Luke Robinson and Lord Winchelsea, which at once gave him reputation" and business. He was soon after pitched upon as managing counsel in the great Douglas Cause, in which he discovered ability and address. It was always his aim, in practice, to give his oratorical productions more the air of genius than industry, and they often carried the appearance of spontaneous effusion, although the effort of much premeditation and previous labour.

His arrival at professional honours was first announced in 1762, when he was appointed king's counsel, thus emerging at once from legal obscurity, his abilities being so little known as a barrister, that the appointment excited universal astonishment. Impelled by the most restless ardour, he rushed intrepidly, and almost immediately, to the summit of legal fame; for in the year 1770, we find him advanced, under the patronage of the house of Bedford, to the post of Solicitor General, on the resignation of Mr. Dunning; and succeeding Sir William de Grey as Attorney General in 1771.

He was twice elected into parliament for the borough of Stafford.

This is the proper place to review his lordship's pretensions to the rank he held as a first rate orator and lawyer.

He was a powerful and uniform supporter of the measures of government. It cannot be denied but he possessed strong natural talents, and quickness of apprehension:-His eloquence partok of his character; it was bold, explicit, decisive, and inflexible :---he delivered his arguments as Jove directed his bo'ts, in tones of thunder: confident and daring, he rushed like Achilles into the field, and dealt destruction around his adversaries more by the strength of his arm, the deep tones of his voice, and the lightning of his eye, than by any peculiar felicities of genius, or elevated powers of oratory.---He at times combated his opponents with every species of argument, from the naked, unqualified, unsupported flat assertion, down to the sarcastic joke. His style, however, was often petulant and warm; neither remarkable for its neatness, nor offensive for its vulgarity.---His attempts at ridicule and humour were mean and disagreeable; but his words were generally well chosen, and his voice clear and strong.---His replies were constantly acrimonious; he exercised all the figures of his profession: his constructions of the law were artful and malignant, and he became gradually vehement and furious..

His manner had an assumed dignity, and an affected impression of awe, which, however decorous upon some occasions, is certainly improper upon all. Perhaps the natural sable of his face---that dull, dismal, dark, disastrous countenance, threw an involuntary horror round him.---Menace and terror sate enthroned upon his brow---his whole aspect was repellant, and conveyed an idea of outrage.---He affected to disdain the aid of the Graces, and to command alone by the energy of expression, and force, both in manner and expression, was undoubtedly his lordship's forte, but every qualification should be judged by comparison.---As a speaker in the House of Commons, many were far above him. That force, on which so much has been said by his panegyrists, compared with the fire and energy of Fox,

*See preface to Bellendenus.

was like Satan's contest with Omnipotence, and like the allusion, left com. parison behind it. Where, in the best of his speeches, is the information, the design, the genius, the splendid conflagration of Burke? Where the wit, the classic taste and correctness of Sheridan? The records of parliament will place him, as an orator, far below any of these.

As a professional man, he was not heard of, by the side of Yorke, De Grey, and Grantley; and was always, with great propriety, considered inferior, both in and out of parliament, to his official competitors Ashburton and Lougborough.

In 1778, he was created a peer by the title of Lord Thurlow, Baron of Ashfield, in Suffolk, and advanced to the high, dignity of Lord Chancellor, the place best calculated for the display of his abilities.

As a Speaker of the house of Lords, he had that intrepidity and firmness that commanded order and regularity in their proceedings, and confined debate to the point in agitation. His lordship very properly felt the dignity of his situation, and would not suffer the pride of peerage to invade its rights. His spirited and manly reply to the Duke of Grafton did him honour.* However the ancient and hereditary nobles may feel on the ascent of lawyers to the peerage, it must be remembered, that they only rise by desert. The man who earns his honours, has the best right to wear them; and they certainly sit upon him with a grace seldom observed in the passive inheritor.

He was not an example of mean insinuation, but stood (ays an elegant diurnal writer) amidst the warring factions of the times, like the Chan of the Usbecs, too formidable to be visited by contumely, tho' too savage to create

esteem.

The remaining part of his character, as given in a very excellent periodical publication, is so accurate and just, or at least so exactly coincides with our ideas, that we shall conclude our sketch of his Lordship with a transcript of it.

"The world has done sufficient justice to the character of Lord Thurlow, which being examined in the detail, may perhaps rather call for some abatement to the extravagant applause given it, than to any additional eulogium. As a politician, he seems to stand the fairest chance of descending to posterity with reputation, though he probably possesses little more than the usual narrow information belonging to those of his profession. In his conduct as a senator, he has distinguished himself by so decided, so confident a degree of superioity, that he has received credit for abilities, the existence of which may be questioned without the smallest indecency.

"It is certain, that little advantage has arisen to the public from any of his political exertions; and we are yet to learn wherein his talents, as a legislator, are to be discovered. He had, however, a quickness of parts well suited to public debate, and a cool determined manner, well adapted to obtain an assendance over imbecility, to push boldly all advantages, and to secure a re

treat with credit, when opposed by superior powers. As a lawyer, his knowledge is inferior to many; and had his rise depended on his professional advantages, another must have now presided in the court of Chancery.

"It has been the misfortune of this country, that the legal and political el aracter have been lately so blended, that more attention has been paid to the latter than the former, and often at the expence of it. This was not formerly the case; and we pronounce, without hesitation, that the public suffers by the unnatural union. Let those who have been long anxiously looking for decrees in the court of Chancery, be asked their sentiments of a political chancellor: They will paint their misery in such colours, as must convince every impartial person that the supremacy in the house of lords, and in the first court of equity, should not be in the same person.---Many Lawyers have suggested the prevalence of a species of indecision totally inconsistent with any very comprehensive knowledge of jurisprudence, and totally different from the general mode of proceeding in all other situations. The practisers complain of the petulance and illiberal treatment they frequently meet with, and the surliness and ill-nature which is often to be seen in public; and those who remember the patience, the good humour, and politeness of the Lords Hardwicke and Camden, are perpetually drawing comparisons by no means favourable to Thurlow."

The ingenious and learned author of the Preface to Bellendenus having very happi y pourtrayed several striking features in his Lordship's character, has the following conclusion, which, from an entire coincidence of sentiment and opinion, is here transcribed:

"If he should ever peruse my sentiments of his character, I would desire him not to shake his tremendous head at me ;---the severe and forbidding manner with which he ever addressed himself to others, will probably excite his indignation when directed against himself: I care not if he shall think me to have spoken of him with too much bitterness; it is the fair and reasonable consequence of the conduct that provoked it."

Another of his lord:hip's biographers has pourtrayed him as follows: "In times less favourable to genius and freedom, the haughty barons, and still more haughty bishops, administered justice to their trembling vassals. Nobility and priesthood were the only criterions of merit, and high birth and the ecclesiastical tonsure seem to have assumed a prescriptive right over the noble science of jurisprudence.--- In this more liberal age, hereditary pretensions are forced to give way to personal worth, while the fortuitous advantages arising from fortune and descent, maintain but a feeble competition with the nobler endowments of the mind. This position is no where better illustrated than in the profession of the law, as several of its members, unsupported by any other claim than those of their own merit and abilities, have, during the present century, ennobled themselves and their posterity.

"Let it be recorded, to their honour, that within this period, two of the greatest characters in this kingdom have risen from the desks of attornies; while, if we believe common report, a third may be literally said to have jumped from the loom to the woolsack.

"Edward Thurlow, the son of a manufacturer of the city of Norwich, like his great predecessors Somers and Hardwicke, bursting from obscurity by the strength of his own genius, like them too, overcame the obstacles of birth and fortune, and suddenly rose to the first honours of his profession. The finger of the House of Bedford pointed the road to preferment; and ata time when his cotemporaries were struggling with mediocrity, and a stuff gown, the silken robes of king's counsel, and the patronage of that illustrious family, inspired him with no common ambition. The powers of his mind expanding with his hopes, the high offices of solicitor and attorney-general, which bound the views of some men, seemed to him but as legal apprenticeships, imposed by custom, before he could attain to that dignity, which was to give him precedence of every lay-subject in the kingdom, not of the blood royal.

"The people beheld with pleasure a man suddenly emerging from among themselves, and enjoying the highest offices of the state; his triumph seemed to be their own. It flattered their passion to see plebeian merit coping with aristocratical pride, and united, but acknowledged worth, conferring, by its participation, lustre on degenera'e nobility. When they saw him, too, supporting his newly acquired honours with a dignity which they imagined had only appertained to hereditary grandeur, and beheld him in his contest with the head of the house of Grafton, stating his own merits in competition with ducal honours, and weighing the fair claims of genius and learning, in opposing the meretricious, though royal descent, every good citizen partook of his honest pride, and participated in his victory.

"Seated on the Chancery bench, the eyes of mankind were fixed upon him. The iron days of equity were thought to be passed; and it was fondly expected, that the epoch of his advancement would be the commencement of a golden age. The nation felt that they had long groaned under the dominion of their own chancellors. The slowness of their proceedings had mouldered insensibly away, in the pleadings of two centuries, some of the fairest fortunes in the kingdom; and the subtilties of the civil law had involved, in the voluminous mazes of a Chancery bill, rights and claims, which the municipal courts would have immediately recognized.

"At once haughty and indolent by nature; attached to a party, and distracted by politics; with a mind fitted to discountenance, abuse, and appal oppression, Lord Thurlow disappointed their expectations; and, by his conduct, forcibly illustrated that great legal axiom, that the duties of the Woolsack and the Chancery are incompatible.

"A change of ministry taking place, the chancellor was suddenly dismissed; and the man who had risen with the approbation of mankind, retired amidst the clamours of the nation.

"Restored to his high office by another change, as sudden as his dismission had been precipitated, if his inactivity had been still the same, yet his personal conduct seemed to be greatly altered. Exiled from power, helad

been taught by retirement what other men have not learned by adversity; ani his present attention to business, and politeness to the gentlemen at the bar, afforded a happy contrast to his former behaviour.

"The character of the chancellor seems to be developed in his counte nance, by an outline at once bold, haughty, and commanding. Like Hale, he is negligent of his person; like Yorke, he has swerved from his party; but likeh mself alone, he has ever remained true to his own principles.

"As an orator, his manner is dignified, his periods are short, and his voice at once sonorous and commanding. More nervous than Camden, more eloquent than Richmond, more masculine than Sydney, he is the sole support of the minister in the house of peers. Like an insulated rock, he opposes his sullen and rugged front to the storm of debate, and remains unshaken by the whirlwind of opposition.

"Better acquainted with books than with men, as a politician, his knowedge of to eign affairs is narrow and confined; he is, however, well informed of the domestic and immediate concerns of the empire. Warmly attached to the prerogative, he brands reform with the name of innovation; and is fond of urging the wholesome regulations of our ancient laws, in opposition to the improvements of modern projectors.

"His attachment to his Sovereign is personal, and at least equals his attachment to prerogative. Take his own words on a revent and importanț occasion: -- When I forget my king (says he) may God forget me!' The sentiment was strongly expressive of the feelings of gratitude. It did honour to his heart, and certainly will not injure his preferment.

"As a judge, his researches are deep, and h's decisions are confessedly imp rial: none of them, however, have procured him celebrity.

"As a legislator, he has as yet acquired no reputation; and notwithstanding a voluntary proffer of his services, has made no alteration in the laws respecting the imprisonment of insolvent debtors, whom he has treated with a violence ti at savours of the rigour of justice rather than the m ldness of humanity.

"His enemies, who hate him with rancour rather than enmity, dare not question his inte rity, nor can they charge him with any action deserv ng of reproach. His friends, who love him from esteem rather than affection, avow the greatness of his de-erts, yet find it difficult to fix his particular merits. In fine, his character is still negative and undetermined: with powers fitted for any thing, he has as yet done nothing, and although he seems the wonder of the present age, will, perhaps, scarce meet with the notice of posterity.

"His great predecessors have erected the noblest monuments to their fame, by attention to the happiness, the interests, and the welfare of their fellow-citizens. Lord Chancellor Hardwicke planned the bill for abolishing the heritable jurisdictions in Scotland! Lord Keeper Guildford had a principal hand in the statute of frauds and perjuries, of which the Lord Nottingham observed, That every line was worth a subsidy.' Lord Chancellor Somers projected the act of union betwixt England and Scotland, and a bill to correct some proceedings, both in common law and equity, that were dilatory and chargeable.