The country has lost this week an eminent Judge and
a distinguished man of letters. Lord Brampton, who died on Sunday last in his ninety-first year, was better known as Sir Henry Hawkins, and was for many years perhaps the most conspicuous figure on the Judicial Bench. He established his reputation in the famous Tichborne trial, and the hardly less famous will case of " Sugden v. Lord St. Leonards." As a cross-examiner he has had few equals, if any. He was not a great lawyer, but he was a great advocate. He was raised to the Bench in 1876. He was often charged with undue severity in criminal cases, but opinions differed on this point. Hie judgments were seldom reversed on appeal, and they were finely free from the distorting influence of legal technicalities. He became a Roman Catholic in 1898. Professor David Masson, who died on Sunday last in his eighty-fifth year, was Historiographer Royal for Scotland and Emeritus Professor of English Literature at Edinburgh University. He will be best remembered by his monumental and indispensable "Life of Milton." Mark Pattison called it "the most exhaustive biography that was ever compiled of any Englishman." Carlyle was the chief literary influence of his life. Masson taught his pupils at Edinburgh to regard literature as the most dignified and serious expression of the national character, and for many years he was an inspiration to his classes.
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