of this preface, we have made a very free ufe, particularly in our account of the occafion for drawing up each of the memorials. But, although a confiderable part of the remarks which might be made on it, is thus anticipated, much would remain to be faid; and paffages of ftrength, and of elegance*, might be quoted from it, worthy of the pen of a friend, to whom the most eloquent of our English profe claffics, has configned the care of his pofthumous works and reputation. The reafon already hinted, obliges us here to conclude. ART. XI. The Life of William, late Earl of Mansfield. By John Holliday, of Lincoln's-Inn, Efquire, F. R. S. and Barrifter at Law. 4to. 1. Is. Elmily, &c. 1797. THE occafions must infallibly be very rare, which can offer to biography a fubject fo illuftrious, as the celebrated Lord Chief Juftice, the Earl of Mansfield. Arduous, however, in proportion to the magnitude of the object, is the tafk of delineating fuch a picture. Hardly can it be expected that a fingle hand fhould at once do juftice to it in all its parts. So great were the abilities of Lord Mansfield, and fo various the application of them, particularly in the two great branches of law and politics, through a life of unusual extent, that the efforts and the teftimonies of various writers must be collected and compared, before his hiftory can be delivered in a manner approaching to perfection. Of his prefent biographer it will not be faid, as it was of Mallet, that he has forgotten the prin cipal line of excellence belonging to his fubject. The merit of Lord Mansfield, as a lawyer and a judge, is conftantly, and properly, prefent to the mind of Mr. Holliday; whose profeffed object it is, in this work, to delineate the great outlines of Lord Mansfield's legal character. His political character he profeffedly refigns to fome other author, In parfuance of his own part of the fubject, Mr. H. gives, at the clofe of his book, fome hints of an intention to publifh a regular digeft of his Lordship's legal determinations, the Epitome of which, "though the arrangement has already been a work of infinite labour, is yet fufceptible of great additions, and of very confiderable improvementt." P. 487. But on this fubject, for the prefent, * See p. 9, and 29, of the preface, among others. In this paragraph Mr. H. compares Lord M. to Erafmus, without any great propriety; but we muft further fuggeft to him, that a prototype means prefent, he fufpends his labours, waiting for the decifion of the public refpecting this prior attempt. "Since," he adds, if the great, leading features of an illuftrious character, fhould not, by men of literature, be deemed, in fome degree, interesting to the cause of fcience, useful to the law, and worthy of being farther promulgated, it will be decorous in, and the fincere with of the author, to defift from his labours, and to leave to more skilful workmen the fuperftructure of another volume, the foundation of which he has endeavoured to day, but whether on fair and firm ground, is not for him to determine." If the author will attend to our opinion, formed upon a careful examination of his prefent volume, he will not defift from his intention respecting the Digeft. We can fee, indeed, as men verfed in writing, that he has not that degree of practice which makes the ufe of the pen familiar to an au thor. We have hinted at fome few words improperly used, and we could point out a paffage*, where an attempt, rather ambitious, at oratorical excurfion, has betrayed him into phrases and sentences, which an uncandid critic might ridicule, and the most favourable cannot approve. But, on the whole, the Life of his illustrious patron, which Mr. H. has produced, is senfible and useful; and though the Tyros at the bar may not, as he fuggefts, impofe upon themselves the task of studying it, in regular portions, during the principal vacations of the year, we have no doubt that they will read it with attention, and advantage. In his Digeft, it will be advifeable for him not to make either his arrangement, or the illuftration of it, too fcholaftical; which fome paffages in his prefent allufion to it might lead the reader to fear; and then we doubt not that he will produce a work of value, honourable to his own fame, as well as to that of Lord Mansfield. Before we enter into any particular examination of the prefent Life of this illuftrious Law- Lord, we shall give, as a kind of clue, a few of the principal dates. William Murray, afterwards Earl of Mansfield, a younger fon, and the eleventh child, of David, Viscount Stormont, was born at Perth, means a person who is a type before the exiftence of another. Trebafias, alfo, in the fame page, fhould be Trebatius; pended, for pandeft, is probably a fault of the prefs; laffitude, in p. 456, is erroneously ufed for indolence. ་་ * P. 408-9. The all-feeing judge," (p. 467) is also an improper comparifon, even for the higheft legal merit; and "a miracle of mercy!" feems far too high a title for the benevolence of the good Samaritan. (p. 472). March March 2, 1705, N. S*. He went into college at Westminster, head of his electiont, in 1719, and was elected to Chrift Church Oxford in 1723. He was called to the bar in Michaelmas Term, 1730. In 1738, he married; was appointed Solicitor General in 1742; Attorney General in 1754; Lord Chief Juftice of the King's Bench in 1756; and, at the fame time, was created Baron Mansfield. He became Earl Mansfield in 1776. He retired from his office of Lord Chief Justice in 1788; and died, on the 20th of March, 1793, in the eightyninth year of his age. Dr. Newton, Bishop of Bristol, who must have had the fullest knowledge of Murray, as being only one election before him in admiffion to the foundation at Westminster, and five years with him in that fituation, fays, that " during the time of his being at school, he gave early proofs of his uncommon abilities, not fo much in his poetry, as in his declamations." Yet we are not to conclude that he was deficient either in tafte, or talents, for poetry. Of the latter, the Latin compofition here produced (in p. 3) on the death of George I, is not, perhaps, a proof; fince it has been an immemorial cuftom at the university, for the hand of the tutor to interfere very largely in the compofitions afcribed to young men of rank on thofe public occafions. The biographer is probably miftaken, when he fays, that thefe verfes were honoured with the first prize, as it is not ufual for any prize to be given for thofe complimentary verses. His Latin poem, on Blenheim§, which is much more likely to have been a prize-compofition, and to have been the genuine production of his own pen, affords fufficient proof of our affertion. His tafte for poetry may fairly be argued, from his conftant attendance, even to the latter end of his life, on all the poetical exercifes at Westminsterschool; a practice which he is faid to have commenced from the time when he began to refide in town. * Among the entries at Westminster-school, in the books of Dr. Nicholl, then fecond mafter, his name appears in May, 1718, and 12 is put as his age. He was then, according to the date of his biographer, turned of 13, but in fuch entries, ftrict accuracy is not to be expected. He was placed in the third form, This communication we owe to Dr. Smith, in whofe hands the books of his predeceffor remain. In the election books he is marked Æt. 14, in 1719. + This circumstance is not mentioned by his biographer; nor is its import fully known, except to Westminster men. His going head to Oxford, implies no particular credit. In his own Life, prefixed to his works, p. 21. At At page 44 of this work, Mr. Holliday undertakes to draw a kind of parallel between Mr. Pitt, late Earl of Chatham, and the Earl of Mansfield. "They commenced," he fays, their political life nearly at the fame period; were generally oppofed to each other in the House of Commons, and were rivals for pre-eminence." Of this parallel we fhall bring forward fome of the most striking particulars. "MR. PITT. I. The eloquence of Mr. Pitt may be compared to a mighty torrent, impatient of reftraint, rushing with impetuofity, and bearing all down before it, leaving behind the vestiges of its all-commanding fway, to imprint on the minds of thousands the imminent danger of future inundation. "II. Mr. Pitt poffeffed all the fire and dignity of Demofthenes, commanding refpect, which was frequently matured as his periods flowed, and, ere his declamation was ended, refpect was exchanged for, or converted into, profound veneration!". P. 45. III. Early in life Sarah, Duchefs of Marlborough, remunerated Mr. Pitt for his fervices to his country, by leaving him a legacy in the following words: "I give to William Pitt, of the parish of St. James within the liberty of Weftminster, efquire, the fum of 10,000l. upon account of his merit in the noble defence he has made for the fupport of the laws of England, and to prevent the ruin of the country." The political tenets, and the conduct of the noble duchess, in her oppofition to Sir Robert Walpole's adminiftration, are too well known to need any comment; yet the receipt of this legacy had not any inherent attraction, any talifmanic virtue, to prolong or perpetuate oppofition to the meafures of government. "IV. When Mr. Pitt became fufceptible of love, and turned his thoughts to domeftic happiness, the refpectable addition of fortune, and of family connections, were not overlooked, nor difregarded. "Laftly. The tranfcendant abilities of Mr. Pitt were employed in, and confined to, the investigation of political fubjects. He entered the House of Commons full of vigour, health, and animation. The emanations of his vigorous mind were in their meridian glory in the midst of a long debate; and as he generally entered the houfe fresh, powerful, and panting for victory, like a celebrated champion entering the lifts of the Olympic games, fo, at the close of his parliamentary conteft, like Virgil's Entellus, he might juftly conclude, Hic victor caftus artemque repono. "MR. MURRAY. "I. The filver Thames, meandring through a rich and long extent of country, fertilizing the adjacent banks, and giving grace and beauty, in addition to great riches, wherever its refreshing waters flow, may be deemed the fair emblem of Mr. Murray's eloquence: Though deep, yet clear; though gentle, yet not dull; Sir John Denham's Cooper's Hill. "II. Mr. Murray had confeffedly formed himself on the best models of eloquence. His voice was mellifluous, his manner engaging; and whenever he exerted his powers, and employed his eloquence, in any important cause or debate, he never failed to conciliate the good opinion, the respect, and veneration of the audience." P. 47 « III. In his entrance into public life, when Mr. Murray, as the younger fon of a noble family, did not enjoy any landed property, Mr. Vernon, a mercer on Ludgate-Hill, and a reputed friend to Jacobitifm, gave and devised an eftate, in the counties of Chester and Derby, to the Honourable William Murray, his heirs and affigns for ever. The devifee took poffeffion of the eftate, but the only gratitude he evinced, was that of preferving this firft-fruits of territorial property in his family, where it yet remains. Mr. Murray retained the gift without imbibing, or adhering to, the tainted principles of the donor. IV. On Mr. Murray's marriage with one of the daughters of the Earl of Winchelfea, the acquifitions of fortune and family-connections were fplendid and permanent. Laftly. Mr. Murray's fhining abilities were displayed in all the viciffitudes of argument and debate. He might truly fay, with his friend and favourite Tully, with a little variation, Non nobis nati fumus ; partem leges, partem præfidium, partem patria, fibi vindicant. Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, in the Court of Chancery, claimed (and could bear ample teftimony to) many hours of exertion, on the part of Mr. Murray, in the morning. The Council-Chamber, or the bar of the Houfe of Lords, put in their irrefiftible claim to ftill greater exertions about noon; and though last, not least in his esteem, if we may form a judgment from many excellent fpeeches made in the House of Commons; he entered the lifts with the greatest of all rivals, Mr. Pitt, who, with a degree of candour worthy of himself, admitted that he generally found in Mr. Murray a fair, open, and formidable rival, "Can any tribute of applause be more animated, than that which flowed from Lord Chatham, on a great occafion in the House of Lords, when, in anfwer to Lord Mansfield, he faid, My Lords, I muft beg the indulgence of the house; neither will my health permit me, nor do I pretend to be qualified to follow that noble lord through the whole of his argument. No man is better acquainted with his abilities and learning, nor has a greater refpect for them than I have. I have had the pleafure of fitting with him in the other houfe, and always liftened to him with attention. I have not now loft a word of what he said, nor did I ever.' "In the fame house, and on another great occafion, Lord Chatham having quoted Lord Somers, and Lord Chief Juftice Holt, in fupport of his law, and having drawn their characters in fplendid colours, turning to Lord Mansfield with a truly dignified gefture, [faid] "I vow to God, I think the noble Lord equals them both in abilities!" P. 51. Though we have not given the fpecimen of Mr. Pitt's eloquence adduced by Mr. H. because it is rather too well known to require repetition in this place, we think it effential to the character 2 |