SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

BIOGRAPHY,

The Lives. of Twelve Eminent Judges of the Last and Present Century. By William C. Townsend, Esq., MA., Recorder of Macclesfield. In two volumes.

TRAYEIE, Longman and.Co. Recollections of Mexico. By Waddy Thompson, Esq., late Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States at Mexico. • . Wiley and Putman.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE,

Memoirs and Essays Illustrative of Art, Literature, and Social Morale. By Mrs. Jameson, Author of "The Characteristics of Women," "Memoirs of Female

Sovereigns," &c Bentley. Flexion,

• Sybil Lessard ; a Novel. In three volumes. By the Author of " The Belle of the

,.Family," " The Gambler's Wife," &c. Sce Newby.

ME. TOWNSEND'S LIVES OF TWELVE EMINENT JUDGES.

43OKE of these Lives originally appeared in the Law Magazine: they have been reprinted,. partly in consequence of the praises bestowed upon `two of them by the Edinburgh. and Quarterly Reviews, partly in .the opinion that a "collection of memoirs of eminent modern judges _would not be unacceptable to the profession and the public generally";

; -an idea which induced the composition of the new Lives. The Twelve Judges whom Mr. Townsend has selected as subjects for his pen may be described as belonging to the age of George the Third ; for they were all appointed to the Bench and left it during the reign of :that. Monarch, with the three exceptions of Stowell, Eldon, and Tenterden. aelecting his subjects,. Mr. Townsend seems to have been guided by

- his .own test of eminence; for the characters and legal line of his heroes 'ere varied enough. In Common Law, there are Buller, Kenyon, Gibbs, 'Ellenborough, and Tenterden ; who, however they might differ in personal and professional nature, were, all men of legal acquirements, who forced ..their way to wealth, celebrity, and station, by indefatigable labour and per- severance, end who may be taken, each in his line, as a fair specimen of the hard common lawyer, whom modern manners is gradually extin- guishing, with his good.as well as his evil. The two great Equity law- Jers ere Eldon and Sir •William Grant ; the former eminent as a Chan- uellor, but perhaps unrivalled for a knowledge of law and a power of hair-splitting ; the latter with the highest repute as a complete and per- led judge of any man in modern or ancient times,—though his repute- Aickperhaps excels that portion of his works from which posterity must .iontorkit decision. Following.these two eminent judges is Mitford, Lord oRedesdale; Chancellor of Ireland ; a man who was rather an able practi- tioner and a respectable individual than of original and marked character tether as a lawyer or a man. As a popular advocate, Erskine towers above all :. as ajudge, he can scarcely be called "eminent" ; his post and the figure he made in it were entirely owing to his eminence at the bar. '" The wary Wedderburn, who never went upon a forlorn hope nor ever threw away the scabbard," and who " had something about him which even treachery could not trust," is best known as an unscrupulous but clever .political adventurer, whose -memory is embalmed in history for his fierce .though justifiabkatiack upon Franklin, his defence of Clive, andvarions in- trigues with every party likely to serve his turn, till, finding the Foxite Whigs 'hopeless and the Portland party not so pliant as he wished, he bargained with Pitt for the Chancellorship. He had on his previous elevation to ,the Common Pleas been made Lord Loughborough ; a name by which he is more familiarly known than by that of Earl of. Rosalyn, which title he 'obtained when he was obliged to retire a few years afterwards. Pepper 'Arden, Lord Alvanley, though not so mere an adventurer as Lough- .borough, was active and celebrated as a politician rather than as a lawyer; though he creditably filled the posts of Master of the Rolls and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. The remaining eminent Judge was a civilian, and one of the most distinguished that ever lived. To profound learning and extensive acumen, William Scott, Lord Stowell, added an -amenity of disposition, an elegant literature, and graces of style which :fewlawyers of any age could equal; whilst his good taste never allowed his learning to encumber or his literature to ornament his composition 'too much. He might bee, shade over-exhaustive and over-argumenta- live,; and perhaps he wanted the condensed gravity of judicial eloquence: but Ite gained in amenity what he lost in weight. These things, how- ever, are rather of the nature of feature and complexion than constitu- tional qualities. Lord Stowell had the acumen which perceived distinc- tions, the comprehension which took in the entire range of the subject, the genius which detected the principle lurking in the instance ; and he was thus often enabled to endow seemingly small cases with import- -mice and dignity. In these larger qualities Stowell seems to us to have excelled all the rest of these eminent men ; the best of whom were pro- bably only " judges learned in the law," and whose learning eclipsed their philosophy. Except in the-case of Lord Eldon' where the materials were ready to Mr. Townsend's hand, the Lives in these volumes partake more of the article or memoir than of pure biography, whether we consider biography in the sense of a regular narrative of the incidents of a life and corre- spondence, or a masterly account of the career with a portrait of the cha- racter. For the former mode, space and materials were both perhaps wanting; to the latter Mr. Townsend is not exactly equal. He lacks the penetrative acumen, the strength of mind, and the freedom from _prejudice, required in the more critical biographer. Indeed, he is a-strong partisan in his views; which rather smack of the old Tory .lawyer, btit without his insolence, virulence, and coarseness. Thesepreja- ,dices peep out in hia estimate of persons : in which, however, Mr. Towns- end is more successful than in his criticism; for some of his selected jokes are but indifferent, his specimens of eloquence or, judgment do not always justify the praise they are put forward to support, and he has a . remarkable knack of spoiling quotations. But the book is agree- able and interesting ; partly from the character °Olin Townsend's mind, swhich though not very keen or elevated, is exceedingly well adapted to fikegoalip.of.biographytor.of.lisatiore; Rutty from the zature of ilia subjects. A lawyer who rises to eminence has always some striking qualities : if not a profound jurisconsult, or a keen and able pleader, he must have ready and flashy parts of some kind, sufficient to float him; over the stormy competition of the bar, and make him "generally useful" in the Senate. Eminence in art, science, and literature, is necessarily attained by solitary meditation and experiment ; but a successful lawyer is generally throughout his entire career, and always in some part of it, brought into the actual business of life; and in times of movement, such as a majority of the Judges in this volume -lived in, connected with the struggles of factions as well as litigants, and engaged in forwarding or baffling the arts of unscrupulous ,power or of parties perhaps more unscrupulous. Then, the lawyer (we are speaking of the public pleader and the judge) is a man of this world. • He lives almost in public—in the Courts, in the Houses of Parliament, in circuit clubs, and at " common tables," where there is constantly going on a keen encounter of wits; and even if in private life he is an economic recluse like Kenyon or Eldon, his strength or eccentricity of character supplies as many strong points as would be gained from the most liberal round of "enter- tainments." In the majority of cases, the great lawyer is a man of struggles, not only with law but with fortune. There is no turning out a "heaven-born" lawyer either at Equity or Nisi Prins. He gathers his knowledge by time and labour and acquires by long practice that ready dexterity inits application which looks almost supernatural to the ignorant, as if he worked by witchcraft instead of. wit. Many lawyers, too, have sprung from a mean origin and very narrow circumstances ; so that their early career affords examples ofthe pursuit of distinction under difficulties : a circumstance that adds interest to their lives, though it may taint their character with coarseness, and induce something of unprincipled self- seeking. For the public biography of modern lawyers also there -are ample materials, not merely in-the professional but in the newspaper re- ports; a large amount of thek good things and very often of their bad are familiar in the mouths of the ,profession, and there are always many pepple well acquainted with their personal characteristics and their bearing both in public and private life, should the writer himself not know them. With such excellent .subjectarand .ample materials to his hand, and with his professional esprit de -corps,. Mr. Townsend could scarcely fail in producing a pleasant and useful book for the world at la.rge,und an interesting work for the lawyer or law student. . A point of interest connected with the book, though not necessarily with the subject of lawyers,. are the eveMsaand manners over which the reader is-carried. Dated-from the early times of .George the Third, the most striking events of that troubled retgn.are. bronght in review before us; whilst many of the anecdotes indicate the coarseness of manners end want of education not, only found =neg the middle classes but even among the country gentlemen of the last century—the immediate suc- cessors to the. *juice Westerns. .Here is an instance from the life of Buller.

-NIGEIMigitunrs, ". BUMF MEARS-Mee There-is a tradition on the.Oxford Circuit, that he.oncer.aet at the first assize town with a very.unsophisticated Sheriff, who bluntly demanded of his Lordship, as he was stepping into his carriage, whether he was a bone' fide Judge, (the worthy functionary made but one syllable of fide,) as they had been so often fobbed off with Sergeants in those.parts ? When satisfied on this important particular, he took his seat aside of the Judge. A grave severity. on the countenance of Mr. Justice Buller occasioned some misgivings in the mind of the Sheriff; who ex- pressed his fear that he had nnwittingly done something wrong. " It is cer- tainly," said his Lordship, with a smile, "against etiquette on these occasions for the Sheriff to take his seat fronting the horses,. unless,"—he put his band on the gentleman, who was starting up—' unless invited by the Judge, as I now invite you." Cradock tells a story of a learned predecessor's encounter with another Sheriff, not unamusing. The world was then not so highly refined as at present. After the usual opening of common topics, such as the roads and the weather, the High Sheriff began to feel himself a httle more emboldened, and ventured to ask his Lordship whether, at the last place, he had gone to see the elephant? The Judge, with great good humour, replied, " Why no, Mr. High Sheriff', I cannot say that I did; for a little difficulty occurred: we both came into town in form, with the trumpet sounding before As, and there was a, point of ceremony to be settled, which should visit first."

TRUBLOW ON LOUGHBOROUGH.

Lord Thurlow survived his lucky rival more than a twelvemonth; and on hear- ing of his death at.Bath, saidcandully, " Well, I hated the fellow, he could parlec- row better than I could; but he was a gentleman I " His dislike afterwards vented itself in a bitter gibe. Being informed, we know not how truly, that George the Third, who had been labouring under mental hallucination, exclaimed,. io on Lord Rosslyn's death, " I have lost than the greatest scoundrel in py,donnnns I "Said he so," exclaimed Lord Thurlow, "then by — he is sane !

GIBBS ON MIS EARLY CASES.

He practised in the capacity .of special pleader nearly ten years, organizing slowly, but surely, a large connexion. When the attornies have no one else to go to," he remarked, with fretful naiveté, "they come to me ! Other pleaders have the luck of getting some easy cases. I never remember having had a single one. They were all difficult and complicated, and had nothing short about them but the fees."

sitowssaums.L.Dormaatrrx 07 GIBBS.

Unpopular in his own branch of the profession, the Attorney-General could not boast of being a greater favourite with solicitors, especially the worse part of them. For though the temper of the man might be bad, and his manner hard, ungra- cious, and repulsive, his was not the abject spirit to truckle to those who had power in their hands, or -to speak in honied speech to an efficient patron. If the -action was founded in folly, an kaave;y, or in both, he never failed to acquaint its alders and abettors with his opinion. His forensic bitterness always assumed its harshest tones when denouncing, as he termed.them, the prowling jackals, the predatory pilot-fish, of the law. One of this class chanced to be standing near him as he was addressing the jury; when, suddenly turning round, he rivetted the attention of the whole Court on his victim—"Doesony of you want a dirty job to be done ? There stands Mr. (naming the individual) ready and willing to do it" The presiding Judge interposed, but Sir Vicary persisted. 'I will not be silenced. The fellow deserves to be exposed, and I will expose him." On another occasion, an attorney having brought a -very thick brief to his lodgings in the assize town very late at night, was about to make his bow, when -Sir Vicary Gibbs the huge mass of paper, and.inquired, "Is all this evidence? " " No,Sir, re the attorney; "there are forty pages containing my observations." " Point out." He then tore these,,pages from the rest, thrust them into the fire,. add concluded theinterview with the sarcastic remark, " Therkgo,your obsorvatione

°ARROW 'AND GIBI3S.

There were fierce struggles, we are told, between Gibbs and Garrow. He was often indeed, in ordinary cases, an overmatch for Erskine himself; but Erskine could afford to sustain this defeat or this overreaching, and his temper was sweet as his nature was noble. Not such the temper of Sir Vicary. When Garrow would run round him—get verdicts from him—beat down his damages by coarse clamour or hoarse laughing—even make points against him, or filch them, as be was wont to phrase it—the bystander saw such bitterness manifested in the de- feated face, that he could not have wondered at seeing him cry from mere vexation.

JUDGES' PERQUISITES.

Lord Ellenborongh died possessed of ample wealth, which has been computed to amount to 240,0001. So munificent a fortune may be easily accounted for. There were three offices of very considerable value at the disposal of the Chief Justice of the King's Bench; those of the Chief Clerk, the Custos Brevium, and the Clerk of the Oatlawries. The sale of these offices is now most fitly abolished, as inconsistent with the dignity and independence of the judicial station. Luckily for Lord Ellenborongh, two of these places fell vacant shortly after his appoint- ment. He refused 80,0001., which was offered for the disposal of the Chi‘Clerk- ship; and until his son was of age to receive it, added its amount, which was 7,0001. a year, to his own salary; realizing thus an income of 16,0001., a sum con- siderably larger than was enjoyed by those who immediately preceded and suc- ceeded him. It equalled, nay, in some years exceeded, the income of the Lord Chancellor, and justified, even in a worldly sense, the sagacity of the learned Lord's decision when in 1806 he refused the seals.