chichester male lobsters, if they can be got alive-if not, 6 dead ones that are sweet. 2 large crabs that are fresh. Crawfish and prawns, if they are to be got. A double barrel of the best Colchester oysters. I have writ to John Gray to offer you his service. He was bred up in my old Lord Shaftesbury's kitchen, and was my Lady Dowager's cook. I got him to be messenger to the Council of Trade and Plantations, and have often employed him when I have had occasion in matters of this nature, when I have found him diligent and useful. desire you also to lay out between twenty and thirty shillings in dried sweetmeats of several kinds, such as some woman skilful in those matters shall choose as fit died, of which we are provided). Let them be good of and fashionable (excepting orange and lemon peel canthe kind, and do not be sparing in the cost, but rather exceed 30 shillings. These things you must take care to bring down with you, that I may, on this short warning, have something to entertain your friends, and may not be out of countenance while they are here. If there be anything that you can find your wife loves, be sure that provision be made of that and plentifully, whether I have mentioned it or no. Pray, let there be a pound of pistachios, and some China oranges, if there be any come in.”” Philosophers, it appears, can take some for sublunary matters, especially where their affecLocke wished to present a tions are interested. set of toilet plate to his fair cousin as his wedding gift, and he hoped that John Gray would be able to prepare a dinner worthy of the joyous occasion.

I

care

"John Gray performed his part to admiration, showing that he had served under a great master in the sçavoir vivre. The philosopher himself could taste little beyond a crust of bread and a cup of water; but he was the most cheerful of the party, and felt true happiness in making others happy. The wedding-party had scarcely left him, when, the cold weather returning, his asthma and his other complaints were worse than they had ever been, and he knew But, in the consciousthat certainly his hour was come. ness of a well-spent life, and far more in a firm faith of the great truths of the Gospel, his serenity was unclouded. He had before executed his will, leaving King the bulk of his property; and now he wrote to him the following letter, more fully to explain his wishes, and to bid him a last farewell."

Locke's farewell letter to his nephew is worthy of his character, and of his "firm faith." He writes:

"Oates, 4th Oct., 1704. "That you will faithfully execute all that you find i

my will I cannot doubt, my dear cousin; nor can I less depend upon your following my directions, and complying with my desires in things not fit to be put into so solemn and public a writing.

"You will find, amongst my papers, several subjects proposed to my thoughts, which are very little more than extempore views, laid down in sudden and imperfect drafts, which, though intended to be revised, and farther looked into afterwards, yet, by the intervention of business, or preferable inquiries, happened to be thrust aside, and so lay neglected, and sometimes quite forgotten. Some of them, indeed, did engage my thoughts at such a time of leisure, and in such a temper of mind, that I laid them not wholly by upon the first interruption, but took them in hand again as occasion served, and went on, in pursuance of my first design, till I had satisfied myself in the inquiry I at first proposed. Of this kind is, 1-My discourse Of seeing all things in God; 2-My discourse Of Miracles; 3-My Conduct of the Understanding; 4Papers inscribed, Physica;' 5-My Commentaries on the Epistle of St. Paul.' (After directions respecting their publication, the management of his affairs, and the payment of his legacies, he concludes in a tone of great tenderness :)- Remember, it is my earnest request to you, to take care of the youngest son of Sir Francis and Lady Masham, in all his concerns, as if he were your brother. He has never failed to pay me all the respect, and do me all the good offices he was capable of performing, with all manner of cheerfulness and delight; so that I carnot acknowledge it too much. I must, therefore, desire you, and leave it as a charge upon you, to help me to do it when I am gone. Take care to make him a good, an honest, and an upright man. I have left my directions with him to follow your advice, and I know he will do it, for he never refused to do what I told him was fit. If he had been my own son, he could not have been more careful to please and observe me. I wish you all manner of prosperity in this world, and the everlasting happiness of the world to come. That I loved you, I think you are convinced. God send us a happy meeting in the resurrection of the just! Adieu !

JOHN LOCKE.'"'

Lord Campbell rightly pronounces this relationship more honourable to the future Chancellor than to have been the son of a Duke, or a Knight of the Garter."

cute

honours and wealth, presents more attraction.
Like Macclesfield, Philip Yorke was the son of a
country attorney, and "thus to the manner born."
He never was at any school, save a private one
kept by a dissenter; nor at any university. But
he was, as his biographer states, a
lad," and at fourteen, in spite of the remon-
strances of his presbyterian mother, who wished
him bred to some "honester trade," Philip
was sent to his father's agent in London, who
received him as an articled clerk, and, as a
favour, without a fee. His assiduity and steadi-
ness were unparalleled; and he contrived to please
his mistress as well as he did his master, for the
obliging Master Philip, afterwards the arrogant
and haughty Lord Chancellor of England, did
not hesitate to run her errands, and even to fetch
home little articles for her housekeeping, from Co-
vent Garden market. Wanting the usual advan-
tages of education, he took to cultivating English
composition, an accomplishment in which great
lawyers are often exceedingly deficient; and it
must have had important consequences on his
future tastes, that Steele, having been either lazy
or hard run for an article one morning, brought
out a letter, dropt into the Spectator's Lion's head,
which was the veritable composition of Philip
Yorke, alias Philip Homebred. It is no great
things in any view, and Lord Campbell is cer-
tainly right when he says-

"Had he taken to literature as a trade, he would have
had poor encouragement from Lintot and Cave, and he
would hardly have risen to the distinction of being one of
the heroes of the Dunciad. I fear me it will be said that
a great lawyer is made ex quovis ligno, and that he who
would starve in Grub Street from dullness-if he takes to
Westminster Hall-may become the most illustrious
of Chancellors.'
He wisely adhered to juri-
ridical studies, and laboured more and more assiduously
to qualify himself for his profession."

Lord Chancellor King, steadfast to liberal But the indifferent essayist became one of the principles, and unblemished in public as in private most eminent Equity judges that England ever life, held the Seals for eight years, and only re- possessed, so that his Chancellorship was termed signed “the bauble" from impaired health, and, "the Golden Age of Equity." He swept away with little regret: he died soon afterwards. Of and kept down arrears with a vigorous arm, and his four sons little is said, except that in another pronounced many sound judgments in important generation, the talent of the founder of the family questions, affecting extensive legal rights. This broke forth with increased lustre. The late Lord must be set against that fearful addition to King-not more remarkable for wit, eloquence, the severity of the penal code which origiand every quality that attracts affection, than for nated with Hardwicke, who made many felonies that clear and penetrating understanding which capital which had till then been only transplaced him so far in advance of his age, and of portable offences; and among the number, fornearly every individual among his Whig contem- gery. "But," adds Lord Campbell, to whom poraries--was the grandson of the youngest of the belongs the honourable distinction of being an Chancellor's sons. Lord Campbell says, very ardent reformer of the penal law, this bloody naturally and kindly, "the Chancellor is now code did not reach its full measure of atrocity till represented in the direct male line by the Earl of towards the close of the reign of George III., Lovelace, whom I rejoice to see deservedly raised when it was defended and eulogized by Lord to the peerage, but whom, from my regard for the Eldon." What bad law did that learned Lord memory of old Sir Peter, I should have been still not eulogize? better pleased to have hailed as Earl King."

The life of the next Chancellor, Lord Talbot, is not one of pre-eminent interest, though he was, as a private character, far above the average of state dignitaries.

Hardwicke's biography-that of an able, unscrupulous, and lucky adventurer, in search of

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Hardwicke, now Lord Chancellor, and, in his own idea, a great statesman, sought to gratify the court, or the Queen, by his extreme zeal, against the citizens of Edinburgh, for the hanging of Porteous. His bill went to repealing the city charter, razing the city gates, and abolishing the city guard. All this we notice to introduce Lord

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