which, though high, was by no means beyond his merits. On the contrary, it may be doubted if he ever enjoyed all the fame that his capacity and his learning entitled him to. For he had no shining talents; he never was a leader at the bar; his genius for law was by no means of the depth and originality which distinguished Mr Holroyd; nor had he the inexhaustible ingenuity of Mr Littledale; nor perhaps the singular neatness and elegance of Mr Richardson. His style of arguing was clear and cogent, but far from brilliant; his opinions were learned and satisfactory, without being strikingly profound; his advice, however, was always safe, although sometimes, from his habitual and extreme caution, it might be deficient in boldness or vigour. The course of publication, so successfully pursued by Mr Park, was likewise adopted at a subsequent period by Mr Abbott, but after he had secured his place among special pleaders: it accelerated his rise in the profession, but did not cause that rise. His subject, the 'Law of Shipping,' was well calculated to interest both lawyers and traders; and the merit of the work is much superior to that of Mr Park. It displays far greater learning; is better arranged; more fully handles the subject, and is better written. It is to be classed amongst the standard works in our law; whereas Mr Park's only receives the humbler praise of having filled up reasonably well an acknowledged blank in the legal library.

With these qualifications for the profession, with the respect-ful demeanour towards his superiors, and especially the court, which he always maintained in some excess, and with the principles of an Oxford Tory, as well as the standard accomplishments of an Oxford scholar, also in considerable excess, it was to be expected that he should make his way steadily at the bar. He was first a successful pleader; then a barrister well employed in the junior departments of the profession; a favourite first in the Oxford circuit, and afterwards in Westminster Hall; finally the standing council to all the great Government departments; and besieged late and early by clients desiring his advice both upon their cases and their pleadings. As a leader, he very rarely, and by some extraordinary accident only appeared; and this in a manner so little satisfactorily to himself, that he peremptorily declined it whenever refusal was possible. Indeed he showed none of the capacity which distinguished Mr Holroyd, where the same unwelcome chance befell him; for he seemed to have no notion of a leader's duty beyond exposing the pleadings and the law of the case to the jury, who could not comprehend them with all his explanation. His legal arguments, of which for many years the books are full, were extremely good, without reaching any very high pitch of excellence; they were quite

clear, abundantly full of Case Law; betokening some dread of grappling with principle, and displaying none of the felicitous commentary that marked Mr Holroyd's.

Like most English lawyers, he married early in life, and lived wholly in his own family; associating less with his brethren at the bar than any man of the day. But his hours of relaxation were not passed in idleness. The classical acquirements, in which he surpassed most men, formed the solace of his leisure; and to the end of his life he not only had a high relish for such pursuits, but wrote Latin verses with peculiar elegance and perfect ease. What is far less rarely met with,-especially added to such tastes and such acquirements, he was well versed in natural philosophy, particularly in the various branches of mechanical science. Nor did any one out of the trade better understand all the details of machinery, in examining which his accurate mind took a peculiar pleasure.

Although his reputation at the bar was firmly established for a long course of years, it was not till he became a judge, hardly till he became Chief-Justice, that his merits were fully known. It then appeared that he had a singularly judicial understanding; and even the defects which had kept him in the less ambitious walks of the profession,-his caution, his aversion to all that was experimental, his want of fancy,-contributed with his greater qualities to give him a very prominent rank, indeed, among our ablest judges. One defect alone he had, which was likely to impede his progress towards this eminent station; but of that he was so conscious, as to protect himself against it by constant and effectual precautions. His temper was naturally bad; it was hasty, and it was violent; forming a marked contrast to the rest of his mind. But it was singular with what success he fought against this, and how he mastered the rebellious part of his nature. It was, indeed, a study to observe this battle, or rather victory; for the conflict was too successful to be apparent on many occasions. On the bench it rarely broke out; but there was observed a truly praiseworthy feature, singularly becoming in the demeanour of a judge. Whatever struggles with the advocate there might be carried on during the heat of a cause, and how great soever might be the asperity shown on either part, all passed away-all was, even to the vestige of the trace of it, discharged from his mind, when the peculiar duty of the judge came to be performed; and he directed the jury, in every particular, as if no irritation had ever passed over his mind in the course of the cause. Although nothing can be more manifest than the injustice of making the client suffer for the fault or the misfortune of his advocate, his fault, if he misconducted himself towards the udge-his misfortune, if he unwittingly gave offence; yet, who

ever has practised at Nisi Prius knows well how rare it is to find a judge of an unquiet temper, especially one of an irascible disposition, who can go through the trial without suffering his course to be affected by the personal conflicts which may have taken place in the progress of the cause. It was therefore an edifying sight to observe Lord Tenterden, whose temper had been visibly affected during the trial (for on the bench he had not always that entire command of it, which we have described him as possessing while at the bar), addressing himself to the points in the cause with the same perfect calmness and indifference with which a mathematician pursues the investigation of an abstract truth; as if there were neither the parties nor the advocates in existence, and only bent upon the discovery and the elucidation of truth.

His eminence as a judge was great and undeniable: it was in a short time confessed by all, even by those who had some prejudice against him at first, from marking the extreme contrast between him and his more brilliant predecessor; and from the impression, generally prevailing, and in general well founded, that men who never have led causes at the bar make indifferent judges, and are unequal to the dispatch of judicial business. Lord Tenterden from the first displayed great judicial capacity; yet it is certain that, for some time, he formed no very remarkable exception to the rule. He took no general and comprehensive view of a case; he examined its details part by part; he did not, like a leader, get up on an eminence, and from thence survey the subject in all its bearings; nor was he aware of the relative importance of its different portions. But in order to perform his office, he would select one particular compartment, and he would choose not the most difficult. To this he bent his attention, and seemed a good deal troubled, and even impatient, if it were drawn away to other points not within the limits which he had chosen to trace. It is remarkable not only how this habit wore off, instead of being confirmed and extended; but also how great a start he made in improvement after he had been five or six years chief of his court; and, on the occasion of a long and severe illness, that seemed to render his retirement from the bench inevitable. His temper was softened; his attention became more comprehensive; he viewed things more upon an enlarged scale; his industry was not relaxed,-increased it could not be; and during the last seven or eight years of his time he exhibited a very eminent instance of great judicial capacity. At all times his law was safe, and accurate, and ready; but he could now deal far more ably with facts. He never was without great influence over the jury; but as he now could enlighten their

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minds more fully, his weight was increased. His patience became greater as his sway over the bar was extended; and as men compared the somewhat violent dispatch of the preceding reign with the more deliberate march of justice while he was her minister, they deemed the greater vigour and more manly capacity of his celebrated predecessor well exchanged for the fuller and more satisfactory discussion of all causes during his rule. It is true that fewer cases were dispatched, and the Paper fell into arrear; but there is something better than speedy decision; and that is substantial justice, which requires full hearing before judgment.

It may, indeed, well be questioned if ever Lord Ellenborough could have dispatched the business of the Guild-Hall Sittings with the same celerity that marked his reign, had he survived to the later times. The suitors as well as the bar were no longer the same body, with whose interests and with whose advocacy he had to deal. In his time, the whole city business was in the hands of Gibbs, Garrow, and Park; with occasionally, as in the cases of the Baltic risks, the intervention of Topping ;* and it was a main object with them all to facilitate the dispatch of business. This they effected by at once giving up all but the arguable points of law, on which they at once took the judge's opinion; and the maintainable questions of fact, on which they went to the jury. Fifteen or twenty important causes were thus disposed of in a morning, more to the satisfaction of the court and the benefit of the counsel, than to the contentment of the parties or their attorneys. It is true that no real loss was, in the vast majority of instances, sustained by any one through this kind of arrangement, while the time of the public was saved. But it is equally true that every now and then a slip was made and a benefit lost; and that nothing can guard against such accidents but the right course of thoroughly sifting each case, as if it were the only one in which the advocate was retained, or which the judge had to try. Nor must it be forgotten that the right decision of causes is only one,

The mention of this most honourable man, in connexion with those cases, recalls an incident so creditable to himself, and to the renowned profession to which he belonged, that it ought not to be passed over in silence. A general retainer of a thousand guineas was brought to him, to cover the Baltic cases then in progress. His answer was, that this indicated either a doubt of his doing his duty on the ordinary terms known in the profession (one guinea particular, and five guineas general retainer), or an expectation that he should do something beyond the line of his duty, and therefore he must decline it. His clerk then accepted of the usual sum of five guineas, and he led on these important cases for the defendants.

though certainly the most important office of justice. Another, only second in importance to that, is the giving parties satisfaction, such satisfaction as is enough for reasonable persons. Now, as every person is impressed with the idea that there is but one cause in the world, and that his own, however unmindful of this the court and the counsel may be, discontent, heartburnings, feeling of injustice suffered, desire of redress in other ways, and among these, oftentimes by means of other suits, is sure to be left in the train of Themis, when the pace she moves at is too rapid for ordinary eyes to follow, and breaks through the surrounding ties and feelings of interest too rudely. Hence, the dispatch effected is frequently more apparent than real; of which a remarkable example used to be afforded by Sir John Leach, whose swift decisions, without hearing, only produced appeals to the Great Seal. But in whatever way these opinions may be disposed of, one thing was certain;—the kind of arrangement which has been described as prevailing among the leaders in Lord Ellenborough's time could only be found practicable as long as the lead should be confined within a very few hands. When it was at all scattered, such a thing was altogether out of the question; and in Lord Tenterden's time this distribution undeniably took place.

It may be supposed from what has been said of his scientific as well as classical acquirements, that, in trying causes where these accomplishments could be displayed, he rose above the ordinary level of his great merit. To see him preside over a complicated Patent case was a very great treat, whether to a lawyer or a man of science. It was a singular exhibition of legal combined with mechanical skill,-each keeping within its own proper sphere, but each conspiring with the other to obtain the full investigation of the cause in all its bearings, and its clear elucidation to the jury. He it was, too, who first leant against the absurd, unjust, and mischievous refinements by which almost all former judges conceived it fit that they should display a constant astuteness to defeat the claims of a Patentee, upon the unreflecting notion of his right being a monopoly, and the public interest being damaged by it; wholly forgetting that his genius and labour had been first given to the public in reversion to purchase the temporary possession of that monopoly.

The merits of this distinguished judge having been recited, it is fit that we advert to his few defects. These were borrowed from his temper in part; and in part transferred from the professional habits of his limited walk while a practitioner. He never could endure the 'trick' of the bar, as displayed in its leading advocates; nor was there any great harm in this, had it stopt