since been prosecuting my studies. I have advanced in knowledge, and, in my opinion, even the noble and learned lord might improve himself in the same way." When his party resigned office in 1830, the new premier, Earl Grey, offered Lyndhurst the appointment of chief baron. It was a welcome offer. The ex-chancellor had no private fortune. His income in the early years of his professional life had been swallowed up by the needs of his family, and the payment of his father's debts. Since he took office he had had to maintain such a prominent position in society, that there had been no opportunity to prepare for the future. It was a serious thing to come down from £14,000 a year to £4,000, and although it was unusual for the ex-chancellor to accept a judgeship, there was no legal difficulty in the way, and his late colleagues were glad that he should be thus provided for. His appointment also saved the country the ex-chancellor's pension of £4,000 a year. Soon after his return she was seized with In September, 1841, Lord Lyndhurst received the great seal for the third and During the four years he was chief last time under Sir Robert Peel. He baron, Lyndhurst entirely changed the remained in office until 1846, when the character of his court. The despatch Protectionists, who were indignant at the given to cases, and the respect inspired repeal of the Corn Laws, joined with the by his decisions was such that the court Opposition to throw out the government became a favorite with legal practitioners, Coercion Bill for Ireland. and the most busily occupied of all the courts. "Nothing confused or mystified him; " he saw at a glance the weakness and the strength of every argument. His unfailing courtesy also made him a great favorite at the bar. Lyndhurst was now seventy-four years of age, and felt, like Sir Robert Peel, that he had bidden adieu to office forever. He made an attempt to unite the Conservative party again, but it was unsuccessful, and led to a sharp encounter with Lord George Bentinck, who was then the head of the Protectionists in the House of Commons. Bentinck seems to have been anxious to damage Lyndhurst in public estimation, and charged him with being party to a "nefarious job" in reference to some appointments. The ex-chancellor's reply left him, however, without an inch of ground to stand on. His second chancellorship was during the one hundred days of Peel's government. When the Cabinet resigned, he found that his retiring pension was raised from £4,000 to £5,000. He was now no longer burdened by the duties of chief baron. He carefully attended the sittings of the House of Lords, and took a leading part in its debates. On the 18th of August, 1836, he delivered the first of his Lord Campbell says that Lyndhurst famous reviews of the session, which did was not in the confidence of Peel and the so much to shake the Melbourne adminis- Duke of Wellington. If we were to tration. Mr. Disraeli, then acting as his accept his statements we should come private secretary, is said to have suggested to the conclusion that Lyndhurst was a these reviews. They were masterpieces cipher in the Cabinet, and was treated of the contemptuous style of oratory. The with marked disrespect by Peel. Here is Conservative ex-chancellor often found one quotation out of many: "Peel, havhimself supported by Lord Brougham, whom Melbourne had cast adrift, and it was hard work for the government to make headway against such opposition. Lady Lyndhurst died in Paris on the 15th of January, 1834. She had spent the autumn there with her daughters, and her husband had joined her for the vacation. ing soon discovered Lyndhurst to be pretty much devoid of principle, and very unscrupulous as to the performance of the duties of his office, had never acted with him cordially, and always regarded him with suspicion." For answer we must make two quotations. In 1848, Sir Robert wrote to a friend about Lyndhurst, of my boyhood." The book was "Tom Brown's Schooldays." Some very pleasant incidents, given in this volume, show the friendly relations which had long existed between the old statesman and Mr. Gladstone. This is Mr. Gladstone's estimate of his power: "Of all the intellects I have ever known, his, I think, worked with the least friction." who had just been paying a visit to him at | swered: "I like this far better; so well, Drayton Manor: "I have had some col. I wish you would read it. It reminds me leagues with whom I have lived while in office on terms of greater personal intimacy, but none whose society was more agreeable, or on whom I could more confi. dently rely when real difficulties were to be encountered." In 1836, the Duke of Wellington wrote to Lyndhurst: "You have established yourself not only as the first speaker in the House of Lords, but as the first in your profession, - whether in a court of law or of equity, or in the House of Lords." On some points Lyndhurst does not seem to have been in per-ters, contributes some interesting reminisfect accord with Peel, but he was evidently honored with a full share of confidence by both the duke and Sir Robert, and possessed great influence in the Cabinet. After 1846, Lyndhurst spent his hours of leisure quietly at Turville Park, about six miles from Henley-on-Thames. He had taken a fourteen years' lease of the property in 1840, and as it had sixty acres of land he could now gratify his love of country life and farming. He suffered much from cataract. During great part of the year 1849 he could neither read nor write, and it was not till July, 1852, after two operations, that he somewhat recov ered the use of his sight. He showed great energy in the debates of the upper house, and took a leading share in opposing the important Canadian Losses Compensation Bill. About this time Lord Stanley offered him a seat in the Cabinet as president of the Council, with an earldom. He declined this flattering offer, but acted as a firm ally of the new government. A low rail was fixed to the bench in front of his usual seat in the House of Lords, upon which he was able to lean for support while speaking. His denunciation of Russia (1854), his speech against life peerages (1856), on the state of our national defences (1859), and many other speeches made during these years, show that his powers of mind were as fresh and strong as they had been thirty years before. Even his last speech, on May 7, 1861, when he was eighty-nine years of age, showed the old vigor. These last years of the ex-chancellor's life were filled with many pleasant literary pursuits. He revived his memories of old writers who had been studied in youth, and greatly delighted in modern science and modern literature. One day his niece found him studying a ponderous legal folio, and said that she supposed that this was his favorite study. He drew out a small volume from under the folio, and an Miss Stewart, a lady who lived for many years in the family as governess and companion to Lord Lyndhurst's daugh cences. Once, when his aged, unmarried sister, who lived with him, was very ill, she says, "I met him coming out of her room. He was in tears. My sister and I have been very fond of each other. We have lived all our lives together,'" he said. The tender, warm family affection of Lord Lyndhurst speaks loudly in his praise. When blindness was coming on, the old chancellor spent much time in getting by heart the Psalms and the daily services of the Prayer-book. He nearly knew them all. One morning Miss Stewart went into his room, and found him in his easy-chair, with a grave, almost solemn, expression on his face. Before him, the Church Prayer-book held open by both her small hands, stood his youngest daughter, of seven or eight years of age, hearing him repeat the prayers, and now and then prompting and correcting him. The old man, the judge and statesman, and the little child, so occupied, made a picture that could not be seen without bringing his lesson, he said, but his little girl. tears to the eyes. He liked no one to hear him There is other evidence also of the deep interest which religious matters had for Lord Lyndhurst in these last years of his life. He studied the evidences of Christianity, and reached a firm conviction of the truth of revelation, and a humble belief in the great articles of the Christian faith. When the end came he was ready. His friends asked him if he was happy. In feeble accents he answered, "Happy? Yes, happy." Then, with a stronger effort, he added, “Supremely happy!" Soon afterwards, in the early morning of October 12, 1863, he passed gently and tranquilly away in the ninety-second year of his age. This splendid career was achieved by an American painter's son, without resources or influence, solely by the force of industry, high character, and intellectual pre-eminence. Copley reached the highest point of his profession when he was made lord chan- | Revolution, which so powerfully stirred cellor in 1827; but it may fairly be said society at the beginning of this century. that, so far as his Parliamentary career As to his political consistency after he was concerned, he only showed his full entered the House, it may fairly be mainpowers after his elevation. He can tained that he " neither changed more nor scarcely be said to have gained the ear less than other statesmen whose characof the Commons during the ten years he ters have never been impeached." No was a member of the House. In that dispassionate student of the political life arena he could not compare with his great of this century will refuse his tribute of rival Brougham. His powers found their respect to Sir Robert Peel's conduct in proper field in the upper house. It may reference to Catholic Emancipation and almost be said that Brougham was shelved the Corn Laws. Any statesman worthy of when he was made chancellor. Lynd- the name must be prepared to modify his hurst, on the contrary, reached the scenes views as new circumstances arise, or the where his talents shone out, and won him whole fabric of the State will soon tumble conspicuous and enduring influence. His about his ears. Lyndhurst did little more was the empire of keen intellectual su- than this. If he is more open to the premacy. Brougham himself said that charge of inconsistency than Sir Robert Lyndhurst "was so immeasurably su- Peel this must be attributed to his pecul perior to all his contemporaries, and iar position as a "law lord." He was the indeed to almost all who had gone before champion and exponent of party policy; in him, that he might well be pardoned for Parliament and out of Parliament he was looking down rather than praising." an advocate, the greatest advocate of his generation. Intellectual force is the secret of Lyndhurst's marvellous influence. He could unfold "a subject in such a manner as to carry conviction by mere strength of exposition. It used to be said when he was at the bar that the statement of a case by Copley was worth any other man's argument" (Edinburgh Review, April, 1869). This power made him conspicuously successful at the bar and in the House of Lords. During the four years that he sat on the bench as chief baron the same luminous intellectual force marked all his work. As chancellor he had to deal with a branch of the law in which he had had no practice at the bar; but he was at home with his work as chief baron, and those who are best able to judge acknowledge that if all his powers had been devoted to the bench he would probably have rivalled even such a high judicial reputation as that of Lord Mansfield. But though Lyndhurst presided with such Sir Theodore Martin's work is not only an interesting biography, it is a successful vindication of Lord Lyndhurst from the grievous aspersions cast on him in the "Lives of the Chancellors." Men of all political parties have an interest in such a conspicuous figure of our century, and may be glad to pay their tribute to the intellect and heart of the man who was the pillar of his home, one of the great lights of his profession, and who so largely shaped the statute-book of the country and exerted such commanding influence in our upper house for more than thirty years. 66 From The Sunday Magazine. AT ANY COST. BY EDWARD GARRETT. 99 66 eminent ability in his court, he knew that AUTHOR OF 'OCCUPATIONS OF A RETIRED LIFE," THE he would soon be called back again to the struggle of politics, and time was not granted him to build up a great reputation on the bench. CRUST AND THE CAKE," ETC. CHAPTER IV. A PEEP INTO THE WORLD'S WAYS. Before Copley entered Parliament he is THE voyage to Edinburgh was got over said to have held radical views, but the as such voyages are in the lives of evidence is of the vaguest kind, and does those to whom they are adventurous novelnot amount to much more than the free ties with mingled raptures and qualms, talk of circuit life among barristers. Sir with expressions of delight in "a life on Theodore Martin's book does not furnish the ocean wave," sinking into inward rea conclusive answer to this charge; but solves that if one ever gets safely to land, even if the accusation could be fully one will never set foot on a ship again, proved, there would be nothing dishonor- unless, indeed, it might be to return able to Lyndhurst in the fact that he was whence one came, never more to depart touched by the influence of the French hence. Such resolves, however, are gen Mrs. Brander, who had remained with friends in Edinburgh while her husband and daughter made their trip to Ultima Thule, was down at the docks, awaiting them in her carriage. Mrs. Mail, Kirsty's aunt, was there also, standing close beside the carriage. Mrs. Brander had been speaking to her, and after Mr. Brander had exchanged a few words with his wife, Mrs. Brander called Mrs. Mail again, and with an eye critically fixed on Kirsty, told the aunt that it had just occurred to her that if, in a day or two, she and her niece came up to where Mrs. Brander was staying, she might - Mrs. Brander could not promise she would but she might receive a proposal which would be most advantageous to her. Then the Brander carriage drove away, Mr. Brander shouting back to Robert Sinclair, "Shall be in London next week and mind you don't forget me -but I shan't let you.' Why, aunt, do you know that lady? whispered Kirsty, so overcome by the plumes on Mrs. Brander's bonnet, and the gold bracelet on the wrist visible at the carriage door, that she did not notice her hard tones, nor the absence of kindliness in her words. "We "Well, I suppose we'll part from you here, Kirsty," said Robert Sinclair. are going straight to the railway station, and Mr. Brander said we should only just have time to get some refreshment before the London train starts. So, good-bye, Kirsty, and I hope you'll get a good place and do well." He did not shake hands with Kirsty. He had just shaken hands with Henrietta Brander, and somehow it began to seem to him not quite natural to offer the same salutation to both. Tom Ollison held out his hand to the girl, and then paused, to ask Mrs. Mail, "But which way are you going? Does your road lie towards the station?" "Yes," she said, "it do; an' it's a good step. I reckon this box will take a day's work out of me." "I'll give you a hand," answered Tom, The weight's "as our ways are the same. nothing to me." "Thank you," said Mrs. Mail quite composedly. "I like to see a young man make himself handy." "What has become of your own lug. gage?" Kirsty asked. "Mine and his," answered Tom, nodding towards Robert, "and a lot of goods of all sorts are being taken on a cart straight from the ship to the train." Robert Sinclair looked round, saw what had come to pass, and walked on, several paces ahead. Kirsty followed behind with 66 I go charing sometimes for the family the basket, a little mystified, and feeling the lady is visiting," answered the aunt, that she was already learning many "ins so she knew my face, Kirsty, and when and outs" of the world of which she had she saw me at the docks to-day, she called never dreamed. Tom Ollison's ready me, thinking I might have been sent after helpfulness was only what her general her with some message. Then I told her island experiences would have led her to I was expecting a young niece a-looking expect from anybody. But it began to for a place. It would be the making of you dawn upon Kirsty that this was not quite if you got employed by that kind of peo-"the correct thing " here, and also that ple, Kirsty." Mrs. Mail was meanwhile making suggestions of curtsies towards Robert Sinclair, who appeared in her eyes as one travelling with Mr. Brander's party -perhaps even of his family-for the carriage had gone off so laden with luggage, that it was quite likely that any youth —even though a son should have been left to follow on foot. Mrs. Mail did not heed Tom Ollison. "Where are your things, Kirsty?" she asked. "I'll reckon you'll not have more than you can carry." Kirsty had a strong, heavy box and a basket. She and her aunt might just manage to carry these between them, but they would certainly require all their strength. surely there was some distinction of de- 66 luxuries. Not in that first delicious bewilderment could she realize what it was to be surrounded by acres of sordid houses, through whose many fever stricken rooms the fœtid air crept heavily, in place of that pure north wind which blew in from the sea to wage a not unequal or unsuc cessful struggle with the darkness and disease of Shetland hovels. Not then could she understand how it felt to lie wakeful at night, listening, not awed and elevated, as she used to be, by the roar of the tempest, but shrinking from the pol luting clamor of drunkards and abandoned women in the street below, while the first sounds that would greet one in the morn. of the vacant seat in their trap had been to a land overflowing with comforts and made to Tom, and it never occurred to her that the money she had seen him expend on herself and the Laurensens would have amply sufficed to make him the Branders' cabin companion. It began to seem to Kirsty that Robert must be more of a gentleman " than Tom. It is a truth, and a very sad truth, that in the great averages of human intelligence and feeling, there is, reversing the divine or der, a terrible aptitude to value. those who take above those who give, those who are served above those who serve. When Jesus' washing the disciples' feet had not become a sacred picture, framed in the sentiment of centuries, but was an actual fact of the day, with all its little matter-of-ing would be no longer the glad cry of the fact concomitants, perhaps it would have needed another Jesus to fully understand and appreciate the incident. This failure of comprehension and sympathy in the human mind and heart lies about the very root of many upas-trees of human life, which it is in vain to cut level with its ground, as long as the root remains to sprout again. He who brings one human soul to the perfect and practical under-thank him at all; he was only a fellow standing of the sacred rule, "Whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all," has done more for the cause of eternal freedom and progress, than he who succeeds in abrogating whole codes of unjust laws, while leaving untouched the Christlessness in which they originated. sea-gulls, but the wails of children who wanted breakfast and found none. Kirsty was so taken up by all she saw, that she was not very prompt in her thanks to Tom for his kindness, and when she saw him run off, she scarcely realized that he was really away at last, and that there was no knowing when or where she should see him again. Mrs. Mail did not steerage passenger of Kirsty's, who had done a civil thing, and the aunt asked him carelessly if he would stay and take a bite with them, and when he said he was in too great a hurry, she let him depart with. out more question or ado. "Oh! is he really gone?" cried Kirsty,. as, looking from the window, she saw Tom scampering off, at full speed, down the street. "Oh dear, dear, and I scarcely said good-bye, or even thanked him!" - one "And what's all this work about?" asked Mrs. Mail drily. "I asked him to stay for a cup of tea if he liked — couldn't do no more than that. What's the young man to you, I'd like to know? It won't do for you to go picking up with strangers and getting so thick with them in this place, I can tell you!" Tom found he could just spare time to help the two women with the heavy box up "the stair," on the top "land" of which Mrs. Mail lived. He could not linger a moment more, so that he barely noticed the admiring glances which Kirsty threw round the apartment into which her aunt led her. It was one of two, that formed Mrs. Mail's house, which was certainly not too roomy for her requirements, since she had a husband and grown-up children. But in spite of sundry queer Mrs. Mail's own daughters kept her gabled corners, it had large, clear-paned hands full and her temper sour, only she windows, a fitted grate,' and four- judged them to be "pretty well able to post" bedsteads, so that its proportions take care of themselves." But if she was and appointments seemed magnificent to to have another girl thrown upon her, Kirsty's Shetland eyes. What gay wall- equally wilful and wrong-headed, plus a paper! What pretty chintzes! What won- primitive ignorance and simplicity, then derful ornaments (in the way of Bohemian "there would be a nice mess," and "the vases and paper flowers)! And nothing piper to pay." So she thought she had seemed stained with damp and weather, better begin at once with mysterious hints. as everything was in Shetland! Oh what and warnings which might keep Kirsty a pity granny was too old to leave home, safe in a wholesome terror, until she, too, and too blind to see much if she did! understood the ways of the world. For Kirsty felt as if she had indeed come VOL. XLVIII 2459 LIVING AGE. "Stranger!" echoed Kirsty, astonished. |