enunciation was singularly precise, and it appeared to be finical and affected; but we believe that he had at an early period of his public career formed a style of speaking, which, though not felicitous, and apparently extremely artificial, had become natural to him. He who thinks clearly will seldom fail to make his meaning intelligible to his hearers; but the mode in which this end is to be accomplished may be diversified by all the gradations between the extremes of slovenliness and precision. Sir John Leach's mind, as developed in his public speaking, whether at the Bar, in the House of Commons, or on the Bench, was never in dishabille; or rather it was always, like Ackermann's patterns of people dressed for balls and parties, in its most fashionable attire.

"We must not omit to notice a branch of the judicial duties in which Sir John Leach's skill was unrivalled; we allude to the dictation of minutes of decrees. He was conscious of his great skill in the performance of this duty — a minute but extremely important one-and so fastidious was he in the choice of the expressions which he directed to be employed for that purpose, that he would again and again alter the original form of the minutes dictated by him, each new suggestion adding something to the accuracy and precision of the last; a species of hypercriticism upon his own performances which was not a little embarrassing to counsel, who had no sooner written the minutes in one form than a revised edition was presented them in another. And often, after the whole appeared to be concluded, a dropping fire would be recommenced from the Bench, a single word, perhaps, being here and there substituted - always with some improvement -for the word originally suggested. The masterly manner, also, in which he disposed of cases of account has often been the subject of eulogy at the Bar. The early discipline which he had undergone in a house of commerce probably gave him peculiar aptitude for dealing with cases of this description, and he evidently took great delight in grappling with them.

Quo semel est imbuta recens servabit odorem
Testa diu.

"We have already touched incidentally upon Sir John Leach's demeanour to the Bar, and, if we respected or deemed it right to act upon the maxim de mortuis nil nisi bonum, we should say no more upon that subject. But we hold that maxim to be a foolish and mischievous one: more especially if applied to men who have filled public stations. It is foolish, and has some tendency to mischief, even as applied to private persons; for the fear of a posthumous bad reputation may have some influence or operate as some check upon the conduct of private men, and such influence or check would be removed if the maxim were to prevail; but it is more especially mischievous if applied to public men, whose character is public property, and ought at all times to be subjected to the most unfettered animadversion. And happy is that public man who can bear and profit by wholesome animadversion on his conduct ere it is too late; and who, instead of earning the lasting censure of posterity by cleaving to sycophants and parasites, seeks his friends among those who, while they distinguish and applaud what is estimable in his character, are too honest and independent to flatter and pander to his faults.

"During some years which succeeded the appointment of Sir John Leach to the office of Vice-Chancellor, there were frequent and violent collisions between his Honour and the leading members of the Bar. Among those who at that time most energetically asserted the independence of the Bar, and protested against what was deemed the intemperate and dictatorial demeanour of the Judge, the late Mr. Heald was particularly distinguished; and so strong was the feeling of the Bar upon the subject, that a deputation of its members, headed by the most distinguished counsel, waited upon his Honour, and formally remonstrated with him upon his deportment towards the profession. Of late years the submission of the Bar precluded a repetition of the scenes which had occurred during the earlier part of his judicial career; but the asperities of the Judge were far from being mitigated in proportion to the absence of a spirit of resistance. There was, upon the whole, however, an equitable equality in the

dispensation of those asperities; one or two individuals might, perhaps, experience the Judge's want of courtesy in a more marked manner than others, but, in general, the discipline to which the whole Bar was subjected was impartially administered, and it might have been said of his Honour, as of another distinguished personage, that he had no predilections.'

"In a late appeal before the Chancellor, one of the counsel, by way of illustrating the treatment which he had received in the Court below, alluded to the manner in which justice was said to be administered in another court below, and cited the passage in Virgil

hæc Rhadamanthus habet durissima regna, Castigatque auditque.'

"The illustration was made in no unfriendly spirit; on the contrary, it came from a quarter where it could have been made only with the most perfect urbanity and good humour; but truth may well be uttered in jest, and may, moreover, be well enforced by a little pleasantry; and so far was the illustration from being overcharged, that we believe, in the case in question, the chastisement had been administered without being coupled with the proceeding (the auditque) which accompanied or followed it in the court described by the poet. Respect to judges is a tribute so generally and cheerfully paid by the Bar, and any anomalous case of petulance or indecorum is so certainly followed by instant rebuke and repression, that the danger is always on the side of obsequiousness and undue submission. The duty of asserting the independence of the Bar rests in a great degree with its leading members; and if the Judge degenerates into the schoolmaster, it may well become the sixth-form' scholars in silk to consider, whether they are not too big to undergo the discipline,

Such as Lycurgus taught, when, at the shrine

Of the Orthyan goddess, he bade flog

The little Spartans, — such as erst chastised
Our Milton when at college.

The members of the Bar are men, high-minded men;' they emphatically know their rights,' and, knowing' them, they should be as true to themselves as to their clients, and dare maintain' them.

"In conclusion, we must observe that the remarks we have just felt it our duty to make apply solely to the judicial character of the late Master of the Rolls; for in private life his amenity and gentleness of manner were as remarkable as were the acerbity and want of temper which he too frequently exhibited on the Bench."

No. XXII.

FRANCIS DOUCE, Esq. F.A.S.

AND A MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF NORMANDY; AND OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, ETC. AT CAEN.

THE subject of this memoir was long distinguished for his great erudition in English antiquities, for his intimate acquaintance with the archæology of literature and the arts, for his extensive and valuable collections, and for the liberality and urbanity with which he ever communicated from his stores of knowledge to other enquirers in the same pursuits. By his interesting" Illustrations of Shakspeare and his Times" his name was yet more widely honoured, for it is one of the few antiquarian works which have been at once recondite and popular.

Mr. Douce was descended from a respectable family in Hampshire. Sir Francis Douce was sheriff of that county in the fourth year of the reign of Charles II. One of Mr. Douce's ancestors, Dr. Douce, was an eccentric but highly popular physician, who made a very large fortune by his practice. There are one or two engraved portraits of him. He was a very vain man, very athletic, and addicted to cockfighting and riding the great horse. He was in habits of intimacy with Major Foubert, riding-master to George II. A very curious tomb, in imitation of the mausoleum of Quintus Metellus, was erected by him in a churchyard in Hampshire.

Mr.

Mr. Douce's father was in the Six Clerks' Office. Douce was not accustomed to speak of him with affection: