his court, except in two cases, when the judgment given by him was reversed, with much difference among the judges. Gifted with a wonderfully retentive memory-expeditious, but not precipitate he never allowed technicality to defeat justice, but regarded less the letter of the law, than its intent and spirit. Juries he always treated with the utmost respect, and his deportment on the bench was distinguished by peculiar urbanity.

was

Lord Chatham, in the course of debate, after having quoted Somers and Holt, and depicted their characters in splendid colours, turning to Lord Mansfield, with a dignified gesture, exclaimed, "I vow to God, I think the noble lord excels them both in abilities." Bishop Warburton says, that during Mansfield's administration, the stream of justice ran as pure as from its own celestial source; purer than Plato dared to conceive it even in his feigned republic. It has also been observed by Bishop Hurd, that his senatorial character resembled that of Massala, whom, Cicero declared, in addressing himself to Brutus, to be above comparison. "Lord Mansfield," adds Hurd, looked up to and admired as the Cicero of the age; yet he was never much relished by some of the old lawyers, who boldly asserted that if his innovations were to be freely adopted, they might shut up their long revered law authorities; and, in compliment to his lordship, merely adhere to the decisions that were contained in Burrow's Reports. He was, it is said, applied to by the late Mr. Owen Ruffhead, for materials to compose an account of his life, but Lord Mansfield modestly replied, “ that his life was not of sufficient importance to be written." "If," added he, to the applicant," you wish to write the life of a truly great man, write the life of Lord Hardwicke; who, from very humble means, and without family support and connexions, became lord high chancellor of England, on account of his virtue, his talents, and his diligence."

An old woman was once brought before him, charged with witchcraft, and several witnesses deposed to having seen her walking with her feet in the air, and her head downwards. The judge, after listening with the greatest

composure to the depositions, observed with great solemnity, Since you have seen this poor woman walking in the air, though her legs are scarcely able to support her on the earth, I can, of course, entertain no doubt of the fact. But this witch is an English woman, and subject, as well as you, to all the laws of England, every one of which, I have just now ran over in my mind, without being able. I assure you, to hit upon any one which prohibits persons from walking in the air, if they should find it convenient. All those persons, therefore, who have seen the accused perform her aerial promenades, are at liberty to imitate her example: they have an undoubted right to do so, and I will guarantee the most perfect impunity. They shall no more be considered guilty than this woman, whom I pronounce innocent, and direct that she be set at liberty."

In the senate, he commanded attention by the persuasive grace of his eloquence. The weight he had in that assembly may be conjectured from what Horace Walpole says in one of his letters: "The third day was a scene of confusion and folly; for when Lord Mansfield is absent,

'Lost is the nation's sense, nor can be found.'"

He was an elegant and polite, but not a deep scholar. In the beginning of his career, "he drank champaigne with the wits;" and Pope, whose executor he was appointed with others, at one time had designed to leave him his Twickenham villa, but Murray's prosperous advancement rendered this unnecessary. From Wilkes, of whose social qualities and classical skill he entertained a high opinion, he received a present of his beautiful edition of the Characters of Theophrastus, printed on vellum. His favourite books were Giannone's History of Naples; Vattel's Law of Nations; Duclos' History of Louis the Eleventh of France, and Raleigh's History of the World. Chillingworth, he considered a perfect model of argumentation. He, himself, wrote directions for the study of history, addressed to the Duke of Portland; and also some advice to the study of the law.

At one of his formal Sunday evening conversations, he said to Boswell, in

reference to Dr. Johnson's tour in the Hebrides, "He speaks ill of nobody but Ossian;" an expression, from the manner in which it was delivered, that seemed to intimate his belief in the authenticity of Macpherson's poems.

He once said to Garrick, "A man on the bench is, now and then, in your whimsical situation, between tragedy and comedy-inclination drawing him one way, and a long string of precedents the other."

CHARLES, son of Sir John Pratt, chief justice of the King's Bench, was born in 1713, and educated at Eton, from whence he removed to King's College, Cambridge; where, in succession, he proceeded to the degree of M. A.; and, in 1731, obtained a fellowship. In 1739, he entered as a student of Lincoln's-Inn, and was, in due time, called to the bar; but, for many years, so limited was his practice, that he entertained serious thoughts of abandoning the profession. It is, however, said, that he was diverted from this intention, by the poetical epistle of a friend, in which the names of Somers, Talbot, Cowper, and Yorke, were set before him, as examples of perseverance, which he, from that period. resolved to emulate.

At length, in 1752, being employed for the defendant in a case of libel, the King v. Owen, he so ably supported the rights of juries, as to lay the foundation of his future fame and fortune. In 1754, he took his seat in the house of commons, as member for Downton; became recorder of Bath, in 1759; and in the same year, obtained the office of attorney-general. He was made chief-justice of the Common Pleas, in December, 1761, on which occasion he received the honour of knighthood. In his judicial capacity, he manifested an independent impartiality, superior to that of any of his predecessors. In 1763, when John Wilkes, after having been conveyed to the Tower, on a general warrant, brought up, by virtue of a writ of habeas corpus, the chief-justice discharged him; if being his opinion, as he subsequently stated, on the trial of an action brought by Wilkes against the messenger who had arrested him, that general warrants, except in cases of high treason, were illegal, oppres

was

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sive, and unwarrantable. larity of this spirited action was such, that he was presented with the freedom of the city of London, and his portrait was painted expressly for the Guildhall, by Sir Joshua Reynolds. He received also the freedom of the city of Dublin, and other parts of the kingdom testified their gratitude for the determination he had evinced to maintain the liberties of the subject.

In July, 1765, he was created a peer, by the title of Baron Camden; and in July, 1766, he succeeded Lord Northington in the office of lord chancellor. Though he owed his promotion to the Buckingham administration, he did not always give it his support, and opposed, with considerable vigour, a bill introduced by government, declaring that acts of parliament should be, in all cases, binding on the colonies. In 1770, when scarcity was impending, he supported the motion for a suspension of the law, in order to prevent the exportation of corn; and though he acted, in this case, with his customary conscientiousness, he incurred, in some degree, the popular odium. Having, also, on this occasion, replied sarcastically to Lord Temple, he drew upon himself an attack from Junius, which, however, he treated with placid indifference. In the same year, being still averse to taxing the Americans, he felt bound to resign, as he was unable to give his hearty support to the measures of his colleagues. 1782, he returned to office as president of the council; in which capacity he acted, to the end of his career, with the exception of a short secession during the existence of the coalition ministry. In May, 1786, he was made Viscount Bayham and Earl Camden. He died on the 18th of April, 1794;

In

having been, some time previously, married to a Miss Elizabeth Jeffreys, by whom he had several children.

Lord Camden, as a judge, was able and independent; as a statesman, straight-forward and honourable; unwilling to compromise his conscience for the sake of his consistency. Clearness was the characteristic of his eloquence, "which," it has been said by one who remembers him when he presided in the court of chancery, "was of the colloquial kind, extremely simple; diffuse, but not desultory." In the house of lords, he addressed himself more to the judgment, than the passions, of his auditors; his style was fluent, his manner persuasive, and his language plain, but energetic. He had a thorough knowledge of the fundamental laws of England, the principles of which he regarded with respect, and supported with ability. On resigning the office of chancellor, he made the following candid declaration of his reasons for doing so. "I accepted the great seal without condition; I meant not, therefore, to be trammelled by his majesty-1 beg pardon-by his ministers. I have often drooped and hung down my head in council, and disapproved, by my looks, those steps which I knew my avowed opposition could not prevent. I will do so no longer, but openly and boldly speak my sentiments." As a judge, he was wholly unswayed by political influence, and, regardless whom he might offend, performed the duties of his office in a manner satisfactory to the dictates of his own conscience, and calculated to protect the liberties of his countrymen. The following observation has been attributed to him:"Lord Mansfield has a way of saying, it is a rule with me-an inviolable rule-never to hear a syllable said out of court about any cause that either is, or is not, in the smallest degree likely to come before me.'-Now, I,-for my part-I could hear as many people as chose to talk to me about their causes; it would never make the slightest impression upon me."

He was not above giving his attention to matters of polite intercourse; and on a dispute that arose between the subscribers to the upper and lower rooms at Bath, he attended all the meetings which were held, and maintained his opinions with all the spirit of a partisan. He was fond of reading romances; and having exhausted those written in English, French, and Italian, he, at a late period of his life, commenced studying Spanish, in order that he might be enabled to read novels in that language. By this peculiarity, he obtained the name of the Spanish Cato. He courted the society of Garrick, but bestowed no notice on Dr. Goldsmith, whom he met at the house of Lord Clare, though the poet had already distinguished himself by his Deserted Village.

The punishment of the stocks having been spoken lightly of by a barrister, on a trial at which he was presiding, he said, leaning over the bench, to the counsel, "Brother, were you ever in the stocks?" Being answered in the negative, he whispered, "Then I have; and can assure you it is by no means such a trifle as you have represented." It is said, that when on a visit at Lord Dacre's, he was walking near Alveley, in Essex, with a gentleman, whom he requested to open the parish stocks for him, that he might be enabled to judge of the nature of the punishment. Having done so, his companion, who was remarkable for absence of mind, walked on, occupied with a book, and the earl, being unable to extricate himself, asked a countryman to release him. "No, no, old gentleman," quoth the rustic; "you were not set there for nothing." At length, one of Lord Dacre's servants passing accidentally, liberated him from his awkward situation.

Lord Camden was the author of an anonymous tract in Mr. Hargrave's collection, on the process of latitat in Wales, and a pamphlet on the writ of habeas corpus.

From the above observation, it would be inferred, that the great lexicographer gave credit to his lordship for more application than natural ability. In his judicial and senatorial character, he displayed remarkable independence; and that his spirit was equal to his honesty, is evident from the bold terms in which he addressed the throne from the house of commons. He has been accused of an inordinate love of money; and it appears that he, on that account, gained the appellation of Sir Bullface

Doublefee. The following story is related of him by Lord Orford, in the works of Walpole :-" His mother lived in a mighty shabby house at Preston, which Sir Fletcher began to think not quite suitable to the dignity of one who has the honour of being his parent; he cheapened a better, in which were two pictures valued at £60: the attorney insisted on having them as fixtures for nothing, the landlord refused, the bargain was broken off, and the dowager madam remains in her original hut.'

SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE, the son of a silk mercer, in London, was born there, after the death of his father, on the 10th of July, 1723. His education was undertaken by his maternal uncle, Mr. Charles Bigg, by whom he was sent to the Charter House, where he made rapid progress in his studies; and, in 1738, was removed to Pembroke College, Oxford. Here he greatly distinguished himself by his classical proficiency, and, at the same time, studied logic and mathematics, besides compiling a work called, The Elements of Architecture, which he completed when only in his twenty-first year. In 1743, he was elected a fellow of All Soul's, and commenced studying for the bar; on which occasion, he renounced most of his literary pursuits, and evinced his fondness and talent for poetry, by writing the celebrated verses, called The Lawyer's Farewell to his Muse, which appeared in Dodsley's Miscellany. In 1745, he proceeded B. C. L. at Oxford; and, in 1746, was cailed to the bar; but, in consequence of his deficiency as an orator, was slow in attaining either profit or reputation. Having, however, been appointed bursar of All Soul's, he showed his activity and intelligence in superintending the construction of the Codrington library; and, as a reward for his services, was, in 1749, appointed steward of the manors of his college. In the same year, he became recorder of Wallingford, and shortly afterwards took the degree of D. C. L., and published his Essay on Consanguinity, in support of

the Society of All Soul's, against certain claims made on it by the kindred of its founder.

After seven years' unsuccessful practice in the courts at Westminster, he, in 1753, retired to his fellowship at Oxford, and commenced delivering his celebrated course of lectures on the laws of England, which conferred great reputation both on the university and himself. At the same time, he occasionally practised as a provincial barrister; and, in 1754, published a work, denying the right of copyholders to vote as freeholders, in which opinion he was afterwards confirmed, by a declaratory act of parliament. In 1755, he was appointed one of the delegates of the Clarendon press; and, in that character, reformed many abuses, and effected various improvements; in order to do which, it is said he previously made himself master of the art of printing. In 1758, he was appointed Vinerian professor; and, in 1759, published a new edition of the Great Charter and Charter of the Forest, with an historical preface. In the year last mentioned, he is said to have declined the honour of the coif; but, nevertheless, came to London, and resumed his attendance at Westminster Hall, where his previous reputation procured him a large share of practice and emolument.

In February, 1761, he was appointed a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and was elected member of parliament for Hindon; and, about the same period, vacated his fellowship, by his marriage with a daughter of James Clitherow,