13 JULY 1844, Page 14

SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

BIOGRAPHY.

The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon; with Selections from his Correspondence. By Horace Twiss, Esq., one of her Majesty's Counsel. In three volumes .... . Murray. Donor?, Constance D'Oyley ; a Tale. By the Author of " The Clandestine Marriage." In

three volumes Bentley.

LIFE OF LORD ELDON, BY HORACE TWISS.

LORD ELDON occupied for so many years so conspicuous a place in the public eye, that the leading epochs of his career might be known to any one ; for they were recorded in obituaries and periodi- cals, and may be read succinctly in his grandson's inscription on his tomb. From his appointment to the office of Solicitor-General in 1788, or at least from his accession to the Attorney-General- ship in 1793, until his resignation of the Chancellorship in 1827, he was constantly before the public,—in the courts of justice, pro- secuting for libels and high treason during the troubled times of the French Revolution ; in the House of Commons, upholding the measures of PITT; in the Court of Chancery, exhibiting his con- summate knowledge of the law, and, as he himself phrased it, his " cunctative" infirmity ; in the House of Lords, resisting every improvement and upholding the extremest measures of old Tory- ism ; whilst in the Cabinet and at Court he was suspected of pos- sessing an influence equal to that of any of his colleagues and sometimes superior to all. His own recorded opinions in numberless cases, and charges, whether true or false, made against him in others, furnish a mass of materials in relation to his public life— and his life was altogether public; whilst many characteristic stories, some recorded and some floating in society, have furnished ideas of the individual, and of his early career. The reader of a " certain age," who has been in the habit of attending to passing events, perusing our current and even our classical literature, and mingling at all in society, may measure in some degree the influence of Lord ELDON by remembering in what various walks and phases he has encountered his name.

Absolute novelty in the narrative of such a life was impossible. But Mr. Twiss has done all that seems practicable or desirable, and perhaps something more than was absolutely desirable as re- gards the Parliamentary speeches. He has collected into a con- tinuous narrative the events of Lord ELDON'S life; amplified, illus- trated, and corrected by materials which no one but himself could procure. Besides the reminiscences of friends and relations, to- gether with family-memoranda, Mr. Twiss had the following docu- ments from the Eldon archives placed at his disposal.

" First, the letters of Lord Eldon himself to his brother Lord Stowell, to his daughter Lady Frances Bankes, to his grandson the present Earl, to some others of his relations and friends, and to some of his political colleagues.

" Secondly, a collection of letters to Lord Chancellor Eldon, from George III.; from George IV., as Prince of Wales, as Prince Regent, and as King; from Queen Charlotte; from Queen Caroline, when Princess of Wales ; and from others of the Royal Family.

" Thirdly, a manuscript book of anecdotes and observations noted down by Lord Eldon himself, in his latter years, for his grandson's use and amusement.

"Fourthly, some miscellaneous manuscripts, chiefly in his own handwriting, and various memoranda, communicated by the present EarL"

With these materials Mr. Twiss intermingles many passing com- ments; and he devotes a considerable part of his third volume to the consideration of Lord Emmis's judicial, political, and private character, including an elaborate defence or explanation of his judicial delays.

Everybody knows that the father of WILLIAM SCOTT Lord STOWELL, and of JOHN SCOTT Earl of ELDON, was a " coal-fitter " at Newcastle. What coal-fitter means is not so generally under- stood; some thinking it a sort of coal-beaver, and others having no clear ideas upon the subject : but the coal-fitter is the factor or agent who "conducts the sales between the coal-owner and the shipper," and for which vocation, " broker" would be to Londoners the more appropriate term. It was generally believed, and (with one exception very late in life) Lord ELDON both in speeches and sto- ries inculcated the notion, that his father's means were scanty, and the family belonging to the "lower orders." This does not appear to have been the case. The coal-fitter's is a responsible vocation : old Mr. SCOTT seems to have been early possessed of property ; with the assistance of a scholarship he supported his son WILLIAM at Oxford; he died worth upwards of thirty thousand pounds; and when JOHN, at the age of twenty-one, had run away with Miss SURTEES, the daughter of a Newcastle banker, old Mr. SCOTT offered to put down two hundred pounds for every one hundred of Mr. SURTEES, as a provision for the young people,—which, allowing for the coal-fitter's suspicion that the banker was not so rich as he wished to be thought, could only have been made by a man of some property and with his property at command. There is therefore nothing wonderful in the rise to eminence of the two brothers, be- yond the abilities by which it was attained. JOHN SCOTT, the hero of this Memoir, was born at Newcastle, in 1751 ; and educated at the town free schooL Both himself and his brothers appear to have been spirited lads, full of animal life and boisterous pranks—for which they were doubly flogged, once at home and once at school. Old Mr. SCOTT originally in- tended Joint for his own business ; but WILLIAM, whose success at Oxford appears to have given him considerable family-influence, opposed the plan, saying he could do better for him at the Univer- sity. To Oxford he accordingly went, in 1776, and the next year obtained a fellowship : a rapid advance, but competitors were fewer then than now, and even the inferior qualifications demanded by

the age far less general. After a clandestine courtship, he per- formed the piece of the Clandestine Marriage, by eloping, in 1772, with Miss ELIZABETH SUBTEES, as the only course left, he indicates, to settle suitors encouraged by her family. After some displeasure and some delay, the offence was so far forgiven that old Mr. Scow settled 2,0001. and Mr. SURTEES 1,0001. upon the runaways. Disappointed in his views upon the church as a pro- fession,—no preferment in the gift of his college falling vacant during the "year of grace" in which he was permitted to retain his fellowship after his marriage,—JonN SCOTT determined to try the law, for which he had been preparing, should divinity fail; and in 1773 he entered himself a student of the Inner Temple.

From the time of his marriage till some few years after his call to the bar, which took place in 1776, report and Lord ELDON'S own sayings represented him as struggling with something very like want, and constantly on the extreme verge of destitution. We agree with the Quarterly Review in thinking that this was greatly exaggerated. The family settlement gave him 1501. a year ; for the first year of his marriage he had his fellowship ; he was also appointed Deputy to CHAMBERS the Vinerian Professor, which yielded 601. a year; and in 1776 his father died, bequeathing him 1,0001.; all which must certainly upon the lowest average have given him about 3001. a year, in much cheaper times than the present. He had also other sources of income, or opportunities of avoiding expense : a few pupils for the three years he resided at Oxford ; loans and presents from his brother WILLIAM ; he paid nothing for attending conveyancer's chambers, for Mr. DUANE re- ceived him without a fee ; and he never was in the chambers of an equity-draftsman or special-pleader,—supplying the deficiency as well as he might by copying all the precedents he could get hold of. In a common case this system of self-tuition could scarcely make a practising lawyer ; and it probably retarded Lord ELHoN's early progress at the bar. It is equally probable that it made him the thorough lawyer that he was, by inducing him to take a more per- fect survey of the country than he would have felt compelled to do had he constantly had somebody at his elbow to tell him the way. A feeling, not exactly of this kind, but of how little common teaching of itself suffices to make a lawyer, peeps out in a valuable letter of advice on the mode of studying the law, which he wrote to a young friend many years after—in 1807. " At present lawyers are made good cheap, by learning law from Blackstone and less elegant compilers: depend upon it, men so bred will never be lawyers, (though they may be barristers,) whatever they call themselves. I read Coke on Littleton through when I was the other day out of office ; and when I was a student I abridged it. To a Chancery man, the knowledge to be obtained from it is peculiarly useful in matter of titles. If you promise me to read this, and tell me when you have begun upon it, I shall venture to hope that, at my recommendation, you will attack about half-a-dozen other very crabbed books, which our Westminster Hall lawyers never look at."

The advice thus given to another he had followed, and more than followed, himself. " Pursuing," says Mr. Twiss, "the advice of Lord Coke, he read non multa, sed multum. He rose at the early hour of four in the morning; observed a careful abstinence at his meals ; and in order to prevent the invasion of drowsiness, studied at night with a wet towel round his head." He persisted in this plan to such an extent that his health began to give way ; and a medical friend remonstrated with him. " It is no matter," he answered, " I must do as I am doing, or starve."

His early disappointments at the bar are the theme of legal arta and common anecdote-books : nor do they seem to have been much exaggerated. The stories of his lucky hits are not so correct. It was only by a series of them that he established his practice, some- times by a ponderous pleasantry, sometimes by elaborate law. However, his progress was not so very slow. Called to the bar in 1776, he was made King's Counsel in 1783, Solicitor-General in 1788, Attorney-General in 1793, and in 1799 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and created Baron ELDON. This promotion was curiously brought about ; and is thus narrated by Lord ELDON himself in his Anecdote-book.

" After I had served the offices of Solicitor-General and Attorney-General from 1788 to 1799, the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas becoming vacant, and feeling myself worn down with labour and fatigue, I made a point of succeeding to that office. My pretensions were very much opposed by the Chancellor, Lord Loughborough, and by Mr. Pitt, then Minister. Both wished to give the office to Sir R. P. Arden, then Master of the Rolls. They repre- sented to me that it was, on my part, bad judgment to change my situation,— Sta it certainly was in a pecuniary point of view ; but I thought my health and comfort required my retirement from the laborious office of Attorney-Ge- neral. Mr. Pitt was pleased also to express, repeatedly, regret that I should quit the House of Commons. The difficulties were at length overcome ; Mr. Pitt agreeing, if with the Chief Justiceship I would, as Lord Camden did, go into the House of Lords as a Peer ; and the King consented, provided that I would promise not to refuse the Great Seal when he might call upon me to accept it. This condition, prescribed by his Majesty, I thought I could not refuse to accede to."

The personal favour of the Sovereign, and of the Royal Family generally, was a distinguishing advantage possessed by Lord ELDON over all the other Ministers, not perhaps excepting PITT; and it partly gave him his hold both upon office and the House of Lords. But the "condition prescribed by his Majesty" would seem to indi- cate that the King was contemplating PITT's retirement on the question of the Catholic claims, (whose adjustment he had been led to hold out as a consequence of the Union with Ireland, not then effected,) and wished to secure Scores weight of metal in sup- port of any person his Majesty might pitch upon for Premier. This necessity arose on the 10th of March 1801 ; when PITT retired from office, and ADDINGTON succeeded him, with ELDON for Lord Chan- cellor,.—a post he retained till CANNING'S +Premiership in 1827, ex- cept the short period when " All the Talents" were in office. To trace Lord ELDON'S life, as Mr. Twiss very properly does, through all this period, would be to write the civil, political, and so far as politics are concerned the courtly history of the period. The Chancellor was actively engaged in all the difficulties arising from the King's aberrations of mind ; in the delicate troubles which originated in the quarrels of GEORGE the Fourth with his wife and his father ; in the formation of the new Ministry on the dismissal of the Whigs in 1807 ; in the negotiations in consequence of the Regency in 1810-11 ; in the delicate investigation of Queen CAROLINE'S case ; and the final break-up of the old Tories on Lord LIVERPOOL'S decease in 1827, when CANNING was appointed Premier. And it seems probable that this appointment really took place from GEORGE the Fourth's love of ease. In his " misery " when the Duke of WELLINGTON and PEEL had forced the Catholic Relief Bill upon him, he saw Lord ELDON upon two occasions, an account of which interviews the aged Peer has preserved in two very curious and interesting minutes ; and at the opening his Majesty seems, in vulgar parlance, to have "let the cat out of the bag."

" His Majesty employed a very considerable portion of time in stating all that he represented to have passed when Mr. Canning was made Minister; and expressly stated that Mr. C. would never, and that he had engaged that he would never, allow him to be troubled about the Roman Catholic question."

Many indications quite as curious will be found scattered through Lord ELDON'S own memorandums, and his various correspondence during this long period of more than a quarter of a century. Indeed, so far as regards the original matter, the book may be looked upon as a valuable contribution to the secret history of the period ,as well as a biography of Lord ELDON.

The defences for the hero are less successful. The accu- sation of BROUGHAM, that Lord ELDON transacted business with the King with a mad-doctor in the presence, may be technically refuted ; but it is quite clear, that when the King was mad his madness was concealed from Parliament, and concealed by Ministers for their own profit. It would seem from a passage in a letter of the Duke of YORK, that not only was he not in a state to understand business, but was secretly restrained by his Ministers against his will ; though restraint in itself was proper enough. At least we know not what other interpretation to put upon the follow- ing words, than that a change of Ministry might take place if his true condition were known.

,c I am afraid, from what I have heard, that things were not comfortable at the Queen's house this morning ; and wish that you would inquire of Sir Francis Millman and Dr. Simmonds before you go in to the King, as he seems to dwell much upon the illegality of his confinement, and is not aware of the dreadful consequences which may attend him if any unfortunate circumstance can be brought forward in Parliament."

The defence of the delays in Chancery is better, so far as Lord ELDON is personally concerned. Mr. Twiss admits that his pro- crastinating habit induced mischief, (but more, we think, than he does admit,) by delaying his decision after hearing the cause. The biographer shows, by an elaborate analysis, that the arrears were not so much attributable to him as to the system ; a view which is supported by the present state of business in the Court. But the true charge against Lord ELDON was this—that with bound- less power and surpassing knowledge he persisted in upholding every abuse and resisting every reform : yet no sooner had he lost his place, than, in criticizing a new bill introduced by Lord LYNDHURST, he could suggest some reforms off-band.

The charges of ROMILLY and BROUGHAM seem unshaken, perhaps confirmed. The duties of the judge and the interests of the suitors were remorselessly sacrificed to the objects of the politician ; and doubts never for one moment checked his profit or his anger. The broadest principles of necessity, or the nicest refinements of law, were present to his mind and ready for use, whenever it was necessary to serve or to save his party, or to con- ciliate the King. No sense of justice or decorum, or even of an enlightened self-interest, restrained him when provoked. Having read, and some days after its delivery, a misreported speech by Mr. ABERCROMBY on the abuses in Chancery, he ascended the judg- ment-seat, and, forgetful of " all sense of place or duty," proceeded, without a single inquiry, to commence an extrajudicial tirade against a practitioner of his own court, whose bread might have depended upon his fiat • charging him, among other things, with " utter falsehood." ilia language on the final loss of his place was equally indecent, though with less of possible mischief to individuals. CANNING, whom he always hated, had described the simultaneous resignations of the seven Ministers as a "coincidence, to which, how- ever, he would not apply the name of concert." The next night, Lord ELDON, taking up the word " concert," termed it, inter alia, " a base and infamous calumny "—" a base and gross falsehood." Nor is his own statement about his intended retirement on that occasion entitled to credit, though undoubtedly he himself might believe it. His adhesiveness is one of the most remarkable things in the book. Constantly complaining of his labours, and latterly of the indifference, contempt, or political conduct of his colleagues, he never seriously even thought of resigning. When the Duke of WELLINGTON formed his Ministry on Lord GODERICH'S retire- ment, Lord ELDON evidently expected office ; and very sore and very angry and very pathetic he was at not getting it. Even in 1834, when PEEL tried to form a Ministry, he evidently wished to have a finger in the pie : but the Duke, before PEEL'S arrival, wrote a civil letter telling him nothing; and PEEL, after he had formed his Ministry, wrote an apologetical letter referring the veteran to PEEL'S public declaration for a knowledge of his principles. In the following year, the same feeling was illustrated, with that pleasant

and jocular familiarity which distinguished him as an individual, in some advice to " mine host."

" Miss Forster has preserved a little piece of advice, pleasantly given by Lord Eldon to Mr. Hoult, the landlord of the inn at Rusheyford. 'I hear, Mr. Hoult, that you are talking of retiring from business : but let me advise you not to do so. Busy people are very apt to think a life of leisure is a life of happiness; but believe me, for I speak from experience, when a man who .has been much occupied through life arrives at having nothing to do, he is very apt not to know what to do with himself. I am interested in this advice, Mr. Hoult; for I intend to come here every year for the next thirty years, and I hope to find you still the landlord. And now good day ; and I trust, if God spares one, we shall all meet again next summer.' "About the close of 1837, Lord Eldon, relating this to Mr. Farrer, added, 'Next year, when 1 again visited Rusheyford, the landlord told me he had taken my advice, and determined not to give up his inn. It was advice given by me in the spirit of that Principal of Brasenose, who, when he took leave of young men Tithing college, used to say to them, " Let me give you one piece of advice : Care de resignationibus." And very good advice too.' " These traits were the faults of Lord ELDON ; but it was not by his faults that he attained or preserved his eminence. Of his won- derful industry in youth we have already spoken. In his age it increased with the demands upon it ; and sometimes he passed eighteen hours or upwards in the public presence, and sometimes nearly two days and nights without rest. A wonderful constitution not only enabled him to do this, but to do it with health and cheerfulness ; of which WILBERFORCE has preserved a remarkable testimony by ROMILLY. "One of the most remarkable things about Romilly was, that though he bad such an immense quantity of business, he always seemed au idle man. If you had not known who and what he was, you would have said,' He is a remark- ably gentlemanlike pleasant man : I suppose, poor fellow, he has no business '; for he would stand at the bar of the House and chat with you, and talk over the last novel, with which be was as well acquainted as if he had nothing else to think about. Once, indeed, I remember coming to speak with him in court, and seeing him look fagged and with an immense pile of papers before him. This was at a time when Lord Eldon had been reproached for having left business undischarged, and had declared that he would get through all ar- rears by sitting on until the business was done. As I went up to Romilly, old Eldon saw me, and beckoned to me with as much cheerfulness and gayety as possible. When I was alone with Romilly, and asked him how he was, he answered, I am worn to death: here have we been sitting on in the vacation, from nine in the morning until four, and when we leave this place I have to read through all my papers to be ready for tomorrow morning. But the most extraordinary part of all is, that Eldon, who has not only mine but all the other business to go through, is just as cheerful and noticed as ever.'" Of the extent or profundity of his knowledge of the law, or of his sagacity, keenness, and subtilty of perception as a lawyer, it would be idle to speak. As a politician, he was straightforward and con- sistent, with a massiveness in his view which in a painter would be called breadth of design. Largeness, indeed, is theoretically easier in the advocate of resistance, who has merely to stand still, than in the advocate of change, who has to originate measures. But there was nothing scheming, or tricky, or managing, or superfine, about his plans ; all was plain, bold, and direct in view, whatever might be thought of their policy : he left little arts to little men. He was indeed as thoroughly English as ST. VINCENT, in sturdiness of character and massiness of mind; but he wanted the comprehen- sion, variety, and poetical sense which elevated the great sea-cap- tain. And it was this national character which made ELDON for so many years the undoubted head of the old Country party, as it still renders him their idol. It was this straightforwardness, too, coupled with muctl swirlier in 7/iodo and much personal kindness of heart, that seems to have acquired and retained the friendship of Royalty. His old English urbanity and hearty kindness must have con- trasted as strongly with the inane politeness of a gentleman-usher, as his clear and decided consistency with the managing conduct and poor conceptions of the placemen who followed PITT. Both his views and his conduct were strictly honest, judging him by his position ; and conciliated the esteem of his bitterest opponents, when no strong bias of interest perverted their judgment or their tongues. A very "good hater," GEORGE the Fourth, told him, that till he came into the possession of his father's papers, as Regent, there was no man he hated as he did Lord ELDON ; but within a twelvemonth of his knowing the whole truth, he became the Re- gent's dear friend, and the friendship continued till the Monarch's death.

Unless an extreme economy, approaching avarice, be considered a vice, his private character was unimpeachable. Living almost secluded from the world, his domestic attachments were very strong ; but stronger, we think, towards his equals in years, or his remoter descendants, than to his own children,—with the excep- tion of his " wild " second son. His cheerfulness and pleasantry were a very remarkable characteristic; and having lived so long and seen so much, he possessed an abundant store of anec- dote, which he told with an effect that lost nothing coming from the mouth of a Lord Chancellor. Proud and spirited, no doubt, he was, when his dignity was interfered with ; but he had none of the mean and vulgar pride which shows itself in pomp, pretence, or exclusiveness ; and he seemed to have an old English liking for character exhibiting itself among the poor. It - is probable, however, that his obduracy would have been fully as great in private as in public life, had he been exposed to a simi- lar extent of provocation : a trait Mr. Twigs has nicely marked in an impartial delineation of his character ; from which, and from some of the Miscellaneous stories, we will take a few extracts, to exhibit him more in detail.

LORD ELDON, BY MR. TWISS.

His private life was, for the most part, amiable as well as just. The fore- going pages have shown him, as he lived, an affectionate and dutiful son, a true and tender husband, a kind and liberal father, and a cordial and grateful friend. He sometimes gave way to momentary impetuosity; but he was habitually in- dulgent to, and proportionally beloved by, all around him: and the only occa-

aims in which he manifested any long-enduringdispleasure, were when obedience or attention was withheld from him by persons from whom he considered him- self entitled to such observances. Such a feeling evinced itself rather inde- fensibly with respect to the two ladies of his family who contravened his wishes in their marriage. In the case of his son's widow, he had neither right nor reason to object at all : and in that of his own daughter, though his title to interpose may have been stronger than in the other instance, the degree and duration of his estrangement were excessive ; and especially unsuitable in him, who had himself been party to a like offence. But, with the exception of these instances, and of something like fractiousness toward the period of his final decay, there is nothing to be found in his private history which could give a pretext for censure.

He has, indeed, been accused of a narrow and unbecoming economy; and it is true that his style of living was deficient in the splendour and hospitality which are expected from the Lord Chancellor of England. But the defect was not in Lord Eldon himself. His lady, in the early days of their union, when their very scanty means made it necessary to observe a rigid parsimony, had acquired close and retired habits, which were not expanded by the progress of their fortunes. She had a distaste for visiting, and for most kinds of amuse- ment; her sole pleasures were those of her home. Her devotion to her hus- band continued unabated in advancing years; and his boundless indulgence to her left all her peculiarities unchecked. The wicked wits of the law used to satirize their housekeeping ; and even the stern Romilly had his jest, which he put into a professional form. At a time when there was great complaint of delay in the Chancellor's Court, Sir Thomas Plumes, the Master of the Rolls, gave a series of dinners. " Very right," said Romilly; "he is clearing away the Chancellor's arrears." a To fashion or refinement Lord Eldon made no pretence, though his right understanding and kind nature preserved him from any solecism in good taste. His disposition was festive, but not luxurious. He liked plain port—the stronger the better. One of his favourite dishes was liver and bacon ; and when he dined with George the Fourth, it was one of the entrees.

Accomplishments he had none. His Oxford education, though it had made him sufficiently a scholar, had not given him a literary turn. He con- tinued to cherish an affection for the old associations of the University, and a respect for the classical lore he had acquired there; but he had no great relish for poetry or other literce humaniores, and did not fur their sakes withdraw much of his time from the engrossing pursuits of law and politics. He is said to have on one occasion "rather astonished his court by declaring, that he had, in the course of the last long vacation, inter solicitze jucunda oblivia vitae, read the Paradise Lost from beginning to end."

ANA. "I enjoyed very much," says Miss FORSTER, "seeing my venerable uncle with his grandchildren, Fanny and Eldon Bankes, beside him after dinner, other members of the family being present. The children hearing him his letters, he repeated the alphabet, altering the usual order of the letters. No, no, grand- papa, that won't do.' He again repeated them with mock solemnity, preserving every letter, though he again varied the order. Then came a mock discussion between the elder and younger members of the family, whether grandpapa should be sent to a preparatory school, or taught the rudiments of education at home, lest he should disgrace the family : the venerable Earl listening to and entering into the amusement with affectionate playfulness."

"Lord Eldon told Mrs. Forster he was present at the funeral of his school.. fellow Lord Collingwood, who died on the 7th of March in this year, 1810. ' It was very affecting,' said Lord Eldon; his sailors crowded so around, all anxious to see the last of their commander. One sailor seized me by the arm, and entreated I would take him in with me, that he might be there to the end. I told him to stick fast to me; and I did take him in : but when it came to throwing some earth on the coffin, (you know the part of the service, "dust to dust,") he burst past me and threw himself into the vault : it was very affecting. Collingwood at school was a mild boy ; he was in the same class as my brother Harry : but he did not then give promise of being the great man he afterwards became; he did not show any remarkable talents then.'

SPECIMENS OF CORRESPONDENCE.

Lord Eldon to his Mother.

" Lincoln's Inn, 19th July 1799. " My dear Mother—I cannot act under any other feeling than that you should be the first to whom I write after changing my name. My brother Harry will have informed you, I hope, that the King has been pleased to make me Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and a Peer. I feel that, under the blessing of Providence, I owe this—I hope I may say I owe this—to a life spent in conformity to those principles of virtue which the kindness of my father and mother early inculcated, and which the affectionate attention of my brother Sir William improved in me. I hope God's grace will enable me to do my duty in the station to which I am called. I write in some agitation of spirits ; but I am anxious to express my love and duty to my mother, and affec- tion to my sisters, when I first subscribe myself " Your loving and affectionate son, ELDON." Lord Eldon to his brother Henry.

" Lincoln's Inn, 20th July 1799. " My dear Harry—I would write you a longer letter, but I am really so oppressed with the attention and kindness of my friends that I can't preserve a dry eye,. God bless you and my sister ; remember me affectionately to Mr. and Mrs. Forster. You shall hear from me again. With the same heartfelt affection with which I have so often subscribed the name of J. Scott, I write "Your affectionate brother, ELDON." Lord Eldon to Lady F. J. Bankes.—( Extract.) " Saturday 28th June 1834. " It pleased the Great Ruler of the world, on this day three years ago to take unto himself my poor dear Besey, the partner of my life for so many, many long years. His will be done! He will pardon sorrow and grief, but not complaint. I will not complain. In sorrow I may grieve. I wrote this last sentence half an hour ago. I am relieved by writing it, and by reflection upon my duty." Lord Eldon to Lady F. J. Bankes.—(Extract.) •• Wednesday 23d July 1534. " Heaven grant that this new mode of treating the poor and needy may not bring forth those fruits which I for one anticipate. They are to proceed in this hazardous measure tonight : but 'unto their assembly, mine honour shall not be united.'" Although exempt to a remarkable degree from bodily suffering, and possessed of every worldly advantage, the closing years of Lord Emos's life only add another instance to the great English moralist's picture of the inevitable ills of multitude of days. He outlived his wife, and his brothers, and with one exception his children. He grew jealous of his grandson the present Earl's influence, or sup- posed influence, with the servants. Notwithstanding his enormous wealth, he was jealous that his best-beloved brother, Lord STOWELL, should have passed over himself to grant the remainder of the Stowell estates to his grandson the present Earl ; though there was not much probability when the will was made that the present

Lord anost would have succeeded to them. He was angry with his grandson for living on an estate near London, which he had himself presented, instead of in London ; and this, secretly rankling, induced him to alter his will, by which he seriously affected the fortunes of his little great-granddaughters. Even his mind and memory began to fail him ere "pitying Nature signed the last re- lease."

But his life might have furnished the Roman satirist with other proofs of the "quam continuis, et quantis longa seneetus plena malls," in the evils which may flow from a proper ambition sur- viving its mental or physical power of properly discharging its functions, or from a veteran champion outliving the creed with which he began life. When Lord ELDON retired from office in 1827, he was seventy-six ; but till his death, in 1838, he hardly ever ceased repining over his enforced ease, and never ceased to lament the national apostacy from his early principles. In this notice, long as it is, we have not even indicated the quan- tity of matter which is to he found in these volumes, not only re- lating to Lord ELDON and his history, but to an infinite variety of marked men who flourished from his first entrance into life until its close, as well as to many singular facts with which his expe- rience as a lawyer or as a politician had made him acquainted. As regards the materials of a biography, Mr. Twiss's Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon is the best and most interesting work that has been published for many a day. That its execution is not, in some respects, entitled to equal praise, arises chiefly from an endeavour to do too much, and a consequent introduction of topics which are collateral or subordinate rather than essential. This is inju- rious to compactness and completeness of view ; and though the book is very readable, it is readable from the facility afforded to omit passages, and from the absence of that necessity for sustained attention which an "all compact" narrative imposes and rewards. The impartiality of Mr. Twiss cannot be too highly praised, or the general soundness of his estimate of Lord ELDON : when we con- sider his own politics, and his relation to the ELDON family, this impartiality is something wonderful.