on the opposite side, that he frequently repeated them in such a way as to give them greater force than had been claimed for them at the bar. The masterly manner in which he afterwards refuted them generally called forth the admiration and extorted the assent even of those who had originally propounded them. By the constant attention he always paid to the speeches of the bar, he acquired, during the progress of the cause, a mass of information, of which he did not fail to find the advantage in drawing up his judgment. He did not affect to be above learning from any, even the youngest and most inexperienced, of the barristers who argued before him; and though it is to be supposed he often had to listen to the redundancies and superfluities which too often disfigure the oratory of our courts, (perhaps the court of chancery more than any other) his courtesy and politeness always prevented him from testifying the slightest impatience. In this he differed from lord Mansfield, who, singularly affable and courteous as he was in his general behavior to the bar, did not always think himself obliged to keep up the appearance of attending strictly to the speakers. During a long reply, for instance, he would generally be, or appear to be, occupied with a newspaper; and at the close of the harangue, carelessly asking the orator whether he had finished, he would immediately proceed to charge the jury. It is true, his charges on such occasions often excited the wonder of his audience, so beautifully lucid was the arrangement of the arguments, so clear the statement of the facts, so plainly were the inferences pointed out. The whole court would be lost in amazement, on finding that the judge, who had to all appearance been wholly inattentive to the arguments of counsel, did not omit a single one of any importance when he was summing up. But while they were surprised and delighted by the display of such extraordinary abilities, there never failed to be one or two persons in court, who felt at least as much

dissatisfaction as the rest of the audience did pleasure: and those were the neglected orators. Lord Hardwicke never

gave into this failing; for a failing it undoubtedly was, to whatever exhibitions of talent it may have given occasion. He was always careful, not only to listen with patience and attention to the bar, but what is sometimes of still greater importance, to make it appear that he did so; a practice which no judge, who has it at heart to be popular among his own profession, can safely neglect.

In this respect, also, the evenness and placidity of his temper gave him great advantages. On no occasion was he ever betrayed into ebullitions of temper, such as, both before his time and since, have so often degraded the dignity of our courts of justice. The affability and the courtesy of his general demeanor towards the bar, and the solicitors of the court, to which he had been in no small degree indebted for his professional advancement, was in no degree lessened when he had reached the summit of legal honors.'

In private life he had been accused, not perhaps without reason, of occasionally displaying an undue assumption of superiority, which shewed that his dignity sat less easily upon him than if he had worn it from his birth. But whether he felt more anxious for popularity among the members of that profession to which he owed his eminence, or whether the tribute of respect due to his legal rank was more readily paid by them than by society, or whether that

1An anecdote is related of him, which furnishes an excellent instance of his good natured attention to suitors, and his tact in administering an indirect rebuke to counsel. In a cause to which Mr. Cromwell was a party, the advocate opposed to him thought fit to indulge in some very unwarrantable vituperation of that gentleman's ancestry. Lord Hardwicke was aware that the representative of the family happened to be in court at the time, and begging the orator's pardon for interrupting him, he expressed his fears that Mr. Cromwell might find himself inconveniently situated outside the bar, inviting him, at the same time, to take a seat on the bench. It is needless to add that when the speech was renewed, it was in a very different tone.

he felt less of embarrassment, and a more complete selfpossession in court than out of it, he certainly never shewed any signs of haughtiness there; and the placid urbanity of his manners towards those who attended in Westminster hall, lent an additional grace to the elegance of his diction, the profundity of his learning, and the acuteness of his judgment.

From what has been said of lord Hardwicke's eloquence, it may be inferred, that he was more calculated to shine as an orator on the bench than in parliament. In the latter place, so long as his subject required nothing more than perspicuous statements and forcible arguments, he commanded as much attention and as much admiration as in a court of justice. The most eminent statesmen and orators of his time have indeed likened him, when speaking, to the personification of public wisdom delivering instruction. But in a public assembly wisdom itself is not all-sufficient; indeed we naturally connect with wisdom the ideas of calmness and consideration, which it need scarcely be said are not always consistent with the warmth of debate. To form a distinguished parliamentary orator, many of the same qualities, no doubt, are necessary, as those which are requisite for a judicial one: but others must be added. The one may be compared to a mariner, who sails through unruffled waters, and encounters none but gentle breezes; the other holds his course over a troubled sea, filled with rocks and quicksands, and eddies, and whirlpools; he has to guide his bark through all these perils, in spite of a heavy wind that is continually shifting its quarter, and blows alternately from every point of the compass. This situation calls not only for all the skill and the experience of a practised navigator, but for the energetic promptitude of thought and of action, the undaunted courage, and the mixture of boldness and of caution, which many a practised mariner wants. In like manner, for him who trusts

himself to the stormy sea of public debate, the acuteness of judgment, the profoundness of thought, and the facility of elocution for which lord Hardwicke was distinguished, are not alone sufficient to ensure success, especially if it be true, as lord Chesterfield expressly says, and as there is no reason to doubt, that his oratory savored somewhat of the pleader. Argument, however sound, expressed in language however elegant, is not always sure of producing an effect in such assemblies as our houses of parliament, unless it be occasionally accompanied not only by wit and satire, but by vehemence of declamation, and even of gesticulation, greater perhaps than strict taste would warrant, in addressing a different auditory. If this be in some degree true of our parliament, even at this day, it certainly was much more so in the time of Hardwicke, when oratory had more influence, and mere argument less than at present. The man who had not the sharp and ready weapon of satire at his command, whose very temperament forbade him from soaring into the region of impassioned eloquence, could not expect to hold a prominent place in the golden age of English parliamentary oratory, when in both houses speakers were held as second-rate, who at many other periods might have aspired to the supremacy then yielded to no less a man than Chatham.

In respect of political knowledge and judgment also, lord Hardwicke was far from holding a foremost rank. He certainly appeared to much less advantage in the house of lords or at the council-table, than in the court of chancery; and yet, by a species of perversity by no means uncommon, he rated or affected to rate his qualifications as a politician much higher than his ability as a lawyer. "Men are apt to mistake," says lord Chesterfield, "or at least to seem to mistake their own talents, in hopes, perhaps, of misleading others to allow them that which they are conscious they do not possess. Thus lord Hardwicke valued

himself more on being a great minister of state, which he certainly was not, than upon being a great magistrate, All his notions were clear, but Good order and domestic details

which he certainly was. none of them were great. were his proper department: the great and shining parts of government, though not above his parts to conceive, were above his timidity to undertake." This passage, and indeed the whole of the character of lord Hardwicke by the same author, seems written in the spirit of truth and impartiality. It may indeed be said of him, as it has been said in another sense and with much less truth of lord Mansfield, that his political career is not the portion of his life which his eulogists can dwell on with most complacency. It should be remembered, however, that a lawyer, who enters the arena of politics in competition with those who make politics their study and their profession, labors under a disadvantage almost as considerable as a politician who, without farther preparation than could be made in the leisure hours of his principal occupation, should quit one of the houses of parliament to take his seat at the bar or on the bench of one of the courts of law.

It is not at present easy to form an estimate of lord Hardwicke's qualifications otherwise than from the report of his contemporaries. The measures adopted by the ministry during his chancellorship are no doubt recorded in the annals of the reign and are consequently open to criticism; but without some more private information, it is impossible to determine what share he had in the advising of them. The papers left by lord Hardwicke, which are now in the possession of his representative, comprise his confidential correspondence with the duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pelham. According to Mr. Coxe, to whose inspection they were submitted when he was writing the memoirs of the Pelham administration, they are a mine of valuable information as to the secret history of the time; but from the 3

VOL. XXV.-NO. XLIX.