1.011) anornftsx's STATESMEN OF THE TIME OF GEORGE THE THIRD. *

TIER two volumes before us challenge attention, not only for them- selves, but as part of a revised and complete edition of Lord Erougham's Works, undertaken at the suggestion of Messrs. Grif- fin, of London and Glasgow. The series is to consist of two classes. The first will contain the historical, critical, and miscel-

• Historical Sketches of Statesmen who flourished in the Time of George III. By Henry Lord Brougham, }.U.S., Member of the National Institute of France. and of the Royal Academy of Naples. (Collected Works of Lord Brougham.) Volumes I. II. Published by Griffin and Company.

laneous works, and extend to about ten volumes. The second class will contain the legal and political works, in about six vo- lumes. The contributions to the Edinburgh Review and the Blue. tratiotes of Paley's Natural Theology will follow as separate publi- cations, in three volumes each, complete in themselves. From the specimens before us, they will be published in a sightly form, at a moderate price. Here is a goodly collection of writings for any man, more espe- cially for a man who was continually occupied in public and pri:- vate business ; nor can there be found a more worthy occupation for the leisure of age than the correction and revision of works thrown off under the pressure of many claims, and often before the heat of party or personal conflict had altogether passed away. Some of the "Historical Sketches" before us would have been improved by a still closer revision. There are mistaken con- clusions, signs of vehemence of feeling or of prejudice, and errors arising from haste or impetuosity, that would have been better removed.

The faults of these productions, however, are far from outweigh- ing their merits and attraction,—as shown, indeed, by the con- tinual demand for the " Sketches," in various forms at various prices. They are of varying merit, but they all more or less dis- play the power of sustaining attention, which accompanied the orator through his long career at the bar and in Parliament— the unrivalled energy that during forty years always carried him into the foremost ranks of public agitation or senatorial debate ; and, what is more than all, and which indeed gives its peculiar value to the work, the wide and familiar knowledge of men of al/ ranks and degrees, and the practical acquaintance, as an actor, with some of the moat striking events of the century. Except Na- poleon and Wellington, no man of the past age has witnessed and borne a principal part in so many and so great affairs. Perhaps no man has seen so much of various life with so keen a spirit of observation to profit by the opportunities. It is in fact the restless energy, and the vast extent and number of Brougham's objects, to which the greater part of his literary shortcomings are owing. The Historical Sketches alone are enough for one man's life, the collec- tion of the vast variety of materials being taken into consideration.

In the first volume of " Sketches " are printed the Letters of George the Third to Lord North during the American war, which the author made use of when originally writing the sketch of the King. In strictness, however, they are not the letters, but ear tracts or abstracts. Lord Glenbervie, the son-in-law and executor of Lord North, lent the originals to George the Fourth ; and that pattern gentleman never returned and is supposed to have destroy- ed them. Luckily, however, they had previously been lent to Sir James Mackintosh, as materials for his History ; and Sir James made the copies and abstracts now printed. There existed no public reason for their destruction : indeed, we think the de- scriptions and conclusions of Lord Brougham on this point, and on the King in general, one of those parts that might have been advantageously modified. We are all of us too apt to look at men with the ideas of our own age instead of theirs ; and George the Third has been much exposed to this disadvantage, especia.11y in reference to the American war. In these familiar letters, the King comes out much better than his Ministers. His attention io business even in the most minute affairs was unwearied; nor did small matters divert his attention from large—from foreign affairs and the con- flict in America. The necessity of the Union with Ireland rose to his mind : he anticipated the hostile animus of France; he urges more than once the adoption of a plan (that has been attributed to Fox) which, though it would not have influenced the contest with America, would have allowed peace to be concluded without loss of character. It was to concentrate the forces scat- tered throughout America and throw them suddenly upon the Spanish colonies. In point of distinctness of view and resolution, there is no comparison between the King and his Minister; no appearance of personal feelings operating against the public in terest. On the contrary, it is the Ministers who seem to be swayed by this or that friendly or family consideration. But, though the public character of the correspondence could not anger George the Fourth, some personal matters might revive unpleasant feel- ings. The King writes to Lord North.

all the Seven Princes.

• * • • • a

"15 Feby. 1781,

" From my Son's (Pr. of W.) love of expense, I have already grounds to

judge that the extraordinaries will be great. • • • * * *

"20 August 1181.

"My eldest son got last year into an improper connexion w" an actress and

"10 Deer. MO.

" My late Far when he came to Eng,' was near twenty-four years of ars His attendants were not numerous ; but this is no rule for me, my Son be only 18. I have given my Son for Robes and Privy Puree the exact sum I had. His Stables will be more expensive in Saddle Horses, as he will have IS. But by appointing a Groom of ye Stole, instead of a Master of the Horse, a met of Horses and two footmen are diminished. As he will live in my house, he will not need House Servo. AA I thank Heaven my morals and course of Life but little resemble those too prevalent in the present age, so of all objects in this life the one I have most at heart is to form my children so u that they may be useful examples and worthy of imitation. You thought that, if the whole add/ expense of my Children does not exceed £30,000, the money may be found. I have endeavoured to keep it to £20,000. " Ld Southampton, Col. Hallam, Mr. Lyle, and Col. Lake—average of the expense of Prince of Wales and Prince Fre& for 3y.':—

£l2,1141 16 3

New Eatables 30,108 6 2

17,566 9 1/. Certain increased Esp. or £20,000 foe woman of indiffi character, through the friendly assistance of Ld Malden. He sent her letters, and very foolish promises, which undoubtedly by her conduct she has cancelled. Col. Hotham has settled to pay the enormous sum of 50001. for the lettere, &c. being returned. You will therefore settle wh him."

Additions have been made to some of the characters in the two volumes, and some seem to have been recast. The papers originally published in the Law Review under the title of " Recollections of a Welsh Judge " are included in this volume as a continuous article. They form by no means the least attractive of its features. The subjects are various ; they extend over a long period of time ; and each being briefly treated, there are more of the pithy and salient points presented than is practicable when a single individual is made the subject of an elaborate sketch. The dramatic character of an old raconteur is well sustained, though not prominently exhibited. This dramatic consistency, perhaps a result of leisure from Parliamentary strife, has given greater repose to the style and more finish to the execution. Who would take this story of Chief Baron O'Grady's sarcasm, from the Recollections of the Irish Bar, for Brougham's manner ?

"Macnally, a vulgar man, and therefore ever fond of keeping high com- pany, was once showing off about his dinners at Lobster House, and would bring on the subject by affecting to complain of their plainness and scanti- ness. How so ?' said the Chief Baron. Why,' says Macnally, for

instance, yesterday, we had no fish at table.' Probably,' said my Lord, they had eaten it all in the parlour' ; so fine was his wit. But in more broad jesting Chief Baron Patterson was at least equal. He once addressed a Grand Jury on the state of the country, then disturbed by the cabals, in- trigues, and squabbles of the great rival powers or families of Agar, Flood, and Bushe. It is truly painful,' said his Lordship, to contemplate ; but how can it be otherwise when the land is flooded with corruption, each man eager only for place, and every bush conceals a villain ? ' " Some of the matter seems derived from tradition or the conver- sation of others. We should hardly have thought that Brougham could remember the first Lord Ellenborough as a barrister going the Northern circuit, or even Baron Wood, who was not raised to the Bench till 1807. However, contemporary information by a good observer, especially in the form of story, is almost as good as observation itself. Brougham knew the men, and knew the life; and very living his pictures are. He throws a new light on the tribunal of the circuit-mess with its mock parade. Its crier, its attorney-general, its very mummery, were not a meaningless reflex of the past, when such things were of actual life. Neither were its mock trials of alleged offenders mere practical jokes, or the ebullition of animal spirits burlesquing its daily business. There was a deeper meaning behind.

"In all this there was implied, and not at all concealed, a most salutary watchfulness over the professional conduct of the circuit. Every one felt that he was observed in all he did, out of court as well as in. No one, indeed, was suffered to withdraw himself from the jurisdiction, as by not frequenting the bar-table. If any person remained several days absent from the mesa, and it appeared that he had dined in his lodgings, being in good health, he was cited to appear ; and if neceesary, the messenger of the cir- cuit, with his assistants, was despatched to bring him bodily into court. The certainty that any undue means taken to obtain practice would be visited by punishment, and if persisted in by disgrace, even by expulsion from the circuit, was kept ever before the eyes of all. Even the jests were sub- servient—ancillary, as we say—to the same end. They kept us ever in mind of the serious visitations ready at any moment to come down upon real offences; they were like the crack of the waggoner's whip, to be followed by the stroke if the ear had been assailed in vain. Then, to the mummery of the circuit all were forced to bow. Whoever appeared in coloured clothes had to pay for it by a fine, following a lecture by the Attorney-General, [Law] in which the propriety of mode and dressing of the person was the subject of discourse : the rich wardrobes of various leaders were gorgeously described ; how Mr. Sergeant Cockell might, if he chose, dazzle the astonished sight with whole yards of cloth of gold across bis portly paunch ; how Mr. Law himself could revel in the most flowery satins; how the very Crier [Wood] could appear so bedizened in lace that he might burn for hundreds of pounds. The sumptuary laws were intended to diminish the expense of the circuit to poorer men."

In these pages Ellenborongh comes out as more genial than he appears in history. Politics, and a temper that perhaps did not improve by age and high place, may have jaundiced the public I eyes as regards his better qualities. The wit of my Lord Chief nstke, which has looked so grim to the outer world, might only have been sportively dry to those who knew the man.

"Law was, on the contrary, always much esteemed, as well as highly ad- mired for his eminent abilities. His boldness, his manly independence of mind, fearless alike of the bench and the bar, his honest openness of de- meanour, his hatred of anything mean, his scorn of all cant, added to the powerful eloquence which placed him above most men, and the great know- ledge of his profession which he undeniably possessed long before he came to the bench, but which he greatly extended afterwards, all secured him an extraordinary weight among his brethren of the circuit. Added to this, the pungency of his somewhat coarse wit, his broad, odd, sometimes $rrotesque jokes, his hearty merriment, which he seemed to enjoy rather by his quaint look and his indescribable manner, than by any hearty laughing—altogether formed a most agreeable and lively person, whether to hear in court or to meet in society. I remember one of his chosen subjects (butts as they might be called) was Sylvester Douglas (afterwards Lord Glenbervie.) There was no end of the laugh ever ready to come at Law's call and at Douglas's ex- pense. Sometimes he would dub him the Solicitor-General, in allusion to his constant asking for everything that fell. Than he would swear that Douglas kept a Scotchman, at half-a-crown a week, always on the look-out, and to sit up all. night, that he might be called if any one died in place. He had a notion that Douglas's age was extremely great, nay, that he believed he was the Wandering Jew ; and one morning, when in court some doubt arose whether a statute was made in the fifth or sixth of Elizabeth—' Send,' said Ned Law ' for Douglas, in the coffeehouse; he is likely to remember its 'passing.' Nor did this even cease on Douglas leaving the bar. I well remember, when the kingdom of Etruria was announced by Bonaparte, and no one for some time was named, we were speculating who was to have it : Ned Law told us in the morning at Frank's, Don't you know ? Glenbervie has asked for it, and has great hopes.'"